Sameshi: A 2KB Chess Engine Achieving ~1200 Elo Rating
By
datavorous_
A good honest bake. Not flashy, but you'll finish the whole bagel.
Summary
Sameshi is a minimal chess engine that fits within 2KB of code, achieving approximately 1200 Elo rating despite its small size. The engine implements core chess functionality including negamax search, alpha-beta pruning, and material-only evaluation, but omits advanced features like castling, en passant, and promotion. It was tested against Stockfish at various levels, playing 240 games with fixed depth 5 search and constrained rules.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledA minimal chess engine supporting a constrained subset of the game.
sameshi.h: 1.95 KB
~1170 Elo (95% CI: 1110-1225)
Notenot implemented: castling, en passant, promotion, repetition, 50-move rule.
You might also wanna read
Why Average LLM Use Is Likely Destroying Value in Software Development
The author argues that, contrary to prevailing hype, the average use of Large Language Models (LLMs) is likely destroying value rather than
unessays.substack.com·7h ago
How AI Accelerated Prototyping: From Idea to Tangible in Record Time
The author reflects on how AI has transformed their prototyping workflow. Previously, the biggest bottleneck was the time needed to scaffold
darylcecile.net·7h ago
GitLab 19.0 launches with Secrets Manager, agentic workflows, and self-hosted AI models
GitLab 19.0 has been released, positioning itself as an intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps. The release includes expanded secr
bit.ly·20h ago
Centralizing Error Handling in Rust with Custom AppError Enums
This article discusses the importance of centralizing error handling in Rust applications using a custom AppError enum combined with map_err
Zig Devlog: Build System Rework Separates Maker and Configurer Processes
This devlog entry from the Zig programming language project announces a major rework of the build system, separating the maker process from
ziglang.org·1d ago
Study finds most developers refuse to code without AI, raising quality concerns
A February 2026 study by AI research lab METR reveals that most developers now refuse to work without AI coding tools. While these tools hel
techcrunch.com·1d ago