Zahak, a GoLang based chess engine

[amanjpro]

There was also a problem on Android. Version 0.1.0 works for DroidFish, but versions 0.2.0 and 0.2.1 didn't. The newest version works again with DroidFish.

Ah, actually I have never tested it on Android/DroidFish. Didn't even know that this exists
is there a tutorial for me to learn how to set an engine on DroidFish? I couldn't figure out

[amanjpro]

There was also a problem on Android. Version 0.1.0 works for DroidFish, but versions 0.2.0 and 0.2.1 didn't. The newest version works again with DroidFish.

Ah, actually I have never tested it on Android/DroidFish. Didn't even know that this exists
is there a tutorial for me to learn how to set an engine on DroidFish? I couldn't figure out

Nevermind, found this: https://github.com/peterosterlund2/droi ... ci-engines

[amanjpro]

Released a new version, https://github.com/amanjpro/zahak/releases/tag/0.3.0
It fixes all the issues discussed here, and fixes a tiny little bug, which adds ~40 elo points

[Archimedes]

Ah, actually I have never tested it on Android/DroidFish. Didn't even know that this exists
is there a tutorial for me to learn how to set an engine on DroidFish? I couldn't figure out

http://hem.bredband.net/petero2b/droidfish/index.html

Zahak 0.3.0 for Android:
https://app.box.com/s/z3xec2rnlq779r2o0xt4hvcqu89funsi

[Gabor Szots]

Released a new version, https://github.com/amanjpro/zahak/releases/tag/0.3.0
It fixes all the issues discussed here, and fixes a tiny little bug, which adds ~40 elo points

Thanks for the fix, Amanj. I still notice a small flaw, setting the hash to 256 MB the initial memory at the start of a game is 402 MB then it creeps slowly upwards to about 411 MB. No big deal.

EDIT: I watched another game, the memory was 396 MB initially while it was 400 when the game was finished. Seems to vary a bit, maybe it is due to the operating system.

[tmokonen]

I got a virus warning from the zahak-windows-amd64-0.3.0.exe compile. I'm sure it's fine, as Windows Defender seems to be very finicky with programs written in Go for some reason, Counter being another example of a program whose compiles generate bogus antivirus warnings.

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/e5a ... /detection

[amanjpro]

Released a new version, https://github.com/amanjpro/zahak/releases/tag/0.3.0
It fixes all the issues discussed here, and fixes a tiny little bug, which adds ~40 elo points

Thanks for the fix, Amanj. I still notice a small flaw, setting the hash to 256 MB the initial memory at the start of a game is 402 MB then it creeps slowly upwards to about 411 MB. No big deal.

EDIT: I watched another game, the memory was 396 MB initially while it was 400 when the game was finished. Seems to vary a bit, maybe it is due to the operating system.

Good to know, thanks for confirmation

Are you running a tournament?

[Gabor Szots]

Are you running a tournament?

I am. I started with 0.2.1 but now that 0.3.0 is out I switched. First stages show the difference is considerable.

[amanjpro]

Are you running a tournament?

I am. I started with 0.2.1 but now that 0.3.0 is out I switched. First stages show the difference is considerable.

Cool! excited to see how well Zahak will perform. I am working on King safety, but can't get it to boost the performance

[amanjpro]

I released Zahak 5.0, it is the last of its kind. I quote from my blog:

When I first started working on Zahak, my goal was to get a solid understanding on chess programming and improve my chess skills. I have always wanted to make Zahak understand how to play beautiful chess. I believe I have somewhat achieved that, and currently Zahak produces one of the most eventful games. Of course, the results are not always positive, but that is a price I am willing to pay.

I also wanted to make Zahak my training companion, and I don’t think I need an engine at Stockfish level for this matter, I will be perfectly happy if my trainer is as strong as the world champion. I believe any engine with the rating of 2700 (according to CCRL Blitz) or higher is sufficient for training purposes, so I made this rating my secondary goal.

I am happy to announce that Zahak 5.0, will most likely cross this barrier and should be just north 2700, which also means my quest for improving the strength of Zahak is near the end. But of course, that doesn’t mean I will be stopping working on it, it is just that I will not be seeking strength for the sake of making it stronger any more.

My future versions will probably be of the kind of making Zahak more entertaining, and adding more evaluation terms that might not add strength, but might add pleasure for us humans.

Things that I believe I will be working on next include:

• Adding Multi-PV

• Adding Lazy SMP

• Porting Fathom to Go Lang, and adding Syzygy to Zahak

• Adding an NN eval (maybe NNUE or something else), and training it with chess games from the romantic era, which probably makes the engine weaker but more human like

• Probably more

Zahak 5.0, comes with the following added features/fixes:

• SEE pruning in normal search

• LMR and pruning tweaks

• Re-doing move history heuristic

• Adding evaluation terms for Bishop pair

• Adding evaluation terms for Knight outposts

• New and improved time management

• Re-implemented mobility/aggressivity, so that different types of pieces are treated differently

• Pawnhash

• Fixing various bugs in search

To download Zahak 5.0, please visit here