22 lines
1.1 KiB
Text
22 lines
1.1 KiB
Text
KnightCap is a chess program written for the Fujitsu AP1000+ parallel
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computer (running AP/Linux).
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The principal differences between KnightCap and other chess programs
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are:
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- KnightCap has an optional fully rendered 3D interface, giving a feel
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much more like an "over the board" game.
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- KnightCap was developed to run on a parallel distributed memory
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machine, although it also runs on normal unix boxes.
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- KnightCap does not have an opening book---instead it keeps a file
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(brain.dat) of losing moves and inserts them in the hash table at the
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start of each search. At present it has about 1500 entries, and
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this makes it a pretty competitive opening player.
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- KnightCap learns the parameters of its evaluation function as it
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plays. The most dramatic example of how this helps is an experiment
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we conducted on FICS in which KnightCap learnt from a 1650 player
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to a 2100 player in just 300 games.
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KnightCap now beats gnuchess consistently and is within "coo-ee" of
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crafty, although I think it needs deeper search or some more dramatic
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selective search to be truly competitive with the best micro
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programs.
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