'Rodin' Chess Engine by Fermin Serrano. Madrid, Spain ------------------------------------------------------ Engine version: 4.0 Release date : 11-July-2011 Download v4.0: click here Older version: Ask me. Table of Contents: --------------------------------------- 1) Introduction and history. 2) General description. 3) Future plans 4) Running Rodin. System requirements. 5) Known problems. 6) License. 7) Credits. 8) Version history. 1) INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY --------------------------------------- I have been a chess enthusiast since I was 5 years old. I am a computer science engineer who likes programming, so a few years ago I decided to write a chess engine. This was around 6 or 7 years ago, and that engine was based on the fantastic TSCP engine. It was a very educational experience. Now I have been programming Rodin from four years now. I hope this engine could be interesting to you. Rodin is written in C. I have used CodeBlocks with MinGW, as it is free and very good compiler. At the moment, Rodin has improved his play from previous versions. It plays a decent and enjoyable game. I estimate it has around 2600/2700 ELO in accordance with CCRL 40/40 rating list (based on my own tests). If you want to stay tuned about the release of new versions of the engine, please contact me by email at clonfsp<at>gmail.com and let me know. 2) GENERAL DESCRIPTION --------------------------------------- Rodin has the following features: - Magic moves bitboard generator. Thanks to Pradu Kannan. - Alpha-Beta search. - Null Move Pruning. - MVV/LVA move ordering, combined with a (slow) SEE move ordering - Hash Table. - Pawn Hash Table. - History and killers heuristics for move ordering. - Extensions and reductions (need a lot of improvement here). - Tapered eval. - Evals function takes into account mobility, king security, pawn formations, piece placement and other minor considerations .... - Support for winboard protocol and ponder. - Only Windows OS. - Tested with Winboard. - Algebraic (Nf3) and coordinate (g1f3) notation support. - Native EPD Suites support. - Own book based on Polyglot file format. - Bitbases support. Thanks to Daniel Shawul. 3) FUTURE PLANS --------------------------------------- These are the features I would like to develop in the future (roadmap), in no special order: - Correct bugs - UCI support for use in Chessbase products. - Razoring - Book learning - Draw offers - Material imbalance tables - Detection of draws by perpetual check. - Improve the eval function (chess knowledge). - Improve optimization and code speed. - Improve the time management module. - An many other ideas I have ...... 4) RUNNING Rodin. SYSTEM REQUERIMENTS --------------------------------------- The Rodin "package" cames with the following files: - Rodin.exe -> This is the engine. - Rodin.cfg -> Configuration file. - readme.txt -> This file. - book_file_v1.0.bin -> Opening book file. - logo.bmp -> Rodin logo in bmp format. - logo.jpg -> Rodin logo in jpq format. Rodin is a winboard engine. I have test it with Winboard/Xboard 4.5 At the moment, I have developed Rodin for Windows OS only. You can download winboard from the Winboard forum at http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=51528 To play against the program, under winboard, the command line is: winboard /cp /fcp Rodin.exe There is a configuration "cfg" file that cames with Rodin. The content of the file has comments that explain different features to configure the engine. 5) KNOWN PROBLEMS --------------------------------------- None that I know. If you find one, please report it to me. 6) LICENSE --------------------------------------- Rodin is provided "as is". No warranty is provided, although I will do what I can if you have issues running the engine. You may redistribute unmodified executables freely as long as this readme file remains with the executables. 7) CREDITS --------------------------------------- I am very grateful to the following people (among others!): - My family. They are always there.... - My wife Susana for her love and support. - Pradu Kannan for his code for Magic Moves Generator. - Programmers of the CC Forum (http://www.talkchess.com), especially, Robert Hyatt, H.G.Muller, Dann Corbit, and many others who give me all kinds of technical questions. - Tom Kerrigan for his didactic(learning) TCSP engine. - Bruce Moreland and his excellent guide: http://web.archive.org/web/20070707012511/http://www.brucemo.com/compchess/programming/index.htm - Andres Valverde, Pedro Castro and Sergio Martínez, for his support. - Daniel Shawul for bitbases. - My chess club colleagues. - Users of the http://www.cprogramming.com forum. 8) VERSIONS HISTORY --------------------------------------- *** Jul 2011 4.0 : Sixth release. - Changes in internal data structures. - Tappered eval. - More chess knowledge added to eval function. - Improves in extensions and reductions. - Opening book based on polyglot file format. Own book. - Speed optimizations. *** Apr 2010 3.0 : New release stronger than before - Tunning of lots of parameters and variables to increase strenght. - Ponder bug fix. - New chess knowledge. - Delete parts which dont make any good to the results. - New comand 'skill" to reduce playing strenght. - New 'eval' command shows positional features score. - Small tweaks. - New web site and logo. *** Ago 2009 2.3a : Fourth release - Transposition table bug fix - Opponent fast response bug fix - Pawn hash table - Evaluation function re-writed. - New chess knowledge. *** Apr 2009 2.1h : Temporary release for playing in Chesswar, not publically available. - Time management bug fix and routine improvement. - Adjust bishop pair score 2.1b : Third release. Main features: - Bugs fix - New chess knowledge - Ponder - Speed code improvements. - Delete counterproductive code. *** Nov 2008 1.17 : Second release. Main updates: - Bugs fix. - New chessknowledge. - Delta pruning and lazy-eval improve. - Better opening phase detection routine. *** Aug 2008 1.14 : This is the first version of the engine. It has no many features but it can play a decent game. I hope you enjoy using Rodin as much as I enjoy writing it! Thanks Fermin Serrano clonfsp<at>gmail.com or clonfsp<at>hotmail.com http://sites.google.com/site/clonfsp/ My blog: http://clonfsp.wordpress.com |
RODIN v4.0 |