World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) was an event held periodically from 1974 to 2024 where computer chess engines competed against each other. The event was organized by the International Computer Games Association (ICGA, until 2002 ICCA). It was often held in conjunction with the World Computer Speed Chess Championship and the Computer Olympiad, a collection of computer tournaments for other board games. Instead of using engine protocols, the games were played on physical boards by human operators.

The WCCC was open to all types of computers including microprocessors, supercomputers, clusters, and dedicated chess hardware.

Due to the requirement to be present on-site, play on a physical board, and strict rules of originality, many strong programs refrained 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.

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. However, this was reversed in the following year and a parallel Software Championship was held instead; unlimited hardware was once again allowed in the championship proper.

Event #YearLocationParticipantsWinner11974Stockholm13Kaissa21977Toronto16Chess 4.631980Linz18Belle41983New York22Cray Blitz51986Cologne22Cray Blitz61989Edmonton24Deep Thought71992Madrid22ChessMachine (Gideon)81995Hong Kong24Fritz91999Paderborn30Shredder102002Maastricht18Deep Junior112003Graz16Shredder122004Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan14Deep Junior132005Reykjavík12Zappa142006Turin18Junior152007Amsterdam12ZappaRybka originally won the WCCC in 2007–2010, but was later disqualified for plagiarising code in a controversial decision.162008Beijing10HIARCS172009Pamplona10Junior, Shredder, Sjeng182010Kanazawa10Rondo, Thinker192011Tilburg9Junior202013Yokohama6Junior212015Leiden9Jonny222016Leiden6Komodo232017Leiden4Komodo242018Stockholm8Komodo252019Macau6Komodo262022Vienna5Komodo Dragon, Leela Chess Zero272023Valencia4Stoofvlees282024Santiago de Compostela9Jonny, Stoofvlees, Raptor

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 (WCSC) stated that competing programs must run on machines with identical hardware specifications. Time control was game in 45 minutes with 15 second increment.HIARCS.net - announcement of new tournament

Event #YearLocationParticipantsWinnerHardware12010Kanazawa9ShredderIntel quad core Xeon 2.66 GHz, 8MB HashChessCentral report on 2010 World Chess Software Championship22011Tilburg5HIARCSIntel Core2 Duo, 1.7 GHz, 2MB Hash 32013Yokohama6HIARCSIntel quad core i7, 2.7 GHz, 16MB Hash42015Leiden8Shredder Intel quad core i7, 2.7 GHz, 16MB Hash52016Leiden7KomodoIntel quad core i7, 3.4 GHz, 16MB Hash 62017Leiden7ShredderIntel quad core i7, 3.4 GHz, 16MB Hash72018Stockholm9KomodoIntel quad core i7, 1.8 GHz, 16MB Hash82019Macau6KomodoIntel Pentium Silver N5000, 4 GB RAM92022Vienna6Ginkgosubnotebook102023Valencia4FritzAMD Ryzen 7 3700X, NVIDIA GT710112024Santiago de Compostela9RofchadeIntel i5-14400 with 16GB RAM

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 #YearLocationParticipantsWinner11980London12Fidelity Chess Challenger21981Travemünde8Fidelity X31983Budapest15Fidelity Elite A/S41984Glasgow12Fidelity Elite X, Mephisto, Princhess X, Psion51985Amsterdam6 / 5Mephisto / Nona61986Dallas6Mephisto71987Rome2 / 7Mephisto / Psion81988Almería2 / 7Mephisto91989Portorož9Mephisto101990Lyon12Mephisto111991Vancouver, Canada15ChessMachine (Gideon)121993Munich28HIARCS131995Paderborn, Germany33MChess Pro 5.0141996Jakarta27Shredder151997Paris34Junior161999Paderborn, Germany30Shredder172000London14Shredder182001Maastricht18Deep Junior

See also ICGA Journal - Academic journal published by the ICGA Chess engine Computer chess Computer Olympiad World Computer Speed Chess Championship North American Computer Chess Championship Chess.com Computer Chess Championship Top Chess Engine Championship

Notes

References

External links Official website of the International Computer Games Association (ICGA) ICGA - Kanazawa - 18th WCCC 2010 ICGA - Pamplona - 17th WCCC 2009 ICGA - Beijing - 16th WCCC 2008 ICGA - Amsterdam - 15th WCCC 2007 ICGA - Turin - 14th WCCC 2006 ICGA - Reykjavík - 13th WCCC 2005