Alf 1.09

[cwb]

After a lot of code rewriting there's a new version of Alf my homepage.
It should be at least 50 elo points stronger than the previous version.

Major changes/new features:
- new book and book builder included
- less memory use and faster loading
- bugfixes: crash on very long games and wrong draw claim
(thanks for the error reports, Leo and Olivier)
- improved evaluation and search

I have not yet rewritten the graphical interface to the new move rep, so it's not included in the new version - it needs some brushing up too...

All comments are very welcome

-Casper

[GeoffW]

Hi Casper

Thanks for new version of Alf

A link might help http://www.student.dtu.dk/~s021692/Alf/alf.htm


I played a couple of games with Alf, I spotted either a book error or a bug for you to look into. In the position below Alf was Black and played d7-d6

[d]rn1qk2r/pb1pbppp/1p2pn2/8/2PN4/2N3P1/PP2PPBP/R1BQ1RK1 b kq - 0 8

When it came out of book Alf was 8 points down, kind of makes it tricky to win from that point onwards

Full game

Code: Select all

[Event "Arena tournament"]
[Site "GEOFFPC"]
[Date "2007.07.23"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Waster 0.16"]
[Black "Alf109"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A30"]
[Opening "English"]
[Time "13:22:59"]
[Variation "Symmetrical, Hedgehog System, 8.Qxd4"]
[TimeControl "240+1"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[WhiteType "program"]
[BlackType "program"]

{E:\Arena11\nunn2.pgn 1/25 (?-?, ?, ????, *)} 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.g3 b6
5.Bg2 Bb7 6.O-O Be7 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 {(f3d4 b7g2 g1g2 d8c8 d1d3 b8c6 c1g5 c6d4 d3d4
c8c6 e2e4 e8g8 g5f6 e7f6) +0.33/9 8} d6 9.Bxb7 {(g2b7 e6e5 d4f5 b8d7 f5g7 e8f8 c1h6
f8g8 b7a8 d8a8 g7f5 a8d8 f5d6 e7d6 d1d6) +8.46/12 10} e5 {(e6-e5 Bb7xa8 e5xd4 Qd1xd4
Qd8-d7 Bc1-f4 Nb8-c6 Ba8xc6 Qd7xc6 Nc3-d5 Qc6-d7 ) -6.96/11 6} 10.Nf5 {(d4f5) +8.52/11
7} Nbd7 {(Nb8-d7 Nf5xg7 Ke8-f8 Bc1-h6 Kf8-g8 Bb7xa8 Qd8xa8 Ng7-f5 Be7-f8 Bh6xf8
Qa8xf8 Qd1xd6 ) -7.93/12 7} 11.Nxg7+ {(f5g7 ) +8.97/12 7} Kf8 12.Bh6 {(c1h6 f8g8 b7a8
d8a8 g7f5 a8d8 h6g7 d7c5 g7h8 g8h8 d1d2 f6e4 c3e4 c5e4) +9.92/12 7} Kg8 {(Kf8-g8
Bb7xa8 Qd8xa8 Ng7-f5 Qa8-d8 Bh6-g7 Nd7-c5 Bg7xh8 Kg8xh8 Nc3-b5 Nf6-e4 ) -8.70/11 7}
13.Bxa8 {(b7a8 d8a8 g7f5 a8d8 h6g7 d7c5 d1d2 f6e4 c3e4 c5e4 d2e3 e4g5 g7h8 g8h8)
+9.91/12 7} Qxa8 {(Qd8xa8 Ng7-f5 Qa8-d8 Bh6-g7 Nd7-c5 Nc3-d5 Nf6xd5 Qd1xd5 Qd8-d7 Bg7xe5
Qd7xf5 Qd5-a8 ) -8.74/13 6} 14.Nf5 {(g7f5 a8d8 h6g7) +10.00/12 6} Qe8 {(Qa8-e8 Bh6-g7
Be7-f8 Bg7xh8 Kg8xh8 Nc3-b5 Qe8-e6 Nb5xd6 Nd7-c5 f2-f4 Nc5-b7 Nd6xb7 ) -8.82/12 7}
15.Qd2 {(d1d2 d7f8 h6f8 f6e4 c3e4 e8f8 d2d6 e7d8 d6e5 a7a6 a1d1 f7f6) +13.84/12 8} Ne4
{(Nf6-e4 Nc3xe4 Qe8-d8 Bh6-g7 Nd7-c5 Nf5xe7 Kg8xg7 Qd2-g5 Kg7-f8 Ne7-g6 Kf8-g7 Ng6xh8 )
-12.76/12 10} 16.Nxe4 {(c3e4 e7d8 e4d6 e8e6 h6g7 d8e7 g7h8 g8h8 d6f7 h8g8 f5h6 g8f8 d2d3)
+14.86/11 6} Qd8 {(Qe8-d8 Bh6-g7 ) -13.11/11 8} 17.Nexd6 {(d2d5 e7f8 e4d6 d8f6 h6f8 d7f8
f5h6 g8g7 d6e8 g7h6 e8f6 h6g7 f6e8 g7g8 d5e5 ) +19.77/12 9} Nc5 {(Nd7-c5 Qd2-d5
Be7xd6 Nf5xd6 Qd8-f8 Bh6xf8 Nc5-e6 Qd5xe5 h7-h5 Nd6xf7 Kg8xf7 ) -23.46/11 9}  {1-0
Arena Adjudication} 1-0

Regards Geoff

[cwb]

Hi Geoff

Thanks for the interest and the error report.

I can reproduce the error, and it is indeed a book error.
Alf does not play that horrible move when the book is off...

I haven't observed any other book errors so far, so I hope you were just "lucky" to find one

[GeoffW]

Hi Casper

Coincidentally, it was the shown up in the first position of the nunn20.pgn. I always use this for testing programs as it gives a repeatable sequence.

The other thing that is puzzling me is that Arena is reporting Alf's memory usage as a mere 2 Megs. I looked at the default ini file which suggests it should be using 64 Megs ?

Any thoughts what might be going on with the hash size setting ?

Geoff

[cwb]

Hi Geoff,

The memory reporting is wrong in Arena - I guess it's reporting the memory used to run the batch file and not Alf.
Look in the taskmanager for java.exe instead.

I also use testpositions btw, but this time I used Noomen and Silver suites...

[GeoffW]

Thanks Casper

I forgot Alf runs via a batch file, that of course explains it. It is showing as 64 Megs in task manager.

Geoff

[Jim Ablett]

Alf 1.09 Windows exe:
(contains only exe+runtime dlls - add to engine folder containing
opening books and settings.ini)

http://www.mydatabus.com/public/deckard ... _win32.zip

Jim.