Zappa (chess)

This article is part of the series on
Chess programming
Board representations 0x88 Bitboards
Evaluation functions Deep neural networks (Transformers ) Attention Efficiently updatable neural networks Handcrafted evaluation functions Piece-square tables Reinforcement learning Stochastic gradient descent Supervised learning Texel tuning Unsupervised learning
Graph and tree search algorithms Minimax Alpha-beta pruning Principal variation search Quiescence search Monte Carlo tree search
Chess computers Belle ChessMachine ChipTest Cray Blitz Deep Blue Deep Thought HiTech Hydra Mephisto Saitek
Chess engines AlphaZero Chess Tiger Crafty CuckooChess Deep Fritz Dragon by Komodo Chess Fairy-Max Fritz Fruit GNU Chess HIARCS Houdini Ikarus Junior KnightCap Komodo Leela Chess Zero MChess Pro Mittens MuZero Naum REBEL Rybka Shredder Sjeng SmarThink Stockfish Torch Turochamp Zappa
v t e

Zappa, Zap!Chess or Zappa Mexico, is a

In March 2008 Anthony Cozzie announced that "the Zappa project is 100% finished", which includes both tournaments and future releases.[12]

In June 2010, Zach Wegner announced that he had acquired the rights to maintain and improve the Zappa engine. The improved engine competed in the 2010 WCCC under the name Rondo, achieving second place behind Rybka before the latter's disqualification.^[13][14][15]

Commercialization

Immediately after the successful WCCC 2005, there were plans to commercialize Zappa, but the first attempts with Vincent Diepeveen failed.^[16] In April 2006,^[17] a commercial version dubbed Zap!Chess running under the Fritz GUI was released by ChessBase.^[18]

The version of Zappa that won the Zappa-Rybka match, Zappa Mexico, is sold by

Zappa vs Crafty, WCCC 2005

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Here Zappa played Re1, threatening Qxa5 Rxa5 Rxe8#; the game continued 43... Qf6 (if Rxe1 then Qg7#) 44. Rxe5 Qxe5 45. Ba2+ Kh8 46. Rd8 1–0.[19]

• Zappa vs Crafty, WCCC 2005, 1-0 Despite Zappa being a relative newcomer, it managed to win the tournament and in general caused a bit of a stir in the computer chess community.^[3]

References