World Computer Chess Championship


World Computer Chess Championship is an event held periodically since 1974 where computer chess engines compete against each other. The event is organized by the International Computer Games Association. It is often held in conjunction with the Computer Olympiad, a collection of computer tournaments for other board games.
The WCCC is open to all types of computers including microprocessors, supercomputers, clusters, and dedicated chess hardware.

Championship results

In 2007, the reigning champion Junior declined to defend its title.
For the 2009 edition, the rules were changed to limit platforms to commodity hardware supporting at most eight cores, thereby excluding supercomputers and large clusters. Thereafter, a parallel Software Championship was held instead; unlimited hardware is still allowed in the championship proper.
Event #YearLocationParticipantsWinner
11974Stockholm13Kaissa
21977Toronto16Chess 4.6
31980Linz18Belle
41983New York22Cray Blitz
51986Cologne22Cray Blitz
61989Edmonton24Deep Thought
71992Madrid22ChessMachine
81995Hong Kong24Fritz
91999Paderborn30Shredder
102002Maastricht18Deep Junior
112003Graz16Shredder
122004Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan14Deep Junior
132005Reykjavík12Zappa
142006Torino18Junior
152007Amsterdam12Zappa
162008Beijing10HIARCS
172009Pamplona10Junior, Shredder, Sjeng
182010Kanazawa10Rondo, Thinker
192011Tilburg9Junior
202013Yokohama6Junior
212015Leiden9Jonny
222016Leiden6Komodo
232017Leiden4Komodo
242018Stockholm8Komodo
252019Macau6Komodo

World Chess Software Championship

From 2010 a new tournament was introduced and held at the same location and during the same period as the World Computer Chess Championship. The rules for the World Chess Software Championship state that competing programs must run on machines with identical hardware specifications. Time control is game in 45 minutes with 15 second increment.
Event #YearLocationParticipantsWinnerHardware
12010Kanazawa9ShredderIntel quad core Xeon 2.66 GHz, 8MB Hash
22011Tilburg5HIARCSIntel Core2 Duo, 1.7 GHz, 2MB Hash
32013Yokohama6HIARCSIntel quad core i7, 2.7 GHz, 16MB Hash
42015Leiden8ShredderIntel quad core i7, 2.7 GHz, 16MB Hash
52016Leiden7KomodoIntel quad core i7, 3.4 GHz, 16MB Hash
62017Leiden7ShredderIntel quad core i7, 3.4 GHz, 16MB Hash
72018Stockholm9KomodoIntel quad core i7, 1.8 GHz, 16MB Hash
82019Macau6KomodoIntel Pentium Silver N5000 CPU at 1.1 GHz, 4 GB RAM

Due to the requirement to be present on-site, play on a physical board, and strict rules of originality, many strong programs refrain from participating in the ICGA events. As the conditions of the software championship can easily be emulated by anyone with a high-end PC, there are now privately conducted tournaments, such as Top Chess Engine Championship, that have much broader attendance, as well as a larger number of games to reduce the influence of chance.

World Microcomputer Chess Championship

From 1980 to 2001, the ICCA/ICGA organized a separate cycle of championships limited to programs running on microprocessors. In the first three championships, the winners were dedicated chess computers, and then in 1984, Richard Lang's Psion program shared first place, running on an IBM PC under MS-DOS.
At the 14th WMCCC in Jakarta, the Israeli team Junior was denied entry to Indonesia and some other teams dropped out in protest.
The 16th WMCCC was the same as the 9th WCCC above.
Event #YearLocationParticipantsWinner
11980London12Fidelity Chess Challenger
21981Travemünde8Fidelity X
31983Budapest15Fidelity Elite A/S
41984Glasgow12Fidelity Elite X, Mephisto, Princhess X, Psion
51985Amsterdam6 / 5Mephisto / Nona
61986Dallas6Mephisto
71987Rome2 / 7Mephisto / Psion
81988Almería2 / 7Mephisto
91989Portorož9Mephisto
101990Lyon12Mephisto
111991Vancouver, Canada15ChessMachine
121993Munich28HIARCS
131995Paderborn, Germany33MChess Pro 5.0
141996Jakarta27Shredder
151997Paris34Junior
161999Paderborn, Germany30Shredder
172000London14Shredder
182001Maastricht18Deep Junior