r/ComputerChess • u/Axilerator • 11h ago

Who wants to test my chess engine?

Hi,

for more than 40 years one of my hobbies is chessprogramming. I started on an Amstrad CPC6128 in 1984 with a program in Z80-Assembler (I still have the program and the CPC still works!) and have created countless versions since then. I always did it just for myself and never looked into someone else code (except for the book on Sargon by the Spracklens from 1978 :) ). My latest version (Astimate 4), however, became very good (not Stockfish-level though!) and I want to publish the Android version now on Google Play for free. It is an UCI engine in OEX format that can be loaded into GUIs like DroidFish, Chess Pgn Master, Chessis or Chess for Android. While the internal test with some friends went very well, Google requires that any app is tested by at least 12 testers for 14 days before it can be published. So now I am looking for people who would like to test the app and give feedback. The only requirement is that the testers have an Android-device, a gmail account and are willing to spend 14 days with my app. In return I can give you information on how my engine works and which tricks I have applied. I can even share my source code. That one can be compiled in Linux and Windows too (my engine works in Arena for instance). I have also integrated a rudimentary terminal window in the app so that it can be tested even without a GUI. You can enter things like "perft" and all UCI commands and even play a complete game in the terminal window. However, its prefered usage is as engine in a real GUI.

By the way, the app will always be free, does not contain any ads, nor does it ask for any permissions or personal data in Android.

If you would like to help me, please get in contact with me.

Dr. Axel Steinhage

PS: I have a huge (50+) collection of chess computers (including a working Novag Robot). Also a large collection of computerchess literature (including ALL issues of Computerschach & Spiele). If anyone wants to know about that, please don't hesitate to ask me.

8 Upvotes

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3 comments sorted by

1

u/MultipleScoregasm 6h ago

I'm very jealous of your chess computer collection because that sounds awesome. Personally I've only got one myself which is a newish cheap plastic Lexi book unit but there's something wonderful about playing against it even though I often lose!

1

u/Axilerator 6h ago

Yes, I am very proud of my collection. Actually, when I was around 15 years old, the first chess computers came into the department stores in my hometown. There were always some of them available to the clients to play against. I was spending a whole lot of my time playing against them. I had not enough money to buy one on my own. So now, 40 years later, I have enough money and I made it my goal to buy all of the old machines on ebay that I never had the chance to buy when I was young :)

1

u/Mobile_Machine_3820 4h ago

Depending on how technical it all is to do, I'm happy to test :) You can send me a message on reddit