A Computer Composes A Fabled Problem: Four Knights vs. Queen

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how the Chesthetica system, using the DSNS approach, successfully composed a complex, creative chess problem that challenges human players, within 10 days on modest hardware, highlighting DSNS's potential in computational creativity.

Contribution

It introduces the DSNS approach for automatic chess problem composition and shows its effectiveness in creating complex problems without extensive computational resources.

Findings

Successfully composed a rare chess problem using DSNS

Achieved composition in 10 days on low-power hardware

Supports DSNS as a viable approach in computational creativity

Abstract

We explain how the prototype automatic chess problem composer, Chesthetica, successfully composed a rare and interesting chess problem using the new Digital Synaptic Neural Substrate (DSNS) computational creativity approach. This problem represents a greater challenge from a creative standpoint because the checkmate is not always clear and the method of winning even less so. Creating a decisive chess problem of this type without the aid of an omniscient 7-piece endgame tablebase (and one that also abides by several chess composition conventions) would therefore be a challenge for most human players and composers working on their own. The fact that a small computer with relatively low processing power and memory was sufficient to compose such a problem using the DSNS approach in just 10 days is therefore noteworthy. In this report we document the event and result in some detail. It lends additional credence to the DSNS as a viable new approach in the field of computational creativity. In particular, in areas where human-like creativity is required for targeted or specific problems with no clear path to the solution.