MadChess 3.0 Beta f231dac (PVS and Null Move Improvements)

I improved MadChess 3.0 Beta’s Principal Variation Search (PVS) by consolidating two separate re-searches into one. In addition, I changed the null move implementation so it reduces the search horizon more aggressively if the current position’s static score far exceeds beta.

Previously, if a PVS search failed high, the engine would confirm the fail high first by restoring beta from bestScore + 1 to its original value and re-searching. If that also failed high, it restored the search horizon from a reduced value to its original value and re-searched. If that failed high the engine took a beta cutoff.

I simplified the code to a single re-search.

Null move now reduces more aggressively if the current position’s static score far exceeds beta.

This increased the playing strength of MadChess 3.0 Beta by 20 Elo.

 

Feature Category Date Commit1 WAC2 Elo Rating3 Improvement
PVS and Null Move Search 2021 Feb 09 f231dac 285 2550 +20
Remove Aspiration Windows Search 2020 Dec 20 4b7963b 290 2530 +9
Time Management Search 2020 Dec 19 d143bb5 286 2521 +8
Crash Bug Search 2020 Aug 29 2d855ec 288 2513 +0
King Safety Evaluation 2020 Aug 16 6794c89 288 2513 +63
Eval Param Tuning Evaluation 2020 Jul 23 bef88d5 283 2450 +30
Late Move Pruning Search 2020 Feb 08 6f3d17a 288 2420 +29
Piece Mobility Evaluation 2020 Feb 01 5c5d4fc 282 2391 +62
Passed Pawns Evaluation 2018 Dec 27 103 279 2329 +119
Staged Move Generation Search 2018 Dec 15 93 275 2210 +39
History Heuristics Search 2018 Dec 03 84 275 2171 +28
Eval Param Tuning Evaluation 2018 Nov 24 75 272 2143 +47
Sophisticated Search
Material and Piece Location
Baseline 2018 Nov 08 58 269 2096 0
  1. GitHub commit (hash) or Subversion source code revision (integer)
  2. Win At Chess position test, 3 seconds per position
  3. Bullet chess, 2 min / game + 1 sec / move
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