Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Surprise meSurprise meSubscribe
Encyclopedia

Chess Engines Grand Tournament

Contest for computer chess software

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated August 9, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Chess Engines Grand Tournament, also known as CEGT, is an organization that tests computer chess software by playing chess engines against one another and publishing a ratings table.

CEGT routinely tests chess engines in various time controls such as 40/4 (40 moves in 4 minutes, repeating), 40/20 (40 moves in 20 minutes, repeating), and 40/120 (40 moves in 120 minutes, repeating). The 40/120 matches are one of the best computer-chess games freely available online. Instead of starting with a fresh board, CEGT make the engines start from a common chess opening position.

In 2017 the team consisted of seven testers. Starting 2005 the team has run more than 1 million games for 40/20, and more than 2 million games for 40/4 (Blitz). Games include SMP testing.

Watch videos about Chess Engines Grand TournamentExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Chess Engines Grand Tournament”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.

Continue exploring

Related topics

Chess engine

In computer chess, a chess engine is a computer program that analyzes chess or chess variant positions, and generates a move or list of moves that it regards as strongest. A chess engine is usually a back end with a command-line interface with no graphics or windowing.

Computer chess

Computer chess includes both hardware and software capable of playing chess. Computer chess provides opportunities for players to practice even in the absence of human opponents, and also provides opportunities for analysis, entertainment and training.

Online chess

Online chess is chess that is played over the Internet, allowing players to play against each other. This was first done asynchronously through PLATO and email in the 1970s.