Crazyhouse tournaments and rating list

[hgm]

You search drops in QS? Whenever I tried that in Shogi it led to total search explosion. Even if it was just safe contact-check drops. Of course I extended the evasion in that case. Or do you mean you allow drops as check evasion?

Large depth doesn't always mean anything. E.g. in mini-Shogi Nebiyu usually reaches nearly twice the depth Shokidoki reaches, and it still loses most games. You can also prune/reduce too much...

[Evert]

You search drops in QS? Whenever I tried that in Shogi it led to total search explosion. Even if it was just safe contact-check drops. Of course I extended the evasion in that case. Or do you mean you allow drops as check evasion?

I thought I did. Turns out I just generate them, but they are pruned except as check evasions. It might be worth searching safe contact check drops though, but I'll need to look into that.

Large depth doesn't always mean anything. E.g. in mini-Shogi Nebiyu usually reaches nearly twice the depth Shokidoki reaches, and it still loses most games. You can also prune/reduce too much...

True, Nebiyu seems to prune too aggressively. Sunsetter seems to play very well though.

[Evert]

The improvements from 0.0.0 to 0.0.1 were all search; probably null move contributed the most. Evaluation can do a lot too, though: I noticed that CrazyWa was very passive, so I added two very simple evaluation terms to cure it, by encouraging it to develop its pieces. These were penalties for a Rook trapped in a corner (e.g. Ra1,with own pieces on a2 and b1), and a penalty for a Bishop trapped on its original square (e.g. Bc1 with own pieces on b2 and d2). Those terms alone increase the result against Sjaak from 45% to 63%! (measured in 360 games 40 moves/min).

This is a very interesting addition; it seems to help SjaakII quite a bit as well. Not enough games yet to say anything definitive though, so I'll wait and see (everything else I tried recently ended up being no better than what I had before).
Looking into this revealed some fundamental flaws in the way I evaluates mobility. For one thing, it fails to clear away occupied squares (so a Rook an a1 in the opening gets counted as having 2 moves available for mobility), but it also fails to make a distinction between squares that can be moved to and squares that can be captured on (not that it matters for most pieces). Conceptually, it should probably consider

• Actual mobility, in the sense of squares the piece can move to.
• Square control, squares on the board where an enemy piece can be captured
• Defending own pieces
• Attacking enemy pieces

Some of these may be 0, others may in fact be a penalty rather than a bonus. Anyway, changing this will add at least 6 parameters to the evaluation that must be given a sensible value...

[Ferdy]

Average depth on this blitz (TC 3'+2") tour nr 21, when scores are within the window of [-10.0, +10.0] pawn unit.

Code: Select all

 nr                      player  aveDepth  games
  1           Sunsetter 9 32bit     12.92     24
  2     NebiyuAlien 1.45a 32bit     11.40     24
  3           TJchess 1.3 64bit      9.60     24
  4        Imortal 2.9001 32bit      9.35     24
  5         CrazyWa 0.0.4 32bit      9.18    216
  6       Sjaak II 1.3.1a 64bit      8.85     24
  7   KKFChess 2.6.7 beta 32bit      8.20     24
  8            Sjeng 11.2 32bit      7.70     24
  9           TSCP zh 1.1 32bit      7.42     24
 10        Pulsar 2009 9b 32bit      7.07     24

Average depth comparison for winning and losing score window.
Everybody gains depth when winning, Sunsetter loses some depths when faced with losing position. Nebiyu is somewhat neutral.

A. Lossing score window:

Code: Select all

file         : ccva_tour_nr_21.pgn
event        : CCVA CrazyWa 0.0.4 Gauntlet Blitz Tour Nr 21
score window : [-6.0, -1.0]

 nr                      player  aveDepth  cntDepth  games
  1     NebiyuAlien 1.45a 32bit     11.07       162     24
  2           Sunsetter 9 32bit      9.24       114     24
  3           TJchess 1.3 64bit      8.47       105     24
  4        Imortal 2.9001 32bit      8.29       129     24
  5       Sjaak II 1.3.1a 64bit      8.18       194     24
  6         CrazyWa 0.0.4 32bit      7.87      1394    216
  7   KKFChess 2.6.7 beta 32bit      7.37       171     24
  8            Sjeng 11.2 32bit      6.99       205     24
  9           TSCP zh 1.1 32bit      6.30       175     24
 10        Pulsar 2009 9b 32bit      5.60       139     24

B. Winning score window:

Code: Select all

file         : ccva_tour_nr_21.pgn
event        : CCVA CrazyWa 0.0.4 Gauntlet Blitz Tour Nr 21
score window : [+1.0, +6.0]

 nr                      player  aveDepth  cntDepth  games
  1           Sunsetter 9 32bit     12.71       329     24
  2     NebiyuAlien 1.45a 32bit     11.63       472     24
  3        Imortal 2.9001 32bit      9.80       220     24
  4           TJchess 1.3 64bit      9.61       293     24
  5         CrazyWa 0.0.4 32bit      9.33      2882    216
  6       Sjaak II 1.3.1a 64bit      8.64       303     24
  7   KKFChess 2.6.7 beta 32bit      7.98       300     24
  8            Sjeng 11.2 32bit      7.65       390     24
  9           TSCP zh 1.1 32bit      7.58       266     24
 10        Pulsar 2009 9b 32bit      7.22       309     24

Code: Select all

aveDepth = totalDepth/cntDepth

[Ferdy]

There was a bug in my previous calculation of average depth, this one is now correct.

A. Win/Loss

Code: Select all

file         : ccva_tour_nr_21.pgn
event        : CCVA CrazyWa 0.0.4 Gauntlet Blitz Tour Nr 21
score window : [-6.0, +6.0]

 nr                      player  aveDepth  cntDepth  games
  1           Sunsetter 9 32bit     17.03       463     24
  2     NebiyuAlien 1.45a 32bit     14.57       477     24
  3        Imortal 2.9001 32bit     10.70       215     24
  4           TJchess 1.3 64bit     10.43       375     24
  5       Sjaak II 1.3.1a 64bit      9.45       430     24
  6         CrazyWa 0.0.4 32bit      9.01      3892    216
  7   KKFChess 2.6.7 beta 32bit      7.45       471     24
  8            Sjeng 11.2 32bit      6.93       514     24
  9           TSCP zh 1.1 32bit      5.72       440     24
 10        Pulsar 2009 9b 32bit      5.33       456     24

B. Losing

Code: Select all

file         : ccva_tour_nr_21.pgn
event        : CCVA CrazyWa 0.0.4 Gauntlet Blitz Tour Nr 21
score window : [-6.0, -1.0]

 nr                      player  aveDepth  cntDepth  games
  1           Sunsetter 9 32bit     15.73        15     24
  2     NebiyuAlien 1.45a 32bit     14.09        81     24
  3           TJchess 1.3 64bit     11.08        13     24
  4        Imortal 2.9001 32bit     11.00        14     24
  5       Sjaak II 1.3.1a 64bit      8.84        69     24
  6         CrazyWa 0.0.4 32bit      8.02       675    216
  7   KKFChess 2.6.7 beta 32bit      7.26       146     24
  8            Sjeng 11.2 32bit      6.66       140     24
  9           TSCP zh 1.1 32bit      5.50       126     24
 10        Pulsar 2009 9b 32bit      5.04       113     24

C. Winning

Code: Select all

file         : ccva_tour_nr_21.pgn
event        : CCVA CrazyWa 0.0.4 Gauntlet Blitz Tour Nr 21
score window : [+1.0, +6.0]

 nr                      player  aveDepth  cntDepth  games
  1           Sunsetter 9 32bit     15.88       183     24
  2     NebiyuAlien 1.45a 32bit     14.55       258     24
  3        Imortal 2.9001 32bit     10.52       130     24
  4           TJchess 1.3 64bit     10.23       183     24
  5       Sjaak II 1.3.1a 64bit      8.87       167     24
  6         CrazyWa 0.0.4 32bit      8.62      1336    216
  7   KKFChess 2.6.7 beta 32bit      7.38       173     24
  8            Sjeng 11.2 32bit      6.80       205     24
  9           TSCP zh 1.1 32bit      5.51       112     24
 10        Pulsar 2009 9b 32bit      5.12       128     24

[Ferdy]

Code: Select all

file         : blitz.pgn
score window : [-6.0, +6.0]

 nr                      player  aveDepth  games
  1           Sunsetter 9 32bit     17.44    915
  2      NebiyuAlien 1.45 32bit     15.11    204
  3     NebiyuAlien 1.45a 32bit     14.89    794
  4        Imortal 2.9001 32bit     11.20   1075
  5          Sunsetter 7g 64bit     10.84    296
  6           TJchess 1.3 64bit     10.56   1105
  7           TJchess 1.1 64bit     10.31    152
  8       Sjaak II 1.3.1a 64bit      9.62    899
  9           Imortal 2.0 32bit      9.49    295
 10         CrazyWa 0.0.1 32bit      9.17    129
 11         CrazyWa 0.0.4 32bit      8.89    336
 12         CrazyWa 0.0.0 32bit      8.01     96
 13           Imortal 1.0 32bit      7.88     94
 14   KKFChess 2.6.7 beta 32bit      7.64    452
 15            Sjeng 11.2 32bit      7.09    832
 16           TSCP zh 1.1 32bit      5.58    431
 17        Pulsar 2009 9b 32bit      5.31    451

[Ferdy]

Win probability when the engine score is already winning [+6.0, +10.0] pawn units.

Code: Select all

file         : ccva_tour_nr_19.pgn
event        : CCVA Swiss Blitz Tour Nr 19
score window : [+6.0, +10.0]

 nr                      player  aveDepth  games  pts(%)  winProb  numPos
  1     NebiyuAlien 1.45a 32bit     14.64     36   47.22     0.95      39
  2           Sunsetter 9 32bit     14.21     35   71.43     0.98      42
  3           TJchess 1.3 64bit      9.95     35   77.14     1.00      75
  4        Imortal 2.9001 32bit      9.71     35   85.71     1.00      76
  5       Sjaak II 1.3.1a 64bit      8.31     35   48.57     0.72      71
  6         CrazyWa 0.0.1 32bit      7.81     33   51.52     0.86      42
  7   KKFChess 2.6.7 beta 32bit      7.36     36   19.44     0.50      14
  8            Sjeng 11.2 32bit      6.35     34   44.12     0.97      65
  9           TSCP zh 1.1 32bit      5.28     39   25.64     0.26      94
 10        Pulsar 2009 9b 32bit      4.51     38   34.21     0.57      53

[hgm]

I again uploaded a new version (0.06). I finally found a King-Safety term that worked. I had to include a measure for the material in hand for that, something that earlier versions did not have available. But in this version it is kept track of incrementally. This new King Safety makes it much more aggressive.

I tried a breadth-first QS to prevent search explosion, with totally disappointing results. Even in cases were the search explosion was extreme, it did not do anything to avoid it. On the contrary, the search just took far more nodes. I had expected that making sure short refutation would always be seen before long ones would narrow the window on the lines that drag on forever so much that it cold be searched much faster (perhaps even closing the window completely, so that it would not have to be searched at all). But either my implementation was totally wrong, or this is not the case, and the long lines are really score-determining.

So I resorted to a hack, and limited QS to 6 levels. After which I just give a hefty bonus to the side to move. This did improve the results against Sjaak. In difficult positions the depth doesn't drop below 4 anymore (before it could even drop to 2, and then usually a blunder would be played that cost it the game).

This change also reduced the number of crashes. I suppose most of these were asserts triggering because the maximum depth of 100 ply was exceeded, which now cannot happen anymore. Strange enough I still had a number of crashes in the 1000 games I was runing tonight, and they all occurred when CrazyWa had black in the position after 1.d4 ! Unfortunately that does not reproduce easily, because CrazyWa randomizes in the first 5 moves. I guess I should make it print the value of its initial randomizer key (based on starting time), and a way to enter that key inorder to reproduce things. As a new instance of CrazyWa is started for every game it is really strange it already crashes on its first move!

BTW, will CrazyWa have to play games with ponder on, in the upcoming championship? I have not implemented pondering yet, and if it is not needed I can better spend the time on other stuff, as there still is much to improve.

[Ferdy]

I again uploaded a new version (0.06). I finally found a King-Safety term that worked. I had to include a measure for the material in hand for that, something that earlier versions did not have available. But in this version it is kept track of incrementally. This new King Safety makes it much more aggressive.

I tried a breadth-first QS to prevent search explosion, with totally disappointing results. Even in cases were the search explosion was extreme, it did not do anything to avoid it. On the contrary, the search just took far more nodes. I had expected that making sure short refutation would always be seen before long ones would narrow the window on the lines that drag on forever so much that it cold be searched much faster (perhaps even closing the window completely, so that it would not have to be searched at all). But either my implementation was totally wrong, or this is not the case, and the long lines are really score-determining.

So I resorted to a hack, and limited QS to 6 levels. After which I just give a hefty bonus to the side to move. This did improve the results against Sjaak. In difficult positions the depth doesn't drop below 4 anymore (before it could even drop to 2, and then usually a blunder would be played that cost it the game).

This change also reduced the number of crashes. I suppose most of these were asserts triggering because the maximum depth of 100 ply was exceeded, which now cannot happen anymore. Strange enough I still had a number of crashes in the 1000 games I was runing tonight, and they all occurred when CrazyWa had black in the position after 1.d4 ! Unfortunately that does not reproduce easily, because CrazyWa randomizes in the first 5 moves. I guess I should make it print the value of its initial randomizer key (based on starting time), and a way to enter that key inorder to reproduce things. As a new instance of CrazyWa is started for every game it is really strange it already crashes on its first move!

BTW, will CrazyWa have to play games with ponder on, in the upcoming championship? I have not implemented pondering yet, and if it is not needed I can better spend the time on other stuff, as there still is much to improve.

Thanks for the update.
The champ tour is ponder off.

[Evert]

I again uploaded a new version (0.06). I finally found a King-Safety term that worked. I had to include a measure for the material in hand for that, something that earlier versions did not have available. But in this version it is kept track of incrementally. This new King Safety makes it much more aggressive.

I treat in-hand pieces as always threatening squares near the King. Maybe with a condition that they can be dropped safely, but I don't think so.

So I resorted to a hack, and limited QS to 6 levels. After which I just give a hefty bonus to the side to move. This did improve the results against Sjaak. In difficult positions the depth doesn't drop below 4 anymore (before it could even drop to 2, and then usually a blunder would be played that cost it the game).

Interesting. The last time I tried something like that it was a complete disaster.