MadChess 1.4 Released

[emadsen]

I've added features to improve MadChess' value as a sparring partner and analysis tool. I spent a lot of time implementing an algorithm that reduces the playing strength of MadChess. In chess GUIs that support the feature, MadChess will automatically adjust its playing strength to match the user. See the User Guide on my website for details.

This release may be 20 - 30 ELO stronger than version 1.3, though I'm still running test games and the error bars are large.

Source code and EXEs available on the Downloads page.

See my post in the programming forum for a discussion of how MadChess reduces its playing strength.

[Graham Banks]

Thanks Erik.

[chetday]

Erik, thank you. I have your program up and running and have been defeated two times now in interesting and fun games.

If it's not too much trouble, could you point out how to use MadChess's different personalities with Arena? My ego says I need to be challenged by an easier partner.

[emadsen]

Chet,

I'm glad you're getting some enjoyment out of MadChess.

The easiest way to play against a MadChess personality is to use Arena's Limit Strength feature. MadChess will load a personality to match the ELO you specify.

First you must ensure MadChess is configured as a UCI engine. I assume you've done this. But I did notice by default Arena assumes engines are WinBoard.


Then select Limit Playing Strength to ELO from the Levels menu.


You'll see that MadChess allows you to set an ELO from 400 to 2000.

[chetday]

Erik, thank you so much for those directions. I'd been trying to find a "Roaming" folder for Arena to move the personalities folder to and was having no luck. I should have thought to just use the Arena interface with ELOs. It's going to be fun gradually working my way up through the ELO personalities. I also look forward to fiddling with the many different configuration options in Madchess once I fully explore the various playing styles of the personalities.

Bottomline, I'm having a great time playing Madchess 1.4 -- thank you again for creating it and sharing it.

[emadsen]

Chet,

You're very welcome. I'm glad you're having a great time playing against my engine.

I don't know much about Arena. I downloaded it and tried to configure engine options. The manual process is this:

Load the MadChess Engine. Click Engines > Engine 1 > Configure.


Change engine parameters. Click the "Save as new engine" button.


Give the engine a name. I recommend using parenthesis () instead of brackets [] because brackets have special meaning in PGN files.


The customized engine appears in the engine list.


If you'd like to bypass the manual configuration of the engine, you can copy engine parameters to the following file:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Arena\ArenaENG.cfg

However, you cannot simply paste the parameters values include in the MadChess .uci files. I created those files using the Fritz GUI. Fritz saves only those parameters that have been modified from their default values. Arena expects all parameters. So, for the MadChess Novice personality, as an example: Copy all the values from the [MadChess 1.4] entry to the end of the file. Rename the entry [MadChess 1.4 (Novice)]. Then replace parameters with the values included in the MadChess 1.4 (Novice).uci file.

[chetday]

Erik, thanks for the additional information on using MadChess 1.4 with Arena. I'll put that to good use as soon as I finish my tournament with the various personalities.

Regarding the tournament match, I'm happy to report that last evening I handily defeated MadChess's first three personalities (Young Child -- 400 ELO, Child -- 600 ELO, and Beginner -- 800 ELO).

Tonight I hope to score victories against the Novice and then the Social configurations.

Unlike Fernando, whose confidence in defeating chess engines flies high with the eagles, I fear my winning streak against MadChess 1.4 will soon be a thing of the past.

But hope springs eternal in the quiet chess sanctuary of my little back bedroom home office, so we shall see... we shall see!