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HIARCS Chess Strength

The new  PC HIARCS 11 is now available to purchase exclusively here at the HIARCS website. On the latest SSDF rating list HIARCS 10 has jumped 109 Elo above its predecessor and now rates above famous programs like Shredder, Fritz and Junior. HIARCS 11 is even stronger!

Since its first release in December 1992 HIARCS chess software has always tried to provide value for money. I have always taken the view that each new version should be at least 40 Elo stronger than its predecessor. Unlike many others in the industry I have not cashed in on yearly upgrades even when some progress has been made. Instead I have continued to develop the application until the improvement between versions is so significant that it has to be released. It is worth reflecting on the HIARCS progress made in chess strength over the years since the very first commercial HIARCS release:

 

 

You can see from the above chart that the improvements have been significant. The following points should be highlighted:

  1. HIARCS 2.0 won the computer olympiad and the world's first official uniform platform tournament.
  2. HIARCS 2.1 won the World Microcomputer Chess Championship.
  3. HIARCS 3 was the highest ever placed computer in the AEGON man-machine tournament and achieved 2631 Elo performance.
  4. HIARCS 4 was the first non Fritz Chessbase chess engine and was the first Mac HIARCS version.
  5. HIARCS 6 was the first PC chess program to defeat a FIDE International Master in a match at tournament time controls. It also lead the SSDF rating list for almost a year and was used extensively by Garry Kasparov and in his preparations for Deep Blue. HIARCS 6 also took the Mac by storm with a native PowerPC version.
  6. HIARCS 7 lead the SSDF rating list.
  7. HIARCS 7.32 was the first commercial chess program to use Nalimov tablebases in it's search.
  8. HIARCS 8.0 marked HIARCS' return when it defeated GM Boris Gulko in an internet match.
  9. HIARCS 8 Bareev (Jan 2003 version midway between H8 and H9) drew a match with super GM Evgeny Bareev on a standard single 2Ghz PC.
  10. HIARCS 9 series revolutionised PDA Palm chess programs and was marked HIARCS' return to the Macintosh platform.
  11. HIARCS 10 became the biggest strength update in 12 years and jumped to the top of a number of rating lists.
  12. HIARCS 11 will be tested by the SSDF shortly, we are expecting a jump of 50 Elo for the single processor version.
 

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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)
For Palm, PC & Mac Chess Software with attitude, features and chess playing strength, you can't beat HIARCS!
HIARCS is designed and developed by Mark Uniacke. Contact the HIARCS Team here:  . Read our Privacy Policy here
HIARCS is a trademark of Applied Computer Concepts Ltd. All other product trademarks acknowledged.
Copyright © 2007 Applied Computer Concepts Ltd. All rights reserved. Last modified: Monday May 05, 2008.