Translated by Milena Tomić

Although the development of the artificial, computer chess happened only in the last few decades of the previous century, the evolution and achievements have been going forward tremendously fast. After such a short time, we can already speak about the history of the development of computer chess and about the names of the meritorious programmers-the authors and their programmes who deserved their place there. Although we have almost forgotten the names of the programmes which sensationally beat some of the grandmasters, only around ten years ago, or won the world champion title, the history has diligently noted it all down and all those games can be found, viewed and analysed today.

During the 80s and at the beginning of the 90s of the previous century, an English programmer Richard Lang has amazed the whole world with his Mephisto programmes for chess computers and his Genius programme for PCs. It seems that he has achieved his creative zenith because the Genius 6.5 programme has not been updated anymore for a certain time now, and it does not participate either in the great computer tournaments or in the competitions for the world champion or in the games with humans. Meanwhile, almost all the important programmes of today are being issued in the newer, stronger versions and they are constantly combating one another to prove superiority.

A German firm Chess Base has assembled the most important programmes of today and it has recently issued Fritz 8, Deep Fritz 8, Shredder 7, Tiger 15, Deep Junior 8, Junior 8, Nimzo 8 and soon Hiarcs 9 . Simultaneously, it has been sponsoring and supporting new researches and new projects in the field of computer chess.

At the same time, a pleiad of young and ambitious programmers with their programmes are knocking on the door of promotion to a higher rank. Starting from the certain and well-known achievements in this field, they reach the necessary maturity and skill faster than before, so when their programmes appear for the first time they already have a remarkable, grandmaster strength to start with. I shall mention only some of the names, which I believe we will soon get used to: The King, List, Tao, Sjeng, Yace, etc .

The hero of this story is called Brutus . This programme has been written by Dr.Cristian Donninger , an Austrian programmer who has already become famous for his Nimzo programme.

To tell the truth, Nimzo 8 has not been updated quite a while and it is getting its additional strength only thanks to the evolution of hardware. But then, what has Dr.Donninger been doing in the meantime?

After making extended and studious preparations, Dr.Donninger has written a programme in a completely new technology, previously unknown in chess programming. Among the numerous and a bit hidden details of advantages of the new technology, what has distinguished itself is the incredible speeding up of the programme working, independently of the processor's speed. The programme was called Brutus and this year in May, for the first time, its trial version participated in a great IPCCC computer tournament in Paderborn . It won the third place on Shredder. The result must have satisfied both the author and the sponsors of this new project, but it picked up glory and praises a week before, after the end of the grandmaster tournament of the high 10 category in Lippstadt , Germany. Several grandmasters of the younger and the middle generations participated in the tournament as well as a few intermasters eager for affirmation and winning of the grandmaster norm. The twelfth participant was an almost unknown programme- Brutus. Now it is a well-known one!

The glory began as soon as the first round. Brutus 's opponent was a world-famous grandmaster Oleg Roman ishin. The 21st move was a sensational sacrificing of a piece and a powerful attack of the computer, and the grandmaster acknowledged defeat in the 31st move. A very effective victory and a serious defeat of the grandmaster who could not recover till the end of the tournament. The former world champion Maja Chirbudanidze also experienced defeat, as well as many others. Brutus won the tournament with 4 draws and 7 victories, with 9 points in 11 games and with 2 points more than the vice champion-the grandmaster! In this tournament Brutus was the only one to win the grandmaster norm and the human rating of 2765 points!

What is especially impressive about the Brutus 's playing in this tournament is his extreme efficiency. Only two games-both ended with draws-lasted 59 and 79 moves. All the other games ended within 40 moves, three of them even within 20 moves! The question is going to remain open: was the sacrificing of a piece against Romanishin correct? Is it possible that this new technology goes as far as surpassing all the other programmes? On my computer, I have tested almost all the leading programmes in this critical position: all the programmes saw the sacrifice, analysed its consequences and finally dropped it and all played the same, some other move.

The forthcoming period, new tournaments and new proving will answer many questions opened by the coming of Brutus and by applying the new technology.

In addition, you may view all the Brutus 's games in the tournament recently played in Germany, some of them commented by Andre Schultz.

All Brutus' games

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