I added evaluation of threats in the middlegame to MadChess 3.1 Beta. A bonus is given if a pawn or minor piece threatens to capture a more valuable piece on its next move.
The evaluation code does not determine if the threatening piece is defended. That is left to the Search.GetQuietScore method to resolve. In other words, Search.GetQuietScore may determine the opponent can capture the threatening piece, eliminating the threat and rendering the evaluation bonus moot (because loss of a piece greatly outweighs the threat bonus).
Evaluating threats increased the playing strength of MadChess 3.1 Beta by 7 Elo.
| Feature | Category | Date | Commit1 | WAC2 | Elo Rating3 | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Threats | Evaluation | 2021 Oct 24 | 26e5323 | 289 | 2636 | +7 |
| Color-Agnostic Code | Evaluation | 2021 Sep 13 | 2b475bc | 286 | 2629 | +12 |
| Singular Move | Search | 2021 Jun 14 | 0c601ea | 290 | 2617 | +13 |
| Endgame Eval Scaling | Evaluation | 2021 Apr 08 | 4d22dec | 286 | 2604 | +12 |
| Bishop Pair | Evaluation | 2021 Mar 14 | 2960ec9 | 285 | 2592 | +22 |
| Position Cache Optimization | Search | 2021 Feb 23 | 42d7702 | 286 | 2570 | +8 |
| Move Generation Optimization | Search | 2021 Feb 17 | 22002dc | 287 | 2562 | +12 |
| 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 |
- GitHub commit (hash) or Subversion source code revision (integer)
- Win At Chess position test, 3 seconds per position
- Bullet chess, 2 min / game + 1 sec / move
I work as a Software Architect at an insurance company. We're building a modern tech stack in the cloud using C#, Azure, ASP.NET Core, Angular, TypeScript, etc.