Albert Silver

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Albert Silver [1] Albert Silver,

a Brazilian independent information services professional, chess player [2], chess and computer chess journalist, aficionado, tester and expert, from 1999 - 2002 affiliated with Convekta as software designer for Chess Assistant, and editor and writer at ChessBase News [3] [4]. He is author the Silver Openings Suite [5] and the Silver Gambit Suite [6] [7] meant to be used in test matches between engines, and served as moderator in CCC.

Deus X#

Fascinated by the development initiated by DeepMind with AlphaGo and AlphaZero, and the AlphaZero inspired open source community project Leela Chess Zero, combining Deep learning techniques with Monte-Carlo Tree Search, Albert Silver made his own experiments to train the network, relaxing the “Zero” paradigm of pure reinforcement learning from ground up, but supervised learning, feeding in high quality games played by other strong chess playing entities. His Lc0 derivative dubbed Deus X [8] won the PT 54 and apparently became the driving force of the commercial ChessBase cloud project Fat Fritz [9].

Fat Fritz 2#

Fat Fritz 2, released in February 2021 by ChessBase is based on NNUE technology of Stockfish 12 with a double sized network trained by Albert Silver, and thus, running on a CPU, not requiring expensive GPU graphic cards for game playing like its predecessor [10].

Interviews#

• Deus X
• Fat Fritz 2

Selected Articles#

2010 …#

• Test your engines – the Silver Openings Suite from ChessBase.news, February 23, 2010

2011

• Computer survival guide for chess players by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 22, 2011

2012

• ChessBase Online for Android – Creating a specific book by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, July 18, 2012
• Playchess on Android review by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, September 05, 2012
• Houdini 3: the new king of the block (part one) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 13, 2012 » Houdini
• Houdini 3: Analyzing in the cloud (part two) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 17, 2012

2013

• CB for Android: Analyzing your games by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, July 10, 2013
• Lending your private Cloud Engine by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 28, 2013
• Engines and endgame tablebases by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, December 12, 2013 » Endgame Tablebases
• Web publishing with ChessBase 12 (part 1/3) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, December 22, 2013 » ChessBase (Database)
• Web publishing with ChessBase 12 (part 2/3) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, December 26, 2013
• Web publishing with ChessBase 12 (part 3/3) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, December 29, 2013

2014

• Introducing the online ChessBase database by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, January 17, 2014
• Analyzing your games with Fritz (Part one) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, June 02, 2014 » Fritz
• Analyzing your games with Fritz (Part two) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, June 04, 2014
• Analyzing your games with Fritz (Part three) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, June 07, 2014
• Komodo 8: the smartphone vs desktop challenge by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, September 24, 2014 » Komodo 8, Android
• Analyzing games with Komodo (Part one) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 12, 2014 » Komodo
• Analyzing games with Komodo (Part two) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 13, 2014
• ChessBase 13: everything you wanted to know by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 22, 2014 » ChessBase (Database)
• Komodo 8: Deep Blue revisited (part one) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, December 26, 2014 » Komodo, Deep Blue, Kasparov versus Deep Blue 1997 [11]
• Komodo 8: Deep Blue revisited (part two) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, December 31, 2014

2015 …#

• Komodo 8: Deep Blue revisited (part three) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, January 09, 2015
• ChessBase Online: 3D boards and Fritz 14 by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, February 01, 2015
• Syzygy Tablebases: newest, fastest, smallest by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, February 08, 2015 » Syzygy Bases
• Syzygy tablebases: maximizing performance by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, February 10, 2015
• MyGames: free Cloud Database on the web (1/2) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, February 15, 2015
• MyGames: free Cloud Database on the web (2/2) by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, February 18, 2015
• Deep Blue’s cheating move by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, February 19, 2015 » Kasparov versus Deep Blue 1997
• Cloud Database: saving and updating your games by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, February 21, 2015
• Deep Fritz 14 now with ChessBase for Android by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, February 23, 2015 » Fritz, Android
• Musical giants and chess by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, March 14, 2015
• BBC Radio talks with John Nunn by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, April 11, 2015 » John Nunn
• Online Database: preparing against a player by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, September 01, 2015 » ChessBase (Database)
• ChessBase: larger text and bigger board by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, September 06, 2015
• The world’s smallest chess engines by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, September 23, 2015 » 1K ZX Chess, BootChess, Toledo Nanochess, Micro-Max
• Garry Kasparov - The happiest day of his life by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 10, 2015 » Garry Kasparov

2016

• Fritz 15 engine - questions and answers by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, January 04, 2016  » Fritz, Vasik Rajlich
• AlphaGo vs Lee Sedol: history in the making by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, March 13, 2016 » AlphaGo
• Komodo: Birth of a chess engine by Priyadarshan Banjan and Albert Silver, ChessBase News, July 20, 2016 » Komodo
• Machine creativity: what it is and what it isn’t by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, August 28, 2016 » AlphaGo, Machine Creativity [12]

2017

• AMD releases new Ryzen processor by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, March 03, 2017 » AMD
• Using your home chess engine anytime, anywhere by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, May 09, 2017
• Kasparov at TED: Don’t fear intelligent machines. Work with them by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, June 12, 2017
• Building the ultimate chess machine by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 18, 2017
• Building a $500 chess machine by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 27, 2017
• The future is here – AlphaZero learns chess by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, December 06, 2017 » AlphaZero
• Fritz 16 — a fun and instructive opponent by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, December 11, 2017 » Fritz

2018

• Endgame tablebases: A short history by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, March 16, 2018 » Endgame Tablebases
• 6-piece Endgame Turbo 5: why you need it by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, March 21, 2018 » Syzygy Bases
• Americans playing for the title: Frank Marshall by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, March 30, 2018
• Americans playing for the title: Samuel Reshevsky by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, April 02, 2018
• Leela Chess Zero: AlphaZero for the PC by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, April 26, 2018 » Leela Chess Zero
• Komodo MCTS: the boa constrictor approach by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, June 15, 2018 » Komodo MCTS
• Americans playing for the title: Wilhelm Steinitz by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, June 30, 2018
• Inside the (deep) mind of AlphaZero by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, December 07, 2018

2019

• Fat Fritz – What on Earth is that? by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, August 13, 2019 » Fat Fritz
• Fat Fritz and the KID by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, August 26, 2019
• Standing on the shoulders of giants by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, September 18, 2019 » Arthur Samuel‎, Gerald Tesauro, AlphaZero, Leela Chess Zero, Fat Fritz
• Fat Fritz analysis: A matter of technique by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, September 24, 2019
• Fat Fritz: Small differences, big effect by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, October 09, 2019
• Fat Fritz: what videocard to buy by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 14, 2019
• Chess computer buyer’s guide by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 18, 2019
• Optimizing Fat Fritz, the top rated engine in the world by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 25, 2019
• Fat Fritz in the cloud by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, November 28, 2019

2020 …#

• Fat Fritz 1.1 update and a small gift by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, March 05, 2020 » Fat Fritz
• Fat Fritz 2: The Best of Both Worlds by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, February 11, 2021 » Fat Fritz 2.0
• How a neural network is made by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, February 21, 2021 » Fat Fritz 2.0
• Solving the impossible by Albert Silver, ChessBase News, June 24, 2021 » Fat Fritz 2.0

Forum Posts#

1998 …#

• LCT II results of Reb9, F5, and H6 on K6/233 by Albert Silver, CCC, January 03, 1998  » LCT II, Rebel, Fritz, HIARCS

2000 …#

• Was the List 5.12 issue ever cleared? by Albert Silver, CCC, February 26, 2004 » List
• ProbCut: An Effective Selective Extension of the Alpha-Beta Algorithm by Albert Silver, CCC, July 21, 2004 » ProbCut
• Chess training with software - from 2200 to 2400+ in 2 years by Albert Silver, CCC, July 23, 2004
• Re: Question to Albert Silver by Albert Silver, CCC, November 03, 2004

2005 …#

• Request for CEBoard and PocketGrandmaster by Albert Silver, CCC, January 16, 2006 » PocketGrandmaster
• Rybka 3: The dark truth behind the hype by Albert Silver, CCC, July 25, 2008 » Rybka
• Personal test position: Can you see the follow-up? by Albert Silver, CCC, September 23, 2008
• Running chess engine(s) from a pendrive by Albert Silver, CCC, August 05, 2009

2010 …#

• Clarification requested by Albert Silver, CCC, January 24, 2010
• New Chess Course software by ChessOk by Albert Silver, CCC, February 24, 2010 » ChessOK
• GUI idea: Testing until certainty by Albert Silver, CCC, December 07, 2010
• Grandmaster prefers Stockfish evals by Albert Silver, CCC, September 29, 2011 » Stockfish
• Intel vs AMD: which does your engine prefer? by Albert Silver, CCC, November 04, 2011 » Intel, AMD
• IPON ratings calculation by Albert Silver, CCC, December 29, 2011 » IPON
• Cloud Engine computing by Albert Silver, CCC, May 28, 2012
• Free Playchess accounts for original engine authors by Albert Silver, CCC, February 20, 2013 » Playchess
• Hybrid Memory Cube effect on computer chess by Albert Silver, CCC, April 05, 2013 » Memory [13]
• Complete 7-piece tablebases are out! by Albert Silver, CCC, April 12, 2013 » Lomonosov Tablebases
• Publish your engine for ChessBase on Android by Albert Silver, CCC, July 06, 2013 » ChessBase, Android
• Stockfish 4 - Win x64 and Linux binaries (official) by Albert Silver, CCC, August 21, 2013 » Stockfish
• DGT and Android (or iPhone) by Albert Silver, CCC, October 10, 2013 » DGT Board, Android
• Re: New Fritz author? by Albert Silver, CCC, November 20, 2013 » Fritz, Frans Morsch

2015 …#

• WAC cleaned and revised (201 positions) by Albert Silver, CCC, May 16, 2018 » Win at Chess
• Leela makes Tal proud by Albert Silver, CCC, May 18, 2018
• CLOP in cutechess-cli debug by Albert Silver, CCC, May 22, 2018 » CLOP, Cutechess-cli
• Graphs of evolution of Leela’s openings by Albert Silver, CCC, June 02, 2018 » Leela Chess Zero
• New CLOP settings give Leela huge tactics boost by Albert Silver, CCC, June 04, 2018 » CLOP, Leela Chess Zero
• Has Silver written any code for “his” ZeusX? by Chris Whittington, CCC, LCZero Forum, July 31, 2018 » Deus X
• Re: Deus X Neural Network Progress by Albert Silver, CCC, January 03, 2019
• Chessbase’s Albert Silver on LC0 & Fat Fritz by supersharp77, CCC, August 26, 2019

2020 …#

• Re: Fat Fritz Update by Albert Silver, CCC, December 12, 2020
• Time to rethink what Albert Silver has done? by Srdja Matovic, CCC, July 03, 2021 » Fat Fritz 2

Silver Openings Suite#

Openings Suites by Albert Silver

• Silver Suite - Full (PGN) by Albert Silver, CCC, January 17, 2006
• Silver Suite - Short (PGN) by Albert Silver, CCC, January 17, 2006
• Silver.epd by Dann Corbit, CCC, January 18, 2006
• Silver Openings Suite - Revised and Expanded by Albert Silver, CCC, February 01, 2006
• Silver Openings Suite - Full (50 positions) PGN by Albert Silver, CCC, February 01, 2006
• Silver Openings Suite - Short (25 positions) PGN by Albert Silver, CCC, February 01, 2006
• Silver Openings Suite - Short (balanced) by Albert Silver, CCC, February 01, 2006
• NEW Silver Openings Suite by Albert Silver, CCC, February 11, 2010
• NEW Silver Gambit Suite by Albert Silver, CCC, February 16, 2010
• NEW Silver Gambit Suite - Expanded by Albert Silver, CCC, February 17, 2010
• Test your engines – the Silver Openings Suite, ChessBase News, February 23, 2010

Silver Test Positions#

Test Positions by Albert Silver

• Test Position: Brilliant endgame shot by Albert Silver, CCC, January 24, 2010
• Test Position - The majority rule by Albert Silver, CCC, May 22, 2010
• Test Position: Ribli - Lobron, Germany 1992 by Albert Silver, CCC, June 05, 2010
• Test Position: Lemming disease (avoid move) by Albert Silver, CCC, June 05, 2010
• Test Position: Poisoned pawn by Albert Silver, CCC, June 05, 2010
• Test Position: Bring the bazooka by Albert Silver, CCC, June 06, 2010
• Test Position: One-way street by Albert Silver, CCC, June 09, 2010
• Test Position - Divide and conquer by Albert Silver, CCC, July 01, 2010
• Test Position: Punishing the stubborn by Albert Silver, CCC, August 02, 2010
• Test position: Inviting the fork by Albert Silver, CCC, November 13, 2010
• Test Position: Shirov-Eljanov analysis by Albert Silver, CCC, November 13, 2010
• Test Position: Mamedyarov-Wang Hao (32.g4!!) by Albert Silver, CCC, November 14, 2010
• Test Position: Karjakin-Kramnik (analysis) by Albert Silver, CCC, November 14, 2010
• Test Position: Ivanhoe-Rybka (brilliant knight sac) by Albert Silver, CCC, November 19, 2010
• Test Position: Rybka-Scaramanga (b6!) by Albert Silver, CCC, November 29, 2010 » DOCCC 2010
• Rook endgame: Wojtaszek-Navara by Albert Silver, CCC, January 16, 2011
• Test position: GM attacking lessons by Albert Silver, CCC, February 10, 2011
• Test position: Very tough and just tough by Albert Silver, CCC, April 01, 2011
• Test position: One more for the humans (Kurnosov-Najer) by Albert Silver, CCC, April 25, 2011
• Tough sac 19.Bg6!! (Hector-So) by Albert Silver, CCC, June 13, 2011
• Test position: Locking the cage and throwing out the key by Albert Silver, CCC, April 21, 2012
• Test position - Appearances are deceiving Nxd5!! by Albert Silver, CCC, June 23, 2012
• Monster move: 1…Nc3+!! by Albert Silver, CCC, July 03, 2012
• Test Position: Exchange or not (Javanbakht-Girish, 2012) by Albert Silver, CCC, November 15, 2012
• Test position: Kasparov-Pribyl (1980) - very tough by Albert Silver, CCC, December 12, 2012
• Test position: Kasparov-Yussupov (1981) by Albert Silver, CCC, December 18, 2012
• Test position: Fridman-Naidistch (2013) - Very hard by Albert Silver, CCC, February 13, 2013

External Links#

• Albert Silver | LinkedIn
• Albert Silver from ChessBase News
• Silver, Albert Winston - FIDE Chess Profile
• Albert Silver’s albums | Flickr
• Interview with Albert Silver - His journey to Fat Fritz 2.0 by Arne Kaehler, ChessBase News, February 12, 2021

References#

1. ↑ Albert Silver from ChessBase News
2. ↑ Re: Question to Albert Silver by Albert Silver, CCC, November 03, 2004
3. ↑ Albert Silver from ChessBase News
4. ↑ Re: Rybka disqualified and banned from World Computer Chess by Albert Silver, CCC, June 29, 2011
5. ↑ Silver Suite - Full (PGN) by Albert Silver, CCC, January 17, 2006
6. ↑ NEW Silver Gambit Suite by Albert Silver, CCC, February 16, 2010
7. ↑ Test your engines – the Silver Openings Suite from ChessBase.news, February 23, 2010
8. ↑ TCEC season 13, 2 NN engines will be participating, Leela and Deus X by Nay Lin Tun, CCC, July 28, 2018
9. ↑ ‘Deus X’ Unveiled as FAT FRITZ PROJECT… by supersharp77, CCC, August 13, 2019
10. ↑ Fat Fritz 2.0 - The new number 1, ChessBase News, February 09, 2021
11. ↑ Komodo 8: Deep Blue revisited (1/2) by Graham Banks, CCC, December 27, 2014
12. ↑ Shay Bushinsky (2009). Deus Ex Machina— A Higher Creative Species in the Game of Chess. AI Magazine, Vol. 30, No. 3
13. ↑ Hybrid Memory Cube from Wikipedia

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