HIARCS Chess Software for PC Windows, Apple Mac and iPhone/iPad Chess Pedigree
World Championship winning computer chess software program & downloads for chess database, analysis & play on PC, Mac and iPhone

HIARCS Home Up Why Choose HIARCS? Achievements Chess Strength Illustrative Play HIARCS Chronicles Mark Uniacke

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HIARCS is a chess program by Mark Uniacke developed from an original idea born out of a physics classroom at a comprehensive school way back in 1980. The objective was to create a chess playing entity with an emphasis on artificial intelligence, rather than sheer number-crunching, capable of competing with the best human chess players in the world.

HIARCS stands for Higher Intelligence Auto Response Chess System.

The key milestone achievements of HIARCS are:

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1991 World Amateur Microcomputer Chess Champion, Vancouver, Canada.

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1993 World Computer Chess Olympiad Champion, London, England.

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1993 World Microcomputer Chess Software Champion, Munich, Germany

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1995 Top placed computer, Man-Machine AEGON tournament, The Hague, The Netherlands, achieving a Grandmaster performance and defeating top US GM Yasser Seirawan.

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1997 First microcomputer chess program in history to win and :w defeat a FIDE International Master in match play when HIARCS defeated IM Deen Hergott 4-2 in Ottawa, Canada.

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1997 Garry Kasparov specifically requested HIARCS as his training partner for his second match with IBM’s Deep Blue. He later said on record HIARCS is much better positionally than Deep Blue”.

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2002 HIARCS defeats top Russian GM Boris Gulko 1½-½ in Internet Man-Machine chess challenge match.

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2003 HIARCS draws chess match 2-2 with World top 10 Super GM Evgeny Bareev, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

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2005 HIARCS on a Palm PDA becomes the first handheld chess computer in history to defeat a GM in a match when it defeated top German GM Jan Gustafsson 3-1 in a Man-Machine Internet match achieving a higher performance rating than Garry Kasparov.  Palm HIARCS also defeated GM Sergey Volkov 3-1 and GM Piotr Bobras 3-1 in two four game matches.

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2006 HIARCS for Palm PDA becomes the first handheld chess computer in history to win a GM tournament when it won the 2nd Congress Pichay Invitational in the Philippines and defeated super GM Mark Paragua.

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2007 HIARCS wins Internet Chess Club CCT9 Blitz tournament for the second year running and breaks the 3000 Elo barrier.

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2007 HIARCS wins 17th International Paderborn computer chess tournament in Germany ahead of a world class field including other World Computer Chess Champions..

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2008 HIARCS wins 17th International Thüringer Computer Chess Championship in Germany ahead of all major competitors.

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2008 HIARCS on Pocket PC won the 2008 Mescosur Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina ahead of Grandmasters scoring an incredible undefeated 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 a PDA in history.

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2008 HIARCS is World Computer Chess Champion at 16th World Computer Chess Championship in Beijing, China.

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2008 HIARCS is top single-computer in 28th Dutch Open Computer Chess Championship in Leiden, The Netherlands.

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

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2009 HIARCS on Pocket PC won the 2009 Mescosur Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina ahead of Grandmasters scoring an incredible undefeated 9½/10 in the process. This is a performance of 2938 Elo which is the best ever chess performance rating for any handheld device in history and higher than Garry Kasparov's peak Elo rating!

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2010 HIARCS is top single-computer in 12th Internet Chess Club CCT tournament.

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2010 HIARCS is top single-computer in 10th International CSVN Tournament in Leiden, The Netherlands.

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2010 HIARCS is equal top single-computer in 30th Dutch Open Computer Chess Championship in Leiden, The Netherlands.

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2011 HIARCS is World Chess Software Champion at 3rd World Chess Software Championship in Tilburg, The Netherlands.

For a fuller chronological list of HIARCS' achievements click here.

We are running a series of articles in which Mark Uniacke author of HIARCS details where HIARCS began and its evolution and rise through the ranks to become World Chess Software Champion and onwards to its present position offering World Class Chess Software on multiple platforms and winning the 2011 World Chess Software Championship. 

These articles will provide not only details of HIARCS history but will explain various algorithms and ideas used in the HIARCS chess software and key games in its evolution.

Begin with our "Where it all began" article.

Undecided? - please read our "Why Choose HIARCS?" page.

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"generally I use HIARCS." - Five time World Chess Champion Vishy Anand, in a recent interview when asked what chess program he uses to analyse with
 
"HIARCS is much better positionally than Deep Blue." - Garry Kasparov 1997 (after game 5 of the rematch)

World Chess Champion, Vishy Anand, used "Powerful" HIARCS machine in preparations for his 2010 & 2012 world title matches

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

† Highest performance reached depends on computer used. Computer Chess Software with world class chess engine playing strength.
HIARCS is designed and developed by Mark Uniacke in England.

*VAT and local sales tax may be applicable. Prices given in GBP, USD and EUR are subject to change without notice.
Other currencies are subject to conversion rates from GBP.

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