Alouette 0.0.1

[Roland Chastain]

Roland, I downloaded Alouette 0.0.9 and there are 2 binaries inside the zip file, alouette64 and random64. What is random64, a random mover? So kind of the same engine without eval?

Thank you for your question. Yes, the engine named random64 is a pure random mover, based on Alouette code.

[Roland Chastain]

Hello !

I released Alouette 0.1.4.
https://github.com/rchastain/alouette/releases/tag/0.1.4

• Faster move generation
• Piece square tables
• Random mover mode (parameter "-r" or "--random")

There is now a Makefile in the repository. Of course you need to install the Free Pascal compiler.

I compressed all the binaries with upx.

Regards.

Roland

[Roland Chastain]

Alouette 0.1.5 is available.

I spent time polishing the code, and trying to improve the evaluation (apparently to little effect).
More importantly, I discovered and fixed two bugs related to castling, which produced illegal moves in certain situations.

Linux and Windows binaries are available here.

Code: Select all

Rank Name                    Elo    +    - games score oppo. draws 
   1 Monchester 1.0          817   30   28   600   89%   383   18% 
   2 Alouette 0.1.5          588   23   23   600   63%   429   33% 
   3 Alouette 0.1.4          576   23   23   600   61%   432   38% 
   4 Alouette 0.1.1          543   23   23   600   57%   438   37% 
   5 NEG 1.3                 413   33   34   300   35%   505   29% 
   6 Ram 2.0                   5   45   47   300   12%   505   20% 
   7 Alouette 0.1.5 Random     0   37   39   600    7%   547   13% 

FRC

Code: Select all

Rank Name                    Elo    +    - games score oppo. draws 
   1 Stash 9.0              1062  169  107   180   99%   325    1% 
   2 Alouette 0.1.5          444   26   26   420   62%   361   36% 
   3 Alouette 0.1.4          427   25   25   420   60%   364   43% 
   4 Alouette 0.1.1          390   25   25   420   54%   371   46% 
   5 Durandal 0.0.7          366   24   25   420   50%   376   49% 
   6 Luciole 0.0.4           291   31   32   240   42%   325   52% 
   7 Alouette 0.1.5 Random     0   37   41   420    7%   450   12% 

[Gabor Szots]

Hi Roland,

Does your engine support time controls now? Previous version moved instantly.

[Roland Chastain]

Does your engine support time controls now? Previous version moved instantly.

Hi Gabor. Unfortunately it doesn't. It still moves instantly. I cannot change that for now. But I am thinking to that...

[Gabor Szots]

I have completed my test tournament for version 0.1.5. Results will be included in the next update.

In my opinion even a very basic time control could improve results by several hundred Elos.

[Roland Chastain]

I have completed my test tournament for version 0.1.5. Results will be included in the next update.

Thank you for testing version 0.1.5.

In my opinion even a very basic time control could improve results by several hundred Elos.

OK, I will try something.

By the way, I discovered this morning that Alouette is now included in LucasChess. I am very glad.

[Gabor Szots]

In my opinion even a very basic time control could improve results by several hundred Elos.

OK, I will try something.

I have just discovered that Fimbulwinter used to have no time control but later Jim Ablett added it. Perhaps you can use that.

http://kirr.homeunix.org/chess/engines/Jim%20Ablett/

[Roland Chastain]

I have just discovered that Fimbulwinter used to have no time control but later Jim Ablett added it. Perhaps you can use that.

http://kirr.homeunix.org/chess/engines/Jim%20Ablett/

Downloaded. I will take a look. Thanks.

[Roland Chastain]

Alouette 0.1.6 is available.

I fixed a bug which made the engine play illegal move. I also found the reason that made the engine crash sometimes under Windows. It should no longer happen. Thanks to Carlos who reported the issue.

If it is confirmed that the engine is now stable and doesn't play illegal moves, I will try seriously to improve the strength.