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[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] McCain is based on the strongest engine in the world, Stockfish.
This version has bug fixes for the triple opening book usage, a new UCI option called DC Slider ( Dynamic Contempt Slider) . the default setting of 65 represents an increase of 6.5% in the dynamic contemplation calculation. Another new option for the casual user called Jekyll & Hyde, as the name suggests, using the Jekyll & Hyde setting ( must be used with the variety option set to 1 or higher) , will cause McCain to play with a very undecided nature of his attack - sometimes striking aggressive , at other times vert mild and non aggressive. It's here strictly for the entertain value as it obviously weakens McCain considerably, making it much more enjoyable for human play. The matefinder code in McCain was eliminated as I was dissatisfied with it and came to realize that Joe Ellis' matefinder works just about perfect anyway. On my Github remote, you can find a branch for mate_finder ( Joe Ellis' code) , that has been updated for current development Stockfish
One source - and you build 2 different flavors of stockfish - current-dev-stockfish and McCain.You also build the current-dev Stockfish with all the features that McCain has.
Note: Only McCain will be distributed , the other flavors are for those who are able to build it themselves - but feel free to share with others - if you do share, please provide above link to GitHub as that is the only legal way to share your hand-built built exe's with others
NOTE - if you pull McCain from Github, please go to the McCain branch , the master branch is in sync with current-dev Stockfish.
The user experience changes :
Opening Book cleanup - now accepts 3 polyglot books :
Opening book 1 - could be GM or opening - generally a very specific book
Opening book 2 - wider book, would kick in once opening book 1 is"out of book"
Opening book 3 - wider book, would kick in once opening book 2 is"out of book"
The source provided enables one to build quickly 2 different engines:
McCain-X2: includes all of current-dev Stockfish with added functional modifications and features
makefile options:
The version and features - are controlled by commenting in and out the 3 lines in ( toggle is on uncommented and off with the pound signs).
Uncomment the line below for McCain, comment in (add pound sign) for Stockfish
VERSION=maverick
Only McCain with added feature will be publicly distributed , although feel free to play with other versions privately
features include : Cerebellum book functionality, play by Elo (UCI limit strength), keyboard shortcuts and a few other items
FEATURE1=add_features
(Pound Signs)
I have tried to source and provide credit for all changes different from from current-development Stockfish through the use of ifdef's for Maverick and Features and the source of the changes attributed to the original author as I best as I was able to detect from Github. In addition all of the other added features , cerebellum book ( code and book file by Thomas Zipproth), Play by ELO and keyboard shortcuts are also identified with ifdef's. With the exe's , you will find some Windows version complied by Lucas Monge and Dann Corbit,
McCain-X2 is an alternative chess engines for the chess connoisseur who appreciates using top chess engines for analysis or too et Stockfish to weaker level for more casual play. It is based on current -dev Stockfish (10+ 3-31-2019)), hence it will play mostly like Stockfish v10+ most of the time. There are certain positions that McCain will provide analysis that is often overlooked by other engines.
McCain also works with the Cerebellum book by Thomas Zipproth (Brainfish Author -
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]) . It also includes the standard McCain UCI options, including Limit Strength (Elo) (use Threads set to 1!) , Brute Force , No Null, Fast Play, Tactical and variety play. All of the keyboard shortcut commands, remain, eliminating the need to always perform the UCI setoption name value command from the keyboard as long as the option name does not contain spaces. As mentioned previously, it accepts 3 polyglot books and will follow the moves of the books in sequential order - play book1 first - once "out of book", twill play from book 2, then book 3 once book 2 is out of book. McCain-X2 supports 7 man syzygy endgame tablebase
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