Questions tagged [stockfish]
Stockfish is a strong open-source chess engine.
40
questions
23
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Why doesn't Lichess' Stockfish suggest this bishop sacrifice?
I arrived at the following position in an online game after the opponent left a queen hanging.
[FEN "r1b2r2/pp1p1ppk/2n1p3/6B1/2P5/5N2/PQ3PPP/R4RK1 w - - 0 16"]
In the game, I played 16. Bf6 with ...
- 603
10
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Returning scores for all possible moves from a chess engine
I am looking for a way to return scores for all possible moves from a chess engine (preferably, Stockfish).
The UCI protocol does not seem to require it, but is seems like a useful feature to include....
9
votes
1
answer
3k
views
How do Stockfish levels work?
I read on some Lichess forum that Stockfish levels use limited computation time and search depth for lower levels. However, it seems like Stockfish also every so often inputs mistakes and blunders, ...
- 3,587
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Solvable studies that computers fail to crack
Are there chess studies that require an outside of the box thinking that goes beyond the concrete calculation capabilities of today's engines (e.g. Stockfish)?
I have sometimes seen certain endgames ...
- 3,386
17
votes
5
answers
5k
views
Is Houdini 6 a Stockfish clone?
I've been hearing this claim being bandied about quite a lot and I'm wondering if there's any substance to it. Apparently the details are in a certain thread on Talkchess, but it's not viewable to non-...
- 26.1k
36
votes
2
answers
9k
views
Understanding AlphaZero
Very recently, the news came out that Alphabet's DeepMind research team have extended their machine learning engine to play both Shogi and chess. Apparently, after only a few hours of self-learning, ...
- 3,386
14
votes
1
answer
68k
views
How to download Stockfish and install it on the Fritz/ChessBase GUI?
I'm on Windows 8. I have the Fritz/ChessBase GUI since I bought both Fritz 12 and Houdini 3 Pro.
I would like to know how exactly can I download and install the free latest version (and most powerful ...
- 4,726
13
votes
1
answer
11k
views
Which is better-Stockfish 10 or AlphaZero?
I know AlphaZero (an AI) is one of the best top chess engines but Stockfish is also improving. Which one is better at chess?
- 241
8
votes
2
answers
9k
views
How does a chess engine mimic an Elo rating
I am a fairly new chess player (say 1400) and I would like to play against Stockfish and win some of the time. If I change the strength to 1400 then what does the algorithm actually do ? Does it make ...
- 511
8
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Piping Stockfish input
I'm trying to write a Linux command line UCI interface for Stockfish. My program writes a bunch of commands to a text file and then tries to pipe them to Stockfish via the command line. My problem is, ...
- 83
8
votes
5
answers
3k
views
What relative point values of pieces do engines use?
Humans use:
Pawn = 1
Knight = 3
Bishop = 3
Rook = 5
Queen = 9.5
Bishop pair = +0.5
But I would like to know what relative point values do engines use (preferably strong engines, like Stockfish, ...
- 4,726
8
votes
5
answers
8k
views
What is the optimal way to use Stockfish programmatically?
I have Stockfish compiled on my machine. Instead of just running the Stockfish program in the terminal, is it possible to interact with it in a separate program?
For example, some basic things I ...
- 183
5
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Python script to let stockfish selfplay 10 games from a given position
I would like to have Stockfish to selfplay 10 games starting from a given position. Game should end after 10 moves. From the python-chess documentation there is an example of playing only one such ...
- 273
5
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Make chess engine play a particular position
I want to be able to train my mating skills by making a chess engine play positions that others have resigned from. Is there a way to make a chess engine play a particular position? I am using ...
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why can Stockfish give different evaluations at the same depth?
When I let Stockfish get to a certain depth (say depth 33), it gives some evaluation. Then I refresh the position (while leaving Stockfish on) and when it gets to the same depth it gives a different ...
- 19.8k
3
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Can a human defeat an engine in a 10-game match if he is given the White pieces and draw odds in every game?
What would happen in a 10-game match between one of the strongest human player (Carlsen, Caruana, Aronian, Kramnik or Anand) and one of the strongest engine (Komodo, Stockfish or Houdini), but with ...
- 4,726
2
votes
1
answer
619
views
Is there a way to get blunders, mistakes and inaccuracies using Stockfish?
Stockfish provides the best moves/lines but is there a command or technique to get inaccuracies, mistakes and blunders? How is this done by lichess or chess.com?
They also have the ability to show an ...
- 123
2
votes
2
answers
587
views
Engine output: FEN string when blundering
What is the best way to go through a database of my games and have the computer generate a FEN string as well as the next move any time I make an error greater than, say, a minor piece loss?
I've ...
- 65
43
votes
11
answers
23k
views
How is Alpha Zero "more human"?
I have a possibly naive question about AlphaZero. I have seen it described as playing in a "more human" style than other computers, but whatever it does, it gains about 100 ELO points by doing it. ...
- 8,155
37
votes
4
answers
32k
views
Is Stockfish 11 (level 20) beatable?
I have heard many people saying, “Hah! I beat Stockfish,” and one saying, “I am the best chess player ever! I beat Stockfish.” So I wonder if it is possible, just to know whether I should try to beat ...
- 868
33
votes
7
answers
20k
views
Hardware used in AlphaZero vs Stockfish match
I understand that AlphaZero has to use a different kind of hardware than regular Stockfish. I would expect that the hardware has a large effect on engine strength. That's why I wonder whether there ...
- 20.7k
22
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Why is Leela so good at beating Stockfish in the French/Slav?
I notice Lc0 is especially good against Stockfish in French / Slav pawn structures. However, I don't understand why.
Here're a couple of games where Leela smoothly outplays Stockfish. Can anyone ...
- 26.1k
13
votes
1
answer
7k
views
Stockfish evaluation of a position from PGN
I am trying to get Stockfish's evaluation of a board position(which is in PGN format) using command line.I know it accepts board position in FEN format, but is there any way i can provide PGN format?
...
- 233
9
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Knowing that AlphaZero beat Stockfish 8 (28 wins, 0 losses, and 72 draws), what would AlphaZero's rating be?
I found three different questions here on SEC that asked what Stockfish 8's rating was for the match against AlphaZero, but none that asked what AlphaZero's rating should have been after (if it had ...
- 32.4k
9
votes
3
answers
38k
views
Is there a list of approximate Elo ratings for each Stockfish level?
I want to create something that will select an appropriate Stockfish difficulty setting automatically given the player's rating. The straight Stockfish v11 that I've downloaded has 20 difficulty ...
- 101
7
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Since each engine has its own style of play… which engines are more positional/strategic and which engines are more sharp/tactical?
I’ve heard that each engine has its own style of play. Some are more positional and strategic, while others are more sharp and tactical.
And so my question is: could you roughly sort the following ...
- 4,726
6
votes
2
answers
571
views
Reasoning for Rook sacrifice
[fen "rn1qk1nr/pp4p1/2p2p2/4P2p/1bp5/2NbPPP1/PP2N1BP/R1BQ1RK1 w kq - 1 11"]
Komodo 8 and Stockfish agree on Nf4 here for white ( sacrificing the rook for development). It does not however show Bxf1 ...
- 790
6
votes
1
answer
2k
views
What does Stockfish NNUE mean for Stockfish? [closed]
Apparently there was a major update to Stockfish recently such that it gained +50 elo (per regression tests). I'm told that the difference is coming from the new NNUE (efficiently updatable neural ...
- 26.1k
5
votes
2
answers
3k
views
C++ vs Java Engine move generation performance
I've just finished translating my Java Engine to C++11, expecting great speed improvements in move generation. The code is very straightforward and uses a pre-generate bitboards approach. I also ...
- 425
5
votes
1
answer
3k
views
How do I change Stockfish's Engine Parameters?
I have no clue how to do this, I want to change its Contempt to -100.
- 423
4
votes
2
answers
440
views
Why doesn't SimpleEval's eval change in multiples of 1?
SimpleEval is Stockfish with simple eval - it only counts the material in the position and ignores all other evaluation factors like king safety or mobility. It is currently playing at TCEC.
If ...
- 26.1k
4
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Why does AlphaZero evaluate on the order of 1000 times less moves than Stockfish?
According to Deep mind's article, Alpha Zero searches roughly 10,000 moves per decision, while Stockfish is around 10,000,000 moves. I'm aware that Alpha Zero uses Monte Carlo Tree Search while ...
- 19.8k
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How to read score from stockfish - inconsistent response every call?
I was setup stockfish with:
uci
setoption name hash value 128
setoption name threads value 4
That I try to evaluate my first moves to learn how it works (I am programmer) but I received random ...
- 515
3
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Stockfish Evaluations
I've been getting Stockfish to analyse lines of the KID, and the evaluation gives a score of around +1.5: White has a big advantage. How come this is true, when the KID is a playable(and good) opening?...
user24344
2
votes
2
answers
450
views
AlphaZero and the revenge of the Artificial Intelligence
Answering this question, @SmallChess offered this answer:
Before Google's chess journey, the chess engine community believed:
AI chess will not beat classical programming because neural networks
...
- 3,525
1
vote
2
answers
169
views
How to arrange engine games?
I have heard in various places that we can make engines play against each other from a certain given position. I want to know how exactly to do that. Is there a website where I can put a position and ...
- 189
1
vote
1
answer
619
views
Stop SF MultiPV from returning an upperbound
For a given position, I'd like to compute an evaluation of the 3 best moves.
I send this to Stockfish:
setoption name MultiPV value 3
position startpos
go movetime 500.0 // search for 0.5 seconds
I ...
- 77
1
vote
1
answer
1k
views
Would Quadruple forking be considered a brilliant move according to Stockfish?
Is a quadruple fork (the image above) considered a brilliant move according to Stockfish?
I was just curious to know if Stockfish considers this a brilliant move, but at the same time, I'm not sure ...
- 43
1
vote
1
answer
355
views
What is the Depth reached by chess-AI agents on a regular computer?
I'm looking for some reference for the number of lookahead steps typically used by chess agents (Stockfish / Leela Chess Zero / others?)
From a quick search I found that:
the answer depends on:
...
- 115
0
votes
2
answers
132
views
Stockfish misses mate in 11 with 10 pieces [duplicate]
I fed @HaukeReddmann's "hack" to this scenario
[FEN "8/p7/rp6/rp6/pP6/R7/8/K6k w - - 0 1"]
to Lichess Stockfish 14, white to move. Up to Depth 77 (after which I gave up waiting), ...
