Swedish Chess Computer Association

The Swedish Chess Computer Association ( _sv. Svenska schackdatorföreningen, SSDF) is an organization that tests computer chess software by playing chess programs against one another and producing a rating list. On September 26, 2008, the list was released with Deep Rybka 3 leading with an estimated ELO rating of 3238. Rybka's listing in June 2006 was the first time a program on the list has passed the 2900 mark. (The SSDF rating pool is independent from any national or international rating pool such as FIDE, so the computer ratings can only be used for relative comparison between themselves.)

The SSDF list is one of the only statistically significant measures of chess engine strength, especially compared to tournaments, because it incorporates the results of thousands of games played on standard hardware at tournament time controls. The list reports not only absolute rating, but also error bars, winning percentages, and recorded moves of played games. However, it has recently come under criticism, due to its continued use of computers that are far slower than the typical computer today (256 MB memory, single processor Athlon 1.2 GHz). Therefore, engines listed in the SSDF are likely to have ratings on leading-edge hardware that are higher than their SSDF-listed ratings.

The SSDF has announced that their next platform for testing will be an Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 2.4 GHz with 2 GB of RAM-memory and a 64-bit operating system.

Rating list year-end leaders

* 1984: Novag Super Constellation 6502 4 MHz (1631)
* 1985: Mephisto Amsterdam 68000 12 MHz (1827)
* 1986: Mephisto Amsterdam 68000 12 MHz (1827)
* 1987: Mephisto Dallas 68020 14 MHz (1923)
* 1988: Mephisto MM 4 Turbo Kit 6502 16 MHz (1993)
* 1989: Mephisto Portorose 68020 12 MHz (2027)
* 1990: Mephisto Portorose 68030 36 MHz (2138)
* 1991: Mephisto Vancouver 68030 36 MHz (2127)
* 1992: Chess Machine 30 MHz Schröder 3.0 (2174)
* 1993: Mephisto Genius 2.0 486/50-66 MHz (2235)
* 1995: MChess Pro 5.0 Pentium 90 MHz (2306)
* 1996: Rebel 8.0 Pentium 90 MHz (2337)
* 1997: HIARCS 6.0 49MB P200 MMX (2418)
* 1998: Fritz 5.0 PB29% 67MB P200 MMX (2460)
* 1999: Chess Tiger 12.0 DOS 128MB K6-2 450 MHz (2594)
* 2000: Fritz 6.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz (2607)
* 2001: Chess Tiger 14.0 CB 256MB Athlon 1200 (2709)
* 2002: Deep Fritz 7.0 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz (2759)
* 2003: Shredder 7.04 UCI 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz (2791)
* 2004: Shredder 8.0 CB 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz (2800)
* 2005: Shredder 9.0 UCI 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz (2808)
* 2006: Rybka 1.2 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz (2902)
* 2007: Rybka 2.3.1 Arena 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz (2935)
* 2008: Deep Rybka 3 2GB Q6600 2.4 GHz (3238)

ee also

*Chess engine rating lists
*Chess Engines Grand Tournament (CEGT)

References, external links

* [http://ssdf.bosjo.net/list.htm Swedish Chess Computer Association]
* [http://home.interact.se/~w100107/historik.htm PLY/SSDF – the story]
* [http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/2640/ssdf/ssdf.htm SSDF Computer Chess Rating Lists] (1996-2000)