# Phalanx

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## 1. Main

Phalanx is an old, popular chess engine, with an interesting history.

Since 2014, Phalanx is now under active coding by the original owner, Dusan Dobes

Phalanx Homepage

The latest code can be obtained from subversion with

svn co https://phalanx.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/phalanx

Quotes

Chessbase.com, May 28th, 2000

  PhalanxXXII was the most interesting of the seven engines (in my opinion). I was looking forward to a wild sacrificial game against it (based on the engine's description at the ChessBase GmbH site), but Phalanx fooled me. I played a couple of games against it immediately after replaying a couple of Steinitz' games from Reti's book Masters of the Chessboard. Steinitz was the master of the pawn push. He often drove his pawns relentlessly forward to deny space to his opponent. To my surprise (I might even say "shock"), Phalanx does the same thing. Control of space is evidently given high priority in its evaluation algorithm. As I played against Phalanx, it seemed intent on throttling me ("python-like", to use the hoary old stereotype). I give this program high marks for positional play -- the pawn pushes it made were all strong ones, and it never gave my Knights a chance to exploit any holes it may have created. Despite the relatively low rating range in "Handicap and fun" mode (1150-1950), Phalanx was without question the most unique and interesting of the seven engines and I'm looking forward to my next game against it.

Juergen Haas, About.com

  Definition: phalanx: Chess playing program. Phalanx is a simple chess playing program of conventional design. It is xboard compatible. The main aim is to write a slow thinker with a lot of chess specific knowledge. Current version plays risky, active chess and shows quite good tactical performance.