Advanced chess

Advanced chess normally keeps the board, pieces, and movement rules of conventional chess. The difference is the playing framework: each participant may consult computer tools while the game is in progress. It does not require a special starting position or an extra piece.

The main tool is usually a chess engine, software that analyzes a position, calculates continuations, and recommends moves. Events may also allow databases, which are searchable collections of earlier games. The human studies this information and makes the final choice rather than automatically accepting the program's first suggestion.

Human-computer collaboration

• The program supplies fast calculation and can expose tactical mistakes, meaning concrete errors that permit an immediate gain, as well as threats or alternatives.
• The person decides what to investigate, compares recommendations, manages the clock, and handles practical judgments left to the player.
• Event rules determine how many people and computers may form a team, which programs are allowed, and whether databases may be consulted.

Garry Kasparov used the name advanced chess for the format he publicly introduced against Veselin Topalov in June 1998. Centaur chess, cyborg chess, and freestyle chess later became common names for related forms. The labels overlap, but they do not guarantee identical regulations.

Computer help is not cheating in this format because it is openly permitted for all participants under the event rules. In conventional competition, using software, notes, or outside advice during play is unauthorized assistance. The decisive distinction is therefore the rule set agreed before the game, not the technology itself.