World Computer Chess Championship

World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) is an event held periodically from 1974 to 2024 where computer chess engines compete against each other. The event is organized by the International Computer Games Association (ICGA, until 2002 ICCA^[1]). It is often held in conjunction with the World Computer Speed Chess Championship and the Computer Olympiad, a collection of computer tournaments for other board games. Instead of using engine protocols, the games are played on physical boards by human operators.

The WCCC is open to all types of computers including microprocessors, supercomputers, clusters, and dedicated chess hardware.

Due to the requirement to be present on-site, play on a physical board, and strict rules of originality, many strong programs refrain from participating in the ICGA events. As the conditions of the software championship can easily be emulated by anyone with a high-end PC, there are now privately conducted tournaments, such as Top Chess Engine Championship, that have much broader attendance, as well as a larger number of games to reduce the influence of chance.