Currently the strongest engine in the world, Stockfish is completely free and open-source.

In the world of high-level chess software, the release of by ChessBase marked a significant era where the "brain" of the grandmaster-level engine became inextricably linked to a digital key.

The shop owner, an enigmatic figure known only as "Zero Cool," had acquired a limited supply of Deep Fritz 12 activation keys. These keys were highly sought after, not just by chess enthusiasts but also by developers and researchers interested in artificial intelligence.