Gull

I remember Gull as an engine that was good but not a contender but now you have brought this engine a long way! Good job! Now I have it rated 12 point ELO gain above 2.3 which puts it only 13 points below Robodini! That is sweet! You now sir have developed a real contender. Keep it up! It is just about to crack my top five and the way it is going it may very well do that on the next version!
Thanks

@ThinkingALot wrote:

Just for clarification: Gull R600 is a private version published here without my consent. What R601 is I have no idea.
felixgulden, I'd ask you (and everyone else publishing modified Gull versions) to change the name of the engine (preferably to smth not containing the word "Gull") and remove "ThinkingALot" from the "id author" string, if you make any functional changes to the Gull source code.

Thanks ThinkingALot,
we will wait till we have an official version, before we make tests for our lists.
regards
Werner

Gull 2.8 beta & Gull 2.9 alpha:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gullchess/files/latest/download

Full evaluation rewrite: Gull's back to being an original engine. Playing strength should be close to that of R600.
I also compiled a special version with automatic affinity assignment turned off: hope that's going to solve the ChessGUI compatibility problem (can't test it because ChessGUI fails to work on my machine).

Found a bug in 2.8: will reload the package soon.

Thanks ThinkingALot for the new versions. What is the difference between Gull 2.8 beta and Gull 2.9 alpha?

Nicolas wrote:

Thanks ThinkingALot for the new versions. What is the difference between Gull 2.8 beta and Gull 2.9 alpha?

Minor changes to search algorithms which shouldn't have any measurable effect on ELO at blitz+ TCs.

P.S. Replaced the package with a correct one.

@ThinkingALot wrote:

Full evaluation rewrite: Gull's back to being an original engine. Playing strength should be close to that of R600.

Thanks ThinkingALot.

Gull R600 link?

Bob wrote:

Gull R600 link?

rusfolder.com 39156405

@ThinkingALot wrote:

Gull 2.8 beta & Gull 2.9 alpha:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gullchess/files/latest/download

Full evaluation rewrite: Gull's back to being an original engine. Playing strength should be close to that of R600.
I also compiled a special version with automatic affinity assignment turned off: hope that's going to solve the ChessGUI compatibility problem (can't test it because ChessGUI fails to work on my machine).

Which version is better?

Vladimir wrote:

@ThinkingALot wrote:

Gull 2.8 beta & Gull 2.9 alpha:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gullchess/files/latest/download

Full evaluation rewrite: Gull's back to being an original engine. Playing strength should be close to that of R600.
I also compiled a special version with automatic affinity assignment turned off: hope that's going to solve the ChessGUI compatibility problem (can't test it because ChessGUI fails to work on my machine).

Which version is better?

Good question.
As long as there is no newer version coming out anytime soon, I'll probably go with the later of the two releases (according to number) - Gull 2.9a.

Where can I find a compile for Mac OSX?

It doesn't work on Windows XP SP3.

don't waste your time, i see no improvement in the new version...

Gull 3:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gullchess/files/latest/download
Expected strength increase: 15-25 ELO.

Thanks ThinkingALot.

Gull 3 - mirror link:
http://rghost.net/54308168

tks.. ThinkingAlot  

@ThinkingALot wrote:

Gull 3:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gullchess/files/latest/download
Expected strength increase: 15-25 ELO.

Thanks Vadim.   

@ThinkingALot wrote:

Gull 3:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gullchess/files/latest/download
Expected strength increase: 15-25 ELO.

36 ELO, here: https://www.chess2u.com/t8063-gull-tests#54637

Gull 3 Gauntlet
https://www.chess2u.com/t8063-gull-tests#54698

[pgn][Event "3 Minutes/Game"]
[Site "Gull 3 Gauntlet"]
[Date "2014.04.18"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Houdini 4 Pro x64"]
[Black "Gull 3 x64"]
[Result "0-1"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2014.??.??"]

1. d4 {book 0s} f5 {book 0s} 2. g3 {book 0s} Nf6 {book 0s} 3. Bg2 {book 0s} e6
{book 0s} 4. c4 {book 0s} Be7 {book 0s} 5. Nf3 {book 0s} O-O {book 0s} 6. d5 {
book 0s} Ne4 {book 0s} 7. O-O {book 0s} Bf6 {book 0s} 8. Nbd2 {0.49/17 6} Nxd2
{0.34/15 12} 9. Qxd2 {0.56/16 2} d6 {0.30/15 4 (Na6)} 10. Qc2 {0.42/16 6 (Nd4)}
Na6 {0.29/15 9 (e5)} 11. Be3 {0.52/16 3 (dxe6)} e5 {0.31/15 4} 12. Rab1 {0.36/
17 5} g6 {0.26/15 5 (Nc5)} 13. Ne1 {0.32/17 7} e4 {0.35/16 13 (f4)} 14. Qd2 {
0.40/18 3 (b4)} Nc5 {0.26/16 2} 15. Nc2 {0.38/19 2} a5 {0.24/17 5} 16. Nd4 {0.
37/19 1 (b3)} Bd7 {0.25/16 4} 17. b3 {0.38/18 1} Qe8 {0.25/15 3 (Qe7)} 18. Rfd1
{0.39/18 5 (Rfe1)} Rf7 {0.25/15 2 (Qf7)} 19. h4 {0.37/18 4} Be5 {0.21/15 6
(Qe7)} 20. Rbc1 {0.37/16 3 (Bh6)} Qf8 {0.19/15 4 (Bf6)} 21. Bh6 {0.20/16 1} Qe7
{0.03/15 3} 22. Bg5 {0.02/16 4 (Rc2)} Qf8 {0.02/15 1} 23. Bf4 {0.07/16 1} Bxf4
{-0.04/15 5} 24. Qxf4 {0.06/17 5} Qg7 {-0.04/14 0 (Qe7)} 25. Kh2 {-0.04/16 5
(Rc3)} h6 {-0.58/15 4 (Qf6)} 26. Bh3 {-0.14/15 4 (Kg1)} g5 {-0.87/15 4} 27. Qd2
{-0.36/14 3 (Qe3)} e3 {-1.15/16 7 (Raf8)} 28. Qxe3 {-0.53/16 1} Re8 {-1.15/14 0
} 29. Qc3 {-0.49/16 3 (Ne6)} Ne4 {-1.41/15 1} 30. Qe1 {-0.64/17 2} gxh4 {-1.33/
13 0} 31. gxh4 {-0.81/17 15} Qe5+ {-1.41/13 0} 32. Kh1 {-1.57/18 3} Rg7 {-1.33/
11 0} 33. Nf3 {-1.86/18 12 (e3)} Qf4 {-2.66/13 4} 34. Rb1 {-1.59/15 2 (Rc2)}
Kh7 {-2.87/13 0} 35. b4 {-1.75/15 0 (Rd4)} axb4 {-3.08/14 1} 36. Rd3 {-3.85/15
9 (Rxb4)} c5 {-3.40/14 1 (Nc3)} 37. a3 {-3.26/14 1 (dxc6)} b5 {-3.64/15 1 (Nc3)
} 38. axb4 {-2.99/10 3} bxc4 {-3.96/15 1} 39. Ra3 {-2.99/9 0} c3 {-4.32/16 3}
40. Rxc3 {-4.86/13 0} Nxc3 {-4.32/15 0} 41. Qxc3 {-4.66/12 0} Rxe2 {-4.32/15 0}
42. Rg1 {-4.02/14 1} Rxg1+ {-4.32/15 0 (Rf7)} 43. Kxg1 {-2.97/11 0} cxb4 {-4.
32/14 0} 44. Qf6 {-4.73/14 1} Kg8 {-4.32/13 0} 45. Qg6+ {-4.73/14 0} Kf8 {-4.
48/15 0} 46. Bf1 {-4.74/14 0} Rc2 {-4.96/16 1 (Re7)} 47. Qf6+ {-5.31/14 1} Ke8
{-5.13/16 1} 48. Qg6+ {-6.24/17 6} Kd8 {-5.21/17 1} 0-1[/pgn]

It does appear that you have had a very noticeable increase in strength! GOOD JOB!  In 31 games it has a 4.5 point lead on the second place engine and an 11 point lead over Komodo CCT! Very Impressive! Clearly outperforming all by over 120 rating points and no losses that is impressive.

Yes a wonderfull strenght Evaluation...but i found out, that the kn/s on one / two core are "fast" against 4 core (4 core is not 2 x faster than 2 core).
Don´t know how it work on 6 cores and more?

my pc i7-920 - 8 GB ram - Win 8.1 pro

Gull 3 with Syzygy support

Thanks majortom.

Gull 3 syzygy - mirror link:
http://rghost.net/54510362

Gull 3 Gauntlet
1775 out of 2000 games played
https://www.chess2u.com/t8063p15-gull-tests#54927

I will post the final results tomorrow.