So this got me thinking about Allie. It is clear that Allie is not a clone of Leela in the same way that Fire or Houdini is a clone of Stockfish, as its search is very different form Leela's search, just as how Rubichess is not a clone of Stockfish. However, its neural network backend is the same as Leela's and every single network that has run on Allie (Stein, the various T30/40/60, et cetera) was trained using the Leela engine, so it seems to me that Allie's sole function is to playing Leela network weight files, in the same way that the new Rubichess (as well as Minic, Igel, Orion, et cetera) plays NNUE network weight files. As a result, it seems proper to call Allie a 'Leela net player' in the same way that the Rubichess author calls Rubichess a 'NNUE player'.
Relatedly, TCEC have updated the rules and guidelines to include this:
To what extent can the Leela neural network backend be used by other engines such as Allie and considered as if it was a library (even if it is not literally one), in the same way that TCEC and the Minic author consider NNUE as a library?Guidelines for use of NNUE at TCEC:
- NNUE code can be used and considered as if it was a library (even if it is not literally one), custom modifications are encouraged.
- All NNUE training data should be generated by the unique engine's own search and/or eval code.