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
