GREKO CHESS ENGINE
(c) 2002-2008 Vladimir Medvedev <vrm@bk.ru>

Version 5.9
-----------
02-Aug-2008

(fix) Fix in reporting NPS under UCI
(fix) Check extensions fixed
(chg) Make the move instantly when checkmate is found
(chg) Draw recognizer modified
(chg) Bishop and bishop pair values tuned
(chg) Small changes in search

Version 5.8.5
-------------
16-July-2008

Changes in move generator and in search:

(new) * Magic bitboards (can be turned off when MAGIC is not #defined in bitboards.h).
(new) * Legal-only move generation on all stages. At last GreKo can cheat in perft
        by not actually making moves at depth = 1 :)
(new) * Simple checks generation on first levels in qsearch.
(new) * Static exchange evaluation for captures (with batteries, without pins 
        and promotions on ply > 0).
(chg) * Pruning decisions do not rely on pv/non-pv node type, again. 
(chg) * Futility pruning turned off, again.
(chg) * Use SEE score for delta pruning in qsearch instead of VALUE[captured].
(fix) * Fixed incorrect PGN disambiguation code (introduced in 5.8, but does not affect
        playing games, just in epdtest mode) -- thanks to Dann Corbit for bug report.

Tactical abilities seem to increase:

        WACNew   WACNew   NewIQ
        1 sec.   5 sec.   10 sec.

5.7.1   271      287      243
5.8     270      286      239  (-1...-4 solved positions - due to PGN bug)
5.8.5   290      297      276

This version could be named 5.9 since it has so many changes, but I prefer to save 
numbering space for some possible improvements.

Version 5.8
-----------
10-July-2008

The main goal of this version is source code refactoring. Core datastructures
are now more "C++ style". Position and Move data encapsulated in classes.
Got rid of pointers, some #defines etc. Small optimization for all bitscan loops.

As a result the source code is 5% more compact than 5.7.1. Perft and search run
20-30% faster (at least in the initial position).

Small changes in the move generator (castlings). Search and evaluation algorithms 
are almost unchanged except for a little fix in the hashing scheme. En-passant 
and castling rights were not taken into account in the hash code, now they are.

Time management scheme changed a little, to prevent possible losses on time 
in 3+3 games. Thanks to Volker Pittlik for mentioning the bug. Multi-PV UCI mode
modified, however it is still slow and non-optimized.

Version 5.7.1
-------------
25-May-2008

(fix) Fixed bug in PVS code.

Version 5.7
-----------
19-May-2008

(fix) Mate scores in hash now handled correctly
(fix) Do not skip draw scores in hash
(fix) PV update code: replaced "for" statement with "memcpy" call
(chg) Time management tuned a little
(chg) Source code reformatted
(new) MSVC8 project file added

Version 5.6
-----------
12-Apr-2008

(fix) Fix in MVV/LVA sorting
(fix) Fix in "stop" command processing - don't report it is incorrect
(new) Futility pruning at non-PV nodes, depth = 1
(new) Delta pruning in qsearch
(chg) Replaced get_new_depth() function with more clear code
(chg) Principal variation search (PVS) instead of plain alpha-beta
(chg) Nullmove conditions changed (R = 4, etc.)
(chg) LMR conditions changed
(chg) Fifty moves draw condition - after checkmate detection
(chg) Reply to checks in qsearch (coming back)
(chg) Time management scheme changed (use more time in increment games)
(chg) Trapped bishop evaluation changed
(chg) Repetition handling changed

Version 5.5
-----------
31-Dec-2007

*** HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! ***

(chg) Hash lock 32-bit instead of 64.
(chg) New hash allocation scheme.
(chg) Futility pruning turned off.

Version 5.4
24-Jul-2007
-----------

(chg) Minor change in storing generated moves.
(chg) Recompiled as C++ code with MSVC 2005 Express (Windows) and g++ 3.3.3 (Linux).

Version 5.3
20-May-2007
-----------

(chg) Using hash eval from previous iteration for pruning
(chg) Small optimization in attack detector
(chg) Small optimization in PV handling
(fix) Fixed crash on epd-files ended with empty lines

Version 5.2.5
23-Feb-2007
-------------

(chg) Adjust checkmate scores in hash
(chg) Minor changes in evaluation (mobility, bishops pair etc.)

Version 5.2
12-Feb-2007
-----------

(fix) Main hash table size is not divided by 2 anymore.

(new) Added futility pruning, in a very simple and straightforward form.

(chg) Search: tuned some conditions for LMR and Nullmove.
(chg) Eval: King safety value scaled up a little.

Overall improvement in strength is 50...70 points for blitz games.

Version 5.1
17-Jan-2007
-----------

(new) New terms in evaluation: weak fields, pieces on strong fields, etc.
(chg) Piece-square tables tuned a little.

Version 5.05
8-Jan-2007
------------

(fix) Reply to "isready" command in thinking mode
(fix) Fixed bug with undo buffer overflow in UCI at move ~150

(new) Currentmove and nps info under UCI
(new) K+B or K+N can't win regardless of opponent's material
(new) Far passed pawns bonus

(chg) More robust and stable search
(chg) New time management scheme: not it does not lose on time in 1+0 games under Arena
(chg) Piece values tuned

Version 5.0
31-Dec-2006
-----------

Engine completely rewritten in pure C.

* Both winboard/xboard and UCI support
* Multi-PV mode in UCI
* No pondering
* No opening book and learning
* Strength is about +20 points compared to version 2.817

Command line keys for xboard:

-log        write all input and output in greko.log file
-hash 32    set hash size no more than 32 Mb (for example)

Version 3.3a
16-Jul-2006
-----------

(fix)   * Few lines in pondering code fixed. 
          Now seems to work corectly (at least, under Winboard and Arena).

Version 3.3
14-Jul-2006
-----------

1. Bugfixes.
2. Search clean-up.

(fix)   * Fixed bug in UpdateHistory which caused assertion fails from time to time (incorrect constant).
(fix)   * Now "force" command stops pondering mode. Thanks to Volker Pittlik for bug report.

(chg)   * Futility pruning thrown away from search. 
(chg)   * Out-of-check extension changed to 0.75 ply - always.
(chg)   * Nullmove parameter changed from R = (3 or 4) to const R = 3, more safe.
(chg)   * Bitboard operation PopLSB() inlined.


Version 3.2
26-Apr-2006
-----------

1. Bugfixes and code stability.
2. Evaluation clean-up. 

(fix)   * Wrong comment in MainCommandProcessor() fixed. Multithreading is not mentioned anymore,
          current GreKo is a single-threaded program.
(fix)   * A really gross bug with negative depth in UpdateHistory() & RecordHash() fixed.
          Now the depth is checked to be positive in both functions.
(chg)   * Evaluation: A lot of alchemy with attacks and mobility removed from StaticEval().
          Added very basic evaluation of R, N, B mobility instead. Works faster and better.
(chg)   * Out-of-board field index constant changed from -1 to NF = 64. Now all field index 
          variables expected to be unsigned: 0...63 for fields, 64 for offboard.
(chg)   * Mailbox arrays U[64], L[64], UR[64], ... converted to single array STEPS [8][64].

(src)   * Begin to re-format source code. Indentation style: all tabs replaced by spaces.


Version 3.1
8-Jan-2006
-----------

After one-year meditations GreKo 3.x branch is again in development. 
This version goals: 1. bugfixes, 2. some changes in search 3. reviewing old code 

(fix)   * Buffer-overrun safety code in user input. Many thanks to Dann Corbit!
(fix)   * Single-reply extension (1 ply) __really__ turned on (it worked only like simple check 
          extension in 3.0).
(fix)   * Mate threat detection now works correctly (in 3.0 it was never triggered because of 
          too small search window in nullmove).

(new)   * "perft <depth> explain" command: shows perft values for all subtrees in the root.

(chg)   * Win32 binary built with MSVC 6.0 + STLPort. Works faster than MSVC's STL version.
(chg)   * Makefile for gcc (MinGW, Linux, FreeBSD) simplified. Filenames corrected.
          No more ../bin and ../obj directories.
(chg)   * Out-of-check and pawn-on-7th extensions restricted for far-behind and far-ahead
          matearial balance, respectively.
(chg)   * Window size in root diminished to +/-50 centipawns.
(chg)   * Recapture extensions diminished from ply to ply/2.
(chg)   * Default setting: ShowEvalForWhite = 0.
   

Version 3.0
1-Jan-2005
-----------

   * Optimizations in speed.
   * Built-in random generator instead of standard rand() function.
   * Opening book now is compiler-independent (MSVC, gcc at least).

Version 2.85
31-Dec-2004
------------

        * Fixed: incorrect resignation in some drawn endgames (incorrect pruning in QSearch).
        * New feature: GreKo now can create opening book from PGN for selected player.
        * A lot of changes in evaluation (more realistic), minor changes in search (extensions, pruning).
        * Anti-zeitnot code for blitz without increment, now GreKo loses on time more rarely.

Version 2.817
01-Nov-2004

        * Fixed: bug with small hash size specified in .ini file.
        * New command: "perft verify" for testing legality of move generator.
        * Some speedup in move generator and evaluator (less bitboard operations etc.)

Version 2.815
01-Sept-2004

   * Evaluation rolled back to 2.69 SNG.
   * Search and other stuff like in 2.812.
   * 50 Elo stronger compared to 2.812 in my tests.

Version 2.812
23-July-2004

   * Search: inefficient copying of internal fail high/low pv's deleted.
   * Evaluation: passed pawn weights diminished.
   * Time management scheme for fail high/low in the root simplified.
   * More statistics in "epdtest" routine.

   This version is approx. 50 Elo points stronger in blitz than ver. 2.81.

Version 2.81
01-June-2004

   * Overall code clenup for some basic operations (bitboard functions, make/unmake moves etc.),
     that gives +3...5% performance in various tests.

   * Some kind of futility pruning implemented in search.

   * "epdtest" command output modified, time and nodes calculations in test suites corrected.

   * New default settings: Learning=0, ShowEvalForWhite=0.

Version 2.80
15-May-2004

   * Fixed bug in QSearch checks generator.

Version 2.71
15-Mar-2004

   * Hash structure optimized: sizeof(CHashEntry) reduced from 32 to 16 bytes,
     sizeof(CPawnHashEntry) reduced as well.
   * New console command:     book digest <pgnfile> <depth>
     Creates plain text list of all opening lines in pgn file, useful for creation
     GreKo's repertoire file.

Version 2.70
01-Mar-2004

   * Internal iterative deepening added.
   * Opening repertoire file added.

Version 2.69 SNG
17-Feb-2004

Private version for participation in CIS Computer Championship.

   * Evaluation for pawn structure tuned. Now at last it can solve WAC-100.
   * Weak pawns are penalized less if they are not on the semi-open lines 
          (or opponent does not have rooks).

Version 2.68   
09-Feb-2004

   * First check in row is extended now by 1 halfmove, and second in a row - by 0.75.
   * New term in evaluation: Queen near weak King (in addition to Q-K tropism).
   * Display evaluation either for White or for engine (configurable).
   * Piece-field tables changed (now like in Crafty). Two new tables for K in endgame.

Version 2.67
05-Feb-2004

   * Move generator changed: under check generate only candidates to check evasion.
     Significant speedup in tactical positions and test suites.
   * New evaluation terms: pinned pieces (currently only pinned to King and Queen).
   * New parameter in GreKo.ini: OfferDraw, 0 or 1. (To avoid pop-up messagebox in games vs. Plywood :))

Version 2.65
31-Jan-2004

   * All move sorting (both in QSearch and normal search) use now SEE instead of MVV/LVA.
   * New time management scheme: add more time after fail high/low in the root.

Version 2.64
27-Jan-2004

   * Fixed GREAT bug in QSearch pruning (now it does not prune first capture).
   * Does not prune captures on first ply of QSearch at all.

Version 2.63
20-Jan-2003

   * Optimized mobility evaluation.
   * Tweaking extensions.
   * Added pawn phalangues and blocked on initial field in pawn evaluation.

Version 2.62
12-Jan-2004

   * Added simple checks on the first ply of QSearch.
   * Tweaks in evaluation.
   * Check extension returned back to 1 halfmove.
   * Yet another bugfix in KBPK endgame (wrong field color tests for black bishop).

Version 2.61
7-Jan-2004

   * Faster PopCount function (pure arithmetics instead of table lookup).
   * Tweaks in evaluation.
   * Fixed output of fail high/low PV's in epdtest routine.

Version 2.60
22-Dec-2003

   * Fixed bug in KBPK endgame (did not test file=a/h for black pawn).
   * Changes in QSearch: under check always generate all legal moves, 
          do not return static eval
   * New opening book format - more compact .bin file and more detailed "bk" command output.
   * New parameter for configuring book logic: learn weight (see GreKo.ini file).
   * Binary book and learn files now have headers with version signature.
   * Fixed (?) bug in making book from big PGN.
   * SAN parser improved for faster detection of protocol commands which are non-moves.
   * Adding more time for thinking when fail-low at the root.

Version 2.59a
08-Dec-2003

   * Check extensions hadnling fixed.

Version 2.59
07-Dec-2003

   * Some critical fixes in time management for better stability
     (got rid (?) of sudden wrong mate claiming bugs)
   * New check extension scheme: the first check is extended by 1 ply, then by 0.75
   * BAD_TRADE weight reduced to 0.40 pawn
   * "result" command parsing in pondering mode - fixed


Version 2.58
01-Dec-2003

   * g_ThinkPos replaced with CPosition parameter in all AlphaBeta() functions
   * check extension returned back to 1 halfmove (was 0.75)
   * extend only at ply <= 2 * g_IterDepth (was g_IterDepth + 11)
   * QUEEN_AND KNIGHT and BISHOP_AND ROOK returned back to static eval
   * Knight-to-King tropism only with friendly Queen on the board
   * no new hash hit after extension, just check the depth field in hash entry

Version 2.57
23-Nov-2003

   * New statistics format; more correct time calculation
   * if( !ppv0->empty() ) check before assigning PV to approved PV
   * do not print PV for unfinished iteration
   * minor tuning in eval coeffs

Version 2.56
7-Nov-2003

   * Changes in extensions using SEE score
   * More valuable passed pawns when opponent has little piece material

Version 2.54

   * New routine for bit-scan operation (LSB) using magic 0x78291ACF constant.
   * File History.txt added to source package.

Version 2.53
15-Oct-2003

   * Source code is now portable to Linux and FreeBSD. Many thanks to Andrey Shytov.
   * Got rid of all 0x88 stuff in board representation and moves generation.
   * More accurate evaluation of passed pawns and possible draw in KBP-K endgame.
   * Static exchange evaluator used in move sorting instead of old MVV/LVA scheme.
   * Mate threat extensions added.
   * Check extension value changed from 1.0 to 0.75 halfmove.

Version 2.45
1-Aug-2003

   * This version was included in DVD disc attached to "Game.EXE" #9/2003
     (Russian magazine about computer games)

Version 2.32
June 2003

   Bitboards added. Hybrid scheme (0x88 + bitboards).

Version 2.01
December 2002

   After half a year of development GreKo was re-written from scratch to improve 
   data structures and overall design. 0x88 move generator.


Version 1.10
July 2002

   Stable version with analyze and pondering support.

Version 0.41
11-May-2002

   * Hashtable implemented (using Zobrist scheme).

Version 0.36
1-Apr-2002

   * First public release of GreKo. Only basic features.
