GUI Checkers 1.12 64-bit, 6-piece DB, new CheckerBoard stuff

[Ed Trice]

A special thanks to Ed Gilbert for updating CheckerBoard to allow for incremental time controls, rebuilding the GUI Checkers 1.05 book into the new version 1.12 book, and modifying the GUI Checkers timing/logic/search abort under time pressure code to make it a much more challenging opponent under faster time controls. GUI Checkers 1.12 still probes the 6-piece perfect play databases in RAM (except for 4x2 and 5x1 endings, and no 4x1 endings for db5).

I will have a web site up and running next week to host a download of our latest combined GUI Checkers modifications, plus any additional future changes that might be made to it.

Stay tuned for more details.

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Thank you very much for the information Ed.

Krzysztof

[John Acker]

Ed, can you post the link for the latest version, please? Thanks.

[Ed Trice]

Ed, can you post the link for the latest version, please? Thanks.

If you search on "Gui checkers checkerboard" you should find the version Ed Gilbert worked on after I gave him my source code. He's on vacation until March and I forget where he uploaded it.

[Ed Gilbert]

An install file for the latest version of the Gui Checkers CheckerBoard-compatible .dll can be downloaded here: https://mega.nz/#F!3MBAQDoa!vUZo-kItopg6LO-wPdspBw

The install includes the 6-piece dtw db.

Gui Checkers was created by Jon Kreuzer. He developed it over a period of several years, but now no longer works on it. The last version that Jon published was somewhat unfinished, as the opening book no longer worked, and it no longer worked as a Checkerboard .dll. I fixed these problems and have made a few improvements so that it runs better with CheckerBoard. I have not changed anything about its search. Gui Checkers now saves some of its settings -- opening book, hashtable size, and endgame db directory and enable/disable.

The full C++ source code for Gui Checkers is publicly available on GitHub here: https://github.com/eygilbert/GuiCheckers It includes a project file for MS Visual Studio 2015. While not as strong as Cake or Kingsrow, Gui Checkers is probably the strongest open source checkers program, which makes it attractive for people that want to experiment with things like machine learning.

I should also mention that Martin Fierz hasn't had time to work on his checkers programs for several years, and I have taken over the maintenance of CheckerBoard, at least for now. The install files for the latest CheckerBoard version are at the kingsrow web site. The full C++ source code for CheckerBoard is open sourced at GitHub: https://github.com/eygilbert/CheckerBoard

-- Ed

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Thanks Ed.