Steve Maughan

Anyone who has known me for any significant length of time will will know that I have this quirky hobby.  In reality it’s more than a hobby – it’s an addiction.  I really like and enjoy computer chess and to a certain extent computer Reversi / Othello.  It all started when my Grandad bought me my first chess computer (a Morphy Encore) back in 1982.  I initially really wanted a chess computer to improve my chess.  But I started to become intrigues with the algorithms that powered these silicon brains.  Over the years I’ve read just about every published book about computer chess theory.

In 1997 I started to write a Reversi program in Delphi – this became Edge Reversi.  I learnt a lot at this time but computer chess is my first love and Reversi isn’t chess.  So in 2002 I wrote the first version of Monarch Chess.  Take a look at the page on Monarch Chess.  Due to work commitments and family fun I haven’t worked on Monarch Chess since about 2007 – but some interesting new techniques (such as “Late Move Reduction“) have surface in the meantime.  I’m starting to get that computer chess twitch again so hopefully I can start work on Monarch Chess sometime soon.