AlphaDeepChess

AlphaDeepChess, developing a chess engine based in alpha-beta pruning.

Getting Started

These instructions will help you set up and build the project on your local machine.

Linux

1. Download and install git and clone the repository:

   sudo apt-get install git
   git clone https://github.com/LauraWangQiu/AlphaDeepChess.git

2. Install g++ and cmake:

   sudo apt-get install g++
   sudo apt-get install cmake

3. Go to the project folder and run the setup script for cmake:

   cd ./AlphaDeepChess
   sudo chmod +x setupLinux.sh
   ./setupLinux.sh

Windows

1. Download and install git and clone the repository:

   Download and install Git

   git clone https://github.com/LauraWangQiu/AlphaDeepChess.git

2. Download g++(mingw) and cmake:

   Mingw
   CMake

   configure the PATH enviroment variable
   configure cmake build folder

   cmake ../.. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -G "MinGW Makefiles"

MacOS

1. Install homebrew, git and clone the repository:

   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
   
   brew install git
   git clone https://github.com/LauraWangQiu/AlphaDeepChess.git

2. Install g++ and cmake:

   brew install gcc
   brew install cmake
   
   # PowerShell installation
   # brew install --cask powershell

3. Go to the project folder and run the setup script for cmake:

   cd ./AlphaDeepChess
   chmod +x setupLinux.sh
   ./setupLinux.sh

Profiling (only in Linux)

1. Profile analysis with perf linux tool:

   cd ./AlphaDeepChess
   chmod +x profile.sh
   ./profile.sh

Comparing engines with CuteChess

To compare engines, we will use the cutechess tool. This tool allows us to run matches between two engines and get the results in a .pgn file and the final positions in a epd file. We will compare it with the stockfish engine.

We encourage you to take a look to the documentation of CuteChess to know how to download and build it from source if you want to use the latest version or use the graphical interface.

In an automated way, we created a script to download cutechess and stockfish portable version. To run it:

python .\setupComparator.py

There should be a new directory called enginesComparator with the cutechess and stockfish portable version.

/enginesComparator
|-- /cutechess
|   |-- cutechess-cli
|   |-- ...
|-- /stockfish
|   |-- /stockfish
|       |-- stockfish_X_x86_64
|       |-- ...

To compare the engines, we will use the cutechess-cli tool. We will run a match between stockfish and our engine. To do so, we will use the compareEngines.py located in test/manual_tests.

python .\compareEngines.py -buildType [debug (default=release)] -games [num_games (default=10)] -tc [time_control (default=INF)] -st [search_time (default=INF)] -timemargin [time_margin (default=500ms)] -depth [depth (default=INF)] -concurrency [concurrency (default=0)]

Tests

To run the tests, we will use the cutechess-cli tool. We will run a match between stockfish and our engine. To do so, we will use the tests.py located in test/manual_tests.

python .\tests.py

Doxygen Commenting Guidelines

Standard Doxygen commenting format to be followed for documenting functions, structs, classes, and enums in the project.

Header (.hpp) File Comment Template

#pragma once

/**
 * @file template.hpp
 * @brief Brief description of the file.
 *
 * Detailed description of the file.
 */

Source (.cpp) File Comment Template

/**
 * @file template.cpp
 * @brief Brief description of the file.
 *
 * Detailed description of the file.
 */

Function Comment Template

/**
 * @brief function_template
 *
 * Description of the function.
 *  
 * @note Additional notes if needed.
 * 
 * @param[in] inputParam Description of the input parameter.
 * @param[out] outputParam Description of the output parameter.
 *
 * @return
 *  - 0 on success
 *  - -1 on error
 */
int function_template(int inputParam, int& outputParam);

Class Comment Template

/**
 * @brief ClassName
 *
 * Detailed description of the class.
 */
class ClassName {
public:
    /**
     * Function comment
     */
    ClassName();

    /**
     * Function comment
     */
    int methodName(int paramName);

private:
    /**
     * @brief memberVariable
     * 
     * Description of the private member.
     */
    int memberVariable;
};

Struct Comment Template

/**
 * @brief StructName
 *
 * Description.
 * 
 */
struct StructName {
    int memberVariable;
};

Enum Comment Template

/**
 * @brief EnumName.
 *
 * Description of the enum.
 */
enum class EnumName {
    VALUE1, /**< Description of Value1 */
    VALUE2, /**< Description of Value2 */
    VALUE3  /**< Description of Value3 */
};

Visualizing the board

Execute AlphaDeepChessGUI.py to send commands as with the UCI and visualize the chessboard.