54 stable releases
new 1.17.3 | Jun 17, 2024 |
---|---|
1.17.0 | Jun 16, 2024 |
1.7.5 | May 29, 2024 |
0.2.0 | May 24, 2024 |
0.1.0 | May 24, 2024 |
#24 in Game dev
4,519 downloads per month
5.5MB
233K
SLoC
Timecat Chess Engine
Timecat is a UCI-compatible chess engine designed in Rust that combines powerful algorithms and advanced evaluation techniques to deliver top-notch chess analysis and gameplay. Using alpha-beta pruning with the negamax algorithm and the NNUE evaluation method, Timecat achieves enhanced depth and accuracy in game analysis.
Timecat as a Library
Timecat was originally conceived as a personal project. However, with the onset of a new chess-related project, I realized the benefits of publishing Timecat as a library to avoid excessive code duplication. Initially designed for personal use, Timecat will now be refined and updated to enhance its functionality and usability as a library, making it more accessible and beneficial for other users. Also the documentation will be further improved.
Key Features
- UCI Compatibility: Fully compatible with the Universal Chess Interface (UCI) standard.
- Advanced Algorithms: Utilizes alpha-beta pruning and the negamax algorithm for efficient move searching.
- NNUE Evaluation: Incorporates NNUE (efficiently updatable neural network) for state-of-the-art position evaluation.
- Customizable Builds: Supports tailored builds through configurable cargo features.
Integration of the Chess Library
Initially, Timecat was dependent on the external chess
library, which is available at https://github.com/jordanbray/chess. To align more closely with specific requirements, the library was integrated directly into Timecat. This integration permitted significant modifications and extensions to its functionalities, thereby enhancing the engine's overall capabilities. Such integration demonstrates a commitment to adapting and evolving the tools to secure the best possible performance and accuracy in chess analytics.
User Controls
In the library, only pub
or non-pub
visibility modifiers are used (unless extremely necessary to prevent users from making catastrophic errors). This approach ensures that all potentially useful functions and structures are accessible to the user, avoiding the situation where a pub(crate)
might restrict access to valuable components—a problem I've encountered while using the chess
library. Therefore, only the features that is considered essential are included in timecat::prelude
; all other functionalities are available for direct import from the timecat
library.
Also several cargo features have been introduced to provide users with complete control over the code's behavior.
NNUE Support
Timecat currently utilizes the Stockfish NNUE for evaluation (only HalfKP
supported). Plans are in place to transition to a custom-trained NNUE in the future.
Engine Strength
Although it hasn't been thoroughly tested yet, but my chess engine is capable of defeating chess.com's max bot, which has an Elo rating of 3200.
Installation
Installing as a Binary
Optimize your setup for the best performance:
RUSTFLAGS="-C target-cpu=native" cargo install timecat
Compilation from Source
Clone the repository and compile with native optimizations:
git clone https://github.com/Gourab-Ghosh/timecat-rs.git
cd timecat-rs
RUSTFLAGS="-C target-cpu=native" cargo run --release
Usage as a Library
Minimal Dependency Integration
Integrate Timecat into your Rust projects with minimal dependencies:
cargo add timecat --no-default-features
Examples
This example demonstrates how to set up a chess board, make moves, evaluate board positions, and utilize the inbuilt engine to find optimal moves using the timecat
library. Some features such as position evaluation (nnue
) and engine computation (engine
) are optional and can be enabled via cargo features.
First, add the timecat crate to your project with the necessary features enabled (nnue
feature is already enabled within the engine
feature):
cargo add timecat --no-default-features --features engine
Then, you can proceed with the following Rust code:
use timecat::prelude::*;
fn main() {
// Initialize a chess board with the default starting position.
let mut board = Board::default();
// Apply moves in standard algebraic notation.
board.push_san("e4").expect("Failed to make move: e4");
board.push_san("e5").expect("Failed to make move: e5");
// Evaluate the current board position using the nnue feature.
let evaluation = board.evaluate();
println!("Current Evaluation: {}\n", evaluation);
// Initialize the engine with the current board state.
let engine = Engine::new(
board,
TranspositionTable::default(),
);
// Configure the engine to search for the best move up to a depth of 10 plies.
let response = engine.go_verbose(GoCommand::Depth(10));
let best_move = response.get_best_move()
.expect("No best move found");
// Output the best move found by the engine.
println!("\nBest Move: {}", best_move);
}
You can use UCI commands, although it's not recommended in production environments due to potential parsing delays and unpredictable outputs. The nnue
and engine
features are also required in this context.
As previous, add the timecat crate to your project:
cargo add timecat --no-default-features --features engine
Then, you can proceed with the following Rust code:
use timecat::prelude::*;
use std::error::Error;
fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
// Create the default engine initialized with the standard starting position.
let mut engine = Engine::default();
// List of UCI commands to be executed on the chess engine.
let uci_commands = [
// Checks if the engine is ready to receive commands.
"isready",
// Sets the move overhead option.
"setoption name move overhead value 200",
// Display the current state of the chess board.
"d",
// Sets a new game position by applying the moves.
"position startpos moves e2e4 e7e5",
// Instructs the engine to calculate the best move within 3000 milliseconds.
"go movetime 3000",
];
// Process each UCI command and handle potential errors.
for command in uci_commands {
timecat::UCIParser::parse_command(&mut engine, command)?;
}
Ok(())
}
Or just enjoy the engine play against itself:
use timecat::prelude::*;
use std::error::Error;
fn main() {
timecat::Parser::parse_command(
&mut Engine::default(),
// selfplay command has same format as go command
"selfplay movetime 10", // Adjust time according to your wish
).unwrap();
}
The selfplay
command works on the binary as well.
Cargo Features
binary
: Enables binary builds, including NNUE and engine functionalities.nnue_reader
: Adds support for NNUE evaluation by reading nnue files.inbuilt_nnue
: Integrate built-in NNUE evaluation support by including the nnue file directly into the binary, fetched using the reqwest library.engine
: Provides the Engine struct for in-depth position analysis and move searching.colored_output
: Displays all information in a visually appealing colored format for enhanced readability.speed
: Optimize the code to improve speed at the cost of increased memory usage and in extremely rare cases cause unexpected behavior. Note that the gain in speed might be minimal compared to the additional memory required.serde
: Enables serialization and deserialization support viaserde
.debug
: Intended solely for development use.experimental
: Codes under development for upcoming features.
Default features include binary
, colored_output
and speed
.
TODO
- Implement other variants of chess.
- Implement Syzygy Tablebase.
- Organize the Polyglot Table codes to make it usable.
- Organize the pgn related codes to make it usable.
- Implement xboard feature.
- Add svg feature like the python package chess for better visualization.
License
Timecat is open-sourced under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE. You are free to use, modify, and distribute it under the same license.
Contributing
Feel free to fork the repository, make improvements, and submit pull requests. You can also report issues or suggest features through the GitHub issue tracker.
Dependencies
~0.5–11MB
~75K SLoC