psp Chess

[cwbowron]

RELEASE 0.17

implemented pondering (still a little sketchy - but seems to be working) - OFF by default

cleaned up some compiler warnings

10 game storage slots

[almazlamaz]

Chess engine is thinking really slow :(

[cwbowron]

RELEASE 0.18

fixed poll bug (polling too often) - increases speed of search you can reasonably use a search depth of about 6 now. (default is still 4)

hopefully fixed bug that allowed you to move into check

preview saved games

prompt before overwriting a slot

fixed small bug in slot selection

basic analog controls

[Pit0711]

great work cwbowron, i always loose :-)
can you add wifi support for 2 player mode?

keep on god work..

[cwbowron]

great work cwbowron, i always loose :-)
can you add wifi support for 2 player mode?

You can try decreasing the search depth to 2 or 3 and that will make the computer play worse.

I plan to make pspChess a client for the free internet chess server when all the networking stuff is figured out on the psp and made a little more easily digestable. This will allow you to play with other people through the server.

I may also make a direct 2 player mode, but I am not positive yet. It may be a little harder though, because I only have one psp.

[chaos]

if there was one feature i would really love to see, it would be a minimum move delay for the computer..

on the default search depth, the computer is moving virtually instantly after you enter your move. i find this really throws off my train of thought. the computer gets to 'ponder', but i don't...

what i'm suggesting is that you add a user configurable delay after each move, measured in seconds. for example, lets say i'd like 5 second delay after the computer is done thinking, before it actually makes a move.

this would allow the computer to seem much more human, and it would give the gameplay a more 'authentic' feeling, like you were playing with someone who had to at least think a little bit before making that queen-rook fork..

i realize this is not needed on the higher search depths, but for most of us, there's no reason to even try at those levels.

[cwbowron]

what i'm suggesting is that you add a user configurable delay after each move, measured in seconds. for example, lets say i'd like 5 second delay after the computer is done thinking, before it actually makes a move.

I like it.

It will be in 0.19

[cwbowron]

RELEASE 0.19

possibly fixed weird illegal white rook move when it was black's turn - please let me know if you see it (chess@bowron.us)

clear tables option - debug tool

minimum delay - by request
if set, the computer will delay its move until this number of seconds has passed. Gives human players more time to think and not feel rushed by computer.

[chaos]

cool :)

[cwbowron]

RELEASE 0.20

REALLY fixed illegal move - related to principal variation storage

reset to human vs human on checkmate, stalemate, draw

added psp:black and psp:white to options menu

removed demo key

updated pspsdk and as such had to rename a few functions and change around some makefile stuff

[cwbowron]

RELEASE 0.21

cleaned up evaluation code a bit - easier to understand what's going on. If anyone wants to write up another evalation function for a new personality, feel free to do so and send me the code. I would like to have selectable opponents in the game. (if you modifiy anything outside of evaluate() please use different function names so that I can drop it in without name conflicts)

passed pawn weights

removed clear tables options

opening book changes (probability of move proportionate to frequency) - better opening book utilization

removed load book key and menu option

added book loading to reset game

[cwbowron]

RELEASE 0.22

new personalities:
BCE: original evaluation algorithm
BCE-Junior: BCE with stripped out positional features
Random: evaluation function returns a random number (takes longer to search because there are fewer cutoffs)

ability to add multiple personalities easily
to add a personality:
write evaluation function (see evaluate_bce())
add function to g_evaluation_functions
add personality name to g_personality_names

you can have personality play each other by setting them up in the options menu

[cwbowron]

If anyone is running a psp news and updates site and is posting new releases of pspChess, please mirror the file and link to that if you can. I might be exceeding my hostings allowed bandwidth soon.

Thanks.

[619619]

If anyone is running a psp news and updates site and is posting new releases of pspChess, please mirror the file and link to that if you can. I might be exceeding my hostings allowed bandwidth soon.

Thanks.

Always ;) : http://www.psprl.it/UP/APPS/pspchess0.22.zip

[cwbowron]

new download locations:

http://www.cse.msu.edu/~bowronch/pspchess.zip
http://www.cse.msu.edu/~bowronch/pspchess_src.zip

RELEASE 0.23

mikmod background music - put any mikmod compatible file in \PSP\GAME\PSPCHESS\BACKGROUND.MOD - thanks to everyone involved in mikmod and thanks to Jim Shaw for porting it to psp.
mikmod post: (http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php? ... ght=mikmod)

new option: show captures (default: on)

new images (to move, last move, thinking)

fixed loading book issues in load game

[Clay]

It seems that myself and many other users cannot get v0.23 to run on our PSP's. I've tried kxploit on the 1.0 and copying the premade 1.50 eboots and still wont load and have to power off. Anyone else in the same boat? =(

I love your game, i just havent seen anyone else bring this up hehe

[619619]

It seems that myself and many other users cannot get v0.23 to run on our PSP's. I've tried kxploit on the 1.0 and copying the premade 1.50 eboots and still wont load and have to power off. Anyone else in the same boat? =(

I love your game, i just havent seen anyone else bring this up hehe

Yes, doesn't work for me, too

[cwbowron]

Ok, I think I found the problem. If there was no background.mod file available it would lock up. So I just released a quick fix to that, 0.23b. You might be able to use 0.23 as long as you have a background.mod file.

please let me know if there are still issues with 0.23b

RELEASE 0.23b

fixed problem when no background music file available

[Pit0711]

suggestion: save matches to .txt file for analysis

[cwbowron]

suggestion: save matches to .txt file for analysis

Thanks for the suggestion. I am looking into importing and exporting to PGN files
http://www.very-best.de/pgn-spec.htm

[emumaniac]

Thanks for the great releases your a true PSP Scener :)

Heres a mirror of PSP Chess --> http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/pspchess.shtml

Also we have a great forum for devvers such as yourself to upload (up to 8meg)

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=48

[cwbowron]

Thanks for the great releases your a true PSP Scener :)

Heres a mirror of PSP Chess --> http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/pspchess.shtml

Thanks.

I was wondering if I could get you to update the screenshot for pspChess? Its changed a bit for the better I think. A current screenshot is here:

http://bace.bowron.us/screenshot.png

Thanks.

[emumaniac]

no sooner said than updated :)

[Clay]

Feel free to use the "submit news" feature on my site when you update. (though we'll always link back to this official release thread)

PSPChess is actually my favorite homebrew game. I've played chess with my father for years. Keep up the good work :o

[LokStok]

downloaded this and altho not sat and had a full game I gave it a quick test .. agree with the cpu movin very quickly is a lil offputtin .. but good work .. will enjoy many hours of chess with this .. props! ..

[cwbowron]

RELEASE 0.24

analysis mode option - when in analysis mode, RTRIGGER will make the next move in the analysis stack. Analysis stack will be moves up to the point of switching into analysis mode. Should also work with stored games.

button change: LTRIGGER goes back only 1 ply. This makes navigating analysis mode easier.

analysis mode displays last 20 moves (plies)

added donation link to readme. If you enjoy pspChess and feel like sending some money to help support pspChess, awesome. The paypal name should show up as bowronch@msu.edu

click here to donate

export pgn option in options menu (exports to \PSP\GAME\PSPCHESS\EXPORT.PGN) close enough to PGN that winboard will read it. Don't know about other programs. (It uses 1. e2e4 b8c6 instead of 1. e4 Nc6)

[emumaniac]

news posted and mirrored --> http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/pspchess.shtml

[cwbowron]

I couldn't sleep, so there's a new release.

RELEASE 0.25

properly handle promotions: computer can choose promotional piece, so can player.

option: show moves (show the moves in the current game)
to show moves you must either have show options off or show captures off (or both)
you can use show moves as coordinates or SAN.

reset music if finished playing

autoload saved options

save options in options menu

export pgn exports to file name YYYY_MM_DD_HH_MM.PGN

print last move in SAN, keep track of moves in SAN

[JJPeerless]

what is the rating of the computer player?

i know youcan change the search depth..but any idea?

[cwbowron]

what is the rating of the computer player?

i know youcan change the search depth..but any idea?

From the readme.txt:

The original PC version of BCE (on which pspChess is based) played as "ddlchess" and "BACE" on freechess.org, but they have not been active in years. BCE achieved its highest blitz rating at 2054 and its highest standard rating at 1975.

Thats probably searching around 5 plies or so, using basically the same evaluator.