Hannibal 1.5 release

[BubbaTough]

Hi all,

A new version of Hannibal is available at:

https://sites.google.com/site/edapostol/hannibal

Primary changes:

-rewrote most of the support framework
-improved hash table handling
-improved SMP, now using C++11 threads
-improved endgame knowledge
-improved search including move selection, prunings, reductions, etc.
-Multi-PV support
-pawn hash and eval cache are per threads now

[jpqy]

Wow..thanks Sam !

So many new engines these last days..just great.

Kind regards,
JP.

[Sedat Canbaz]

Wow..thanks Sam !

So many new engines these last days..just great.

Kind regards,
JP.

+1

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi there,

I have enough to do for the next 6 weeks.
That is fantastic !!

Thanks to the Hannibal team. Waiting of this version.
How big is the improvement the team await?

Best
Frank

[BubbaTough]

I am hesitant to give a number, though I will say the new version is "noticeably better". I will say in my own testing the longer the time control and the more cores available, the better Hannibal1.5 does compared to Hannibal 1.4.

-Sam

Hi there,

I have enough to do for the next 6 weeks.
That is fantastic !!

Thanks to the Hannibal team. Waiting of this version.
How big is the improvement the team await?

Best
Frank

[BubbaTough]

Thanks, Sam and Edsel. That was long awaited.

Yes, all my fault. Edsel did a lot of good work improving SMP and reworking our code to give us a much stronger base to develop from in the future, while I spent a good year just focussed on work/family and only helping a little here and there with testing and minor debugging and such. If I was matching his level of effort I am sure we would have released a long time ago. Only after stopping by TCEC in the most recent cycle and getting a little frustrated about Hannibal's play did I really pitch in and help get the current version ready for release.

-Sam

[Werner]

Hi all,

A new version of Hannibal is available at:

https://sites.google.com/site/edapostol/hannibal

Many thanks to Sam and Edsel for the new version!

[Graham Banks]

Hi all,

A new version of Hannibal is available at:

https://sites.google.com/site/edapostol/hannibal

Primary changes:

-rewrote most of the support framework
-improved hash table handling
-improved SMP, now using C++11 threads
-improved endgame knowledge
-improved search including move selection, prunings, reductions, etc.
-Multi-PV support
-pawn hash and eval cache are per threads now

Thanks Sam and Edsel.

[deefree49]

Thank you very much Sam and Edsel for your hard work and for your generous gift to the chess community.

Hannibal was already one of my favorite engines because of its attractive playing style. I keep a list of interesting games that occur in the tournaments I run and Hannibal is very well represented there with many examples. So this new version is a very welcome addition.

I ran a short tournament this morning with Hannibal 1.4b and the result was +4 =17 -1 in favor of Hannibal 1.5. The games were 3' + 2" per move. Computer is i7 running 4 cores. I used a small book and each engine got to play white and black once with each line.

Not much of a sample but for what it's worth, probably indicates about +40 to +50 ELO gain.

Your efforts are much appreciated here! Thank you again!

[BubbaTough]

Glad to hear it David. Hopefully your small sample is representational of our elo progress. Your comments on Hannibal's style are particularly appreciated. Given where our engine falls in the elo pecking order, and the likelihood we will climb to the top of the pack given the amount of time Edsel and I have to dedicate to this hobby, it would be highly demotivating to think that elo is the only goal.

-Sam

Thank you very much Sam and Edsel for your hard work and for your generous gift to the chess community.

Hannibal was already one of my favorite engines because of its attractive playing style. I keep a list of interesting games that occur in the tournaments I run and Hannibal is very well represented there with many examples. So this new version is a very welcome addition.

I ran a short tournament this morning with Hannibal 1.4b and the result was +4 =17 -1 in favor of Hannibal 1.5. The games were 3' + 2" per move. Computer is i7 running 4 cores. I used a small book and each engine got to play white and black once with each line.

Not much of a sample but for what it's worth, probably indicates about +40 to +50 ELO gain.

Your efforts are much appreciated here! Thank you again!