Spark 0.4 released

[rvida]

Thanks Allard,

Spark is my all-time sparring partner when testing Critter. All code changes that only slightly weaken its tactical capabilities gets punished badly by Spark.

I wonder how You achieved such tactical strength with Spark. In many tactical test positions it gets the key move much faster than any other engine out there. I was able to simulate this - by extending every check by full ply (even in non-pv nodes) - at the cost of about -80 elo overall

PS: (jokingly) If You go open source with Spark, I promise to open source Critter too...

Richard

[alpha123]

Yeesh, all these engines coming out at the same time....

Congratulations on the release! +40 elo ain't bad.

What the heck did you DO to Spark's search?! This thing has got to be the most tactical engine out there.... I'd be impressed if Rybka 4's search was as anywhere near as effective as Spark's.

Congrats,
Peter

[beachknight]

thanks for the update.

will be tested tomorrow morning, umm, or a bit later



best,

[David Dahlem]

[ernst]

Keep up the good work.

[Norm Pollock]

Any chance for a non-SSE2 32-bit version?

[Volker Pittlik]

Ah, I forgot to mention that...the 64-bit OSX version will follow later this week.

Any chance off a 32-bit Linux version?

vp

[swami]

Spark used 1 CPU
Q6600, 2GB RAM, 2.4GHZ.
10 seconds per position.



In 5 seconds per position, it scored 705/1000.

[Marek Soszynski]

spark-0.4-win64-mp.exe seems to work fine in infinite analysis mode in Aquarium, though (just like 0.3) it creates spark-0.4-error.log:

Code: Select all

Option not supported: UCI_EngineAbout
Option not supported: UCI_AnalyseMode
Option not supported: UCI_AnalyseMode
uci:: stop without preceeding go?
No move generated! bm=0

[gerold]

Thanks Allard.
Working great in Arena.

Best,
Gerold.