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Endgame databases

Versions

Performance

Games

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Java Dam

...the new Dam v1.0 (Aug. 30, 2000) for the Palm organizer. Works from PalmOS 2.0 up, meaning the PalmPilot (Pro), Palm III, V and newer types. The feature set is much more limited than the Windows version, and the strength of play is of course lower. Still, I hope that you Palm owners will enjoy it a lot. Download Dam v1.0 for the Palm: English, Nederlands, Français, Polski, Deutsch, Italiano, Español, Portugues.

...or my draughts program DAM 2.2 v.7 (May 18, 1999) for Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP etc.

DAM plays the 10x10 international variant of draughts, and it's freeware no less, available here:

download dam227.exe (556 kB, includes all languages except the ones below).

download deutsch.zip (29 kB, contains the German language files).

download polski.zip (29 kB, contains the Polish language files).

download portug.zip (29 kB, contains the Portuguese language files).

download czech.zip (8 kB, contains the Czech translation).

download galego.zip (34 kB, contains the Galego language files).

download lithu.zip (34 kB, contains the Lithuanian language files).

download breton.zip (19 kB, contains the Breton translation).

download romania.zip (24 kB, contains the Romanian translation).

DAM 2.2 supports the following languages.

Language	Author	Remarks
Dutch, English	Harm Jetten
French	Jean-Bernard Alemanni
Russian	Vladimir Tishkin	Problems? If the menus only show "____", "|||||", "?????" or e.g. "Äîñêà", read here how to fix it.
Italian	Paolo Fasce
Spanish	Nelson Castillo
German	Clemens Crucius	Download deutsch.zip, un-zip and place the files in the Dam22 program folder.
Polish	Dariusz Rzonca	Download polski.zip, un-zip and place the files in the Dam22 program folder. Problems? If the menus contain "|" and wrong accented characters, read here how to fix it.
Portuguese	Joao Guimaraes	Download portug.zip, un-zip and place the files in the Dam22 program folder.
Czech	Sezob	Download czech.zip, un-zip and place the file in the Dam22 program folder. (Contains only the translation, no help file.)
Galego (Galicia, Spain)	Xosé Antón Vicente	Download galego.zip, un-zip and place the files in the Dam22 program folder.
Lithuanian	Kestutis Gasaitis	Download lithu.zip, un-zip and place the files in the Dam22 program folder.
Breton (Brittany, France)	Philippe	Download breton.zip, un-zip and place the file in the Dam22 program folder. (Contains only the translation, no help file.)
Romanian	Diana Popescu	Download romania.zip, un-zip and place the files in the Dam22 program folder.

If you are willing to translate it to a different language, I will make it available on this page. Please mail me for more information.

This version of 2.2 can be installed (preferably) right over a previous 2.2 version, that way your preferences are not lost. The most significant difference with DAM 2.1 is the facility to play draughts with another player over the Internet, using the DamExchange protocol written by Frank Mesander. I welcome email about your experiences with this version, and any suggestions for the next version. Please send them to hjetten@xs4all.nl.

For those who prefer Windows 3.1x, the 16-bit version DAM 2.1 will of course remain available: download dam21.zip (195 kB). In case you don't have a sound card, it's likely you can still enjoy the DAM sound effects with the Windows PC speaker driver, and the mono version of the DAM .wav files.

Don't leave without visiting...

• Endgame databases for up to 6 pieces
• Old and new DAM versions
• Read about the performance of DAM
• A few famous draughts games
• The inevitable list of favorite links
• Play Java Draughts inside your browser (experimental)

An endgame database allows DAM to quickly look up whether a position with a few pieces on the board is either won, drawn, or lost. That considerably improves its playing strength in end games. It was already possible to provide DAM with 3- and 4-piece endgame databases; for details read the DAM Help section Menu selection - Options - Database. For the conversion of the 4-piece endgame files damcpr4.zip is available.
Alternately, you can download the following 3- and 4-piece ready-to-use zip archives here: damend3.zip (145 kB) plus damend4.zip (7.7 MB).

Starting with version 2.2 v.5, DAM can handle 5- and 6-piece databases. First, install DragonDraughts-0.0a.Win32.zip (93 kB). Note the new "a" version (March 31, 1999), it fixes a bug in the move generation code. It originates from Michel Grimminck's Dragon draughts program, adapted by me for Windows. Read the README.Win32 and follow the directions. It will take a week or so (5-piece) to a few months (6-piece) of full-tilt calculations on a machine that is well-provided with RAM and hard disk space. You end up with a number of ".cpr" files, which you copy to the folder containing your existing 3- and 4-piece endgame files. Start DAM and check via Options - Properties - Database whether the files are OK.

A 2-CD set is available, containing the complete 3- 4- 5- and 6-piece databases, in case you don't wish to generate them yourself. The price is € 10. If you are interested, please send me a mail at hjetten@xs4all.nl to get the details.

Versions

1987-1990

DAM 0.0, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 for the Atari ST computer

1991-1994

DAM 1.3 for the Atari ST and TT computers

1995-1996

DAM 2.0, 2.1 for the PC (16-bit, Windows 3.1x/95)

1997

DAM 2.2 for the PC (32-bit, Windows 95/NT4)

• December 14: Preview 1 -- with the capability to play over the Internet.

1998

• January 9: Preview 2 -- made various detail improvements in the facility to play over the Internet.
• January 22: Preview 3 -- adapted to expanded DamExchange specification, take-back is not compatible with the earlier versions.
• February 8: Preview 4 -- changeable board size, support for Turbo Dambase DOC file format.
• February 22: Preview 5 -- Printing works again, copy to clipboard, PDN/DOC game number in title bar.
• March 14: "Official" version -- more detail improvements.
• March 15: version 2.2 f.1 -- Fixed serious bug in code for thinking in the opponent's time. That will teach me, calling version 2.2 "official" or "final".
• April 9: version 2.2 f.2 -- Fixed bug in DamExchange via the serial port. And furthermore: now you can select your own colors for the board squares.
• May 3: version 2.2 f.3 -- Removed some small bugs.
• November 4: version 2.2 v.4 -- Toolbar; and language modules, of which Dutch, English and French are now available.

1999

• January 10: version 2.2 v.5 -- Russian language available; 5- and 6-piece endgame databases.
• March 21: version 2.2 v.6 -- Italian language available; solved a few endgame bugs.
• May 18: version 2.2 v.7 -- Spanish language available; updated endgame list.
• July 8: still version 2.2 v.7 -- program has not changed, but now German language available.
• November 14: still version 2.2 v.7 -- program has not changed, but now Polish language available.
• December 8: still version 2.2 v.7 -- program has not changed, but now Portuguese language available.

2000

• August 30: Dam version 1.0 for the Palm is available.

2001

• January 9: still version 2.2 v.7 -- program has not changed, but now Czech language available.

2002

• June 17: still version 2.2 v.7 -- program has not changed, but now Galego language available.
• November 28: still version 2.2 v.7 -- program has not changed, but now Lithuanian language available.

2004

• May 9: still version 2.2 v.7 -- program has not changed, but now Breton language available.

2005

• November 29: still version 2.2 v.7 -- program has not changed, but now Romanian language available.

Performance

On September 13, 2009, the Dutch open computer draughts tournament was held at Leiden. We played 8 rounds Swiss with 20 minutes playing time per side for 75 moves. Damy won the tournament. Here are the results:

Dutch open rapid computer draughts 2009

Plaats	Name of program	Auteur	Points	SB
1	Damy	Gérard Taille (F)	11	96
2	GWD	Gijsbert Wiesenekker, Klaas Bor (NL)	11	61
3	Tornado	Frank Mesander (NL)	10	89
4	TD King	Ton Tillemans (CH)	10	80
5	Dam 2.2	Harm Jetten (NL)	10	70
6	Sjende Blyn	Jelle Wiersma (NL)	10	63
7	Horizon	Feike Boomstra (NL)	10	52
8	Dream	Saïd Koudache (F)	9	52
9	ABCdam	Jan-Jaap van Horssen (NL)	8	44
10	Cerberus	Leo Nagels (NL)	5	13
11	Spek en Bonen	Maurits Meijer (NL)	2	0

For the curious, here are all of Dam 2.2's games in PDN format.

Previous tournaments:

Arleux, May 17, 2009: seventh place.
Gorredijk, December 14, 2008: shared fourth place.
Gouy sous Bellonne, March 30, 2008: shared third place.
Culemborg, December 2, 2007: shared fifth place.
12th Computer Olympiad, Amsterdam, June 15 and 16, 2007: first place.
Hamel, March 25, 2007: fifth place.
Culemborg, December 3, 2006: shared second place.
11th Computer Olympiad, Turin, May 26 and 27, 2006: third place.
Culemborg, December 4, 2005: third place.
Eindhoven, November 21, 2004: sixth place.
Arleux, October 3, 2004: second place.
Nijmegen Open, Lent, July 31, 2004: second place.
Culemborg, February 22, 2004: seventh place.
8th Computer Olympiad, Graz, November 23 and 24, 2003: second place.
7th Computer Olympiad, Maastricht, July 6 and 7, 2002: first place.

Draughts games

A modest collection in PDN format:

• Sijbrands - Andreiko, WC 1973, 20 games
• Van der Wal - Wiersma, WC 1983, 20 games

Favorite links

Check out my favorite links.