Which are the chess engines written from scratch ?

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Evert
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Re: Which are the chess engines written from scratch ?

Post by Evert »

Sedat Canbaz wrote: I expect (if they are really written from scratch and are based mainly on own ideas) the scratch engines to have more own playing styles, than the ones which are started written directly from free open source engines

For example, currently I am running another testing (based on top engines, where some of them are derivatives, even some people say for them clones)
http://www.sedatcanbaz.com/chess/?page_id=515
And I noticed that some of them have almost same own playing styles, even the draw percentage is very very high...
Well, if you're looking for what approach in different engines sets them apart from other engines, that's a separate question.

In the case of Jazz, what is fairly unique about it is that most of its evaluation is implemented in the form of piece-square tables that are calculated (and cached) on the fly based on the current pawn structure. I was no aware of any other program using this idea when I decided to try it. I'm still not sure if it's really a good idea (it takes a fair amount of time to process the PSTs at every evaluation call), but at least I found it an interesting idea.
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pedrox
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Re: Which are the chess engines written from scratch ?

Post by pedrox »

Evert wrote:
pedrox wrote:Of course you can consider Junior as the best engine of the world, he has won the world championship of the ICGA.

But let me think to my that call World Championship a tournament where the best engines do not play is a bad name for the tournament.
What's that got to do with anything?
Mind you - if a tournament is called "the World Championship" and a player decides not to compete in it (for whatever reason), he (she) obviously can't call him (or her) self "the World Champion", meaning "the winner of the World Championship tournament." They might still be the best in the world, of course. These are two separate things.
I have no problem with Sedat organize a tournament between programmers whose engines started from scratch, but I think it's a bad idea to make the tournament specifying that are engines whose code started from scratch as it seems implies that other engines did not.
Doesn't seem like it to me, just that the requirement for entering are "started from scratch", which is by itself a vague term that apparently means something different to each person.

There's a difference between "a free engine tournament", being a tournament between free engines (with no claim of completeness) and "a tournament between all free engines", which indeed does imply that all others are not "free". Replace "free" by whatever adjective you want.

Still, if you find it's confusing (there's really no objective statement here either way, so fair enough), by all means argue that case. Just don't use bullshit arguments like "engine authors who didn't invent their algorithms themselves did not write their engine from scratch".
This is my opinion, it seems that some people have a problem that others have a different opinion.
Don't know what you're on about. Just saying that I think your definition of "from scratch" is bogus.
Evert, let me say that I am author of two engines, one is DanaSah whose code is open and the other is Caligula. I really am not a programmer and can almost say that I have written programs are counted on the fingers of two hands.

But this does not mean that I have some clear ideas. As an author, I know perfectly that is starting from scratch, I know exactly what is a derivate and what is a clone ( for me change a couple of values ​​in evaluation or search remains a clone), I perfectly know what is an original program (code o ideas) or not, etc.

Clearly you have not understood what I wanted to express in the message that you have responded, perhaps does not help that my knowledge of English is poor. As the author of a chess engine of course what I wrote that was starting from scratch it would be an absurd way of thinking and you're right. I was trying to be ironic about it.

But there is one thing that I disagree with Sedat or perhaps other authors of other engines , and this is in considering that Movei is not an engine started from scratch.

If Uri copied the names of some variables of TSCP and even the names of some functions and simply copy these variables and thereafter starts his engine , I do not understand why this is not considered today to start an engine from scratch.

If you have access to the open source engine , you look and study it , then what is the difference:

1. Start your engine from scratch but be influenced by the engine do you have studied and make a similar engine and perhaps improving it in some respects. If you study a engine, not only do you end up learning how to run the engine but you end up learning the names of the variables used and the funtions used and this is possibly reflected in the new program

2. Copy some of the studied variables and function names and then build the engine, the code (Uri). The work effort and development is exactly the same.

Of course the end result is the same and the time and method employed is the same. As discussed here does not change the fact if you're doing something that already exists or something completely original and new.

If you consider that Movei is not an engine witch the code starts from scratch, then I have serious doubts that there is a engine that has the honor of that name (today, I do not speak of the pre-Internet and pre-open source engines). I see the message that the Uri copied the names of some variables and some functions name, in his message he not says that the copied code of TSCP.

I particularly think the way to start Uri his engine should not be considered for purposes different from an author who has not studied an engine work but has read a few books on chess programming, web pages, etc and used in his engine the name of variables and ideas that appear here.

Do you think that the steps that you have used to done Jazz are different from Uri to done Movei?

I think that Uri has the right to say if he want his engine is started from scratch.

I hope you now understand my idea and I want to express.
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velmarin
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Re: Which are the chess engines written from scratch ?

Post by velmarin »

Arsha Mahdavi wrote:Hi Sedat,

Unfortunately I cannot target application for Windows XP at the moment but I will try later. Since changes to the source code are very small, I’m pretty sure others (jose velasco?) can make proper compiles for Windows XP 64.

Here are the Smash (latest) source code.

Deep Smash source code (latest)
You did a great job, an engine with paralysis is now a very agile engine, I thought it was all a default "Addada" system returned

Already changed and added the executable code in a separate link and recognition
http://motorchess.blogspot.com.es/2014/ ... h-x64.html
Arsha Mahdavi
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Re: Which are the chess engines written from scratch ?

Post by Arsha Mahdavi »

velmarin wrote:
Arsha Mahdavi wrote:Hi Sedat,

Unfortunately I cannot target application for Windows XP at the moment but I will try later. Since changes to the source code are very small, I’m pretty sure others (jose velasco?) can make proper compiles for Windows XP 64.

Here are the Smash (latest) source code.

Deep Smash source code (latest)
You did a great job, an engine with paralysis is now a very agile engine, I thought it was all a default "Addada" system returned

Already changed and added the executable code in a separate link and recognition
http://motorchess.blogspot.com.es/2014/ ... h-x64.html
Great! Thank you very much Jose. :D
Arsha Mahdavi
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Re: Which are the chess engines written from scratch ?

Post by Arsha Mahdavi »

Arsha Mahdavi wrote:
velmarin wrote:
Arsha Mahdavi wrote:Hi Sedat,

Unfortunately I cannot target application for Windows XP at the moment but I will try later. Since changes to the source code are very small, I’m pretty sure others (jose velasco?) can make proper compiles for Windows XP 64.

Here are the Smash (latest) source code.

Deep Smash source code (latest)
You did a great job, an engine with paralysis is now a very agile engine, I thought it was all a default "Addada" system returned

Already changed and added the executable code in a separate link and recognition
http://motorchess.blogspot.com.es/2014/ ... h-x64.html
Great! Thank you very much Jose. :D
Engine Deep Smash 1.03a, should work for Windows XP 64 (but I have not tested that).
With this release I disabled the default transposition table in quiescence (available as a UCI option) which seems useless, and changed the name to Deep Smash 1.03a.

Download link: Deep Smash 1.03a
bob
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Re: Which are the chess engines written from scratch ?

Post by bob »

syzygy wrote:
Sedat Canbaz wrote:And what about Crafty, Pro Deo, SmarThink, Gandalf, Fritz, Junior, Hiarcs, Shredder, The King... are they written from scratch too or ...?
I think "written from scratch" is ill-defined.

Crafty was based on Cray Blitz. It was not written "from scratch".
Pro Deo might be based in part on Rebel (I don't know).
Current Fritz is based on Pandix.

My private engine is a rewrite of an earlier engine, so it was not written "from scratch".
I view Crafty as a continuation of Cray Blitz. Simply rewritten in C rather than FORTRAN. It certainly meets the "from scratch" criterion, it did not start as a copy of anything at all. There was nothing to copy in 1968.
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Re: Which are the chess engines written from scratch ?

Post by Sedat Canbaz »

Arsha Mahdavi wrote:
Engine Deep Smash 1.03a, should work for Windows XP 64 (but I have not tested that).
With this release I disabled the default transposition table in quiescence (available as a UCI option) which seems useless, and changed the name to Deep Smash 1.03a.
Dear Arsha,

Oh, yes...this version worked, thanks a lot

Btw, Smash is already playing...
Note that I just replaced the current exe with the previous one

Or maybe its better completely to be replayed all previous games ?

I mean if you expect better Elo performance (with the latest one), then its better to be started testing from the beginning...

Good luck,
Sedat
Sedat Canbaz
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Re: Which are the chess engines written from scratch ?

Post by Sedat Canbaz »

bob wrote:
syzygy wrote:
Sedat Canbaz wrote:And what about Crafty, Pro Deo, SmarThink, Gandalf, Fritz, Junior, Hiarcs, Shredder, The King... are they written from scratch too or ...?
I think "written from scratch" is ill-defined.

Crafty was based on Cray Blitz. It was not written "from scratch".
Pro Deo might be based in part on Rebel (I don't know).
Current Fritz is based on Pandix.

My private engine is a rewrite of an earlier engine, so it was not written "from scratch".
I view Crafty as a continuation of Cray Blitz. Simply rewritten in C rather than FORTRAN. It certainly meets the "from scratch" criterion, it did not start as a copy of anything at all. There was nothing to copy in 1968.
Dear Robert,

First of all,
I'd like to thank you again for your BIG efforts...

In 1968, I was still not born :)

For example, in case of not allowing Crafty in a such scratch testing, that would be one of my biggest mistakes in Computerchess
That's why I don't want to make mistake...!!

Btw, Crafty is one of my favorite engines too, I used your engine almost daily and since several years, for my tournaments, for benchmarks...


Greetings,
Sedat
Arsha Mahdavi
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Re: Which are the chess engines written from scratch ?

Post by Arsha Mahdavi »

Sedat Canbaz wrote:
Arsha Mahdavi wrote:
Engine Deep Smash 1.03a, should work for Windows XP 64 (but I have not tested that).
With this release I disabled the default transposition table in quiescence (available as a UCI option) which seems useless, and changed the name to Deep Smash 1.03a.
Dear Arsha,

Oh, yes...this version worked, thanks a lot

Btw, Smash is already playing...
Note that I just replaced the current exe with the previous one

Or maybe its better completely to be replayed all previous games ?

I mean if you expect better Elo performance (with the latest one), then its better to be started testing from the beginning...

Good luck,
Sedat
Hi Sedat,

Are you using Jose’s latest build? If yes, there’s no problem at all. They are both identical. Jose’s compile are faster (maybe 2 Elo!). In latest one (renamed Deep Smash 1.03a), I disabled the default transposition table in quiescence but I don’t really expect any better Elo performance.

Thank, Arsha
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Re: Which are the chess engines written from scratch ?

Post by Sedat Canbaz »

Engine Deep Smash 1.03a, should work for Windows XP 64 (but I have not tested that).
With this release I disabled the default transposition table in quiescence (available as a UCI option) which seems useless, and changed the name to Deep Smash 1.03a.

Download link: Deep Smash 1.03a
I downloaded the above one, so it is not needed to be replayed the previous played games

Best,
Sedat