Pixelpusher
Nowadays, you can buy many very strong computer programs for your PC. The
newest version of Rebel is challenging grandmaster and nearly world-champion
Anand. Programs have ELO-ratings, much higher than most of us can even dream
to get close to. The Pixelpusher program takes a step in the other direction: it
is might well the weakest playing chess program in the world! Pixelpusher namely
just makes a random legal move. If you are again beaten up badly by your
commercial chess playing program, try Pixelpusher!
There are now webpages for chess, and some variants of chess:
Above, you see an applet in working. It plays a game of chess against you.
How to use the applets
- To make a move, first (left) click on a piece, and then on
its destination square.
- To deselect a piece, (left) click again on the selected piece.
- To castle, (left) click on the king and then on its destination square.
The rook moves automatically with it.
- To go back to the original setup, right click on the board. If you have a
one-button mouse, click and press the alt or control button at the same time.
- The applet checks legality of the moves, including check. It follows the
chess moves precisely, except that it does not allow you to promote a piece to
something different from a queen, and:
- The applet does not determine stalemate or mate, draw by
repetition, or draw by the 50 moves rule.
Known bugs
- Promotion is automatically to a queen. Minor-promotion is not possible.
- The applet does not detect the end of a game.
- The computer just makes the first legal move he sees. It is actually
more difficult to lose from the computer than to win from it.
- The computer only plays black.
The name
I named it Pixelpusher, after the name `woodpusher' for a chess player that
actually do not think when they play a game of chess.
Comments?
Comments are appreciated. Send email to hansb@cs.ruu.nl.
Email me also if you want the source code, or want to help me improving the
code.
You can download all files from this directory, as of April 7, 1998:
WWW page and applet by Hans Bodlaender.
WWW page created: April 3, 1998. Last modified: April 7, 1998.