new/updated engines: 2008/11/24

[Don Cross]

Hi Roger,

Here's the super-secret file... Don't tell anyone!

http://cosinekitty.com/chenard/trx_2008_11_28.zip

Download that and unzip it into the same directory with any of the versions of Chenard. This is the same file that will be used in OpenWar 5.

- Don

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Hi Roger,

Here's the super-secret file... Don't tell anyone!

http://cosinekitty.com/chenard/trx_2008_11_28.zip

Download that and unzip it into the same directory with any of the versions of Chenard. This is the same file that will be used in OpenWar 5.

- Don

Thanks Don,I've got the secret file too

[Roger Brown]

Hi Roger,

Here's the super-secret file... Don't tell anyone!

http://cosinekitty.com/chenard/trx_2008_11_28.zip

Download that and unzip it into the same directory with any of the versions of Chenard. This is the same file that will be used in OpenWar 5.

- Don

Hello Don,

Thanks much.

Of course now that the Doctor also has the secret file I shall have to deal with him personally.....



Later.

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Hi Roger,

Here's the super-secret file... Don't tell anyone!

http://cosinekitty.com/chenard/trx_2008_11_28.zip

Download that and unzip it into the same directory with any of the versions of Chenard. This is the same file that will be used in OpenWar 5.

- Don

Hello Don,

Thanks much.

Of course now that the Doctor also has the secret file I shall have to deal with him personally.....



Later.

Hehehe,waiting with a wooden chess board in the frontyard

[Jim Ablett]

Hi Olivier,

It is good to hear from you again.

I just posted the latest version: 2008.11.27 (bug fix for extremely rare crash where Chenard tried to free a pointer that was not initialized). I have been testing the code with this fix over the past several days and the engine seems pretty stable now. I am going to try to avoid messing with it any more until the contest!

And yes, the WinBoard version of Chenard now understands incremental time controls and pondering. Here is the engine in a zip file:

http://cosinekitty.com/chenard/wxchenard.zip

By the way, I also have a fairly large (13.5 MB zipped) opening/experience library that I would like to include in the contest, but I am still tweaking it a bit. Will such a large library be a problem for this contest?

Thanks,

- Don

Hi Don,

Great to see you're active on the chess engine scene again.

I compiled an Intel compiler 10 p.g.o win32 build of latest xchenard src (20081205).
Got good speedup (More than double nps).


Chenard (xchenard) 2008.12.05 JA by Don Cross

Win32 Intel compiler 10 p.g.o build.

http://www.mediafire.com/?njujvjdmjyj

And good luck with the new engine you're working on.

regards,
Jim.

[Don Cross]

Hi Jim,

I downloaded your Intel compile of xchenard_ja, and wow, that really is a lot faster. I am interested in getting that, but I am afraid to ask how much it costs. But I will anyway! How much does it cost? I saw there was a free evaluation version, but it works only for a limited time.

Don

[Jim Ablett]

Hi Jim,

I downloaded your Intel compile of xchenard_ja, and wow, that really is a lot faster. I am interested in getting that, but I am afraid to ask how much it costs. But I will anyway! How much does it cost? I saw there was a free evaluation version, but it works only for a limited time.

Don

Hi Don,

Take a deep breath
http://www.intel.com/cd/software/produc ... /index.htm

The key to speed is (P)rofile (G)uided (O)ptimization

If you are using a pro (not express) version of Msvc++ you can
already compile exes of comparable speed to Intel's as this has p.g.o capability.

If you are using the Msvc++ 'express' edition read below >

'Microsoft Visual Toolkit 2003' can produce profile guided compiles (unlike latest Msvc express editions).
These would be of comparable speed to Intel.

Go here to download the kit (not available from Microsoft anymore) and get info on setting it up.

http://xona.com/2004/06/29.html

You can also set it up for use with 'CodeBlocks' IDE

http://wiki.codeblocks.org/index.php?ti ... Blocks_IDE

Jim.

[Don Cross]

Hi Jim,

That is great to know. I never knew about PGO before. I am using Microsoft Visual C++ 9.0 Professional Edition. (A nice fringe benefit of my work.) I am reading up about PGO now.

Thanks for the tip! If I can get that to work, I will have a new Chenard on my web site soon.

Don

[Jim Ablett]

Hi Jim,

That is great to know. I never knew about PGO before. I am using Microsoft Visual C++ 9.0 Professional Edition. (A nice fringe benefit of my work.) I am reading up about PGO now.

Thanks for the tip! If I can get that to work, I will have a new Chenard on my web site soon.

Don

A little help >

Code: Select all

OPTIMIZATION
------------
Optimization                        Maximize Speed (/O2)
Inline Function Expansion           Any Suitable (/Ob2)
Enable Intrinsic Functions          Yes (/Oi)
Favor Size or Speed                 Favor Fast Code (/Ot)
Omit Frame Pointers                 No
Enable Fiber-safe Optimization      Yes (/GT)
Whole Program Optimization          No


CODE GENERATION
---------------
Enable String Pooling               Yes (/GF)
Enable Minimal Rebuild              No
Enable C++ Exceptions               Yes (/EHsc)
Smaller Type Check                  No
Basic Runtime Checks                Default
Runtime Library                     Multi-threaded (/MT)
Struct Member Alignment             16 bytes (/Zp16)
Buffer Security Check               No (/GS-)
Enable Function-Level Linking       Yes (/Gy)
Enable Enhanced Instruction Set     Not Set
Floating Point Model                Fast (/fp:fast)
Enable Floating Point Exceptions    No


1. Build with 'Build > Profile-Guided-Optimization > Instrument'
2. Run some games with compiled exe from project folder where exe resides. (to generate profile data)
3. Build with 'Build > Profile-Guided-Optimization > Optimize'


Jim.

[Don Cross]

OK Jim,

I have adjusted my optimization settings mostly as you suggested, only I don't like 16-byte alignment for structs because it could mess up my existing opening library binary file I/O, and it would make my 4-byte Move struct a LOT bigger. I used PGO and I am getting about 22% better performance in WinChen.exe. XChenard.exe is doing a LOT better because I also realized I had not turned on /O2 in that project file!

New versions of WinChen.exe and XChenard.exe are now on my web site. Olivier, if you are reading this, I would like to upgrade to this version of XChenard.exe (2008.12.06) for the OpenWar 5 contest. (Thanks!)

Thanks for the help in learning about this. I, and a lot of other people reading this, just became more effective high-performance programmers.

Don

[Olivier Deville]

OK Jim,

I have adjusted my optimization settings mostly as you suggested, only I don't like 16-byte alignment for structs because it could mess up my existing opening library binary file I/O, and it would make my 4-byte Move struct a LOT bigger. I used PGO and I am getting about 22% better performance in WinChen.exe. XChenard.exe is doing a LOT better because I also realized I had not turned on /O2 in that project file!

New versions of WinChen.exe and XChenard.exe are now on my web site. Olivier, if you are reading this, I would like to upgrade to this version of XChenard.exe (2008.12.06) for the OpenWar 5 contest. (Thanks!)

Thanks for the help in learning about this. I, and a lot of other people reading this, just became more effective high-performance programmers.

Don

Hi Don

No problem, Chenard will be updated

Olivier