1- ### Overview
1+ ## Overview
22
33[ ![ Build Status] ( https://travis-ci.org/official-stockfish/Stockfish.svg?branch=master )] ( https://travis-ci.org/official-stockfish/Stockfish )
44[ ![ Build Status] ( https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/github/official-stockfish/Stockfish?svg=true )] ( https://ci.appveyor.com/project/mcostalba/stockfish )
55
6- Stockfish is a free UCI chess engine derived from Glaurung 2.1. It is
7- not a complete chess program and requires some UCI-compatible GUI
8- (e.g. XBoard with PolyGlot, eboard, Arena, Sigma Chess, Shredder, Chess
9- Partner or Fritz) in order to be used comfortably. Read the
10- documentation for your GUI of choice for information about how to use
6+ [ Stockfish] ( https://stockfishchess.org ) is a free, powerful UCI chess engine
7+ derived from Glaurung 2.1. It is not a complete chess program and requires a
8+ UCI-compatible GUI (e.g. XBoard with PolyGlot, Scid, Cute Chess, eboard, Arena,
9+ Sigma Chess, Shredder, Chess Partner or Fritz) in order to be used comfortably.
10+ Read the documentation for your GUI of choice for information about how to use
1111Stockfish with it.
1212
13- This version of Stockfish supports up to 512 cores. The engine defaults
14- to one search thread, so it is therefore recommended to inspect the value of
15- the * Threads* UCI parameter, and to make sure it equals the number of CPU
16- cores on your computer.
1713
18- This version of Stockfish has support for Syzygybases.
19-
20-
21- ### Files
14+ ## Files
2215
2316This distribution of Stockfish consists of the following files:
2417
2518 * Readme.md, the file you are currently reading.
2619
27- * Copying.txt, a text file containing the GNU General Public License.
20+ * Copying.txt, a text file containing the GNU General Public License version 3 .
2821
2922 * src, a subdirectory containing the full source code, including a Makefile
3023 that can be used to compile Stockfish on Unix-like systems.
3124
3225
33- ### Syzygybases
26+ ## UCI parameters
27+
28+ Currently, Stockfish has the following UCI options:
29+
30+ * #### Debug Log File
31+ Write all communication to and from the engine into a text file.
32+
33+ * #### Contempt
34+ A positive value for contempt favors middle game positions and avoids draws.
35+
36+ * #### Analysis Contempt
37+ By default, contempt is set to prefer the side to move. Set this option to "White"
38+ or "Black" to analyse with contempt for that side, or "Off" to disable contempt.
39+
40+ * #### Threads
41+ The number of CPU threads used for searching a position. For best performance, set
42+ this equal to the number of CPU cores available.
43+
44+ * #### Hash
45+ The size of the hash table in MB.
46+
47+ * #### Clear Hash
48+ Clear the hash table.
49+
50+ * #### Ponder
51+ Let Stockfish ponder its next move while the opponent is thinking.
52+
53+ * #### MultiPV
54+ Output the N best lines (principal variations, PVs) when searching.
55+ Leave at 1 for best performance.
56+
57+ * #### Skill Level
58+ Lower the Skill Level in order to make Stockfish play weaker.
3459
35- ** Configuration**
60+ * #### Move Overhead
61+ Assume a time delay of x ms due to network and GUI overheads. This is useful to
62+ avoid losses on time in those cases.
3663
37- Syzygybases are configured using the UCI options "SyzygyPath",
38- "SyzygyProbeDepth", "Syzygy50MoveRule" and "SyzygyProbeLimit".
64+ * #### Minimum Thinking Time
65+ Search for at least x ms per move.
3966
40- The option "SyzygyPath" should be set to the directory or directories that
41- contain the .rtbw and .rtbz files. Multiple directories should be
42- separated by ";" on Windows and by ":" on Unix-based operating systems.
43- ** Do not use spaces around the ";" or ":".**
67+ * #### Slow Mover
68+ Lower values will make Stockfish take less time in games, higher values will
69+ make it think longer.
4470
45- Example: ` C:\tablebases\wdl345;C:\tablebases\wdl6;D:\tablebases\dtz345;D:\tablebases\dtz6 `
71+ * #### nodestime
72+ Tells the engine to use nodes searched instead of wall time to account for
73+ elapsed time. Useful for engine testing.
4674
47- It is recommended to store .rtbw files on an SSD. There is no loss in
48- storing the .rtbz files on a regular HD .
75+ * #### UCI_Chess960
76+ An option handled by your GUI. If true, Stockfish will play Chess960 .
4977
50- Increasing the "SyzygyProbeDepth" option lets the engine probe less
51- aggressively. Set this option to a higher value if you experience too much
52- slowdown (in terms of nps) due to TB probing.
78+ * #### UCI_AnalyseMode
79+ An option handled by your GUI.
5380
54- Set the "Syzygy50MoveRule" option to false if you want tablebase positions
55- that are drawn by the 50-move rule to count as win or loss. This may be useful
56- for correspondence games (because of tablebase adjudication).
81+ * #### SyzygyPath
82+ Path to the folders/directories storing the Syzygy tablebase files. Multiple
83+ directories are to be separated by ";" on Windows and by ":" on Unix-based
84+ operating systems. Do not use spaces around the ";" or ":".
85+
86+ Example: ` C:\tablebases\wdl345;C:\tablebases\wdl6;D:\tablebases\dtz345;D:\tablebases\dtz6 `
87+
88+ It is recommended to store .rtbw files on an SSD. There is no loss in storing
89+ the .rtbz files on a regular HD.
5790
58- The "SyzygyProbeLimit" option should normally be left at its default value.
91+ * #### SyzygyProbeDepth
92+ Minimum remaining search depth for which a position is probed. Set this option
93+ to a higher value to probe less agressively if you experience too much slowdown
94+ (in terms of nps) due to TB probing.
95+
96+ * #### Syzygy50MoveRule
97+ Disable to let fifty-move rule draws detected by Syzygy tablebase probes count
98+ as wins or losses. This is useful for ICCF correspondence games.
99+
100+ * #### SyzygyProbeLimit
101+ Limit Syzygy tablebase probing to positions with at most this many pieces left
102+ (including kings and pawns).
103+
104+
105+ ## What to expect from Syzygybases?
59106
60- ** What to expect**
61107If the engine is searching a position that is not in the tablebases (e.g.
62108a position with 8 pieces), it will access the tablebases during the search.
63- If the engine reports a very large score (typically 123 .xx), this means
109+ If the engine reports a very large score (typically 153 .xx), this means
64110that it has found a winning line into a tablebase position.
65111
66112If the engine is given a position to search that is in the tablebases, it
@@ -71,7 +117,7 @@ It will then perform a search only on those moves. **The engine will not move
71117immediately** , unless there is only a single good move. ** The engine likely
72118will not report a mate score even if the position is known to be won.**
73119
74- It is therefore clear that behaviour is not identical to what one might
120+ It is therefore clear that this behaviour is not identical to what one might
75121be used to with Nalimov tablebases. There are technical reasons for this
76122difference, the main technical reason being that Nalimov tablebases use the
77123DTM metric (distance-to-mate), while Syzygybases use a variation of the
@@ -82,7 +128,7 @@ needed for optimal play and in addition being able to take into account
82128the 50-move rule.
83129
84130
85- ### Compiling it yourself
131+ ## Compiling Stockfish yourself from the sources
86132
87133On Unix-like systems, it should be possible to compile Stockfish
88134directly from the source code with the included Makefile.
@@ -96,23 +142,41 @@ compile (for instance with Microsoft MSVC) you need to manually
96142set/unset some switches in the compiler command line; see file * types.h*
97143for a quick reference.
98144
99- ### Resource For Understanding the Code Base
100145
101- * [ Chess Programming Wiki] ( https://www.chessprogramming.org/Main_Page )
102- has good overall chess engines explanations
103- (techniques used here are well explained like hash maps etc), it was
104- also recommended by the [ support team at stockfish.] ( http://support.stockfishchess.org/discussions/questions/1132-how-to-understand-stockfish-sources )
146+ ## Understanding the code base and participating in the project
147+
148+ Stockfish's improvement over the last couple of years has been a great
149+ community effort. There are a few ways to help contribute to its growth.
150+
151+ ### Donating hardware
152+
153+ Improving Stockfish requires a massive amount of testing. You can donate
154+ your hardware resources by installing the [ Fishtest Worker] ( https://github.com/glinscott/fishtest/wiki/Running-the-worker )
155+ and view the current tests on [ Fishtest] ( http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests ) .
156+
157+ ### Improving the code
158+
159+ If you want to help improve the code, there are several valuable ressources:
160+
161+ * [ In this wiki,] ( https://www.chessprogramming.org ) many techniques used in
162+ Stockfish are explained with a lot of background information.
163+
164+ * [ The section on Stockfish] ( https://www.chessprogramming.org/Stockfish )
165+ describes many features and techniques used by Stockfish. However, it is
166+ generic rather than being focused on Stockfish's precise implementation.
167+ Nevertheless, a helpful resource.
105168
106- * [ Here] ( https://www.chessprogramming.org/Stockfish ) you can find a set
107- of features and techniques used by Stockfish and each of them is explained
108- at the wiki, however, it's a generic way rather than focusing on Stockfish's
109- own implementation, but it will still help you.
169+ * The latest source can always be found on [ GitHub] ( https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish ) .
170+ Discussions about Stockfish take place in the [ FishCooking] ( https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/fishcooking )
171+ group and engine testing is done on [ Fishtest] ( http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests ) .
172+ If you want to help improve Stockfish, please read this [ guideline] ( https://github.com/glinscott/fishtest/wiki/Creating-my-first-test )
173+ first, where the basics of Stockfish development are explained.
110174
111175
112- ### Terms of use
176+ ## Terms of use
113177
114- Stockfish is free, and distributed under the ** GNU General Public License**
115- (GPL). Essentially, this means that you are free to do almost exactly
178+ Stockfish is free, and distributed under the ** GNU General Public License version 3 **
179+ (GPL v3 ). Essentially, this means that you are free to do almost exactly
116180what you want with the program, including distributing it among your
117181friends, making it available for download from your web site, selling
118182it (either by itself or as part of some bigger software package), or
@@ -123,5 +187,5 @@ some way, you must always include the full source code, or a pointer
123187to where the source code can be found. If you make any changes to the
124188source code, these changes must also be made available under the GPL.
125189
126- For full details, read the copy of the GPL found in the file named
190+ For full details, read the copy of the GPL v3 found in the file named
127191* Copying.txt* .
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