Computerchess is not a popular gaming sport. But due to the inclusion of artificial intelligence, it fascinated me the most how well just a small bit of code could beat the brains out of an ordinary man like me. My personal chess ranking was around 1600 elo points, just the average. Chess is just my secondary sport. I love the outdoors, so the usual hunting and fishing served as my recreation when I was younger. Sports like basketball, soccer and table tennis were once the main alternatives of entertainment before I met my first desktop computer. And I was driven to this addiction without even knowing it.
I only started developing an attachment to this hobby after early retirement from my previous ~15 year career in the cement industry 4 years ago. Seeking a cure to eliminate my depression, I was unexpectedly driven to the addiction of computerchess. Tweaking and optimizing process variables/parameters in the control room using state-of-art equipment were somewhat similar in nature when applied to these unique machines. I still missed my work at the plant, but the replacement was fairly equal.
The attraction was instantaneous. It all started with Tim Mann and AaronTray's website visit, joining some chess forums, beta testing free engines at Superchessengine.com (c/0 Daniel Charles), being in company with my friend Gajendra Singh, and the rest is history.Though it's still a contnuous hobby, I've diverted myself on the other aspect of computerchess - programming. As a late bloomer, it was a very difficult stage where I have to read and study again like a normal student on my own. It's an on/off affair, but I managed to improve as time goes by. And it's nice that I finally discovered the art of compiling engines from source. Thanks to the help of Jim Ablett, who patiently given me useful advices through emails and answers at CCC/Winboard Forum. Building optimized code for speed and performance is a bit tricky, but it only takes a lot of practice to be well-versed in doing it.
I hope I'm still alive when I finally build my own chess engine from scratch. But I doubt it. I'm just contented with what I have right now, enjoying what life provides with my family and friends.
Enjoy the site.
Denis P. Mendoza
Create a free website at Webs.com