Quantum Chess News

Here is a quick update to add some quality of life improvements for new players. Now, the first time you open the game, the help menu will pop up. It has a handy link, right at the top of the page, to join our Discord community! This is the best place to find other players, and get help, right now.



We've also added a couple of multiplayer improvements, with low time warnings, and a more obvious visual and sound effect when it is your turn.



We're working hard to get correspondence games in, and matchmaking. In the mean time, we hope the new additions will make things a little easier.

The time has come! Quantum Realm Games has partnered with Arcanforge to bring Quantum Chess to the next level. Here's what is going on.


In 2019, we were approached by Google AI Quantum to see if we could run Quantum Chess on their quantum computing hardware. In July of this year, we successfully demonstrated the fruits of that labor at the Google AI Quantum Summer Symposium! Check out the video of our presentation.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

This success gave us the momentum we needed to push Quantum Chess to reach its potential. We were able to secure generous funding from IQIM, and an amazing development partner, to bring you the next iteration of the game.


The old quantum move has seen its last days. We've replaced it with the new split and merge moves!

[h2]Splitting the Universe[/h2]
With the new split move, players have the power to create superposition, where their pieces exist in multiple squares at the same time.



You perform a split move in two steps:

1. Select the source square with the piece you want to move.
   
2. Click and hold on the first target, drag to the second target square, and release.
   

[h2]Merging the Universe[/h2]
With the merge move, players have the power to combine a split piece back together.



You perform a merge move in two steps:

1. Click and hold on the first source square, drag to the second source square, and release.
   
2. Select the single target square.
   

The game has always been built on top of a simulation of a quantum state. But before, we didn't have a great way to show that information. Now we do! If you right-click on a piece in superposition, it will show the relative entanglement and phase display.

[h2]Entanglement[/h2]
The outer ring shows whether other pieces are entangled with the one you selected.



If the rings are the same color, the pieces are entangled to exist on the same board(s).

[h2]Phase[/h2]
The "radar" wedges show the phase rotation of other pieces, relative to the one you selected.



The relative phase can change how pieces interfere with each other, leading to unexpected outcomes.


With sandbox mode, you can drag pieces onto the board and experiment!



You can reach sandbox mode from the side drawer in the main menu.




Gone are the days of unstable multiplayer connections. We've adopted a completely new networking architecture. It is now easier to get a game going with a friend, or a member of our Discord community, and even to spectate other players.





A great way to see multiplayer in action is by watching the first ever Quantum Chess tournament, which was live on Anna Rudolf's twitch stream! We saw some new strategies, and live demonstrations of running on actual quantum computing hardware, and even a cameo from Alex Winter! Check out the vods.
Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final


So, what's next? A lot. Pushing into the next stage of development, we have a number of features and collaborations on the roadmap.

[h2]Game Features[/h2]

• We're revisiting AI, this time with more brain power and some donated compute resources.
  
• We're expanding and improving the multiplayer experience with features like chat and match making.
  
• We're developing a new game mode that involves Quantum Chess puzzles.
  
• We're working toward a mobile release.
  

[h2]Collaborations[/h2]

• We're continuing work with Google AI Quantum, to expand the ability to run on quantum computing hardware.
  
• We're going to be doing more quantum computing workshops with Qubit by Qubit, aimed at high school students.
  
• We've been contacted by a number of other educational interests, and will be exploring applications of Quantum Chess with them.
  
• We're looking at other ways to collaborate with Anna Rudolf, and the chess community at large.
  

Honestly, that is just a taste of what we're looking at going forward. We're very excited to bring this next iteration of Quantum Chess to the world. If you want to keep active with the community, make sure and join our Discord server. There you can leave feedback and bug reports, and find other players to jump in a game with. See you in the quantum realm!

It has been a little while since the last update so I wanted to give players a quick overview of the work being done.

AI is the big thing. We now have a fairly stable AI for the next version. I still wouldn't call it "good", but it isn't "bad" either. It makes some fairly intelligent plays and for the most part avoids obvious mistakes. It is also capable of making quantum moves. It is based on a standard chess AI, so players familiar with chess may notice some patterns of play often seen there.

I've also settled on a new networking architecture for multiplayer that should alleviate a lot of the connection headaches and allow for the easy implementation of some nice features like games that persist through different play sessions. I'll keep updating as work here progresses.

Again, thank you to all of the players for your continued support and patience.

Hey everyone, here's another update on progress.
I've been hard at work on getting the AI up and running, but debugging was taking a long time. So I took a sidetrack and implemented a long requested feature, sandbox mode. Don't be too hard on the look of the new UI, it is being updated, but here is a sneak peek at Sandbox Mode functionality!



This mode serves multitple purposes. It will be a great way to explore different dynamics from specific board states. It is also an incredible tool in both debugging (AI and otherwise), and in helping develop the new tutorial. I hope you will all enjoy it!

Relative phase is an important concept in quantum physics because it can change the outcome of an operation through interference. In Quantum Chess, moves are unitary operations, and their outcomes can change if the underlying state has certain phase characteristics.

Until now the player has only been presented with probability information. This could lead to confusing situations where moves appeared to have no effect. After some careful thought, and some math, the game can now display some basic relative phase information. It isn't complete, but it should be relevant to a lot of moves. Here is an example.

The Merge move is designed to undo a Split move. If used immediately after a split it should result in 100% of the piece being in the target square (assuming there are no pieces blocking the paths). Here we can see how it acts on the queen.

Notice the yellow lines on the queens involved in the move are pointing in the same direction. We call this being "in phase".

Now if we perform a Standard move for the queen in d2, moving it to d3, and then perform the Merge move, we get something different.

Notice that the standard move has caused the yellow lines to no longer point in the same direction. The piece that was moved picked up a relative phase of pi/2 compared to the one that didn't move.

Phase can be a complex topic. But if you play around with moves, and take notice of how the phase indicators relate to each other, you can gain an intuition for how it will change the outcomes. This is the first successful attempt at getting meaningful phase information into the game, and it will likely evolve.

I can't wait to get this out there for people to play with!