Home * Engine Testing * Test-Positions

Note: In recent years testing positions has fallen out of favor among top engine developers. SPRT tests are now generally regarded as a superior method for engine testing.

There are several classical and new developed test-position suites available as

• Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN)
• Extended Position Description (EPD)
• Portable Game Notation (PGN)

Test Suites

add more...

• Bednorz-Tönissen Test (BT-Test, BS-Test)
• Bratko-Kopec Test (BK-Test)
• CCR One Hour Test by Larry Kaufman
• Eigenmann Endgame Test
• Eigenmann Rapid Engine Test
• Kaufman Test
• LCT II
• The Nolot Suite
• Null Move Test-Positions
• Silent but Deadly an EPD test by Dann Corbit that is designed to help tune chess engines (2008)
• Strategic Test Suite by Dann Corbit and Swaminathan
• Win at Chess

Studies and famous Positions

• Behting Study
• Djaja Study
• HAKMEM 70
• Lasker-Reichhelm Position (Fine #70)
• Réti Endgame Study
• Szén Position
• Saavedra position

Other Test Suites

• Amundsen chess program | Testsuites collected by John Bergbom » Amundsen
• Arasan Test Suite by Jon Dart » Arasan ¹
• Big Book Of Combinations (long post) by Jouni Uski, CCC, September 17, 2001
• CCC-I test set by Ed Schröder, CCC, October 04, 1997
• CCC-II test set by Ed Schröder, CCC, October 04, 1997
• CCC-III (positional test) by Ed Schröder, CCC, October 06, 1997
• Colditz test suite by Ferdinand Mosca, CCC, December 30, 2016
• CSS WM-Test hosted by Steffen A. Jakob, css-wm.epd ^{2 3 4}
• ECM.epd from Renze Steenhuisen's projects ^{5 6}
• Endgame testsuite - final version + pgn with comments by Sune Larsson, CCC, January 01, 2006
• My Positional Test Suite by Tony Hedlund ⁷
• New Zugzwang Testsuite by Robert Allgeuer, CCC, October 14, 2004 » Zugzwang
• Passed Pawn Suite by Howard Exner, CCC, February 24, 2000 » Passed Pawn
• Quicktest by Michael Scheidl
• Test by Kurt Utzinger
• Test suites for chess software by Emil Vlasák
• Test Suites from Hossa - A Chess Program by Steffen A. Jakob
• Tests by Pierre Nolot from blitzchess.fr (French)
• Zugzwang Test Suite ZPTS - updated version and results of Fruit by Robert Allgeuer, CCC, October 19, 2004 ⁸ » Zugzwang

Opening Suites

Banks

• Graham2014-1.cgb opening book for ChessGUI by Graham Banks, CCC, December 19, 2013 » ChessGUI

Hyatt

• Crafty/openings at master · MichaelB7/Crafty · GitHub
• Hyatt 4000 openings 7z ⁹

Lacrosse

• Fast engine testing : the MLmfl test by Marc Lacrosse, January 08, 2007

Nebula

• Test Sets - Nebula Chess by Dragan Zdravkovic

Noomen

• Noomen Testsuites, Noomen Testsuite from Rybka - Free downloads by Jeroen Noomen ^{10 11 12}
• New testsuite: UltraShort Lines by Jeroen Noomen, Rybka Forum, June 03, 2017
• New testsuite: King's Indian Mar del Plata by Jeroen Noomen, CCC, June 22, 2017
• Updated Mar del Plata testsuite, NEW Ruy Lopez testsuite by Jeroen Noomen, CCC, July 04, 2017
• Mar del Plata II testsuite by Jeroen Noomen, CCC, July 08, 2017
• New testsuite: Slav Defence (plus link to all my testsuites) by Jeroen Noomen, CCC, July 19, 2017
• New: Noomen 2-move Testsuite by Jeroen Noomen, CCC, October 22, 2017 » TCEC Season 10

Nunn

• Nunn openings by Jouni Uski, CCC, November 07, 2005 ¹³
• Nunn2 openings by Kurt Utzinger, CCC, November 07, 2005

Pohl

• SALC V5 openings and books launched by Stefan Pohl, CCC, January 13, 2018

Silver

Openings Suites by Albert Silver

• Silver Suite - Full (PGN) by Albert Silver, CCC, January 17, 2006
• Silver Suite - Short (PGN) by Albert Silver, CCC, January 17, 2006
• Silver.epd by Dann Corbit, CCC, January 18, 2006
• Silver Openings Suite - Revised and Expanded by Albert Silver, CCC, February 01, 2006
• Silver Openings Suite - Full (50 positions) PGN by Albert Silver, CCC, February 01, 2006
• Silver Openings Suite - Short (25 positions) PGN by Albert Silver, CCC, February 01, 2006
• Silver Openings Suite - Short (balanced) by Albert Silver, CCC, February 01, 2006
• NEW Silver Openings Suite by Albert Silver, CCC, February 11, 2010
• NEW Silver Gambit Suite by Albert Silver, CCC, February 16, 2010
• NEW Silver Gambit Suite - Expanded by Albert Silver, CCC, February 17, 2010
• Test your engines – the Silver Openings Suite, ChessBase News, February 23, 2010

Publications

1950 ...

• Fred Reinfeld (1958, 2001). Win at Chess. Dover Books on Chess » Win at Chess

1970 ...

• F. Donald Bloss (1973). Rate your own Chess. Van Nostrand Reinhold Inc.
• Gary L. Ratliff (1979). Practical Rating Program. Personal Computing, Vol. 3, No. 9, pp. 62 » Bloss
• Frieder Schwenkel (1979). Berating the ratings system. Personal Computing, Vol. 3, No. 11, pp. 77 » Ratliff, Bloss
• John Shaposka (1979). "JS" Takes the Bloss Test. Personal Computing, Vol. 3, No. 12, pp. 75 » Ratliff, Bloss
• Editor (1979). Chess Ratings from Problem Solving. Personal Computing, Vol. 3, No. 12, pp. 77 » CAPS II, Chess Problems, Compositions and Studies

1980 ...

• Floyd R. Kirk (1980). Bloss Flunks Test. Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 8, pp. 72 » Ratliff, Bloss
• W. W. Foster (1980). Six Test Problems for Chess Playing Machines. Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 10, pp. 81
• Ivan Bratko, Danny Kopec (1982). A Test for Comparison of Human and Computer Performance in Chess. Advances in Computer Chess 3

1990 ...

• Tony Marsland (1990). The Bratko-Kopec Test Revisited. ICCA Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1
• Kevin J. Lang, Warren D. Smith (1993). A Test Suite for Chess Programs. ps, ChessTest2.tar.Z ¹⁴
• Shawn Benn, Danny Kopec (1993). The Bratko-Kopec Test Recalibrated. ICCA Journal, Vol. 16, No. 3, pdf
• Larry Kaufman (1994). The One-Hour CCR Test. Computer Chess Reports, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 25-30
• Kevin J. Lang, Warren D. Smith (1995). A Test Suite for Chess Programs. ICCA Journal, Vol. 16, No. 3

Forum Posts

1997 ...

• The new YAZGAC - test-suite by mclane, rgcc, April 15, 1997
• ECM - first 100 problems summary by Don Dailey, CCC, February 01, 1998
• Needed really good tactical test suite: here's one! by Jouni Uski, CCC, August 16, 1998
• And here is corrected ECM testsuite (15 wrong positions removed) by Jouni Uski, CCC, October 11, 1998
• Test suites - can they reliably predict ELO? by Tom King, CCC, December 11, 1999

2000 ...

• The Scalable Search Test by Gian-Carlo Pascutto, CCC, June 18, 2000
• Mate in 1 - but Fritz 6 needs 1 hour!!! by Christoph Fieberg from CCC, August 10, 2000
• Pawn endgame test suite by Peter McKenzie, CCC, October 07, 2000 » Pawn Endgame
• Stalemate trap(SOS-Delfi) by George Lyapko, Winboard Forum, December 18, 2001 » Stalemate, SOS, Delfi
• STATIC EVAL TEST (provisional) by Jaime Benito de Valle Ruiz, CCC, February 21, 2004 » Evaluation
• Test Position = GM Tony Miles vs Deep Thought, 1989 [14...Bxh2!!] by José Antônio Fabiano Mendes, CCC, September 09, 2004 » Deep Thought

2005 ...

• Trying to improve MES endgame suite by George Lyapko, Winboard Forum, September 30, 2005 ¹⁵
• Problem suite testing - how to extract a useful number by Don Dailey from CCC, May 25, 2008

2010 ...

• Zugzwang Collection by kingliveson, OpenChess Forum, February 14, 2012 » Zugzwang
• Arasan test suite additions by Jon Dart, CCC, December 20, 2012 » Arasan
• Openings in PGN and EPD format by Adam Hair, CCC, December 24, 2013
• A new testsuite by Jeroen Noomen, CCC, June 21, 2014
• New testsuite available by Jeroen Noomen, CCC, November 13, 2014

2015 ...

• Noomen selected openings for eng-eng matches by Ed Schröder, CCC, May 31, 2015 » Opening Suites
• Transposition table test positons by Robert Pope, CCC, September 11, 2015 » Transposition Table
• Test positions for draw detection by Shawn Chidester, CCC, September 27, 2015 » Draw
• Static evaluation test posistions by Shawn Chidester, CCC, November 25, 2015

Re: Static evaluation test posistions by Ferdinand Mosca, CCC, November 26, 2015 » Python

• Test suites by Fabio Gobbato, CCC, December 04, 2015
• Larsen EPD Test Suite by Marc Moisan, CCC, December 29, 2015 ¹⁶

2016

• king safety: hard positions for zurichess by Alexandru Mosoi, CCC, March 27, 2016 » King Safety, Zurichess
• Good testsets for tablebases testing by Sergei S. Markoff, CCC, May 15, 2016 » Endgame Tablebases

EPD to test EGTB probe code by Sergei S. Markoff, CCC, May 24, 2016

• 13 hard test positions July 2016 by Vincent Lejeune, CCC, July 27, 2016
• perpetual check position by Erin Dame, CCC, August 16, 2016 » Perpetual Check, Repetitions
• Arasan test suite by Jon Dart, CCC, August 22, 2016 » Arasan
• Nightmare II (Test-Set) by Walter Eigenmann, CCC, August 25, 2016
• SAN test position by Matthew Lai, CCC, September 11, 2016 » SAN
• "Poor Fish": very hard test suite by Marco Costalba, CCC, September 25, 2016
• Opening performance of engines by Kai Laskos, CCC, October 28, 2016 » Opening
• Colditz test suite by Ferdinand Mosca, CCC, December 30, 2016

2017

• Bob Hyatt's opening set of positions by Stuart Cracraft, CCC, March 19, 2017
• Tony's positional test suite by Dann Corbit, CCC, June 16, 2017 ¹⁷
• Opening testing suites efficiency by Kai Laskos, CCC, June 21, 2017 » Engine Testing, Opening, Match Statistics
• "IQ test" for engines by Marek Kwiatkowski, CCC, August 08, 2017
• "IQ test" for engines (2) by Marek Kwiatkowski, CCC, October 21, 2017
• AlphaZero: The 10 Top Shots by Walter Eigenmann, CCC, December 30, 2017 » AlphaZero

2018

• Marcel Duchamp endgame "splits" engines / hash phenomenon by Kenneth Regan, CCC, February 19, 2018 » Chess Problems, Compositions and Studies, Marcel Duchamp, Transposition Table
• mate test positions by Uri Blass, CCC, July 29, 2018 » Checkmate
• A mate suite to test multi-pv and new engines by Uri Blass, CCC, August 06, 2018

2019

• Test sets results on opening, tactical, ending by Ferdinand Mosca, CCC, April 06, 2019
• Middlegame positional test-suite by Kai Laskos, CCC, April 07, 2019
• Arasan test suite - draft version by Jon Dart, CCC, June 19, 2019 » Arasan
• Really difficult mate by Jouni Uski, CCC, February 16, 2019
• Testposition EET/002 by Jouni Uski, CCC, September 18, 2019

2020 ...

• Hyatt 4000 openings by Mathieu Pagé, CCC, January 21, 2020 » Hyatt 4000 openings
• Request for InDoubleCheck PERFTS EPDs by Chris Whittington, CCC, May 02, 2020 » Double Check, Perft
• Any Testsuites in EPD format you can recommend? by Thomas Jahn, CCC, July 22, 2021
• mate suite for chess engines by Uri Blass, CCC, July 30, 2021 » Checkmate

Albert Silver's Test Positions

Test Positions by Albert Silver

• Test Position: Brilliant endgame shot by Albert Silver, CCC, January 24, 2010
• Test Position - The majority rule by Albert Silver, CCC, May 22, 2010
• Test Position: Ribli - Lobron, Germany 1992 by Albert Silver, CCC, June 05, 2010
• Test Position: Lemming disease (avoid move) by Albert Silver, CCC, June 05, 2010
• Test Position: Poisoned pawn by Albert Silver, CCC, June 05, 2010
• Test Position: Bring the bazooka by Albert Silver, CCC, June 06, 2010
• Test Position: One-way street by Albert Silver, CCC, June 09, 2010
• Test Position - Divide and conquer by Albert Silver, CCC, July 01, 2010
• Test Position: Punishing the stubborn by Albert Silver, CCC, August 02, 2010
• Test position: Inviting the fork by Albert Silver, CCC, November 13, 2010
• Test Position: Shirov-Eljanov analysis by Albert Silver, CCC, November 13, 2010
• Test Position: Mamedyarov-Wang Hao (32.g4!!) by Albert Silver, CCC, November 14, 2010
• Test Position: Karjakin-Kramnik (analysis) by Albert Silver, CCC, November 14, 2010
• Test Position: Ivanhoe-Rybka (brilliant knight sac) by Albert Silver, CCC, November 19, 2010
• Test Position: Rybka-Scaramanga (b6!) by Albert Silver, CCC, November 29, 2010 » DOCCC 2010
• Rook endgame: Wojtaszek-Navara by Albert Silver, CCC, January 16, 2011
• Test position: GM attacking lessons by Albert Silver, CCC, February 10, 2011
• Test position: Very tough and just tough by Albert Silver, CCC, April 01, 2011
• Test position: One more for the humans (Kurnosov-Najer) by Albert Silver, CCC, April 25, 2011
• Tough sac 19.Bg6!! (Hector-So) by Albert Silver, CCC, June 13, 2011
• Test position: Locking the cage and throwing out the key by Albert Silver, CCC, April 21, 2012
• Test position - Appearances are deceiving Nxd5!! by Albert Silver, CCC, June 23, 2012
• Monster move: 1...Nc3+!! by Albert Silver, CCC, July 03, 2012
• Test Position: Exchange or not (Javanbakht-Girish, 2012) by Albert Silver, CCC, November 15, 2012
• Test position: Kasparov-Pribyl (1980) - very tough by Albert Silver, CCC, December 12, 2012
• Test position: Kasparov-Yussupov (1981) by Albert Silver, CCC, December 18, 2012
• Test position: Fridman-Naidistch (2013) - Very hard by Albert Silver, CCC, February 13, 2013

Leonid's Positions

Positions by Leonid Liberman

• Mate in ...? by Leonid, CCC, February 12, 2000
• Two mate positions to solve by Leonid, CCC, September 02, 2000
• Two mate position to solve by Leonid, CCC, September 06, 2000
• What shortest mate that you can find for this position? by Leonid, CCC, January 17, 2001
• If you like to find a mate... by Leonid, CCC, January 18, 2001
• If you want solve one mate... by Leonid, CCC, January 21, 2001
• One easy mate to solve... by Leonid, CCC, January 22, 2001
• One average mate position... by Leonid, CCC, January 23, 2001
• If you like to solve easy forced mate... by Leonid, CCC, January 24, 2001
• If you like to solve average mate position... by Leonid, CCC, January 25, 2001
• If you like to solve real mate... by Leonid, CCC, January 27, 2001
• If you like to solve mate from real game... by Leonid, CCC, January 28, 2001
• If you like forced mate... by Leonid, CCC, January 30, 2001
• Forced mate position to solve... by Leonid, CCC, January 31, 2001
• If you like to solve a mate... by Leonid, CCC, February 01, 2001
• Forced mate so solve... by Leonid, CCC, February 05, 2001
• If you like to solve easy mate... by Leonid, CCC, February 08, 2001
• If you like to solve a mate... by Leonid, CCC, February 09, 2001
• If you like to crush easy mate... by Leonid, CCC, February 10, 2001
• If you like to solve mate for light position... by Leonid, CCC, February 11, 2001
• If you like to solve mate... by Leonid, CCC, February 14, 2001
• If you like solving forced mate... by Leonid, CCC, February 15, 2001
• If you like to solve one easy mate... by Leonid, CCC, February 16, 2001
• Easy mate to solve... by Leonid, CCC, March 04, 2001
• If you like to sove a mate... by Leonid, CCC, March 10, 2001
• If you are ready to solve one mate... by Leonid, CCC, April 11, 2001
• If you like easy mate... by Leonid, CCC, April 12, 2001
• If you want to solve one mate... by Leonid, CCC, April 14, 2001
• If you enjoy like me solving mates... by Leonid, CCC, April 16, 2001
• Mate that every program will solve... by Leonid, CCC, April 17, 2001
• One mate to solve... by Leonid, CCC, April 22, 2001
• Mate to solve... by Leonid, CCC, April 23, 2001
• Mate that every program will find by Leonid, CCC, April 26, 2001
• Mate to solve for champions... by Leonid, CCC, April 29, 2001
• One mate to solve for fittest programs by Leonid, CCC, May 04, 2001
• Very easy mate to solve by Leonid, CCC, May 05, 2001
• One mate to solve... by Leonid, CCC, May 06, 2001
• Mate to solve in two flavous by Leonid, CCC, May 07, 2001
• One mate to solve... by Leonid, CCC, May 08, 2001
• One mate to solve... by Leonid, CCC, May 15, 2001
• One very easy mate to solve by Leonid, CCC, May 21, 2001
• One mate to solve... by Leonid, CCC, May 30, 2001
• One mate to solve... by Leonid, CCC, June 02, 2001
• Mate to solve for good program by Leonid, CCC, June 07, 2001
• One mate to solve for Champion! by Leonid, CCC, June 16, 2001
• One mate to solve by Leonid, CCC, July 17, 2001
• One mate to sove for Champions! by Leonid, CCC, September 02, 2001
• One mate to solve for Champions! by Leonid, CCC, October 02, 2001
• A mate for Leonid by Sven Reichard, CCC, October 10, 2001
• Try this mate by Leonid, CCC, October 16, 2001
• Try solve this mate by Leonid, CCC, October 21, 2001
• Try this moderate mate by Leonid, CCC, October 27, 2001
• One easy mate by Leonid, CCC, November 04, 2001
• Very easy mate to solve by Leonid, CCC, December 22, 2001
• Find a mate by Leonid, CCC, August 03, 2002
• One mate in 10 to solve by Leonid, CCC, August 10, 2002
• One mate in 11 by Leonid, CCC, September 07, 2002
• Try to solve mate by Leonid, CCC, September 14, 2002
• Mate slightly harder by Leonid, CCC, August 25, 2003
• Mate that should be easy by Leonid, CCC, October 19, 2003
• Heavy mate position but easy to solve by Leonid, CCC, October 20, 2003
• Mate to torture by Leonid, CCC, November 02, 2003
• Try very easy mate by Leonid, CCC, November 04, 2003
• Try to solve very populated mate by Leonid, CCC, November 05, 2003
• Very easy mate by Leonid, CCC, November 06, 2003

External Links

• GitHub - fsmosca/chess-tests: Chess engines test results by Ferdinand Mosca
• GitHub - ChrisWhittington/Chess-EPDs: Various EPD test suites by Chris Whittington

References