Running Chess Engines in the Cloud

Magnus Carlsen is set to defend his chess world championship against Sergey Karjakin in New York, marking the championship's return to American soil for the first time since 1990. This event comes amidst a resurgence of chess popularity in the United States, highlighted by the U.S. men's team's recent victory at the Chess Olympiad. Carlsen, who has dominated the chess world for the past five years, prepares for matches using a team of 'seconds' and chess engines, which have become essential tools for analyzing game positions. While these engines are invaluable for training, they also limit creativity by encouraging players to rely on pre-analyzed opening moves. The chess engines' capabilities have surpassed human players, leading to competitions where engines face off against each other. The development of chess engines sees potential enhancement through AI, which could tailor strategies against specific opponents. Although current engines have limitations in parallel processing, they still provide robust analysis capabilities. Enthusiasts can use platforms like Rescale to run chess engines, allowing deeper engagement with the game, such as analyzing live tournaments.