Author: Dann Corbit
Date: 12:07:01 09/23/02
Go up one level in this thread
On September 23, 2002 at 10:50:47, Uri Blass wrote:
>On September 23, 2002 at 08:00:18, pavel wrote:
>
>>Now let me raise the question again.
>>
>>Q| Is it possible to write a chess program in such a short time (and not even
>>visit this, or other, forum) that would play, atleast, at the par of some
>>commercial engines?
>>
>>Answer: Ruffian!
>
>The point is not that it is impossible but that history tells us that there were
>a lot of cases of clones in the past.
>
>Eduerd suspects that it may be a Fritz clone because it does the same mistakes
>as Fritz in some positions.
Can Fritz play under Winboard like Ruffian?
I think a Fritz clone is out of the question. No access to the source code.
History is full of amateur engines rising to the top. Good examples are Junior
(which won the world championship as an amateur entry) and Ferret, which tied
for first place.
The question seems to be "Can such an engine be developed in obscurity?"
I don't see why not. I think it is very possible to be developing an engine for
many years and simply not release it because of any of a number of reasons. I
will agree that this kind of playing brilliance cannot possibly happen
overnight. But I suspect Ruffian has been under development for some years now.
BTW, here is the strings dump from Ruffian (which does not indicate it may be a
clone of anything as far as I can see):
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq -
c:\chess\tb
ruffian.bok
1/2-1/2 {Drawn by 50-move rule}
Best move: %s score %s
ponder %s
bestmove %s
offer draw
bestmove %s
ruffian:
Initializing tablebases: %s
Logfile: %s
feature done=0
Ruffian %s
1.0.0
Hash size %d
HASH
BOOK
LOGFNAME
qdnHL:m:c:CaN:b:h:exT:t:p:B:I:D:oP:l:v
ruffian.cfg
-p PLY Extra test ply (default %d)
-t SEC Test suit time (default %d seconds)
-T FILE Run an epd test suit from FILE
Test suit:
-x Disable endgame tables
-b FEN Load FEN position
-h SIZE Hash size (xxM, xxK or bytes)
-C Print default configuration
-c FILE Configuration file
Other optins:
-m DEPTH Max depth
-e Disable Pondering
-N MOVES Start in analyze mode and analyze N-best moves
-a Start in analyze mode
Search optins:
-l FILE Send log output to FILE
-q Suppress all output
-H Print hash usage
-n Print move number before whites move
-d Print diagram
-v Print the version number and exit
Output options:
-o Disable opening book
-D DEPTH Cut book lines at DEPTH
-I PGN-file Build opening book from PGN-file
-B FILE Use FILE as opening book
Book options:
usage: ruffian [options]
Unknown command, %s
Illegal move %s
moves
%s %s %s %s
startpos
position
readyok
isready
stop
Ignored:
Initializing tablebase cache: %s
NalimovCache
No endgame tables found
NalimovPath
Clear
Hash
MultiPV
setoption
uciok
option name Clear Hash type button
option name NalimovCache type spin min 1 max 128 default 1
option name NalimovPath type string default c:\chess\tb
option name MultiPV type spin min 1 max 20 default 1
option name Hash type spin min 1 max 1024 default 32
id author Perola Valfridsson
id name Ruffian %s
random
exit
1/2-1/2
result
draw
computer
best
analyze
setboard
edit
otim
time
nopost
post
Book %s
Suggested move: %s
No book move
book
easy
hard
display
black
white
quit
Rating %s %s %d
rating
Playing %s
name
reset
FIXME undefined command
infinite
movetime
mate
nodes
depth
movestogo
binc
winc
btime
wtime
FIXME ponder ... %s
ponder
FIXME go ... %s
searchmoves
force
%*s %d %s %d
level
fritz
pong %s
ping
accepted
feature ping=1
feature done=1
feature myname="Ruffian %s"
feature analyze=1
feature setboard=1
protover
xboard
undo
Cannot accept %s
Predicted move!!
[%s]
Hash: %dM, used %d%%, hits %2.0f%%
Hash usage: used1 %2.2f%%, used2 %2.2f%%
zD Depth Time Score Best line
error: edit mode
Edit outside board
Uknown edit command
PpRrNnBbQqKkXx
-b000
-b00
+b000
+b00
-w000
-w00
+w000
+w00
Edit>
Setboard: Bad castle info
%*s %*s %*s %s
%*s %*s %s
Bad epd format: %s
%*s %s
{%s}
1-0 {Black resigns}
0-1 {White resigns}
Time allocated: %s
Using ponder move: %s score %s
1/2-1/2 {Drawn by repetition}
1/2-1/2 {Stalemate}
1-0 {White mates}
0-1 {Black mates}
Lost hash key
TB_PATH
EGTB_HASH_SIZE
KEEP_HASH
RESIGN
Black king, %d %d
White king, %d %d
Black king phase=%d, %d %d
White king phase=%d, %d %d
Black queen phase=%d, %d %d
White queen phase=%d, %d %d
Black rook phase=%d, %d %d
White rook phase=%d, %d %d
Black bishop phase=%d, %d %d
White bishop phase=%d, %d %d
Black knight phase=%d, %d %d
White knight phase=%d, %d %d
Black pawn phase=%d, %d %d
White pawn phase=%d, %d %d
Warning: unknown symbol: %s
Warning: %s changed, default=%d, newvalue=%d
Loading configuration: %s
No config file
%s "%s"
%s %d
%s %dK
%s %dM
c:\temp\failed.epd
c:\temp\ruffian.test
Summery: %d/%d
Invalid move: %s
%s: %ld nodes %s %s %s
Failed
(%d/%d)
Best move: %s (%s) %s
Not solved
Solved
%.2f
#<-#%02d
#%02d
Testing: %s %s:
Solution
Avoid
test %d
Testing %s (%d seconds)
Testing %s, %d seconds, extra ply %d
a b c d e f g h
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|
| x
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
%d
a b c d e f g h
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
*k|
*q|
*b|
*n|
*r|
*p|
K |
Q |
B |
N |
R |
P |
|
%d |
(%d) Black to move:
(%d) White to move:
%s
%c
Nomove
%s-%s
%s%s
Illegal move:
O-O-O
move %s%s
Illegal move: %s%s
Invalid pv move %d
%2d/%-2d %6s %6s
...
%d.
%d %d %d %ld
score cp %d
score mate %d
nps %d time %d
info depth %d seldepth %d nodes %ld
%2d--> %6s %6s
... %s
%2d/%-2d %6s x.xx
%2d/%-2d %6s ++
%d %d %d %ld %s
pv %s
nps %d
score cp %d lowerbound
nodes %ld
info depth %d seldepth %d
%2d/%-2d %6s --
score cp %d upperbound
%6s %2d/%-2d %s
%d...
%d...
currmove %s currmovenumber %d
hashfull %d nps %d
stat01: %d %ld %d %d %d
%d.%02d
%d:%02d
info hashfull %d nps %d
Total hash size %s
malloc: ran out of memory
realloc: ran out of memory
Fatal: cannot use book version %s, expecting %s
%d book moves, depth=%d
Book version %s created %s
Invalid book file: %s
Book open in read only mode
Cannot open opening book
Open book: %s
Opening book disabled
Book: cache %.2f%%, time %s sec
%-6s %7d %6.2f%% %6.2f%% %6.2f %6.2f%% %6.2f%% %6.2f
+ - =
Move Played Prop[%%] Score[%%] Learn
Search failed
corrupted book file
7book: fread: %s
book: fseek: %s
Book failure
%s? (%.02f==>%.02f)
%s! (%.02f==>%.02f)
Learning:
Reading book header: %s
Ignore learning strong opponent
Ignore learning weak opponent
Ignoring draw
Ignoring result
Learning from result
Book learning disabled
book: fwrite: %s
Parse error: %s
rename
book.tmp.0
Games %d, positions %d, %s(sec)
[FEN
"*"]
"1/2-1/2"]
"0-1"]
"1-0"]
[Result
Creating book %s %d
1999
book.tmp.%d
fwrite
book.tmp
book.tmp.%d
Merging
*** Read from %s failed
*** Cannot find length of %s
*** Seek in %s failed
*** Cannot allocate %d bytes of memory
%s mapped
*** Couldn't map view of file %s with MapViewOfFile()
*** Couldn't open file %s mapping with CreateFileMapping()
*** Couldn't open file %s with CreateFile()
%s unmapped
*** Couldn't unmap file
*** Unable to register %s
%s registered
*** %s: Unsupported block size %d
error %d
file broken
out of memory
read error
*** Unable to read %s -
.emd
*** %s corrupted
.nbb
.nbw
Allocated %dKb for decompression tables, indices, and buffers.
*** Cannot allocate decode block: error code %d
Allocated %dk
pawnless %c%c - %d enumerated positions
%c%c - %d enumerated positions
pawnless %c - %d enumerated positions
%c - %d enumerated positions
pPNBRQ
EGTB: disabled
EGTB: probs %lu, hits %lu
Time: %s, cpu %2.2f%%, nodes %ld, nps %d
info nps %d nodes %ld cpuload %d tbhits %lu
Pondering...
Pondering: %s
Got ponder move from hash table
%s: invalid option -- %c
%s: illegal option -- %c
%s: option `-W %s' doesn't allow an argument
%s: option `-W %s' is ambiguous
%s: option requires an argument -- %c
%s: unrecognized option `%c%s'
%s: unrecognized option `--%s'
%s: option `%s' requires an argument
%s: option `%c%s' doesn't allow an argument
%s: option `--%s' doesn't allow an argument
%s: option `%s' is ambiguous
POSIXLY_CORRECT
====================================
====================================
------------------------------------
------------------------------------
nodes %ld nps %d
time %d
info multipv %d depth %d seldepth %d
0-0-0
e8c8
e8g8
e1c1
e1g1
QRBNqrbn
+#?!
(8PX
700WP
`h````
ppxxxx
Compressed by DATACOMP v 1.0 (c) 1991--1998 Andrew Kadatch
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