SmallChess

Small is Power. You'll be surprised. Ex @Chesscom Principal Engineer & Head of Data Science. Ex @Chessable Founding Engineer. @Endgame Principal Engineer.

[Geert van der Velde @blackatlantic]

Chess has hundreds of millions of players.

OTB chess still doesn't have a great social app.

My co-founders and I are building it.

We're looking for a strong full-stack engineer

Send:

• LinkedIn/CV
• Chess level/experience
• Salary range

Contact details in 🧵

[SmallChess @SCChess]

Even more chess apps

[SmallChess @SCChess]

More chess apps

[SmallChess @SCChess]

SmallFish iOS app will soon support Lichess/Chesscom!

[SmallChess @SCChess]

@amitiitbhu Agreed

[SmallChess @SCChess]

One of the top 25 board apps (not just chess, but ALL board game apps - chess and non-chess combined), on the most competitive US App Store. Peak #8 in the world, behind just some of the most popular apps such as Monopoly iOS.

[SmallChess @SCChess]

Stockfish 18.0 is ready for SmallFish (https://t.co/W8PCKUmoj2)!

[SmallChess @SCChess]

Nice, someone (not me) posted on Reddit using the SmallFish app! https://t.co/ufRLuK5HaS Promised I'll do even better job!

[SmallChess @SCChess]

@doolasux @dingchilling If you are interested, please send me a message to [email protected]. Thanks!

[SmallChess @SCChess]

Anyone experienced in chess programming interested in a paid role? A friend of mine is looking for a full-time Senior Engineer to work on chess applications. It’s a remote position with market-level salary. DM me if you’re interested!

[SmallChess @SCChess]

@nichessgame Coding for chess applications. Asking for my friend!

[Ellaijio @EllaijioB]

Chess 2.0: Why Anichess is the Game We’ve Been Waiting 1,500 Years For ♟️✨

I’ve been in chess for over 30 years, reaching the title of International Master. My recent highlights include becoming the Thailand Resident Champion and winning major rapid tournaments in Singapore. I am eternally grateful to classical chess - it gave me logic, objectivity, systems thinking, and the psychological resilience required in any sport.

But when I stumbled upon @AnichessGame, I discovered a game that breathed new life into the familiar board. It’s the exact same chess I know, but amplified with spells and mana. It was love at first sight.❤️

7 Reasons Why Anichess is a New Era 🚀

1. The Spirit of Pioneers🧭(The New Steinitz Era)
In classical chess, everything is studied to death. We are trapped within opening theory and endless engine lines. In Anichess, we are back in a "Golden Age" where theory doesn't exist. You don't repeat someone else's preparation; you create your own on the fly. It’s a return to pure art and improvisation. This is what real chess feels like!

2. Philosophy of Choice 🧠
In Anichess, you choose your own spell set (build) before the game. This reflects your personal strategy and philosophy. The same spell might be useless in one position but the key to triumph in another. Here, individual style and adaptability matter more than raw mastery!

3. The End of "Draw Death" and Explosive Dynamics⚡
In high-level classical chess, blundering a pawn is often a death sentence. You’re forced to "drift" for 40 moves hoping for a grueling draw—it’s mentally exhausting. In Anichess, the dynamics are off the charts. Magic allows you to not just survive a blunder, but to seize the initiative and win a hopeless position. Draws are extremely rare, and the tension holds until the very last moment.

4. Resource Management: Mana as a New Dimension 💎
Mana adds a critical layer of depth. Now, you calculate resources alongside variations. You have to manage mana within your combinations and constantly decide: spend spells now for momentum or save them for the endgame? The questions are tougher, and the solutions are far more interesting.

5. Immunity to Engines and Cheating 🛡️
In classical chess, computer analysis and neural networks have killed the mystery, and online play is plagued by constant cheating scandals that make it almost unplayable. Anichess is different:

Complexity for Machines: Developing an engine will be exponentially harder due to the massive variance of magic. Currently, no algorithm can properly evaluate it.

Constant Evolution: Any balance tweak—adding a new spell or changing mana costs—instantly breaks pre-trained algorithms. It’s a fair fight of human intellect vs. human intellect. Stockfish and AlphaZero are powerless here!

6. The Collapse of Authority:👊 A Chance for Everyone
In classical chess, Grandmasters possess what we call a "iron ass": they can outplay you painfully and slowly, making zero mistakes and simply waiting for your one slip-up. In Anichess, this "grinding style" fails against literal magic. Here, a GM can lose even to an amateur if they show tactical nerve and creativity. Phenomenal technique collapses in the face of pure creativity.

7. Visual Drive and Transformations ✨
The aesthetics of Anichess take the joy of the game to another level. Visual effects make every match a spectacle. Nothing beats the feeling of magically transforming a pawn into a knight right in the middle of the board! It turns an intellectual duel into a vivid, beautiful event.

A Philosophy of Change
I am by no means belittling classical chess. It is a legendary legacy. But to use an analogy:

♟️Classical Chess is the Ford Model T. A legendary car respected by all. It’s the foundation where it all began.

⚡Anichess is a modern Tesla. It shares the same four wheels and steering wheel, but the technology, speed, and possibilities inside are entirely different.

In classical chess, you follow the rules. In Anichess, you control them. ❤️🛡️⚔️

[MancerAI @MancerAI_]

Been iterating on the chess endgame agent (KRK: king+rook vs king) built with ReCoN-lite.

Latest update:
the agent now combines fast within-game plasticity (M3) with slow cross-game consolidation (M4) and it’s finally starting to stabilize its strategy instead of thrashing!

[SmallChess @SCChess]

@AlphaChessMove Sad RIP

[SmallChess @SCChess]

Stockfish 18 released! #stockfish

[SmallChess @SCChess]

@Yuchenj_UW @_arohan_ Disagree. A bad/good dev is not just judged by coding speed but also product/domain knowledge, decision making. A junio dev will always remain junior if nothing else changes.

[Tom Zahavy @TZahavy]

I am excited to share a work we did in the Discovery team at @GoogleDeepMind using RL and generative models to discover creative chess puzzles 🔊♟️♟️ #neurips2025

🎨While strong chess players intuitively recognize the beauty of a position, articulating the precise elements that constitute creativity remains elusive. To address this, we pre-trained generative models on public datasets and then applied reinforcement learning, using novel rewards designed for uniqueness, counter-intuitiveness, realism, and novelty. This approach doubled the number of novel chess puzzles compared to the original training data, while successfully maintaining aesthetic diversity.

Three distinguished experts—International Master of chess compositions Amatzia Avni (author of "Creative Chess"), Grandmaster Jonathan Levitt @JonathanLevitt7 (author of "Secrets of Spectacular Chess"), and Grandmaster Matthew Sadler @gmmds (author of "Game Changer")—evaluated and selected the puzzles they found most compelling. Their preference was for puzzles exhibiting original, paradoxical, surprising, and naturally occurring positions, with particular emphasis on those that integrated aesthetic themes in innovative ways and demonstrated exceptional over-the-board vision.

🧩Try to solve the puzzles @chesscom: https://t.co/qHxXiWC427

[SmallChess @SCChess]

@sociotricius What was your research topics and PhD year?

[SmallChess @SCChess]

https://t.co/ePAAkud5bp is the source code repo. Will dig it deeper the technical details.

[SmallChess @SCChess]

There is now a chess engine stronger than Stockfish by a single ELO point. PlentyChess is (for now) the king of chess! https://t.co/rxrpVtb3E1