| get a free hit counter here. |
06/01/2008 - Seventh version of Goyaz. New version is already available in the downloads section, in zip format. The playing strength increased, but it was not measured yet. Main changes:
- Verified null moves. Changed null moves to verified null moves;
- Bitscan. The pieces positions are now find by math;
- New time allocation. Better time allocation for Tournament and Fischer bonus clocks.
04/19/2008 - Final tests of the 7th version. The final tests of
Goyaz's new version are already being made. Finally, Goyaz will be tested in a computer with dual processor. There were problems reported in this kind of computer, and with these tests, I hope they become solved.
Site update. The site is undergoing an upgrade and I hope that now the updates become more frequent. There is a new article in the "Tech stuff" and the idea now is to publish regularly.
05/02/2008 - Sixth version of Goyaz. New version is already available in the downloads section, in zip format. The playing strength increased about 130 Elo points. Main changes:
- New evaluation function. Goyaz evals rooks in open and semi-open files, bishop pairs, passed pawns, isolated pawns, doubled pawns, etc.;
- Pawn structure table. There is now a table with the pawn structure, speeding up the evaluation function;
- Tables can be resized. The transposition table and the pawn structure table can be resized by the user;
- Bugs fixed. Fixed bug in the transposition table and in the tournament-like time controls;
- Change in the quiescense search. With the new function, the number of nodes has decreased;
- Null-moves. Inserted null-move to reduce the number of nodes, speedding up the search;
- Resign. Goyaz can now resign lost games.
12/30/2007 - Fifth version of Goyaz. After a long time, the new version is available in the downloads section, in zip format. It took really long time for me to find a bug in recaptures (I spent a lot of time riding my new Suzuki 1200 byke, also). The playing strength isn't available yet. Main changes:
- Transposition Table. The positions already analised are stored in memory, up to 131,072 positions;
- Fixed bug in recaptures. The previous version stoped the recaptures when they started to loose, e.g. a queen taking a protected knight. However, even if the knight was hanging, the queen didn't capture it. Fixed in this version, after a lot of hard work!!! Now it seems bug free and I can start to teach it the game's strategies (doubled and isoleted pawns, open files and so on).
09/11/2007 - Forth version of Goyaz. New version is already available in the downloads section, in zip format. The playing strength is about the same. Main change:
- Quiescense search. The engine lost some time with it, zeroing the strength gain. However, quiescent search is needed for the next steps.
08/27/2007 - Over 100 games in the site. The first games played by version 3 are available in the site.
With the results, it was possible to estimate the new Goyaz's strength: 1,487 USCF, aproxim.
These games are available at "Downloads" Section, "PGN games" subsection;
08/24/2007 - Third version of Goyaz. New version is already available in the downloads section, in zip format. Main changes:
- Faster eval function. It looks only to the changes of the board, instead of searching all board again. Speed increased 100%;
- Move ordering. Now Goyaz do move ordering, increasing the alpha-beta cutoffs. It cuts 95% of the useless moves. With this change and the above, Goyaz analyzes 40 times more moves;
- Endgame piece-square table. In the endgame, the King goes to the center and the pawns try to promote themselves.
08/24/2007 - New games section. Now you can watch the games in your browser (thanks to Lutz Tautenhahn and his LT-PGN-VIEWER).
There are also new games available, used to create version 3 (almost done).
These games are available at "Downloads" Section, "PGN games" subsection; [your browser doesn't support LT-PGN-VIEWER, so the games are still available for download in PGN]
08/11/2007 - More games to download. The first games played by version 2 are available to download in pgn format.
The games played in the creation of version 2 are also available.
With the results, it was possible to estimate the new Goyaz's strength: 1,292 USCF, aproxim. 60% better than the last version.
These games are available at "Downloads" Section, "PGN games" subsection;
08/02/2007 - Second version of Goyaz. New version is already available in the downloads section, in zip format. Main changes:
- Fixed bug in promotion. Version 1 crashed in pawn promotions;
- Fixed castle bug. Some castling bugs maked Goyaz crash when black queen's side started to become empty - thanks to a tip from Josué, from the engine Matheus;
- Time control implemented. The new version adjusts the search depth based on how much time it has;
- Move validation and checkmate/draw recognition. Now Goyaz only accepts valid moves and recongnizes the end of the game by checkmate and by draw;
- "Hint" command activated. Now Winboard's "hint" command works. The "Book" command also shows an engine's hint. The book is not implemented yet;
- Principal Variantion. The new version shows the main line;
- Position evaluation. New version makes a simple positional avaliation, based on a piece-square table. This table don't change in the game: the king, e.g., likes to hide in the corner, even in the endgame;
- Ini file. Created a goyaz.ini file, with piece values, positional/material, etc., to modify Goyaz's strength.
07/28/2007 - Site now in English. Goyaz's site now is available in English too.
Also, a new game of Goyaz, send by Josué Forte, is available at "Downloads" Section, "PGN games" subsecction. Using that game, I found a very weird bug in Goyaz!!! Soon, I'll publish it. I am just searching for an easier way to explain it...
07/26/2007 - Games to download. The games played by Goyaz are available to download in pgn format, in a total number of twenty.
With the results, it was possible to estimate Goyaz's strength: 758 USCF, aproxim. This strength is the same of an adult starting to play chess.
However, with just the correction of a bug that makes Goyaz stop playing instead of promote his pawn, his strength grows 11%, reaching adults that are starting to study tactics and strategies.
These games are available at "Downloads" Section, "PGN games" subsection;
07/22/2007 - First version of Goyaz is send to the web. Based on Goyaz program that I was making in Delphi 2, and converted to Lazarus, it has the minimum of funcionalities to work with Winboard.
I removed several commands and algorithms that weren't working properly, so this verion has a lot of stuff deactivated.
It only accepts the normal variant of chess (FIDE's rules), although Winboard protocol have several games modes.
Main limitations of this version:
- Do not allows time control. The moves are allways analized to a fixed depth (2 plys), even if the user changes the time control in Winboard. The changes in clocks has no effect in Goyaz. However, to choose the maximum depth of analyses works fine;
- Do not validate moves. The move validation must be done by Winboard itself, since Goyaz checks just some aspects of invalid moves (e. g., to put the king into check);
- Do not accept and do not offer draws. Even if it is loosing, e.g. mate in 2, it won't accept any draw offers (you can test this, if you want);
- Hints disabled. The lines chosen by the engine aren't fully connected to the interface part of the program. It's the same problem of the draw offers. By the way, when you ask for a book hint, just a message is shown telling about the ausence of the book;
- Do not ponder. Even if this option is on in Winboard;
- Do not support analyses mode. Since it is not implemented yet;
- The principal variation is not shown. Once again, the problem is the comunication between the engine and the interface. The message "pv not available yet" is shown in the place of the main line.
- There are some other limitations on the game strength, explained in the "Tech stuff".
Last update: 06/01/2008