Who Are We?

Mark Lefler and Jeff Mallett

Zillions Productions

Mark Lefler and Jeff Mallett have developed a number of commercial intelligent game products, including:

Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess (Davidson/Simon & Schuster).....Contains Jeff's Innovation chess engine and chess code.
Grandmaster Championship Chess for Windows (Capstone).....Contains Mark's NOW Chess engine.
Grandmaster Chess for Macintosh (Capstone).....Contains Mark's NOW Chess engine in both 680x0 and native PowerPC forms in a GUI programmed by Jeff.
Dr Schiller's Chess PowerCD (Zane Publishing).....Both Windows and Mac versions. Contains Jeff's Innovation engine.
NOW (Chess4Less).....DOS. Mark's chess engine, which achieved the highest score in the world famous 1996 AEGON Human-Computer Tournament!
Internet Chess for the Macintosh (Strategy Labs).....Mac. Lets people worldwide play chess in real-time on the Internet Chess Club. Created by Jeff.
Grand Chess. (Mindsports)....Windows95. The first commercial offering using the Zillions engine and technology. By Mark and Jeff.

Jeff Mallett, a USCF-rated chess expert, has been programming computer games since 1977. His chess program Innovation won the 1994 ICCA Best-Annotation Award. Jeff is currently listed on MacTech Magazine's "Top 20 Contestants of All Time" list for his speedy Programmer's Challenge entries. His nxn Othello program, which won 33 out of 36 games in a tournament against 9 other programs, was published in the May 1997 issue. His nxn Pente program, another contest winner, was published in the February 1998 issue. His writings on board games have been published in "Home Chess," "Variant Chess," "NostAlgia," and "World Game Review."

Jeff has degrees in Computer Science and Music from Cornell University, where he graduated with distinction in 1988. His non-computer interests include songwriting, piano, barbershop quarteting, music recording, chess, and juggling.

Mark Lefler has been programming computer chess for over 18 years. His chess program NOW tied with first place among all chess programs at the1996 AEGON Human-Computer Tournament, receiving 4.5 out of 6 points. This tied the program with other world class programs such as "Fritz." At last year's AEGON, NOW beat Grandmaster Larry Christiansen, one of the U.S.'s top players.

Mark graduated in 1981 with a BS degree in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His non-computer interests include performing magic (Mark has won many competitions performing original tricks), music, and gaming.

Here are some sample photos of commercial products we've worked on:

Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess

Grandmaster Championship Chess for Windows

Grandmaster Chess For Macintosh

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To contact us: Mark Lefler & Jeff Mallett

This page has been accessed 584 times since October 20, 1997. It was last modified March 29, 1998