HIARCS PC Mac & Palm Chess Software    HIARCS Chess Software
World Class PC, Mac, Pocket PC, Palm, Mobile and iPhone Chess Software on your desktop and in the Palm of your hand!

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What's New
Sigma Chess HIARCS
PC Chess HIARCS
Palm Chess HIARCS
Pocket Chess HIARCS
HIARCS iPhone Chess

Welcome to HIARCS, a World Championship winning chess software engine available for Pocket PC, Palm, Apple iPhone & iPod Touch, PDAs, PC and Macintosh computers. HIARCS provides the strongest chess software on many platforms and is available direct from the developer and is renowned for its high quality, world class chess strength, handicap levels and features. Unprecedented performance from handheld devices to multi-core/processor desktops.

[New!] HIARCS Palm Chess Pro 12.1u - free update for existing HIARCS Palm Chess Pro v12.1 owners

[New!]HIARCS 12.1 for Pocket PC chess achieves highest ever rating of 2749 Elo on SSDF rating list

[New!]HIARCS iPhone Chess for the iPhone and iPod Touch now available on the Apple App Store.

[New!]HIARCS on Pocket PC wins 2009 Mescosur Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 2009.
scoring an incredible undefeated 9½/10 points (3 points clear of second placed Grandmaster) and 2938 Elo performance rating!

Other recent tournament successes:
HIARCS wins the 9th International CSVN Tournament in Leiden, The Netherlands, June 2009
HIARCS wins only major tournament of 2008 with ALL top chess software competing.

HIARCS top single-computer in 28th Dutch Open Computer Chess Championship, Leiden, The Netherlands, November 2008
HIARCS top single-computer in 16th World Computer Chess Championship, Beijing, China, October 2008
HIARCS wins 17th International Thüringer Computer Chess Championship, Germany, May 2008
HIARCS wins 17th International Paderborn Computer Chess Championship, Paderborn, Germany, December 2007

 HIARCS Chess Software products for PC, Macintosh and Palm PDAs

News by product


Macintosh Sigma Chess HIARCS 12.1 
World's strongest and best featured Macintosh chess program
Suitable for all players from beginners to the World Champion with human-like play
Universal binary HIARCS chess engine can run at maximum speed on Intel and PowerPC hardware
Platform: Intel or PowerPC based Apple Macintosh™ computers running Mac™ OS X 10.3 or later
Playing ability: Beginner (1250 Elo) to World Chess Championship strength (3000+ Elo)†
with human-like play

       

Sigma Chess HIARCS is the strongest and best featured chess software for Apple Macintosh computers.  We have combined the high quality Sigma Chess GUI with the latest and strongest HIARCS chess engine for Apple Macintosh computers. Giving Mac OS X owners the strongest chess engine ever and best features for analysis and play on both Intel and PowerPC (G3/G4/G5) Macintosh computers. Sigma Chess HIARCS offers unrivalled full world championship strength chess play and analysis (single or multiprocessor versions) on all Apple Mac OS X computers. Read more about Sigma Chess HIARCS...

Key features:  

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The new premier HIARCS 12.1 single or multiprocessor chess engine in UCI form

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HIARCS 12.1 won the Thuringer Computer Chess Championship 2008

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Clearly the strongest chess program ever for Macintosh computers

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Universal binary supporting all Intel and PowerPC Macintosh computers

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Suitable for all players from beginner to World Championship strength and beyond!

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Can play at any chess standard you set in Elo rating points challenging all players*

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Unlimited levels and time controls: Casual, Blitz, Active, Fischer and Tournament

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Tournament book with the latest opening theory for study and preparation

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Nalimov tablebase support of up to 6 pieces for perfect play in the endgame*

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New Sigma Chess 6.1.6 Graphical User Interface with features like MultiPV

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Monitors your play, measures your progress with Elo history graph and statistics

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Sigma Chess Pro now supports engine-engine matches and multiPV display!*

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Sigma Chess GUI game collections (PGN & EPD) and HTML web page export

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High resolution, colour graphics with 2D/3D boards and multiple piece styles

*Sigma Chess HIARCS Pro features.

Sigma Chess HIARCS is a software download product

Prices from*: £24.95 / 29.95 / $39.95     *VAT may be applicable for European Union residents.

LEARN MORE  DOWNLOAD  HOW TO BUY
 

2008
HIARCS defeats all competing Mac chess s/w in tournaments.

June 2008
New Sigma Chess 6.1.6 and HIARCS 12.1 SP & MP versions released.

 

April 2007
Sigma Chess HIARCS 11.1 defeats all Mac rivals with ease


"The best computer chess period... serious players will discover HIARCS, the chess engine Gary Kasparov considers "better than Deep Blue", and the heavy-hitters will find almost everything they could ask from a computer chess companion in Sigma Chess"
Version tracker, Five star review

 

PC Chess HIARCS 12.1 UCI
Suitable for all players from beginners to the World Champion with human-like play
Platform: PC MS Windows™ 98, ME, 2000, XP, XP x64 and Vista (all versions)
Playing ability: Beginner (1250 Elo) up to World Chess Championship strength (3000+ Elo)†

HIARCS chess software has long been established as one of the world's premier chess playing engines. Now the latest version 12 takes the HIARCS series of chess engines to a new level of chess understanding and chess strength. Never before has HIARCS been so fast, searched so deep or been so strong!  The unique and entertaining attacking style has been enhanced and extended so HIARCS is often more decisive in its attacking approach which includes direct king attacks. The chess knowledge has naturally been improved and the search is deeper and hence Hiarcs 12 is more capable than any of its predecessors. Read more about HIARCS for PC Chess...  Key features:

bulletThe premier HIARCS 12.1 single or multiprocessor chess engine in UCI form for use in all good chess GUIs
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HIARCS 12.1 won the Thuringer Computer Chess Championship 2008

bulletFREE updates of the HIARCS 12 series as available (Paderborn & H12.1 versions already included) and special upgrade pricing to an eventual HIARCS 13 UCI when purchased on www.hiarcs.com.
bulletLatest super strong HIARCS tournament opening book and accessible directly from the engine
bulletEngine book and position learning are built in helping HIARCS improve as it plays or analyses
bulletFull set of configurable HIARCS UCI engine parameters
bulletFlexible user-friendly license
bulletUCI compatibility including FRC/Chess960 allowing integration into any GUI supporting UCI
bulletUser defined playing strength from 1250 Elo based on your chosen Elo with realistic human like play make HIARCS suitable for all players from beginner to World Champion.

"If Hiarcs 11 is like a samurai that cut your head with a sharp blade in an instant, Hiarcs 12 is like a surgeon that extracts your brain from move 10. You simply do not see you are already dead... HIARCS 12 is even more dangerous, more vicious, more unstoppable. I am good enough not to fall in tactical mistakes, but Hiarcs does not need that to crush the opposition. Just a microscopic, a marginal imprecision, a matter of almost nothing and your fate is already written in the wall." - Fernando

PC Chess HIARCS 12 UCI is a software download product only. It requires a GUI supporting UCI engines such as Fritz, Chessbase, Arena, Chess Assistant, Shredder, Chess Partner etc.
[New!]Download free HIARCS 12.1 Chessbase opening book in ctg format 23Mb Chessbase GUI on PC needed to read book

Prices from*: £24.95 / 29.95 / $39.95     *VAT may be applicable for European Union residents.

LEARN MORE  HOW TO BUY

June 2009
HIARCS wins the 9th International CSVN Tournament in Leiden, The Netherlands.

November 2008
HIARCS is top single-computer in Dutch Open Computer Chess Championship in Leiden, The Netherlands

October 2008
HIARCS is top single-computer in World Computer Chess Championship in Beijing, China

May 2008
HIARCS wins 17th International German Computer Chess Championship ahead of a World class field

December 2007
HIARCS wins 17th International Paderborn Computer Chess Championship in Paderborn, Germany

February 2007
HIARCS is Internet Chess Club CCT9 Blitz Champion again

 

[New!]HIARCS Palm Chess Pro v12.1
World's strongest and best featured Palm chess software.
Suitable for all, from beginner to strong Grandmaster with human-like play, energy saving handicap levels and coaching.
Platform: PalmOS™, Palm Tungsten, Zire, LifeDrive, Treo, Sony Clie, Handspring, Tapwave or compatible.
Playing ability: Absolute beginner (750 Elo) to Strong Grandmaster (2700+ Elo)†

Palm Chess Pro has won 4 matches with chess Grandmasters - are you up to the challenge?
The strongest and most successful handheld chess player in history!

       
Low resolution view, High resolution screen shots available on the product and manual pages.        

The new Hiarcs Palm Chess Pro 12.1 really is the ultimate Palm chess program. HIARCS for Palm has proven to be significantly stronger than all other Palm and Pocket PC chess software since 2004 and now it's much stronger than ever before! It has a full range of realistic weaker opponents catering for all players from absolute beginners to professional Grandmasters. HIARCS Palm Chess Pro now has superb energy saving handicap levels massively extending battery life both in play and analysis. The human-like playing style and settable Elo opponents give you the range of opponents and practice you need to really improve your chess. Now with database support and game variation/branches it is an excellent analysis tool for every chess player. Packed with many more features than any other Palm chess program, HIARCS Palm Chess Pro is really beyond comparison. Key features:

bulletWorld's strongest PDA chess program, true super GM strength in the Palm of your hand!
bulletUnlimited beginner, intermediate and advanced levels challenging all players.
bulletSpecial Energy Saver Handicap levels reduce battery use and can be set to your strength.
bulletCoach to teach moves, watch your games, point out mistakes and give hints.
bulletBuilt in Elo rating monitor rates your play and measures your progress.
bulletMultiple database support, includes 4 game databases of the great champions.
bulletGame variations through multiple linked game branches.
bulletInterfaces with desktop software using PGN format import and export.
bulletUnlimited levels and time controls: Casual, Blitz, Active, Fischer and Tournament.
bulletMany opening books available with latest theory for study and preparation.
bulletOpenings named with Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (ECO) reference
bulletHigh res, colour graphics, multiple boards sizes, piece sets and VCR controls.

Why not learn, play or analyse chess while you travel?  HIARCS Palm Chess Pro makes a perfect companion on a journey. Free palm chess game demo software, opening books and updates available in the download area

"It is the best Palm program (I have them all) and the strongest" - Henri Arsenault
"A truly world-class achievement in chess software development" - Bob Newell

"Now I add to your virtues extraordinary customer support!
" - James Breeden

HIARCS Palm Chess Pro is a software download product

Price*: £24.95 / 29.95 / $39.95     *VAT may be applicable for European Union residents.

LEARN MORE  DOWNLOAD  HOW TO BUY

"I must say that this just confirms my experience to date - HIARCS for Palm is an outstanding piece of software which I don't hesitate to recommend. It's nice to know that the developer behind it is so responsive and helpful as well!" - Adam Oellermann (author of "Blikskottel")

       
 

November 2009
HIARCS Palm Chess Pro 12.1u released stronger than ever!

Sepetmber 2009
HIARCS 12.1 engine for PDAs achieves highest ever official chess rating for a PDA of 2749 Elo on SSDF rating list

March 2009
HIARCS Palm Chess Pro v12.1 with +100 Elo strength and many great new features.

November 2008
Palm Chess HIARCS 9.7 on Zire 31 defeats GM Dusan Popovic 3½-½ in match! (more soon).

November 2007
HIARCS for Palm version 9.7 released.

April 2006
HIARCS for Palm tops the Congress Pichay Invitational ahead of 2 GMs, 8 IMs, 5 FMs and 18 NMs!

January 2006
HIARCS for Palm is clear top rated PDA chess program on the SSDF rating list.

September 2005
HIARCS on Palm PDA defeats Polish GM Piotr Bobras 3-1 in match!

June 2005
HIARCS on Palm PDA defeats top Russian Super-GM Sergey Volkov 3-1 in match!

May 2005
HIARCS on Palm PDA wins tournament with Palm and dedicated chess computers.

January 2005
HIARCS on Palm PDA defeats top GM 3-1 in 4 Game Internet Match for a 2809 Elo performance rating!

December 2004
Rated top Palm chess program for strength and features by the world's best computer chess magazine: Selective Search

 


Pocket Chess HIARCS v12.1
World's strongest and best featured Pocket PC chess program.
Suitable for all, from beginner to strong Grandmaster with human-like play, and energy saving handicap levels.
Platform: Pocket PC, Windows Mobile™ 2003 or later
Playing ability: Absolute beginner (750 Elo) to Strong Grandmaster (2700+ Elo)†

           

Our latest chess product offering the strongest chess engine on Pocket PC devices. We have partnered with the excellent CEBoard Pocket PC Chess GUI to provide the great combination of the strongest chess engine together with superb user friendly features for chess players of all strengths. A particular highlight of the new product is the enormous range of special energy saving levels and move advise / highlighting which give players of all strengths the opponents and help they need. CEBoard HIARCS now includes the new premier HIARCS 12.1 chess engine running natively on ARM based Pocket PC devices.

HIARCS is the first chess engine in history to score an undefeated super Grandmaster performance on Pocket PC devices in a Grandmaster tournament, winning the 2008 Mescosur Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition it offers these great features:

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World's strongest Pocket PC chess program, true super GM strength in your hand!

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Suitable for all players from beginner to super Grandmaster (700 Elo - 2700 Elo!).

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Special Energy Saver Set Elo levels reduce battery use and can be set to your strength.

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Fully configurable chess engine including time controls, playing style and search.

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Top quality 900,000 position opening book with latest theory for study and preparation.

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Unique graphical advise capability to demonstrate and highlight move options & quality.

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Multiple lines of analysis and graphical & algebraic book presentation

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CEBoard GUI supports PGN databases including variations and comments

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CEBoard support high resolution, colour graphics with multiple boards and piece styles.

To find out more about this new Pocket PC chess product visit our Pocket Chess HIARCS page.

Prices*: £24.95 / 29.95 / $39.95     *VAT may be applicable for European Union residents.

LEARN MORE  DOWNLOAD  HOW TO BUY
 

Sepetmber 2009
HIARCS 12.1 for PocketPC achieves highest ever official chess rating for a PDA of 2749 Elo on SSDF rating list

December 2008
Pocket Chess HIARCS for CEBoard on Pocket PC launched

August 2008
HIARCS wins 2008 Mercosur Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina ahead of grandmasters


[New!]HIARCS Chess v12.1 for iPhone and iPod Touch
World's strongest iPhone chess software.
Suitable for all, from beginner to strong Grandmaster with human-like play, energy saving handicap levels and coaching.
Platform: iPhone and iPod Touch (iPhone OS 2.0 or later) - iPhone OS 3.0 tested
Playing ability: Absolute beginner (1000 Elo) to Strong Grandmaster (2700+ Elo)†

HIARCS is a World Championship winning chess program that has proven to be the strongest chess program on Palm and Pocket PC devices and is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

This power enables your iPhone to play chess like a super Grandmaster, analyse games and chess problems with you, while offering numerous features to help you learn and improve as you play with HIARCS.

HIARCS Chess has a full range of realistic weaker opponents and playing styles catering for all players from absolute beginners to professional Grandmasters. On the weaker playing levels HIARCS will make human-like mistakes appropriate to the level of play and this together with the in-built coach watching allows you to learn and improve quickly. HIARCS can even adjust its playing strength as you improve and learn more. In addition it offers these great features:

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Strongest chess program on iPhone and iPod Touch - genuine strong GM level

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Suitable for all players with low energy settable Elo levels and opponents

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Play white or black, analyse or watch game with settable chess clock for timed play

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Rates your play in Elo, a coach warns about mistakes with hint moves and takebacks

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Friendly user interface with 5 piece sets, colour schemes and figurine notation

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Over 1 million move opening book with move choices and opening names displayed

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Save/Load/Email game, set up positions, navigate through game

To find out more about this new Apple iPhone chess product visit our HIARCS iPhone Chess product page.

"The playing program is good. It is good enough to beat 99.9% of chess players on this planet....It gives an excellent entertainment and educational value...On the scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 9.5. Well done!" - Susan Polgar, former Women's World Chess Champion and award-winning chess author.

HIARCS iPhone Chess is vailable only on the Apple iTunes App Store.

LEARN MORE about HIARCS iPhone Chess
 

September 2009
"The playing program is good. It is good enough to beat 99.9% of chess players on this planet....It gives an excellent entertainment and educational value...On the scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 9.5. Well done!" - review of HIARCS iPhone Chess by Susan Polgar, former Women's World Chess Champion and award-winning chess author.

August 2009
HIARCS iPhone Chess for iPhone and iPod Touch launched

HIARCS Chess Performances on handheld devices

HIARCS version Device Played against/in Result Performance rating
Palm Chess HIARCS 9.5a Zire 72 (ARM/312Mhz) GM Jan Gustafsson (2616 Elo) HIARCS won 3-1 2809 Elo
Palm Chess HIARCS 9.5a Zire 72 (ARM/312Mhz) GM Sergey Volkov (2682 Elo) HIARCS won 3-1 2875 Elo
Palm Chess HIARCS 9.5a Zire 72 (ARM/312Mhz) GM Piotr Bobras (2655 Elo) HIARCS won 3-1 2848 Elo
Palm Chess HIARCS 9.6 Lifedrive (ARM/400Mhz) 2nd Congressman Pichay Invitational, Philippines HIARCS won tournament 6/7 points 2748 Elo
Palm Chess HIARCS 9.7 Zire 31 (ARM/200Mhz) GM  Dusan Popovic (2555 Elo) HIARCS won 3½-½ 2884 Elo
Pocket HIARCS 12.1 in PF3 Pocket PC (ARM/624Mhz) 2008 Mescosur Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina HIARCS won tournament 8/10 points 2691 Elo
Pocket HIARCS X in PF4 Pocket PC (ARM/528Mhz) 2009 Mescosur Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina HIARCS won tournament 9½/10 points 2938 Elo

HIARCS Chess Software Pedigree: Origins, Evolution and Milestones

For over 10 years some of the best chess players in the world have been using HIARCS to prepare, analyse and play against. HIARCS is the result of 20 years active development by author Mark Uniacke and was the first PC chess program in history to win a match with an International Master (1996) and in 2003 it became the first chess program on a single processor to draw a match against a Super GM. In 2005 HIARCS on a Palm PDA became the first and only handheld chess program in history to defeat a GM in a match and in 2006 it was again the first and only handheld chess program to win a GM/IM tournament!   In 2008 our Pocket PC chess engine won the 2008 Mescusor Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina ahead of Grandmasters scoring 8/10 in the process. This is a performance of 2691 Elo which is the best ever chess performance rating of a chess program on PDA in a Grandmaster tournament in history. Meanwhile its big brother HIARCS on PC and Mac was producing brilliant attacking chess to win a number of international computer chess tournaments and was top single computer in the World Computer Chess Championship in Beijing, China, Oct 2008. In August 2009, our Pocket PC chess engine went more than one step better by scoring an unprecedented and undefeated 9½/10 points (3 points clear of second placed Grandmaster) and 2938 Elo performance rating!  The greatest performance by any handheld chess computer in history.

"For me the Hiarcs brand is to PC chess what Mephisto was to dedicated - classy and a brand I trust." - Howard Deere

Recently a couple of customers posted these assessments of the HIARCS series of chess programs on a public forum, we think they nicely sum up what HIARCS is all about:

"...there is something that has been his [Hiarcs] monopoly, ever: style... The essence of Hiarcs style, if we still will use the word, is kind of an unrelenting, sharp, murderous, pitiless ability and hunger for blood... Hiarcs kills you as a guy jumping on you with a sword would do. No matter how good your position seems to be, how solid and ultra defensive, Hiarcs suddenly will find a corner to kick and put all your building in ruins. It is exhilarating to play it, more, lot more than with any other strong program. It is a real pleasure to be defeated that way. Fast, lightning, unexpected death."  - Fernando

"Hiarcs by Mark Uniacke comes in so many formats there is virtually no place you can't play a game against it. HIARCS is actually an acronym that stands for "Higher Intelligence Auto Response Chess System", and it truly lives up the name. In 1997, during his rematch with Deep Blue, Gary Kasparov had this to say about HIARCS: "HIARCS is much better positionally than Deep Blue." HIARCS also holds the longest standing reign for maintaining a top 5 rating in the World. It has the distinction of improving the most per version over the course of it's history as well. Oh.. by the way.. it's a World Champion as well."  - Peter Skinner

Even the world's greatest ever player, Garry Kasparov, used HIARCS to prepare for IBM's Deep Blue 2!

Unsure if you need a professional chess program like HIARCS? - read our "Why Choose HIARCS?" page.

[New!]Historical old HIARCS version now being made available on our free chess software page.

HIARCS Chess Forum

Follow computer chess by subscribing to Selective Search - the longest running computer chess magazine.

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"It is exhilarating to play [HIARCS], more, a lot more than with any other strong program. It is a real pleasure to be defeated that way. Fast, lightning, unexpected death." - Fernando Villegas, April 2007
"HIARCS is much better positionally than Deep Blue." - Garry Kasparov 1997 (after game 5 of the rematch)

"This level of service is one other big reason to buy HIARCS." - John Jackson, November 2009

For Palm, PC, Mac, Pocket PC and iPhone Chess Software with attitude, features and chess playing strength, you can't beat HIARCS!
† Highest performance reached depends on hardware/device used.

HIARCS Chess Software is designed and developed by Mark Uniacke in England.
HIARCS is a trademark of Applied Computer Concepts Ltd. All other product trademarks acknowledged.
Copyright © 1991-2009 Applied Computer Concepts Ltd. All rights reserved. Last modified: Monday November 09, 2009.
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