Chess engine Zorgus

ZORGUS - Chess engine (WB-2 or UCI)

Welcome to the website of Zorgus chess engine. This chess engine is based on the chess engine NG-Play from the work of George Georgopoulos and Tom Kerrigan (thanks to them). The Open Source proposed version of Zorgus was updated in 2017, is obviously based on the famous ALPHA-BETA algorithm, and works with the UCI or Winboard (Xboard) Protocol and so with the main interfaces (GUI).

Before, the author has worked on an complete interface with chess engine inside. His first developed chess program is Tchecmeet in 2002 and this program was meant to be more teaching and learning that "powered machine”.

Technology

Zorgus is written in C and compiled under TDM - GCC version 4.9.2 64Bits release for the windows version and g++ for Linux version (Ubuntu 12.4). New developments have been made on the excellent platform DEV - C++ Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. (Open Source).

Current version to download

Plateform	Date	Version / build	Package	CheckSum SHA1 (rar)
Windows 64 bits	Oct. 2017	1.2.0.366	Zorgus_64b_win.rar	E61FE046E36F463C586ADAA410A9CCCFDC1126A9
Windows 32 bits	Oct. 2017	1.2.0.367	Zorgus_32b_win.rar	E42AD7F86A13646D2053C0388B2B50BB84E5A9DA
Linux (Ubuntu 12.4+)	Oct. 2017	1.2.0	Zorgus_64b_lx.tar.gz	280865C9546C61BE308382E58EFE24F8CAB914A6

Content of packages

Chess engine zorgus_xxb.exe (32 or 64 bits)
file config.ini contending data to setup Zorgus chess engine. This file is not necessary to execute Zorgus (see below)
file Zbook.bin contending crypted dictionary of openings (not necessary but very useful)
file icone image zorgus.jpg et bmp
file readme.txt

Sources to download

Version	Date	Package	CheckSum SHA1 (rar)
1.2.0 (current)	Oct. 2017	zorgus_src_1.2.0.rar	CE6F66DB78605A6A3C4FE3A335BB5C0B2D2E1DE3

Features

supports the interfaces WinBoard (WB-2) and UCI
current version tested under Winboard, Arena, Scid and Xboard (Ubuntu)
have his own interface under Terminal mode
optional INI file to setup Zorgus
crypted dictionary of openings
supports FEN position
show FEN position for every moves in Terminal mode

Version

1.3 (current) - Fix bugs - UCI STOP command -
1.2 - Fix bugs - tag for UCI protocol currmovenumber and hash value - Show FEN position
1.1 - Fix bugs - loading FEN position - Engine vs engine (the same) - improve evaluation function - Linux version compiled
1.0 - Sept 2017 - First version with Xboard interface and elemantary UCI interface

Bugs fixed

loading and showing FEN position
engine vs engine in Arena GUI (issue with side)

Installation

Please follow these instructions to load and execute Zorgus chess engine:

Under Windows (all versions):

install a GUI, Winboard, Arena or Scid (under Windows)
go to the menu to load chess engine (manage or load chess engine…)
under Arena, select directly the chess engine Zorgus, 32 or 64 bits and select “UCI” for interface protocol (WB-2 under Winboard)
under Winboard, you need to edit the list of chess engines and create a new ligne : "Zorgus v1.2" -fcp zorgus_64b -fd "../zorgus"
ok, you can now play with Zorgus chess engine by selecting new game and also playing Zorgus with other chess engine..
Enjoy!

Under Linux (Ubuntu v12.4+):

install Xboard under Ubuntu 12.4 or later (Ubuntu sofware services)
go to /usr/games and copy all files of the package (decompressed)
launch Terminal mode in the folder and entry:
xboard -size medium -fcp zorgus_64b
ok, you can now play with Zorgus chess engine by selecting new game and also playing Zorgus with other chess engine
see other informations with man xboard in command line
Enjoy!

Level of play

According to the first tests currently, Zorgus 1.0 has an ELO of ~ 2300 (trying to improve ELO rating!).

The Author

Born in 1960, Olivier de Lannoy is a computer scientist since 1985. He particularly coded in C language he taught at the University of Orsay (91-France) and the algorithm. Fascinated by the AI and games algorithms, he developed his first "Othello" on a VIC-20 in 1981. Founder of a club of chess in the region of Paris (La Tour Presloise), he was always looking for teaching tools to help young people get ahead in the world of chess.

Legal stuff

Zorgus is a Open Source chess engine. You are free to copy/derive from this code as long as you mention this copyright and keep the new code open source. Commercial use is not allowed. There is no warranty of any kind given or implied. The usage of Zorgus is completely at your own risk. Zorgus is delivered for free with the source code, in the hope to be useful.

Zorgus is guaranteed with no malware and no virus (checksum after download to check).

INI file configuration

# Zorgus - v 1.0
# configuration INI file
#
# Name of trace file
TRACE=trace.txt
ISTRACED=1
#
# Name of filename of openings book
BOOK=Zbook.bin
ISCRYPTED=1
#
# Evaluation
PAWN=100
KNIGHT=320
BISHOP=333
ROOK=510
QUEEN=920

Comment
Comment
Comment
Comment
Name of trace file
Recording trace or not = 0
Comment
Comment
Name of openings book
Book is crypted or not = 0
Comment
Comment
Pawn evaluation
Knight evaluation
Bishop evaluation
Rook evaluation
Queen evaluation

FEN file configuration

This file allows offering a position in FEN format to the engine. To load this position, start the engine under DOS/Terminal in the following step:

Usage: zorgus_64 -p<fen file>

Example: Zorgus_64b –pfen.txt

The file containing the format of the FEN position can have a different name. Then, in console mode (Terminal), select options and select 'Play' to start.
Example of fen.txt file:

# FEN POSITION
r3k2r/ppp2ppp/2n1bn2/3qp3/1b6/2NP1NP1/PPP2PBP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 4 8
#rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1

Comment
FEN position
Comment

Now, only one FEN position is taken into account each time.

Openings book

Zbook.bin is a file encrypted internally. Zorgus does not use polyglot application. However, it is possible to use a unencrypted openings, in text mode, please request it in the configuration INI file.
The dictionary contains a list of the major openings in the full algebraic format.
Example :

e2e4 g8h6 d2d4 g7g6 c2c4 f7f6
e2e4 g8f6 e4e5 f6d5 f1c4 d5b6 c4b3 c7c5 d2d3
e2e4 g8f6 e4e5 f6d5 f1c4
e2e4 g8f6 e4e5 f6d5 d2d4 d7d6 g1f3 c8g4 f1e2 e7e6 e1g1
e2e4 g8f6 e4e5 f6d5 d2d4 d7d6 g1f3 c8g4 f1e2 e7e6
e2e4 g8f6 e4e5 f6d5 d2d4 d7d6 g1f3 c8g4 f1e2 b8c6 e1g1
e2e4 g8f6 e4e5 f6d5 d2d4 d7d6 g1f3 c8g4 f1e2 b8c6
e2e4 g8f6 e4e5 f6d5 d2d4 d7d6 g1f3 c8g4 f1e2
…..

Tournament -21-09-2017

#	Chess engine	Score	St	Sp	Ry	Ko	Fr	Ru	An	Ma	He	Zo	SO	Pu	Ca	S-B	ELO rating estimed
01	Stockfish_8_x64	23,5/24	· ·	11	11	11	11	11	11	1=	11	11	11	11	11	259,75	3388
02	Spike 1.4	19,5/24	00	· ·	1=	==	=1	11	11	11	=1	11	11	11	11	186,25	3025
03	Rybka 2.3.2a 64 bit	18,5/24	00	0=	· ·	01	11	11	11	1=	11	=1	11	11	11	172,25	3155
04	Komodo-203-32-ja	18,0/24	00	==	10	· ·	1=	=1	11	01	11	11	11	11	11	166,25	3401
05	Fruit_21	15,0/24	00	=0	00	0=	· ·	11	10	11	01	11	11	11	11	119,25	2503
06	Ruffian 1.0.5	13,5/24	00	00	00	=0	00	· ·	1=	=1	11	11	11	11	11	93,50	2621
07	AnMon 5.75	12,5/24	00	00	00	00	01	0=	· ·	11	=1	11	=1	11	11	84,50	2539
08	Marvin_64bit	10,5/24	0=	00	0=	10	00	=0	00	· ·	10	01	11	11	11	79,25	2584
09	Hermann 2.8 64 bit	10,0/24	00	=0	00	00	10	00	=0	01	· ·	10	11	11	11	65,00	2527
10	Zorgus_64b (BETA 1.0)	6,5/24	00	00	=0	00	00	00	00	10	01	· ·	00	11	11	33,75	2300
11	SOS 5.1 for Arena	6,5/24	00	00	00	00	00	00	=0	00	00	11	· ·	11	11	23,25	2561
12	Pulsar2009-9b	1,5/24	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	· ·	=1	0,75	nc
13	Casper	0,5/24	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	=0	· ·	0,75	nc

156 games played.

Start at: 2017.09.21, 10:59:16
Computer: LAPTOP-GHN2VE83, France
Level: Blitz – 3 minutes
Matériel: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6200U CPU @ 2.30GHz with 7,9 GB Memory
System: Windows 10 Home Edition (Build 9200) 64 bit
PGN: Tournoi-21-09-2017.pgn
Created with (GUI): Arena 3.5.1