After an 8 year break..

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silentshark
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After an 8 year break..

Post by silentshark » Sun Dec 30, 2018 2:12 pm

I have been doing some tinkering with my old chess program, Francesca.

Think I might release a new version, soon. Stuff I've been doing:

- fixed a *horrible* bug in the SEE (meant that SEE was completely broken..)
- minor fix to eval for queens and rooks - relating to king proximity
- more aggressive pruning. This is the stuff that people call 'static null move pruning' these days, but has been around forever.
- lmp implemented (although I'm not happy with it yet)
- draw code improved
- PVS finally implemented

Hello to all the old-timer computer chess folks who are still around and involved :-)

Regards,
Tom
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Guenther
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Re: After an 8 year break..

Post by Guenther » Sun Dec 30, 2018 2:18 pm

silentshark wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 30, 2018 2:12 pm
 I have been doing some tinkering with my old chess program, Francesca.

Think I might release a new version, soon. Stuff I've been doing:

- fixed a *horrible* bug in the SEE (meant that SEE was completely broken..)
- minor fix to eval for queens and rooks - relating to king proximity
- more aggressive pruning. This is the stuff that people call 'static null move pruning' these days, but has been around forever.
- lmp implemented (although I'm not happy with it yet)
- draw code improved
- PVS finally implemented

Hello to all the old-timer computer chess folks who are still around and involved :-)

Regards,
Tom
Great news Tom! Still 'MAD' after all those years? ;-)
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silentshark
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Re: After an 8 year break..

Post by silentshark » Sun Dec 30, 2018 2:40 pm

Well, I came up with the 'MAD' acronym waaaay back, as a tip of the hat to doing something dynamic in the eval function (prior to that, back in the 1990's, everything was basically PST values).

When I added some dynamic king safety, it felt like a big deal (at the time). So I came up with MAD (manic, aggressive, dynamic). That king safety stuff is tuned back a bit these days, as it was fun, but weak.
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Werner
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Re: After an 8 year break..

Post by Werner » Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:42 pm

Welcome back Tom!

Version 0.19 was the strongest version tested here:
Francesca MAD 0.19 2381

good luck and all the best for 2019
Werner
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Gabor Szots
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Re: After an 8 year break..

Post by Gabor Szots » Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:28 pm

That's great news Tom. Francesca may be 8 years older but so are we so she doesn't have to worry.
Gabor Szots
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Steve Maughan
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Re: After an 8 year break..

Post by Steve Maughan » Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:32 pm

Hi Tom,

Welcome back! Looking forward to testing your new creation!

Steve
http://www.chessprogramming.net - Maverick Chess Engine
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silentshark
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Re: After an 8 year break..

Post by silentshark » Sun Dec 30, 2018 9:32 pm

Gabor Szots wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:28 pm
 That's great news Tom. Francesca may be 8 years older but so are we so she doesn't have to worry.
Indeed. In fact, Francesca must be about 28 years old now :-)
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silentshark
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Re: After an 8 year break..

Post by silentshark » Sun Dec 30, 2018 9:34 pm

Steve Maughan wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:32 pm
 Hi Tom,

Welcome back! Looking forward to testing your new creation!

Steve
Thanks, Steve, hopefully release the new version soon. It's showing as over 60 elo up on the last version - the bugfixes gave quite a lot of that :-)
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Graham Banks
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Re: After an 8 year break..

Post by Graham Banks » Mon Dec 31, 2018 12:28 am

silentshark wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 30, 2018 2:12 pm
 I have been doing some tinkering with my old chess program, Francesca.

Think I might release a new version, soon. Stuff I've been doing:

- fixed a *horrible* bug in the SEE (meant that SEE was completely broken..)
- minor fix to eval for queens and rooks - relating to king proximity
- more aggressive pruning. This is the stuff that people call 'static null move pruning' these days, but has been around forever.
- lmp implemented (although I'm not happy with it yet)
- draw code improved
- PVS finally implemented

Hello to all the old-timer computer chess folks who are still around and involved :-)

Regards,
Tom
Fantastic news Tom!
Looking forward to including a new Francesca in my Amateur Series. :P
My email addresses:
gbanksnz at gmail.com
gbanksnz at yahoo.co.nz
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Dann Corbit
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Re: After an 8 year break..

Post by Dann Corbit » Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:31 am

Good news
Looking forward to the new version
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