SharpChess 2 by Peter Hughes

[peterhughes]

In order to completely distinguish SharpChess, from Albert Bertilsson's #Chess, I have renamed the executable to:

SharpChess2.exe.

This should allow the new executable to co-exist, and be distinct from, Albert Bertilsson's #Chess, whose execuable was also name "sharpchess.exe".

Further, since the last version, I have:

- Added 50 Moves Draw detection
- Added Insufficient Material Draw detection (KvK, KBvK, KNvK only)
- Completely re-written support for all WinBoard time modes:
* Tournament Clock (n moves in x mintes)
* Incremental Clock (x base mintes + y seconds-per-move)
* Fixed-time-per-move

If possible, I would like this version of SharpChess to replace the old version in any tournaments already entered.

There have been major modifications to the way the program plays, certainly in terms of time-management, and would therefore recommend re-qualification to any current tournaments.

This version is not as tested as I would like (if it ever is...), but I wanted to release it before any tournaments actually started.

Many thanks
Peter Hughes

[peterhughes]

Erm... I should probably include the download URL again...

http://sharpchess.com/?page=02%20Download

[Jim Ablett]

Hello Peter,

A great new engine deserves a logo!



Regards,

Jim.

[peterhughes]

Thank you!

I'm not so sure about the "great", but thanks anyway.

I have been thinking of doing a logo that could be used in Arena (I presume that the size you 've made it, is for that purpose?), but I hadn't got around to it yet. I'm still stuck in the middle of futility pruning at the moment!

I have been thinking of a logo, and I was thinking of making it mostly black, with yellow text, similar to the SharpChess program shortcut icon itself. If you download SharpChess, you'll see the icon I mean: It consists of a black knight, with a yellow "#" symbol on it. I'd really like a bigger, more 3D-ish version of the knight & sharp logo, to add to my webpage banner at http://sharpchess.com.

As I said, though, I've found it difficult to drag myself away from fiddling with the code, and getting around making the Arena-copatable logo!

Many thanks
Pete

[Jim Ablett]

I thought I'd have another crack at it
following your suggestions.



best,
Jim.

[peterhughes]

Cheers Jim, that's smashing mate!



Thanks
Pete

[Dann Corbit]

There's a little (intended?) irony, perhaps that # means checkmate in chess.

[peterhughes]

I'd like to say that I'd been that clever... but it's just because it's been written in C#.

Although, if the engine ever gets over 2000 ELO, the I might change my mind, and say that it was!

[Jim Ablett]

I really like how your gui shows it thinking,
highlighting possible variations on the chessboard
squares, it's fascinating to watch. I wish Winboard
and Arena had this feature, it's excellent.

Regards,
Jim.

[Tord Romstad]

I really like how your gui shows it thinking,
highlighting possible variations on the chessboard
squares, it's fascinating to watch. I wish Winboard
and Arena had this feature, it's excellent.

Hi Jim and Peter,

I don't run Windows. Is it possible to describe how this feature works? I am currently working on a GUI for Scatha (a screen shot can be found on my Glaurung and Scatha page). Perhaps I will want to implement a similar feature.

Tord

[peterhughes]

You can see it in the screenshot at http://SharpChess.com. Jim's talking about 2 yellow highlighted squares g8-f8.

The yellow highlights show the move, "from square" and "to square" that the computer is currently analysing.

Only the first move from the root of each line is highlighted.

Moves that the computer spends more time investigating, appear highlighted for longer, so you get a good idea of what the computer thinks is "interesting".

Code: Select all

int AlphaBeta(depth, ...)
{
   foreach Move in MoveList
   {
       MakeMove(from, to)
       if ( IsRootOfSearch(depth) )
       {
          SendMoveInfoToGUI(From, To)
       }
       AlphaBeta(depth-1, ...)
       UndoMove()
      
       ... other stuff
   }
}


[Jim Ablett]

I think it's great to see a graphic interpretation of an engines thinking as opposed to just lines of text. Peter's gui does this very well. I would also like to see this feature as an option where you can display it separately as a second smaller chessboard about 1/4 size in the top right corner. This is where I place it with Arena when playing Sharpchess.

Jim.

[Tord Romstad]

Hi Jim and Peter,

Thanks for explaining the feature. I may want to implement something similar my GUI. One idea I have thought about is to have a separate window with three tiny chess boards. The first board should show the position at the end of the PV, the second board should show the move currently searched from the root, and the third board the current position in the search tree
(updated every second or so).

First, however, I have some bugs to fix, and some more important features to implement (like saving and loading games).

Tord