The ChessBrain Project Announces The Creation Of The Worlds First Computational Grid Devoted To Computer Chess

March 1, 2003

The ChessBrain project, Newbury Park, California, March 1, 2003 – The ChessBrain project announced today the completion of a computational grid devoted to creating the largest chess computer in history.

Unlike conventional networks that focus on communication among devices, grid computing harnesses unused cycles of all computers in a network for solving problems too intensive for any stand-alone machine” – webopedia.com, a popular online directory of technology terms. Since its inception, the project has been well received by the international community. ChessBrain has a number of core developers who are aided by hundreds of contributors from 27 different countries around the world who donate the use of their computers.

Each contributor's computer is sent individual work units which are analyzed locally on software specifically written for the project. This 'Peernode' software processes the data it is given, and then returns the results to a central computer called the SuperNode. The resulting network of machines forms the ChessBrain Network, a computational grid spanning the globe.

While playing a game of chess, the network uses PeerNodes to search for the best response per move. At this time, the ChessBrain grid is capable of playing master level chess.

The ChessBrain project was created a year ago to explore the use of computational grids and SOAP services to create a single massive chess computer. ChessBrain employs the use of established interoperability standards, such as XML and web services with data encryption and compression to securely transfer data along the grid.

After months of testing, we’re delighted to announce that the grid is operational, and that ChessBrain is now able to play online chess using hundreds of computers”, said Carlos Justiniano, the project’s founder. “The project made a significant amount of progress when Colin Frayn, a Chess programmer from the UK, joined the project May 2002. Colin is responsible for developing ChessBrain’s core chess playing abilities”.

ChessBrain played its first game in December 2002, and its capabilities improved since then with the support of a hundred beta testers, from the US, Europe, and as far away as Taiwan and Singapore.

Last August 2002, The ChessBrain project announced its intention to attempt a Guinness World Record. ChessBrain is currently seeking additional volunteers to run the PeerNode software, and will make its first world record attempt at the end of March.

About ChessBrain

The ChessBrain project is a non-profit Internet experiment founded in January 2002. The project is supported by hundreds of individuals who contribute their time and resources - such as programming, hosting, and technical support services.

ChessBrain has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, on local radio and on a number of high profile sites throughout the Internet.

http://www.chessbrain.net