ChessBrain, designed by Carlos Justiniano, uses the idle processing power of 2,070 PCs in over 50 countries, via Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and an XML-based peer-to-peer network. On Jan. 30, ChessBrain set a Guinness world record for the largest distributed computing network to play against a single human opponent. In the game, chess Grand Master Peter Heine Nielsen played ChessBrain to a draw. The software is based on an online chess game called Beowulf, which Justiniano adapted to run on a distributed bunch of machines. It plays at international master strength, the level below international grand master. To participate in ChessBrain, players download a game viewer client and request a serial number. The client interacts with the ChessBrain server, called the SuperNode server. The server sends possible chess moves to the PCs for processing. Communications between the SuperNode and peer nodes use SOAP over HTTP. Visiting users can play chess with other members, watch a ChessBrain game with another player or challenge ChessBrain to a game itself. ChessBrain supports Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. The Distributed Computing Foundation sponsored the world record event and will also make sure that ChessBrain source code is released as open source. There will be upcoming events as more users join ChessBrain, but there aren't any scheduled yet. Peer-to-peer networks are not being used for just games. They've been deployed for a lot of serious intent: United Devices supercharged the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI); Novartis is using grid computing technology for drug design; and IBM and Accelrys launched the Smallpox Research Grid Project, intended to develop drugs for smallpox.