Aggressive NNUE chess engine · plays like Tal
Chess System Tal
A modern neural-network (NNUE) chess engine built to attack — bold, sacrificial, alive — in the romantic style of World Champion Mikhail Tal, and one of the most aggressive engines around. Created by Chris Whittington at Oxford Softworks in the 1990s, and revived since 2023 with veteran programmer Ed Schröder of Rebel: Chris on the engine code, Ed on the neural networks and the techniques that shape its style of play.
Explore
Chess System Tal
The engine — now Chess System Tal 3, ~3610 Elo estimated — plus the 2.07, Extreme and Absurd builds. Free downloads.
CST-GUI
A 2D & real-time 3D chess board for Windows — play Chess System Tal, or any UCI engine.
Backgammon-NN
A backgammon engine whose neural network taught itself to play — then learned from a master.
Retro Games
1980s-style hand-held thinking games on cheap ESP32 touch screens — backgammon and Chess System Tal now, checkers next.
Research →
Piece values from inside a neural net, engine forensics (human or AI?), and how alike the top engines are.
Tools →
EPD test suites, the UCI protocol and Polyglot opening books for engine authors.
Aurum·AI →
A machine-learning stockmarket sentiment engine — a research side project.
About →
Oxford Softworks, alpacas, France and the road back to neural networks.