Engine Updates

Arasan 13.1 (WB/UCI)
C++ source; mp; Win32/64, Linux
"I don't expect this version is very different in strength from 13.0, just less buggy"
- KPK bitbases are now internal to the program, not stored in files
- minor change to checks in qsearch conditions
- fix bug in see pruning affecting stalemate detection
- fix bug where UCI PV output was omitted in case search terminated very rapidly (for example, in cases of a forced mate)
- handle DOS-style CR/LF from chess interfaces such as SCID
- some book additions/fixes
http://www.arasanchess.org/

Ziggurat 0.16 (UCI)
requires Win64 with a SSE4 CPU (fast popcount type) to run
- time control adjusted
- genetic algorithm now being used to tune evaluation parameters, though tuning is not yet finished
- various bug fixes
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze16nq0r/index.html

Chess News

ChessGUI 0.231 (WB/UCI)
chess GUI / tournament manager by Matthias Gemuh; there is a separate download for a portable version
- ChessGUI now reliably uses GUI book with WB and UCI engines in TLCV mode
- a crashed engine could cause corruption of games schedule file. fixed
http://www.chessgui.com/
http://w2410tmq9.homepage.t-online.de/

IdeaChess
free chess tactics trainer by Gianluca Cisana
"More than 39.000 chess tactics puzzles available on the server!"
- now are available over 70,000 interactive chess tactics problems
- the solutions to the problems are now animated
- en passant captures and castles available are indicated
http://www.ideachess.com/

Norm Pollock site
PGN & EPD Utility Suites and Opening Book PGN Databases
- removed Programs: "epdImbalance" and "epdSame"
- updated Programs" "epdPosition" and "epdDifference"
http://www.hoflink.com/~npollock/chess.html

UCI Engines for Android
Aart Bik's free chess engines for the Android phone; the engines can be used with Aart's free Chess for Android GUI
- DoubleCheck 1.3.1 (UCI)
http://www.aartbik.com/MISC/eng.html

Down/Problem Chess Websites

Bubble homepage down for 8 days (no response in 60 seconds)
Dann Corbit homepage down for 57 days (broken computer!)
Matacz homepage down for 24 days (a 110mb.com site)
Monik homepage down for 3 days ("This Account Has Been Suspended")
Smaug homepage down for 28 days
Toledo Nanochess homepage down today (a 110mb.com site)

Wiki Changes

Endgame Tablebases and Bitbases List
update by Norbert Raimund Leisner
- improved the comments and descriptions
http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:egtbs_list

FACE Tournament
- Gerhard has updated lots of pages including download and ratings
http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:tournaments:face

Bonus Notifications (recent releases of free stuff)

Warnings:

- do not install unwanted toolbars, etc.
- alpha releases have new features; crashes and bugs are to be expected
- beta releases have new features; they may contain bugs or crash
- release candidate software may contain minor bugs; crashes are rare

HDClone 4.0.7 Free
Copy/Backup/Migrate/Rescue from one hard drive to another
- this is trade-up-ware, be sure to download free version
http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html
http://www.miray.de/download/sat.hdclone.html (download)

NetWorx 5.1.8
free network traffic (bandwidth) monitor & usage reporting w/ real-time graphs
http://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/

Vala/Genie 0.13.3
Vala language resembles C# and Genie language resembles Python
the common language compiler outputs OO C code using the GObject library
not yet at version 1.0, but some large apps are written in Vala/Genie
this is the *developmental* branch (beta)
- switch pangocairo bindings to .gir
- bug fixes
http://www.mail-archive.com/vala-list@gnome.org/msg07304.html (announcement)
http://live.gnome.org/Vala (Vala info)
http://live.gnome.org/Genie (Genie info)

Meaning of Colors

Red = New or Warning
Green = Updated
Gray = Info Only

Engine List: http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:chess_engine_list
Chess News: http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:chess_news_list

NOTE: If you want me to track a website for you, please email me and I will add it.
ron _at_ computer-chess _dot_ org