WakWak: new #1 DuckChess engine

[kelseyde123]

Hello TalkChess!

I am one of a team of engine developers who have been working for the past couple of months on a new Duck Chess engine called WakWak.

Today we have released the first official version: https://github.com/Silverrzz/wakwak/releases/tag/v1.0.0

WakWak is by some distance the strongest Duck Chess engine in the world. In a blitz match against the former #1 Fairy Stockfish, it won 1000 games with zero losses or draws: https://cope-chess.live/tournaments/184

We are all engine developers coming from the 'standard' engine dev space, and we've had a lot of fun trying out the Duck Chess variant for a change. Along the way we have invented a fair amount of novel heuristics unique to the variant, which we are calling 'duck tech'. You can check out our docs to learn a bit more: https://github.com/Silverrzz/wakwak/tree/main/docs.

We also created a website where you can play against WakWak, https://play.wakwak.live/, as well as hosting a bot on PyChess (unfortunately Lichess does not support Duck Chess yet) at https://www.pychess.org/@/wakwak.

We're very proud of the progress we've made with the engine, and hope it is of interest to some of you!

Thanks,

The WakWak team

[EllieSilverrzz]

Go WakWak!

[Damir]

Engine error WakWak delivered no move in Fritz GUI in online play.

[EllieSilverrzz]

Engine error WakWak delivered no move in Fritz GUI in online play.

Hey Damir, I don't think Fritz GUI supports the Duck Chess variant!
If you want to play against wakwak, you can do so at https://play.wakwak.live/