Junior is a
computer chess
Computer chess includes both hardware (dedicated computers) and software capable of playing chess. Computer chess provides opportunities for players to practice even in the absence of human opponents, and also provides opportunities for analysi ...
program written by the
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i programmers Amir Ban and Shai Bushinsky. Grandmaster
Boris Alterman assisted, in particular with the opening book. Junior can take advantage of
multiple processors, taking the name Deep Junior when competing this way in tournaments.
According to Bushinsky, one of the innovations of Junior over other chess programs is the way it counts moves. Junior counts orthodox, ordinary moves as two moves, while it counts interesting moves as only one move, or even less. In this way interesting variations are analyzed more meticulously than less promising lines. This seems to be a generalization of search extensions already used by other programs.
Another approach its designers claim to use is 'opponent modeling'; Junior might play moves that are not objectively the strongest but that exploit the weaknesses of the opponent. According to
Don Dailey ″It has some evaluation that can sting if it's in the right situation—that no other program has.″
[ TCEC, November, 11 2013: Don Dailey (Komodo) (Season 2 Participant) ″Junior is not super strong, but it's super dangerous—if that makes any sense. It has some evaluation that can sting if it's in the right situation—that no other program has.″]
Results
In 2003 Deep Junior played a six-game match against
Garry Kasparov, which resulted in a 3–3 tie.
It won a 2006 rapid game against
Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov (also spelled Teymur Rajabov; az, Teymur Boris oğlu Rəcəbov, ; born 12 March 1987) is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster, ranked number 18 in the world
A former child prodigy, he earned the title of Grandmaster ...
.
In June 2007, Deep Junior won the "ultimate computer chess challenge" organized by FIDE, defeating
Deep Fritz 4–2. These programs opted out of the World Computer Chess Championship, which was held at the same time and won by
Rybka
Rybka is a computer chess engine designed by International Master Vasik Rajlich. Around 2011, Rybka was one of the top-rated engines on chess engine rating lists and won many computer chess tournaments.
After Rybka won four consecutive World ...
with a score of 10/11.
Junior won the
World Microcomputer Chess Championship in 1997 and 2001 and the
World Computer Chess Championship in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2013; both organized by the International Computer Games Association.
References
External links
Deep Junior's 2006 Computer Chess Championship games
{{Chess, state=collapsed
Chess engines