A Test Suite for Chess Programs

Abstract

We describe a suite of about 5500 test positions for testing chess-playing programs. The positions are mostly unoriginal and were optically scanned from chess books. The suite is in a number of files, each file being thematic by difficulty, tactical or positional content and others. A procedure for employing the tests is suggested and the authors describe how feedback by testees will allow them to expel the remaining errors. The suite aims at being diverse and of such difficulty that no player, human or machine, will score as much as 80%.