In particualr before to wake up main thread that
could take some random time. Until we don't reset
search time we are not able to correctly track
the elapsed search time and this can be dangerous
under extreme time pressure.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
There is no need to "invent" different names
from the original UCI parameters.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
We store pointers instead of Thread objects because
Thread is not copy-constructible nor copy-assignable
and default ones are not suitable. So we cannot store
directly in a std::vector.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Split the data allocation, now done (mostly once)
in read_uci_options(), from the wake up and sleeping
of the slave threads upon entering/exiting the search.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Not correct warning about use of an uninitialized
variable. The warning is not correct becuase we can
never reach the warned code when in SpNode, anyhow
the fix is simple.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
This should avoid some aliasing issues
with TT table access.
After 3913 games at 10"+0.05
Mod vs Orig 662 - 651 - 2600 ELO +0 (+- 6.4)
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Also some microoptimizations, were there from ages
but hidden: the renaming suddendly made them visible!
This is a good example of how better naming lets you write
better code. Naming is really a kind of black art!
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
So to be done only once at startup and in the (unlikely)
cases that a relevant UCI parameter is changed, instead
of doing it at the beginning of each search.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Introduce 'on change' actions that are triggered as soon as
an UCI option is changed by the GUI. This allows to set hash
size before to start the game, helpful especially on very fast
TC and big TT size.
As a side effect remove the 'button' type option, that now
is managed as a 'check' type.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Self-documenting code instead of a tricky
bitwise tweak, not known by everybody.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Introduce and use a new Time class designed after
QTime, from Qt framework. Should be a more clear and
self documented code.
As an added benefit we now use 64 bits internally to get
millisecs from system time. This avoids to wrap around
to 0 every 2^32 milliseconds, which is 49.71 days.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
And introduce SPlitPoint bestMove to pass back the
best move after a split point.
This allow to define as const the search stack passed
to split.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
It is a prerequisite for next patch and simplifies
the function. testing at ultra fast TC shows no
regression.
After 24302 games at 2"+0.05
Mod vs Orig 5122 - 5038 - 13872 ELO +1 (+- 2.9)
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
We shouldn't need lock protection to increment
splitPointsCnt and set curSplitPoint of masterThread.
Anyhow because this code is very tricky and prone to
races bound the change in a single patch.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Because TT table is shared tte->move() could change
under our feet, in particular we could validate
tte->move() then the move is changed by another
thread and we call pos.do_move() with a move different
from the original validated one !
This leads to a very rare but reproducible crash once
every about 20K games.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
But only when needed, after a split point. This behaviour
does not apply when useSleepingThreads is false, becuase
in this case threads are not woken up at split points so
must be already running.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
This method belongs to Thread, not to ThreadsManager.
Reshuffle stuff in thread.cpp while there.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Release split point lock before to wake up
master thread. This seems to increase speed
in case "sleeping threads" are used:
After 7792 games with 4 threads at very fast TC (2"+0.05)
Mod vs Orig 1722 - 1627 - 4443 ELO +4 (+- 5.1)
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
When allocating a slave we set both is_searching
and splitPoint under lock protection.
Unfortunatly the order in which the variables are
set is not defined. This article was very clarifying:
http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2007/11/30/volatile-almost-useless-for-multi-threaded-programming/
So when in idle loop we test for is_searching and then
access splitPoint, it could happen that splitPoint is still
not updated leading to a possible crash.
Fix the race lock protecting splitPoint access.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
With current code we could raise bestValue above beta,
not what is intended for.
Spotted by Richard Vida.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Fix an issue where the log file stores an incorrect +0.00
eval after a search has been stopped.
Bug reported by Ajedrecista.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
This allows to retire ClearMaskBB[] and use just
one SquareBB[] array to set and clear a bit.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
It is not clear the advantage and we don't want
to risk of introducing regressions on this
very critical parameter. So revert to old limit.
After 16003 games
Mod vs Orig 2496 - 2421 - 11086 ELO +1 (+-3)
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Apart from some renaming the biggest change
is the retire of split_point_finished()
replaced by slavesMask flags. As a side
effect we now take also split point lock
when allocation available threads.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
pass references (Windows style) instead of
pointers (Posix style) as function arguments.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
In case of a PvNode could happen that alpha == beta - 1,
for instance in case the same previous node was visited
with same beta during a non-pv search, the node failed low
and stored beta-1 in TT. Then the node is searched again
in PV mode, TT value beta-1 is retrieved and updates alpha
that now happens to be beta-1.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
And increase LMR limit. Tests show no change ELO wise,
but we prefer to take the risk to commit anyhow becuase
is a 'prune reducing' patch.
After 10749 games
Mod vs Orig: 1670 - 1676 - 7403 ELO 0 (+-3.7)
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Fix an incorrect warning: 'bm may be used uninitialized'
with the old but still commonly used gcc 4.4
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
And directly pass RootMoves instead of SearchMoves
to main thread. A class declaration is better suited
in a header and slims a bit the fatty search.cpp
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
We just need to verify if a legal move is among the
SearchMoves, so we don't need a vector for this.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
It could lead to terrible mistakes otherwise, as
it happened during a game on playchess when on
this position (after white's f4):
2q4r/4b1k1/p3rpp1/3np2p/PpNpNP1P/1P1P2PQ/2P1R3/4R1K1 b - - 0 1
SF moves immediately e5xf4 instead of the correct f5.
In general during engine matches it is impossible the
opponent leaves a piece hanging or anyhow starts a
clear losing sequence. So avoid to fall in subtle traps.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Further increase safety against time losses. After this
change (tested on LittleBlitzer and cutechess) I had no
more time losses at 2" and 1"+0.02 TC both on Windows
and Linux on more than 10000 games.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
We try hard not to lose on time even under extreme
time pressure. We achieve this through 3 different but
coordinated steps:
1) Increase max frequency of timer events
2) Quickly return after a stop signal
3) Take in account timer resolution
With these SF played under LittleBlitzer at 1"+0.02 and 3"+0
without losing on time even one game.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
The aim is to have shorter names without losing
readibility but, if possible, increasing it.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>
Retire open(), close() and name() from public visibility
and greately simplify the code. It is amazing how much
can be squeezed out of an already mature code !
No functional change
Signed-off-by: Marco Costalba <mcostalba@gmail.com>