Official release version of Stockfish 14.1
Bench: 6334068
---
Today, we have the pleasure to announce Stockfish 14.1.
As usual, downloads will be freely available at stockfishchess.org/download [1].
With Stockfish 14.1 our users get access to the strongest chess engine
available today. In the period leading up to this release, Stockfish
convincingly won several chess engine tournaments, including the TCEC 21
superfinal, the TCEC Cup 9, and the Computer Chess Championship for
Fischer Random Chess (Chess960). In the latter tournament, Stockfish
was undefeated in 599 out of 600 games played.
Compared to Stockfish 14, this release introduces a more advanced NNUE
architecture and various search improvements. In self play testing, using
a book of balanced openings, Stockfish 14.1 wins three times more game
pairs than it loses [2]. At this high level, draws are very common, so the
Elo difference to Stockfish 14 is about 17 Elo. The NNUE evaluation method,
introduced to top level chess with Stockfish 12 about one year ago [3],
has now been adopted by several other strong CPU based chess engines.
The Stockfish project builds on a thriving community of enthusiasts
(thanks everybody!) that contribute their expertise, time, and resources
to build a free and open-source chess engine that is robust,
widely available, and very strong. We invite our chess fans to join the
fishtest testing framework and programmers to contribute to the project [4].
Stay safe and enjoy chess!
The Stockfish team
[1] https://stockfishchess.org/download/
[2] https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6175c320af70c2be1788fa2b
[3] https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/discussions/3628
[4] https://stockfishchess.org/get-involved/
Idea of this patch is the following: in case we already have four moves that
exceeded alpha in the current node, the probability of finding fifth should
be reasonably low. Note that four is completely arbitrary - there could and
probably should be some tweaks, both in tweaking best move count threshold
for more reductions and tweaking how they work - for example making more
reductions with best move count linearly.
passed STC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/615f614783dd501a05b0aee2
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 141816 W: 36056 L: 35686 D: 70074
Ptnml(0-2): 499, 15131, 39273, 15511, 494
passed LTC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/615fdff683dd501a05b0af35
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 68536 W: 17221 L: 16891 D: 34424
Ptnml(0-2): 38, 6573, 20725, 6885, 47
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3736
Bench: 6131513
This patch updates the stat_bonus() function (used in the history tables to
help move ordering), keeping the same quadratic for small depths but changing
the values for depth >= 9:
The old bonus formula was increasing from zero at depth 1 to 4100 at depth 14,
then used the strange, small value of 73 for all depths >= 15.
The new bonus formula increases from 0 at depth 1 to 2000 at depth 8, then
keeps 2000 for all depths >= 8.
passed STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 169624 W: 42875 L: 42454 D: 84295
Ptnml(0-2): 585, 19340, 44557, 19729, 601
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/615bd69e9d256038a969b97c
passed LTC:
LLR: 3.07 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 37336 W: 9456 L: 9191 D: 18689
Ptnml(0-2): 20, 3810, 10747, 4067, 24
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/615c75d99d256038a969b9b2
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3731
Bench: 6261865
When playing games in MultiPV mode we must take care to only track the
best move changing for the first PV line. Otherwise, SF will spend most
of its time for the initial moves after the book exit.
This has been observed and reported on Discord, but can also be seen in
games played in Stefan Pohl's MultiPV experiment.
Tested with MultiPV=4.
STC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/615c24b59d256038a969b990
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 1744 W: 694 L: 447 D: 603
Ptnml(0-2): 32, 125, 358, 278, 79
LTC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/615c31769d256038a969b993
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 2048 W: 723 L: 525 D: 800
Ptnml(0-2): 10, 158, 511, 314, 31
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3729
Bench: 5714575
Respin of multi-thread idea that was simplified away recently: basically doing
more reductions with thread count since Lazy SMP naturally widens search. With
drawish book this idea got simplified away but with less drawish book it again
gains elo, maybe trying to reinstall other ideas that were simplified away
previously can be beneficial.
passed STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 39736 W: 10205 L: 9986 D: 19545
Ptnml(0-2): 45, 4254, 11064, 4447, 58
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/615750702d02f48db3961b00
passed LTC
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 60352 W: 15530 L: 15218 D: 29604
Ptnml(0-2): 24, 5900, 18016, 6212, 24
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6157d8935488e26ea5eace7f
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3724
Bench 5714575
Idea is to extend some quiet ttMoves if a lot of things indicate that
the transposition table move is going to be a good move:
1) move being a killer - so being the best move in nearby node;
2) reply continuation history is really good.
This is basically saying that move is good "in general" in this position,
that it is a good reply to the opponent move and that it was the best in
this position somewhere in search - so extending it makes a lot of sense.
In general in past year we had a lot of extensions of different types,
maybe there is something more in it :)
passed STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 42944 W: 10932 L: 10695 D: 21317
Ptnml(0-2): 141, 4869, 11210, 5116, 136
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/614cca8e7bdc23e77ceb89f0
passed LTC
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 156848 W: 39473 L: 38893 D: 78482
Ptnml(0-2): 125, 16327, 44913, 16961, 98
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/614cf93d7bdc23e77ceb8a13
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3719
Bench: 5714575
In master, during singular move analysis, when both the transposition value
and a reduced search for the other moves seem to indicate a fail high, we
heuristically prune the whole subtree and return an fail high score.
This patch is a little bit more cautious in this case, and instead of the
risky cutoff, we now search the ttMove with a reduced depth (by two plies).
STC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/614dafe07bdc23e77ceb8a89
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 46728 W: 11909 L: 11666 D: 23153
Ptnml(0-2): 181, 5288, 12168, 5561, 166
LTC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/614dc84abe4c07e0ecac3c95
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 74520 W: 18809 L: 18450 D: 37261
Ptnml(0-2): 45, 7735, 21346, 8084, 50
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3718
Bench: 5499262
This patch relax a little bit the condition for doubly singular moves
(ie moves that are so forced that we think that they deserve a local
double extension of the search). We lower the margin and allow up to
six such double extensions in the path between the root and the critical
node.
Original idea by Siad Daboul (@TopoIogist) in PR #3709
Tested with the previous commit:
passed STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 33048 W: 8458 L: 8236 D: 16354
Ptnml(0-2): 120, 3701, 8660, 3923, 120
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/614b24347bdc23e77ceb88fe
passed LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 54176 W: 13712 L: 13406 D: 27058
Ptnml(0-2): 36, 5653, 15399, 5969, 31
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/614b3b727bdc23e77ceb8911
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3714
Bench: 5792377
This patch detects some search explosions (due to double extensions in
search.cpp) which can happen in some pathological positions, and takes
measures to ensure progress in search even for these pathological situations.
While a small number of double extensions can be useful during search
(for example to resolve a tactical sequence), a sustained regime of
double extensions leads to search explosion and a non-finishing search.
See the discussion in https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3544
and the issue https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/3532 .
The implemented algorithm is the following:
a) at each node during search, store the current depth in the stack.
Double extensions are by definition levels of the stack where the
depth at ply N is strictly higher than depth at ply N-1.
b) during search, calculate for each thread a running average of the
number of double extensions in the last 4096 visited nodes.
c) if one thread has more than 2% of double extensions for a sustained
period of time (6 millions consecutive nodes, or about 4 seconds on
my iMac), we decide that this thread is in an explosion state and
we calm down this thread by preventing it to do any double extension
for the next 6 millions nodes.
To calculate the running averages, we also introduced a auxiliary class
generalizing the computations of ttHitAverage variable we already had in
code. The implementation uses an exponential moving average of period 4096
and resolution 1/1024, and all computations are done with integers for
efficiency.
-----------
Example where the patch solves a search explosion:
```
./stockfish
ucinewgame
position fen 8/Pk6/8/1p6/8/P1K5/8/6B1 w - - 37 130
go infinite
```
This algorithm does not affect search in normal, non-pathological positions.
We verified, for instance, that the usual bench is unchanged up to depth 20
at least, and that the node numbers are unchanged for a search of the starting
position at depth 32.
-------------
See https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3714
Bench: 5575265
This patch introduces extension for captures and promotions. Every capture or
promotion that is not the first move in the list gets extended at PvNodes and
cutNodes. Special thanks to @locutus2 - all my previous attepmts that failed
on this idea were done only for PvNodes - idea to include also cutNodes was
based on his latest passed patch.
STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6134abf325b9b35584838574
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 188920 W: 47754 L: 47304 D: 93862
Ptnml(0-2): 595, 21754, 49344, 22140, 627
LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/613521de25b9b355848385d7
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 8768 W: 2283 L: 2098 D: 4387
Ptnml(0-2): 7, 866, 2452, 1053, 6
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3692
bench: 5564555
The new network caused some issues initially due to the very narrow neuron set between the first two FC layers. Necessary changes were hacked together to make it work. This patch is a mature approach to make the affine transform code faster, more readable, and easier to maintain should the layer sizes change again.
The following changes were made:
* ClippedReLU always produces a multiple of 32 outputs. This is about as good of a solution for AffineTransform's SIMD requirements as it can get without a bigger rewrite.
* All self-contained simd helpers are moved to a separate file (simd.h). Inline asm is utilized to work around GCC's issues with code generation and register assignment. See https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=101693, https://godbolt.org/z/da76fY1n7
* AffineTransform has 2 specializations. While it's more lines of code due to the boilerplate, the logic in both is significantly reduced, as these two are impossible to nicely combine into one.
1) The first specialization is for cases when there's >=128 inputs. It uses a different approach to perform the affine transform and can make full use of AVX512 without any edge cases. Furthermore, it has higher theoretical throughput because less loads are needed in the hot path, requiring only a fixed amount of instructions for horizontal additions at the end, which are amortized by the large number of inputs.
2) The second specialization is made to handle smaller layers where performance is still necessary but edge cases need to be handled. AVX512 implementation for this was ommited by mistake, a remnant from the temporary implementation for the new... This could be easily reintroduced if needed. A slightly more detailed description of both implementations is in the code.
Overall it should be a minor speedup, as shown on fishtest:
passed STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 51520 W: 4074 L: 3888 D: 43558
Ptnml(0-2): 111, 3136, 19097, 3288, 128
and various tests shown in the pull request
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3663
No functional change
Introduces a new NNUE network architecture and associated network parameters
The summary of the changes:
* Position for each perspective mirrored such that the king is on e..h files. Cuts the feature transformer size in half, while preserving enough knowledge to be good. See https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gTlrr02qSNKiXNZ_SuO4-RjK4MXBiFlLE6jvNqqMkAY/edit#heading=h.b40q4rb1w7on.
* The number of neurons after the feature transformer increased two-fold, to 1024x2. This is possibly mostly due to the now very optimized feature transformer update code.
* The number of neurons after the second layer is reduced from 16 to 8, to reduce the speed impact. This, perhaps surprisingly, doesn't harm the strength much. See https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gTlrr02qSNKiXNZ_SuO4-RjK4MXBiFlLE6jvNqqMkAY/edit#heading=h.6qkocr97fezq
The AffineTransform code did not work out-of-the box with the smaller number of neurons after the second layer, so some temporary changes have been made to add a special case for InputDimensions == 8. Also additional 0 padding is added to the output for some archs that cannot process inputs by <=8 (SSE2, NEON). VNNI uses an implementation that can keep all outputs in the registers while reducing the number of loads by 3 for each 16 inputs, thanks to the reduced number of output neurons. However GCC is particularily bad at optimization here (and perhaps why the current way the affine transform is done even passed sprt) (see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gTlrr02qSNKiXNZ_SuO4-RjK4MXBiFlLE6jvNqqMkAY/edit# for details) and more work will be done on this in the following days. I expect the current VNNI implementation to be improved and extended to other architectures.
The network was trained with a slightly modified version of the pytorch trainer (https://github.com/glinscott/nnue-pytorch); the changes are in https://github.com/glinscott/nnue-pytorch/pull/143
The training utilized 2 datasets.
dataset A - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VlhnHL8f-20AXhGkILujnNXHwy9T-MQw/view?usp=sharing
dataset B - as described in https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/commit/ba01f4b95448bcb324755f4dd2a632a57c6e67bc
The training process was as following:
train on dataset A for 350 epochs, take the best net in terms of elo at 20k nodes per move (it's fine to take anything from later stages of training).
convert the .ckpt to .pt
--resume-from-model from the .pt file, train on dataset B for <600 epochs, take the best net. Lambda=0.8, applied before the loss function.
The first training command:
python3 train.py \
../nnue-pytorch-training/data/large_gensfen_multipvdiff_100_d9.binpack \
../nnue-pytorch-training/data/large_gensfen_multipvdiff_100_d9.binpack \
--gpus "$3," \
--threads 1 \
--num-workers 1 \
--batch-size 16384 \
--progress_bar_refresh_rate 20 \
--smart-fen-skipping \
--random-fen-skipping 3 \
--features=HalfKAv2_hm^ \
--lambda=1.0 \
--max_epochs=600 \
--default_root_dir ../nnue-pytorch-training/experiment_$1/run_$2
The second training command:
python3 serialize.py \
--features=HalfKAv2_hm^ \
../nnue-pytorch-training/experiment_131/run_6/default/version_0/checkpoints/epoch-499.ckpt \
../nnue-pytorch-training/experiment_$1/base/base.pt
python3 train.py \
../nnue-pytorch-training/data/michael_commit_b94a65.binpack \
../nnue-pytorch-training/data/michael_commit_b94a65.binpack \
--gpus "$3," \
--threads 1 \
--num-workers 1 \
--batch-size 16384 \
--progress_bar_refresh_rate 20 \
--smart-fen-skipping \
--random-fen-skipping 3 \
--features=HalfKAv2_hm^ \
--lambda=0.8 \
--max_epochs=600 \
--resume-from-model ../nnue-pytorch-training/experiment_$1/base/base.pt \
--default_root_dir ../nnue-pytorch-training/experiment_$1/run_$2
STC: https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/611120b32a8a49ac5be798c4
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 22480 W: 2434 L: 2251 D: 17795
Ptnml(0-2): 101, 1736, 7410, 1865, 128
LTC: https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/611152b32a8a49ac5be798ea
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 9776 W: 442 L: 333 D: 9001
Ptnml(0-2): 5, 295, 4180, 402, 6
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3646
bench: 5189338
This patch improves the codegen in the AffineTransform::forward function for architectures >=SSSE3. Current code works directly on memory and the compiler cannot see that the stores through outptr do not alias the loads through weights and input32. The solution implemented is to perform the affine transform with local variables as accumulators and only store the result to memory at the end. The number of accumulators required is OutputDimensions / OutputSimdWidth, which means that for the 1024->16 affine transform it requires 4 registers with SSSE3, 2 with AVX2, 1 with AVX512. It also cuts the number of stores required by NumRegs * 256 for each node evaluated. The local accumulators are expected to be assigned to registers, but even if this cannot be done in some case due to register pressure it will help the compiler to see that there is no aliasing between the loads and stores and may still result in better codegen.
See https://godbolt.org/z/59aTKbbYc for codegen comparison.
passed STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 140328 W: 10635 L: 10358 D: 119335
Ptnml(0-2): 302, 8339, 52636, 8554, 333
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3634
No functional change
combined work by Serio Vieri, Michael Byrne, and Jonathan D (aka SFisGod) based on top of previous developments, by restarts from good nets.
Sergio generated the net https://tests.stockfishchess.org/api/nn/nn-d8609abe8caf.nnue:
The initial net nn-d8609abe8caf.nnue is trained by generating around 16B of training data from the last master net nn-9e3c6298299a.nnue, then trained, continuing from the master net, with lambda=0.2 and sampling ratio of 1. Starting with LR=2e-3, dropping LR with a factor of 0.5 until it reaches LR=5e-4. in_scaling is set to 361. No other significant changes made to the pytorch trainer.
Training data gen command (generates in chunks of 200k positions):
generate_training_data min_depth 9 max_depth 11 count 200000 random_move_count 10 random_move_max_ply 80 random_multi_pv 12 random_multi_pv_diff 100 random_multi_pv_depth 8 write_min_ply 10 eval_limit 1500 book noob_3moves.epd output_file_name gendata/$(date +"%Y%m%d-%H%M")_${HOSTNAME}.binpack
PyTorch trainer command (Note that this only trains for 20 epochs, repeatedly train until convergence):
python train.py --features "HalfKAv2^" --max_epochs 20 --smart-fen-skipping --random-fen-skipping 500 --batch-size 8192 --default_root_dir $dir --seed $RANDOM --threads 4 --num-workers 32 --gpus $gpuids --track_grad_norm 2 --gradient_clip_val 0.05 --lambda 0.2 --log_every_n_steps 50 $resumeopt $data $val
See https://github.com/sergiovieri/Stockfish/tree/tools_mod/rl for the scripts used to generate data.
Based on that Michael generated nn-76a8a7ffb820.nnue in the following way:
The net being submitted was trained with the pytorch trainer: https://github.com/glinscott/nnue-pytorch
python train.py i:/bin/all.binpack i:/bin/all.binpack --gpus 1 --threads 4 --num-workers 30 --batch-size 16384 --progress_bar_refresh_rate 30 --smart-fen-skipping --random-fen-skipping 3 --features=HalfKAv2^ --auto_lr_find True --lambda=1.0 --max_epochs=240 --seed %random%%random% --default_root_dir exp/run_109 --resume-from-model ./pt/nn-d8609abe8caf.pt
This run is thus started from Segio Vieri's net nn-d8609abe8caf.nnue
all.binpack equaled 4 parts Wrong_NNUE_2.binpack https://drive.google.com/file/d/1seGNOqcVdvK_vPNq98j-zV3XPE5zWAeq/view?usp=sharing plus two parts of Training_Data.binpack https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RFkQES3DpsiJqsOtUshENtzPfFgUmEff/view?usp=sharing
Each set was concatenated together - making one large Wrong_NNUE 2 binpack and one large Training so the were approximately equal in size. They were then interleaved together. The idea was to give Wrong_NNUE.binpack closer to equal weighting with the Training_Data binpack
model.py modifications:
loss = torch.pow(torch.abs(p - q), 2.6).mean()
LR = 8.0e-5 calculated as follows: 1.5e-3*(.992^360) - the idea here was to take a highly trained net and just use all.binpack as a finishing micro refinement touch for the last 2 Elo or so. This net was discovered on the 59th epoch.
optimizer = ranger.Ranger(train_params, betas=(.90, 0.999), eps=1.0e-7, gc_loc=False, use_gc=False)
scheduler = torch.optim.lr_scheduler.StepLR(optimizer, step_size=1, gamma=0.992)
For this micro optimization, I had set the period to "5" in train.py. This changes the checkpoint output so that every 5th checkpoint file is created
The final touches were to adjust the NNUE scale, as was done by Jonathan in tests running at the same time.
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60fa45aed8a6b65b2f3a77a4
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 53040 W: 1732 L: 1575 D: 49733
Ptnml(0-2): 14, 1432, 23474, 1583, 17
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60f9fee2d8a6b65b2f3a7775
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 37928 W: 3178 L: 3001 D: 31749
Ptnml(0-2): 100, 2446, 13695, 2623, 100.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3626
Bench: 5169957
The main idea is that illegal moves influencing search or
qsearch obviously can't be any sort of good. The only reason
why initially legality checks for search and qsearch were done
after they actually can influence some heuristics is because
legality check is expensive computationally. Eventually in
search it was moved to the place where it makes sure that
illegal moves can't influence search.
This patch shows that the same can be done for qsearch + it
passed STC with elo-gaining bounds + it removes 3 lines of code
because one no longer needs to increment/decrement movecount
on illegal moves.
passed STC with elo-gaining bounds
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60f20aefd1189bed71812da0
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 61512 W: 4688 L: 4492 D: 52332
Ptnml(0-2): 139, 3730, 22848, 3874, 165
The same version functionally but with moving condition ever earlier
passed LTC with simplification bounds.
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60f292cad1189bed71812de9
LLR: 2.98 (-2.94,2.94) <-2.50,0.50>
Total: 60944 W: 1724 L: 1685 D: 57535
Ptnml(0-2): 11, 1556, 27298, 1597, 10
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3618
bench 4709569
Not all linux users will have libatomic installed.
When using clang as the system compiler with compiler-rt as the default
runtime library instead of libgcc, atomic builtins may be provided by compiler-rt.
This change allows such users to pass RTLIB=compiler-rt to make sure
the build doesn't error out on the missing (unnecessary) libatomic.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3597
No functional change
Official release version of Stockfish 14
Bench: 4770936
---
Today, we have the pleasure to announce Stockfish 14.
As usual, downloads will be freely available at https://stockfishchess.org
The engine is now significantly stronger than just a few months ago,
and wins four times more game pairs than it loses against the previous
release version [0]. Stockfish 14 is now at least 400 Elo ahead of
Stockfish 7, a top engine in 2016 [1]. During the last five years,
Stockfish has thus gained about 80 Elo per year.
Stockfish 14 evaluates positions more accurately than Stockfish 13 as
a result of two major steps forward in defining and training the
efficiently updatable neural network (NNUE) that provides the evaluation
for positions.
First, the collaboration with the Leela Chess Zero team - announced
previously [2] - has come to fruition. The LCZero team has provided a
collection of billions of positions evaluated by Leela that we have
combined with billions of positions evaluated by Stockfish to train the
NNUE net that powers Stockfish 14. The fact that we could use and combine
these datasets freely was essential for the progress made and demonstrates
the power of open source and open data [3].
Second, the architecture of the NNUE network was significantly updated:
the new network is not only larger, but more importantly, it deals better
with large material imbalances and can specialize for multiple phases of
the game [4]. A new project, kick-started by Gary Linscott and
Tomasz Sobczyk, led to a GPU accelerated net trainer written in
pytorch.[5] This tool allows for training high-quality nets in a couple
of hours.
Finally, this release features some search refinements, minor bug
fixes and additional improvements. For example, Stockfish is now about
90 Elo stronger for chess960 (Fischer random chess) at short time control.
The Stockfish project builds on a thriving community of enthusiasts
(thanks everybody!) that contribute their expertise, time, and resources
to build a free and open-source chess engine that is robust, widely
available, and very strong. We invite our chess fans to join the fishtest
testing framework and programmers to contribute to the project on
github [6].
Stay safe and enjoy chess!
The Stockfish team
[0] https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60dae5363beab81350aca077
[1] https://nextchessmove.com/dev-builds
[2] https://stockfishchess.org/blog/2021/stockfish-13/
[3] https://lczero.org/blog/2021/06/the-importance-of-open-data/
[4] https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/commit/e8d64af1
[5] https://github.com/glinscott/nnue-pytorch/
[6] https://stockfishchess.org/get-involved/
In the so-called "hybrid" method of evaluation of current master, we use the
classical eval (because of its speed) instead of the NNUE eval when the classical
material balance approximation hints that the position is "winning enough" to
rely on the classical eval.
This trade-off idea between speed and accuracy works well in general, but in
some fortress positions the classical eval is just bad. So in shuffling branches
of the search tree, we (slowly) increase the thresehold so that eventually we
don't trust classical anymore and switch to NNUE evaluation.
This patch increases that threshold faster, so that we switch to NNUE quicker
in shuffling branches. Idea is to incite Stockfish to spend less time in fortresses
lines in the search tree, and spend more time searching the critical lines.
passed STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 47872 W: 3908 L: 3720 D: 40244
Ptnml(0-2): 122, 3053, 17419, 3199, 143
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60cef34b457376eb8bcab79d
passed LTC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 73616 W: 2326 L: 2143 D: 69147
Ptnml(0-2): 21, 1940, 32705, 2119, 23
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60cf6d842114332881e73528
Retested at LTC against lastest master:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 18264 W: 642 L: 532 D: 17090
Ptnml(0-2): 6, 479, 8055, 583, 9
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60d18cd540925195e7a6c351
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3578
Bench: 5139233
This patch removes the UCI option for setting Contempt in classical evaluation.
It is exactly equivalent to using Contempt=0 for the UCI contempt value and keeping
the dynamic part in the algo (renaming this dynamic part `trend` to better describe
what it does). We have tried quite hard to implement a working Contempt feature for
NNUE but nothing really worked, so it is probably time to give up.
Interested chess fans wishing to keep playing with the UCI option for Contempt and
use it with the classical eval are urged to download the version tagged "SF_Classical"
of Stockfish (dated 31 July 2020), as it was the last version where our search
algorithm was tuned for the classical eval and is probably our strongest classical
player ever: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/tags
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <-2.50,0.50>
Total: 72904 W: 6228 L: 6175 D: 60501
Ptnml(0-2): 221, 5006, 25971, 5007, 247
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60c98bf9457376eb8bcab18d
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <-2.50,0.50>
Total: 45168 W: 1601 L: 1547 D: 42020
Ptnml(0-2): 38, 1331, 19786, 1397, 32
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60c9c7fa457376eb8bcab1bb
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3575
Bench: 4947716
This patch increase the weight of pawns and pieces from 28 to 32
in the scaling formula we apply to the output of the NNUE pure eval.
Increasing this gradient for pawns and pieces means that Stockfish
will try a little harder to keep material when she has the advantage,
and try a little bit harder to escape into an endgame when she is
under pressure.
STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 53168 W: 4371 L: 4177 D: 44620
Ptnml(0-2): 160, 3389, 19283, 3601, 151
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60cefd1d457376eb8bcab7ab
LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 10888 W: 386 L: 288 D: 10214
Ptnml(0-2): 3, 260, 4821, 356, 4
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60cf709d2114332881e7352b
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3571
Bench: 4965430
trained with the Python command
c:\nnue>python train.py i:/bin/all.binpack i:/bin/all.binpack --gpus 1 --threads 4 --num-workers 30 --batch-size 16384 --progress_bar_refresh_rate 300 --smart-fen-skipping --random-fen-skipping 3 --features=HalfKAv2^ --lambda=1.0 --max_epochs=440 --seed %random%%random% --default_root_dir exp/run_10 --resume-from-model ./pt/nn-3b20abec10c1.pt
`
all.binpack equaled 4 parts Wrong_NNUE_2.binpack https://drive.google.com/file/d/1seGNOqcVdvK_vPNq98j-zV3XPE5zWAeq/view?usp=sharing plus two parts of Training_Data.binpack https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RFkQES3DpsiJqsOtUshENtzPfFgUmEff/view?usp=sharing
Each set was concatenated together - making one large Wrong_NNUE 2 binpack and one large Training so the were approximately equal in size. They were then interleaved together. The idea was to give Wrong_NNUE.binpack closer to equal weighting with the Training_Data binpack .
Net nn-3b20abec10c1.nnue was chosen as the --resume-from-model with the idea that through learning, the manually hex edited values will be learned and will not need to be manually adjusted going forward. They would also be fine tuned by the learning process.
passed STC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60cdf91e457376eb8bcab66f
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 18256 W: 1639 L: 1479 D: 15138
Ptnml(0-2): 59, 1179, 6505, 1313, 72
passed LTC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60ce2166457376eb8bcab6e1
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 18792 W: 654 L: 542 D: 17596
Ptnml(0-2): 9, 490, 8291, 592, 14
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3570
Bench: 5020972
The Cygwin environment has two g++ compilers, each with a different problem
for compiling Stockfish at the moment:
(a) g++.exe : full posix build compiler, linked to cygwin dll.
=> This one has a problem embedding the net.
(b) x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++.exe : native Windows build compiler.
=> This one manages to embed the net, but has a problem related to libgcov
when we use the profile-build target of Stockfish.
This patch solves the problem for compiler (b), so that our recommended command line
if you want to build an optimized version of Stockfish on Cygwin becomes something
like the following (you can change the ARCH value to whatever you want, but note
the COMP and CXX variables pointing at the right compiler):
```
make -j profile-build ARCH=x86-64-modern COMP=mingw CXX=x86_64-w64-mingw32-c++.exe
```
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3569
No functional change
move to github actions to replace travis CI.
First version, testing on linux using gcc and clang.
gcc build with sanitizers and valgrind.
No functional change
Optimization of vondele's nn-33c9d39e5eb6.nnue using SPSA
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60ca68be457376eb8bcab28b
Setting: ck values are default based on how large the parameters are
The new values for this net are the raw values at the end of the tuning (80k games)
The significant changes are in buckets 1 and 2 (5-12 pieces) so the main difference is in playing endgames if we compare it to nn-33c9. There is also change in bucket 7 (29-32 pieces) but not as substantial as the changes in buckets 1 and 2. If we interpret the changes based on an experiment a few months ago, this new net plays more optimistically during endgames and less optimistically during openings.
STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 49504 W: 4246 L: 4053 D: 41205
Ptnml(0-2): 140, 3282, 17749, 3407, 174
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60cbd752457376eb8bcab478
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 88720 W: 4926 L: 4651 D: 79143
Ptnml(0-2): 105, 4048, 35793, 4295, 119
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60cc7828457376eb8bcab4fa
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3566
Bench: 4758885
This net was created by @pleomati, who manually edited with an hex editor
10 values randomly chosen in the LCSFNet10 net (nn-6ad41a9207d0.nnue) to
create this one. The LCSFNet10 net was trained by Joost VandeVondele from
a dataset combining Stockfish games and Leela games (16x10^9 positions from
SF self-play at depth 9, and 6.3x10^9 positions from Leela games, so overall
72% of Stockfish positions and 28% of Leela positions).
passed STC 10+0.1:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 50888 W: 5881 L: 5654 D: 39353
Ptnml(0-2): 281, 4290, 16085, 4497, 291
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60cbfa68457376eb8bcab49a
passed LTC 60+0.6:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 25480 W: 1498 L: 1338 D: 22644
Ptnml(0-2): 36, 1155, 10193, 1325, 31
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60cc4af8457376eb8bcab4d4
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3564
Bench: 4904930
This reverts commit "Fix for Cygwin's environment build-profile", as it was
giving errors for "make clean" on some Windows environments. See comments in
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/commit/68bf362ea2385a641be9f5ed9ce2acdf55a1ecf1
Possibly somebody can propose a solution that would fix Cygwin builds and
not break on other system too, stay tuned! :-)
No functional change
The Cygwin environment has two g++ compilers, each with a different problem
for compiling Stockfish at the moment:
(a) g++.exe : full posix build compiler, linked to cygwin dll.
=> This one has a problem embedding the net.
(b) x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++.exe : native Windows build compiler.
=> This one manages to embed the net, but has a problem related to libgcov
when we use the profile-build target of Stockfish.
This patch solves the problem for compiler (b), so that our recommended command line
if you want to build an optimized version of Stockfish on Cygwin becomes something
like the following (you can change the ARCH value to whatever you want, but note
the COMP and CXX variables pointing at the right compiler):
```
make -j profile-build ARCH=x86-64-modern COMP=mingw CXX=x86_64-w64-mingw32-c++.exe
```
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3463
No functional change
of a root move leading to a 3-fold repetition.
With this small fix a draw ranking and thus a draw score is being applied.
This works for both, ranking by dtz or wdl tables.
Fixes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/3542
(No functional change without TBs.)
Bench: 4877339
This net is the result of training on data used by the Leela project. More precisely,
we shuffled T60 and T74 data kindly provided by borg (for different Tnn, the data is
a result of Leela selfplay with differently sized Leela nets).
The data is available at vondele's google drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mftuzYdl9o6tBaceR3d_VBQIrgKJsFpl.
The Leela data comes in small chunks of .binpack files. To shuffle them, we simply
used a small python script to randomly rename the files, and then concatenated them
using `cat`. As validation data we picked a file of T60 data. We will further investigate
T74 data.
The training for the NNUE architecture used 200 epochs with the Python trainer from
the Stockfish project. Unlike the previous run we tried with this data, this run does
not have adjusted scaling — not because we didn't want to, but because we forgot.
However, this training randomly skips 40% more positions than previous run. The loss
was very spiky and decreased slower than it does usually.
Training loss: https://github.com/official-stockfish/images/blob/main/training-loss-8e47cf062333.png
Validation loss: https://github.com/official-stockfish/images/blob/main/validation-loss-8e47cf062333.png
This is the exact training command:
python train.py --smart-fen-skipping --random-fen-skipping 14 --batch-size 16384 --threads 4 --num-workers 4 --gpus 1 trainingdata\training_data.binpack validationdata\val.binpack
---
10k STC result:
ELO: 3.61 +-3.3 (95%) LOS: 98.4%
Total: 10000 W: 1241 L: 1137 D: 7622
Ptnml(0-2): 68, 841, 3086, 929, 76
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60c67e50457376eb8bcaae70
10k LTC result:
ELO: 2.71 +-2.4 (95%) LOS: 98.8%
Total: 10000 W: 659 L: 581 D: 8760
Ptnml(0-2): 22, 485, 3900, 579, 14
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60c69deb457376eb8bcaae98
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 9648 W: 685 L: 545 D: 8418
Ptnml(0-2): 22, 448, 3740, 596, 18
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60c6d41c457376eb8bcaaecf
---
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3550
Bench: 4877339
Compute optimal register count for feature transformer accumulation dynamically.
This also introduces a change where AVX512 would only use 8 registers instead of 16
(now possible due to a 2x increase in feature transformer size).
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3543
No functional change
This patch restricts LMR extensions (of non-transposition table moves) from being
used when the transposition table move was extended by two plies via singular
extension. This may serve to limit search explosions in certain positions.
This makes a lot of sense because the precondition for the tt-move to have been
singular extended by two plies is that the result of the alternate search (with
excluded the tt-move) has been a hard fail low: it is natural to later search less
for non tt-moves in this situation.
The current state of depth/extensions/reductions management is getting quite tricky
in our search algo, see https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3546#issuecomment-860174549
for some discussion. Suggestions welcome!
Passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60c3f293457376eb8bcaac8d
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 117984 W: 9698 L: 9430 D: 98856
Ptnml(0-2): 315, 7708, 42703, 7926, 340
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60c46ea5457376eb8bcaacc7
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 11280 W: 401 L: 302 D: 10577
Ptnml(0-2): 2, 271, 4998, 364, 5
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3546
Bench: 4709974
Load feature transformer weights in bulk on little-endian machines.
This is in particular useful to test new nets with c-chess-cli,
see https://github.com/lucasart/c-chess-cli/issues/44
```
$ time ./stockfish.exe uci
Before : 0m0.914s
After : 0m0.483s
```
No functional change
Cleaner vector code structure in feature transformer. This patch just
regroups the parts of the inner loop for each SIMD instruction set.
Tested for non-regression:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) <-2.50,0.50>
Total: 115760 W: 9835 L: 9831 D: 96094
Ptnml(0-2): 326, 7776, 41715, 7694, 369
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60b96b39457376eb8bcaa26e
It would be nice if a future patch could use some of the macros at
the top of the file to unify the code between the distincts SIMD
instruction sets (of course, unifying the Relu will be the challenge).
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3506
No functional change
This simplification patch implements two changes:
1. it simplifies away the so-called "lazy" path in the NNUE evaluation internals,
where we trusted the psqt head alone to avoid the costly "positional" head in
some cases;
2. it raises a little bit the NNUEThreshold1 in evaluate.cpp (from 682 to 800),
which increases the limit where we switched from NNUE eval to Classical eval.
Both effects increase the number of positional evaluations done by our new net
architecture, but the results of our tests below seem to indicate that the loss
of speed will be compensated by the gain of eval quality.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <-2.50,0.50>
Total: 26280 W: 2244 L: 2137 D: 21899
Ptnml(0-2): 72, 1755, 9405, 1810, 98
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60ae73f112066fd299795a51
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <-2.50,0.50>
Total: 20592 W: 750 L: 677 D: 19165
Ptnml(0-2): 9, 614, 8980, 681, 12
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60ae88e812066fd299795a82
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3503
Bench: 3817907
Definition of the lazy threshold moved to evaluate.cpp where all others are.
Lazy threshold only used for real searches, not used for the "eval" call.
This preserves the purity of NNUE evaluation, which is useful to verify
consistency between the engine and the NNUE trainer.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3499
No functional change
Our new nets output two values for the side to move in the last layer.
We can interpret the first value as a material evaluation of the
position, and the second one as the dynamic, positional value of the
location of pieces.
This patch changes the balance for the (materialist, positional) parts
of the score from (128, 128) to (121, 135) when the piece material is
equal between the two players, but keeps the standard (128, 128) balance
when one player is at least an exchange up.
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 15936 W: 1421 L: 1266 D: 13249
Ptnml(0-2): 37, 1037, 5694, 1134, 66
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60a82df9ce8ea25a3ef0408f
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 13904 W: 516 L: 410 D: 12978
Ptnml(0-2): 4, 374, 6088, 484, 2
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60a8bbf9ce8ea25a3ef04101
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3492
Bench: 3856635
The Tempo variable was introduced 10 years ago in our search because the
classical evaluation function was antisymmetrical in White and Black by design
to gain speed:
Eval(White to play) = -Eval(Black to play)
Nowadays our neural networks know which side is to play in a position when
they evaluate a position and are trained on real games, so the neural network
encodes the advantage of moving as an output of search. This patch shows that
the Tempo variable is not necessary anymore.
STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <-2.50,0.50>
Total: 33512 W: 2805 L: 2709 D: 27998
Ptnml(0-2): 80, 2209, 12095, 2279, 93
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60a44ceace8ea25a3ef03d30
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <-2.50,0.50>
Total: 53920 W: 1807 L: 1760 D: 50353
Ptnml(0-2): 16, 1617, 23650, 1658, 19
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60a477f0ce8ea25a3ef03d49
We also tried a match (20000 games) at STC using purely classical, result was neutral:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60a4eebcce8ea25a3ef03db5
Note: there are two locations left in search.cpp where we assume antisymmetry
of evaluation (in relation with a speed optimization for null moves in lines
770 and 1439), but as the values are just used for heuristic pruning this
approximation should not hurt too much because the order of magnitude is still
true most of the time.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3481
Bench: 4015864
This improves the speed of NNUE by a bit on old hardware that code path
is intended for, like a Pentium III 1.13 GHz:
10 repeats of "./stockfish bench 16 1 13 default depth NNUE":
Before:
54 642 504 897 cycles (± 0.12%)
62 301 937 829 instructions (± 0.03%)
After:
54 320 821 928 cycles (± 0.13%)
62 084 742 699 instructions (± 0.02%)
Speed of go depth 20 from startpos:
Before: 53103 nps
After: 53856 nps
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3476
No functional change.
This patch increases lmrDepth threshold for continuation history based pruning in search.
This part of code for a long time was known to be really TC sensitive - decreasing
this threshold easily passed lower time controls but failed badly at LTC,
on the other hand it increase was part of a tuning that resulted
in being negative at STC but was +12 elo at 180+1.8.
After recent simplification of special conditions that sometimes
increase it from 4 to 5 it was logical to overall test at longer
time controls if 5 is better than 4 with deeper searches.
reduces strenght on STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60a3a8bbce8ea25a3ef03c74
ELO: -2.57 +-2.0 (95%) LOS: 0.6%
Total: 20000 W: 1820 L: 1968 D: 16212
Ptnml(0-2): 68, 1582, 6836, 1458, 56
Passed LTC with STC bounds
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60a027395085663412d090ce
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <-0.50,2.50>
Total: 175256 W: 6774 L: 6548 D: 161934
Ptnml(0-2): 91, 5808, 75604, 6034, 91
Passed VLTC with LTC bounds
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60a2bccce229097940a037a7
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) <0.50,3.50>
Total: 65736 W: 1224 L: 1092 D: 63420
Ptnml(0-2): 5, 1012, 30706, 1136, 9
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3473
bench 3689330
- Comment for Countemove pruning -> Continuation history
- Fix comment in input_slice.h
- Shorter lines in Makefile
- Comment for scale factor
- Fix comment for pinners in see_ge()
- Change Thread.id() signature to size_t
- Trailing space in reprosearch.sh
- Add Douglas Matos Gomes to the AUTHORS file
- Introduce comment for undo_null_move()
- Use Stockfish coding style for export_net()
- Change date in AUTHORS file
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3416
No functional change
e2k (Elbrus 2000) - this is a VLIW/EPIC architecture,
the like Intel Itanium (IA-64) architecture.
The architecture has half native / half software support
for most Intel/AMD SIMD (e.g. MMX/SSE/SSE2/SSE3/SSSE3/SSE4.1/SSE4.2/AES/AVX/AVX2 & 3DNow!/SSE4a/XOP/FMA4) via intrinsics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbrus_2000
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3425
No functional change
This PR adds an ability to export any currently loaded network.
The export_net command now takes an optional filename parameter.
If the loaded net is not the embedded net the filename parameter is required.
Two changes were required to support this:
* the "architecture" string, which is really just a some kind of description in the net, is now saved into netDescription on load and correctly saved on export.
* the AffineTransform scrambles weights for some architectures and sparsifies them, such that retrieving the index is hard. This is solved by having a temporary scrambled<->unscrambled index lookup table when loading the network, and the actual index is saved for each individual weight that makes it to canSaturate16. This increases the size of the canSaturate16 entries by 6 bytes.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3456
No functional change
This patch broadens and simplifies definition of PvNode that is likely to fail low.
New definition can be described as following "If node was already researched
at depth >= current depth and failed low there" which is more logical than the
previous version and takes less space + allows to not recompute it every time during move loop.
Passed simplification STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/609148bf95e7f1852abd2e82
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <-2.50,0.50>
Total: 20128 W: 1865 L: 1751 D: 16512
Ptnml(0-2): 63, 1334, 7165, 1430, 72
Passed simplification LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6091691295e7f1852abd2e8b
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <-2.50,0.50>
Total: 95128 W: 3498 L: 3481 D: 88149
Ptnml(0-2): 41, 2956, 41549, 2981, 37
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3455
Bench: 3933037
Introduce variable tempo for nnue depending on logarithm of estimated
strength, where strength is the product of time and number of threads.
The original idea here was that NNUE is best with a slightly different
tempo value to classical, since its style of play is slightly different.
It turns out that the best tempo for NNUE varies with strength of play,
so a formula is used which gives about 19 for STC and 24 for LTC under
current fishtest settings.
STC 10+0.1:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.20,1.10}
Total: 120816 W: 11155 L: 10861 D: 98800
Ptnml(0-2): 406, 8728, 41933, 8848, 493
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60735b3a8141753378960534
LTC 60+0.6:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.20,0.90}
Total: 35688 W: 1392 L: 1234 D: 33062
Ptnml(0-2): 23, 1079, 15473, 1255, 14
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6073ffbc814175337896057f
Passed non-regression SMP test at LTC 20+0.2 (8 threads):
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.70,0.20}
Total: 11008 W: 317 L: 267 D: 10424
Ptnml(0-2): 2, 245, 4962, 291, 4
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60749ea881417533789605a4
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3426
Bench 4075325
A lot of optimizations happend since the NNUE was introduced
and since then some parts of the code were left unused. This
got to the point where asserts were have to be made just to
let people know that modifying something will not have any
effects or may even break everything due to the assumptions
being made. Removing these parts removes those inexisting
"false dependencies". Additionally:
* append_changed_indices now takes the king pos and stateinfo
explicitly, no more misleading pos parameter
* IndexList is removed in favor of a generic ValueList.
Feature transformer just instantiates the type it needs.
* The update cost and refresh requirement is deferred to the
feature set once again, but now doesn't go through the whole
FeatureSet machinery and just calls HalfKP directly.
* accumulator no longer has a singular dimension.
* The PS constants and the PieceSquareIndex array are made local
to the HalfKP feature set because they are specific to it and
DO differ for other feature sets.
* A few names are changed to more descriptive
Passed STC non-regression:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/608421dd95e7f1852abd2790
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <-2.50,0.50>
Total: 180008 W: 16186 L: 16258 D: 147564
Ptnml(0-2): 587, 12593, 63725, 12503, 596
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3441
No functional change
NNUE evaluation is incapable of recognizing trivially drawn bishop endgames
(the wrong-colored rook pawn), which are in fact ubiquitous and stock standard
in chess analysis. Switching off NNUE evaluation in KBPs vs KPs endgames is
a measure that stops Stockfish from trading down to a drawn version of these
endings when we presumably have advantage. The patch is able to edge over master
in endgame positions.
Patch tested for Elo gain with the "endgame.epd" book, and verified for
non-regression with our usual book (see the pull request for details).
STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.20,1.10}
Total: 33232 W: 6655 L: 6497 D: 20080
Ptnml(0-2): 4, 2342, 11769, 2494, 7
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6074a52981417533789605b8
LTC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {0.20,0.90}
Total: 159056 W: 29799 L: 29378 D: 99879
Ptnml(0-2): 7, 9004, 61085, 9425, 7
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6074c39a81417533789605ca
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3427
Bench: 4503918
blah
This patch changes the pop_lsb() signature from Square pop_lsb(Bitboard*) to
Square pop_lsb(Bitboard&). This is more idomatic for C++ style signatures.
Passed a non-regression STC test:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.25,0.25}
Total: 21280 W: 1928 L: 1847 D: 17505
Ptnml(0-2): 71, 1427, 7558, 1518, 66
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6053a1e22433018de7a38e2f
We have verified that the generated binary is identical on gcc-10.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3404
No functional change.
our net currently is not trained on FRC games, and so doesn't know about the important pattern of a bishop that is cornered in FRC.
This patch introduces a term we have in the classical evaluation for this case, and adds it to the NNUE eval.
Since fishtest doesn't support FRC right now, the patch was tested locally at STC conditions,
starting from the book of FRC starting positions.
Score of master vs patch: 993 - 2226 - 6781 [0.438] 10000
Which corresponds to approximately 40 Elo
The patch passes non-regression testing for traditional chess (where it adds one branch).
passed STC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/604fa2532433018de7a38b67
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.25,0.25}
Total: 30560 W: 2701 L: 2636 D: 25223
Ptnml(0-2): 88, 2056, 10921, 2133, 82
passed STC also in an earlier version:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/604f61282433018de7a38b4d
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3398
No functional change
We remark that in current master, most of our use cases for between_bb() can be
optimized if the second parameter of the function is added to the segment. So we
change the definition of between_bb(s1, s2) such that it excludes s1 but includes s2.
We also use a precomputed array for between_bb() for another small speed gain
(see https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/604d09f72433018de7a389fb).
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 18736 W: 1746 L: 1607 D: 15383
Ptnml(0-2): 61, 1226, 6644, 1387, 50
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/60428c84ddcba5f0627bb6e4
Yellow LTC:
LTC:
LLR: -3.00 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 39144 W: 1431 L: 1413 D: 36300
Ptnml(0-2): 13, 1176, 17184, 1178, 21
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/605128702433018de7a38ca1
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3397
---------
Verified for correctness by running perft on the following position:
./stockfish
position fen 4rrk1/1p1nq3/p7/2p1P1pp/3P2bp/3Q1Bn1/PPPB4/1K2R1NR w - - 40 21
go perft 6
Nodes searched: 6136386434
--------
No functional change
The codebase contains multiple functions returning by const-value.
This patch is a small cleanup making those function returns
by value instead, removing the const specifier.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3328
No functional change
We introduce a metric for each internal node in search, called DistanceFromPV.
This distance indicated how far the current node is from the principal variation.
We then use this distance to search the nodes which are close to the PV a little
deeper (up to 4 plies deeper than the PV): this improves the quality of the search
at these nodes and bring better updates for the PV during search.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 54936 W: 5047 L: 4850 D: 45039
Ptnml(0-2): 183, 3907, 19075, 4136, 167
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6037b88e7f517a561bc4a392
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 49608 W: 1880 L: 1703 D: 46025
Ptnml(0-2): 22, 1514, 21555, 1691, 22
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6038271b7f517a561bc4a3cb
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3369
Bench: 5037279
The idea of this patch can be described as follows: if we are in check
and the transposition table move is a capture that returns a value
far above beta, we can assume that the opponent just blundered a piece
by giving check, and we return the transposition table value. This is
similar to the usual probCut logic for quiet moves, but with a different
threshold.
Passed STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 33440 W: 3056 L: 2891 D: 27493
Ptnml(0-2): 110, 2338, 11672, 2477, 123
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/602cd1087f517a561bc49bda
Passed LTC
LLR: 2.98 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 10072 W: 401 L: 309 D: 9362
Ptnml(0-2): 2, 288, 4365, 378, 3
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/602ceea57f517a561bc49bf0
The committed version has an additional fix to never return unproven wins
in the tablebase range or the mate range. This fix passed tests for non-
regression at STC and LTC:
STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.25,0.25}
Total: 26240 W: 2354 L: 2280 D: 21606
Ptnml(0-2): 85, 1763, 9372, 1793, 107
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/602d86a87f517a561bc49c7a
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.75,0.25}
Total: 35304 W: 1299 L: 1256 D: 32749
Ptnml(0-2): 14, 1095, 15395, 1130, 18
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/602d98d17f517a561bc49c83
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3362
Bench: 3830215
Official release version of Stockfish 13
Bench: 3766422
-----
It is our pleasure to release Stockfish 13 to chess fans worldwide.
As usual, downloads are freely available at
https://stockfishchess.org
The Stockfish project builds on a thriving community of enthusiasts
who contribute their expertise, time, and resources to build a free
and open-source chess engine that is robust, widely available, and
very strong. We would like to thank them all!
The good news first: from now on, our users can expect more frequent
high-quality releases of Stockfish! Sadly, this decision has been
triggered by the start of sales of the Fat Fritz 2 engine by ChessBase,
which is a copy of a very recent development version of Stockfish
with minor modifications. We refer to our statement on Fat Fritz 2[1]
and a community blog[2] for further information.
This version of Stockfish is significantly stronger than any of its
predecessors. Stockfish 13 outperforms Stockfish 12 by at least
35 Elo[3]. When playing against a one-year-old Stockfish, it wins 60
times more game pairs than it loses[4]. This release features an NNUE
network retrained on billions of positions, much faster network
evaluation code, and significantly improved search heuristics, as
well as additional evaluation tweaks. In the course of its development,
this version has won the superfinals of the TCEC Season 19 and
TCEC Season 20.
Going forward, the Leela Chess Zero and Stockfish teams will join
forces to demonstrate our commitment to open source chess engines and
training tools, and open data. We are convinced that our free and
open-source chess engines serve the chess community very well.
Stay safe and enjoy chess!
The Stockfish team
[1] https://blog.stockfishchess.org/post/643239805544792064/statement-on-fat-fritz-2
[2] https://lichess.org/blog/YCvy7xMAACIA8007/fat-fritz-2-is-a-rip-off
[3] https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/602bcccf7f517a561bc49b11
[4] https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/600fbb9c735dd7f0f0352d59
• reorder some sections of the README file
• add reference to the AUTHORS file
• rename Syzygybases to Syzygy tablebases
• add pointer to the Discord channel
• more precise info about the GPLv3 licence
No functional change
Do not decrease reduction at pv-nodes which are likely to fail low.
The idea of this patch can be described as following: during the search, if a node
on the principal variation was re-searched in non-pv search and this re-search got
a value which was much lower than alpha, then we can assume that this pv-node is
likely to fail low again, and we can reduce more aggressively at this node.
Passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6023a5fa7f517a561bc49638
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 70288 W: 6443 L: 6223 D: 57622
Ptnml(0-2): 239, 5022, 24436, 5174, 273
Passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6023f2617f517a561bc49661
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 105656 W: 4048 L: 3748 D: 97860
Ptnml(0-2): 67, 3312, 45761, 3630, 58
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3349
Bench: 3766422
This patch removes some magic numbers in TT bit management and introduce proper
constants in the code, to improve documentation and ease further modifications.
No function change
It's about 1% speedup for Stockfish.
Result of 100 runs
==================
base (...fish_clang12) = 1946851 +/- 3717
test (./stockfish ) = 1967276 +/- 3408
diff = +20425 +/- 2438
speedup = +0.0105
P(speedup > 0) = 1.0000
Thanks to David Major for making me aware of this part
of LLVM development.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3346
No functional change
This patch give a small bonus to incite the attacking side to keep more
pawns on the board.
A consequence of this bonus is that Stockfish will tend to play positions
slightly more closed on average than master, especially when it believes
that it has an advantage.
To lower the risk of blockades where Stockfish start shuffling without
progress, we also implement a progressive decrease of the evaluation
value with the 50 moves counter (along with the necessary aging of the
transposition table to reduce the impact of the Graph History Interaction
problem): since the evaluation decreases during shuffling phases, the
engine will tend to examine the consequences of pawn breaks faster during
the search.
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 26184 W: 2406 L: 2252 D: 21526
Ptnml(0-2): 85, 1784, 9223, 1892, 108
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/600cc08b735dd7f0f0352c06
Passed LCT:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 199768 W: 7695 L: 7191 D: 184882
Ptnml(0-2): 85, 6478, 86269, 6952, 100
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/600ccd28735dd7f0f0352c10
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3321
Bench: 3988915
Give an additional penalty of S(20, 10) for any doubled pawn if none of
the opponent's pawns is facing any of our
- pawns or
- pawn attacks;
that means, each of their pawns can push at least one square without
being captured.
This ignores their non-pawns pieces and attacks.
One possible justification: Their pawns' ability to push freely provides
options to react to our threats by changing their pawn structure. Our
doubled pawns however will likely lead to an exploitable weakness, even
if the pawn structure is not yet fixed.
Note that the notion of "their pawns not being fixed" is symmetric for
both players: If all of their pawns can push freely so can ours. All
pawns being freely pushable might just be an early-game-indicator.
However, it can trigger during endgame pawns races, where doubled pawns
are especially hindering, too.
LTC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 134976 W: 17964 L: 17415 D: 99597
Ptnml(0-2): 998, 12702, 39619, 13091, 1078
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ffdd5316019e097de3ef281
STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 35640 W: 7219 L: 6904 D: 21517
Ptnml(0-2): 645, 4096, 8084, 4289, 706
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ffda4a16019e097de3ef265
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3302
Bench: 4363873
This change simplifies control flow in the generate_moves function which ensures the compiler doesn't duplicate work due to possibly not resolving pureness of the function calls. Also the biggest change is the removal of the unnecessary condition checking for empty b in a convoluted way. The rationale for removal of this condition is that computing attacks_bb with occupancy is not much more costly than computing pseudo attacks and overall the condition (also being likely unpredictable) is a pessimisation.
This is inspired by previous changes by @BM123499.
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 88040 W: 8172 L: 7931 D: 71937
Ptnml(0-2): 285, 6128, 30957, 6361, 289
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ffc28386019e097de3ef1c7
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3300
No functional change.
Changed name from Bad Outpost to Uncontested Outpost
Scale Uncontested Outpost with number of pawns + Decrease Bishop PSQT values and general tuning
Credits for the decrease of the Bishop PSQT values: Fauzi
Credits for scaling Uncontested Outpost with number of pawns: Lolligerhans
Credits for the tunings: Fauzi
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 32040 W: 6593 L: 6281 D: 19166
Ptnml(0-2): 596, 3713, 7095, 4015, 601
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ffa43026019e097de3ef0f2
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 84376 W: 11395 L: 10950 D: 62031
Ptnml(0-2): 652, 7930, 24623, 8287, 696
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ffa6e7b6019e097de3ef0fd
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3296
Bench: 4287509
- "discovered check" (instead of "discovery check")
- "en passant" (instead of "en-passant")
- "pseudo-legal" before a noun (instead of "pseudo legal")
- "3-fold" (instead of "3fold")
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3294
No functional change.
In a recent patch we added comparing capture history to a number for LMR of captures.
Calling it via thisThread-> is not needed since capture history was already declared by this time -
so removing makes code slightly shorter and easier to follow.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3297
No functional change.
Size of the weights in the last layer is less than 512 bits. It leads to wrong data access for AVX512. There is no error because in current implementation it is guaranteed that there is an array of zeros after weights so zero multiplied by something is returned and sum is correct. It is a mistake that can lead to unexpected bugs in the future. Used AVX2 instructions for smaller input size.
No measurable slowdown on avx512.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3298
No functional change.
Reordered weights in such a way that accumulated sum fits to output.
Weights are grouped in blocks of four elements because four
int8 (weight type) corresponds to one int32 (output type).
No horizontal additions.
Grouped AVX512, AVX2 and SSSE3 implementations.
Repeated code was removed.
An earlier version passed STC:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 15336 W: 1495 L: 1355 D: 12486
Ptnml(0-2): 44, 1054, 5350, 1158, 62
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ff60e106019e097de3eefd5
Speedup depends on the architecture, up to 4% measured on a NNUE only bench.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3287
No functional change
The idea of this patch is pretty simple - we already do more reductions
for non-PV and root nodes in case of stable best move for depth > 10.
This patch makes us do so if root depth if > 10 instead, which
is logical since best move changes (thus instability of it) is
counted at root, so it makes a lot of sense to use depth of the root.
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fd643271ac16912018885c5
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 13232 W: 1308 L: 1169 D: 10755
Ptnml(0-2): 39, 935, 4535, 1062, 45
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fd68db11ac16912018885f0
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 14024 W: 565 L: 463 D: 12996
Ptnml(0-2): 3, 423, 6062, 517, 7
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3263
Bench: 4050630
Improves throughput by summing 2 intermediate dot products using 16 bit addition before upconverting to 32 bit.
Potential saturation is detected and the code-path is avoided in this case.
The saturation can't happen with the current nets,
but nets can be constructed that trigger this check.
STC https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fd40a861ac1691201888479
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 25544 W: 2451 L: 2296 D: 20797
Ptnml(0-2): 92, 1761, 8925, 1888, 106
about 5% speedup
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3261
No functional change
Imbalance tables tweaked to contain MiddleGame and Endgame values, instead of a single value.
The idea started from Fisherman, which requested my help to tune the values back in June/July,
so I tuned the values back then, and we were able to accomplish good results,
but not enough to pass both STC and LTC tests.
So after the recent changes, I decided to give it another shot, and I am glad that it was a successful attempt.
A special thanks goes also to mstembera, which notified me a simple way to let the patch perform a little better.
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 115976 W: 23124 L: 22695 D: 70157
Ptnml(0-2): 2074, 13652, 26285, 13725, 2252
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fc92d2d42a050a89f02ccc8
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 156304 W: 20617 L: 20024 D: 115663
Ptnml(0-2): 1138, 14647, 46084, 15050, 1233
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fc9fee142a050a89f02cd3e
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3255
Bench: 4278746
This appears to be slightly faster than using a comparison against zero
to compute the high bits, on both old (like Pentium III) and new (like
Zen 2) hardware.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3254
No functional change.
The idea of this patch can be described as following: we update static
history stats based on comparison of the static evaluations of the
position before and after the move. If the move increases static evaluation
it's assigned positive bonus, if it decreases static evaluation
it's assigned negative bonus. These stats are used in movepicker
to sort quiet moves.
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fca4c0842a050a89f02cd66
LLR: 3.00 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 78152 W: 7409 L: 7171 D: 63572
Ptnml(0-2): 303, 5695, 26873, 5871, 334
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fca6be442a050a89f02cd75
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 40240 W: 1602 L: 1441 D: 37197
Ptnml(0-2): 19, 1306, 17305, 1475, 15
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3253
bench 3845156
Include scaling change as suggested by Dietrich Kappe,
the one who trained net for Komodo. According to him,
some nets may require different scaling in order to utilize its full strength.
STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 99856 W: 9669 L: 9401 D: 80786
Ptnml(0-2): 374, 7468, 34037, 7614, 435
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fc2697642a050a89f02c8ec
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 29840 W: 1220 L: 1081 D: 27539
Ptnml(0-2): 10, 969, 12827, 1100, 14
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fc2ea5142a050a89f02c957
Bench: 3561701
This patch removes the incrementally updated piece lists from the Position object.
This has been tried before but always failed. My reasons for trying again are:
* 32-bit systems (including phones) are now much less important than they were some years ago (and are absent from fishtest);
* NNUE may have made SF less finely tuned to the order in which moves were generated.
STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.25,0.25}
Total: 55272 W: 5260 L: 5216 D: 44796
Ptnml(0-2): 208, 4147, 18898, 4159, 224
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fc2986a42a050a89f02c926
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.75,0.25}
Total: 16600 W: 673 L: 608 D: 15319
Ptnml(0-2): 14, 533, 7138, 604, 11
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fc2f98342a050a89f02c95c
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3247
Bench: 3940967
+-----------------+
| . . . . . . . . | All files are closed. Some files are
| . . . . . o o . | more valuable for rooks, because
| . . . . o . . o | they might open in the future.
| . . . o x . . x |
| o . o x . x x . |
| x o x . . . . . | x our pawns
| . x . . . . . . | o their pawns
| . . . . . . . . | ^ rooks are scored higher on these files
+-----------------+
^ ^
Files containing none of our own pawns are open or half-open (otherwise
they are closed). Rooks on (half-)open files recieve a bonus for the
future potential to act along all ranks.
This commit refines the (relative) penalty of rooks on closed files.
Files that contain one of our blocked pawns are considered less likely
to open in the future; rooks on these files are now penalized stronger.
This bonus does not generally correlate with mobility. If the condition
is sufficiently refined in the future, it may be beneficial to adjust or
override mobility scores in some cases.
LTC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 494384 W: 71565 L: 70231 D: 352588
Ptnml(0-2): 3907, 48050, 142118, 49036, 4081
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fb9312e67cbf42301d6afb9
LTC (non-regression w/ book noob_3moves.epd)
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.75,0.25}
Total: 208520 W: 27044 L: 26937 D: 154539
Ptnml(0-2): 1557, 19850, 61391, 19853, 1609
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fc01ced67cbf42301d6b3df
STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 98392 W: 20269 L: 19868 D: 58255
Ptnml(0-2): 1804, 11297, 22589, 11706, 1800
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5fb7f88a67cbf42301d6af10
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3242
Bench: 3682630
in affine transform for AVX512/AVX2/SSSE3
The idea is to initialize sum with the first element instead of zero.
Reduce one add_epi32 and one set_zero SIMD instructions for each output dimension.
sum = 0; for i = 1 to n sum += a[i] ->
sum = a[1]; for i = 2 to n sum += a[i]
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 69048 W: 7024 L: 6799 D: 55225
Ptnml(0-2): 260, 5175, 23458, 5342, 289
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5faf2cf467cbf42301d6aa06
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3227
No functional change.
For the feature transformer the code is analogical to AVX2 since there was room for easy adaptation of wider simd registers.
For the smaller affine transforms that have 32 byte stride we keep 2 columns in one zmm register. We also unroll more aggressively so that in the end we have to do 16 parallel horizontal additions on ymm slices each consisting of 4 32-bit integers. The slices are embedded in 8 zmm registers.
These changes provide about 1.5% speedup for AVX-512 builds.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3218
No functional change.
Using no searching time in case of a single legal move is not beneficial from
a strength point of view, and this special case can be easily removed:
STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.25,0.25}
Total: 22472 W: 2458 L: 2357 D: 17657
Ptnml(0-2): 106, 1733, 7453, 1842, 102
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f926cbc81eda81bd78cb6df
LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.75,0.25}
Total: 37880 W: 1736 L: 1682 D: 34462
Ptnml(0-2): 22, 1392, 16057, 1448, 21
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f92a26081eda81bd78cb6fe
The advantage of using the normal time management for a single legal move is that scores
reported for that move are reasonable, not searching leads to artifacts during games
(see e.g. https://tcec-chess.com/#div=sf&game=96&season=19)
The disadvantage of using normal time management of a single legal move is that thinking
times can be unnaturally long, making it 'painful to watch' in online tournaments.
This patch uses normal time management, but caps the used time to 500ms.
This should lead to reasonable scores, and be hardly perceptible.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3195
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3183
variant of a patch suggested by SFisGOD
No functional change.
Only do countermove based pruning in qsearch if we already have a move with a better score than a TB loss.
This patch fixes a bug (started as 843a961) that incorrectly prunes moves if in check,
and adds an assert to make sure no wrong mate scores are given in the future.
It replaces a no-op moveCount check with a check for bestValue.
Initially discussed in #3171 and later in #3199, #3198 and #3210.
This PR effectively closes#3171
It also likely fixes#3196 where this causes user visible incorrect TB scores,
which probably result from these incorrect mate scores.
Passed STC and LTC non-regression tests.
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f9ef8dabca9bf35bae7f648
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.25,0.25}
Total: 21672 W: 2339 L: 2230 D: 17103
Ptnml(0-2): 126, 1689, 7083, 1826, 112
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f9f0caebca9bf35bae7f666
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.75,0.25}
Total: 33152 W: 1551 L: 1485 D: 30116
Ptnml(0-2): 27, 1308, 13832, 1390, 19
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3214
Bench: 3625915
A non-functional speedup. Unroll the loops going over
the output dimensions in the affine transform layers by
a factor of 4 and perform 4 horizontal additions at a time.
Instead of doing naive horizontal additions on each vector
separately use hadd and shuffling between vectors to reduce
the number of instructions by using all lanes for all stages
of the horizontal adds.
passed STC of the initial version:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 17808 W: 1914 L: 1756 D: 14138
Ptnml(0-2): 76, 1330, 5948, 1460, 90
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f9d516f6a2c112b60691da3
passed STC of the final version after cleanup:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 16296 W: 1750 L: 1595 D: 12951
Ptnml(0-2): 72, 1192, 5479, 1319, 86
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f9df5776a2c112b60691de3
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3203
No functional change
This patch was inspired by c065abd which updates the accumulator,
if possible, based on the accumulator of two plies back if
the accumulator of the preceding ply is not available.
With this patch we look back even further in the position history
in an attempt to reduce the number of complete recomputations.
When we find a usable accumulator for the position N plies back,
we also update the accumulator of the position N-1 plies back
because that accumulator is most likely to be helpful later
when evaluating positions in sibling branches.
By not updating all intermediate accumulators immediately,
we avoid doing too much work that is not certain to be useful.
Overall, roughly 2-3% speedup.
This patch makes the code more specific to the net architecture,
changing input features of the net will require additional changes
to the incremental update code as discussed in the PR #3193 and #3191.
Passed STC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f9056712c92c7fe3a8c60d0
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 10040 W: 1116 L: 968 D: 7956
Ptnml(0-2): 42, 722, 3365, 828, 63
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3193
No functional change.
Idea of this patch can be described as following - in case we have consecutive fail highs and we reach late enough moves at root node probability of remaining quiet moves being able to produce even bigger value than moves that produced previous cutoff (so ones that should be high in move ordering but now they fail to produce beta cutoff because we actually reached high move count) should be quiet small so we can reduce them more.
passed STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 53392 W: 5681 L: 5474 D: 42237
Ptnml(0-2): 214, 4104, 17894, 4229, 255
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f88501adcdad978fe8c527e
passed LTC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 59136 W: 2773 L: 2564 D: 53799
Ptnml(0-2): 30, 2117, 25078, 2300, 43
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f884dbfdcdad978fe8c527a
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3184
Bench: 4066972
We now include the total pawn count in the scaling factor for the output
of the NNUE evaluation network. This should have the effect of trying to
keep more pawns when SF has the advantage, but exchange them when she
is defending.
Thanks to Alexander Pagel (Lolligerhans) for the idea of using the
value of pawns to ease the comparison with the rest of the material
estimation.
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 15072 W: 1700 L: 1539 D: 11833
Ptnml(0-2): 65, 1202, 4845, 1355, 69
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f7235a63b22d6afa50699b3
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 25880 W: 1270 L: 1124 D: 23486
Ptnml(0-2): 23, 980, 10788, 1126, 23
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f723b483b22d6afa5069a99
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3164
Bench: 3776081
Idea is that division by fraction of 2 is slightly faster than by other numbers so parameters are adjusted in a way that division in null move pruning depth reduction features dividing by 256 instead of dividing by 213.
Other than this patch is almost non-functional - difference starts to exist by depth 133.
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f70dd943b22d6afa50693c5
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 57048 W: 6616 L: 6392 D: 44040
Ptnml(0-2): 304, 4583, 18531, 4797, 309
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f7180db3b22d6afa506941f
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 45960 W: 2419 L: 2229 D: 41312
Ptnml(0-2): 43, 1779, 19137, 1987, 34
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3159
bench 3789924
Current master uses a constant scale factor of 5/4 = 1.25 for the output
of the NNUE network, for compatibility with search and classical evaluation.
We modify this scale factor to make it dependent on the phase of the game,
going from about 1.5 in the opening to 1.0 for pure pawn endgames.
This helps Stockfish to avoid exchanges of pieces (heavy pieces in particular)
when she has the advantage, keeping more material on the board when attacking.
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 14744 W: 1771 L: 1599 D: 11374
Ptnml(0-2): 87, 1184, 4664, 1344, 93
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f6fb0a63b22d6afa506904f
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 8912 W: 512 L: 393 D: 8007
Ptnml(0-2): 7, 344, 3637, 459, 9
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f6fcf533b22d6afa5069066
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3154
Bench: 3943952
- Clean signature of functions in namespace NNUE
- Add comment for countermove based pruning
- Remove bestMoveCount variable
- Add const qualifier to kpp_board_index array
- Fix spaces in get_best_thread()
- Fix indention in capture LMR code in search.cpp
- Rename TtmemDeleter to LargePageDeleter
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3063
No functional change
Use TT memory functions to allocate memory for the NNUE weights. This
should provide a small speed-up on systems where large pages are not
automatically used, including Windows and some Linux distributions.
Further, since we now have a wrapper for std::aligned_alloc(), we can
simplify the TT memory management a bit:
- We no longer need to store separate pointers to the hash table and
its underlying memory allocation.
- We also get to merge the Linux-specific and default implementations
of aligned_ttmem_alloc().
Finally, we'll enable the VirtualAlloc code path with large page
support also for Win32.
STC: https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f66595823a84a47b9036fba
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 14896 W: 1854 L: 1686 D: 11356
Ptnml(0-2): 65, 1224, 4742, 1312, 105
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3081
No functional change.
This PR sets the "comp" variable simply to "clang",
which seems to be more consistent and allows a small simplification.
The PR also moves the section that sets "profile_make" and "profile_use" to after the NDK section,
which ensures that these variables are now set correctly for NDK/clang.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3121
No functional change
NNUE appears to provide a more stable eval than the classic eval,
so the time use dependencies on bestMoveChanges, fallingEval,
etc may need to change to make the best use of available time.
This change doubles the effect of totBestMoveChanges when giving
more time because the choice of best move is unstable.
STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 101928 W: 11995 L: 11698 D: 78235 Elo +0.78
Ptnml(0-2): 592, 8707, 32103, 8936, 626
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f538a462d02727c56b36cec
LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 186392 W: 10383 L: 9877 D: 166132 Elo +0.81
Ptnml(0-2): 207, 8370, 75539, 8870, 210
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f54a9712d02727c56b36d5a
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3119
Bench 4222126
No need to initialize StatScore at rootNode. Current Logic is redundant because at subsequent levels the grandchildren statScore is initialized to zero.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3122
Non functional change.
Restore the default NNUE setting (enabled) after a bench command.
This also makes the resulting program settings independent of the
number of FENs that are being benched.
Fixes issue #3112.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3113
No functional change.
This fixes#3108 and removes some NNUE code that is currently not used.
At the moment, do_null_move() copies the accumulator from the previous
state into the new state, which is correct. It then clears the "computed_score"
flag because the side to move has changed, and with the other side to move
NNUE will return a completely different evaluation (normally with changed
sign but also with different NNUE-internal tempo bonus).
The problem is that do_null_move() clears the wrong flag. It clears the
computed_score flag of the old state, not of the new state. It turns out
that this almost never affects the search. For example, fixing it does not
change the current bench (but it does change the previous bench). This is
because the search code usually avoids calling evaluate() after a null move.
This PR corrects do_null_move() by removing the computed_score flag altogether.
The flag is not needed because nnue_evaluate() is never called twice on a position.
This PR also removes some unnecessary {}s and inserts a few blank lines
in the modified NNUE files in line with SF coding style.
Resulf ot STC non-regression test:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.25,0.25}
Total: 26328 W: 3118 L: 3012 D: 20198
Ptnml(0-2): 126, 2208, 8397, 2300, 133
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f553ccc2d02727c56b36db1
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3109
bench: 4109324
Official release version of Stockfish 12
Bench: 3624569
-----------------------
It is our pleasure to release Stockfish 12 to users world-wide
Downloads will be freely available at
https://stockfishchess.org/download/
This version 12 of Stockfish plays significantly stronger than
any of its predecessors. In a match against Stockfish 11,
Stockfish 12 will typically win at least ten times more game pairs
than it loses.
This jump in strength, visible in regular progression tests during
development[1], results from the introduction of an efficiently
updatable neural network (NNUE) for the evaluation in Stockfish[2],
and associated tuning of the engine as a whole. The concept of the
NNUE evaluation was first introduced in shogi, and ported to
Stockfish afterward. Stockfish remains a CPU-only engine, since the
NNUE networks can be very efficiently evaluated on CPUs. The
recommended parameters of the NNUE network are embedded in
distributed binaries, and Stockfish will use NNUE by default.
Both the NNUE and the classical evaluations are available, and
can be used to assign values to positions that are later used in
alpha-beta (PVS) search to find the best move. The classical
evaluation computes this value as a function of various chess
concepts, handcrafted by experts, tested and tuned using fishtest.
The NNUE evaluation computes this value with a neural network based
on basic inputs. The network is optimized and trained on the
evaluations of millions of positions.
The Stockfish project builds on a thriving community of enthusiasts
that contribute their expertise, time, and resources to build a free
and open source chess engine that is robust, widely available, and
very strong. We invite chess fans to join the fishtest testing
framework and programmers to contribute on github[3].
Stay safe and enjoy chess!
The Stockfish team
[1] https://github.com/glinscott/fishtest/wiki/Regression-Tests
[2] https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/commit/84f3e867903f62480c33243dd0ecbffd342796fc
[3] https://stockfishchess.org/get-involved/
std::sort() is not stable so different implementations can produce different results:
use the stable version instead.
Observed for '8/6k1/5r2/8/8/8/1K6/Q7 w - - 0 1' yielding different bench results for gcc and MSVC
and 3-4-5 syzygy TB prior to this patch.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3083
No functional change.
covers the most important cases from the user perspective:
It embeds the default net in the binary, so a download of that binary will result
in a working engine with the default net. The engine will be functional in the default mode
without any additional user action.
It allows non-default nets to be used, which will be looked for in up to
three directories (working directory, location of the binary, and optionally a specific default directory).
This mechanism is also kept for those developers that use MSVC,
the one compiler that doesn't have an easy mechanism for embedding data.
It is possible to disable embedding, and instead specify a specific directory, e.g. linux distros might want to use
CXXFLAGS="-DNNUE_EMBEDDING_OFF -DDEFAULT_NNUE_DIRECTORY=/usr/share/games/stockfish/" make -j ARCH=x86-64 profile-build
passed STC non-regression:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f4a581c150f0aef5f8ae03a
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.25,-0.25}
Total: 66928 W: 7202 L: 7147 D: 52579
Ptnml(0-2): 291, 5309, 22211, 5360, 293
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3070
fixes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/3030
No functional change.
This patch removes the EvalList structure from the Position object and generally simplifies the interface between do_move() and the NNUE code.
The NNUE evaluation function first calculates the "accumulator". The accumulator consists of two halves: one for white's perspective, one for black's perspective.
If the "friendly king" has moved or the accumulator for the parent position is not available, the accumulator for this half has to be calculated from scratch. To do this, the NNUE node needs to know the positions and types of all non-king pieces and the position of the friendly king. This information can easily be obtained from the Position object.
If the "friendly king" has not moved, its half of the accumulator can be calculated by incrementally updating the accumulator for the previous position. For this, the NNUE code needs to know which pieces have been added to which squares and which pieces have been removed from which squares. In principle this information can be derived from the Position object and StateInfo struct (in the same way as undo_move() does this). However, it is probably a bit faster to prepare this information in do_move(), so I have kept the DirtyPiece struct. Since the DirtyPiece struct now stores the squares rather than "PieceSquare" indices, there are now at most three "dirty pieces" (previously two). A promotion move that captures a piece removes the capturing pawn and the captured piece from the board (to SQ_NONE) and moves the promoted piece to the promotion square (from SQ_NONE).
An STC test has confirmed a small speedup:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f43f06b5089a564a10d850a
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 87704 W: 9763 L: 9500 D: 68441
Ptnml(0-2): 426, 6950, 28845, 7197, 434
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3068
No functional change
to prevent user errors or generating untested code,
check explicitly that the ARCH variable is equivalent to a supported architecture
as listed in `make help`.
To nevertheless compile for an untested target the user can override the internal
variable, passing the undocumented `SUPPORTED_ARCH=true` to make.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3062
No functional change.
Fix the issue where a TT entry with key16==0 would always be reported
as a miss. Instead, we'll use depth8 to detect whether the TT entry is
occupied. In order to do that, we'll change DEPTH_OFFSET to -7
(depth8==0) to distinguish between an unoccupied entry and the
otherwise lowest possible depth, i.e., DEPTH_NONE (depth8==1).
To prevent a performance regression, we'll reorder the TT entry fields
by the access order of TranspositionTable::probe(). Memory in general
works fastest when accessed in sequential order. We'll also match the
store order in TTEntry::save() with the entry field order, and
re-order the 'if-or' expressions in TTEntry::save() from the cheapest
to the most expensive.
Finally, as we now have a proper TT entry occupancy test, we'll fix a
minor corner case with hashfull reporting. To reproduce:
- Use a big hash
- Either:
a. Start 31 very quick searches (this wraparounds generation to 0); or
b. Force generation of the first search to 0.
- go depth infinite
Before the fix, hashfull would incorrectly report nearly full hash
immediately after the search start, since
TranspositionTable::hashfull() used to consider only the entry
generation and not whether the entry was actually occupied.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25}
Total: 36848 W: 4091 L: 3898 D: 28859
Ptnml(0-2): 158, 2996, 11972, 3091, 207
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f3f98d5dc02a01a0c2881f7
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25}
Total: 32280 W: 1828 L: 1653 D: 28799
Ptnml(0-2): 34, 1428, 13051, 1583, 44
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f3fe77a87a5c3c63d8f5332
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3048
Bench: 3760677
due to downclocking on current chips (tested up to cascade lake)
supporting avx512 and vnni512, it is better to use avx2 or vnni256
in multithreaded (in particular hyperthreaded) engine use.
In single threaded use, the picture is different.
gcc compilation for vnni256 requires a toolchain for gcc >= 9.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3038
No functional change
In recent Macs, it is possible to use the Clang compiler provided by Apple
to compile Stockfish out of the box, and this is the method used by default
in our Makefile (the Makefile sets the macosx-version-min=10.14 flag to select
the right libc++ library for the Clang compiler with recent c++17 support).
But it is quite possible to compile and run Stockfish on older Macs! Below
we describe a method to install a recent GNU compiler on these Macs, to get
the c++17 support. We have tested the following procedure to install gcc10 on
machines running Mac OS 10.7, Mac OS 10.9 and Mac OS 10.13:
1) install XCode for your machine.
2) install Apple command-line developer tools for XCode, by typing the following
command in a Terminal:
```
sudo xcode-select --install
```
3) go to the Stockfish "src" directory, then try a default build and run Stockfish:
```
make clean
make build
make net
./stockfish
```
4) if step 3 worked, congrats! You have a compiler recent enough on your Mac
to compile Stockfish. If not, continue with step 5 to install GNU gcc10 :-)
5) install the MacPorts package manager (https://www.macports.org/install.php),
for instance using the fast method in the "macOS Package (.pkg) Installer"
section of the page.
6) use the "port" command to install the gcc10 package of MacPorts by typing the
following command:
```
sudo port install gcc10
```
With this step, MacPorts will install the gcc10 compiler under the name "g++-mp-10"
in the /opt/local/bin directory:
```
which g++-mp-10
/opt/local/bin/g++-mp-10 <--- answer
```
7) You can now go back to the "src" directory of Stockfish, and try to build
Stockfish by pointing at the right compiler:
```
make clean
make build COMP=gcc COMPCXX=/opt/local/bin/g++-mp-10
make net
./stockfish
```
8) Enjoy Stockfish on Macintosh!
See this pull request for further discussion:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3049
No functional change
Changes to deal with compilation (particularly profile-build) on macOS.
(1) The default toolchain has gcc masquerading as clang,
the previous Makefile was not picking up the required changes
to the different profiling tools.
(2) The previous Makefile test for gccisclang occurred before
a potential overwrite of CXX by COMPCXX
(3) llvm-profdata no longer runs as a command on macOS and
instead is invoked by ``xcrun llvm-profdata``
(4) Needs to support use of true gcc using e.g.
``make build ... COMPCXX=g++-10``
(5) enable profile-build in travis for macOS
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3043
No functional change
some GUIs do not show the error message when the engine terminates in the no-net case, as it is send to cerr.
Instead send it as an info string, which the GUI will more likely display.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3031
No functional change.
add new ARCH targets
x86-32-sse41-popcnt > x86 32-bit with sse41 and popcnt support
x86-32-sse2 > x86 32-bit with sse2 support
x86-32 > x86 32-bit generic (with mmx and sse support)
retire x86-32-old (use general-32)
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3022
No functional change.
The easiest way to use the NDK in conjunction with this Makefile (tested on linux-x86_64):
1. Download the latest NDK (r21d) from Google from https://developer.android.com/ndk/downloads
2. Place and unzip the NDK in $HOME/ndk folder
3. Export the path variable e.g., `export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/ndk/android-ndk-r21d/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin`
4. cd to your Stockfish/src dir
5. Issue `make -j ARCH=armv8 COMP=ndk build` (use `ARCH=armv7` or `ARCH=armv7-neon` for older CPUs)
6. Optionally `make -j ARCH=armv8 COMP=ndk strip`
7. That's all. Enjoy!
Improves support from Raspberry Pi (incomplete?) and compiling on arm in general
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3015
fixes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2860
fixes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2641
Support is still fragile as we're missing CI on these targets. Nevertheless tested with:
```bash
# build crosses from ubuntu 20.04 on x86 to various arch/OS combos
# tested with suitable packages installed
# (build-essentials, mingw-w64, g++-arm-linux-gnueabihf, NDK (r21d) from google)
# cross to Android
export PATH=$HOME/ndk/android-ndk-r21d/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin:$PATH
make clean && make -j build ARCH=armv7 COMP=ndk && make -j build ARCH=armv7 COMP=ndk strip
make clean && make -j build ARCH=armv7-neon COMP=ndk && make -j build ARCH=armv7-neon COMP=ndk strip
make clean && make -j build ARCH=armv8 COMP=ndk && make -j build ARCH=armv8 COMP=ndk strip
# cross to Raspberry Pi
make clean && make -j build ARCH=armv7 COMP=gcc COMPILER=arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++
make clean && make -j build ARCH=armv7-neon COMP=gcc COMPILER=arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++
# cross to Windows
make clean && make -j build ARCH=x86-64-modern COMP=mingw
```
No functional change
This patch fixes the byte order when reading 16- and 32-bit values from the network file on a big-endian machine.
Bytes are ordered in read_le() using unsigned arithmetic, which doesn't need tricks to determine the endianness of the machine. Unfortunately the compiler doesn't seem to be able to optimise the ordering operation, but reading in the weights is not a time-critical operation and the extra time it takes should not be noticeable.
Big endian systems are still untested with NNUE.
fixes#3007
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3009
No functional change.
Increases the use of NNUE evaluation in positions without captures/pawn moves,
by increasing the NNUEThreshold threshold with rule50_count.
This patch will force Stockfish to use NNUE eval more and more in materially
unbalanced positions, when it seems that the classical eval is struggling to
win and only manages to shuffle. This will ask the (slower) NNUE eval to
double-check the potential fortress branches of the search tree, but only
when necessary.
passed STC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f36f1bf11a9b1a1dbf192d8
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 51824 W: 5836 L: 5653 D: 40335
Ptnml(0-2): 264, 4356, 16512, 4493, 287
passed LTC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f37836111a9b1a1dbf1936d
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 29768 W: 1747 L: 1590 D: 26431
Ptnml(0-2): 33, 1347, 11977, 1484, 43
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/3011
Bench: 4173967
Do not show the details of the default architecture for a simple "make help"
invocation, as the details are most likely to confuse beginners. Instead we
make it clear which architecture is the default and put an example at the end
of the Makefile as an incentative to use "make help ARCH=blah" to discover
the flags used by the different architectures.
```
make help
make help ARCH=x86-64-ssse3
```
Also clean-up and modernize a bit the Makefile examples while at it.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2996
No functional change
Adds support for Vector Neural Network Instructions (avx512), as available on Intel Cascade Lake
The _mm512_dpbusd_epi32() intrinsic (vpdpbusd instruction) is taylor made for NNUE.
on a cascade lake CPU (AWS C5.24x.large, gcc 10) NNUE eval is at roughly 78% nps of classical
(single core test)
bench 1024 1 24 default depth:
target classical NNUE ratio
vnni 2207232 1725987 78.20
avx512 2216789 1671734 75.41
avx2 2194006 1611263 73.44
modern 2185001 1352469 61.90
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2987
No functional change
fails to build on that target, because of missing Intel Intrinsics.
macOS has posix_memalign() since ~2014 so we can simplify the code and just use that for all Apple platforms.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2985
No functional change.
this workaround is possibly rather a windows & gcc specific problem. See e.g.
https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=54412#c25
on Linux with gcc 8 this patch brings roughly a 8% speedup.
However, probably needs some testing in the wild.
includes a workaround for an old msys make (3.81) installation (fixes#2984)
No functional change
Change condition from three friendly pieces to two. This now means that we only extend castling on the king side if there are no other friendly pieces aside from king and rook. For the queen side, we only extend if there is only a rook and another friendly piece or if there is only a single rook and no other friendly piece but this is very rare.
STC:
LLR: 3.20 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 31144 W: 4086 L: 3903 D: 23155
Ptnml(0-2): 227, 2843, 9278, 2968, 256
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f31487f9081672066537516
LTC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 57816 W: 3786 L: 3538 D: 50492
Ptnml(0-2): 92, 2991, 22488, 3251, 86
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f3167c3908167206653753d
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2980
Bench: 4244812
Joint work gvreuls / vondele
* Download the default NNUE net in AppVeyor
* Download net in travis CI `make net`
* Adjust tests to cover more archs, speedup instrumented testing
* Introduce 'mixed' bench as default, with further options:
classical, NNUE, mixed.
mixed (default) and NNUE require the default net to be present,
which can be obtained with
```
make net
```
Further examples (first is equivalent to `./stockfish bench`):
```
./stockfish bench 16 1 13 default depth mixed
./stockfish bench 16 1 13 default depth classical
./stockfish bench 16 1 13 default depth NNUE
```
The net is now downloaded automatically if needed for `profile-build`
(usual `build` works fine without net present)
PGO gives a nice speedup on fishtest:
passed STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 3360 W: 469 L: 343 D: 2548
Ptnml(0-2): 20, 246, 1030, 356, 28
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f31b5499081672066537569
passed LTC:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 8824 W: 609 L: 502 D: 7713
Ptnml(0-2): 8, 430, 3438, 519, 17
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f31c87b908167206653757c
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2931
fixes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2907
requires fishtest updates before commit
Bench: 4290577
This patch allows old x86 CPUs, from AMD K8 (which the x86-64 baseline
targets) all the way down to the Pentium MMX, to benefit from NNUE with
comparable performance hit versus hand-written eval as on more modern
processors.
NPS of the bench with NNUE enabled on a Pentium III 1.13 GHz (using the
MMX code):
master: 38951
this patch: 80586
NPS of the bench with NNUE enabled using baseline x86-64 arch, which is
how linux distros are likely to package stockfish, on a modern CPU
(using the SSE2 code):
master: 882584
this patch: 1203945
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2956
No functional change.
Makefile targets x86-64-sse42, x86-sse3 are removed; x86-64-sse41
is renamed to x86-64-sse41-popcnt (it did enable popcnt).
Makefile variables sse3, sse42, their associated compilation flags
and code in misc.cpp are removed.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2922
No functional change
despite usage of alignas, the generated (avx2/avx512) code with older compilers needs to use
unaligned loads with older gcc (e.g. confirmed crash with gcc 7.3/mingw on abrok).
Better performance thus requires gcc >= 9 on hardware supporting avx2/avx512
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2969
No functional change
The idea of this patch is that positions are usually more complex and hard to evaluate even if there are more pawns.
This patch adjusts NNUE threshold usage depending on number of pawns in position, if pawn count is <3 we use the
classical evaluation more often, for pawn count = 3 patch the is non-functional,
with pawn count > 3 NNUE evaluation is used more often.
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f2f02d09081672066536b1f
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 36520 W: 5011 L: 4823 D: 26686
Ptnml(0-2): 299, 3482, 10548, 3594, 337
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f2f4c329081672066536b5c
LLR: 2.98 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 39272 W: 2630 L: 2433 D: 34209
Ptnml(0-2): 53, 2066, 15218, 2229, 70
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2960
bench 4084753
This patch tries to run multiple LTO threads in parallel, speeding up
the build process of optimized builds if the -j make parameter is used.
This mitigates the longer linking times of optimized builds since the
integration of the NNUE code. Roughly 2x build speedup.
I've tried a similar patch some two years ago but it ran into trouble
with old compiler versions then. Since we're on the C++17 standard now
these old compilers should be obsolete.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2943
No functional change.
This patch increases LMRdepth threshold for futility pruning at parent nodes so it can apply more often.
With radical change to evaluation approach it seems that search is really far from optimal state, especially it parts that use static evaluation of position.
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f2da75661e3b6af64881fd0
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 8744 W: 1305 L: 1156 D: 6283
Ptnml(0-2): 75, 789, 2500, 928, 80
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f2dcb2a61e3b6af64881ff3
LLR: 2.98 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 17728 W: 1256 L: 1117 D: 15355
Ptnml(0-2): 22, 961, 6774, 1070, 37
Bench: 4067325
Allow any pawn in front of a minor piece to replace the pawn protection
requirement for outposts.
+-------+ +-------+
| . . o | | o . . | o Their pawns
| . o x | | o . . | x Our pawns
| o N . | | x o B | N,B New (reachable) outpost
| . . . | | . _ . | _ Reachable square behind a pawn
+-------+ +-------+
N outpost B reaches
outpost
We want outposts to be secured by pawns against major pieces. If
a minor is shielded by any pawn from above, it is rarely at the same
time protected by our pawn attacks from below. However, the pawn shield
in itself offers some degree of protection.
A pawn shield will now suffice to replace the pawn protection for the
outpost (and reachable outpost) bonus.
This effect stacks with the existing "minor behind pawn" bonus.
STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f2bcd14b3ebe5cbfee85b2c
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 27248 W: 5353 L: 5119 D: 16776
Ptnml(0-2): 462, 3174, 6185, 3274, 529
LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f2bfef5b3ebe5cbfee85b5a
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 99432 W: 12580 L: 12130 D: 74722
Ptnml(0-2): 696, 8903, 30049, 9391, 677
Closes#2935
Bench: 4143673
This patch ports the efficiently updatable neural network (NNUE) evaluation to Stockfish.
Both the NNUE and the classical evaluations are available, and can be used to
assign a value to a position that is later used in alpha-beta (PVS) search to find the
best move. The classical evaluation computes this value as a function of various chess
concepts, handcrafted by experts, tested and tuned using fishtest. The NNUE evaluation
computes this value with a neural network based on basic inputs. The network is optimized
and trained on the evalutions of millions of positions at moderate search depth.
The NNUE evaluation was first introduced in shogi, and ported to Stockfish afterward.
It can be evaluated efficiently on CPUs, and exploits the fact that only parts
of the neural network need to be updated after a typical chess move.
[The nodchip repository](https://github.com/nodchip/Stockfish) provides additional
tools to train and develop the NNUE networks.
This patch is the result of contributions of various authors, from various communities,
including: nodchip, ynasu87, yaneurao (initial port and NNUE authors), domschl, FireFather,
rqs, xXH4CKST3RXx, tttak, zz4032, joergoster, mstembera, nguyenpham, erbsenzaehler,
dorzechowski, and vondele.
This new evaluation needed various changes to fishtest and the corresponding infrastructure,
for which tomtor, ppigazzini, noobpwnftw, daylen, and vondele are gratefully acknowledged.
The first networks have been provided by gekkehenker and sergiovieri, with the latter
net (nn-97f742aaefcd.nnue) being the current default.
The evaluation function can be selected at run time with the `Use NNUE` (true/false) UCI option,
provided the `EvalFile` option points the the network file (depending on the GUI, with full path).
The performance of the NNUE evaluation relative to the classical evaluation depends somewhat on
the hardware, and is expected to improve quickly, but is currently on > 80 Elo on fishtest:
60000 @ 10+0.1 th 1
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f28fe6ea5abc164f05e4c4c
ELO: 92.77 +-2.1 (95%) LOS: 100.0%
Total: 60000 W: 24193 L: 8543 D: 27264
Ptnml(0-2): 609, 3850, 9708, 10948, 4885
40000 @ 20+0.2 th 8
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f290229a5abc164f05e4c58
ELO: 89.47 +-2.0 (95%) LOS: 100.0%
Total: 40000 W: 12756 L: 2677 D: 24567
Ptnml(0-2): 74, 1583, 8550, 7776, 2017
At the same time, the impact on the classical evaluation remains minimal, causing no significant
regression:
sprt @ 10+0.1 th 1
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f2906a2a5abc164f05e4c5b
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-6.00,-4.00}
Total: 34936 W: 6502 L: 6825 D: 21609
Ptnml(0-2): 571, 4082, 8434, 3861, 520
sprt @ 60+0.6 th 1
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f2906cfa5abc164f05e4c5d
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-6.00,-4.00}
Total: 10088 W: 1232 L: 1265 D: 7591
Ptnml(0-2): 49, 914, 3170, 843, 68
The needed networks can be found at https://tests.stockfishchess.org/nns
It is recommended to use the default one as indicated by the `EvalFile` UCI option.
Guidelines for testing new nets can be found at
https://github.com/glinscott/fishtest/wiki/Creating-my-first-test#nnue-net-tests
Integration has been discussed in various issues:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2823https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2728
The integration branch will be closed after the merge:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2825https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/tree/nnue-player-wip
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2912
This will be an exciting time for computer chess, looking forward to seeing the evolution of
this approach.
Bench: 4746616
In some French games, Stockfish likes to bring the Knight to a bad outpost spot. This is evident in TCEC S18 Superfinal Game 63, where there is a Knight outpost on the queenside but is actually useless. Stockfish is effectively playing a piece down while holding ground against Leela's break on the kingside.
This patch turns the +56 mg bonus for a Knight outpost into a -7 mg penalty if it satisfies the following conditions:
* The outpost square is not on the CenterFiles (i.e. not on files C,D,E and F)
* The knight is not attacking non pawn enemies.
* The side where the outpost is located contains only few enemies, with a particular conditional_more_than_two() implementation
Thank you to apospa...@gmail.com for bringing this to our attention and for providing insights.
See https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/fishcooking/dEXNzSIBgZU
Reference game: https://tcec-chess.com/#div=sf&game=63&season=18
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 6960 W: 1454 L: 1247 D: 4259
Ptnml(0-2): 115, 739, 1610, 856, 160
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f08221059f6f0353289477e
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.98 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 21440 W: 2767 L: 2543 D: 16130
Ptnml(0-2): 122, 1904, 6462, 2092, 140
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f0838ed59f6f035328947a2
various related tests show strong test results, but so far no generalizations or simplifications of conditional_more_than_two() are found. See PR for details.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2803
Bench: 4366686
Probcut is a heuristic that wasn't changed a lot in past years,
all attempts to change it using information / writing info to transposition table failed.
This patch has a number of differences that can be summarized as follows:
* For TT write/read we use depth - 3. Because probcut search is depth - 4 but we actually do the move prior to it so effectively we do depth - 3 search;
* In any case of depth of eval from transposition table being >= depth - 3 we either produce cutoff or refuse to even do probcut search, this is allowing us to write info of probcut to transposition table because we know that we wouldn't be overwriting some deeper data with our depth - 3 search - this is an important aspect of this patch;
* For some not really known reason this patch completely ignores tte->bound() - which was the case for previous patch that made probcut interact with TT, maybe 2) is the reason, although it's unproven.
A first version of this patch passed STC and LTC
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f05908a59f6f03532894613
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 95776 W: 18300 L: 17973 D: 59503
Ptnml(0-2): 1646, 10944, 22377, 11279, 1642
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f06b54059f6f035328946bb
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 57128 W: 7266 L: 6938 D: 42924
Ptnml(0-2): 372, 5163, 17217, 5389, 423
However, an additional bugfix was needed to avoid checking a condition on ttMove if was not available. This passed non-regression bounds on top of the first version:
at STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f080e5059f6f03532894766
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 14096 W: 2800 L: 2628 D: 8668
Ptnml(0-2): 225, 1620, 3238, 1688, 277
at LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5f0836a559f6f0353289479c
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 25352 W: 3228 L: 3139 D: 18985
Ptnml(0-2): 175, 2350, 7549, 2415, 187
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2804
Bench 4540940
A number of engines, GUIs and tournaments start to report WDL estimates
along or instead of scores. This patch enables reporting of those stats
in a more or less standard way (http://www.talkchess.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?t=72140)
The model this reporting uses is based on data derived from a few million fishtest LTC games,
given a score and a game ply, a win rate is provided that matches rather closely,
especially in the intermediate range [0.05, 0.95] that data. Some data is shown at
https://github.com/glinscott/fishtest/wiki/UsefulData#win-loss-draw-statistics-of-ltc-games-on-fishtest
Making the conversion game ply dependent is important for a good fit, and is in line
with experience that a +1 score in the early midgame is more likely a win than in the late endgame.
Even when enabled, the printing of the info causes no significant overhead.
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 197112 W: 37226 L: 37347 D: 122539
Ptnml(0-2): 2591, 21025, 51464, 20866, 2610
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ef79ef4f993893290cc146b
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2778
No functional change
We lower the endgame value of the evaluation when we detect that there
is only one queen left on the board (more precisely, we use a scale
factor of 37/64, or about 0.58, for the endgame part of the evaluation).
Hopefully this helps a little bit for the assessment of positions with
queen imbalance, which are one of the well-known Stockfish weaknesses.
STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 21600 W: 4176 L: 3955 D: 13469
Ptnml(0-2): 351, 2457, 5003, 2598, 391
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ef871b6020eec13834a94e8
LTC:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 248328 W: 30596 L: 29720 D: 188012
Ptnml(0-2): 1544, 22345, 75665, 22911, 1699
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ef87aec020eec13834a94fe
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2781
Bench: 4441323
* Supports popcnt (thanks @daylen)
* bits = 64 is now the default
Tested with g++ (Ubuntu/Linaro 7.5.0-3ubuntu1~18.04) 7.5.0 on ThunderX CN8890,
yields about 9% speedup.
Also tested with clang version 6.0.0-1ubuntu2 (tags/RELEASE_600/final).
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2770
No functional change.
the option was, since at least 2014, not correctly implemented,
ignoring all dynamic adjustments to optimum time in search.
Instead of fixing it, remove it, no need to expose an option that
will influence time management negatively.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2765
No functional change.
The idea of this patch is that if capture can be described as
"less valuable piece takes more valuable piece" it's not really correct
to add only piece value of captured piece to static evaluation
since there can be more threats in other places and opponent can't really
do much but recapture our capturing piece which leaves us space for
more captures thus winning more material and increasing static eval.
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ef0167b122d6514328d760f
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 24736 W: 4838 L: 4607 D: 15291
Ptnml(0-2): 438, 2812, 5648, 3021, 449
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ef073bc122d6514328d7693
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 46152 W: 5865 L: 5567 D: 34720
Ptnml(0-2): 312, 4160, 13886, 4354, 364
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2761
bench 4789930
We increase a little bit the midgame value of pawns on a4, h4, a6 and h6.
Original idea by Malcolm Campbell, who tried the version restricted to the
pawns on the H column a couple of weeks ago and got a patch which almost
passed LTC. The current pull request just adds the same idea for pawns on
the A column.
Possible follow-ups: maybe tweak the a5/h5 pawn values, and/or add a malus
for very low king mobility in midgame?
STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 33416 W: 6516 L: 6275 D: 20625
Ptnml(0-2): 575, 3847, 7659, 4016, 611
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ee6c4e687586124bc2c10d4
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 134368 W: 16869 L: 16319 D: 101180
Ptnml(0-2): 908, 12083, 40708, 12521, 964
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ee74e60aae8aec816ab756a
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2747
Bench: 5299456
Tuned search constants after many search patches since the last
successful tune.
1st LTC @ 60+0.6 th 1 :
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 57656 W: 7369 L: 7036 D: 43251
Ptnml(0-2): 393, 5214, 17336, 5437, 448
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ee1e074f29b40b0fc95af19
SMP LTC @ 20+0.2 th 8 :
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 83576 W: 9731 L: 9341 D: 64504
Ptnml(0-2): 464, 7062, 26369, 7406, 487
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ee35a21f29b40b0fc95b008
The changes were rebased on top of a successful patch by Viz (see #2734)
and two different ways of doing this were tested. The successful test
modified the constants in the patch by Viz in a similar manner to the
tuning run:
LTC (rebased) @ 60+0.6 th 1 :
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 193384 W: 24241 L: 23521 D: 145622
Ptnml(0-2): 1309, 17497, 58472, 17993, 1421
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ee43319ca6c451633a995f9
Further work: the recent patch to quantize eval #2733 affects search quit
quite a bit, so doing another tune in, say, three months time might be a
good idea.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2735
Bench 4246971
We replace the current decrease of the complexity term in initiative
when shuffling by a direct damping of the evaluation. This scheme may
have two benefits over the initiative approach:
a) the damping effect is more brutal for fortresses with heavy pieces
on the board, because the initiative term is almost an endgame term;
b) the initiative implementation had a funny side effect, almost a bug,
in the rare positions where mg > 0, eg < 0 and the tampered eval
returned a positive value (ie with heavy pieces still on the board):
sending eg to zero via shuffling would **increase** the tampered
eval instead of decreasing it, which is somewhat illogical. This
patch avoids this phenomenon.
STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 43072 W: 8373 L: 8121 D: 26578
Ptnml(0-2): 729, 4954, 9940, 5162, 751
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ee008ebf29b40b0fc95ade2
LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 37376 W: 4816 L: 4543 D: 28017
Ptnml(0-2): 259, 3329, 11286, 3508, 306
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ee03b06f29b40b0fc95ae0c
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2727
Bench: 4757174
Conceptually group hash clusters into super clusters of 256 clusters.
This scheme allows us to use hash sizes up to 32 TB
(= 2^32 super clusters = 2^40 clusters).
Use 48 bits of the Zobrist key to choose the cluster index. We use 8
extra bits to mitigate the quantization error for very large hashes when
scaling the hash key to cluster index.
The hash index computation is organized to be compatible with the existing
scheme for power-of-two hash sizes up to 128 GB.
Fixes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/1349
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2722
Passed non-regression STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 37976 W: 7336 L: 7211 D: 23429
Ptnml(0-2): 578, 4295, 9149, 4356, 610
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5edcbaaef29b40b0fc95abc5
No functional change.
This is a non-functional code style change which provides a safe access handler for LineBB.
Also includes an assert in debug mode to verify square correctness.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2719
No functional change
Merging this code into one function `winnable()`.
Should allow common concepts used to adjust the eg value,
either by addition or scaling, to be combined more effectively.
Improve trace function.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2710
No functional change.
The idea of this patch is that if rooks are not directly attacking the opponent king,
they can support king attacks staying behind pawns or minor pieces and be really
deadly if position slightly opens up at enemy king ring ranks. Loosely based on
some stockfish games where it underestimated attacks on it king when enemy has one
or two rooks supporting pawn pushes towards it king.
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ecb093680f2c838b96550f9
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 53672 W: 10535 L: 10265 D: 32872
Ptnml(0-2): 952, 6210, 12258, 6448, 968
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ecb639f80f2c838b9655117
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 62424 W: 8094 L: 7748 D: 46582
Ptnml(0-2): 426, 5734, 18565, 6042, 445
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2700
Bench: 4663220
This patch is a combinaison of two recent parameters tweaks which had
failed narrowly (yellow) at long time control:
• improvement in move ordering during search by softening the distinction
between bad captures and good captures during move generation, leading
to improved awareness of Stockfish of potential piece sacrifices (idea
by Rahul Dsilva)
• increase in the weight of pawns in the "initiative" part of the evaluation
function. With this change Stockfish should have more incentive to exchange
pawns when losing, and to keep pawns when winning.
STC:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 10704 W: 2178 L: 1974 D: 6552
Ptnml(0-2): 168, 1185, 2464, 1345, 190
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ec5553b377121ac09e1023d
LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 60592 W: 7835 L: 7494 D: 45263
Ptnml(0-2): 430, 5514, 18086, 5817, 449
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ec55ca2377121ac09e10249
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2691
Bench: 4519117
Do not send the following info string on the first call to
aligned_ttmem_alloc() on Windows:
info string Hash table allocation: Windows large pages [not] used.
The first call occurs before the 'uci' command has been received. This
confuses some GUIs, which expect the first engine-sent command to be
'id' as the response to the 'uci' command. (see https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2681)
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2689
No functional change.
This is a functional simplification of the time management system.
With this patch, there is a simple equation for each of two distinct
time controls: basetime + increment, and x moves in y seconds (+increment).
These equations are easy to plot and understand making future modifications
or adding additional time controls much easier.
SlowMover is reset to 100 so that is has no effect unless a user changes it.
There are two scaling variables:
* Opt_scale is a scale factor (or percentage) of time to use for this current move.
* Max_scale is a scale factor to apply to the resulting optimumTime.
There seems to be some elo gain in most scenarios.
Better performance is attributable to one of two things:
* minThinkingTime was not allowing reasonable time calculations for very short games like 10+0 or 10+0.01. This is because adding almost no increment and substracting move overhead for 50 moves quickly results in almost 0 time very early in the game. Master depended on minThinkingTime to handle these short games instead of good time management. This patch addresses this issue by lowering minThinkingTime to 0 and adjusting moverOverhead if there are very low increments.
* Notice that the time distribution curves tail downward for the first 10 moves or so. This causes less time to attribute for very early moves leaving more time available for middle moves where more important decisions happen.
Here is a summary of tests for this version at different time controls:
SMP 5+0.05
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 46544 W: 7175 L: 7089 D: 32280
Ptnml(0-2): 508, 4826, 12517, 4914, 507
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/user/protonspring
STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 20480 W: 3872 L: 3718 D: 12890
Ptnml(0-2): 295, 2364, 4824, 2406, 351
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ebc343e7dd5693aad4e6873
STC, sudden death
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 7024 W: 1706 L: 1489 D: 3829
Ptnml(0-2): 149, 813, 1417, 938, 195
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ebc346f7dd5693aad4e6875
STC, TCEC style
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 4192 W: 1014 L: 811 D: 2367
Ptnml(0-2): 66, 446, 912, 563, 109
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ebc34857dd5693aad4e6877
40/10
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 54032 W: 10592 L: 10480 D: 32960
Ptnml(0-2): 967, 6148, 12677, 6254, 970
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ebc50597dd5693aad4e688d
LTC, sudden death
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 9152 W: 1391 L: 1263 D: 6498
Ptnml(0-2): 75, 888, 2526, 1008, 79
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ebc6f5c7dd5693aad4e689b
LTC
LLR: 2.98 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 12344 W: 1563 L: 1459 D: 9322
Ptnml(0-2): 70, 1103, 3740, 1171, 88
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ebc6f4c7dd5693aad4e6899
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2678
Bench: 4395562
simplify the usage of the 50 moves counter,
moving it frome the scale factor to initiative.
This patch was inspired by recent games where a blocked or semi-blocked position
was 'blundered', by moving a pawn, into a lost endgame. This patch improves this situation,
finding a more robust move more often.
for example (1s searches with many threads):
```
FEN 8/p3kp2/Pp2p3/1n2PpP1/5P2/1Kp5/8/R7 b - - 68 143
master:
6 bestmove b5c7
6 bestmove e7e8
12 bestmove e7d8
176 bestmove e7d7
patch:
3 bestmove b5c7
5 bestmove e7d8
192 bestmove e7d7
```
fixes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2620
the patch also tests well
passed STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 50168 W: 9508 L: 9392 D: 31268
Ptnml(0-2): 818, 5873, 11616, 5929, 848
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ebb07287dd5693aad4e680b
passed LTC
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 7520 W: 981 L: 870 D: 5669
Ptnml(0-2): 49, 647, 2256, 760, 48
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ebbff747dd5693aad4e6858
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2666
Bench: 4395562
for users that set the needed privilige "Lock Pages in Memory"
large pages will be automatically enabled (see Readme.md).
This expert setting might improve speed, 5% - 30%, depending
on the hardware, the number of threads and hash size. More for
large hashes, large number of threads and NUMA. If the operating
system can not allocate large pages (easier after a reboot), default
allocation is used automatically. The engine log provides details.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2656
fixes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2619
No functional change
fixes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2660
The problem was caused by .depend being created with a rule for tbprobe.o not for syzygy/tbprobe.o.
This patch keeps an explicit list of sources (SRCS), generates OBJS,
and compiles all object files to the src/ directory, consistent with .depend.
VPATH is used to search the syzygy directory as needed.
joint work with @gvreuls
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2664
No functional change
The purpose of the code is to allow developers to easily and flexibly
setup SF for a tuning session. Mainly you have just to remove 'const'
qualifiers from the variables you want to tune and flag them for
tuning, so if you have:
int myKing = 10;
Score myBonus = S(5, 15);
Value myValue[][2] = { { V(100), V(20) }, { V(7), V(78) } };
and at the end of the update you may want to call
a post update function:
void my_post_update();
If instead of default Option's min-max values,
you prefer your custom ones, returned by:
std::pair<int, int> my_range(int value)
Or you jus want to set the range directly, you can
simply add below:
TUNE(SetRange(my_range), myKing, SetRange(-200, 200), myBonus, myValue, my_post_update);
And all the magic happens :-)
At startup all the parameters are printed in a
format suitable to be copy-pasted in fishtest.
In case the post update function is slow and you have many
parameters to tune, you can add:
UPDATE_ON_LAST();
And the values update, including post update function call, will
be done only once, after the engine receives the last UCI option.
The last option is the one defined and created as the last one, so
this assumes that the GUI sends the options in the same order in
which have been defined.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2654
No functional change.
This patch increases number of nodes where we produce multicut cutoffs.
The idea is that if our ttMove failed to produce a singular extension
but ttValue is greater than beta we can afford to do one more reduced search
near beta excluding ttMove to see if it will produce a fail high -
and if it does so produce muticut by analogy to existing logic.
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e9a162b5b664cdba0ce6e28
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 58238 W: 11192 L: 10917 D: 36129
Ptnml(0-2): 1007, 6704, 13442, 6939, 1027
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e9a1e845b664cdba0ce7411
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 137852 W: 17460 L: 16899 D: 103493
Ptnml(0-2): 916, 12610, 41383, 13031, 986
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2640
bench 4881443
This is a functional simplification which fixes an awkward numerical cliff.
With master king_safety, no pawns is scored higher than pawn(s) that is/are far from the king. This may motivate SF to throw away pawns to increase king safety. With this patch, there is a consistent value for minPawnDistance where losing a pawn never increases king safety.
STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 45548 W: 8624 L: 8525 D: 28399
Ptnml(0-2): 592, 4937, 11587, 5096, 562
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e98ced630be947a14e9ddc5
LTC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 42084 W: 5292 L: 5242 D: 31550
Ptnml(0-2): 193, 3703, 13252, 3649, 245
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e98e22e30be947a14e9de07
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2639
bench 4600292
This idea is loosely based on xoroshiro idea about raisedBeta and ttmoves.
If our ttmove have low enough ttvalue and is deep enough (deeper than our probcut depth) it makes little sense to try probcut moves, since the ttMove already more or less failed to produce one according to transposition table.
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e9673ddc2718dee3c822920
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 72148 W: 14038 L: 13741 D: 44369
Ptnml(0-2): 1274, 8326, 16615, 8547, 1312
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e96b378c2718dee3c8229bf
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 89054 W: 11418 L: 10996 D: 66640
Ptnml(0-2): 623, 8113, 26643, 8515, 633
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2632
bench 4952731
This patch refines the recently introduced interaction between
the space bonus and the number of blocked pawns in a position.
* pawns count as blocked also if their push square is attacked by 2 enemy pawns;
* overall dependence is stronger as well as offset;
* bonus increase is capped at 9 blocked pawns in position;
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e94560663d105aebbab243d
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 29500 W: 5842 L: 5603 D: 18055
Ptnml(0-2): 504, 3443, 6677, 3562, 564
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e95b383c2aaa99f75d1a14d
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 63504 W: 8329 L: 7974 D: 47201
Ptnml(0-2): 492, 5848, 18720, 6197, 495
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2631
bench 4956028
+-------+
| o . . | o their pawns
| x . . | x our pawns
| . x . | <- Can sacrifice to create passer?
+-------+
yes
1 2 3 4 5
+-------+ +-------+ +-------+ +-------+ +-------+
| o . . | | o r . | | o r . | | o . b | | o . b | lowercase: theirs
| x b . | | x . . | | x . R | | x . R | | x . . | uppercase: ours
| . x . | | . x . | | . x . | | . x . | | . x B |
+-------+ +-------+ +-------+ +-------+ +-------+
no no yes no yes
The value of our top pawn depends on our ability to advance our bottom
pawn, levering their blocker. Previously, this pawn configuration was
always scored as passer (although a blocked one).
Add requirements for the square s above our (possibly) sacrificed pawn:
- s must not be occupied by them (1).
- If they attack s (2), we must attack s (3).
- If they attack s with a minor (4), we must attack s with a minor (5).
The attack from their blocker is ignored because it is inherent in the
structure; we are ok with sacrificing our bottom pawn.
LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 37030 W: 4962 L: 4682 D: 27386
Ptnml(0-2): 266, 3445, 10863, 3625, 316
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e92a2b4be6ede5b954bf239
STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 40874 W: 8066 L: 7813 D: 24995
Ptnml(0-2): 706, 4753, 9324, 4890, 764
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e922199af0a0143109dc90e
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2624
Bench: 4828294
In master, if the received ttMove meets the prescribed conditions in the various MovePicker constructors, it is returned as the first move, otherwise we set it to MOVE_NONE. If set to MOVE_NONE, we no longer track what the ttMove was, and it will might be returned later in a list of generated moves. This may be a waste. With this patch, if the ttMove fails to meet the prescribed conditions, we simply skip the TT stages, but still store the move and make sure it's never returned.
STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 66424 W: 12903 L: 12806 D: 40715
Ptnml(0-2): 1195, 7730, 15230, 7897, 1160
LTC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 45682 W: 5989 L: 5926 D: 33767
Ptnml(0-2): 329, 4361, 13443, 4334, 374
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2616
Bench 4928928
Before this commit, some pawns were considered "candidate" passed pawns and given half bonus. After this commit, all of these pawns are scored as passed pawns, and they do not receive less bonus.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 21806 W: 4320 L: 4158 D: 13328
Ptnml(0-2): 367, 2526, 5001, 2596, 413
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e86b4724411759d9d098639
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 12590 W: 1734 L: 1617 D: 9239
Ptnml(0-2): 96, 1187, 3645, 1238, 129
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e86d2874411759d9d098640
This PR and commit are dedicated to our colleague Stefan Geschwentner (@locutus2), one of the most respected and accomplished members of the Stockfish developer community. Stockfish is a volunteer project and has always thrived because of Stefan's talent, insight, generosity, and dedication. Welcome back, Stefan!
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2613
Bench: 4831963
In more than 100k local KNPK games, there is no discernible difference between master and master with this endgame removed: master:42971, patch:42973, draws: 3969. Removal does not seem to regress in normal games.
STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 46390 W: 8998 L: 8884 D: 28508
Ptnml(0-2): 707, 5274, 11163, 5300, 751
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e83b18ee42a5c3b3ca2ef02
LTC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 44768 W: 5863 L: 5814 D: 33091
Ptnml(0-2): 251, 3918, 14028, 3905, 282
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e84a82a4411759d9d0984f4
In tests with a book of endgames that can convert into KNPK, no significant difference can be seen either
```
TC 1.0+0.01
Score of patch vs master: 6131 - 6188 - 27681 [0.499] 40000
Elo difference: -0.5 +/- 1.9, LOS: 30.4 %, DrawRatio: 69.2 %
TC 2.0+0.02
Score of patch vs master: 5740 - 5741 - 28519 [0.500] 40000
Elo difference: -0.0 +/- 1.8, LOS: 49.6 %, DrawRatio: 71.3 %
``
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2611
Bench 4512059
The idea behind this patch is that if static eval is really bad so capturing of current piece on spot will still produce a position with an eval much lower than alpha then our best chance is to create some kind of king attack. So captures without check are mostly worse than captures with check and can be reduced more.
passed STC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e8514b44411759d9d098543
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 46196 W: 9039 L: 8781 D: 28376
Ptnml(0-2): 750, 5412, 10628, 5446, 862
passed LTC
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e8530134411759d9d09854c
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 23462 W: 3228 L: 2988 D: 17246
Ptnml(0-2): 186, 2125, 6849, 2405, 166
close https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2612
bench 4742598
There is an ambiguity between global and std clamp implementations when compiling in c++17,
and on certain toolchains that are not strictly conforming to c++11.
This is solved by putting our clamp implementation in a namespace.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2572
No functional change.
In November 2019, as a result of the simplification of rank-based outposts by 37698b0,
separate bonuses were introduced for outposts that are currently occupied and outposts
that are reachable on the next move. However, the values of these two bonuses are
quite similar, and they have remained that way for three months of development.
It appears that we can safely retire the separate ReachableOutpost parameter and
use the same Outpost bonus in both cases, restoring the basic principles of Stockfish
outpost evaluation to their pre-November state, while also reducing
the size of the parameter space.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 47680 W: 9213 L: 9092 D: 29375
Ptnml(0-2): 776, 5573, 11071, 5594, 826
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e51e33190a0a02810d09802
LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 14690 W: 1960 L: 1854 D: 10876
Ptnml(0-2): 93, 1381, 4317, 1435, 119
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e52197990a0a02810d0980f
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2559
Bench: 4697493
Current move histories are known to work well near the leaves, whilst at
higher depths they aren't very helpful. To address this problem this
patch introduces a table dedicated for what's happening at plies 0-3.
It's structured like mainHistory with ply index instead of color.
It get cleared with each new search and is filled during iterative
deepening at higher depths when recording successful quiet moves near
the root or traversing nodes which were in the principal variation
(ttPv).
Medium TC (20+0.2):
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e4d358790a0a02810d096dc
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.50,1.50}
Total: 100910 W: 16682 L: 16376 D: 67852
Ptnml(0-2): 1177, 10983, 25883, 11181, 1231
LTC:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e4e2cb790a0a02810d09714
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.75}
Total: 80444 W: 10495 L: 10095 D: 59854
Ptnml(0-2): 551, 7479, 23803, 7797, 592
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2557
Bench: 4705960
This is a patch that significantly improves playing KNNKP endgames:
```
Score of 2553 vs master: 132 - 38 - 830 [0.547] 1000
Elo difference: 32.8 +/- 8.7, LOS: 100.0 %, DrawRatio: 83.0 %
```
At the same time it reduces the evaluation of this mostly draw engame
from ~7.5 to ~1.5
This patch does not regress against master in normal games:
STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 96616 W: 18459 L: 18424 D: 59733
Ptnml(0-2): 1409, 10812, 23802, 10905, 1380
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e49dfe6f8d1d52b40cd31bc
LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 49726 W: 6340 L: 6304 D: 37082
Ptnml(0-2): 239, 4227, 15906, 4241, 250
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e4ab9ee16fb3df8c4cc01d0
Theory: KNNK is a dead draw, however the presence of the additional weakSide pawn opens up some mate opportunities. The idea is to block the pawn (preferably behind the Troitsky line) with one of the knights and press the weakSide king into a corner. If we can stalemate the king, we release the pawn with the knight (to avoid actual stalemate), and use the knight to complete the mate before the pawn promotes. This is also why there is an additional penalty for advancement of the pawn.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2553
Bench: 4981770
Fixes#2533, fixes#2543, fixes#2423.
the code that prevents false mate announcements depending on the TT
state (GHI), incorrectly used VALUE_MATE_IN_MAX_PLY. The latter
constant, however, also includes, counterintuitively, the TB win range.
This patch fixes that, by restoring the behavior for TB win scores,
while retaining the false mate correctness, and improving the mate
finding ability. In particular
no alse mates are announced with the poisened hash testcase
```
position fen 8/8/8/3k4/8/8/6K1/7R w - - 0 1
go depth 40
position fen 8/8/8/3k4/8/8/6K1/7R w - - 76 1
go depth 20
ucinewgame
```
mates are found with the testcases reported in #2543
```
position fen 4k3/3pp3/8/8/8/8/2PPP3/4K3 w - - 0 1
setoption name Hash value 1024
go depth 55
ucinewgame
```
and
```
position fen 4k3/4p3/8/8/8/8/3PP3/4K3 w - - 0 1
setoption name Hash value 1024
go depth 45
ucinewgame
```
furthermore, on the mate finding benchmark (ChestUCI_23102018.epd),
performance improves over master, roughly reaching performance with the
false mate protection reverted
```
Analyzing 6566 mate positions for best and found mates:
----------------best ---------------found
nodes master revert fixed master revert fixed
16000000 4233 4236 4235 5200 5201 5199
32000000 4583 4585 4585 5417 5424 5418
64000000 4852 4853 4855 5575 5584 5579
128000000 5071 5068 5066 5710 5720 5716
256000000 5280 5282 5279 5819 5827 5826
512000000 5471 5468 5468 5919 5935 5932
```
On a testcase with TB enabled, progress is made consistently, contrary
to master
```
setoption name SyzygyPath value ../../../syzygy/3-4-5/
setoption name Hash value 2048
position fen 1R6/3k4/8/K2p4/4n3/2P5/8/8 w - - 0 1
go depth 58
ucinewgame
```
The PR (prior to a rewrite for clarity)
passed STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 65405 W: 12454 L: 12384 D: 40567
Ptnml(0-2): 920, 7256, 16285, 7286, 944
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e441a3be70d848499f63d15
passed LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 27096 W: 3477 L: 3413 D: 20206
Ptnml(0-2): 128, 2215, 8776, 2292, 122
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e44e277e70d848499f63d63
The incorrectly named VALUE_MATE_IN_MAX_PLY and VALUE_MATED_IN_MAX_PLY
were renamed into VALUE_TB_WIN_IN_MAX_PLY and VALUE_TB_LOSS_IN_MAX_PLY,
and correclty defined VALUE_MATE_IN_MAX_PLY and VALUE_MATED_IN_MAX_PLY
were introduced.
One further (corner case) mistake using these constants was fixed (go
mate X), which could lead to a premature return if X > MAX_PLY / 2,
but TB were present.
Thanks to @svivanov72 for one of the reports and help fixing the issue.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2552
Bench: 4932981
Align the TT allocation by 2M to make it huge page friendly and advise the
kernel to use huge pages.
Benchmarks on my i7-8700K (6C/12T) box: (3 runs per bench per config)
vanilla (nps) hugepages (nps) avg
==================================================================================
bench | 3012490 3024364 3036331 3071052 3067544 3071052 +1.5%
bench 16 12 20 | 19237932 19050166 19085315 19266346 19207025 19548758 +1.1%
bench 16384 12 20 | 18182313 18371581 18336838 19381275 19738012 19620225 +7.0%
On my box, huge pages have a significant perf impact when using a big
hash size. They also speed up TT initialization big time:
vanilla (s) huge pages (s) speed-up
=======================================================================
time stockfish bench 16384 1 1 | 5.37 1.48 3.6x
In practice, huge pages with auto-defrag may always be enabled in the
system, in which case this patch has no effect. This
depends on the values in /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled
and /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag.
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2463
No functional change
This patch greatly increases the endgame penalty for having a trapped rook.
Idea was a result of witnessing Stockfish losing some games at CCCC exchanging
pieces in the position with a trapped rook which directly lead to a lost endgame.
This patch should partially fix such behavior making this penalty high even in
deep endgames.
Passed STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e279d7cc3b97aa0d75bc1c4
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.00,3.00}
Total: 8528 W: 1706 L: 1588 D: 5234
Ptnml(0-2): 133, 957, 1985, 1024, 159
Passed LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e27aee4c3b97aa0d75bc1e1
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.00,2.00}
Total: 88713 W: 11520 L: 11130 D: 66063
Ptnml(0-2): 646, 8170, 26342, 8492, 676
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2510
Bench: 4964462
----------------------
Comment by Malcolm Campbell:
Congrats! I think this might be a common pattern - scores that seem to mainly apply
to the midgame are often better with a similar (or at least fairly big) endgame value
as well. Maybe there are others eval parameters we can tweak like this...
Currently on a normal bench run in ~0,7% of cases 'improving' is set to
true although the static eval isn't improving at all, just keeping
equal. It looks like the strict gt-operator is more appropriate here,
since it returns to 'improving' its literal meaning without sideffects.
STC {-1.00,3.00} failed yellow:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e1ec38c8fd5f550e4ae1c28
LLR: -2.93 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.00,3.00}
Total: 53155 W: 10170 L: 10109 D: 32876
Ptnml(0-2): 863, 6282, 12251, 6283, 892
non-regression LTC passed:
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e1f1c0d8fd5f550e4ae1c41
LLR: 2.98 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 23961 W: 3114 L: 3018 D: 17829
Ptnml(0-2): 163, 2220, 7114, 2298, 170
CLoses https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2496
bench: 4561386
This is a non-functional simplification. Looks like std::bitset works good
for the KPKBitbase. Thanks for Jorg Oster for helping get the speed up
(the [] accessor is faster than test()).
Speed testing: 10k calls to probe:
master 9.8 sec
patch 9.8 sec.
STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.50,0.50}
Total: 100154 W: 19025 L: 18992 D: 62137
Ptnml(0-2): 1397, 11376, 24572, 11254, 1473
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e21e601346e35ac603b7d2b
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2502
No functional change
This is a non-functional speed-up: master has to access SquareBB twice while this patch
determines opposite_colors just using the values of the squares. It doesn't seem to change
the overall speed of bench, but calling opposite_colors(...) 10 Million times:
master: 39.4 seconds
patch: 11.4 seconds.
The only data point I have (other than my own tests), is a quite old failed STC test:
LLR: -2.93 (-2.94,2.94) [-1.50,4.50]
Total: 24308 W: 5331 L: 5330 D: 13647
Ptnml(0-2): 315, 2577, 6326, 2623, 289
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e010256c13ac2425c4a9a67
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2498
No functional change
This is a non-functional simplification. If we use the "side to move" of the entry
instead of the template, one of the classify methods goes away. Furthermore, I've
resolved the colors in some of the statements (we're already assuming direction
using NORTH), and used stm (side to move) instead of "us," since this is much clearer
to me.
This is not tested because it is non-functional, only applies building the bitbase
and there are no changes to the binary (on my machine).
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2485
No functional change
This is a non-functional simplification. Instead of passing the piece type
for remove_piece, we can rely on the board. The only exception is en-passant
which must be explicitly set because the destination square for the capture
is not the same as the piece to remove.
Verified also in the Chess960 castling case by running a couple of perft, see
the pull request discussion: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2460
STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 18624 W: 4147 L: 4070 D: 10407
Ptnml(0-2): 223, 1933, 4945, 1938, 260
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dfeaa93e70446e17e451163
No functional change
Official release version of Stockfish 11.
Bench: 5156767
-----------------------
It is our pleasure to release Stockfish 11 to our fans and supporters.
Downloads are freely available at http://stockfishchess.org/download/
This version 11 of Stockfish is 50 Elo stronger than the last version, and
150 Elo stronger than the version which famously lost a match to AlphaZero
two years ago. This makes Stockfish the strongest chess engine running on
your smartphone or normal desktop PC, and we estimate that on a modern four
cores CPU, Stockfish 11 could give 1:1000 time odds to the human chess champion
having classical time control, and be on par with him. More specific data,
including nice cumulative curves for the progression of Stockfish strength
over the last seven years, can be found on [our progression page][1], at
[Stefan Pohl site][2] or at [NextChessMove][3].
In October 2019 Stockfish has regained its crown in the TCEC competition,
beating in the superfinal of season 16 an evolution of the neural-network
engine Leela that had won the previous season. This clash of style between an
alpha-beta and an neural-network engine produced spectacular chess as always,
with Stockfish [emerging victorious this time][0].
Compared to Stockfish 10, we have made hundreds of improvements to the
[codebase][4], from the evaluation function (improvements in king attacks,
middlegame/endgame transitions, and many more) to the search algorithm (some
innovative coordination methods for the searching threads, better pruning of
unsound tactical lines, etc), and fixed a couple of bugs en passant.
Our testing framework [Fishtest][5] has also seen its share of improvements
to continue propelling Stockfish forward. Along with a lot of small enhancements,
Fishtest has switched to new SPRT bounds to increase the chance of catching Elo
gainers, along with a new testing book and the use of pentanomial statistics to
be more resource-efficient.
Overall the Stockfish project is an example of open-source at its best, as
its buzzing community of programmers sharing ideas and daily reviewing their
colleagues' patches proves to be an ideal form to develop innovative ideas for
chess programming, while the mathematical accuracy of the testing framework
allows us an unparalleled level of quality control for each patch we put in
the engine. If you wish, you too can help our ongoing efforts to keep improving
it, just [get involved][6] :-)
Stockfish is also special in that every chess fan, even if not a programmer,
[can easily help][7] the team to improve the engine by connecting their PC to
Fishtest and let it play some games in the background to test new patches.
Individual contributions vary from 1 to 32 cores, but this year Bojun Guo
made it a little bit special by plugging a whole data center during the whole
year: it was a vertiginous experience to see Fishtest spikes with 17466 cores
connected playing [25600 games/minute][8]. Thanks Guo!
The Stockfish team
[0]: <http://mytcecexperience.blogspot.com/2019/10/season-16-superfinal-games-91-100.html>
[1]: <https://github.com/glinscott/fishtest/wiki/Regression-Tests>
[2]: <https://www.sp-cc.de/index.htm>
[3]: <https://nextchessmove.com/dev-builds>
[4]: <https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish>
[5]: <https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests>
[6]: <https://stockfishchess.org/get-involved/>
[7]: <https://github.com/glinscott/fishtest/wiki>
[8]: <https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/fishcooking/lebEmG5vgng%5B1-25%5D>
Based on recent improvement of futility pruning by @locutus2 : we lower
the futility margin to apply it for more nodes but as a compensation
we also lower the history threshold to apply it to less nodes. Further
work in tweaking constants can always be done - numbers are guessed
"by hand" and are not results of some tuning, maybe there is some more
Elo to squeeze from this part of code.
Passed STC
LLR: 2.98 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.00,3.00}
Total: 15300 W: 3081 L: 2936 D: 9283
Ptnml(0-2): 260, 1816, 3382, 1900, 290
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e18da3b27dab692fcf9a158
Passed LTC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.00,2.00}
Total: 108670 W: 14509 L: 14070 D: 80091
Ptnml(0-2): 813, 10259, 31736, 10665, 831
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e18fc9627dab692fcf9a180
Bench: 4643972
This patch makes Stockfish search same depth again if > 60% of optimum time is
already used, instead of trying the next iteration. The idea is that the next
iteration will generally take about the same amount of time as has already been
used in total. When we are likely to begin the last iteration, as judged by total
time taken so far > 0.6 * optimum time, searching the last depth again instead of
increasing the depth still helps the other threads in lazy SMP and prepares better
move ordering for the next moves.
STC :
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.00,3.00}
Total: 13436 W: 2695 L: 2558 D: 8183
Ptnml(0-2): 222, 1538, 3087, 1611, 253
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e1618a761fe5f83a67dd964
LTC :
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) {0.00,2.00}
Total: 32160 W: 4261 L: 4047 D: 23852
Ptnml(0-2): 211, 2988, 9448, 3135, 247
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e162ca061fe5f83a67dd96d
The code was revised as suggested by @vondele for multithreading:
STC (8 threads):
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.00,2.00}
Total: 16640 W: 2049 L: 1885 D: 12706
Ptnml(0-2): 119, 1369, 5158, 1557, 108
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e19826a2cc590e03c3c2f52
LTC (8 threads):
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.00,3.00}
Total: 16536 W: 2758 L: 2629 D: 11149
Ptnml(0-2): 182, 1758, 4296, 1802, 224
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e18b91a27dab692fcf9a140
Thanks to those discussing Stockfish lazy SMP on fishcooking which made me
try this, and to @vondele for suggestions and doing related tests.
See full discussion in the pull request thread:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2482
Bench: 4586187
This patch shows a description of the compiler used to compile Stockfish,
when starting from the console.
Usage:
```
./stockfish
compiler
```
Example of output:
```
Stockfish 120120 64 POPCNT by T. Romstad, M. Costalba, J. Kiiski, G. Linscott
Compiled by clang++ 9.0.0 on Apple
__VERSION__ macro expands to: 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 9.0.0 (clang-900.0.38)
```
No functional change
This updates estimates from 1.5 year ago, and adds missing terms. All estimates
from tests run on fishtest at 10+0.1 (STC), 20000 games, error bars +- 3 Elo,
see the original message in the pull request for the full list of tests.
Noteworthy changes are step 7 (futility pruning) going from ~30 to ~50 Elo
and step 13 (pruning at shallow depth) going from ~170 to ~200 Elo.
Full list of tests: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2401
@Rocky640 made the suggestion to look at time control dependence of these terms.
I picked two large terms (early futility pruning and singular extension), so with
small relative error. It turns out it is actually quite interesting (see figure 1).
Contrary to my expectation, the Elo gain for early futility pruning is pretty time
control sensitive, while singular extension gain is not.
Figure 1: TC dependence of two search terms
Going back to the old measurement of futility pruning (30 Elo vs today 50 Elo),
the code is actually identical but the margins have changed. It seems like a nice
example of how connected terms in search really are, i.e. the value of early futility
pruning increased significantly due to changes elsewhere in search.
No functional change.
User "adentong" reported recently of a game where Stockfish blundered a game
in a tournament because during a search there was an hash-table issue for
positions inside the tree very close to the 50-moves draw rule. This is part
of a problem which is commonly referred to as the Graph History Interaction (GHI),
and is difficult to solve in computer chess because storing the 50-moves counter
in the hash-table loses Elo in general.
Links:
Issue 2451 : https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2451
About the GHI : https://www.chessprogramming.org/Graph_History_Interaction
This patch tries to address the issue in this particular game and similar
reported games: it prevents that values from the transposition table are
getting used when the 50-move counter is close to reaching 100 (). The idea
is that in such cases values from previous searches, with a much lower 50-move
count, become less and less reliable.
More precisely, the heuristic we use in this patch is that we don't take the
transposition table cutoff when we have reached a 45-moves limit, but let the
search continue doing its job. There is a possible slowdown involved, but it will
also help to find either a draw when it thought to be losing, or a way to avoid
the draw by 50-move rule. This heuristics probably will not fix all possible cases,
but seems to be working reasonably well in practice while not losing too much Elo.
Passed non-regression tests:
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 274452 W: 59700 L: 60075 D: 154677
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5df546116932658fe9b451bf
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 95235 W: 15297 L: 15292 D: 64646
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5df69c926932658fe9b4520e
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2453
Bench: 4586187
SEE (Static Exchange Evaluation) is a critical component, so we might
indulge some tricks to make it faster. Another pull request #2469 showed
some speedup by removing templates, this version uses Ronald de Man
(@syzygy1) SEE implementation which also unrolls the for loop by
suppressing the min_attacker() helper function and exits as soon as
the last swap is conclusive.
See Ronald de Man version there:
https://github.com/syzygy1/Cfish/blob/master/src/position.c
Patch testes against pull request #2469:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.00,3.00}
Total: 19365 W: 3771 L: 3634 D: 11960
Ptnml(0-2): 241, 1984, 5099, 2092, 255
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e10eb135e5436dd91b27ba3
And since we are using new SPRT statistics, and that both pull requests
finished with less than 20000 games I also tested against master as
a speed-up:
LLR: 2.99 (-2.94,2.94) {-1.00,3.00}
Total: 18878 W: 3674 L: 3539 D: 11665
Ptnml(0-2): 193, 1999, 4966, 2019, 250
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5e10febf12ef906c8b388745
Non functional change
This patch excludes blockers for king from mobility area. It was tried a couple
of times by now but now it passed. Performance is not enormously good but this
patch makes a lot of sence - blockers for king can't really move until king moves
(in most cases) so logic behind it is the same as behind excluding king square
from mobility area.
STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dec388651219d7befdc76be
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-1.50,4.50]
Total: 6155 W: 1428 L: 1300 D: 3427
LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dec4a3151219d7befdc76d3
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 120800 W: 19636 L: 19134 D: 82030
Bench: 5173081
This patch simplifies latest @MJZ1977 elo gainer. Seems like PvNode check in
condition of last capture extension is not needed. Note - even if this is a
simplification it actually causes this extension to be applied more often, thus
strengthening effect of @MJZ1977's patch.
passed STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5deb9a3eb7bdefd50db28d0e
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 80244 W: 17421 L: 17414 D: 45409
passed LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5deba860b7bdefd50db28d11
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 21506 W: 3565 L: 3446 D: 14495
Bench: 5097036
As reported on the forum it is possible, on very rare occasions, that we are
trying to print a PV line with an invalid previousScore, although this line
has a valid actual score. This patch fixes output of PV lines with invalid
scores in a MultiPV search. This is a follow-up patch to 8b15961 and makes
the fix finally complete.
The reason is the i <= pvIdx condition which probably is a leftover from the
times there was a special root search function. This check is no longer needed
today and prevents PV lines past the current one (current pvIdx) to be flagged
as updated even though they do have a valid score.
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/commit/8b15961349e18a9ba113973c53f53913d0cd0fadhttps://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/fishcooking/PrnoDLvMvro
No functional change.
the removed line is not needed, since with the conditions on SE, eval
equals ttValue (except inCheck), which must be larger than beta if the second condition
is true.
The removed line is also incorrect as eval might be VALUE_NONE at this
location if inCheck. This removal addresses part of https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2406#issuecomment-552642608
No functional change.
this patch extends bench to print static evaluations.
./stockfish bench 16 1 1 filename eval
will now print the evaluations for all fens in the file.
This complements the various 'go' flavors for bench and might be useful for debugging and/or tuning.
No functional change.
In a recent commit, "Introduce king flank defenders," a term was introduced
by Michael Chaly (@Vizvezdenec) to reduce king danger based on king defenders,
i.e., friendly attacks on our King Flank and Camp. This is a powerful idea
and broadly applicable to all of our pieces.
An earlier, but narrower, version of a similar idea was already coded into
king danger, with a term reducing king danger simply if we had a bishop and
king attacking the same square -- there is also a similar term for knights,
but roughly three times larger. I had attempted to tweak this term's coefficient
fairly recently, in a series of tests in early September which increased this
coefficient. All failed STC with significantly negative scores.
Now that the king flank defenders term has been introduced, it appears that
the bishop-defense term can be simplified away without compensation or
significant Elo loss.
Where do we go from here? This PR is a natural follow-up to "Introduce king
flank defenders," which proposed simplification with existing and overlapping
terms, such as this one. That PR also mentioned that the coefficient it
introduced appeared arbitrary, so perhaps this PR can facilitate a tweak to
increase king flank defenders' coefficient.
Additionally, this pull request is extremely similar to https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1821,
which was (coincidentally) merged a year ago, to the day (November 23, 2018).
That patch also simplified away a linear king danger tropism term, which was
soon after replaced with a quadratic term by @Vizvezdenec (which would not have
passed without the simplification). @Vizvezdenec, again by coincidence, has
recently been trying to implement a quadratic term, this time for defenders
rather than attackers. This history of this evaluation code suggests that
this simplification might be enough to help a patch for quadratic king-flank
defenders pass.
Bench: 4959670
STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 22209 W: 4920 L: 4800 D: 12489
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dd444d914339111b9b6bed7
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 152107 W: 24658 L: 24743 D: 102706
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dd4be31f531e81cf278ea9d
Interesting discussion on Github about this pull request:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2424
---
This pull request was opened less than one week before the holiday of
Thanksgiving here in the United States. In keeping with the holiday
tradition of expressing gratitude, I would like to thank our generous
CPU donors, talented forum contributors, innovative developers, speedy
fishtest approvers, and especially our hardworking server maintainers
(@ppigazzini and @tomtor). Thank you all for a year of great Stockfish
progress!
This patch measures how frequently search is exploring new configurations.
This is done be computing a running average of ttHit. The ttHitAverage rate
is somewhat low (e.g. 30% for startpos) in the normal case, while it can be
very high if no progress is made (e.g. 90% for the fortress I used for testing).
This information can be used to influence search. In this patch, by adjusting
reductions if the rate > 50%. A first version (using a low ttHitAverageResolution
and this 50% threshold) passed testing:
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-1.50,4.50]
Total: 26425 W: 5837 L: 5650 D: 14938
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dcede8b0ebc5902563258fa
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 32313 W: 5392 L: 5128 D: 21793
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dcefb1f0ebc590256325c0e
However, as discussed in pull request 2414, using a larger ttHitAverageResolution
gives a better approximation of the underlying distributions. This needs a slight
adjustment for the threshold as the new distributions are shifted a bit compared
to the older ones, and this threshold seemingly is sensitive (we used 0.53125 here).
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2414
This final version also passed testing, and is used for the patch:
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-1.50,4.50]
Total: 16025 W: 3555 L: 3399 D: 9071
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dd070b90ebc5902579e20c2
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 37576 W: 6277 L: 5998 D: 25301
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dd0f58e6f544e798086f224
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2414
Bench: 4989584
This patch implements what we have been trying for quite some time -
dependance of kingdanger on balance of attackers and defenders of king
flank, to avoid overestimate attacking power if the opponent has enough
defenders of king position. We already have some form of it in bishop
and knight defenders - this is further work in this direction.
What to do based on this?
1) constant 4 is arbitrary, maybe it is not optimal
2) maybe we can use quadratic formula as in kingflankattack
3) simplification into alrealy existing terms is always a possibility :)
4) overall kingdanger tuning always can be done.
passed STC:
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dcf40560ebc590256325f30
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-1.50,4.50]
Total: 26298 W: 5819 L: 5632 D: 14847
passed LTC:
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dcfa5760ebc590256326464
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 30600 W: 5042 L: 4784 D: 20774
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2415
Bench: 4496847
Introduce OutpostRank[RANK_NB] which contains a bonus according to
the rank of the outpost. We use it for the primary Outpost bonus.
The values are based on the trends of the SPSA tuning run with some
manual tweaks.
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-1.50,4.50]
Total: 27454 W: 6059 L: 5869 D: 15526
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dcadba20ebc590256922f09
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 57950 W: 9443 L: 9112 D: 39395
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dcaea880ebc5902569230bc
Bench: 4778405
----------------------------
The inspiration for this patch came from Stefan Geschwentner's attempt
of modifying BishopPawns into a rank-based penalty. Michael Stembera
suggested that maybe the S(0, 0) ranks (3rd, 7th and also maybe 8th)
can still be tuned. This would expand our definition of Outpost and
OutpostRanks would be removed altogether. Special thanks to Mark Tenzer
for all the help and excellent suggestions.
The removed lines approximately duplicate equivalent logic in the movePicker.
Adjust the futility_move_count to componsate for some difference
(the movePicker prunes one iteration of the move loop later).
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 8114 W: 1810 L: 1663 D: 4641
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dc6afe60ebc5902562bd318
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 89956 W: 14473 L: 14460 D: 61023
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dc6bdcf0ebc5902562bd3c0
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2407
Bench: 4256440
---------------------
How to continue from there?
It would be interesting to see if we can extract some Elo gain
from the new futility_move_count formula, for instance by somehow
incorporating the final -1 in the 5 constant, or adding a linear
term to the quadratics...
```
futility_move_count = (5 + depth * depth) * (1 + improving) / 2 - 1
```
Current master 648c7ec25d will generate an
incorrect mate score for:
```
setoption name Hash value 8
setoption name Threads value 1
position fen 8/1p2KP2/1p4q1/1Pp5/2P5/N1Pp1k2/3P4/1N6 b - - 76 40
go depth 49
```
even though the position is a draw. Generally, SF tries to display only
proven mate scores, so this is a bug.
This was posted http://www.talkchess.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=72166
by Uri Blass, with the correct analysis that this must be related to the
50 moves draw rule being ignored somewhere.
Indeed, this is possible as positions and there eval are stored in the TT,
without reference to the 50mr counter. Depending on the search path followed
a position can thus be mate or draw in the TT (GHI or Graph history interaction).
Therefore, to prove mate lines, the TT content has to be used with care. Rather
than ignoring TT content in general or for mate scores (which impact search or
mate finding), it is possible to be more selective. In particular, @WOnder93
suggested to only ignore the TT if the 50mr draw ply is closer than the mate
ply. This patch implements this idea, by clamping the eval in the TT to
+-VALUE_MATED_IN_MAX_PLY. This retains the TTmove, but causes a research of
these lines (with the current 50mr counter) as needed.
This patch hardly ever affects search (as indicated by the unchanged
bench), but fixes the testcase. As the conditions are very specific,
also mate finding will almost never be less efficient (testing welcome).
It was also shown to pass STC and LTC non-regression testing, in a form
using if/then/else instead of ternary operators:
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 93605 W: 15346 L: 15340 D: 62919
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5db45bb00ebc5908127538d4
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 33873 W: 7359 L: 7261 D: 19253
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5db4c8940ebc5902d6b146fc
closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2370
Bench: 4362323
This reverts the previous commit. The PSQT changes in this previous
commit originated from tests against quite an old version of master
which did not include the other PSQT changes of 474d133 for the other
pieces, and there might be some unknown interactions between the PSQT
tables. So we made a non-regression test of the last commit against the
last-but-one commit. This test failed, leading to the revert decision.
Failed non-regression test:
LLR: -2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 95536 W: 15047 L: 15347 D: 65142
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5dc0ba1d0ebc5904493b0112
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2395
Bench: 4362323
As Stockfish developers, we aim to make our code as legible and as close
to simple English as possible. However, one of the more notable exceptions
to this rule concerns operations between Squares and Bitboards.
Prior to this pull request, AND, OR, and XOR were only defined when the
Bitboard was the first operand, and the Square the second. For example,
for a Bitboard b and Square s, "b & s" would be valid but "s & b" would not.
This conflicts with natural reasoning about logical operators, both
mathematically and intuitively, which says that logical operators should
commute.
More dangerously, however, both Square and Bitboard are defined as integers
"under the hood." As a result, code like "s & b" would still compile and give
reasonable bench values. This trap occasionally ensnares even experienced
Stockfish developers, but it is especially dangerous for new developers not
aware of this peculiarity. Because there is no compilation or runtime error,
and a reasonable bench, only a close review by approvers can spot this error
when a test has been submitted--and many times, these bugs have slipped past
review. This is by far the most common logical error on Fishtest, and has
wasted uncountable STC games over the years.
However, it can be fixed by adding three non-functional lines of code. In this
patch, we define the operators when the operands are provided in the opposite
order, i.e., we make AND, OR, and XOR commutative for Bitboards and Squares.
Because these are inline methods and implemented identically, the executable
does not change at all.
This patch has the small side-effect of requiring Squares to be explicitly
cast to integers before AND, OR, or XOR with integers. This is only performed
twice in Stockfish's source code, and again does not change the executable at
all (since Square is an enum defined as an integer anyway).
For demonstration purposes, this pull request also inverts the order of one AND
and one OR, to show that neither the bench nor the executable change. (This
change can be removed before merging, if preferred.)
I hope that this pull request significantly lowers the barrier-of-entry for new
developer to join the Stockfish project. I also hope that this change will improve
our efficiency in using our generous CPU donors' machines, since it will remove
one of the most common causes of buggy tests.
Following helpful review and comments by Michael Stembera (@mstembera), we add
a further clean-up by implementing OR for two Squares, to anticipate additional
traps developers may encounter and handle them cleanly.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2387
No functional change.
Simplify the king ring initialization and make it more regular, by just
moving the king square off the edges and using PseudoAttacks by king from
this new square.
There is a small functional difference from the previous master, as the
old master excludes the original ksq square while this patch always includes
the nine squares block (after moving the king from the edges). Additionally,
master does not adjust the kingRing down if we are on relative rank 8,
while this patch treats all of the edges the same.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 13263 W: 2968 L: 2830 D: 7465
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5db872830ebc5902d1f388aa
LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 72996 W: 11819 L: 11780 D: 49397
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5db899c20ebc5902d1f38b5e
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2384
Bench: 4959244
Make dynamic contempt weight factor dependent on static contempt so that higher
static contempt implies less dynamic contempt and vice versa. For default contempt
24 this is a non-functional change. But tests with contempt 0 shows an elo gain.
Also today is my birthday so i have already give to myself a gift with this patch :-)!
Further proceedings:
in the past we checked for default contempt that it doesn't regress against
contempt 0. Now that the later is stronger and the former is the same strength
this should be rechecked. Perhaps the default contempt have to be lowered.
It would be interesting to get some idea of the impact of this patch outside
of the 0-24 contempt range.
STC: (both with contempt=0)
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-1.50,4.50]
Total: 21912 W: 3898 L: 3740 D: 14274
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5db74b6f0ebc5902d1f37405
LTC: (both with contempt=0)
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 27172 W: 3350 L: 3126 D: 20696
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5db760020ebc5902d1f375d0
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2382
No functional change (for current default contempt 24).
This PR refactors update_quiet_stats, update_capture_stats and search to more clearly reflect what is actually done.
Effectively, all stat updates that need to be done after search is finished and a bestmove is found,
are collected in a new function ```final_stats_update()```. This shortens our main search routine, and simplifies ```update_quiet_stats```.
The latter function is now more easily reusable with fewer arguments, as the handling of ```quietsSearched``` is only needed in ```final_stats_update```.
```update_capture_stats```, which was only called once is now integrated in ```final_stats_update```, which allows for removing a branch and reusing some ```stat_bonus``` calls. The need for refactoring was also suggested by the fact that the comments of ```update_quiet_stats``` and ```update_capture_stats``` were incorrect (e.g. ```update_capture_stats``` was called, correctly, also when the bestmove was a quiet and not a capture).
passed non-regression STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 75196 W: 16364 L: 16347 D: 42485
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5db004ec0ebc5902c06db9e1
The diff is most easily readable as ```git diff master --patience```
No functional change
- Cleanups by Alain
- Group king attacks and king defenses
- Signature of futility_move_count()
- Use is_discovery_check_on_king()
- Simplify backward definition
- Use static asserts in move generator
- Factor a statement in move generator
No functional change
Stockfish crashes immediately if users enter a wrong file name (or even an existing
folder name) for debug log file. It may be hard for users to find out since it prints
nothing. If they enter the string via a chess GUI, the chess GUI may remember and
auto-send to Stockfish next time, makes Stockfish crashes all the time. Bug report by
Nguyen Hong Pham in this issue: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2365
This patch avoids the crash and instead prefers to exit gracefully with a error
message on std:cerr, like we do with the fenFile for instance.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2366
No functional change.
With the current questions and issues around threading, I had a look at
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2299.
It seems there was a problem with data races when requesting eval via UCI while
a search was already running. To fix this an extra thread uithread was created,
presumably to avoid an overlap with Threads.main() that was causing problems.
Making this eval request seems to be outside the scope of UCI, and @vondele also
reports that the data race is not even fixed reliably by this change. I suggest
we simplify the threading here by removing this uithread and adding a comment
signaling that user should not request eval when a search is already running.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2310
No functional change.
The current bench is missing a position with high 50 moves rule counter,
making most 'shuffle' tests based on 50mr > N seem non-functional.
This patch adds one FEN with high 50mr counter to address this issue
(taken from a recent tcec game).
Four new FENs:
- position with high 50mr counter
- tactical position with many captures, checks, extensions, fails high/low
- two losses by Stockfish in the S16 bonus games against Houdini
See the pull request for nice comments by @Alayan-stk-2 about each position
in bench: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2338
Bench: 4590210
Previously, we used various control statements and ternary operators to divide
Outpost into four bonuses, based on whether the outpost was for a knight or
bishop, and whether it was currently an Outpost or merely a potential ("reachable")
one in the future. Bishop outposts, however, have traditionally been worth far
less Elo in testing. An attempt to remove them altogether passed STC, but failed LTC.
Here we include a narrower simplification, removing the reachable Outpost bonus
for bishops. This bonus was always suspect, given that its current implementation
conflicts directly with BishopPawns. BishopPawns penalizes our bishops based on the
number of friendly pawns on the same color of square, but by definition, Outposts
must be pawn-protected! This PR helps to alleviate this conceptual contradiction
without loss of Elo and with slightly simpler code.
On a code level, this allows us to simplify a ternary operator into the previous
"if" block and distribute a multiplication into an existing constant Score. On a
conceptual level, we retire one of the four traditional Outpost bonuses.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 22277 W: 4882 L: 4762 D: 12633
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d9aeed60ebc5902b6cf9751
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 51206 W: 8353 L: 8280 D: 34573
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d9af1940ebc5902b6cf9cd5
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2352
Bench: 3941591
This patch changes the base aspiration window size depending on the absolute
value of the previous iteration score, increasing it away from zero. This
stems from the observation that the further away from zero, the more likely
the evaluation is to change significantly with more depth. Conversely, a
tighter aspiration window is more efficient when close to zero.
A beneficial side-effect is that analysis of won positions without a quick
mate is less prone to waste nodes in repeated fail-high that change the eval
by tiny steps.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 60102 W: 13327 L: 12868 D: 33907
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d9a70d40ebc5902b6cf39ba
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 155553 W: 25745 L: 25141 D: 104667
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d9a7ca30ebc5902b6cf4028
Future work : the values used in this patch were only a reasonable guess.
Further testing should unveil more optimal values. However, the aspiration
window is rather tight with a minimum of 21 internal units, so discrete
integers put a practical limitation to such tweaking.
More exotic experiments around the aspiration window parameters could also
be tried, but efficient conditions to adjust the base aspiration window size
or allow it to not be centered on the current evaluation are not obvious.
The aspiration window increases after a fail-high or a fail-low is another
avenue to explore for potential enhancements.
Bench: 4043748
Run as a simplification
a) insures that pawn attacks are always included in the pawn span
(this "fixes" the case where some outpost or reachable outpost
bonus were awarded on squares controlled by enemy pawns).
b) compute the full span only if not "backward" or not "blocked".
By looking at "blocked" instead of "opposed", we get a nice simpli-
fication and the "new" outpost detection is almost identical, except
a few borderline cases on rank 4.
passed STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d9950730ebc5902b6cefb90
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 79113 W: 17168 L: 17159 D: 44786
passed LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d99d14e0ebc5902b6cf0692
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 41286 W: 6819 L: 6731 D: 27736
See https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2348
bench: 3812891
It is always used as a bool, so let's make it a bool straight away.
We can always redefine it as a Piece in a later patch if we want
to use the piece type or the piece color.
No functional change.
Simplification that eliminates ONE_PLY, based on a suggestion in the forum that
support for fractional plies has never been used, and @mcostalba's openness to
the idea of eliminating it. We lose a little bit of type safety by making Depth
an integer, but in return we simplify the code in search.cpp quite significantly.
No functional change
------------------------------------------
The argument favoring eliminating ONE_PLY:
* The term “ONE_PLY” comes up in a lot of forum posts (474 to date)
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!searchin/fishcooking/ONE_PLY%7Csort:relevance
* There is occasionally a commit that breaks invariance of the code
with respect to ONE_PLY
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!searchin/fishcooking/ONE_PLY%7Csort:date/fishcooking/ZIPdYj6k0fk/KdNGcPWeBgAJ
* To prevent such commits, there is a Travis CI hack that doubles ONE_PLY
and rechecks bench
* Sustaining ONE_PLY has, alas, not resulted in any improvements to the
engine, despite many individuals testing many experiments over 5 years.
The strongest argument in favor of preserving ONE_PLY comes from @locutus:
“If we use par example ONE_PLY=256 the parameter space is increases by the
factor 256. So it seems very unlikely that the optimal setting is in the
subspace of ONE_PLY=1.”
There is a strong theoretical impediment to fractional depth systems: the
transposition table uses depth to determine when a stored result is good
enough to supply an answer for a current search. If you have fractional
depths, then different pathways to the position can be at fractionally
different depths.
In the end, there are three separate times when a proposal to remove ONE_PLY
was defeated by the suggestion to “give it a few more months.” So… it seems
like time to remove this distraction from the community.
See the pull request here:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2289
Remove temporary array of shelters and avoid iterating over it each time to find
if the shelter values after castling are better than the current value.
Work done on top of https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2277
Speed benchmark did not measure any difference.
No functional change
In lazySMP it makes sense to prune a little more, as multiple threads
search wider. We thus increase the prefactor of the reductions slowly
as a function of the threads. The prefactor of the log(threads) term
is a parameter, this pull request uses 1/2 after testing.
passed STC @ 8threads:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 118125 W: 23151 L: 22462 D: 72512
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8bbf4d0ebc59509180f217
passed LTC @ 8threads:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 67546 W: 10630 L: 10279 D: 46637
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8c463b0ebc5950918167e8
passed ~LTC @ 14threads:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 74271 W: 12421 L: 12040 D: 49810
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8db1f50ebc590f3beb24ef
Note:
A larger prefactor (1) passed similar tests at STC and LTC (8 threads),
while a very large one (2) passed STC quickly but failed LTC (8 threads).
For the single-threaded case there is no functional change.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2337
Bench: 4088701
Fixup: remove redundant code.
A curious feature of Stockfish's current extension code is its repeated
use of "else if." In most cases, this makes no functional difference,
because no more than one extension is applied; once one extension has
been applied, the remaining ones can be safely ignored.
However, if most singular extension search conditions are true, except
"value < singularBeta", no non-singular extensions (e.g., castling) can
be performed!
Three tests were submitted, for three of Stockfish's four non-singular
extensions. I excluded the shuffle extension, because historically there
have been concerns about the fragility of its conditions, and I did not
want to risk causing any serious search problems.
- Modifying the passed pawn extension appeared roughly neutral at STC. At
best, it appeared to be an improvement of less than 1 Elo.
- Modifying check extension performed very poorly at STC
- Modifying castling extension (this patch) produced a long "yellow" run
at STC (insufficient to pass, but positive score) and a strong LTC.
In simple terms, prior to this patch castling extension was occasionally
not applied during search--on castling moves. The effect of this patch is
to perform castling extension on more castling moves. It does so without
adding any code complexity, simply by replacing an "else if" with "if" and
reordering some existing code.
STC:
LLR: -2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 108114 W: 23877 L: 23615 D: 60622
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8d86bd0ebc590f3beb0c88
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 20862 W: 3517 L: 3298 D: 14047
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8d99cd0ebc590f3beb1899
Bench: 3728191
--------
Where do we go from here?
- It seems strange to me that check extension performed so poorly -- clearly
some of the singular extension conditions are also very important for check
extension. I am not an expert in search, and I do not have any intuition
about which of the eight conditions is/are the culprit. I will try a
succession of eight STC tests to identify the relevant conditions, then try
to replicate this PR for check extension.
- Recent tests interacting with the castle extension may deserve retesting.
I will shortly resubmit a few of my recent castling extension tweaks, rebased
on this PR/commit.
My deepest thanks to @noobpwnftw for the extraordinary CPU donation, and to
all our other fishtest volunteers, who made it possible for a speculative LTC
to pass in 70 minutes!
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2331
Remove the RookOnPawn logic (for rook on rank 5 and above aligning with pawns
on same row or file) which was overlapping with a few other parameters.
Inspired by @31m059 interesting result hinting that a direct attack on pawns
instead of PseudoAttacks might work.
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d89a7c70ebc595091801b8d
After a few attempts by me and @31m059, and some long STC greens but red LTC,
as a proof of concept I first tried a local SPSA at VSTC trying to tune related
rook psqt rows, and mainly some rook related stuff in evaluate.cpp.
Result was STC green, but still red LTC,
Finally a 100M fishtest SPSA at LTC proved successful both at STC and LTC.
All this was possible with the awesome fishtest contributors.
At some point, I had 850 workers on the last test !
Run as a simplification
STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8d68f40ebc590f3beaf171
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 7399 W: 1693 L: 1543 D: 4163
LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8d70270ebc590f3beaf63c
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 41617 W: 6981 L: 6894 D: 27742
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2329
bench: 4037914
Revert the previous patch now that the binary for the super-final
of TCEC season 16 has been sent.
Maybe the feature of showing the name of compiler will be added to the
master branch in the future. But we may use a cleaner way to code it, see
some ideas using the Makefile approach at the end of pull request #2327 :
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2327
Bench: 3618154
This patch shows a description of the compiler used to compile Stockfish,
when starting from the console.
Usage:
```
./stockfish
compiler
```
Example of output:
```
Stockfish 240919 64 POPCNT by T. Romstad, M. Costalba, J. Kiiski, G. Linscott
Compiled by clang++ 9.0.0 on Apple
__VERSION__ macro expands to: 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 9.0.0 (clang-900.0.38)
```
No functional change
This patch replaces the obscure expressions mapping files ABCDEFGH to ABCDDCBA
by explicite calls to an auxiliary function:
old: f = min(f, ~f)
new: f = map_to_queenside(f)
We used the Golbolt web site (https://godbolt.org) to check that the current
code for the auxiliary function is optimal.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 30292 W: 6756 L: 6651 D: 16885
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8676720ebc5971531d6aa1
Achieved with a bit of help from Sopel97, snicolet and vondele, thanks everyone!
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2325
No functional change
This change to the Rook psqt encourages rook lifts to the third rank
on the two center files.
STC 10+0.1 th 1 :
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 40654 W: 9028 L: 8704 D: 22922
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d885da60ebc5906dd3e9fcd
LTC 60+0.6 th 1 :
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 56963 W: 9530 L: 9196 D: 38237
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d88618c0ebc5906dd3ea45f
Thanks to @snicolet for mentioning that Komodo does this a lot and
Stockfish doesn't, which gave me the idea for this patch, and to
@noobpwnftw for providing cores to fishtest which allowed very quick
testing.
Future work: perhaps this can be refined somehow to encourage this
on other files, my attempts have failed.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2322
Bench: 3950249
Author: @nickpelling
We replace in the code the obscure expressions mapping files ABCDEFGH to ABCDDCBA
by an explicite call to an auxiliary function :
old: f = min(f, ~f)
new: f = map_to_queenside(f)
We used the Golbolt web site (https://godbolt.org) to find the optimal code
for the auxiliary function.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 30292 W: 6756 L: 6651 D: 16885
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8676720ebc5971531d6aa1
No functional change
When scoring the connected pawns, replace the intricate ternary expressions
choosing the coefficient by a simpler addition of boolean conditions:
` value = Connected * (2 + phalanx - opposed) `
This is the map showing the old coefficients and the new ones:
```
phalanx and unopposed: 3x -> 3x
phalanx and opposed: 1.5x -> 2x
not phalanx and unopposed: 2x -> 2x
not phalanx and opposed: 1x -> 1x
```
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 11354 W: 2579 L: 2437 D: 6338
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8151f00ebc5971531d244f
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 41221 W: 7001 L: 6913 D: 27307
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d818f930ebc5971531d26d6
Bench: 3959889
blah
It seems there is no other way to specify stack size on std::thread than linker
flags and the effective flags are named differently in many toolchains. On
toolchains where pthread is always available, this patch changes the stack
size change in our C++ code via pthread to ensure a minimum stack size of 8MB,
instead of relying on linker defaults which may be platform-specific.
Also raises default stack size on OSX to current Linux default (8MB) just to
be safe.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2303
No functional change
This patch decreases the endgame scale factor using the 50 moves counter.
Looking at some games with this patch, it seems to have two effects on
the playing style:
1) when no progress can be made in late endgames (for instance in fortresses
or opposite bishops endgames) the evaluation will be largely tamed down
towards a draw value.
2) more interestingly, there is also a small effect in the midgame play because
Stockfish will panic a little bit if there are more than four consecutive
shuffling moves with an advantage: the engine will try to move a pawn or to
exchange a piece to keep the advantage, so the follow-ups of the position
will be discovered earlier by the alpha-beta search.
passed STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 23017 W: 5080 L: 4805 D: 13132
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d7e4aef0ebc59069c36fc74
passed LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 30746 W: 5171 L: 4911 D: 20664
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d7e513d0ebc59069c36ff26
Pull request: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2304
Bench: 4272173
This patch finally introduces something that was tried for years: midgame score
dependance on complexity of position. More precisely, if the position is very
simplified and the complexity measure calculated in the initiative() function
is inferior to -50 by an amount d, then we add this value d to the midgame score.
One example of play of this patch will be (again!) 4 vs 3 etc same flank endgames
where sides have a lot of non-pawn material: 4 vs 3 draw mostly remains the same
draw even if we add a lot of equal material to both sides.
STC run was stopped after 200k games (and not converging):
LLR: -1.75 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 200319 W: 44197 L: 43310 D: 112812
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d7cfdb10ebc5902d386572c
passed LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 41051 W: 6858 L: 6570 D: 27623
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d7d14680ebc5902d3866196
This is the first and not really precise version, a lot of other stuff can be
tried on top of it (separate complexity for middlegame, some more terms, even
simple retuning of values).
Bench: 4248476
Follow-up to previous commit. Update the documentation for the user when using `make`,
to show the preferred bmi2 compile in the advanced examples section.
Note: I made a mistake in the previous commit comment, the documentation is shown when
using `make` or `make help`, not `make --help`.
No functional change
The only change done to the Makefile to get a somewhat faster binary as
discussed in #2291 is to add -msse4 to the compile options of the bmi2 build.
Since all processors supporting bmi2 also support sse4 this can be done easily.
It is a useful step to avoid sending around custom and poorly tested builds.
The speedup isn't enough to pass [0,4] but it is roughly 1.15Elo and a LOS of 90%:
LLR: -2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 93009 W: 20519 L: 20316 D: 52174
Also rewrite the documentation for the user when using `make --help`, so that
the order of architectures for x86-64 has the more performant build one on top.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2300
No functional change
This patch greatly scales down complexity of endgames when the
following conditions are all true together:
- pawns are all on one flank
- stronger side king is not outflanking weaker side
- no passed pawns are present
This should improve stockfish evaluation of obvious draws 4 vs 3, 3 vs 2
and 2 vs 1 pawns in rook/queen/knight/bishop single flank endgames where
strong side can not make progress.
passed STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 15843 W: 3601 L: 3359 D: 8883
passed LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 121275 W: 20107 L: 19597 D: 81571
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2298
Bench: 3954190
==========================
How to continue from there?
a) This could be a powerful idea for refining some parts of the evaluation
function, a bit like when we try quadratics or other equations to emphasize
certain situations (xoto10).
b) Some other combinaison values for this bonus can be done further, or
overall retuning of weight and offset while keeping the formula simple.
This is a simplification that integrated WeakLever into doubled pawns.
Since we already check for !support for Doubled pawns, it is trivial
to check for weak lever by just checking more_than_one(lever).
We also introduce the Score * bool operation overload to remove some
casts in the code.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 26757 W: 5842 L: 5731 D: 15184
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d77ee220ebc5902d384e5a4
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2295
No functional change
Maintain best move counter at the root and allow there only moves which has a counter
of zero for Late Move Reduction. For compensation only the first three moves are excluded
from Late Move Reduction per default instead the first four moves.
What we can further do:
- here we use a simple counting scheme but perhaps some aging to fade out early iterations
could be helpful
- use the best move counter also at inner nodes for LMR and/or pruning
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 17414 W: 3984 L: 3733 D: 9697
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d6234bb0ebc5939d09f2aa2
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 38058 W: 6448 L: 6166 D: 25444
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d62681a0ebc5939d09f2f27
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2282
Bench: 3568210
Remove one parameter in function evaluate_shelter(), making all
comparisons for castled/uncastled shelter locally in do_king_safety().
Also introduce BlockedStorm penalty.
Passed non-regression test at STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 65864 W: 14630 L: 14596 D: 36638
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d5fc80c0ebc5939d09f0acc
No functional change
@Vizvezdenec array suggested that alternate values may be better than current
master (see pull request #2270 ). I tuned some linear equations to more closely
represent his values and it passed. These futility values seem quite sensitive,
so perhaps additional Elo improvements can be found here.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 12257 W: 2820 L: 2595 D: 6842
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d5b2f360ebc5925cf1111ac
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 20273 W: 3497 L: 3264 D: 13512
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d5c0d250ebc5925cf111ac3
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2272
------------------------------------------
How to continue from there ?
a) we can try a simpler version for the futility margin, this would
be a simplification :
margin = 188 * (depth - improving)
b) on the other direction, we can try a complexification by trying
again to gain Elo with an complete array of futility values.
------------------------------------------
Bench: 4330402
Replace calls to count(key) + operator[key] with a single call to find(key).
Replace the std::map with std::unordered_map which provide O(1) access,
although the map has a really small number of objects.
Test with [0..4] failed yellow:
TC 10+0.1
SPRT elo0: 0.00 alpha: 0.05 elo1: 4.00 beta: 0.05
LLR -2.96 [-2.94,2.94] (rejected)
Elo 1.01 [-0.87,3.08] (95%)
LOS 85.3%
Games 71860 [w:22.3%, l:22.2%, d:55.5%]
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d5432210ebc5925cf109d61
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2269
No functional change
Non functional simplification when we find the passed pawns in pawn.cpp
and some code clean up. It also better follows the pattern "flag the pawn"
and "score the pawn".
-------------------------
The idea behind the third condition for candidate passed pawn is a little
bit difficult to visualize. Just for the record, the idea is the following:
Consider White e5 d4 against black e6. d4 can (in some endgames) push
to d5 and lever e6. Thanks to this sacrifice, or after d5xe6, we consider
e5 as "passed".
However:
- if White e5/d4 against black e6/c6: d4 cannot safely push to d5 since d5 is double attacked;
- if White e5/d4 against black e6/d5: d4 cannot safely push to d5 since it is occupied.
This is exactly what the following expression does:
```
&& (shift<Up>(support) & ~(theirPawns | dblAttackThem)))
```
--------------------------
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d3325bb0ebc5925cf0e6e91
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 124666 W: 27586 L: 27669 D: 69411
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2255
No functional change
This exploits the recent fractional Skill Level, and is a result from some discussion in #2221 and the older #758.
Basically, if UCI_LimitStrength is set, it will internally convert UCI_Elo to a matching fractional Skill Level.
The Elo estimate is based on games at TC 60+0.6, Hash 64Mb, 8moves_v3.pgn, rated with Ordo, anchored to goldfish1.13 (CCRL 40/4 ~2000).
Note that this is mostly about internal consistency, the anchoring to CCRL is a bit weak, e.g. within this tournament,
goldfish and sungorus only have a 200Elo difference, their rating difference on CCRL is 300Elo.
I propose that we continue to expose 'Skill Level' as an UCI option, for backwards compatibility.
The result of a tournament under those conditions are given by the following table, where the player name reflects the UCI_Elo.
# PLAYER : RATING ERROR POINTS PLAYED (%) CFS(%)
1 Elo2837 : 2792.2 50.8 536.5 711 75 100
2 Elo2745 : 2739.0 49.0 487.5 711 69 100
3 Elo2654 : 2666.4 49.2 418.0 711 59 100
4 Elo2562 : 2604.5 38.5 894.5 1383 65 100
5 Elo2471 : 2515.2 38.1 651.5 924 71 100
6 Elo2380 : 2365.9 35.4 478.5 924 52 100
7 Elo2289 : 2290.0 28.0 864.0 1596 54 100
8 sungorus1.4 : 2204.9 27.8 680.5 1596 43 60
9 Elo2197 : 2201.1 30.1 523.5 924 57 100
10 Elo2106 : 2103.8 24.5 730.5 1428 51 100
11 Elo2014 : 2030.5 30.3 377.5 756 50 98
12 goldfish1.13 : 2000.0 ---- 511.0 1428 36 100
13 Elo1923 : 1928.5 30.9 641.5 1260 51 100
14 Elo1831 : 1829.0 42.1 370.5 756 49 100
15 Elo1740 : 1738.3 42.9 277.5 756 37 100
16 Elo1649 : 1625.0 42.1 525.5 1260 42 100
17 Elo1558 : 1521.5 49.9 298.0 756 39 100
18 Elo1467 : 1471.3 51.3 246.5 756 33 100
19 Elo1375 : 1407.1 51.9 183.0 756 24 ---
It can be observed that all set Elos correspond within the error bars with the observed Ordo rating.
No functional change
This is a functional simplification that removes the std::pow from reduction. The resulting reduction values are within 1% of master.
This is a simplification because i believe an fp addition and multiplication is much faster than a call to std::pow() which is historically slow and performance varies widely on different architectures.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 23471 W: 5245 L: 5127 D: 13099
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d27ac1b0ebc5925cf0d476b
LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 51533 W: 8736 L: 8665 D: 34132
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d27b74e0ebc5925cf0d493c
Bench 3765158
This is another functional simplification to Stockfish passed pawn evaluation.
Stockfish evaluates some pawns which are not yet passed as "candidate" passed pawns, which are given half the bonus of fully passed ones. Prior to this commit, Stockfish considered a passed pawn to be a "candidate" if (a) it would not be a passed pawn if moved one square forward (the blocking square), or (b) there were other pawns (of either color) in front of it on the file. This latter condition used a fairly complicated method, forward_file_bb; here, rather than inspect the entire forward file, we simply re-use the blocking square. As a result, some pawns previously considered "candidates", but which are able to push forward, no longer have their bonus halved.
Simplification tests passed quickly at both STC and LTC. The results from both tests imply that this simplification is, most likely, additionally a small Elo gain, with a LTC likelihood of superiority of 87 percent.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 12908 W: 2909 L: 2770 D: 7229
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d2a1c880ebc5925cf0d9006
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 20723 W: 3591 L: 3470 D: 13662
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d2a21fd0ebc5925cf0d9118
Bench: 3377831
Current master code made sence when we had 2 types of bonuses for protected path to queen. But it was simplified so we have only one bonus now and code was never cleaned.
This non-functional simplification removes useless defendedsquares bitboard and removes one bitboard assignment (defendedSquares &= attackedBy[Us][ALL_PIECES] + defendedSquares & blockSq becomes just attackedBy[Us][ALL_PIECES] & blockSq also we never assign defendedSquares = squaresToQueen because we don't need it).
So should be small non-functional speedup.
Passed simplification SPRT.
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d2966ef0ebc5925cf0d7659
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 23319 W: 5152 L: 5034 D: 13133
bench 3361902
In Stockfish, both the middlegame and endgame bonus for a passed pawn are calculated as a product of two factors. The first is k, chosen based on the presence of defended and unsafe squares. The second is w, a quadratic function of the pawn's rank. Both are only applied if the pawn's relative rank is at least RANK_4.
It does not appear that the complexity of a quadratic function is necessary for w. Here, we replace it with a simpler linear one, which performs equally at both STC and LTC.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 46814 W: 10386 L: 10314 D: 26114
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d29686e0ebc5925cf0d76a1
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 82372 W: 13845 L: 13823 D: 54704
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d2980650ebc5925cf0d7bfd
Bench: 3328507
We recently added a bonus for double pawn attacks on unsupported enemy pawns,
on June 27. However, it is possible that the unsupported pawn may become a passer
by simply pushing forward out of the double attack. By rewarding double attacks,
we may inadvertently reward the creation of enemy passers, by encouraging both of
our would-be stoppers to attack the enemy pawn even if there is no opposing
friendly pawn on the same file.
Here, we revise this term to exclude passed pawns. In order to simplify the code
with this change included, we non-functionally rewrite Attacked2Unsupported to
be a penalty for enemy attacks on friendly pawns, rather than a bonus for our
attacks on enemy pawns. This allows us to exclude passed pawns with a simple
& ~e->passedPawns[Us], while passedPawns[Them] is not yet defined in this part
of the code.
This dramatically reduces the proportion of positions in which Attacked2Unsupported
is applied, to about a third of the original. To compensate, maintaining the same
average effect across our bench positions, we nearly triple Attacked2Unsupported
from S(0, 20) to S(0, 56). Although this pawn formation is rare, it is worth more
than half a pawn in the endgame!
STC: (stopped automatically by fishtest after 250,000 games)
LLR: -0.87 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 250000 W: 56585 L: 55383 D: 138032
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d25795e0ebc5925cf0cfb51
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 81038 W: 13965 L: 13558 D: 53515
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d25f3920ebc5925cf0d10dd
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2233
Bench: 3765158
PowerPC has had popcount instructions for a long time, at least as far
back as POWER5 (released 2004). Enable them via a gcc builtin.
Using a gcc builtin has the added bonus that if compiled for a processor
that lacks a hardware instruction, gcc will include a software popcount
implementation that does not use the instruction. It might be slower
than the table lookups (or it might be faster) but it will certainly work.
So this isn't going to break anything.
On my POWER8 VM, this leads to a ~4.27% speedup.
Fir prefetch, the gcc builtin generates a 'dcbt' instruction, which is
supported at least as far back as the G5 (2002) and POWER4 (2001).
This leads to a ~5% speedup on my POWER8 VM.
No functional change
The current skill levels (1-20) allow for adjusting playing strengths, but
do so in big steps (e.g. level 10 vs level 11 is a ~143 Elo jump at STC).
Since the 'Skill Level' input can already be a floating point number, this
patch uses the fractional part of the input to provide the user with
fine control, allowing for varying the playing strength essentially
continuously.
The implementation internally still uses integer skill levels (needed since they pick Depths),
but non-deterministically rounds up or down the used skill level such that the average integer
skill corresponds to the input floating point one. As expected, intermediate
(fractional) skill levels yield intermediate playing strenghts.
Tested at STC, playing level 10 against levels between 10 and 11 for 10000 games
level 10.25 ELO: 24.26 +-6.2
level 10.5 ELO: 67.51 +-6.3
level 10.75 ELO: 98.52 +-6.4
level 11 ELO: 143.65 +-6.7
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cd9c6b40ebc5925cf056791http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cd9d22b0ebc5925cf056989http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cd9cf610ebc5925cf056906http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cd9d2490ebc5925cf05698e
No functional change.
Initialization of larger hash sizes can take some time.
Don't include this time in the bench by resetting the timer after Search::clear().
Also move 'ucinewgame' command down in the list, so that it is processed
after the configuration of Threads and Hash size.
No functional change.
This is a functional change that rewards double attacks on an unsupported pawns.
STC (non-functional difference)
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 83276 W: 18981 L: 18398 D: 45897
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d0970500ebc5925cf0a77d4
LTC (incomplete looping version)
LLR: 0.50 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 82999 W: 14244 L: 13978 D: 54777
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d0a8d480ebc5925cf0a8d58
LTC (completed non-looping version).
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 223381 W: 38323 L: 37512 D: 147546
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d0e80510ebc5925cf0ad320
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2205
Bench 3633546
----------------------------------
Comments by Alain SAVARD:
interesting result ! I would have expected that search would resolve such positions
correctly on the very next move. This is not a very common pattern, and when it happens,
it will quickly disappear. So I'm quite surprised that it passed LTC.
I would be even more surprised if this would resist a simplification.
Anyway, let's try to imagine a few cases.
a) If you have White d5 f5 against Black e6, and White to move
last move by Black was probably a capture on e6 and White is about to recapture on e6
b) If you have White d5 f5 against e6, and Black to move
last move by White was possibly a capture on d5 or f5
or the pawn on e6 was pinned or could not move for some reason.
and white wants to blast open the position and just pushed d4-d5 or f4-f5
Some possible follow-ups
a) Motif is so rare that the popcount() can be safely replaced with a bool()
But this would not pass a SPRT[0,4],
So try a simplification with bool() and also without the & ~theirAttacks
b) If it works, we probably can simply have this in the loop
if (lever) score += S(0, 20);
c) remove all this and tweak something in search for pawn captures (priority, SEE, extension,..)
-removes wideUnsafeSquares bitboard
-removes a couple of bitboard operations
-removes one if operator
-updates comments so they actually represent what this part of code is doing now.
passed non-regression STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d0c1ae50ebc5925cf0aa8db
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 16892 W: 3865 L: 3733 D: 9294
No functional change
Use comparison of eval with beta to predict potential cutNodes. This
allows multi-cut pruning to also prune possibly mislabeled Pv and NonPv
nodes.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 54305 W: 12302 L: 11867 D: 30136
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d048ba50ebc5925cf0a15e8
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 189512 W: 32620 L: 31904 D: 124988
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d04bf740ebc5925cf0a17f0
Normally I would think such changes are risky, specially for PvNodes,
but after trying a few other versions, it seems this version is more
sound than I initially thought.
Aside from this, a small funtional change is made to return
singularBeta instead of beta to be more consistent with the fail-soft
logic used in other parts of search.
=============================
How to continue from there ?
We could try to audit other parts of the search where the "cutNode"
variable is used, and try to use dynamic info based on heuristic
eval rather than on this variable, to check if the idea behind this
patch could also be applied successfuly.
Bench: 3503788
Fixes issues #2126 and #2189 where no progress in rootDepth is made for particular fens:
8/8/3P3k/8/1p6/8/1P6/1K3n2 b - - 0 1
8/1r1rp1k1/1b1pPp2/2pP1Pp1/1pP3Pp/pP5P/P5K1/8 w - - 79 46
the cause are the shuffle extensions. Upon closer analysis, it appears that in these cases a shuffle extension is made for every node searched, and progess can not be made. This patch implements a fix, namely to limit the number of extensions relative to the number of nodes searched. The ratio employed is 1/4, which fixes the issues seen so far, but it is a heuristic, and I expect that certain positions might require an even smaller fraction.
The patch was tested as a bug fix and passed:
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 56601 W: 12633 L: 12581 D: 31387
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d02b37a0ebc5925cf09f6da
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 52042 W: 8907 L: 8837 D: 34298
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d0319420ebc5925cf09fe57
Furthermore, to confirm that the shuffle extension in this form indeed still brings Elo, one more test at VLTC was performed:
VLTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 142022 W: 20963 L: 20435 D: 100624
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d03630d0ebc5925cf0a011a
Bench: 3961247
Since root_probe() and root_probe_wdl() do not reset all tbRank values if they fail,
it is necessary to do this in rank_root_move(). This fixes issue #2196.
Alternatively, the loop could be moved into both root_probe() and root_probe_wdl().
No functional change
This is a non-functional simplification.
backmost_sq and frontmost_sq are redundant. It seems quite clear to always use frontmost_sq and use the correct color.
Non functional change.
Increase size of the pawns table by the factor 8. This decreases the number of recalculations of pawn structure information significantly (at least at LTC).
I have done measurements for different depths and pawn cache sizes.
First are given the number of pawn entry calculations are done (in parentheses is the frequency that a call to probe triggers a pawn entry calculation). The delta% are the percentage of less done pawn entry calculations in comparison to master
VSTC: bench 1 1 12
STC: bench 8 1 16
LTC: bench 64 1 20
VLTC: bench 512 1 24
VSTC STC LTC VLTC
master 82218(6%) 548935(6%) 2415422(7%) 9548071(7%)
pawncache*2 79859(6%) 492943(5%) 2084794(6%) 8275206(6%)
pawncache*4 78551(6%) 458758(5%) 1827770(5%) 7112531(5%)
pawncache*8 77963(6%) 439421(4%) 1649169(5%) 6128652(4%)
delta%(p2-m) -2.9% -10.2% -13.7% -13.3%
delta%(p4-m) -4.5% -16.4% -24.3% -25.5%
delta%(p8-m) -5.2% -20.0% -31.7% -35.8%
STC: (non-regression test because at STC the effect is smaller than at LTC)
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 22767 W: 5160 L: 5040 D: 12567
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d00f6040ebc5925cf09c3e2
LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 26340 W: 4524 L: 4286 D: 17530
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d00a3810ebc5925cf09ba16
No functional change.
This is a functional simplification. This is NOT the exact version that was tested. Beyond the testing, an assignment was removed and a piece changes for consistency.
Instead of rewarding ANY square past an opponent pawn as an "outpost," only use squares that are protected by our pawn. I believe this is more consistent with what the chess world calls an "outpost."
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 23540 W: 5387 L: 5269 D: 12884
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cf51e6d0ebc5925cf08b823
LTC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 53085 W: 9271 L: 9204 D: 34610
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cf5279e0ebc5925cf08b992
bench 3424592
Stockfish evaluates passed pawns in part based on a variable k, which shapes the passed pawn bonus based on the number of squares between the current square and promotion square that are attacked by enemy pieces, and the number defended by friendly ones. Prior to this commit, we gave a large bonus when all squares between the pawn and the promotion square were defended, and if they were not, a somewhat smaller bonus if at least the pawn's next square was. However, this distinction does not appear to provide any Elo at STC or LTC.
Where do we go from here? Many promising Elo-gaining patches were attempted in the past few months to refine passed pawn calculation, by altering the definitions of unsafe and defended squares. Stockfish uses these definitions to choose the value of k, so those tests interact with this PR. Therefore, it may be worthwhile to retest previously promising but not-quite-passing tests in the vicinity of this patch.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 42344 W: 9455 L: 9374 D: 23515
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cf83ede0ebc5925cf0904fb
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 69548 W: 11855 L: 11813 D: 45880
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cf8698f0ebc5925cf0908c8
Bench: 3854907
This is a non-functional simplification. Since our file_bb handles either Files or Squares, using Square here removes some code. Not likely any performance difference despite the test.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 6081 W: 1444 L: 1291 D: 3346
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ceb3e2e0ebc5925cf07ab03
Non functional change.
We evaluate defended and unsafe squares for a passed pawn push based on friendly and enemy rooks and queens on the passed pawn's file. Prior to this patch, we further required that these rooks and queens be able to directly attack the passed pawn. However, this restriction appears unnecessary and worth almost exactly 0 Elo at LTC.
The simplified code allows rooks and queens to attack/defend the passed pawn through other pieces of either color.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 29019 W: 6488 L: 6381 D: 16150
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cdcf7270ebc5925cf05d30c
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 54224 W: 9200 L: 9133 D: 35891
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cddc6210ebc5925cf05eca3
Bench: 3415326
This is a non-functional simplification that combines vote counting and thread selecting in the same loop.
It is possible that the best thread would be updated more frequently than master, but I'm not sure it matters here. Perhaps "mostVotes" is a better name than "bestVote?"
STC (stopped early).
LLR: 0.70 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 10714 W: 2329 L: 2311 D: 6074
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ccc71470ebc5925cf03d244
No functional change.
Treat all threads the same as main thread and increment
failedHighCnt on fail highs. This makes the search try
again at lower depth.
@vondele suggested also changing the reset of failedHighCnt
when there is a fail low. Tests including this passed so the
branch has been updated to include both changes. failedHighCnt
is now handled exactly the same in helper threads and the main
thread. Thanks vondele :-)
STC @ 5+0.05 th 4 :
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 7769 W: 1704 L: 1557 D: 4508
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c9f19520ebc5925cfffd2a1
LTC @ 20+0.2 th 8 :
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 37888 W: 5983 L: 5889 D: 26016
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c9f57d10ebc5925cfffd696
Bench 3824325
Similar to PSQT we only need one instance of the Endgames resource. The current per thread copies are identical and read only(after initialization) so from a design point of view it doesn't make sense to have them.
Tested for no slowdown.
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c94377a0ebc5925cfff43ca
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 17320 W: 3487 L: 3359 D: 10474
No functional change.
Store repetition info in StateInfo instead of recomputing it in
three different places. This saves some work in has_game_cycle()
where this info is needed for positions before the root.
Tested for non-regression at STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 34104 W: 7586 L: 7489 D: 19029
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cd0676e0ebc5925cf044b56
No functional change.
High rootDepths, selDepths and generally searches are increasingly
common with long time control games, analysis, and improving hardware.
In this case, depths of MAX_DEPTH/MAX_PLY (128) can be reached,
and the search tree is truncated.
In principle MAX_PLY can be easily increased, except for a technicality
of storing depths in a signed 8 bit int in the TT. This patch increases
MAX_PLY by storing the depth in an unsigned 8 bit, after shifting by the
most negative depth stored in TT (DEPTH_NONE).
No regression at STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 42235 W: 9565 L: 9484 D: 23186
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cdb35360ebc5925cf0595e1
Verified to reach high depths on
k1b5/1p1p4/pP1Pp3/K2pPp2/1P1p1P2/3P1P2/5P2/8 w - -
info depth 142 seldepth 154 multipv 1 score cp 537 nodes 26740713110 ...
No bench change.
This functional simplification removes the PvNode reduction and adjusts
the ttPv lmr condition accordingly. Their definitions only differ by the
inclusions of ttPv. Aside from this, shallow move pruning definition
will be the only other functional difference, but this does not seem to
matter too much.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 58908 W: 12980 L: 12932 D: 32996
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cd1aaaa0ebc5925cf046c6a
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 20351 W: 3521 L: 3399 D: 13431
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cd23fa70ebc5925cf047cd2
Bench: 3687854
In master search() may incorrectly return a draw score in the following
corner case: there was a 2-fold repetition during the game, and the
current position can be reached by a move from a repeated one. This case
is treated as an upcoming 3-fold repetition, which it is not.
Here is a testcase demonstrating the issue (note that the moves
after FEN are required). The input:
position fen 8/8/8/8/8/8/p7/2k4K b - - 0 1 moves c1b1 h1g1 b1c1 g1h1 c1b1 h1g1 b1a1 g1h1
go movetime 1000
produces the output:
[...]
info depth 127 seldepth 2 multipv 1 score cp 0 [...]
bestmove a1b1
saying that the game will be drawn by repetion. However the other possible
move for black, Kb2, avoids repetitions and wins. The patch fixes this behavior.
In particular it finds mate in 10 in the above position.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 10604 W: 2390 L: 2247 D: 5967
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cb373e00ebc5925cf0167bf
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 19620 W: 3308 L: 3185 D: 13127
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cb3822f0ebc5925cf016b2d
Bench is not changed since it does not test positions with history of moves.
Bench: 3184182
only the extension part of the shuffle patch is sufficient to
pass [0,3.5] bounds at VLTC as shown by two more tests.
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cc168bc0ebc5925cf02bda8
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 120684 W: 17875 L: 17400 D: 85409
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cc14d510ebc5925cf02bcb5
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 68415 W: 10250 L: 9905 D: 48260
this patch proposes to simplify back to this basic and easier to
understand version. In case there is a need to run a [-3, 1] VLTC on
this one, it can be done, but it is resource intensive, and not needed
IMO.
Bench: 3388643
Same idea as fisherman's knight protection.
passed STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 17133 W: 3952 L: 3701 D: 9480
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cc3550b0ebc5925cf02dada
passed LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 37316 W: 6470 L: 6188 D: 24658
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cc3721d0ebc5925cf02dc90
Looking at this 2 ideas being recent clean elo gainers I have a feeling that we can add also rook and queen protection bonuses or overall move this stuff in pieces loop in the same way as we do pieces attacking bonuses on their kingring... :) Thx fisherman for original idea.
Bench 3429173
Only called with Squares as argument, so remove unused variants.
As this is just syntax changes, only verified bench at high depth.
No functional change.
The "move" class variable is Movepick is removed (removes some abstraction) which saves a few assignment operations, and the effects of "filter" is limited to the current move (movePtr). The resulting code is a bit more verbose, but it is also more clear what is going on. This version is NOT tested, but is substantially similar to:
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 29191 W: 6474 L: 6367 D: 16350
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ca7aab50ebc5925cf006e50
This is a non-functional simplification.
We can remove the values in Pawns if we just use the piece arrays in Position. This reduces the size of a pawn entry. This simplification passed individually, and in concert with ps_passedcount100 (removes passedCount storage in pawns.).
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 19957 W: 4529 L: 4404 D: 11024
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cb3c2d00ebc5925cf016f0d
Combo STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 17368 W: 3925 L: 3795 D: 9648
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cb3d3510ebc5925cf01709a
This is a non-functional simplification.
It causes a serious regression hanging a simple fixed
depth search. Reproducible with:
position fen q1B5/1P1q4/8/8/8/6R1/8/1K1k4 w - - 0 1
go depth 13
The reason is a search tree explosion due to:
if (... && depth < 3 * ONE_PLY)
extension = ONE_PLY;
This is very dangerous code by itself because triggers **at the leafs**
and in the above position keeps extending endlessly. In normal games
time deadline makes the search to stop sooner or later, but in fixed
seacrch we just hang possibly for a very long time. This is not acceptable
because 'go depth 13' shall not be a surprise for any position.
This patch reverts commit 76f1807baa.
and fixes the issue https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/2091
Bench: 3243738
Introduce a new search extension when pushing an advanced passed pawn is
also suggested by the first killer move. There have been previous tests
which have similar ideas, mostly about pawn pushes, but it seems to be
overkill to extend too many moves. My idea is to limit the extension to
when a move happens to be noteworthy in some other way as well, such as
in this case, when it is also a killer move.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 19027 W: 4326 L: 4067 D: 10634
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cac2cde0ebc5925cf00c36d
LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 93390 W: 15995 L: 15555 D: 61840
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cac42270ebc5925cf00c4b9
For future tests, it looks like this will interact heavily with passed
pawn evaluation. It may be good to try more variants of some of the more
promising evaluations tests/tweaks.
Bench: 3666092
Instead of looping through kfrom,kto, rfrom, rto, we can use BetweenBB. This is less lines of code and it is more clear what castlingPath actually is. Personal benchmarks are all over the place. However, this code is only executed when loading a position, so performance doesn't seem that relevant.
No functional change.
The kingDanger term is intended to give a penalty which increases rapidly in the middlegame but less so in the endgame. To this end, the middlegame component is quadratic, and the endgame component is linear. However, this produces unintended consequences for relatively small values of kingDanger: the endgame penalty will exceed the middlegame penalty. This remains true up to kingDanger = 256 (a S(16, 16) penalty), so some of these inaccurate penalties are actually rather large.
In this patch, we increase the threshold for applying the kingDanger penalty to eliminate some of this unintended behavior. This was very nearly, but not quite, sufficient to pass on its own. The patch was finally successful by integrating a second kingDanger tweak by @Vizvezdenec, increasing the kingDanger constant term slightly and improving both STC and LTC performance.
Where do we go from here? I propose that in the future, any attempts to tune kingDanger coefficients should also consider tuning the kingDanger threshold. The evidence shows clearly that it should not be automatically taken to be zero.
Special thanks to @Vizvezdenec for the kingDanger constant tweak. Thanks also to all the approvers and CPU donors who made this possible!
STC:
LLR: -2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 141225 W: 31239 L: 30846 D: 79140
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cabbdb20ebc5925cf00b86c
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 30708 W: 5296 L: 5043 D: 20369
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5cabff760ebc5925cf00c22d
Bench: 3445945
The sed command is a bit different in Mac OS X (why not!).
The ‘-i’ option required a parameter to tell what extension to add for the
backup file. To fix it, just add extension for backup file, for example ‘.bak’
Fix broken Trevis CI test
No functional change.
The current update only by main thread depends on the luck of
whether main thread sees any/many changes to the best move or not.
It then makes large, lumpy changes to the time to be
used (1x, 2x, 3x, etc) depending on that sample of 1.
Use the average across all threads to get a more reliable
number with a smoother distribution.
STC @ 5+0.05 th 4 :
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 51899 W: 11446 L: 11029 D: 29424
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ca32ff20ebc5925cf0016fb
STC @ 5+0.05 th 8 :
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 13851 W: 2843 L: 2620 D: 8388
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ca35ae00ebc5925cf001adb
LTC @ 20+0.2 th 8 :
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 48527 W: 7941 L: 7635 D: 32951
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ca37cb70ebc5925cf001cec
Further work:
Similar changes might be possible for the fallingEval and timeReduction calculations (and elsewhere?), using either the min, average or max values across all threads.
Bench 3506898
Simplification which removes the pawns connected array.
Instead of storing the values in an array, the values are
calculated real-time. This is about 1.6% faster on my machines.
Performance:
master ave nps: 159,248,672
patch ave nps: 161,905,592
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 20363 W: 4579 L: 4455 D: 11329
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c9925ba0ebc5925cfff79a6
Non functional change.
Shuffle detection procedure :
Shuffling positions are detected if
the last 36 moves are reversible (rule50_count() > 36),
the position have been already in the TT,
there is a still a pawn on the board (to avoid special endings like KBN vs K).
The position is then judged as a draw.
An extension is realized if we already made 14 successive reversible moves in PV to accelerate the detection of the eventual draw.
To go further : we can still improve the idea. The length of the tests need a lot of ressources.
the limit of 36 is logic but must be checked again for special zugzwang positions,
this limit can be decreased in special positions,
the limit of 14 moves for extension has not been tuned.
STC
LLR: -2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 32595 W: 7273 L: 7275 D: 18047 Elo +0.43
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c90aa330ebc5925cfff1768
LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 51249 W: 8807 L: 8486 D: 33956 Elo +1.85
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c90b2450ebc5925cfff1800
VLTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 137974 W: 20503 L: 19983 D: 97488 Elo +1.05
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c9243a90ebc5925cfff2a93
Bench: 3548313
Adding a clamp function makes some of these range limitations a bit prettier and removes some #include's.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 28117 W: 6300 L: 6191 D: 15626
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c9aa1df0ebc5925cfff8fcc
Non functional change.
always use the implementation of gives_check in position, no need to
hand-inline part of the implementation in search.
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 57895 W: 12632 L: 12582 D: 32681
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c9eaa4b0ebc5925cfffc9e3
No functional change.
This is a non-functional code style change.
If we add an accessor function for SquareBB we can consolidate all of the asserts. This is also a bit cleaner because all SquareBB accesses go through this method making future changes easier to manage.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 63406 W: 14084 L: 14045 D: 35277
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c9ea6100ebc5925cfffc9af
No functional change.
This is covered by the line just before. If we would like to protect
against the piece value of e.g. a N == B, this could be done by an
assert, no need to do this at runtime.
No functional change.
This is a non-functional simplification/speedup.
The truth-table for popcount(support) >= popcount(lever) - 1 is:
------------------lever
------------------0-------1---------2
support--0------X-------X---------0
-----------1------X-------X---------X
-----------2------X-------X---------X
Thus, it is functionally equivalent to just do: support || !more_than_one(lever) which removes the expensive popcounts and the -1.
Result of 20 runs:
base (...h_master.exe) = 1451680 +/- 8202
test (./stockfish ) = 1454781 +/- 8604
diff = +3101 +/- 931
STC
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 35424 W: 7768 L: 7674 D: 19982
Http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c970f170ebc5925cfff5e28
No functional change.
While looking at pruning using see_ge() (which is very valuable)
it became apparent that the !extension test is not adding any
value - simplify it away.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 56843 W: 12621 L: 12569 D: 31653
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c8588cb0ebc5925cffe77f4
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 78622 W: 13223 L: 13195 D: 52204
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c8611cc0ebc5925cffe7f86
Further work could be to optimize the remaining see_ge() test. The idea of less pruning at higher depths is valuable, but perhaps the test (-PawnValueEg * depth) can be improved.
Bench: 3188688
On OS X threads other than the main thread are created with a reduced stack
size of 512KB by default, this is dangerously low for deep searches, so
adjust it to TH_STACK_SIZE. The implementation calls pthread_create() with
proper stack size parameter.
Verified for no regression at STC enabling the patch on all platforms where
pthread is supported.
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 50873 W: 9768 L: 9700 D: 31405
No functional change.
This is a non-functional simplification / code-style change.
This popcount16 method does nothing but initialize the PopCnt16 arrays.
This can be done in a single bitset line, which is less lines and more clear. Performance for this code is moot.
No functional change.
This is a functional simplification that removes the FutilityMoveCounts array with a simple equation using only ints.
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 14175 W: 3123 L: 2987 D: 8065
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 9900 W: 1735 L: 1597 D: 6568
Bench: 3380343
This is a non-functional patch which shrinks the reductions array.
This saves about 8Kb of memory.
The only slow part of master's reductions array is the calculation
of the log values, so using a separate array for those values and
calculating the rest real-time appears to be just as fast as master.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 63245 W: 13906 L: 13866 D: 35473
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c7b571f0ebc5925cffdc104
No funcional change.
This removes the skipQuiets variable, as was done in an earlier round by
@protonspring, but fixes an oversight which led to wrong mate
announcements. Quiets can only be pruned when there is no mate score, so
set moveCountPruning at the right spot.
tested as a fix at STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 66321 W: 14690 L: 14657 D: 36974
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c74f3170ebc5925cffd4b3c
and as the full patch at LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 25903 W: 4341 L: 4228 D: 17334
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c7540030ebc5925cffd506f
Bench: 3292342
This is a somewhat different patch. It fixes blindspots for
two knights vs pawn endgame.
With local testing starting from random KNNvKP positions where the
pawn has not advanced beyond the 4th rank (thanks @protonspring !)
at 15+0.15 (4 cores), this went +105=868-27 against master. All except
two losses were won in reverse.
The heuristic is simple but effective - the strategy in these endgames
is to push the opposing king to the corner, then move the knight that's
blocking the pawn in for the checkmate while the pawn is free to move
and prevents stalemate. This patch gives SF the little boost it needs
to search the relevant king-cornering mating lines.
See the discussion in pull request 1939 for some more good results for
this test in independant tests:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1939
Bench: 3310239
This is a functional simplification of the Outposts array
moving it to a single value. This is a duplicate PR because
I couldn't figure out how to fix the original one.
The idea is from @31m059 with formatting recommendations by @snicolet.
See #1940 for additional information.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 23933 W: 5279 L: 5162 D: 13492
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c3575800ebc596a450c5ecb
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 41718 W: 6919 L: 6831 D: 27968
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c358c440ebc596a450c6117
bench 3783543
This is non-functional. These 5 arrays are simple enough to calculate real-time and maintaining an array for them does not help. Decreases the memory footprint.
This seems a tiny bit slower on my machine, but passed STC well enough. Could someone verify speed?
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 44745 W: 9780 L: 9704 D: 25261
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c47aa2d0ebc5902bca13fc4
The slowdown is minimal even in 32 bit case (thanks to @mstembera for testing):
Compiled using make build ARCH=x86-32 CXX=i686-w64-mingw32-c++ and benched
This patch only:
```
Results for 40 tests for each version:
Base Test Diff
Mean 1455204 1450033 5171
StDev 49452 34533 59621
p-value: 0.465
speedup: -0.004
```
No functional change.
A simple idea, but it makes sense: in current master the search is extended
for checks that are considered somewhat safe, and for for this we use the
static exchange evaluation which only considers the `to_sq` of a move.
This is not reliable for discovered checks, where another piece is giving
the check and is arguably a more dangerous type of check. Thus, if the check
is a discovered check, the result of SEE is not relevant and can be ignored.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 29370 W: 6583 L: 6274 D: 16513
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c5062950ebc593af5d4d9b5
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 227341 W: 37972 L: 37165 D: 152204
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c5094fb0ebc593af5d4dc2c
Bench: 3611854
There was a simplification attempt last week for the tropism
term in king danger, which passed STC but failed LTC. This
was an indirect sign that maybe the tropism factor was sightly
untuned in current master, so we tried to change it from 1/4
to 5/16.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 28098 W: 6264 L: 5990 D: 15844
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c518db60ebc593af5d4e306
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 103709 W: 17387 L: 16923 D: 69399
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c52a5510ebc592fc7baea8b
Bench: 4016000
Remove overlapping safe checks from kingdanger:
- rook and queen checks from the same square: rook check is preferred
- bishop and queen checks form the same square: queen check is preferred
Increase bishop and rook check values as a compensation.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 27480 W: 6111 L: 5813 D: 15556
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c521d050ebc593af5d4e66a
LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 78500 W: 13145 L: 12752 D: 52603
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c52b9460ebc592fc7baecc5
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1983
------------------------------------------
I have quite a few ideas of how to improve this patch.
- actually rethinking it now it will maybe be useful to discount
queen/bishop checks if there is only one square that they can
give check from and it's "occupied" by more valuable check. Right
now count of this squares does not really matter.
- maybe some small extra bonus can be given for overlapping checks.
- some ideas about using popcount() on safechecks can be retried.
- tune this safecheck values since they were more or less randomly handcrafted in this patch.
Bench: 3216489
This patch removes line 875 of search.cpp, which was updating pvHit after IID.
Bench testing at depth 22 shows that line 875 of search.cpp never changes the
value of pvHit at NonPV nodes, while at PV nodes it often changes the value
from true to false (and never the reverse). This is because the definition of
pvHit at line 642 is :
```
pvHit = (ttHit && tte->pv_hit()) || (PvNode && depth > 4 * ONE_PLY);
```
while the assignment after IID omits the ` (PvNode && depth > 4 * ONE_PLY) `
condition. As such, unlike the other two post-IID tte reads, this line of code
does not make SF's state more consistent, but rather introduces an inconsistency
in the definition of pvHit. Indeed, changing line 875 read
```
pvHit = (ttHit && tte->pv_hit()) || (PvNode && depth > 4 * ONE_PLY);
```
to match line 642 is functionally equivalent to removing the line entirely, as
this patch does.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 62756 W: 13787 L: 13746 D: 35223
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c446c850ebc5902bb5d4b75
LTC
LLR: 3.19 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 61900 W: 10179 L: 10111 D: 41610
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c45bf610ebc5902bb5d5d62
Bench: 3796134
This changes 2 parts with regards to static exchange evaluation.
Currently, we do not allow pinned pieces to recapture if *all* opponent
pinners are still in their starting squares. This changes that to having
a less strict requirement, checking if *any* pinners are still in their
starting square. This makes our SEE give more respect to the pinning
side with regards to exchanges, which makes sense because it helps our
search explore more tactical options.
Furthermore, we change the logic for saving pinners into our state
variable when computing slider_blockers. We will include double pinners,
where two sliders may be looking at the same blocker, a similar concept
to our mobility calculation for sliders in our evaluation section.
Interestingly, I think SEE is the only place where the pinners bitboard
is actually used, so as far as I know there are no other side effects
to this change.
An example and some insights:
White Bf2, Kg1
Black Qe3, Bc5
The move Qg3 will be given the correct value of 0. (Previously < 0)
The move Qd4 will be incorrectly given a value of 0. (Previously < 0)
It seems the tradeoff in search is worth it. Qd4 will likely be pruned
soon by something like probcut anyway, while Qg3 could help us spot
tactics at an earlier depth.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 62162 W: 13879 L: 13408 D: 34875
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c4ba1a70ebc593af5d49c55
LTC: (Thanks to @alayant)
LLR: 3.40 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 140285 W: 23416 L: 22825 D: 94044
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c4bcfba0ebc593af5d49ea8
Bench: 3937213
This patch saves (4-1) * 64 * 64 = 12KiB of cache.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 176120 W: 38944 L: 38087 D: 99089
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c4c9f840ebc593af5d4a7ce
LTC
As a pure speed up, I've been informed it should not require LTC.
No functional change
stopOnPonderhit is used to stop search quickly on a ponderhit. It is set by mainThread as part of its time management. However, master employs it as a signal between mainThread and the UCI thread. This is not necessary, it is sufficient for the UCI thread to signal that pondering finished, and mainThread should do its usual time-keeping job, and in this case stop immediately.
This patch implements this, removing stopOnPonderHit as an atomic variable from the ThreadPool,
and moving it as a normal variable to mainThread, reducing its scope. In MainThread::check_time() the search is stopped immediately if ponder switches to false, and the variable stopOnPonderHit is set.
Furthermore, ponder has been moved to mainThread, as the variable is only used to exchange signals between the UCI thread and mainThread.
The version has been tested locally (as fishtest doesn't support ponder):
Score of ponderSimp vs master: 2616 - 2528 - 8630 [0.503] 13774
Elo difference: 2.22 +/- 3.54
which indicates no regression.
No functional change.
Small changes in initiative(). For Pawn PSQT, endgame values for d6-e6 and d7-e7 are now symmetric. The MG value of d2 is now smaller than e2 (d2=13, e2=21 now compared to d2=19, e2=16 before). The MG values of h5-h6-h7 also increased so this might encourage stockfish for more h-pawn pushes.
STC
LLR: -2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 81141 W: 17933 L: 17777 D: 45431
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c4017350ebc5902bb5cf237
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 83078 W: 13883 L: 13466 D: 55729
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c40763f0ebc5902bb5cff09
Bench: 3266398
This is a non-functional simplification that removes the AdjacentFiles array.
This array is simple enough to calculate that the pre-calculated array provides
no benefit. Reduces the memory footprint.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 74839 W: 16390 L: 16373 D: 42076
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c3d75920ebc596a450cfb67
No functionnal change
If we define dcCandidates with & pawnsNotOn7,
we don't have to & it both times.
This seems more clear to me as well.
Tested for no regression.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 44042 W: 9663 L: 9585 D: 24794
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c21d9120ebc5902ba12e84d
No functional change.
The new form is likely to trigger a bit more at LTC. Given that LTC
appears to be an improvement, I think that is fine.
The change is not very invasive: it does the same as before, use
potentially less time for moves that are very stable. Most of the
time, the full bonus was given if the bonus was given, so the gradual
part {3, 4, 5} didn't matter much. Whereas previously 'stable' was
expressed as the last 80% of iterations are the same, now I use a
fixed depth (10 iterations). For TCEC style TC, it will presumably
imply some more moves that are played quicker (and thus more time
on the clock when it potentially matters). Note that 10 iterations
of stability means we've been proposing that move for 99.9% of search
time.
passed STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c30d2290ebc596a450c055b
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 70921 W: 15403 L: 15378 D: 40140
passed LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c31ae240ebc596a450c1881
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 17422 W: 2968 L: 2842 D: 11612
No functional change.
Introducing new concept, saving principal lines into the transposition table
to generate a "critical search tree" which we can reuse later for intelligent
pruning/extension decisions.
For instance in this patch we just reduce reduction for these lines. But a lot
of other ideas are possible.
To go further : tune some parameters, how to add or remove lines from the
critical search tree, how to use these lines in search choices, etc.
STC :
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 59761 W: 13321 L: 12863 D: 33577 +2.23 ELO
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c34da5d0ebc596a450c53d3
LTC :
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 26826 W: 4439 L: 4191 D: 18196 +2.9 ELO
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c35ceb00ebc596a450c65b2
Special thanks to Miguel Lahoz for his help in transposition table in/out.
Bench: 3399866
This was inspired after reading about
[Multi-Cut](https://www.chessprogramming.org/Multi-Cut).
We now do non-singular cut node pruning. The idea is to prune when we
have a "backup plan" in case our expected fail high node does not fail
high on the ttMove.
For singular extensions, we do a search on all other moves but the
ttMove. If this fails high on our original beta, this means that both
the ttMove, as well as at least one other move was proven to fail high
on a lower depth search. We then assume that one of these moves will
work on a higher depth and prune.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 72952 W: 16104 L: 15583 D: 41265
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c3119640ebc596a450c0be5
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 27103 W: 4564 L: 4314 D: 18225
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c3184c00ebc596a450c1662
Bench: 3145487
This addresses partially issue #1911 in that it documents in our
Readme the command that users can use to verifying the md5sum of
their downloaded tablebase files.
Additionally, a quick check of the file size (the size of each
tablebase file modulo 64 is 16 as pointed out by @syzygy1) has been
implemented at launch time in Stockfish.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1927
and https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/1911
No functional change.
Delay legality check of castling moves at search time,
just before making the move, as is the standard with all
the other move types.
This should avoid an useless and not trivial legality check
when the castling is then not tried later. For instance due
to a previous cut-off.
The patch is also a big simplification and allows to entirely
remove generate_castling()
Bench changes due to a different move sequence out of MovePicker.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 45073 W: 9918 L: 9843 D: 25312
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c2f176f0ebc596a450bdfb3
LTC:
LLR: 3.15 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 10156 W: 1707 L: 1560 D: 6889
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c2e7dfd0ebc596a450bcdf4
Verified with perft both in standard and Chess960 cases.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1929
Bench: 3559104
A single popcount in evaluate.cpp replaces all openFiles stuff in pawns. It doesn't seem to affect performance at all.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 28103 W: 6134 L: 6025 D: 15944
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b7d70a20ebc5902bdbb1999
No functional change.
This custom predicate filter creates an unnecessary abstraction layer, but doesn't make the code any more readable. The code is clear enough without it.
No functional change.
The extra condition is used as a shortcut to skip the following 3 assignments:
```C++
Bitboard b1 = shift<UpRight>(pawnsOn7) & enemies;
Bitboard b2 = shift<UpLeft >(pawnsOn7) & enemies;
Bitboard b3 = shift<Up >(pawnsOn7) & emptySquares;
```
In case of EVASION with no target on 8th rank (the common case), we end up performing the 3 statements for nothing because b1 = b2 = b3 = 0.
But this is just a small micro-optimization and the condition is quite confusing, so just remove it and prefer a readable code instead.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 78020 W: 16978 L: 16967 D: 44075
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c27b4fe0ebc5902ba135bb0
No functional change.
I tried to improve the Readme because many people in my local
chess club do not understand some of the UCO options properly.
Starting point of this was Cfish's Readme by Ronald de Man,
some internet resources and the Stockfish code itself.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1898
Initial commit by user @erbsenzaehler, with help from users
Adrian Petrescu, @alayan-stk-2 and Elvin Liu.
No functional change
Co-Authored-By: Alayan-stk-2 <alayan-stk-2@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-Authored-By: Adrian Petrescu <apetresc@gmail.com>
Co-Authored-By: Elvin Liu <solarlight2@users.noreply.github.com>
Recent tests by @xoto10, @Vizvezdenec, and myself seemed to hint that Elo could
be gained by expanding the number of cases where king safety is applied. Several
users (@Spliffjiffer, @Vizvezdenec) have anticipated benefits specifically in
evaluation of tactics. It appears that we actually do not need to restrict the
cases in which we initialize and evaluate king safety at all: initializing and
evaluating it in every position appears roughly Elo-neutral at STC and possibly
a substantial Elo gain at LTC.
Any explanation for this scaling is, at this point, conjecture. Assuming it is
not due to chance, my hypothesis is that initialization of king safety in all
positions is a mild slowdown, offset by an Elo gain of evaluating king safety
in all positions. At STC this produces Elo gains and losses that offset each
other, while at longer time control the slowdown is much less important, leaving
only the Elo gain. It probably helps SF to explore king attacks much earlier in
search with high numbers of enemy pieces concentrating but not essentially attacking
king ring.
Thanks to @xoto10 and @Vizvezdenec for helping run my LTC!
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1906
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 35432 W: 7815 L: 7721 D: 19896
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c24779d0ebc5902ba131b26
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 12887 W: 2217 L: 2084 D: 8586
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c25049a0ebc5902ba132586
Bench: 3163951
------------------
How to continue from there?
* Next step will be to tune all the king danger terms once more after that :-)
When iterating through 'SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION_EX' structure, do not use structure member beyond known size.
API is guaranteed to provide us at lease one element upon successful, and no element in the structure can have a zero size.
No functional change.
This pull request fixes a rare crashing bug on Windows inside our NUMA code, first
reported by Dann Corbit in the following forum thread (thanks!):
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/fishcooking/gA6aoMEuOwg
The fix is to not use structure member beyond known size when iterating through
'SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION_EX' structure. We note that the Microsoft
API is guaranteed to provide us at least one element upon successful, and no
element in the structure can have a zero size.
No functional change.
The `&& (ss-1)->killers[0] ` conditions are there seemingly to protect
accessing ss-5.
This is unneeded and not so intuitive (as the killer is checked for equality
with currentMove, and that one is non-zero once we're high enough in the stack,
this protects access to ss-5). We can just extend the stack from ss-4 to ss-5,
so we can call update_continuation_histories(ss-1, ..) always in search.
This goes a bit further than #1881 and addresses a comment in #1878.
passed STC:
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c1aa8d50ebc5902ba127ad0
LLR: 3.12 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 53515 W: 11734 L: 11666 D: 30115
passed LTC:
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c1b272c0ebc5902ba12858d
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 140176 W: 23123 L: 23192 D: 93861
Bench: 3451321
Even when playing without endgame table bases, this particular endgame should
be a win 100% of the time when Stockfish is given a KRBK position, assuming
there are enough moves remaining in the FEN to finish the game without hitting
the 50 move rule.
PROBLEM: The issue with master here is that the PushClose difference per square
is 20, however, the difference in squares for the PushToCorners array is usually
less. Thus, the engine prefers to move the kings closer together rather than pushing
the weak king to the correct corner.
What happens is if the weak king is in a safe corner, SF still prefers pushing the
kings together. Occasionally, the strong king traps the weak king in the safe corner.
It takes a while for SF to figure it out, but often draws the game by the 50 move rule
(on shorter time controls).
This patch increases the PushToCorners values to correct this problem. We also added
an assert to catch any overflow problem if anybody would want to increase the array
values again in the future.
It was tested in a couple of matches starting with random KRBK positions and showed
increased winning rates, see https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1877
No functional change
* Update our continuous integration machinery
Ubuntu 16.04 can now be used with travis. Updating all the other stuff
when there.
Invoking the lld linker seems to save 5 minutes with clang on linux.
No functional change.
* fix
* Use a bit less code to calculate hashfull(). Change post increment to preincrement as is more standard
in the rest of stockfish. Scale result so we report 100% instead of 99.9% when completely full.
No functional change.
Although this is a compile-time constant, we stick the castlingSide into a CastlingRight, then pull it out again. This seems unecessarily complex.
No functional change.
We do not need to change the winnerKSq variable, so we can simplify
a little bit the logic of the code by changing only the loserKSq
variable when it is necessary. Also consolidate and clarify comments.
See the pull request thread for a proof that the code is correct:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1854
No functional change
~stronglyProtected is quite similar to ~attackedBy[Them][PAWN] & ~attackedBy2[Them],
the only difference appears to be that the former includes squares attacked twice
by both sides. The resulting logic is simpler, and the change appears to be at least
Elo-neutral at both STC and LTC.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 35924 W: 7978 L: 7885 D: 20061
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c14a5c00ebc5902ba11ed72
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 37078 W: 6125 L: 6030 D: 24923
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c14ae880ebc5902ba11eed8
Bench: 3646542
this patch fixes a rare but reproducible segfault observed playing a
multi-threaded match, it is discussed somewhat in fishcooking.
From the core file, it could be observed that the issue was in qsearch, namely:
````
ss->pv[0] = MOVE_NONE;
````
and the backtrace shows the it arrives there via razoring, called from the rootNode:
````
(gdb) bt
alpha=-19, beta=682, depth=DEPTH_ZERO) at search.cpp:1247
````
Indeed, ss->pv can indeed by a nullptr at the rootNode. However, why is the
segfault so rare ?
The reason is that the condition that guards razoring:
````
(depth < 2 * ONE_PLY && eval <= alpha - RazorMargin)
````
is almost never true, since at the root alpha for depth < 5 is -VALUE_INFINITE.
Nevertheless with the new failHigh scheme, this is not guaranteed, and rootDepth > 5,
can still result in a depth < 2 search at the rootNode. If now another thread,
via the hash, writes a new low eval to the rootPos qsearch can be entered.
Rare but not unseen... I assume that some of the crashes in fishtest recently
might be due to this.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1860
No functional change
As noticed in the forum, a crash in extract_ponder_from_tt could result
if hash size is set before the ponder move is printed. While it is arguably
a GUI issue (but it got me on the cli), it is easy to avoid this issue.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1856
No functional change.
On November 30th, @xoto10 experimented with removing this threshold,
but the simplification barely failed LTC. I was inspired to try various
[0, 4] tweaks to increase its value, which would narrow the effects of
this threshold without removing it entirely. Various values repeatedly
led to Elo gains at both STC and LTC, most of which were insufficient
to pass.
After a couple of weeks, I tried again to find an Elo-gaining tweak
but noticed that I could raise the threshold higher and higher without
regression. I decided to try removing it entirely--forgetting that
@xoto10 had already attempted this. However, this now performs much
better at both STC and LTC, producing a STC Elo gain and also potentially
a smaller LTC one.
The reason appears to be a recent change in master (e8ffca3) near
this code, which interacts with this patch. This simplification
governs the conditions under which that patch's effects are applied.
Something non-obvious about that change has significantly improved
the performance of this simplification.
I recognize and thank @xoto10, who originally had this idea. Since
I ran several LTCs recently (to determine whether to open this PR,
or one for a related [0, 4]), I would also like to acknowledge the
other developers and CPU donors for their patience. Thank you all!
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 13445 W: 3000 L: 2862 D: 7583
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c11f01b0ebc5902ba11a6b8
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 33868 W: 5663 L: 5563 D: 22642
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c11ffe90ebc5902ba11a8a9
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1870
Bench: 3343286
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 13323 W: 3015 L: 2818 D: 7490
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c00a2520ebc5902bcedd41b
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 52294 W: 9093 L: 8756 D:34445
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c00b2c40ebc5902bcedd596
Some obvious followups to this are to further tune this PSQT, or
try 8x8 for other pieces. As of now I don't plan on trying this
for other pieces as I think the majority of the ELO it brings is
for pawns and kings.
Looking at the new values, the differences between kingside and
queenside are quite significant. I am very hopeful that this a
llows SF to understand and plan pawn structures even better than
it already does. Cheers!
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1839
Bench: 3569243
I've gone through the RENAME/REFORMATTING thread and changed everything I could find, plus a few more. With this, let's close the previous issue and open another.
No functional change.
This reverts commit 33d9548218 ,
which crashed in DEBUG mode because of the following assert in position.h
````
Assertion failed: (is_ok(m)), function capture, file ./position.h, line 369.
````
No functional change
Remove the F[] array which I find unhelpful and rename `improvingFactor` to
`fallingEval` since larger values indicate a falling eval and more time use.
I realise a test was not strictly necessary, but I ran STC [-3,1] just to
check there are no foolish errors before creating the pull request:
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 35804 W: 7753 L: 7659 D: 20392
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bef3a0c0ebc595e0ae39c19
It was then suggested to clean the constants around `fallingEval`
to make it more clear this is a factor around ~1 that adjusts time
up or downwards depending on some conditions. We then ran a double
test with this simplification suggestion:
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 68435 W: 14936 L: 14906 D: 38593
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c02c56b0ebc5902bcee0184
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 37258 W: 6324 L: 6230 D: 24704
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c030a520ebc5902bcee0a32
No functional change
Exclude doubly protected by pawns squares when calculating attackers on
king ring. Idea of this patch is not to count attackers if they attack
only squares that are protected by two pawns.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 70040 W: 15476 L: 15002 D: 39562
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c0354860ebc5902bcee1106
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 16530 W: 2795 L: 2607 D: 11128
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5c0385080ebc5902bcee14b5
This is third king safety patch in recent times so we probably need
retuning of king safety parameters.
Bench: 3057978
Official release version of Stockfish 10.
This is also the 10th anniversary version of the Stockfish project, which
started exactly ten years ago! I wish to extend a huge thank you to
all contributors and authors in our amazing community :-)
Bench: 3939338
The patch was tested for correctness by running bench with and
without the change against current master, and the tablebase hit
numbers were found to be identical in both cases. See the pull
request comments for details:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1826
No functional change.
On November 16th, before the removal of the depth condition, I tried
revising castling extensions to only handle castling moves, rather than
moves that change castling rights generally. It appeared to be a slight
Elo gain at STC but insufficient to pass [0, 4] (+0.5 Elo), but what I
overlooked was that it made pos.can_castle(us) irrelevant and should
have been a simplification. Recent discussion with @Chess13234 and
Michael Chaly (@Vizvezdenec) inspired me to take a second look, and
the simplification continues to pass when rebased on the current master.
This replaces two conditions with one, because type_of(move) == CASTLING
implies pos.can_castle(Us), allowing us to remove the latter condition.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 110948 W: 24209 L: 24263 D: 62476
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bf8f65c0ebc5902bced3a63
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 88283 W: 14681 L: 14668 D: 58934
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bf994a60ebc5902bced4349
Bench: 3939338
When running on a cloud VM (n1-highcpu-96) with several NVMe SSDs and
some non-SSDs for tablebases, I noticed that the average SSD request size was
more than 256 kB. This doesn't make a lot of sense for Syzygy tablebases,
which have a block size of 32 bytes and very low locality.
Seemingly, the tablebase access patterns during probing make the OS,
at least Linux, think that readahead is advantageous; normally, it
gives up doing readahead if there are too many misses, but it doesn't,
perhaps due to the fairly high overall hit rates. (It seems the kernel cannot
distinguish between reading a block that was paged in because the userspace
wanted it explicitly, and one that was read as part of readahead.)
Setting MADV_RANDOM effectively turns off readahead, which causes
the request size to drop to 4 kB. In the aforemented cloud VM test,
this roughly tripled the amount of I/O requests that were able to go
through, while reducing the total traffic from 2.8 GB/sec to 56 MB/sec
(moving the bottleneck to the non-SSDs; it seems the SSDs could have
sustained many more requests).
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1829
No functional change.
Don't do an extra TT update in case of a fail-high,
but simply break off the moves loop and let the TT update
at the end of qsearch do this job.
Same workflow/logic as in our main search function now.
Tested for no regression to be on the safe side.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 30237 W: 6665 L: 6560 D: 17012
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bf928e80ebc5902bced3f3a
LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 51067 W: 8625 L: 8553 D: 33889
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bf937180ebc5902bced3fdc
No functional change.
Tropism in kingdanger was simplified away in this pull request #1821.
This patch reintroduces tropism in kingdanger with using quadratic scaling.
Passed STC http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bf7c1b10ebc5902bced1f8f
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 52803 W: 11835 L: 11442 D: 29526
Passed LTC http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bf816e90ebc5902bced24f1
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 17204 W: 2988 L: 2795 D: 11421
How do we continue from there?
I've recently tried to introduce tropism difference term in kingdanger which
passed STC 6 times but failed LTC all the time. Maybe using quadratic scaling
for it will also be helpful.
Bench 4041387
A recent LTC tuning session by @candirufish showed this term decreasing significantly. It appears that it can be removed altogether without significant Elo loss.
I also thank @GuardianRM, whose attempt to remove tropism from king danger inspired this one.
After this PR is merged, my next step will be to attempt to tune the coefficients of this new, simplified kingDanger calculation.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 12518 W: 2795 L: 2656 D: 7067
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5befadda0ebc595e0ae3a289
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 164771 W: 26463 L: 26566 D: 111742
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5befcca70ebc595e0ae3a343
LTC 2, rebased on Stockfish 10 beta:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 75226 W: 12563 L: 12529 D: 50134
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bf2e8910ebc5902bcecb919
Bench: 3412071
Because of aggressive time management and optimistic assumptions
about move overhead, it's still very easy to get Stockfish to forfeit
on time when we hit an endgame and have Syzygy EGTB on a spinning
drive. The latency from serving a few thousand EGTB probes (~10ms each),
of which there can currently be up to 4000 outstanding before a time
check, will easily overwhelm the default Move Overhead of 30ms.
This problem was first raised by Gian-Carlo Pascutto and some solutions
and improvements were discussed in the following pull requests:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1471https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1623https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1783
This patch is a minimal change proposed by Marco Costalba to lower
the impact of the bug. We now force a check of the clock right after
each tablebase read.
No functional change.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 51883 W: 11297 L: 10915 D: 29671
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bf1e2ee0ebc595e0ae3cacd
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 15859 W: 2752 L: 2565 D: 10542
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bf337980ebc5902bcecbf62
Notes:
(1) The bonus value has not been carefully tested, so it may be possible
to find slightly better values.
(2) Plan is to now try adding similar restriction for pawns. I wanted to
include that as part of this pull request, but I was advised to do it as
two separate pull requests. STC is currently running here, but may not add
enough value to pass green.
Bench: 3679086
Preparation commit for the upcoming Stockfish 10 version, giving a chance to catch last minute feature bugs and evaluation regression during the one-week code freeze period. Also changing the copyright dates to include 2019.
No functional change
STC:
LLR: -2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 84697 W: 18173 L: 18009 D: 48515
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bea366f0ebc595e0ae34793
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 157625 W: 25533 L: 24893 D: 107199
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5be8b69e0ebc595e0ae33024
Personally, I feel like SF has been tuned to death recently and that we
need to step away from existing-parameter tunes for a bit and focus more
on new ideas. I don't really think there's much more ELO in these tunes
(for now). For me at least, this was the last existing-parameter tune I'll
be running for quite a while. Cheers!
Bench: 3572567
It does not appear to be not necessary or advantageous to
conditionally initialize kingRing[Us] or kingAttackersCount[Them],
so the 'else' can be removed.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 22873 W: 4923 L: 4804 D: 13146
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5be9a8270ebc595e0ae33c7e
No functional change
To top the rating lists and get more interesting middle play, it
is a good habit to set the default contempt to the highest value
that does not regress against contempt=0. We recently decreased
PawnValueEg it is logical that to raise a little bit the default
higher contempt because of the following internal dependency in
line 334 of search.cpp :
````
int ct = int(Options["Contempt"]) * PawnValueEg / 100; // From centipawns
````
STC: contempt=24 passed non-regression vs contempt=0
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bd6d7f80ebc595e0ae21e14
LTC: contempt=24 passed non-regression LTC vs contempt=0
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bd6e0980ebc595e0ae21f07
On 2018-11-01, we also tested the effects of contempt=21 and contempt=24
against Stockfish 9, and the net result was neutral:
Contempt 21
ELO: 51.68 +-1.9 (95%) LOS: 100.0%
Total: 40000 W: 9487 L: 3581 D: 26932
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bdb1a140ebc595e0ae2620a
Contempt 24
ELO: 52.21 +-2.0 (95%) LOS: 100.0%
Total: 40000 W: 9759 L: 3793 D: 26448
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bdb1b680ebc595e0ae2620d
Bench: 3459874
This patch will make possible to free mapped TB files with "ucinewgame" command.
We wrote this patch specifically to address a problem that arose while
running Stockfish with 7-piece tablebases as a kibitzer at TCEC for
extended periods of time across multiple games. It was noted that after
some time, the NPS of the kibitzing Stockfish (which is usually 3x faster
than the Stockfish actually competing) would drop precipitously, eventually
falling to preposterously low numbers until restarted.
Their eval bot basically inputs FEN, go infinite, stop and loop, it probably
didn't do ucinewgame either. As time goes it gradually slowed down and OS
starts to use swap, this is not reasonable since the engine only uses 16GB
hash and the machine has 1TB physical RAM and does nothing else.
Author : noobpwnftw
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1790
No functional change.
We don't need to pass the king square as an explicit parameter to the functions
king_safety() and do_king_safety() since we already pass in the position.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 69686 W: 14894 L: 14866 D: 39926
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5be84ac20ebc595e0ae3283c
No functional change.
We calculate tropism as a sum of two factors. The first is the number of squares in our kingFlank and Camp that are attacked by the enemy; the second is number of these squares that are attacked twice. Prior to this commit, we excluded squares we defended with pawns from this second value, but this appears unnecessary. (Doubly-attacked squares near our king are still dangerous.) The removal of this exclusion is a possible small Elo gain at STC (estimated +1.59) and almost exactly neutral at LTC (estimated +0.04).
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 20942 W: 4550 L: 4427 D: 11965
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5be4e0ae0ebc595e0ae308a0
LTC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 56941 W: 9172 L: 9108 D: 38661
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5be4ec340ebc595e0ae30938
Bench: 3813986
The recently committed Fail-High patch (081af90805)
had a number of changes beyond adjusting the depth of search on fail high, with
some undesirable side effects.
1) Decreasing depth on PV output, confusing GUIs and players alike as described in
issue #1787. The depth printed is anyway a convention, let's consider adjustedDepth
an implementation detail, and continue to print rootDepth. Depth, nodes, time and
move quality all increase as we compute more. (fixing this output has no effect on
play).
2) Fixes go depth output (now based on rootDepth again, no effect on play), also
reported in issue #1787
3) The depth lastBestDepth is used to compute how long a move is stable, a new move
found during fail-high is incorrectly considered stable if based on adjustedDepth
instead of rootDepth (this changes time management). Reverting this passed STC
and LTC:
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 82982 W: 17810 L: 17808 D: 47364
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bd391a80ebc595e0ae1e993
LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 109083 W: 17602 L: 17619 D: 73862
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bd40c820ebc595e0ae1f1fb
4) In the thread voting scheme, the rank of the fail-high thread is now artificially
low, incorrectly since the quality of the move is much better than what adjustedDepth
suggests (e.g. if it takes 10 iterations to find VALUE_KNOWN_WIN, it has very low
depth). Further evidence comes from a test that showed that the move of highest
depth is not better than that of the last PV (which is potentially of much lower
adjustedDepth).
I.e. this test http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bd37a120ebc595e0ae1e7c3
failed SPRT[0, 5]:
LLR: -2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 10609 W: 2266 L: 2345 D: 5998
In a running 5+0.05 th 8 test (more than 10000 games) a positive Elo estimate is
shown (strong enough for a [-3,1], possibly not [0,4]):
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bd421be0ebc595e0ae1f315
LLR: -0.13 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 13644 W: 2573 L: 2532 D: 8539
Elo 1.04 [-2.52,4.61] / LOS 71%
Thus, restore old behavior as a bugfix, keeping the core of the fail-high patch
idea as resolving scheme. This is non-functional for bench, but changes searches
via time management and in the threaded case.
Bench: 3556672
This helps resolving consecutive FH's during aspiration more efficiently
STC:
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bc857920ebc592439f85765
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 4992 W: 1134 L: 980 D: 2878 Elo +10.72
LTC:
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bc868050ebc592439f857ef
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 8123 W: 1363 L: 1210 D: 5550 Elo +6.54
No-Regression test with 8 threads, tc=15+0.15:
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bc874ca0ebc592439f85938
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 24740 W: 3977 L: 3863 D: 16900 Elo +1.60
This was a cooperation between me and Michael Stembera:
-me recognizing SF having problems with resolving FH's efficiently at
high depths, thus starting some tests based on consecutive FH's.
-mstembera picking up the idea with first success at STC & LTC (so full
credits to him!)
-me suggesting how to resolve the issues pinpointed by S.G on PR #1768
and finally restricting the logic to the main thread so that it don't
regresses at multi-thread.
bench: 3314347
Enable numa machinery only for STRICTLY MORE than 8 threads. Reason for this
change is that nowadays SMP tests are always done with 8 threads. That is a
problem for multi-socket Windows machines running on fishtest.
No functional change
The patch adds a small random component (+-1) to VALUE_DRAW for the evaluation
of draw positions (mostly 3folds). This random component is not static, but
potentially different for each visit of the node (hence derived from the node
counter). The effect is that in positions with many 3fold draw lines, different
lines are followed at each iteration. This keeps the search much more dynamic,
as opposed to being locked to one particular 3fold.
An example of a position where master suffers from 3fold-blindness and this patch
solves quickly is the famous TCEC game 53:
FEN: 3r2k1/pr6/1p3q1p/5R2/3P3p/8/5RP1/3Q2K1 b - - 0 51
master doesn't see that this is a lost position (draw eval up to depth 50) as
Qf6-e6 d4-d5 (found by patch at depth 23) leads to a loss.
The 3fold-blindness is more important at longer TC, the patch was yellow STC and
LTC, but passed VLTC:
STC
LLR: -2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 46328 W: 10048 L: 9953 D: 26327
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b9c0ca20ebc592cf275f7c7
LTC
LLR: -2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 54663 W: 8938 L: 8846 D: 36879
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b9ca1610ebc592cf27601d3
VLTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 31789 W: 4512 L: 4284 D: 22993
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b9d1a670ebc592cf276076d
Credit to @crossbr for pointing to this problem repeatedly, and giving the hint
that many draw lines are typical in those situations.
Bench: 4756639
Currently we update (track up) the pv even in the fail high case.
However most times in such cases the pv in the ply below remains unset
because there we have value == alpha and so finally we see truncated
pv's (=just one move) in fail high cases.
Of course tracking down these pv's (+sending them to the gui) comes at a
certian cost, but no-regression tests passed:
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 16300 W: 3556 L: 3424 D: 9320
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b9b73500ebc592cf275ea92
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 202411 W: 32734 L: 32897 D: 136780
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b9baed10ebc592cf275ef6d
N.B.: Digging also into qsearch was tried in another version but seemed
not to pass the tests. This means that we don't always will get a pv
until the very tips.
No functional change
This PR is a combination of two unrelated [0, 4] patches that appeared promising
but not quite strong enough to pass on their own. The combination initially failed
STC with a positive score after a long run, and the subsequent speculative LTC test
passed.
* tweak_threatOnQueen4 :
Increase the middlegame components of ThreatByMinor[QUEEN]
and ThreatByRook[QUEEN] by 15 each. Bryan's (@crossbr) analysis of CCC Bonus Game 10
inspired several tests on penalizing a queen with limited safe mobility. While
attempting to implement this idea, I noticed that when I did not include the queen's
current square in the calculations, the Elo gains seemed to vanish--and only then did
I have the idea to revisit ThreatByMinor[QUEEN] and ThreatByRook[QUEEN], adding a
corresponding value to each. Without Bryan's work, this test would never have been
submitted. I would also like to recognize the efforts and contributions of @SFisGOD,
who also vigorously worked on this idea.
* Use pure static eval for null move pruning :
This idea was directly re-purposed from a promising test by Jerry Donald Watson
(@jerrydonaldwatson) in August. It was also independently developed and tested by
Stefan Geschwentner (@locutus2) previously.
Thank you all!
STC (failed yellow):
LLR: -2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 83913 W: 17986 L: 17825 D: 48102
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bbc59300ebc592439f76aa5
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 137198 W: 22351 L: 21772 D: 93075
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5bbce35f0ebc592439f77639
Bench: 4312846
Note by snicolet: I use this non-functional change patch
as a pretext to correct the wrong bench number I introduced
in the message of the previous commit.
Bench: 4059356
Storing unconditionally the current generation and bound is equivalent to master.
Part of the condition was added as a speed optimization in #429.
Here the branch is fully eliminated.
passed STC single-threaded:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 73515 W: 16378 L: 16359 D: 40778
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b2fc38c0ebc5902b2e57fd5
passed STC multi-threaded:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 63725 W: 12916 L: 12874 D: 37935
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b307b8f0ebc5902b2e5895f
The multithreaded test was run after a plausible suggestion by @mstembera that the effect of this could be larger with many cores. The result seems to indicate this doesn't really matter on the 8core architecture abundantly available on fishtest.
No functional change
a) Reduce PSQT values along the long diagonals on non-central squares
and increase the LongDiagonal bonus accordingly. The effect is to penalise
bishops on the long diagonal which can not "see" the 2 central squares.
The "good" bishops still have more or less the same bonus as current master.
b) For a bishop on a central square, because of the "| s" term in the code,
the LongDiagonalBonus was always given. So while being there, remove the "| s"
and compensate the central Bishop PSQT accordingly.
Passed STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 44498 W: 9658 L: 9323 D: 25517
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b8992770ebc592cf2748942
Passed LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 63092 W: 10324 L: 9975 D: 42793
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b89a17a0ebc592cf2748b59
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1760
bench: 4693901
It looks like PawnsOnBothFlanks can be removed from initiative().
A barrage of tests seem to confirm that the adjustment to -110
does not gain elo to offset any potential loss by removing
PawnsOnBothFlanks.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 22014 W: 4760 L: 4639 D: 12615
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b7f50cc0ebc5902bdbb3a3e
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 40561 W: 6667 L: 6577 D: 27317
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b801f9f0ebc5902bdbb4467
The barrage of 0,4 tests on the -136 value are in my ps_tunetests branch.
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/user/protonspring
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1751
Bench: 4413173
-------------
How to continue from there?
The fact that endgames with all the pawns on only one flank are
drawish is a well-known chess idea, so it seems quite strange that
this can be removed so easily without losing Elo.
In the past there had been attempts to improve on PawnsOnBothFlanks
with similar concepts (for instance using the pawn span value), but
the tests were at best neutral. Maybe Stockfish is now mature enough
that these refined ideas would work to replace PawnsOnBothFlanks?
There is no need to make this as large as 65536 just for the sake of the
single 7-man tablebase that happens to have the key 0xf9247fff. Idea for the
fix by Ronald de Man, who suggested simply to allow more buckets past the end.
We also implement Robin Hood hashing for the hash table, which takes the worst
-case search for full 7-man tablebases down from 68 to 11 probes (Also takes
the average probe length from 2.06 to 2.05). For a table with 8K entries, the
corresponding numbers would be worst-case from 9 to 4, with average from 1.30
to 1.29.
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1747
No functional change
This commit tries to make the new pure static eval code more readable by
splitting up the nested assignments into separate lines and making a few
more cosmetic tweaks.
No functional change.
This is a non-functional change. By pre-incrementing minKingPawnDistance
instead of post-incrementing, we can remove this -1.
This also makes DistanceRing more consistent with the rest of stockfish
since it now holds an actual "distance" instead of a less natural distance-1.
In current master, PseudoAttacks[KING][ksq] == DistanceRingBB[ksq][0]
With this patch, it will be PseudoAttacks[KING][ksq] == DistanceRingBB[ksq][1]
ie squares at distance 1 from the king. This is more natural use of distance.
The current array size DistanceRingBB[SQUARE_NB][8] is still OK with the new
definition, because maximum distance between two squares on a chess board is
seven (for example Kh1 and a8).
No functional change.
Follow-up for the previous patch: we use an affine formula to mix stats
and evaluation in search. The idea is to give a bonus if the previous
move of the opponent was historically bad, and a malus if the previous
move of the opponent was historically good.
More precisely, if x is the stat score of the previous move by the opponent,
we implement the following formulas to tweak the evaluation at an internal
node of the tree for our pruning decisions at this node:
if x = 0, use v' = eval(P)
if x > 0, use v' = eval(P) - 5 - x/1024
if x < 0, use v' = eval(P) + 5 - x/1024
For reference, the previous master had this simpler rule:
if x > 0, use v' = eval(P) - 10
if x <= 0, use v' = eval(P)
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 29322 W: 6359 L: 6088 D: 16875
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b76a5980ebc5902bdba957f
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 30893 W: 5154 L: 4910 D: 20829
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b76ca6d0ebc5902bdba9914
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1740
Bench: 4592766
Mix search stats with evaluation: if the opponent's move has a good historyStat,
then decrease the evaluation of the internal node a bit for the pruning decisions
during search.
STC;
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 72083 W: 15683 L: 15203 D: 41197
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b74c3ea0ebc5902bdba7d41
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 29104 W: 4867 L: 4630 D: 19607
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b7565000ebc5902bdba851b
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1738
Bench: 4514101
-----------
How to continue from there?
• the use of the previous stat score can probably be simplified in lines 587 and 716
• we could try to use a continuous bonus based on the previous stat score, instead
of just a fixed offset of -10 when the opponent previous move was good.
----------
Comments by Stefan Geschwentner:
Interesting idea. Because only the eval in search is tweak this should only
influence the eval and static eval used at inner nodes, and not on the return
search value (which comes in the end from quiescence search), except through
saving in TT followed by a TT cutoff.
So essentialy this effects diverse pruning/reduction parts -- eval and static
eval are lowered for good opponent moves:
• tt cutoff (ttValue)
• improving (static eval)
• more razoring (eval)
• less futility pruning (eval)
• less null move pruning (eval + static eval) (but with little more depth)
• more probcut (static eval)
• more move futility pruning (static eval)
We double in this patch the weight of the capture history table in the
local scoring of captures for move ordering.
The capture history table is indexed by the triplet (capturing piece,
capture square, captured piece) and gets information like "it seems to
have been historically good in that part of the search tree to capture
a pawn with a rook on g3, even if it seems to lose material", and affect
the normaly pure « Most Valuable Victim » ordering of captures.
Finished yellow at STC after 228842 games (posting a +1.36 Elo gain):
LLR: -2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 228842 W: 50894 L: 50152 D: 127796
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b714bb00ebc5902bdba332d
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 43251 W: 7425 L: 7131 D: 28695
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b71c7d40ebc5902bdba3e51
Thanks to user Vizvezdenec for running the LTC test.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1736
Bench: 4272361
This patch introduces a non-linear bonus for pawns, along with some
(linear) corrections for the other pieces types.
The original values were obtained by a massive non-linear tuning of both
pawns and other pieces by GuardianRM, while Alain Savard and Chris Cain
later simplified the patch by observing that, apart from the pawn case, the
tuned corrections were in fact almost affine and could be incorporated in
our current code base via the piece values in types.h (offset) and the diagonal
of the quadratic matrix (slope). See discussion in PR#1725 :
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1725
STC:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 42948 W: 9662 L: 9317 D: 23969
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b6ff6e60ebc5902bdba1d87
LTC:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 19683 W: 3409 L: 3206 D: 13068
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b702dbd0ebc5902bdba216b
How to continue from there?
- Maybe the non-linearity for the pawn value could be somewhat tempered
again and a simpler linear correction for pawns would work?
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1734
Bench: 4681496
We simplify the razoring logic by applying it to all nodes at depth 1 only.
An added advantage is that only one razor margin is needed now, and we treat
PV and Non-PV nodes in the same manner.
How to continue?
- There may be some conditions in which depth 2 razoring is beneficial.
- We can see whether the razor margin can be tuned, perhaps even with a
different value for PV nodes.
- Perhaps we can unify the treatment of PV and Non-PV nodes in other parts
of the search as well.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 5474 W: 1281 L: 1127 D: 3066
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b6de3b20ebc5902bdba0d1e
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 62670 W: 10749 L: 10697 D: 41224
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b6dee340ebc5902bdba0eb0
In addition, we ran a fixed LTC test against a similar patch which also
passed SPRT [-3, 1]:
ELO: 0.23 +-2.1 (95%) LOS: 58.6%
Total: 36412 W: 6168 L: 6144 D: 24100
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b6e83940ebc5902bdba1485
We are opting for this patch as the more logical and simple of the two,
and it appears to be no less strong. Thanks in particular to @DU-jdto
for input into this patch.
Bench: 4476945
Currently, we do not consider pawns passed if there is another pawn of
the same color in front of them. It appears that this condition is not
necessary. The idea is that the doubled pawns are likely to be weak and
one of them will be likely captured anyway. On the other hand, if we do
somehow manage to promote a pawn, then the pawn behind it becomes passed
as well. In any case, the end result is we end up with an extra
potentially passed pawn. The current evaluation for passed pawns already
handles this case by also scaling down this effect.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 28291 W: 6287 L: 6178 D: 15826
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b6c4b960ebc5902bdb9f256
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 30717 W: 5256 L: 5151 D: 20310
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b6c82980ebc5902bdb9f863
Bench: 4938285
Unify the "quiet" and "non-quiet" reduction rules for use at any kind of moves.
The idea behind it was that both rules reduce at similiar cases in master:
one directly for late previous moves and the other indirectly by using a
bad stat score which is used for most move sorting and so approximates the
late move condition.
For captures/promotions the old rule was triggered in 25% but the new
rule only for 3% of all cases (so now more reductions are done, whereas
for quiet moves reductions keep the same level).
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 162327 W: 35976 L: 36134 D: 90217
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b6a9a430ebc5902bdb9d5c1
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 29570 W: 5083 L: 4976 D: 19511
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b6bc5d00ebc5902bdb9e9d6
Bench: 4526980
Currently, we first calculate some bitboards at the top of Evaluation::space()
and then check whether we actually need them. Invert the ordering. Of course this
does not make a difference in current master because the constexpr bitboard
calculations are in fact done at compile time by any decent compiler, but I find
my version a bit healthier since it will always meet or exceed current implementation
even if we eventually change the spaceMask to something not contsexpr.
No functional change.
After a session of tuning for King Psqt I got some new values, which was later
tweaked manually by me Fauzi, to result in an Elo-gain patch which seems to scale
pretty well:
STC: LLR: -2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 100653 W: 22550 L: 22314 D: 55789 [Yellow patch]
LTC: LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 147079 W: 25584 L: 24947 D: 96548 [Green Patch]
Bench: 4669050
Introduce voting system for best move selction in multi-threads mode.
Joint work with Stefan Geschwentner, based on ideas introduced by
Michael Stembera.
Moves are upvoted by every thread using the margin to the minimum score
across threads and the completed depth.
First thread voting for the winner move is selected as best thread.
Passed STC, LTC. A further LTC test with only 4 threads failed with positive
score. A LTC with 31 threads was stopped with LLR 0.77 after 25k games to
avoid use of excessive resources (equivalent to 1.5M STC games).
Similar ideas were proposed by Michael Stembera 2 years ago #507, #508.
This implementation seems simpler and more understandable, the results
slightly more promising.
Further possible work:
1) Tweak of the formula using for assigning votes.
2) Use a different baseline for the score dependent part: maximum score
or winning probability could make more sense.
3) Assign votes in `Thread::Search` as iterations are completed and use
voting results to stop search.
4) Select best thread as the threads voting for best move with the highest
completed depth or, alternatively, vote on PV moves.
Link to SPRT tests
[stopped LTC, 31 threads 20+0.02](http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b61dc090ebc5902bdb95192)
LLR: 0.77 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 25602 W: 3977 L: 3850 D: 17775
Elo: 1.70 [-0.68,4.07] (95%)
[passed LTC, 8 threads 20+0.02](http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b5df5180ebc5902bdb9162d)
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 44478 W: 7602 L: 7300 D: 29576
Elo: 1.92 [-0.29,3.94] (95%)
[failed LTC, 4 threads 20+0.02](http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b5f39ef0ebc5902bdb92792)
LLR: -2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 29922 W: 5286 L: 5285 D: 19351
Elo: 0.48 [-1.98,3.10] (95%)
[passed STC, 4 threads 5+0.05](http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b5dbf0f0ebc5902bdb9131c)
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 9108 W: 2033 L: 1858 D: 5217
Elo: 6.11 [1.26,10.89] (95%)
No functional change (in simple threat mode)
Use operator const T&() instead of operator T() to avoid possible
costly hidden copies of non-scalar nested types.
Currently StatsEntry has a single member T, so assuming
sizeof(StatsEntry) == sizeof(T) it happens to work, but it's
better to use the size of the proper entry type in std::fill.
Note that current code works because std::array items are ensured
to be allocated in contiguous memory and there is no padding among
nested arrays. The latter condition does not seem to be strictly
enforced by the standard, so be careful here.
Finally use address-of operator instead of get() to fully hide the
wrapper class StatsEntry at calling sites. For completness add
the arrow operator too and simplify the C++ code a bit more.
Same binary code as previous master under the Clang compiler.
No functional change.
As a note, current 2 LMR conditions on stat score
could be simplified in a single line:
r -= ((ss->statScore >= 0) - ((ss-1)->statScore >= 0)) * ONE_PLY;
We keep them splitted in 2 "if" statements because are easier
to (immediately) read.
No functional change.
This is the first patch teaching Stockfish how to use the 7-pieces
Syzygy tablebase currently calculated by Bujun Guo (@noobpwnftw) and
Ronald de Man (@syzygy1). The 7-pieces database are so big that they
required a change in the internal format of the files (technically,
some DTZ values are 16 bits long, so this had to be stored as wide
integers in the Huffman tree).
Here are the estimated file size for the 7-pieces Syzygy files,
compared to the 151G of the 6-pieces Syzygy:
```
7.1T ./7men_testing/4v3_pawnful (ongoing, 120 of 325 sets remaining)
2.4T ./7men_testing/4v3_pawnless
2.3T ./7men_testing/5v2_pawnful
660G ./7men_testing/5v2_pawnless
117G ./7men_testing/6v1_pawnful
87G ./7men_testing/6v1_pawnless
```
Some pointers to download or recalculate the tables:
Location of original files, by Bujun Guo:
ftp://ftp.chessdb.cn/pub/syzygy/
Mirrors:
http://tablebase.sesse.net/ (partial)
http://tablebase.lichess.ovh/tables/standard/7/
Generator code:
https://github.com/syzygy1/tb/
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1707
Bench: 5591925 (No functional change if SyzygyTB is not used)
----------------------
Comment by Leonardo Ljubičić (@DragonMist)
This is an amazing achievement, generating and being able to use 7 men syzygy
on the fly. Thank you for your efforts @noobpwnftw !! Looking forward how this
will work in real life, and expecting some trade off between gaining perfect
play and slow disc Access, but once the disc speed and space is not a problem,
I expect 7 men to yield something like 30 elo at least.
-----------------------
Comment by Michael Byrne (@MichaelB7)
This definitely has a bright future. I turned off the 50 move rule (ala ICCF
new rules) for the following position: `[d]8/8/1b6/8/4N2r/1k6/7B/R1K5 w - - 0 1`
This position is a 451 ply win for white (sans the 50 move rule, this position
was identified by the generator as the longest cursed win for white in KRBN v KRB).
Now Stockfish finds it instantly (as it should), nice work 👊👍 .
```
dep score nodes time
7 +132.79 4339 0:00.00 Rb1+ Kc4 Nd6+ Kc5 Bg1+ Kxd6 Rxb6+ Kc7 Be3 Rh2 Bd4
6 +132.79 1652 0:00.00 Rb1+ Kc4 Nd2+ Kd5 Rxb6 Rxh2 Nf3 Rf2
5 +132.79 589 0:00.00 Rb1+ Kc4 Rxb6 Rxh2 Nf6 Rh1+ Kb2
4 +132.79 308 0:00.00 Rb1+ Kc4 Nd6+ Kc3 Rxb6 Rxh2
3 +132.79 88 0:00.00 Rb1+ Ka4 Nc3+ Ka5 Ra1+ Kb4 Ra4+ Kxc3 Rxh4
2 +132.79 54 0:00.00 Rb1+ Ka4 Nc3+ Ka5 Ra1+ Kb4
1 +132.7
```
This patch adds the tropism measure as a new term in the king danger variable.
Since we then trasform this variable as a Score via a quadratic formula, the
main effect of the patch is the positive correlation of the tropism measure
with some checks and pins information already present in the king danger code.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 6805 W: 1597 L: 1431 D: 3777
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b5df8d10ebc5902bdb91699
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 32872 W: 5782 L: 5523 D: 21567
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b5e08d80ebc5902bdb917ee
How to continue from there?
• it may be possible to use CloseEnemies=S(7,0)
• we may want to try incorporating other strategic features in the quadratic
king danger.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1717
Bench: 5591925
The previous commit wouldn't compile on the Microsoft Virtual Studio C++ compiler. So use a more compatible style for the same idea (which we already use in numerous places of evaluate.cpp, for instance in line 563).
Under the Clang compiler, both versions generate exactly the same machine code (same md5 signatures for the two binaries).
No functional change.
Remove a popcount for HinderPassedPawn, and compensate by doubling
the bonus from S(4,0) to to S(8,0).
Maybe it was pure luck, but we got the idea of this Elo gaining patch by
seing the simplification attempt by Mike Whiteley in pull request #1703.
This suggests that whenever we have a passed evaluation simplification,
we should consider the possibility that the master bonus has become
slightly out of tune with time, and we should try a few Elo gaining [0..4]
tests by hand-tuning the master bonus.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 19136 W: 4388 L: 4147 D: 10601
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b59be6f0ebc5902bdb8ac06
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 99382 W: 17324 L: 16843 D: 65215
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b59d2410ebc5902bdb8afa8
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1710
Bench: 4688817
This tweak excludes files D and E from the KingFlank bitboard when our
king is on the A or H files respectively. As far as I can tell, this
affects two things: the calculation for CloseEnemies and PawnlessFlank.
Aside from filtering out slightly less relevant attacks in the flank,
I suspect this helps with king prophylaxis, avoiding attacks and moving
towards the center when the pawns start to come off.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 56755 W: 12881 L: 12489 D: 31385
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b58a94c0ebc5902bdb88c72
LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 130205 W: 22536 L: 21957 D: 85712
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b58b7580ebc5902bdb89029
How to continue: Tweaking the two bonuses mentioned might give some
gain, although as far as I can tell, CloseEnemies is very sensitive to
even small changes.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1705
Bench: 5026009
When evaluating threat by safe pawn and pawn push the same expression is used.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 19444 W: 4540 L: 4309 D: 10595
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b5a6e150ebc5902bdb8c5c0
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1709
No functional change.
--------------------
Comments by Stéphane Nicolet:
I don't measure any speed-up on my system, with two parallel benches at depth 22:
Total time (ms) : 74989
Nodes searched : 144830258
Nodes/second : 1931353
master
Total time (ms) : 75341
Nodes searched : 144830258
Nodes/second : 1922329
testedpatch
And anyway, like Stefan Geschwentner, I don't think that a 0.3% speed-up would
be enough to pass a [0..5] LTC test -- as a first approximation, we have this
rule of thumb that 1% speed-up gives about 1 Elo point.
However, considering the facts that the reformatting by itself is interesting,
that this is your first green test and that you played by the rules by running
the SPRT[0..5] test before opening the pull request, I will commit the change.
I will only take the liberty to change the occurrences of safe in lines 590 and
591 to b, to make the code more similar to lines 584 and 585.
So approved, and congrats :-)
This patch implements some idea by Alain Savard and Mike Whiteley taken from the perpertual renaming/reformatting thread.
This is a pure code cleaning patch (so no change in functionality), but I use it as a pretext to correct the bogus bench number that I introduced in the previous commit.
Bench: 4413383
This patch reverts the recent commit called "Tweak reductions formula, etc."
The decisions for the revert decision were as follows:
1) The original commit called "Tweak reductions formula: 0.88 * depth + 0.12"
showed bad scaling at in a Very Long Time Control (VLTC) test:
VLTC (180+1.8):
LLR: -1.59 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 14968 W: 2247 L: 2257 D: 10464
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b559ffa0ebc5902bdb84f36
2) So there was a suspicion that the original fast passing LTC test which lead
us to accept the patch may have been a statistical accident, so we organized
a match against the previous master at LTC to get an Elo estimate for the
patch:
LTC match:
ELO: -1.83 +-2.1 (95%) LOS: 4.3%
Total: 36018 W: 6018 L: 6208 D: 23792
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b55f8110ebc5902bdb8526f
3) Based on these results, we ran a simplification test with [-3..1] bounds
for the revert at LTC:
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 41501 W: 7107 L: 7020 D: 27374
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b5738670ebc5902bdb86932
4) So we revert.
Bench: 4491691
There seems to be some strange interaction between Overload and Connectivity.
Overload encourages us to not have too many defended and attacked pieces,
as this may expose us to various tactics. This feels somewhat like it is in
conflict with Connectivity, where pieces are defended preemptively.
Here I take the "pick one or the other" approach and just remove connectivity,
while strengthening the effect of Overload to compensate. The reasoning is that
if we defend our pieces preemptively, then it does get attacked, we want to do
something about it so we don't get penalized by Overload. On the other
hand, if it doesn't get attacked, then there's no need to defend it.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 27734 W: 6174 L: 6064 D: 15496
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b5073bd0ebc5902bdb7ba5c
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 51606 W: 8897 L: 8827 D: 33882
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b50aa900ebc5902bdb7bf29
Bench: 4658006
After some recent big tuning session, the values for King Protector were
simplified to only be used on minor pieces. This patch tries to further
simplify by just using a single value, since current S(6,5) and S(5,6)
are close to each other. The value S(6,6) ended up passing, although
S(5,5) was also tried and failed STC.
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 14261 W: 3288 L: 3151 D: 7822
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b4ccdf50ebc5902bdb77f65
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 19606 W: 3396 L: 3273 D: 12937
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b4ce4280ebc5902bdb7803b
Bench: 5448998
Extend the bonus for Overload to cases where our side
has more than one attacker to a non pawn piece.
Based on an idea by Bryan in the forum. For instance,
now black gets the overload bonus in this position:
8/5R1k/6pb/p6p/P1N4P/1Pp5/2K3P1/2N4r b - - 6 46
because two black pieces are attacking the knight on c1
that is defended only by the king.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 57446 W: 12762 L: 12711 D: 31973
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b4ca9970ebc5902bdb77a88
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 42113 W: 7295 L: 7209 D: 27609
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b4ccea00ebc5902bdb77f69
Bench: 4667263
For the rationale to allow this, see commit
a66c73deef
This was broken when cuckoo hashing was added, and
subtly broke (for example) lichess' Android application,
thus illustrating the original judgement was sound.
No functional change.
Various king and pawn eval values tuned after 2 million games. Rounding
slightly adjusted.
LTC: http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b477a260ebc5978f4be3ed4
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 32783 W: 5852 L: 5588 D: 21343
STC: http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b472d420ebc5978f4be3e4d
LLR: 3.23 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 44380 W: 10201 L: 9841 D: 24338
I think I reached the limit of the fishtest framework. It frequently
crashed at 2 million games already. The small values also moved a lot
throughout the entire tuning session though with smaller margin. The
passed danger and close enemies values seems the most sensitive (changing
close enemies alone to 6 failed before but now it passes), whether or not
they are close to optimal I don't know, but it seems some parameters are
also correlated to others.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1670
bench: 5103722
In the current master, ThreatByKing is an array of two Scores, one for
when we have a single attack and one for when we have many. The latter
case is very rarely called during bench and was recently given a strange
negative value during a tuning run, as pointed out by @candirufish on
commit efd4ca2. Here, we simplify away this second case entirely, and
increase the remaining ThreatByKing to compensate.
Although I derived the parameter tweak independently, with the goal of
preserving the same average bonus, I later noticed that a very similar
Score had already been derived by an ongoing SPSA tuning session.
I therefore recognize @candirufish for first discovering these values.
I would also like to thank @Rocky640 for valuable feedback that pointed
me in the direction of ThreatByKing.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 7677 W: 1772 L: 1623 D: 4282
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b3db0320ebc5902b9ffe97a
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 108031 W: 18329 L: 18350 D: 71352
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b3dbf4b0ebc5902b9ffe9db
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1666
Bench: 4678861
In current master, the function make_bitboard() does nothing apart from
helping initialize the SquareBB[] array. This seems like an unnecessary
abstraction layer.
The advantage of make_bitboard() is we can define a bitboard, in a simple
and general way, not only from a single square but also from a list of
squares. It is more elegant, faster and readable than combining multiple
SquareBB explicitly, but the last complex use case in evaluation was
simplified away a few months ago.
If make_bitboard() becomes useful again to define complicated bitboards,
it will be easy enough to reintroduce it using this pull request as
an implementation reference.
No functional change.
Make sure each piece is not scored more than once as a passed pawn "hinderer",
by scoring only the blockers along the passed pawn path. Inspired by TCEC Game 29.
Passed STC as a simplification
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b3016d00ebc5902b2e58552
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 75388 W: 16656 L: 16641 D: 42091
Passed LTC as a simplification
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b302ed90ebc5902b2e587fc
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 49157 W: 8460 L: 8386 D: 32311
Current master was also counting the number of attacks along a passed pawn path,
which might be misleading:
a) a defender might be counted many times for the same pawn path. For example a
White rook on a1 attacking a black pawn on a7 would score the bonus * 6 but
would be probably better placed on a8
b) a defender might be counted on different pawn paths and might be overloaded. For
example a Ke4 or Qe4 against pawns on d6 and f6 would score the bonus * 6.
Counting each blocker or attacker only once is more complicated, and does not help
either: http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b2ff1cb0ebc5902b2e582b2
After this small simplification, there might be ways to increase the HinderPassedPawn
penalty.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1661
Bench: 4520519
Silences the following warnings when compiling with GCC 8.
The fix is to use an intermediate pointer to anonymous function:
```
misc.cpp: In function 'int WinProcGroup::get_group(size_t)':
misc.cpp:241:77: warning: cast between incompatible function types from 'FARPROC' {aka 'long long int (*)()'} to 'fun1_t' {aka 'bool (*)(_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_RELATIONSHIP, _SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION_EX*, long unsigned int*)'} [-Wcast-function-type]
auto fun1 = (fun1_t)GetProcAddress(k32, "GetLogicalProcessorInformationEx");
^
misc.cpp: In function 'void WinProcGroup::bindThisThread(size_t)':
misc.cpp:309:71: warning: cast between incompatible function types from 'FARPROC' {aka 'long long int (*)()'} to 'fun2_t' {aka 'bool (*)(short unsigned int, _GROUP_AFFINITY*)'} [-Wcast-function-type]
auto fun2 = (fun2_t)GetProcAddress(k32, "GetNumaNodeProcessorMaskEx");
^
misc.cpp:310:67: warning: cast between incompatible function types from 'FARPROC' {aka 'long long int (*)()'} to 'fun3_t' {aka 'bool (*)(void*, const _GROUP_AFFINITY*, _GROUP_AFFINITY*)'} [-Wcast-function-type]
auto fun3 = (fun3_t)GetProcAddress(k32, "SetThreadGroupAffinity");
^
```
No functional change.
Compiling the current master with MSVC gives the following error:
```
search.cpp(956): error C2660: 'operator *': function does not take 1 arguments
types.h(303): note: see declaration of 'operator *'
```
This was introduced in commit:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/commit/88de112b84a5285c2afb3e075a05c2ab8ad3fd33
We use a suggestion by @vondele to fix the error, thanks!
No functional change.
[STC](http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b2614000ebc5902b8d17193)
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 17733 W: 3996 L: 3866 D: 9871
[LTC](http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b264d0f0ebc5902b8d17206)
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 55524 W: 9535 L: 9471 D: 36518
Use pawn count scaling also for opposite bishops endings with additional material, with a slope of 2 instead of 7. This simplifies slightly the code.
This PR is a functionally equivalent refactoring of the version which was submitted.
Four versions tried, 2 passed both STC and LTC. I picked the one which seemed more promising at LTC.
Slope 4 passed STC (-0.54 Elo), LTC not attempted
Slope 3 passed STC (+2.51 Elo), LTC (-0.44 Elo)
Slope 2 passed STC (+2.09 Elo), LTC (+0.04 Elo)
Slope 1 passed STC (+0.90 Elo), failed LTC (-3.40 Elo)
Bench: 4761613
I believe using foward_file_bb() here is fewer instructions.
a) Fewer instructions and probably more clear (debatable).
b) Possible that a lookup is slower than a few local operations, but the
forward_file_bb table is probably used often enough that it is always
cached.
Passed
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 21004 W: 4263 L: 4141 D: 12600
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b1cad830ebc5902ab9c6239
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1644
No functional change.
After a helpful suggestion from AppVeyor support staff, moving the Stockfish
execution from ps to cmd seems to work. Alternative to PR #1624 tested in PR #1637.
No functional change.
The '- 1' subtrahend was introduced for guarding against null move
search at root, which would be nonsense. But this is actually already
guaranteed by the !PvNode condition. This followed from the discussion
in pull request 1609: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1609
No functional change
The function Position::has_repeated() is used by Tablebases::root_probe()
to determine whether we can rank all winning moves with the same value, or
if we need to strictly rank by dtz in case the position has already been
repeated once, and we are risking to run into the 50-move rule and thus
losing the win (especially critical in some very complicated endgames).
To check whether the current position or one of the previous positions
after the last zeroing move has already been occured once, we start looking
for a repetition of the current position, and if that is not the case, we
step one position back and repeat the check for that position, and so on.
If you now look at how this was done before the new root ranking patch was
merged two months ago, it seems quite obvious that it is a simple oversight:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/commit/108f0da4d7f993732aa2e854b8f3fa8ca6d3b46c
More specifically, after we stepped one position back with
```
stc = stc->previous;
```
we now have to start checking for a repetition with
```
StateInfo* stp = stc->previous->previous;
```
and not with
```
StateInfo* stp = st->previous->previous;
```
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1625
No functional change
Fix an error when compiling current master with MSVC due to the
ambiguity of which operator* overload was intended (reported by
Jarrod Torriero).
No functional change.
Makes sure the potential benefit of first touch does not depend on
the order of the UCI commands Threads and Hash, by reallocating the
hash if a Threads is issued. The cost is zeroing the TT once more
than needed. In case the prefered order (first Threads than Hash)
is employed, this amounts to zeroing the default sized TT (16Mb),
which is essentially instantaneous.
Follow up for https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1601
where additional data and discussion is available.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1620
No functional change.
Stockfish currently takes a while to clear the TT when using larger hash sizes.
On one machine with 128 GB hash it takes about 50 seconds with a single thread,
allowing it to use all allocated cores brought that time down to 4 seconds on
some Linux systems. The patch was further tested on Windows and refined with
NUMA binding of the hash initializing threads (we refer to pull request #1601
for the complete discussion and the speed measurements).
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1601
No functional change
I was able to get this to pass which reduces BlockedByPawn to one dimension
with NO distance from edge offset.
GOOD) It's more simple and may provide additional clarity for further
simplifications. Facilitates migrating unblocked to one dimension as well.
BAD) If there is indeed a distance component to BlockedStorm (may or may
not be the case), this obfuscates this component into ShelterStrength and
UnblockedStorm. This may be more convoluted. Also, it may be more convenient
to have each of the three arrays (ShelterStrength, BlockedStorm, and UnBlocked)
be the same size.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 96173 W: 19326 L: 19343 D: 57504
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b04544d0ebc5914abc12965
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 49818 W: 7441 L: 7363 D: 35014
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b0487d50ebc5914abc12990
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1611
Bench: 5133208
define Color us and use this instead of pos.side_to_move() and nmp_odd. The latter allows to clarify the nmp verification criterion.
Tested for no regression:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 76713 W: 15303 L: 15284 D: 46126
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b046a0d0ebc5914abc12971
No functional change.
Simplifying away all the progressKey stuff gives exactly the same bench,
without any speed impact. Tested for speed against master with two benches
at depth 22 ran in parallel:
**testedpatch**
Total time (ms) : 92350
Nodes searched : 178962949
Nodes/second : 1937877
**master**
Total time (ms) : 92358
Nodes searched : 178962949
Nodes/second : 1937709
We also tested the patch at STC for no-regression with [-3, 1] bounds:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 57299 W: 11529 L: 11474 D: 34296
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5b015a1c0ebc5914abc126e5
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1603
No functional change.
Default template parameters values and recursive functions do not play well
together. Fix for below errors that showed up after updating to latest MSVC.
````
tbprobe.cpp(1156): error C2672:
'search': no matching overloaded function found
tbprobe.cpp(1198): error C2783:
'Tablebases::WDLScore `anonymous-namespace'::search(Position &,Tablebases::ProbeState *)':
could not deduce template argument for 'CheckZeroingMoves'
````
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1594
No functional change.
A position which has a move which draws by repetition, or which could have
been reached from an earlier position in the game tree, is considered to be
at least a draw for the side to move.
Cycle detection algorithm by Marcel van Kervink:
https://marcelk.net/2013-04-06/paper/upcoming-rep-v2.pdf
----------------------------
How does the algorithm work in practice? The algorithm is an efficient
method to detect if the side to move has a drawing move, without doing any
move generation, thus possibly giving a cheap cutoffThe most interesting
conditions are both on line 1195:
```
if ( originalKey == (progressKey ^ stp->key)
|| progressKey == Zobrist::side)
```
This uses the position keys as a sort-of Bloom filter, to avoid the expensive
checks which follow. For "upcoming repetition" consider the opening Nf3 Nf6 Ng1.
The XOR of this position's key with the starting position gives their difference,
which can be used to look up black's repeating move (Ng8). But that look-up is
expensive, so line 1195 checks that the white pieces are on their original squares.
This is the subtlest part of the algorithm, but the basic idea in the above game
is there are 4 positions (starting position and the one after each move). An XOR
of the first pair (startpos and after Nf3) gives a key matching Nf3. An XOR of
the second pair (after Nf6 and after Ng1) gives a key matching the move Ng1. But
since the difference in each pair is the location of the white knight those keys
are "identical" (not quite because while there are 4 keys the the side to move
changed 3 times, so the keys differ by Zobrist::side). The loop containing line
1195 does this pair-wise XOR-ing.
Continuing the example, after line 1195 determines that the white pieces are
back where they started we still need to make sure the changes in the black
pieces represents a legal move. This is done by looking up the "moveKey" to
see if it corresponds to possible move, and that there are no pieces blocking
its way. There is the additional complication that, to match the behavior of
is_draw(), if the repetition is not inside the search tree then there must be
an additional repetition in the game history. Since a position can have more
than one upcoming repetition a simple count does not suffice. So there is a
search loop ending on line 1215.
On the other hand, the "no-progress' is the same thing but offset by 1 ply.
I like the concept but think it currently has minimal or negative benefit,
and I'd be happy to remove it if that would get the patch accepted. This
will not, however, save many lines of code.
-----------------------------
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 36430 W: 7446 L: 7150 D: 21834
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5afc123f0ebc591fdf408dfc
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 12998 W: 2045 L: 1876 D: 9077
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5afc2c630ebc591fdf408e0c
How could we continue after the patch:
• The code in search() that checks for cycles has numerous possible variants.
Perhaps the check need could be done in qsearch() too.
• The biggest improvement would be to get "no progress" to be of actual benefit,
and it would be helpful understand why it (probably) isn't. Perhaps there is an
interaction with the transposition table or the (fantastically complex) tree
search. Perhaps this would be hard to fix, but there may be a simple oversight.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1575
Bench: 4550412
At PvNodes allow bonus for prior counter move that caused a fail low
for depth 1 and 2. Note : I did a speculative LTC on yellow STC patch
since history stats tend to be highly TC sensitive
STC (Yellow):
LLR: -2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 64295 W: 13042 L: 12873 D: 38380
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5af507c80ebc5968e6524153
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 22407 W: 3413 L: 3211 D: 15783
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5af85dd40ebc591fdf408b87
Also use local variable excludedMove in NMP (marotear)
Bench: 5294316
Use the whole kingRing for pawn attackers instead of only the squares directly
around the king. This tends to give quite a lot more kingAttackersCount, so to
compensate and to avoid raising the king danger too fast we lower the values
in the KingAttackWeights array a little bit.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 51892 W: 10723 L: 10369 D: 30800
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5af6d4dd0ebc5968e652428e
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 24536 W: 3737 L: 3515 D: 17284
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5af709890ebc5968e65242ac
Credits to user @xoroshiro for the idea of using the kingRing for pawn attackers.
How to continue? It seems that the KingAttackWeights[] array stores values
which are quite Elo-sensitive, yet they have not been tuned with SPSA recently.
There might be easy Elo points to get there.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1597
Bench: 5282815
Simplification: in king danger, include all blockers and not only pinned
pieces, since blockers enemy pieces can result in discovered checks which
are also bad.
STC http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5af35f9f0ebc5968e6523fe9
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 145781 W: 29368 L: 29478 D: 86935
LTC http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5af3cb430ebc5968e652401f
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 76398 W: 11272 L: 11232 D: 53894
I also incorrectly scheduled STC with [0,5] which it failed.
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5af283c00ebc5968e6523f33
LLR: -2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 12338 W: 2451 L: 2522 D: 7365
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1593
bench: 4698290
----------------------------------------
Thanks to @vondele and @Rocky640 for a cleaner version of the patch,
and the following comments!
> Most of the pinned, (or for this pull request, blocking) squares were
> already computed in the unsafeChecks, the only missing squares being:
>
> a) squares attacked by a Queen which are occupied by friendly piece
> or "unsafe". Note that adding such squares never passed SPRT[0,5].
>
> b) squares not in mobilityArea[Us].
>
> There is a strong relationship between the blockers and the unsafeChecks,
> but the bitboard unsafeChecks is still useful when the checker is not
> aligned with the king, and the checking square is occupied by friendly
> piece or is "unsafe". This is always the case for the Knight.
This patch simplifies the control flow in search(), removing an if
and a goto. A side effect of the patch is that Stockfish is now a
little bit more selective at low depths, because we allow razoring,
futility pruning and probcut pruning after a null move.
passed STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 32035 W: 6523 L: 6422 D: 19090
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5af142ca0ebc597fb3d39bb6
passed LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 41431 W: 6187 L: 6097 D: 29147
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5af148770ebc597fb3d39bc1
Ideas for further work:
• Use the nodes credit opened by the patch (the increased selectivity)
to try somewhat higher razoring, futility or probcut margins at [0..4].
Bench: 4855031
We can view the patch version as adding some "undermining bonus" for
level pawns, when the defending side can not easily avoid the exchange
by advancing her pawn.
• Case 1) White b2,c3, Black a3,b3:
Black is breaking through, b2 deserves a penalty
• Case 2) White b2,c3, Black a3,c4:
if b2xa3 then White ends up with a weak pawn on a3
and probably a weak pawn on c3 too.
In either case, White can still not safely play b2-b3 and make a
phalanx with c3, which is the essence of a backward pawn definition.
Passed STC in SPRT[0, 4]:
LLR: -2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 131169 W: 26523 L: 26199 D: 78447
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aefa4d50ebc5902a409a151
ELO 1.19 [-0.38,2.88] (95%)
Passed LTC in SPRT[-3, 1]:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 24824 W: 3732 L: 3617 D: 17475
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5af04d3f0ebc5902a88b2e55
ELO 1.27 [-1.21,3.70] (95%)
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1584
How to continue from there?
There were some promising tests a couple of months ago about adding
a lever condition for king danger in evaluate.cpp, maybe it would
be time to re-try this after all the recent changes in pawns.cpp
Bench: 4773882
The two lines of code in the patch seem to be just as good as master.
1. We now only look at the current square to see if it is currently backward,
whereas master looks there AND further ahead in the current file (master would
declare a pawn "backward" even though it could still safely advance a little).
This simplification allows us to avoid the use of the difficult logic with
`backmost_sq(Us, neighbours | stoppers)`.
2. The condition `relative_rank(Us,s) < RANK_5` is simplified away.
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 68132 W: 14025 L: 13992 D: 40115
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aedc97a0ebc5902a4099fd6
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 23789 W: 3643 L: 3527 D: 16619
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aee4f970ebc5902a409a03a
Ideas for further work:
• The new code flags some pawns on the 5th rank as backward, which was not the
case in the old master. So maybe we should test a version with that included?
• Further tweaks of the backward condition with [0..5] bounds?
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1583
Bench: 5122789
When we are using the "Bitboard + Square" overloaded operators,
the compiler uses the interpediate SquareBB[s] to transform the
square into a Bitboard, and then calculate the result.
For instance, the following code:
```
b = pos.pieces(Us, PAWN) & s
```
generates in fact the code:
```
b = pos.pieces(Us, PAWN) & SquareBB[s]`
```
The bug introduced by Stéphane in the previous patch was the
use of `b = pos.pieces(Us, PAWN) & (s + Up)` which can result
in out-of-bounds errors for the SquareBB[] array if s in the
last rank of the board.
We coorect the bug, and also add some asserts in bitboard.h to
make the code more robust for this particular bug in the future.
Bug report by Joost VandeVondele. Thanks!
Bench: 5512000
Simplification: remove BlockedByKing from storm array and use a special rule.
The BlockedByKing section in the storm array is substantially similar to the
Unopposed section except for two extreme values V(-290), V(-274). Turns out
removing BlockedByKing and using a special rule for these two values shows
no Elo loss. All the other values in the BlockedByKing section are apparently
irrelevant. BlockedByKing now falls under unopposed which (to me) is a bit
more logical since there is no defending pawn on this file. Also, retuning
the Unopposed section may be another improvement.
GOOD) This is a simplification because the entire BlockedByKing section of
the storm array goes away reducing a few lines of code (and less values to
tune). This also brings clarity because the special rule is self documenting.
BAD) It takes execution time to apply the special rule. This should be negli-
gible because it is based on a template parameter and is boiled down to two
bitwise AND's.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 33470 W: 6820 L: 6721 D: 19929
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ae7b6e60ebc5926dba90e13
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 47627 W: 7045 L: 6963 D: 33619
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ae859ff0ebc5926dba90e85
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1574
Bench: 5512000
-----------
How to continue after this patch?
This patch may open the possibility to move the special rule to evaluate.cpp
in the evaluate::king() function, where we could refine the rule using king
danger information. For instance, with a king in H2 blocking an opponent pawn
in H3, it may be critical to know that the opponent has no safe check in G2
before giving the bonus :-)
This is a further step in the long quest for a simple way of determining
scale factors for the endgame.
Here we remove the artificial restriction in evaluate_scale_factor()
based on endgame score. Also SCALE_FACTOR_ONEPAWN can be simplified
away. The latter is a small non functional simplification with respect
to the version that was testedin the framework, verified on bench with
depth 22 for good measure.
Passed STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 49438 W: 9999 L: 9930 D: 29509
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ae20c8b0ebc5963175205c8
Passed LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 101445 W: 15113 L: 15110 D: 71222
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ae2a0560ebc5902a1998986
How to continue from there?
Maybe the general case could be scaled with pawns from both colors
without losing Elo. If that is the case, then this could be merged
somehow with the scaling in evaluate_initiative(), which also uses
a additive malus down when the number of pawns in the position goes
down.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1570
Bench: 5254862
Currently the make strip target is broken on mingw as the exe name is wrong (stockfish instead of stockfish.exe).
Needs some testing by mingw users (both profile-build and strip, native and cross).
No functional change.
Queen was recently excluded from the mobility area of friendly minor
pieces. Exclude queen also from the mobility area of friendly majors too.
Run as a simplification:
STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ade396f0ebc59602d053742
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 46972 W: 9511 L: 9437 D: 28024
LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ade64b50ebc5949f20a24d3
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 66855 W: 10157 L: 10105 D: 46593
How to continue from there?
The mobilityArea is used in various places of the evaluation as a
soft proxy for "not attacked by the opponent pawns". Now that the
mobility area is getting smaller and smaller, it may be worth to
hunt for Elo gains by trying the more direct ~attackedBy[Them][PAWN]
instead of mobilityArea[Us] in these places.
Bench: 4650572
Remove the distinction between the king file and the two neighbours
files in the ShelterStrength[] array. Instead we initialize the safety
variable in the evaluate_shelter() function with a -10 penalty if our
king is on a semi-open file (ie. if our king is on a file without a pawn
protection).
Also rename shelter_storm() to evaluate_shelter() while there.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 23153 W: 4795 L: 4677 D: 13681
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5adcb83d0ebc595ec7ff8aa7
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 25728 W: 3934 L: 3821 D: 17973
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5adcdcb60ebc595ec7ff8adb
See the commit history in PR#1559 for the proof that the committed
version is equivalent to the version in the tests above:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1559
Full credit to @protonspring for the renormalized values of the
ShelterStrength[] array used for the simplification. Thanks!
Bench: 4703935
Change the operators of the Option type in uci.h to accept floating
point numbers in double precision on input as the numerical type for
the "spin" values of the UCI protocol.
The output of Stockfish after the "uci" command is unaffected.
This change is compatible with all the existing GUI (as they will
continue sending integers that we can interpret as doubles in SF),
and allows us to pass double parameters to Stockfish in the console
via the "setoption" command. This will be useful if we implement
another tuner as an alternative for SPSA.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1556
No functional change.
---------------------
A example of the new functionality in action in the branch `tune_float2'`:
https://github.com/snicolet/Stockfish/commit/876c322d0f20ee232da977b4d3489c4cc929765e
I have added the following lines in ucioptions.cpp:
```C++
void on_pi(const Option& o)
{
double x = Options["PI"]; // or double x = o;
std::cerr << "received value is x = " << x << std::endl;
}
...
o["PI"] << Option(3.1415926, -10000000, 10000000, on_pi);
```
Then I can change the value of Pi in Stockfish via the command line, and
check that Stockfish understands a floating point:
````
> ./stockfish
> setoption name PI value 2.7182818284
received value is x = 2.71828
````
On output, the default value of Pi is truncated to 3 (to remain compatible
with the UCI protocol and GUIs):
````
> uci
[...]
option name SyzygyProbeLimit type spin default 6 min 0 max 6
option name PI type spin default 3 min -10000000 max 10000000
uciok
````
This patch is non-functional. Current master does four operations to determine
whether an enemy pawn on this file is blocked by the king or not
```
f == file_of(ksq) && rkThem == relative_rank(Us, ksq) + 1 )
```
By adding a direction (based on the template color), this is reduced to two
operations. This works because b is limited to enemy pawns that are ahead of
the king and on the current file.
```
shift<Down>(b) & ksq
```
I've added a line of code, but the number of executing instructions is reduced
(I think). I'm not sure if this counts as a simplification, but it should
theoretically be a little faster (barely). The code line length is also reduced
making it a little easier to read.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1552
No functional change.
This patch corrects both MultiPV behaviour and "go searchmoves" behaviour
for tablebases.
We change the logic of table base probing at root positions from filtering
to ranking. The ranking code is much more straightforward than the current
filtering code (this is a simplification), and also more versatile.
If the root is a TB position, each root move is probed and assigned a TB score
and a TB rank. The TB score is the Value to be displayed to the user for that
move (unless the search finds a mate score), while the TB rank determines which
moves should appear higher in a multi-pv search. In game play, the engine will
always pick a move with the highest rank.
Ranks run from -1000 to +1000:
901 to 1000 : TB win
900 : normally a TB win, in rare cases this could be a draw
1 to 899 : cursed TB wins
0 : draw
-1 to -899 : blessed TB losses
-900 : normally a TB loss, in rare cases this could be a draw
-901 to -1000 : TB loss
Normally all winning moves get rank 1000 (to let the search pick the best
among them). The exception is if there has been a first repetition. In that
case, moves are ranked strictly by DTZ so that the engine will play a move
that lowers DTZ (and therefore cannot repeat the position a second time).
Losing moves get rank -1000 unless they have relatively high DTZ, meaning
they have some drawing chances. Those get ranks towards -901 (when they
cross -900 the draw is certain).
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1467
No functional change (without tablebases).
This patch introduces an Analysis Contempt UCI combo box to control
the behaviour of contempt during analysis. The possible values are
Both, Off, White, Black. Technically, the engine is supposed to be in
analysis mode if UCI_AnalyseMode is set by the graphical user interface
or if the user has chosen infinite analysis mode ("go infinite").
Credits: the idea for the combo box is due to Michel Van den Bergh.
No functional change (outside analysis mode).
-----------------------------------------------------
The so-called "contempt" is an optimism value that the engine adds
to one color to avoid simplifications and keep tension in the position
during its search. It was introduced in Stockfish 9 and seemed to give
good results during the TCEC 11 tournament (Stockfish seemed to play a
little bit more actively than in previous seasons).
The patch does not change the play during match or blitz play, but gives
more options for correspondance players to decide for which color(s) they
would like to use contempt in analysis mode (infinite time). Here is a
description of the various options:
* Both : in analysis mode, use the contempt for both players (alternating)
* Off : in analysis mode, use the contempt for none of the players
* White : in analysis mode, White will play actively, Black will play passively
* Black : in analysis mode, Black will play actively, White will play passively
This patch adds some documentation and code cleanup to tablebase code.
It took me some time to understand the relation among the differrent
structs, although I have rewrote them fully in the past. So I wrote
some detailed documentation to avoid the same efforts for future readers.
Also noteworthy is the use a standard hash table implementation with a
more efficient 1D array instead of a 2D array. This reduces the average
lookup steps of 90% (from 343 to 38 in a bench 128 1 16 run) and reduces
also the table from 5K to 4K
entries.
I have tested on 5-men and no functional and no slowdown reported. It
should be verified on 6-men that the new hash does not overflow. It is
enough to run ./stockfish with 6-men available: if it does not assert at
startup it means everything is ok with 6-men too.
EDIT: verified for 6-men tablebase by Jörg Oster. Thanks!
No functional change.
We remove an unnecessary condition in the definition of safe squares
in the space evaluation. Only the squares which are occupied by our
pawns or attacked by our opponent's pawns are now excluded.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 21096 W: 4321 L: 4199 D: 12576
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5acbf7510ebc59547e537d4e
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 23437 W: 3577 L: 3460 D: 16400
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5acc0f750ebc59547e537d6a
It may be possible to further refine the definition of such safe squares.
Bench: 5351765
This patch applies a S(10, 5) bonus for every square that is:
- Occupied by an enemy piece which is not a pawn
- Attacked exactly once by our pieces
- Defended exactly once by enemy pieces
The idea is that these pieces must be defended. Their defenders have
dramatically limited mobility, and they are vulnerable to our future
attack.
As with connectivity, there are probably many more tests to be run in
this area. In particular:
- I believe @snicolet's queen overload tests have demonstrated a potential
need for a queen overload bonus above and beyond this one; however, the
conditions for "overload" in this patch are different (excluding pieces
we attack twice). My next test after this is (hopefully) merged will be
to intersect the Bitboard I define here with the enemy's queen attacks and
attempt to give additional bonus.
- Perhaps we should exclude pieces attacked by pawns--can pawns really be
overloaded? Should they have the same weight, or less? This didn't work
with a previous version, but it could work with this one.
- More generally, different pieces may need more or less bonus. We could
change bonuses based on what type of enemy piece is being overloaded, what
type of friendly piece is attacking, and/or what type of piece is being
defended by the overloaded piece and attacked by us, or any intersection
of these three. For example, here attacked/defended pawns are excluded,
but they're not totally worthless targets, and could be added again with
a smaller bonus.
- This list is by no means exhaustive.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 17439 W: 3599 L: 3390 D: 10450
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac78a2e0ebc59435923735e
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 43304 W: 6533 L: 6256 D: 30515
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac7a1d80ebc59435923736f
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1533
Bench: 5248871
----------------
This is my first time opening a PR, so I apologize if there are errors.
There are too many people to thank since I submitted my first test just
over a month ago. Thank you all for the warm welcome and here is to more
green patches!
In particular, I would like to thank:
- @crossbr, whose comment in a FishCooking thread first inspired me to
consider the overloading of pieces other than queens,
- @snicolet, whose queen overload tests inspired this one and served as
the base of my first overload attempts,
- @protonspring, whose connectivity tests inspired this one and who provided
much of the feedback needed to take this from red to green,
- @vondele, who kindly corrected me when I submitted a bad LTC test,
- @Rocky640, who has helped me over and over again in the past month.
Thank you all!
In master, we already remove the King from the mobility area of minor pieces
because the King simply stands in the way of other pieces, and since opponent
cannot capture the King, any piece which "protects" the King cannot recapture.
Similarly, this patch introduces the idea that it is rarely a need for a Queen
to be "protected" by a minor (unless it is attacked only by a Queen, in fact).
We used to have a LoosePiece bonus, and in a similar vein the Queen was excluded
from that penalty.
Idea came when reviewing an old game of Kholmov. He was a very good midgame
player, but in the opening his misplace his Queen (and won in the end :-) :
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1134645
Both white queen moves 10.Qd3 and 13.Qb3 are in the way of some minor piece.
I would prefer to not give a bishop mobility bonus at move 10 for the square d3,
or later a knight mobility bonus at move 13 for the square b3. And the textbook
move is 19.Qe3! which prepares 20.Nb3. This short game sample shows how much a
queen can be "in the way" of minor pieces.
STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac2c15f0ebc591746423fa3
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 22066 W: 4561 L: 4330 D: 13175
LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac2d6500ebc591746423faf
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 25871 W: 3953 L: 3738 D: 18180
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1532
Ideas for future work in this area:
• tweak some more mobility areas for other piece type.
• construct a notion of global mobility for the whole piece set.
• bad bishops.
Bench: 4989125
Simplify ThreatBySafePawn evaluation by removing the 'if (weak)' speed
optimization check from threats evaluation. This is a non functional
change as it removes just a speed optimization conditional which was
probably useful before but does no longer provide benefits. This section
section had a few more lines not long ago, with ThreatByHangingPawn and
a loop through the threatened pieces, but now there is not much left.
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 47775 W: 9696 L: 9624 D: 28455
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac298910ebc591746423f8b
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1531
Non functional change.
1) Use make_bitboard() in Bitboards::init()
2) Fix MSVC warning: search.h(85): warning C4244: '=': conversion from
'TimePoint' to 'int', possible loss of data.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1524
No functional change.
When we reach a position with only two opposite colored bishops and
one pawn on the board, current master would give it a scale factor
of 9/64=0.14 in about one position out of 7200, and a scale factor
of 0.0 in the 7199 others. The patch gives a scale factor of 0.0 in
100% of the cases.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 55845 W: 11467 L: 11410 D: 32968
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5abc585f0ebc5902926cf15e
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 11915 W: 1852 L: 1719 D: 8344
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5abc7f750ebc5902926cf18c
We also have exhaustive coverage analysis of this patch effect by
Alain Savard, comparing the perfect evaluation given by the Syzygy
tablebase with the heuristic play after this patch for the set of
all legal positions of the KBPKP endgame with opposite bishops, in
the comments thread for this pull request:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1520
Alain's conclusion:
> According to this definition and the data, I consider this PR is
> identical to master to "solve for draw" and slightly better than
> master to solve earlier for "wins".
Note: this patch is a side effect of an ongoing effort to improve
the evaluation of positions involving a pair of opposite bishops.
See the GitHub diff of this LTC test which almost passed at sprt[0..5]
for a discussion:
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ab9030b0ebc5902932cbf93
No functional change (at small bench depths)
Include some not fully supported levers in the (candidate) passed pawns
bitboard, if otherwise unblocked. Maybe levers are usually very short
lived, and some inaccuracy in the lever balance for the definition of
candidate passed pawns just triggers a deeper search.
Here is a example of a case where the patch has an effect on the definition
of candidate passers: White c5/e5 pawns, against Black d6 pawn. Let's say
we want to test if e5 is a candidate passer. The previous master looks
only at files d, e and f (which is already very good) and reject e5 as
a candidate. However, the lever d6 is challenged by 2 pawns, so it should
not fully count. Indirectly, this patch will view such case (and a few more)
to be scored as candidates.
STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5abcd55d0ebc5902926cf1e1
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 16492 W: 3419 L: 3198 D: 9875
LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5abce1360ebc5902926cf1e6
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 21156 W: 3201 L: 2990 D: 14965
This was inspired by this test of Jerry Donald Watson, except the case of
zero supporting pawns against two levers is excluded, and it seems that
not excluding that case is bad, while excluding is it beneficial. See the
following tests on fishtest:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1519http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5abccd850ebc5902926cf1ddhttp://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5abcdd490ebc5902926cf1e4
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1521
Bench: 5568461
----
Comments by Jerry Donald Watson:
> My thinking as to why this works:
>
> The evaluation is either called in an interior node or in the qsearch.
> The calls at the end of the qsearch are the more important as they
> ultimately determine the scoring of each move, whereas the internal
> values are mainly used for pruning decisions with a margin. Some strong
> engines don't even call the eval at all nodes. Now the whole point of
> the qsearch is to find quiet positions where captures do not change the
> evaluation of the position with regards to the search bounds - i.e. if
> there were good captures they would be tried.* So when a candidate lever
> appears in the evaluation at the end of the qsearch, the qsearch has
> guaranteed that it cannot just be captured, or if it can, this does not
> take the score past the search bounds. Practically this may mean that
> the side with the candidate lever has the turn, or perhaps the stopping
> lever pawn is pinned, or that side is forced for other reasons to make
> some other move (e.g. d6 can only take one of the pawns in the example
> above).
>
> Hence granting the full score for only one lever defender makes some
> sense, at least, to me.
>
> IMO this is also why huge bonuses for possible captures in the evaluation
> (e.g. threat on queen and our turn), etc. don't tend to work. Such things
> are best left to the search to figure out.
We now use per-thread dynamic contempt. This patch has the following
effects:
* for Threads=1: **non-functional**
* for Threads>1:
* with MultiPV=1: **no regression, little to no ELO gain**
* with MultiPV>1: **clear improvement over master**
First, I tried testing at standard MultiPV=1 play with [0,5] bounds.
This yielded 2 yellow and 1 red test:
5+0.05, Threads=5:
LLR: -2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 82689 W: 16439 L: 16190 D: 50060
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aa93a5a0ebc5902952892e6
5+0.05, Threads=8:
LLR: -2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 27164 W: 4974 L: 4983 D: 17207
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ab2639b0ebc5902a6fbefd5
5+0.5, Threads=16:
LLR: -2.97 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 41396 W: 7127 L: 7082 D: 27187
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ab124220ebc59029516cb62
Then, I tested with Skill Level=17 (implicitly MutliPV=4), showing
a clear improvement:
5+0.05, Threads=5:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 3498 W: 1316 L: 1135 D: 1047
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ab4b6580ebc5902932aeca2
Next, I tested the patch with MultiPV=1 again, this time checking for
non-regression ([-3, 1]):
5+0.5, Threads=5:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 65575 W: 12786 L: 12745 D: 40044
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ab4e8500ebc5902932aecb3
Finally, I ran some tests with fixed number of games, checking if
reverting dynamic contempt gains more elo with Skill Level=17 (i.e.
MultiPV) than applying the "prevScore" fix and this patch. These tests
showed, that this patch gains 15 ELO when playing with Skill Level=17:
5+0.05, Threads=3, "revert dynamic contempt" vs. "WITHOUT this patch":
ELO: -11.43 +-4.1 (95%) LOS: 0.0%
Total: 20000 W: 7085 L: 7743 D: 5172
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ab636450ebc590295d88536
5+0.05, Threads=3, "revert dynamic contempt" vs. "WITH this patch":
ELO: -26.42 +-4.1 (95%) LOS: 0.0%
Total: 20000 W: 6661 L: 8179 D: 5160
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ab62e680ebc590295d88524
---
***FAQ***
**Why should this be commited?**
I believe that the gain for multi-thread MultiPV search is a sufficient
justification for this otherwise neutral change. I also believe this
implementation of dynamic contempt is more logical, although this may
be just my opinion.
**Why is per-thread contempt better at MultiPV?**
A likely explanation for the gain in MultiPV mode is that during
search each thread independently switches between rootMoves and via
the shared contempt score skews each other's evaluation.
**Why were the tests done with Skill Level=17?**
This was originally suggested by @Hanamuke and the idea is that with
Skill Level Stockfish sometimes plays also moves it thinks are slightly
sub-optimal and thus the quality of all moves offered by the MultiPV
search is checked by the test.
**Why are the ELO differences so huge?**
This is most likely because of the nature of Skill Level mode --
since it slower and weaker than normal mode, bugs in evaluation have
much greater effect.
---
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1515.
No functional change -- in single thread mode.
Extends valgrind/sanitizer testing to cover syzygy code.
The script downloads 4 man syzygy as needed. The time needed for the
additional testing is small (in fact hard to see a difference compared
to the large fluctuations in testing time in travis).
Possible follow-ups:
* include more TB sensitive positions in bench.
* include the test script of recent commit "Refactor tbprobe.cpp".
* verify unchanged bench with TB (with a long run).
* make the TB part of the continuation integration tests optional.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1518
and https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1490
No functional change.
Adjust criterion for applying extra reduction if not improving.
We now add an extra ply of reduction if r > 1.0, instead of the
previous condition Reductions[NonPV][imp][d][mc] >= 2.
Why does this work? Previously, reductions when not improving had
a discontinuity as the depth and/or move count increases due to the
Reductions[NonPV][imp][d][mc] >= 2 condition. Hence, values of r
such that 0.5 < r < 1.5 would be mapped to a reduction of 1, while
1.5 < r < 2.5 would be mapped to a reduction of 3. This patch allows
values of r satisfying 1.0 < r < 1.5 to be mapped to a reduction of 2,
making the reduction formula more continuous.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 35908 W: 7382 L: 7087 D: 21439
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aba723a0ebc5902a4743e8f
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 23087 W: 3584 L: 3378 D: 16125
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aba89070ebc5902a4743ea9
Ideas for future work:
- We could look at retuning the LMR formula.
- We could look at adjusting the reductions in PV nodes if not improving.
Bench: 5326261
Use rootMoves[PVIdx].previousScore instead of bestValue for
dynamic contempt. This is equivalent for MultiPV=1 (bench remained the
same, even for higher depths), but more correct for MultiPV.
STC (MultiPV=3):
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 2657 W: 1079 L: 898 D: 680
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aaa47cb0ebc590297330403
LTC (MultiPV=3):
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 2390 W: 874 L: 706 D: 810
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aaa593a0ebc59029733040b
VLTC 240+2.4 (MultiPV=3):
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 2399 W: 861 L: 694 D: 844
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aaf983e0ebc5902a182131f
LTC (MultiPV=4, Skill Level=17):
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 747 W: 333 L: 175 D: 239
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aabccee0ebc5902997ff006
Note: although the ELO differences seem huge, they are inflated by the
nature of Skill Level / MultiPV search, so I don't think they can be
reasonably compared with classic ELO strength.
See https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1491 for some
verifications searches with MultiPV = 10 at depths 12 and 24 from the
starting position and the position after 1.e4, comparing the outputs
of the full PV by the old master and by this patch.
No functional change for MultiPV=1
This involves:
* replacing the union hacks with simply reusing the EntryPiece arrays
for the no-pawns case
* merging the PairsData structure with the EntryPiece/-Pawn structs
(with credit to Marco: @mcostalba)
* simplifying some HashTable functions
* thanks to previous changes, removing the ugly memsets
* simplifying the template logic for WDL/DTZ distinction
(now we distinguish based on an enum type, not the entry classes)
* removing the unneeded Atomic wrapper
-----------------------------
For reference, here is a manual way to check that patches concerning
table bases code are non-functional changes:
0) Download the Syzygy table bases (up to 6 men).
1) Make sure you have branches master and the pull request pointing to
the right commits.
2) Download the bench calculation scripts from the following URL:
https://gist.github.com/WOnder93/b5fcf9c989b4a1715684d5c82367cdbe
and copy into src inside your Stockfish repo.
3) Make the scripts executable (chmod +x *.sh).
4) Run the following command to use TBs located at <path>:
export SYZYGY_PATH='<path>'
5) After that, run this (it will take a long time, this is a deep bench):
BENCH_ARGS='128 1 22' ./check_benches.sh master tbprobe_cleanup 2>/dev/null`
==> You should see two equal numbers printed.
(Of course, now we have to trust that the script itself is correct :)
-----------------------------
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1477
No functional change.
This is a patch to fix issue #1498, switching the time management variables
to 64 bits to avoid overflow of time variables after 25 days.
There was a bug in Stockfish 9 causing the output to be wrong after
2^31 milliseconds search. Here is a long run from the starting position:
info depth 64 seldepth 87 multipv 1 score cp 23 nodes 13928920239402
nps 0 tbhits 0 time -504995523 pv g1f3 d7d5 d2d4 g8f6 c2c4 d5c4 e2e3 e7e6 f1c4
c7c5 e1g1 b8c6 d4c5 d8d1 f1d1 f8c5 c4e2 e8g8 a2a3 c5e7 b2b4 f8d8 b1d2 b7b6 c1b2
c8b7 a1c1 a8c8 c1c2 c6e5 d1c1 c8c2 c1c2 e5f3 d2f3 a7a5 b4b5 e7c5 f3d4 d8c8 d4b3
c5d6 c2c8 b7c8 b3d2 c8b7 d2c4 d6c5 e2f3 b7d5 f3d5 e6d5 c4e5 a5a4 e5d3 f6e4 d3c5
e4c5 b2d4 c5e4 d4b6 e4d6 g2g4 d6b5 b6c5 b5c7 g1g2 c7e6 c5d6 g7g6
We check at compile time that the TimePoint type is exactly 64 bits long for
the compiler (TimePoint is our alias in Stockfish for std::chrono::milliseconds
-- it is a signed integer type of at least 45 bits according to the C++ standard,
but will most probably be implemented as a 64 bits signed integer on modern
compilers), and we use this TimePoint type consistently across the code.
Bug report by user "fischerandom" on the TCEC chat (thanks), and the
patch includes code and suggestions by user "WOnder93" and Ronald de Man.
Fixes issue: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/1498
Closes pull request: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1510
No functional change.
Make kingRing always eight squares, extending the bitboard to the
F file if the king is on the H file, and to the C file if the king
is on the A file. This may deal with cases where Stockfish (like
many other engines) would shift the king around on the back rank
like g1h1, not because there is some imminent threat, but because
it makes king safety look a little better just because the king ring
had a smaller area.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 34000 W: 7167 L: 6877 D: 19956
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ab8216d0ebc5902932cbe64
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 22574 W: 3576 L: 3370 D: 15628
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ab84e6a0ebc5902932cbe72
How to continue from there?
This patch probably makes it easier to tune the king safety evaluation,
because the new regularity of the king ring size will make the king
safety function more continuous.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1512
Bench: 5934103
Rewrite the MovePicker class using lambda expressions for move filtering.
Includes code style changes by @mcostalba.
Verified for speed, passed STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 43191 W: 9391 L: 9312 D: 24488
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a99b9df0ebc590297cc8f04
This rewrite of MovePicker.cpp seems to trigger less random crashes on Ryzen
machines than the version in previous master (reported by Bojun Guo).
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1454
No functional change.
To more clearly distinguish them from "const" local variables, this patch
defines compile-time local constants as constexpr. This is consistent with
the definition of PvNode as constexpr in search() and qsearch(). It also
makes the code more robust, since the compiler will now check that those
constants are indeed compile-time constants.
We can go even one step further and define all the evaluation and search
compile-time constants as constexpr.
In generate_castling() I replaced "K" with "step", since K was incorrectly
capitalised (in the Chess960 case).
In timeman.cpp I had to make the non-local constants MaxRatio and StealRatio
constepxr, since otherwise gcc would complain when calculating TMaxRatio and
TStealRatio. (Strangely, I did not have to make Is64Bit constexpr even though
it is used in ucioption.cpp in the calculation of constexpr MaxHashMB.)
I have renamed PieceCount to pieceCount in material.h, since the values of
the array are not compile-time constants.
Some compile-time constants in tbprobe.cpp were overlooked. Sides and MaxFile
are not compile-time constants, so were renamed to sides and maxFile.
Non-functional change.
Implements renaming suggestions by Marco Costalba, Günther Demetz,
Gontran Lemaire, Ronald de Man, Stéphane Nicolet, Alain Savard,
Joost VandeVondele, Jerry Donald Watson, Mike Whiteley, xoto10,
and I hope that I haven't forgotten anybody.
Perpetual renaming thread for suggestions:
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/1426
No functional change.
If search depth is less than ONE_PLY call qsearch(), no need to check the
depth condition at various call sites of search().
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 14568 W: 3011 L: 2877 D: 8680
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aa846190ebc59029781015b
Also helps gcc to find some optimizations (smaller binary, some speedup).
Thanks to Aram and Stefan for identifying an oversight in an early version.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1487
No functional change.
The NO_BSF does not cover any real life use-case today. The only compilers that
can compile SF today, with the current Makefile and no source code changes, are
either GCC compatible (define __GNUC__) or MSVC compatible (define _MSC_VER). So
they all support LSB/MSB intrinsics.
This patch simplifies away the software fall-backs of LSB/MSB that were still
in Stockfish code, but unused in any of the officially supported compilers.
Note the (legacy) MSVC/WIN32 case, where we use a 32-bit BSF/BSR solution, as
64-bit intrinsics aren't available there.
Discussed in: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1447
and: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1479
No functional change.
Adjust ProbCut rBeta by whether the score is improving, and also
set improving to false when in check. More precisely, this patch
has two parts:
1) the increased beta threshold for ProbCut is now adjusted based
on whether the score is improving
2) when in check, improving is always set to false.
Co-authored by Joost VandeVondele (@vondele) and Bill Henry (@VoyagerOne).
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 13480 W: 2840 L: 2648 D: 7992
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aa693fe0ebc59029781004c
LTC:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 25895 W: 4099 L: 3880 D: 17916
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aa6ac940ebc59029781006e
In terms of opportunities for future work opened up by this patch,
the ProbCut rBeta formula could probably be tuned to gain more Elo.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1485
Bench: 5328254
King and pawn endgames are typically decisive, and a small
advantage is often sufficient to win. Therefore we now take
this into account when computing the initiative adjustment.
This idea came from a series of patches by Gian-Carlo Pascutto.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 48770 W: 10203 L: 9845 D: 28722
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aa58cce0ebc59029780ff8d
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 22252 W: 3572 L: 3366 D: 15314
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aa5b27c0ebc59029780ffad
Ideas for future developement:
- There have been a number of changes to the initiative
calculation lately. Perhaps the coefficients could be
tuned again.
- It may be possible to add special knowledge for other
endgames in the initiative calculation.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1481
Bench: 5750110
"Loose pieces drop, in blitz keep everything protected"
Adding a small S(2,2) bonus for knights, bishops, rooks, and
queens that are "connected" to each other (in the sense that
they are under attack by our own pieces) apparently is a good
thing. It probably helps the pieces work together a bit better.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 12317 W: 2655 L: 2467 D: 7195
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aa2d86b0ebc590297cb6474
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 35725 W: 5516 L: 5263 D: 24946
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aa2fc6f0ebc590297cb64a8
How to continue from there (by Stefan Geschwentner)?
• First we should identify all other eval terms which have an overlap
with new connectivity bonus (like the outpost bonus). A simple way
would be subtract the connectivity bonus from them and look if this
better, or use a SPSA session for these terms.
• Tuning Connectivity himself with SPSA seems not so promising because
of the small range which is useful. Here manual testing changes of
Connectivity like +-1 seems better.
• The eg value is more important because in endgame the position gets
more open and so attacks on pieces are easier. Another important point
is that when defending/fortress-like positions each defending piece
needs a protection, otherwise attacks on them can break defense.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1474
Bench: 5318575
Avoid duplicated code after recent commit "Use evaluation trend
to adjust futility margin". We initialize the improving variable
to true in the check case, which allows to avoid redundant code
in the general case.
Tested for speed by snicolet, patch seems about 0.4% faster.
No functional change.
Note: initializing the improving variable to false in the check
case was tested as a functional change, ending yellow in both STC
and LTC. This change is not included in the commit, but it is an
interesting result that could become part of a future patch about
improving or LMR. Reference of the LTC yellow test:
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aa131560ebc590297cb636e
Allow a potential slider threat from a square currently occupied
by a harmless attacker, just as the recent "knight on queen" patch.
Also from not completely safe squares, use the mobilityArea instead
of excluding all pawns for both SlidersOnQueen and KnightOnQueen
We now compute the potential sliders threat on queen only if opponent
has one queen.
Run as SPRT [0,4] since it is some kind of simplification but maybe
not clearly one.
STC:
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aa1ddf10ebc590297cb63d8
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 22997 W: 4817 L: 4570 D: 13610
LTC:
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5aa1fe6b0ebc590297cb63e5
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 11926 W: 1891 L: 1705 D: 8330
After this patch is committed, we may try to:
• re-introduce some "threat by queen" bonus to make Stockfish's queen
more aggressive (attacking aspect)
• introduce a concept of "queen overload" to force the opponent queen
into passivity and protecting duties (defensive aspect)
• more generally, re-tune the queen mobility array since patches in the
last three months have affected a lot the location/activity of queens.
Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1473
bench: 5788691
We give a S(21,11) bonus for knight threats on the next moves
against enemy queen. The threats are from squares which are
"not strongly protected" and which may be empty, contain enemy
pieces or even one of our piece at the moment (N,B,Q,R) -- hence
be two-steps threats in the later case because we will have to
move our piece and *then* attack the enemy queen with the knight.
STC: http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a9e442e0ebc590297cb6162
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 35129 W: 7346 L: 7052 D: 20731
LTC: http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a9e6e620ebc590297cb617f
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 42442 W: 6695 L: 6414 D: 29333
How to continue from there?
• Trying to refine the threat condition ("not strongly protected")
• Trying the two-steps idea for bishops or rooks threats against queen
Bench: 6051247
Similar removal of superposition code trick as in the
"Simplify tropism computation" patch. This simplification
of the space() function will allow us to specify space
masks which can reach into enemy territory.
passed STC:
LLR: 3.38 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 184630 W: 40581 L: 40758 D: 103291
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a8433360ebc590297cc80c5
passed LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 231799 W: 37647 L: 37858 D: 156294
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a96a34a0ebc590297cc8cfd
No functional change.
Add a logarithmic term in the optimism computation, increase
the maximal optimism and lower the contempt offset.
This increases the dynamics of the optimism aspects, giving
a boost for balanced positions without skewing too much on
unbalanced positions (but this version will enter panic mode
faster than previous master when behind, trying to draw faster
when slightly behind). This helps, since optimism is in general
a good thing, for instance at LTC, but too high optimism
rapidly contaminates play.
passed STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 159343 W: 34489 L: 33588 D: 91266
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a8db9340ebc590297cc85b6
passed LTC:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 47491 W: 7825 L: 7517 D: 32149
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a9456a80ebc590297cc8a89
It must be mentioned that a version of the PR with contempt 0
did not pass STC [0,5]. The version in the patch, which uses
default contempt 12, was found to be as strong as current master
on different matches against SF7 and SF8, both at STC and LTC.
One drawback maybe is that it raises the draw rate in self-play
from 56% to 59%, giving a little bit less sensitivity for SF
developpers to find evaluation improvements by selfplay tests
in fishtest.
Possible further work:
• tune the values accurately, while keeping in mind the drawrate issue
• check whether it is possible to remove linear and offset term
• try to simplify the S-shape curve
Bench: 5934644
Use a recursive std::array with variadic template
parameters to get rid of the last redundacy.
The first template T parameter is the base type of
the array, the W parameter is the weight applied to
the bonuses when we update values with the << operator,
the D parameter limits the range of updates (range is
[-W * D, W * D]), and the last parameters (Size and
Sizes) encode the dimensions of the array.
This allows greater flexibility because we can now tweak
the range [-W * D, W * D] for each table.
Patch removes more lines than what adds and streamlines
the Stats soup in movepick.h
Closes PR#1422 and PR#1421
No functional change.
The first depth 2 margin triggers the verification quiescence search.
This qsearch() result has to be better then the second lower margin,
so we only skip the razoring when the qsearch gives a significant
improvement.
Passed STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 32133 W: 7395 L: 7101 D: 17637
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a93198b0ebc590297cc8942
Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 17382 W: 3002 L: 2809 D: 11571
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a93b18c0ebc590297cc89c2
This Elo-gaining version was further simplified following a suggestion
of Marco Costalba:
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 15553 W: 3505 L: 3371 D: 8677
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a964be90ebc590297cc8cc4
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 13253 W: 2270 L: 2137 D: 8846
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a9658880ebc590297cc8cca
How to continue after this patch?
Reformating the razoring code (step 7 in search()) to unify the
depth 1 and depth 2 treatements seems quite possible, this could
possibly lead to more simplifications.
Bench: 5765806
In pawn structures like white pawns f6,h6 against black pawns f7,g6,h7
the attack on the king is blocked by the own pawns. So decrease the
penalty for king safety.
See diagram and discussion in
https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/1434
A sample position that this patch wants to avoid is the following
1rr2bk1/3q1p1p/2n1bPpP/pp1pP3/2pP4/P1P1B3/1PBQN1P1/1K3R1R w - - 0 1
White pawn storm on the king side was a disaster, it locked the king
side completely. Therefore, all the king tropism bonus that white have
on the king side are useless, and kingadjacent attacks too. Master
gives White a static +4.5 advantage, but White cannot win that game.
The patch is lowering this evaluation artefact.
STC:
LLR: 2.94 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 16467 W: 3750 L: 3537 D: 9180
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a92102d0ebc590297cc87d0
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 64242 W: 11130 L: 10745 D: 42367
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a923dc80ebc590297cc8806
This version includes reformatting and speed optimization by Alain Savard.
Bench: 5643527
Using a SPSA tuning session to optimize the time management
parameters.
With SPSA tuning it is not always possible to say where improvements
came from. Maybe some variables changed randomly or because result
was not sensitive enough to them. So my explanation of changes will
not be necessarily correct, but here it is.
• When decrease of thinking time was added by Joost a few months ago
if best move has not changed for several plies, one more competing
indicator was introduced for the same purpose along with increase
in score and absence of fail low at root. It seems that tuning put
relatively more importance on that new indicator what allowed to save
time.
• Some of this saved time is distributed proportionally between all
moves and some more time were given to moves when score dropped a lot
or best move changed.
• It looks also that SPSA redistributed more time from the beginning to
later stages of game via other changes in variables - maybe because
contempt made game to last longer or for whatever reason.
All of this is just small tweaks here and there (a few percentages changes).
STC (10+0.1):
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 18970 W: 4268 L: 4029 D: 10673
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a9291a40ebc590297cc8881
LTC (60+0.6):
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 72027 W: 12263 L: 11878 D: 47886
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a92d7510ebc590297cc88ef
Additional non-regression tests at other time controls
Sudden death 60s:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-4.00,0.00]
Total: 14444 W: 2715 L: 2608 D: 9121
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a9445850ebc590297cc8a65
40 moves repeating at LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-4.00,0.00]
Total: 10309 W: 1880 L: 1759 D: 6670
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a9566ec0ebc590297cc8be1
This is a functional patch only for time management, but the bench
does not reflect this because it uses fixed depth search, so the number
of nodes does not change during bench.
No functional change.
This is the sequel of the previous patch, we now let the parent node initialize
stat score to zero once for all grandchildren.
Initialize statScore to zero for the grandchildren of the current position.
So statScore is shared between all grandchildren and only the first grandchild
starts with statScore = 0. Later grandchildren start with the last calculated
statScore of the previous grandchild. This influences the reduction rules in
LMR which are based on the statScore of parent position.
Tests results against the previous patch:
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 23676 W: 5417 L: 5157 D: 13102
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a9423a90ebc590297cc8a46
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 35485 W: 6168 L: 5898 D: 23419
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a9435550ebc590297cc8a54
Bench: 5643520
Let the parent node initialize stat score to zero once for all siblings.
Initialize statScore to zero for the children of the current position.
So statScore is shared between sibling positions and only the first sibling
starts with statScore = 0. Later siblings start with the last calculated
statScore of the previous sibling. This influences the reduction rules in
in LMR which are based on the statScore of parent position.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 22683 W: 5202 L: 4946 D: 12535
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a93315f0ebc590297cc894f
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 48548 W: 8346 L: 8035 D: 32167
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a933ba90ebc590297cc8962
Bench: 5833683
The current master applies Eval::Tempo even to leaves evaluated
as draw by some of the static evaluation functions of endgame.cpp
(for instance KNN vs K or stalemates in KP vs K). This results in
some lines being reported as +0.07 or -0.07 when the terminal
position has reached such endgames (0.07 being about the value
of a tempo for Stockfish).
This patch does not apply Eval::tempo to these positions. This leads
to more nodes being evaluated as VALUE_DRAW during search, giving more
opportunities for cut-offs in alpha-beta.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 52602 W: 11776 L: 11403 D: 29423
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a8cb8f60ebc590297cc8546
LTC:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,4.00]
Total: 156613 W: 26820 L: 26158 D: 103635
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a8f452d0ebc590297cc865a
Bench: 4924749
To compute dicovered check or pinned pieces we use some bitwise
operators that are not really needed because already accounted for
at the caller site.
For instance in evaluation we compute:
pos.pinned_pieces(Us) & s
Where pinned_pieces() is:
st->blockersForKing[c] & pieces(c)
So in this case the & operator with pieces(c) is useless,
given the outer '& s'.
There are many places where we can use the naked blockersForKing[]
instead of the full pinned_pieces() or discovered_check_candidates().
This path is simpler than original and gives around 1% speed up for me.
Also tested for speed by mstembera and snicolet (neutral in both cases).
No functional change.
Apply -mdynamic-no-pic in a single place in the Makefile instead of 5 places.
Verified on three different Macs:
- a MacBook from 2013
- a MacBook running MacOS 10.9.5
- an iMac running MacOS 10.13.3
No functional change.
The previous asymmetry measure of the pawn structure only used to
consider the number of pawns on semi-opened files in the position.
With this patch we also increase the measure by the number of passed
pawns for both players.
Many thanks to the community for the nice feedback on the previous
version, with special mentions to Alain Savard and Marco Costalba
for clarity and speed suggestions.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 13146 W: 3038 L: 2840 D: 7268
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a91dd0c0ebc590297cc877e
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 27776 W: 4771 L: 4536 D: 18469
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a91fdd50ebc590297cc879b
How to continue after this patch?
Stockfish will now evaluate more positions with passed pawns, so
tuning the passed pawns values may bring Elo. The patch has also
consequences on the initiative term, where we might want to give
different weights to passed pawns and semi-openfiles (idea by
Stefano Cardanobile).
Bench: 5302866
Move the first killer move out of the capture stage, combining treatment
of first and second killer move.
passed STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 55777 W: 12367 L: 12313 D: 31097
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a88617e0ebc590297cc8351
Similar to an earlier proposition of Günther Demetz, see pull request #1075.
I think it is more robust and readable than master, why hand-unroll the loop
over the killer array, and duplicate code ?
This version includes review comments from Marco Costalba.
Bench: 5227124
The previous asymmetry measure of the pawn structure only used to
consider the number of pawns on semi-opened files in the postions.
With this patch we also increase the measure by the number of passed
pawns for both players.
STC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 13146 W: 3038 L: 2840 D: 7268
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a91dd0c0ebc590297cc877e
LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 27776 W: 4771 L: 4536 D: 18469
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a91fdd50ebc590297cc879b
How to continue from there: Stockfish will now evaluate more positions
with passed pawns, so tuning the passed pawns values may bring Elo.
The patch also has consequences on the initiative term.
Bench: 5302866
When iid (Internal iterative deepening) is invoked, the prior value of ttValue is
not guaranteed to be VALUE_NONE. As such, it is currently possible to enter a state
in which ttValue has a specific value which is inconsistent with tte->bound() and
tte->depth(). Currently, ttValue is only used within the search in a context that
prevents this situation from making a difference (and so this change is non-functional,
but this is not guaranteed to remain the case in the future.
For instance, just changing the tt depth condition in singular extension node to be
tte->depth() >= depth - 4 * ONE_PLY
instead of
tte->depth() >= depth - 3 * ONE_PLY
interacts badly with the absence of ttMove in iid. For the ttMove to become a singular
extension candidate, singularExtensionNode needs to be true. With the current master,
this requires that tte->depth() >= depth - 3 * ONE_PLY. This is not currently possible
if tte comes from IID, since the depth 'd' used for the IID search is always less than
depth - 4 * ONE_PLY for depth >= 8 * ONE_PLY (below depth 8 singularExtensionNode can
never be true anyway). However, with DU-jdto/Stockfish@251281a , this condition can be
met, and it is possible for singularExtensionNode to become true after IID. There are
then two mechanisms by which this patch can affect the search:
• If ttValue was VALUE_NONE prior to IID, the fact that this patch sets ttValue allows
the 'ttValue != VALUE_NONE' condition of singularExtensionNode to be met.
• If ttValue wasn't VALUE_NONE prior to IID, the fact that this patch modifies ttValue's
value causes a different 'rBeta' to be calculated if the singular extension search is
performed.
Tested at STC for non-regression:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 76981 W: 17060 L: 17048 D: 42873
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a7738b70ebc5902971a9868
No functional change
The razoring heuristic is quite a drastic pruning technique,
using a depth 0 search at internal nodes of the search tree
to estimate the true value of depth n nodes. This patch limits
this razoring to the case of internal nodes of depth 1.
Author: Jarrod Torriero (DU-jdto)
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 8043 W: 1865 L: 1716 D: 4462
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a90a9290ebc590297cc86c1
LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 32890 W: 5577 L: 5476 D: 21837
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a90c8510ebc590297cc86d5
Opportunities opened by this patch: it would be interesting to
know if it brings Elo to re-introduce razoring or soft razoring
at depth >= 2, maybe using a larger margin to compensate for the
increased pruning effect.
Bench: 5227124
This is one of the most difficult to understand but also
most important and speed critical functions of SF.
This patch rewrites some part of it to hopefully
make it clearer and drop some redundant variables
in the process.
Same speed than master (or even a bit more).
Thanks to Chris Cain for useful feedback.
No functional change.
Where variable names are explicitly incorrect, I feel morally obligated to at least
suggest an alternative. There are many, but these two are especially egregious.
No functional change.
As far as can tell, semiopenFiles are set if there is a pawn anywhere on
the file. The removed condition would be true even if the pawns were very
advanced, which doesn't make sense if we're looking for a trapped rook.
Seems the engine fairs better with this removed. My guess s that the
condition that mobility is 3 or less does this well enough.
Begs the question whether this is a mobility issue alone... not sure.
Should I do LTC test?
STC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 13377 W: 3009 L: 2871 D: 7497
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a855be40ebc590297cc8166
Passed LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 16288 W: 2813 L: 2685 D: 10790
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a8575a80ebc590297cc817e
Bench: 5006365
Make contempt dependent on the current score of the root position.
The idea is that we now use a linear formula like the following to decide
on the contempt to use during a search :
contempt = x + y * eval
where x is the base contempt set by the user in the "Contempt" UCI option,
and y * eval is the dynamic part which adapts itself to the estimation of
the evaluation of the root position returned by the search. In this patch,
we use x = 18 centipawns by default, and the y * eval correction can go
from -20 centipawns if the root eval is less than -2.0 pawns, up to +20
centipawns when the root eval is more than 2.0 pawns.
To summarize, the new contempt goes from -0.02 to 0.38 pawns, depending if
Stockfish is losing or winning, with an average value of 0.18 pawns by default.
STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 110052 W: 24614 L: 23938 D: 61500
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a72e6020ebc590f2c86ea20
LTC:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 16470 W: 2896 L: 2705 D: 10869
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a76c5b90ebc5902971a9830
A second match at LTC was organised against the current master:
ELO: 1.45 +-2.9 (95%) LOS: 84.0%
Total: 19369 W: 3350 L: 3269 D: 12750
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a7acf980ebc5902971a9a2e
Finally, we checked that there is no apparent problem with multithreading,
despite the fact that some threads might have a slightly different contempt
level that the main thread.
Match of this version against master, both using 5 threads, time control 30+0.3:
ELO: 2.18 +-3.2 (95%) LOS: 90.8%
Total: 14840 W: 2502 L: 2409 D: 9929
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a7bf3e80ebc5902971a9aa2
Include suggestions from Marco Costalba, Aram Tumanian, Ronald de Man, etc.
Bench: 5207156
This patch simplifies the time management code, removing the extra
thinking time for moves with draw PV and increasing thinking time
for all moves proportionally by around 4%.
Last time when the time management was carefully tuned was 1.5-2 years
ago. As new patches were getting added, time management was drifting out
of optimum. This happens because when search becomes more precise pv and
score are becoming more stable, there are less fail lows, best move is
picked earlier and there are less best move changes. All this factors are
entering in time management, and average time per move is decreasing with
more and more good patches. For individual patches such effect is small
(except some) and may be up or down, but when there are many of them,
effect is more substantial. The same way benchmark with more and more
patches is slowly drifting down on average.
So my understanding that back in October adding more think time for draw
PV showed positive Elo because time management was not well tuned, there
was more time available, and think_hard patch applied this additional time
to moves with draw PV, while just retuning back to optimum would recover Elo
anyway. It is possible that absence of contempt also helped, as SF9 is showing
less 0.0 scores than the October version.
Anyway, to me it seems that proper place to deal with draw PV is search, and
contempt sounds as much better solution. In time management there is little
additional elo, and if some code is not helping like removed here, it is better
to discard it. It is simpler to find genuine improvement if code is clean.
• Passed STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 20487 W: 4558 L: 4434 D: 11495
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a7706ec0ebc5902971a9854
• Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 41960 W: 7145 L: 7058 D: 27757
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a778c830ebc5902971a9895
• Passed an additional non-regression [-5..0] test at the time control
of 60sec for the game (sudden death) with disabled draw adjudication:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-5.00,0.00]
Total: 8438 W: 1675 L: 1586 D: 5177
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a7c3d8d0ebc5902971a9ac0
• Passed an additional non-regression [-5..0] test at the time control
of 1sec+1sec per move with disabled draw adjudication:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) [-5.00,0.00]
Total: 27664 W: 5575 L: 5574 D: 16515
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a7c3e820ebc5902971a9ac3
This is a functional change for the time management code.
Bench: 4983414
The 'eval' debugging command in Terminal did not initialize the Eval::Contempt
variable, leading to random output during debugging sessions (normal search
was unaffected by the bug).
Example of session where the two 'eval' commands should give the same output,
but did not:
./stockfish
position startpos
d
eval
go depth 20
d
eval
The bug is fixed by initializing Eval::Contempt to SCORE_ZERO in Eval::trace
No functional change.
The current logic in master is to continue return quiet moves if their
history score is above 0. It appears as though this check can be
removed, which is also more logically consistent with the “skipQuiets”
semantics used in search.cpp.
This patch may open new opportunitiesto get Elo by changing or
tuning the definition of 'moveCountPruning' in line 830 of search.cpp,
because obeying skipQuiets without checking the history scores makes
the search more sensitive to 'moveCountPruning'.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 34780 W: 7680 L: 7584 D: 19516
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a79f8d80ebc5902971a99db
LTC
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 38757 W: 6732 L: 6641 D: 25384
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a7afebe0ebc5902971a9a46
Bench 4954595
Enable link-time optimization in the Makefile when compiling with clang.
Also update travis.yml to use clang++-5.0 and llvm-5.0-dev.
No functional change.
For these recaptures, we’re are only considering those captures
that recapture the recapture square (small portion of all the
captures). Therefore, scoring all of the captures and pick_besting
out of the whole group is not necessary.
STC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 85583 W: 18978 L: 18983 D: 47622
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a717faa0ebc590f2c86e9a7
LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 20231 W: 3533 L: 3411 D: 13287
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a73ad330ebc5902971a96ba
Bench: 5023593
The difference between QCAPTURES_1 and QCAPTURES_2 quiescence search stages
boils down to a simple check of depth. The way it's being done now is
unnecessarily complex.
This patch is simpler, clearer, and easier to understand.
Passed SPRT[-3..1] test at STC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [-3.00,1.00]
Total: 99755 W: 22158 L: 22192 D: 55405
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5a71f41c0ebc590f2c86e9cb
No functional change.
It seems to be a waste of time to loop through all remaining root moves
after finishing each PV line. This patch skips this until we have reached
the last PV line (this is the way it was done in Glaurung and very early
versions of Stockfish).
No functional change in Single PV mode.
MultiPV=3 STC and LTC tests
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 3113 W: 1248 L: 1064 D: 801
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 2260 W: 848 L: 679 D: 733
Bench: 5023629
- COMPILER=clang++ V='Apple LLVM 6.0'# Apple LLVM version 6.0 (clang-600.0.54) (based on LLVM 3.5svn)
- COMP=clang
branches:
only:
- master
before_script:
- cd src
script:
# Obtain bench reference from git log
- git log HEAD | grep "\b[Bb]ench[ :]\+[0-9]\{7\}" | head -n 1 | sed "s/[^0-9]*\([0-9][0-9]*\)/\1/g" > git_sig
- export benchref=$(cat git_sig)
- echo "Reference bench:" $benchref
#
# Verify bench number against various builds
- export CXXFLAGS=-Werror
- make clean && make -j2 ARCH=x86-64 optimize=no debug=yes build && ../tests/signature.sh $benchref
- make clean && make -j2 ARCH=x86-32 optimize=no debug=yes build && ../tests/signature.sh $benchref
- make clean && make -j2 ARCH=x86-32 build && ../tests/signature.sh $benchref
- make clean && make -j2 ARCH=x86-64 build && ../tests/signature.sh $benchref
#
# Check perft and reproducible search
- ../tests/perft.sh
- ../tests/reprosearch.sh
#
# Valgrind
#
- export CXXFLAGS=-O1
- if [ -x "$(command -v valgrind )" ]; then make clean && make -j2 ARCH=x86-64 debug=yes optimize=no build > /dev/null && ../tests/instrumented.sh --valgrind; fi
- if [ -x "$(command -v valgrind )" ]; then ../tests/instrumented.sh --valgrind-thread; fi
#
# Sanitizer
#
# Use g++-6 as a proxy for having sanitizers, might need revision as they become available for more recent versions of clang/gcc
- if [[ "$COMPILER" == "g++-6" ]]; then make clean && make -j2 ARCH=x86-64 sanitize=undefined optimize=no debug=yes build > /dev/null && ../tests/instrumented.sh --sanitizer-undefined; fi
- if [[ "$COMPILER" == "g++-6" ]]; then make clean && make -j2 ARCH=x86-64 sanitize=thread optimize=no debug=yes build > /dev/null && ../tests/instrumented.sh --sanitizer-thread; fi
[Stockfish](https://stockfishchess.org) is a free, powerful UCI chess engine
derived from Glaurung 2.1. Stockfish is not a complete chess program and requires a
UCI-compatible graphical user interface (GUI) (e.g. XBoard with PolyGlot, Scid,
Cute Chess, eboard, Arena, Sigma Chess, Shredder, Chess Partner or Fritz) in order
to be used comfortably. Read the documentation for your GUI of choice for information
about how to use Stockfish with it.
The Stockfish engine features two evaluation functions for chess, the classical
evaluation based on handcrafted terms, and the NNUE evaluation based on efficiently
updatable neural networks. The classical evaluation runs efficiently on almost all
CPU architectures, while the NNUE evaluation benefits from the vector
intrinsics available on most CPUs (sse2, avx2, neon, or similar).
## Files
This distribution of Stockfish consists of the following files:
* [Readme.md](https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/blob/master/README.md), the file you are currently reading.
* [Copying.txt](https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/blob/master/Copying.txt), a text file containing the GNU General Public License version 3.
* [AUTHORS](https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/blob/master/AUTHORS), a text file with the list of authors for the project
* [src](https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/tree/master/src), a subdirectory containing the full source code, including a Makefile
that can be used to compile Stockfish on Unix-like systems.
* a file with the .nnue extension, storing the neural network for the NNUE
evaluation. Binary distributions will have this file embedded.
## The UCI protocol and available options
The Universal Chess Interface (UCI) is a standard protocol used to communicate with
a chess engine, and is the recommended way to do so for typical graphical user interfaces
(GUI) or chess tools. Stockfish implements the majority of it options as described
in [the UCI protocol](https://www.shredderchess.com/download/div/uci.zip).
Developers can see the default values for UCI options available in Stockfish by typing
`./stockfish uci` in a terminal, but the majority of users will typically see them and
change them via a chess GUI. This is a list of available UCI options in Stockfish:
* #### Threads
The number of CPU threads used for searching a position. For best performance, set
this equal to the number of CPU cores available.
* #### Hash
The size of the hash table in MB. It is recommended to set Hash after setting Threads.
* #### Clear Hash
Clear the hash table.
* #### Ponder
Let Stockfish ponder its next move while the opponent is thinking.
* #### MultiPV
Output the N best lines (principal variations, PVs) when searching.
Leave at 1 for best performance.
* #### Use NNUE
Toggle between the NNUE and classical evaluation functions. If set to "true",
the network parameters must be available to load from file (see also EvalFile),
if they are not embedded in the binary.
* #### EvalFile
The name of the file of the NNUE evaluation parameters. Depending on the GUI the
filename might have to include the full path to the folder/directory that contains the file.
Other locations, such as the directory that contains the binary and the working directory,
are also searched.
* #### UCI_AnalyseMode
An option handled by your GUI.
* #### UCI_Chess960
An option handled by your GUI. If true, Stockfish will play Chess960.
* #### UCI_ShowWDL
If enabled, show approximate WDL statistics as part of the engine output.
These WDL numbers model expected game outcomes for a given evaluation and
game ply for engine self-play at fishtest LTC conditions (60+0.6s per game).
* #### UCI_LimitStrength
Enable weaker play aiming for an Elo rating as set by UCI_Elo. This option overrides Skill Level.
* #### UCI_Elo
If enabled by UCI_LimitStrength, aim for an engine strength of the given Elo.
This Elo rating has been calibrated at a time control of 60s+0.6s and anchored to CCRL 40/4.
* #### Skill Level
Lower the Skill Level in order to make Stockfish play weaker (see also UCI_LimitStrength).
Internally, MultiPV is enabled, and with a certain probability depending on the Skill Level a
weaker move will be played.
* #### SyzygyPath
Path to the folders/directories storing the Syzygy tablebase files. Multiple
directories are to be separated by ";" on Windows and by ":" on Unix-based
operating systems. Do not use spaces around the ";" or ":".
are already enabled, and no configuration is needed.
### Support on Windows
The use of large pages requires "Lock Pages in Memory" privilege. See
[Enable the Lock Pages in Memory Option (Windows)](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/configure-windows/enable-the-lock-pages-in-memory-option-windows)
on how to enable this privilege, then run [RAMMap](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/rammap)
to double-check that large pages are used. We suggest that you reboot
your computer after you have enabled large pages, because long Windows
sessions suffer from memory fragmentation, which may prevent Stockfish
from getting large pages: a fresh session is better in this regard.
## Compiling Stockfish yourself from the sources
Stockfish has support for 32 or 64-bit CPUs, certain hardware
instructions, big-endian machines such as Power PC, and other platforms.
On Unix-like systems, it should be easy to compile Stockfish
directly from the source code with the included Makefile in the folder
`src`. In general it is recommended to run `make help` to see a list of make
targets with corresponding descriptions.
```
cd src
make help
make net
make build ARCH=x86-64-modern
```
When not using the Makefile to compile (for instance, with Microsoft MSVC) you
need to manually set/unset some switches in the compiler command line; see
file *types.h* for a quick reference.
When reporting an issue or a bug, please tell us which Stockfish version
and which compiler you used to create your executable. This information
can be found by typing the following command in a console:
```
./stockfish compiler
```
## Understanding the code base and participating in the project
Stockfish's improvement over the last decade has been a great community
effort. There are a few ways to help contribute to its growth.
### Donating hardware
Improving Stockfish requires a massive amount of testing. You can donate
your hardware resources by installing the [Fishtest Worker](https://github.com/glinscott/fishtest/wiki/Running-the-worker:-overview)
and view the current tests on [Fishtest](https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests).
### Improving the code
If you want to help improve the code, there are several valuable resources:
* [In this wiki,](https://www.chessprogramming.org) many techniques used in
Stockfish are explained with a lot of background information.
* [The section on Stockfish](https://www.chessprogramming.org/Stockfish)
describes many features and techniques used by Stockfish. However, it is
generic rather than being focused on Stockfish's precise implementation.
Nevertheless, a helpful resource.
* The latest source can always be found on [GitHub](https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish).
Discussions about Stockfish take place these days mainly in the [FishCooking](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/fishcooking)
group and on the [Stockfish Discord channel](https://discord.gg/nv8gDtt).
The engine testing is done on [Fishtest](https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests).
If you want to help improve Stockfish, please read this [guideline](https://github.com/glinscott/fishtest/wiki/Creating-my-first-test)
first, where the basics of Stockfish development are explained.
## Terms of use
Stockfish is free, and distributed under the **GNU General Public License version 3**
(GPL v3). Essentially, this means you are free to do almost exactly
what you want with the program, including distributing it among your
friends, making it available for download from your website, selling
it (either by itself or as part of some bigger software package), or
using it as the starting point for a software project of your own.
The only real limitation is that whenever you distribute Stockfish in
some way, you MUST always include the full source code, or a pointer
to where the source code can be found, to generate the exact binary
you are distributing. If you make any changes to the source code,
these changes must also be made available under the GPL.
For full details, read the copy of the GPL v3 found in the file named
It is recommended to store .rtbw files on an SSD. There is no loss in
storing the .rtbz files on a regular HD.
Increasing the "SyzygyProbeDepth" option lets the engine probe less
aggressively. Set this option to a higher value if you experience too much
slowdown (in terms of nps) due to TB probing.
Set the "Syzygy50MoveRule" option to false if you want tablebase positions
that are drawn by the 50-move rule to count as win or loss. This may be useful
for correspondence games (because of tablebase adjudication).
The "SyzygyProbeLimit" option should normally be left at its default value.
**What to expect**
If the engine is searching a position that is not in the tablebases (e.g.
a position with 7 pieces), it will access the tablebases during the search.
If the engine reports a very large score (typically 123.xx), this means
that it has found a winning line into a tablebase position.
If the engine is given a position to search that is in the tablebases, it
will use the tablebases at the beginning of the search to preselect all
good moves, i.e. all moves that preserve the win or preserve the draw while
taking into account the 50-move rule.
It will then perform a search only on those moves. **The engine will not move
immediately**, unless there is only a single good move. **The engine likely
will not report a mate score even if the position is known to be won.**
It is therefore clear that behaviour is not identical to what one might
be used to with Nalimov tablebases. There are technical reasons for this
difference, the main technical reason being that Nalimov tablebases use the
DTM metric (distance-to-mate), while Syzygybases use a variation of the
DTZ metric (distance-to-zero, zero meaning any move that resets the 50-move
counter). This special metric is one of the reasons that Syzygybases are
more compact than Nalimov tablebases, while still storing all information
needed for optimal play and in addition being able to take into account
the 50-move rule.
### Compiling it yourself
On Unix-like systems, it should be possible to compile Stockfish
directly from the source code with the included Makefile.
Stockfish has support for 32 or 64-bit CPUs, the hardware POPCNT
instruction, big-endian machines such as Power PC, and other platforms.
In general it is recommended to run `make help` to see a list of make
targets with corresponding descriptions. When not using the Makefile to
compile (for instance with Microsoft MSVC) you need to manually
set/unset some switches in the compiler command line; see file *types.h*
for a quick reference.
### Resource For Understanding the Code Base
* [Chessprogramingwiki](https://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com) has good overall chess engines explanations
(techniques used here are well explained like hash maps etc), it was
also recommended by the [support at stockfish.](http://support.stockfishchess.org/discussions/questions/1132-how-to-understand-stockfish-sources)
* [Here](https://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com/Stockfish) you can find a set of features and techniques used by stockfish and each of them is explained at the wiki, however, it's a generic way rather than focusing on stockfish's own implementation, but it will still help you.
### Terms of use
Stockfish is free, and distributed under the **GNU General Public License**
(GPL). Essentially, this means that you are free to do almost exactly
what you want with the program, including distributing it among your
friends, making it available for download from your web site, selling
it (either by itself or as part of some bigger software package), or
using it as the starting point for a software project of your own.
The only real limitation is that whenever you distribute Stockfish in
some way, you must always include the full source code, or a pointer
to where the source code can be found. If you make any changes to the
source code, these changes must also be made available under the GPL.
For full details, read the copy of the GPL found in the file named
Blocking a user prevents them from interacting with repositories, such as opening or commenting on pull requests or issues. Learn more about blocking a user.
Joost VandeVondele
