McCain - Two Menu Drop Downs Plus
Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 8:30 am
Two new menu items that some folks may appreciate
First ,we have a new drop menu for levels. For the levels shown, the computer type levels are labels, to fill in some gaps and to honor some of the pioneering chess computers and programs that were created in computer chess infancy. They were placed logically where I felt they should go, but there was no huge amount of energy spent. As an example , Cray Blitz had a performance level of close to or over 2600 in blitz games was searching close to or over 100,000 nps in the late 1980's. Here , McCain with the Cray Blitz level, using the latest software based on Stockfish 10, will search at about 10,000 nps - and for stockfish , 10,000 NPS is pretty darn close to 2600. The novice level will really play at the novice level as McCain will only search about 10-12 nodes per second. So if you give it 30 seconds, it might search 300 nodes in total.
Second feature being added is multi book option from a drop down menu.
McCain X will also include opening polyglot books based on current and past champions, as shown as the menu, The Champions book will also include a few other top players as well, These were all newly custom built books that will play the lines from either the white side or the black side based on games they played. There will be more randomness to the lines so all of the lines played will have a chance to be played, Only if the line was played at least twice by that player and he scored 50% or more was the opening included - so the books are not real big. They were also capped at 60 ply ( 30 moves). You will have the ability to switch from one book to another in mid game easily - so if you are playing the Fischer book and you get out of the Fischer book, you can easily switch it over to another book ( would require you to retract the non book mode etc in the GUI). For the Champions book, a line had to be played at least 3 times by the group with a record of 50% or more to make the cut. For this feature to work, all books will have to be located in the same folder as the McCain engine.
Anyway, fun times are ahead, as you can play the current and past champions - well, at least the openings they played anyway ... tested and works under the xBoard GUI, ymmv.
It will be very soon.
First ,we have a new drop menu for levels. For the levels shown, the computer type levels are labels, to fill in some gaps and to honor some of the pioneering chess computers and programs that were created in computer chess infancy. They were placed logically where I felt they should go, but there was no huge amount of energy spent. As an example , Cray Blitz had a performance level of close to or over 2600 in blitz games was searching close to or over 100,000 nps in the late 1980's. Here , McCain with the Cray Blitz level, using the latest software based on Stockfish 10, will search at about 10,000 nps - and for stockfish , 10,000 NPS is pretty darn close to 2600. The novice level will really play at the novice level as McCain will only search about 10-12 nodes per second. So if you give it 30 seconds, it might search 300 nodes in total.
Second feature being added is multi book option from a drop down menu.
McCain X will also include opening polyglot books based on current and past champions, as shown as the menu, The Champions book will also include a few other top players as well, These were all newly custom built books that will play the lines from either the white side or the black side based on games they played. There will be more randomness to the lines so all of the lines played will have a chance to be played, Only if the line was played at least twice by that player and he scored 50% or more was the opening included - so the books are not real big. They were also capped at 60 ply ( 30 moves). You will have the ability to switch from one book to another in mid game easily - so if you are playing the Fischer book and you get out of the Fischer book, you can easily switch it over to another book ( would require you to retract the non book mode etc in the GUI). For the Champions book, a line had to be played at least 3 times by the group with a record of 50% or more to make the cut. For this feature to work, all books will have to be located in the same folder as the McCain engine.
Anyway, fun times are ahead, as you can play the current and past champions - well, at least the openings they played anyway ... tested and works under the xBoard GUI, ymmv.
It will be very soon.
