SjaakII 1.2 RC1

[Evert]

I used the Dragon King (rook with a funny hat).
No particular reason for that, it seemed "rook-like". I could have gone for "bishop-like" instead.

Of course what I really wanted was the spear image, but that doesn't work correctly in the version I have.

In the latest XBoard the new pieces (when Pawn = 1) are:
22 Lion (already in 4.8; was King before)
23 Wolf
24 Camel
25 Zebra
26 Wizard
27 Amazon (Lance duplicat without Pawn character)
28 minor Lion (Lion duplicat without trading restriction)

Thanks, I'll add those to the sample piece-to-char I have at the top of the document. Do they have default characters associated with them (I guess certainly not all of them, since there aren't enough letters in the alphabet)?

Unfortunately here is a compatibility issue here: making the pieceToChar so long that it uses the new pieces would select pieces from the Chu-promoted series in 4.8, and would be rejected (ignored) completely in earlier XBoard's. I don't see a good solution for this, other than not using old XBoards. Perhaps future XBoards should have a recipe for reassigning the end of overly long pieceToChar strings to unused pieces, so that they would be able to handle engines that are written for interfaces with even more pieces, but existing old XBoards do not have that.

Well, you already lose functionality by running SjaakII on anything older than 4.8; I don't have a real issue with recommending 4.9 instead, but I should probably document what will break if you run it on something older.

[Evert]

I often abuse the Cannon glyph for pieces with Lance-like motion (e.g. Chu Shogi Reverse Chariot). The ideal glyph would be the Dolphin (because its shape with dorsal fin resembles the move), but it is deep in the Chu-promoted series.

Perhaps I should include that one too, just for the fun of it.

Did I ever send you the Omega Chess wizard/champion icons (a half moon and a fancy helmet) that I adapted from Wikipedia? Although I don't suppose you really need to cram too many additional glyphs in there...

[hgm]

Well, If I ever want to do Macadamia Shogi or Cashew Shogi with HaChu, I am still short of pieces...

[Alexander Schmidt]

Odd. Do you happen to have a logfile of the engine <--> GUI (or cutechess, I suppose) communication?

SjaakII can make its own log if you start it with the "-log" option. Was it running in CECP or UCI mode?

No logfiles for this game. I did some more testing and had some more illegal moves. GUI is cutechess-qli and sjaak is running in uci mode. I'll post some more later with logfiles.

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "chispa"]
[Black "sjaakii"]
[Result "1-0"]
[FEN "rbknbnqr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RBKNBNQR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "30+0.1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. f3 {+0.03/8 0.49s} c6 {-0.08/10 1.1s} 2. e4 {+0.10/8 0.37s}
Ng6 {+0.07/10 0.87s} 3. Nc3 {+0.11/8 0.37s} f6 {+0.17/11 1.2s}
4. a4 {+0.16/8 0.38s} Ne6 {+0.11/9 0.65s} 5. Bf2 {+0.15/8 0.38s}
Ngf4 {+0.11/9 0.67s} 6. Ba2 {+0.27/7 0.40s} Be5 {-0.06/9 2.3s}
7. d4 {+0.43/6 0.27s} Bd6 {-0.56/8 0.58s} 8. Ng3 {+0.23/6 0.35s}
Bf7 {-0.38/8 0.42s} 9. Nf5 {+0.24/7 0.40s} Kb8 {-0.52/8 0.89s}
10. Nxd6 {+0.95/6 0.40s} exd6 {-0.94/10 0.51s} 11. Bg3 {+0.64/8 0.37s}
g5 {-0.95/11 0.77s} 12. d5 {+0.85/7 0.38s} Nc7 {-1.02/10 0.66s}
13. Qd4 {+1.15/7 0.39s} Ne8 {-1.02/10 0.69s} 14. Qd2 {+1.14/6 0.35s}
cxd5 {-1.06/9 0.84s} 15. exd5 {+1.19/7 0.41s} h5 {-1.31/10 1.2s}
16. h4 {+1.67/7 0.31s} Qg6 {-1.16/8 0.57s} 17. hxg5 {+1.65/8 0.39s}
fxg5 {-1.71/11 0.65s} 18. Bxf4 {+1.81/8 0.36s} gxf4 {-1.84/12 0.97s}
19. Rh4 {+1.73/8 0.29s} Qg5 {-1.84/12 0.67s} 20. Rxf4 {+1.81/8 0.33s}
Nf6 {-1.82/11 1.3s} 21. Qd4 {+1.79/7 0.27s} Rh6 {-1.89/10 0.54s}
22. O-O-O {+1.90/7 0.38s, Black makes an illegal move: @@@@} 1-0

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "sjaak"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "nrqbbnkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRQBBNKR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "6"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "30+0.1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. Nb3 {+0.18/11 1.2s} c5 {-0.05/12 2.7s} 2. d3 {+0.13/13 1.4s}
Ne6 {+0.05/11 0.87s} 3. e3 {+0.13/13 1.5s}
O-O {+0.04/10 1.0s, White makes an illegal move: d7d5} 0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "viper"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "nrnkbrqb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRNKBRQB w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "30+0.1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. g4 {+0.08/10 1.3s} f5 {+0.01/12 1.2s} 2. Nab3 {+0.27/10 1.2s}
Nab6 {0.00/11 1.1s} 3. gxf5 {+0.32/10 1.0s} Nd6 {+0.10/11 0.83s}
4. d3 {+0.23/10 0.96s} Nxf5 {+0.14/10 0.73s} 5. e4 {+0.35/11 0.82s}
Nh6 {+0.09/10 1.0s} 6. Ne2 {+0.54/8 0.81s} d6 {+0.09/10 0.88s}
7. Qg5 {+0.50/9 0.51s} Bd7 {+0.42/10 0.60s} 8. Kc1 {+0.36/8 0.65s}
Ng4 {+0.70/11 1.2s} 9. h3 {+0.33/9 0.43s} Nh2 {+0.59/10 0.77s}
10. Rg1 {+0.09/10 0.59s} Nf3 {+0.56/10 0.63s} 11. Bxf3 {0.00/10 0.71s}
Rxf3 {+0.46/10 0.94s} 12. h4 {+0.16/10 1.5s} a6 {+0.45/9 0.57s}
13. h5 {+0.46/8 0.69s} Qf7 {+0.54/10 0.62s} 14. Nbd4 {-0.07/9 0.71s}
Rh3 {+0.76/11 1.1s} 15. Ng3 {-0.16/10 0.56s} Qxa2 {+0.76/10 1.4s}
16. Ndf5 {-0.07/10 0.95s} Qf7 {+0.98/10 0.75s} 17. Bc3 {-0.33/10 0.92s}
h6 {+1.01/9 0.70s} 18. Qe3 {-0.30/10 1.0s} Bxf5 {+1.32/10 0.54s}
19. exf5 {-0.27/11 0.83s} Nd5 {+1.40/11 0.59s} 20. Qe4 {-0.34/10 0.84s}
Rh2 {+1.65/10 0.56s} 21. Rf1 {-0.41/9 0.61s} Nxc3 {+1.90/11 0.69s}
22. bxc3 {-0.36/11 0.51s} b6 {+1.79/10 0.41s, White makes an illegal move: d1e1}
0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "aice"]
[Black "sjaakii"]
[Result "1-0"]
[FEN "nrknbbqr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRKNBBQR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "30+0.1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. e4 {+0.20/8 0.75s} e5 {-0.05/14 1.5s} 2. f3 {+0.42/9 0.72s}
Nc6 {0.00/11 0.89s} 3. Nc3 {+0.27/9 0.52s} Nb6 {-0.07/12 1.1s}
4. O-O-O {+0.32/9 0.81s, Black makes an illegal move: a1b3} 1-0

[Alexander Schmidt]

Odd. Do you happen to have a logfile of the engine <--> GUI (or cutechess, I suppose) communication?

SjaakII can make its own log if you start it with the "-log" option. Was it running in CECP or UCI mode?

No logfiles for this game. I did some more testing and had some more illegal moves. GUI is cutechess-qli and sjaak is running in uci mode. I'll post some more later with logfiles.

Some more games, logfile don't work with cutechess-qli, but I think you can reproduce it:

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "glaurung"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "rqnkbbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RQNKBBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. e4 {+0.04/12 3.0s} e6 {-0.11/11 2.8s} 2. d4 {+0.27/11 2.0s}
c5 {+0.13/11 2.0s} 3. dxc5 {+0.25/13 2.0s} Bxc5 {+0.09/11 2.0s}
4. Nb3 {+0.36/13 2.9s} Qd6+ {-0.15/12 4.8s} 5. Bd3 {+0.28/12 2.2s}
Nf6 {-0.15/12 2.8s} 6. Nxc5 {+0.32/13 1.6s} Qxc5 {+0.33/11 0.72s}
7. Nf3 {+0.31/13 1.4s} d6 {+0.33/12 2.7s} 8. b4 {+0.54/13 1.4s}
Qb6 {-0.03/12 2.6s} 9. b5 {+0.42/11 1.1s} Bd7 {+0.03/10 2.2s}
10. a4 {+0.70/12 1.0s} Ng4 {+0.33/12 3.9s} 11. a5 {+0.89/13 1.9s}
Qc5 {+0.39/12 2.5s} 12. Rf1 {+0.79/12 1.8s} Qh5 {+0.05/11 3.2s}
13. Qb2 {+0.75/12 2.0s} O-O {+0.29/11 3.0s} 14. Kc1 {+0.80/11 1.9s}
f6 {+0.66/10 3.8s} 15. h3 {+0.84/13 1.4s} Ne5 {+0.68/12 1.7s}
16. Nxe5 {+0.69/14 2.0s} fxe5 {+0.54/11 1.4s} 17. Rg1 {+0.65/12 1.6s}
Qh4 {+1.01/10 2.4s} 18. f3 {+0.81/13 2.2s} Qf4+ {+0.52/11 2.2s}
19. Bd2 {+0.92/12 1.3s} Qh2 {+0.37/11 1.9s} 20. Be3 {+0.94/13 1.4s}
d5 {+0.31/10 1.3s} 21. exd5 {+1.29/11 2.0s} exd5 {+0.49/10 1.4s}
22. Qb4 {+1.64/12 1.3s} Rf6 {+0.54/10 1.6s} 23. Bc4 {+2.47/11 0.98s}
dxc4 {+1.47/11 2.0s, White makes an illegal move: d1d7} 0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "glaurung"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "brqbnnkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BRQBNNKR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. b4 {+0.12/14 3.4s} b5 {-0.07/11 3.4s} 2. Qa3 {+0.02/14 2.8s}
Ne6 {-0.05/11 1.9s} 3. e3 {+0.20/13 1.9s} Rb6 {+0.09/11 4.7s}
4. Bf3 {+0.07/12 2.1s} Nd6 {+0.01/12 3.4s} 5. Bxa8 {+0.03/13 1.5s}
Qxa8 {+0.01/10 0.81s} 6. d3 {+0.10/14 2.5s} a5 {+0.70/12 2.1s}
7. Ng3 {-0.26/12 2.2s} Ra6 {+0.72/13 2.9s} 8. Be5 {-0.49/13 1.1s}
axb4 {+0.62/12 3.3s} 9. Qxb4 {-0.54/14 1.7s} c6 {+0.88/11 3.3s}
10. Bxd6 {-0.36/13 1.3s} Ra4 {+0.62/12 1.6s} 11. Qb3 {-0.39/14 1.5s}
exd6 {+1.01/11 1.6s} 12. Ra1 {-0.35/14 2.1s} Qa5 {+0.68/11 3.7s}
13. Nf5 {-0.20/12 1.5s} Nc5 {+0.76/12 3.3s} 14. Qb2 {-0.10/14 1.5s}
Bf6 {+0.80/12 1.8s} 15. d4 {-0.21/14 2.3s} d5 {+1.01/11 1.6s}
16. f3 {-0.21/13 1.3s} Ra3 {+1.09/12 2.2s} 17. h4 {-0.25/11 2.3s}
h5 {+1.41/11 3.6s} 18. c3 {-0.61/11 1.1s} Nb7 {+1.94/11 1.7s}
19. Rh3 {-0.77/11 2.1s} g6 {+2.58/12 2.1s} 20. Ng3 {-1.25/13 1.3s}
Nd6 {+2.62/12 1.7s} 21. Ne2 {-1.24/13 1.00s} Nc4 {+2.47/12 1.9s}
22. Qc1 {-1.32/13 1.4s} Rxa2 {+2.58/12 2.0s} 23. Rxa2 {-1.19/15 1.7s}
Qxa2 {+2.54/10 0.21s} 24. Kf2 {-1.27/12 1.1s}
O-O {+2.94/13 1.5s, White makes an illegal move: g8g7} 0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "glaurung"]
[Black "sjaakii"]
[Result "1-0"]
[FEN "rqknbbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RQKNBBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. e4 {+0.15/12 3.3s} c6 {-0.19/14 2.2s} 2. f3 {+0.52/12 3.3s}
e5 {+0.09/15 2.8s} 3. Ne3 {+0.60/12 2.3s} Ne6 {-0.04/14 3.4s}
4. Nh3 {+0.62/12 2.8s} Nf6 {+0.02/12 1.8s} 5. a4 {+0.56/11 4.3s}
Qc7 {+0.16/12 2.5s} 6. Bh4 {+0.54/11 2.8s, Black makes an illegal move: @@@@}
1-0

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "4"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "glaurung"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "qnrnbbkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QNRNBBKR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "16"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. d4 {+0.04/14 2.5s} f6 {-0.41/10 3.5s} 2. e4 {+0.27/12 3.0s}
e5 {-0.52/10 2.3s} 3. d5 {+0.54/11 2.2s} Bg6 {-0.47/11 4.0s}
4. Nbc3 {+0.46/12 2.8s} Bc5 {-0.47/11 3.4s} 5. h4 {+0.54/11 1.5s}
c6 {-0.41/11 4.1s} 6. h5 {+0.79/9 1.3s} Bf7 {-0.49/11 2.7s} 7. a3 {+0.79/9 2.9s}
cxd5 {0.00/10 1.9s} 8. exd5 {+0.66/10 1.2s}
O-O {-0.21/10 2.0s, White makes an illegal move: b7b5} 0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "glaurung"]
[Black "sjaakii"]
[Result "1-0"]
[FEN "bbnrnqkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BBNRNQKR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "23"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. Nf3 {+0.17/11 3.0s} b6 {+0.06/14 4.6s} 2. c4 {+0.11/11 4.1s}
c5 {-0.04/13 2.9s} 3. b3 {+0.07/11 3.6s} f6 {-0.14/12 2.1s}
4. d4 {+0.70/10 2.2s} e6 {-0.07/11 2.0s} 5. e4 {+0.84/10 3.2s}
Qe7 {-0.14/11 2.0s} 6. d5 {+0.96/9 3.8s} Bf4 {-0.25/10 2.5s}
7. Qd3 {+1.19/9 1.9s} a6 {-0.40/8 1.6s} 8. Ne2 {+1.35/10 2.0s}
Bh6 {-0.46/10 1.3s} 9. e5 {+1.31/10 2.3s} d6 {-0.36/11 1.4s}
10. exf6 {+1.25/10 2.3s} Nxf6 {-0.38/11 1.00s} 11. Ng3 {+1.01/10 2.9s}
Re8 {-0.55/11 1.5s} 12. O-O {+1.45/10 4.0s, Black makes an illegal move: @@@@}
1-0

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "glaurung"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "rbknbqnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RBKNBQNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "24"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. d4 {+0.11/14 2.9s} c5 {-0.01/11 3.9s} 2. dxc5 {+0.11/13 3.3s}
f5 {-0.15/11 9.6s} 3. e3 {+0.67/11 1.6s} e5 {0.00/9 2.0s} 4. Bb4 {+0.42/10 2.0s}
Nc6 {-0.07/10 2.1s} 5. Ba3 {+0.43/12 2.7s} Nf6 {0.00/11 4.2s}
6. Nc3 {+0.49/11 1.5s} Bf7 {+0.07/10 2.0s} 7. Nh3 {+0.40/10 1.1s}
Qg8 {-0.03/10 1.9s} 8. Qd3 {+0.39/12 1.4s} e4 {0.00/10 2.2s}
9. Qd2 {+0.49/11 1.7s} Bc4 {+0.21/9 2.9s} 10. b3 {+0.58/11 1.4s}
Ba6 {-0.07/10 2.1s} 11. f4 {+0.62/11 1.5s} Bc7 {+0.27/11 2.7s}
12. Rd1 {+0.65/11 3.4s} O-O-O {+0.19/11 2.6s, White makes an illegal move: g8e8}
0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "glaurung"]
[Black "sjaakii"]
[Result "1-0"]
[FEN "bbrnqnkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BBRNQNKR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "13"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. c4 {+0.21/11 2.2s} c5 {-0.08/13 4.4s} 2. b3 {+0.21/11 2.3s}
b6 {-0.01/13 3.5s} 3. Nfe3 {+0.35/10 2.2s} e6 {+0.06/11 2.9s}
4. d4 {+0.35/10 2.8s} cxd4 {-0.02/12 2.2s} 5. Bxd4 {-0.07/10 2.9s}
Nc6 {-0.05/11 2.8s} 6. Bb2 {0.00/10 2.7s} f5 {+0.06/10 1.5s}
7. O-O {+0.21/9 2.2s, Black makes an illegal move: e1d2} 1-0

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "glaurung"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "nbqrbnkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NBQRBNKR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "28"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. c4 {+0.43/11 2.4s} c5 {-0.54/10 3.4s} 2. Ne3 {+0.11/13 3.0s}
Ng6 {-0.19/10 2.1s} 3. Bxg6 {+0.09/10 1.8s} hxg6 {+0.17/11 2.7s}
4. Nb3 {+0.06/11 2.0s} Nb6 {+0.29/11 3.4s} 5. d4 {-0.05/12 1.8s}
cxd4 {+0.60/11 3.0s} 6. Nxd4 {-0.06/12 2.8s} Qc5 {+0.60/10 2.8s}
7. b4 {+0.34/9 1.4s} Qh5 {+0.92/10 1.6s} 8. Nf3 {+0.26/10 1.7s}
Bf4 {+0.60/9 4.1s} 9. Qa3 {+0.42/10 1.7s} d6 {+0.86/9 2.5s}
10. Qxa7 {+0.81/11 1.4s} Bxe3 {+0.21/11 1.7s} 11. fxe3 {+0.85/13 1.7s}
Nxc4 {+0.23/9 0.16s} 12. Qxb7 {+1.24/11 1.4s} Ba4 {-0.35/10 2.2s}
13. Rd4 {+0.95/11 2.1s} d5 {-1.25/10 4.0s} 14. Qxe7 {+1.69/12 2.5s}
O-O {-1.37/11 2.9s, White makes an illegal move: @@@@} 0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "7"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "glaurung"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "rnbkrqnb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBKRQNB w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "28"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. e4 {+0.12/12 3.7s} Nc6 {-0.11/11 4.0s} 2. Nf3 {+0.03/14 2.9s}
d6 {-0.01/11 6.4s} 3. d4 {+0.26/13 2.0s} g5 {-0.15/10 3.1s}
4. d5 {+0.66/13 2.2s} g4 {-0.01/10 1.9s} 5. dxc6 {+0.88/14 2.2s}
gxf3 {-0.17/11 2.6s} 6. cxb7 {+0.86/13 1.3s} Bxb7 {-0.23/12 2.7s}
7. gxf3 {+0.94/11 1.4s} Qg7 {-0.47/10 5.0s} 8. Nc3 {+1.01/10 1.1s}
Qd4+ {-0.68/9 2.0s} 9. Bd2 {+0.75/10 1.3s} Rb8 {-0.41/10 2.4s}
10. Kc1 {+1.15/10 1.1s} Bc8 {+0.35/9 1.5s} 11. a3 {+0.89/11 1.3s}
Qb6 {+0.31/10 2.6s} 12. b4 {+0.86/11 2.2s} Bd4 {+0.09/10 4.9s}
13. Be3 {+1.54/12 1.8s} Nf6 {+0.03/10 1.8s} 14. Bxd4 {+5.65/13 2.1s}
Qxd4 {+0.29/12 2.1s, White makes an illegal move: d1d4} 0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "8"]
[White "glaurung"]
[Black "sjaakii"]
[Result "1-0"]
[FEN "nrkbnrbq/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRKBNRBQ w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "13"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. Nb3 {+0.11/12 2.2s} f5 {-0.16/14 2.9s} 2. f4 {+0.19/13 3.5s}
Nb6 {-0.16/13 2.1s} 3. Bd4 {+0.17/12 3.0s} d6 {+0.25/14 3.4s}
4. e3 {+0.17/10 1.8s} c5 {+0.21/13 2.4s} 5. Bc3 {+0.09/11 2.0s}
Bd5 {+0.12/10 1.7s} 6. Bf3 {+0.27/10 1.8s} e6 {+0.14/10 1.3s}
7. O-O-O {+0.21/10 2.7s, Black makes an illegal move: @@@@} 1-0

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "glaurung"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "rnknbqrb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNKNBQRB w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "16"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. g4 {+0.23/13 2.5s} Nbc6 {-0.27/10 2.6s} 2. e3 {+0.25/12 3.0s}
g5 {-0.09/11 3.1s} 3. Qh3 {+0.23/13 3.5s} f6 {+0.15/10 2.2s}
4. Qxh7 {+0.53/11 1.6s} Bg7 {+0.03/10 1.9s} 5. Qh3 {+0.59/13 2.9s}
Rh8 {+0.21/11 3.2s} 6. Qg3 {+0.62/12 1.4s} e5 {+0.15/11 4.5s}
7. Nbc3 {+0.92/10 1.6s} Ne6 {+0.13/10 3.0s} 8. a3 {+0.98/10 1.2s}
O-O-O {+0.29/10 3.1s, White makes an illegal move: e8g6} 0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "5"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "glaurung"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "rnkbbqnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNKBBQNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "20"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. Nc3 {+0.06/14 3.4s} Nc6 {-0.23/12 3.9s} 2. Nf3 {+0.11/14 4.0s}
e5 {-0.11/11 2.8s} 3. e4 {-0.01/12 2.2s} f5 {+0.50/11 1.9s}
4. d3 {-0.07/11 2.5s} fxe4 {+0.49/11 3.2s} 5. dxe4 {-0.06/11 1.4s}
Nf6 {+0.35/11 2.7s} 6. Qd3 {0.00/12 2.1s} Bg6 {+0.80/10 3.1s}
7. Nh4 {+0.12/11 1.2s} Bf7 {+0.64/10 5.5s} 8. Nf5 {+0.07/11 1.6s}
Be6 {+0.74/10 4.9s} 9. Bf3 {+0.14/9 1.3s} g6 {+0.80/10 2.7s}
10. Ne3 {-0.09/11 1.3s} Nd4 {+0.90/10 2.4s, White makes an illegal move: @@@@}
0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "8"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "glaurung"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "qrnnbbkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QRNNBBKR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "14"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. b4 {+0.16/13 2.9s} d5 {+0.27/11 3.0s} 2. e3 {+0.18/13 2.4s}
e6 {+0.39/11 3.9s} 3. Qc3 {+0.11/13 1.7s} Bd6 {+0.72/11 4.5s}
4. Nd3 {+0.10/14 2.8s} Bb5 {+0.90/11 3.6s} 5. Nc5 {+0.11/12 1.4s}
Bxf1 {+1.41/11 1.7s} 6. Kxf1 {+0.10/14 1.7s} Nb6 {+1.37/11 3.4s}
7. d4 {+0.09/12 1.7s} O-O {+1.66/11 2.4s, White makes an illegal move: b6c4} 0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "glaurung"]
[Black "sjaakii"]
[Result "1-0"]
[FEN "nrknrqbb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRKNRQBB w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "13"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. Nb3 {+0.29/11 2.0s} Nb6 {+0.06/11 4.0s} 2. g4 {+0.13/10 2.3s}
e5 {-0.18/10 3.3s} 3. f4 {+0.74/9 2.4s} f5 {-0.23/10 2.4s}
4. fxe5 {+0.76/10 2.9s} fxg4 {-0.20/11 2.7s} 5. Ne3 {+0.62/10 4.5s}
Be6 {-0.26/10 2.8s} 6. d4 {+0.78/9 2.9s} c6 {-0.20/10 1.2s}
7. O-O-O {+1.58/9 2.5s, Black makes an illegal move: @@@@} 1-0

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "3"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "glaurung"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "qrkbrnbn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QRKBRNBN w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. f4 {+0.12/14 4.1s} Nhg6 {-0.11/10 2.0s} 2. g3 {+0.23/15 2.3s}
f5 {+0.07/12 3.0s} 3. e4 {-0.08/13 2.6s} fxe4 {+0.01/11 3.0s}
4. b3 {+0.32/13 2.1s} e5 {+0.43/11 2.3s} 5. f5 {+0.14/13 2.1s}
Nh8 {+0.74/11 2.4s} 6. Rxe4 {-0.37/12 2.3s} Be7 {+0.54/11 4.9s}
7. b4 {-0.12/11 1.8s} Nf7 {+0.70/11 7.5s} 8. Bh5 {+0.07/9 1.6s}
g6 {+1.43/11 2.3s} 9. fxg6 {-0.52/12 1.9s} hxg6 {+1.62/11 1.7s}
10. Bg4 {-0.77/12 2.5s} Nh7 {+1.66/11 2.4s} 11. Nf2 {-0.74/10 2.0s}
Nf6 {+1.82/10 1.7s} 12. Re3 {-0.84/11 2.0s} a5 {+1.90/10 2.6s}
13. Bf3 {-0.84/10 1.2s} axb4 {+2.09/9 1.7s} 14. Nd3 {-1.05/10 2.3s}
b3 {+3.68/9 2.4s} 15. a4 {-0.90/8 1.3s} bxc2 {+3.50/9 1.6s}
16. Kxc2 {-1.08/11 1.9s} e4 {+3.25/9 1.4s} 17. Bxe4 {-0.94/12 1.3s}
Nxe4 {+3.39/10 2.0s} 18. Rxe4 {-0.93/12 1.5s} Ng5 {+3.37/10 1.8s}
19. Re2 {-1.10/11 1.9s} Nf3 {+3.94/9 1.7s} 20. Bc5 {-1.15/10 2.1s}
d6 {+3.13/9 1.6s} 21. Bd4 {-1.23/10 1.7s} Qa6 {+3.41/9 2.2s}
22. Bc3 {-1.01/10 1.3s} Ne5 {+3.31/10 4.0s} 23. Re3 {-0.70/10 1.0s}
O-O-O {+2.90/9 2.6s, White makes an illegal move: e7g5} 0-1

[Event "League_B_1"]
[Site "Chess960_League"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "8"]
[White "sjaakii"]
[Black "glaurung"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "nrkbbrnq/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRKBBRNQ w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "18"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "60+1"]
[Variant "fischerandom"]

1. e4 {+0.09/14 3.0s} f5 {-0.11/12 2.9s} 2. e5 {-0.03/14 4.0s}
Nb6 {-0.03/12 2.7s} 3. Nf3 {+0.07/14 2.0s} e6 {-0.11/12 2.2s}
4. h3 {+0.01/13 1.6s} Ne7 {+0.54/13 3.0s} 5. d3 {+0.08/13 1.5s}
Nc6 {+0.82/13 2.9s} 6. Bd2 {-0.01/14 2.0s} Bh5 {+0.82/12 2.2s}
7. Re1 {+0.10/13 1.7s} Nd5 {+0.70/12 3.9s} 8. Nb3 {+0.14/12 1.1s}
Be7 {+0.62/11 3.1s} 9. a3 {+0.23/12 1.3s}
O-O-O {+0.41/11 3.8s, White makes an illegal move: f5f4} 0-1

[hgm]

Suspiciously often in reply to castling...

[Evert]

Suspiciously often in reply to castling...

Yes. If this is in UCI mode, it may explain a bit more what is happening: I suspect that SjaakII rejects the castling move as illegal (because it doesn't recognise it). Since in UCI mode it has no notion of what side it has to play (and no easy way to communicate to the UI that it rejected the move), it reaches the end of the move list and is then set to think on the position before its opponent's last move.

I solved part of the problem (the part that wants to represent castling by "@@@@"), but there's still another issue lurking somewhere.

EDIT: in fact not, I just didn't look at the position well enough. All seems in order now.

EDIT2: Expect 1.2.1 later today, I have everything ready but I need a few minutes to package.

[hgm]

Thanks, I'll add those to the sample piece-to-char I have at the top of the document. Do they have default characters associated with them (I guess certainly not all of them, since there aren't enough letters in the alphabet)?

The "default characters" are really a legacy from the time I still thought there could be a universal notation across variants (and the -pieceToCharTable option did not exist), and later, when the default pieceToCharTable of variant fairy was defined that way. But when the pieceToCharTable got also used for selection of the promotion piece or in position setup defining extra non-participating pieces was no longer harmless, and as the number of types grew became actually pretty annoying. So I abandoned the interpretation of variant fairy as by default being a variant with all pieces defined and an initial position that no one would want for sure to Chess with Different Armies, FIDE vs Clobberers.

So there isn't much "default" anymore to the legacy ID assignment, but because I know it by heart I still use it to mentally count the positions in the pieceToCharTable when I want to select a particular glyph. But that is about all it is used for, and as not many people would know it by heart, it doesn't seem useful to add new IDs to it.

And, like you say, we are above 26 now. This would not have to be fatal, because XBoard 4.9 supports 'decorated letters' as piece ID, allowing the combinations letter + single quote and letter + exclamation point as ID, next to bare letters. That drives up the number of available IDs to 3x26=78. Of course the old and more-specific mechanism of prefixing with + for a promoted piece also still exists. Logical choices for the new pieces would be L! (Lion), W! (Wolf), C' (Camel), Z' (Zebra), Z (Amazon), L' (minor Lion).

XBoard 4.8 did already get 22 'chu-promoted' pieces added, for whicf no 'default' ID was defined, although one might consider +P, +N... as the natural ID for those. (A complication is that the pieces were added between Unicorn and King, to keep the King last, so that the added Lion became the un-chu-promoted partner of King.) The chu-promoted series is

+P Tokin (turban without ornament)
+N Claw
+B flat mitre without cross
+R roofed Rook without battlements
+Q turban with circle ornament (+L in Shogi)
+F Sword without stripe
+E alternate King (not visually different and still royal)
+A alternate Queen (not visually different)
+C alternate Lion (not visually different, still untradable)
+W Rook without battlements
+M lying sword without stripe
+O Dolphin
+H Sword
+I Leopard
+J lying sword
+G turban with star ornament
+D narrow Queen crown
+V lying narrow Queen crown
+L Knight (not visually different)
+S Elephant (not visually different)
+U Bishop without cross

and added in 4.9

+L! Gnu
+W! Viking helmet
+C' Iron General (simple helmet)
+Z' Champion (hoplit helmet)
+Z Tower
+L' Flying Dragon

Duplicat symbols 'without' a detail are very (Chu-)Shogi-specific, used to indicate lack of promotability on the unaltered piece it resembles, where it normally would be promotable. In variant chu XBoard furthermore messes with the order, swapping some pieces in the chu-promoted series with pieces in the unpromoted series, to get the needed pairing of promoted and unpromoted pieces. So the listed order is only for variants that do not mess with the pieces (chu, seirawan, gothic and shogi do such messing). The duplicats that are not visually distinct were added because with kanji pieces they should be distinct (+E has kanji for 'Prince' instead of 'King').

A slash in the pieceToChar string skips to the Tokin in 4.9, to make it possibility to preserve compatibility when more pieces will be added behind L'. Unfortunately use of this would destroy compatibility with 4.8, which would see the '/' as just another ID, and thus would not pick the correct pieces from the chu-promoted series, unless the '/' would appear in the position of the Lion. (Which would then define a parasitic Lion, and prevent use of the Lion.) But the chu-promoted series was never officially defined.

[Evert]

I have now uploaded Sjaak II 1.2.1, available from http://www.eglebbk.dds.nl/program/chess-download.html (it replaces 1.2.0).

Source, Linux and OS X versions are up, Windows version will follow.

Changes since 1.2.0:

• Value of Hawk and Unicorn in Musketeer Chess was increased: the old value was based on an estimate that did not consider long-range jumps.
• Fix a bug in the output of castling moves that could spoil shuffle games.
• Fix a few uninitialised variables and minor memory leaks found by Valgrind.

This fixes a problem with node counts not matching between 32 and 64 bit modes in Windows.

[Alexander Schmidt]

EDIT2: Expect 1.2.1 later today, I have everything ready but I need a few minutes to package.

First 20 games without problems, looks like it works now, many thanks!!

Best,
Alex