Cerebro 3.03d - (c) 2000, 2008 Antonio Senatore
------------------------------------------------
License Agreement:
------------------
YOUR USE OF THIS SOFTWARE INDICATES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF ALL THE TERMS
OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT AND LIMITATION OF RESPONSIBILITY.
You can make as many copies as you need of the program itself and of
all the files which come in the zipped archive for your personal
use; you may install the software on a hard disk or other storage
device; install and use the software on a file server for use on a
network; and freely distribute the full zipped package for non
commercial purposes, providing that you don't add, remove or modify
any of the files contained in the zipped archive.
You can't sell, rent, sublicense or otherwise make money from Cerebro
or any of the files distributed with Cerebro, without the written
permission from the author.
You agree not to modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile,
disassemble or otherwise attempt to discover the source code of the
software.
The author makes no warranty or representation, either express or
implied, with respect to this software, its quality, accuracy,
merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. This software is
provided "as is", and you, its user, assume the entire risk as to its
quality and accuracy. No warranty of fitness for a particular purpose
is offered.
The author is not responsible for any damages whatsoever, including
loss of information, personal injury, interruption of business, and/or
any damage or consequential damage without limitation, incurred before,
during or after the use of this software.
Delivered Files:
----------------
In the zipped archive you will find the following files:
Cerebro.exe -the chess engine
Cerebro.cfg -the configuration file
Cerebro.init -the configuration file for the deprecated ChessBase WB protocol
Cerebro.bmp -a logo for Cerebro
FigMono.ttf -a font file that Cerebro uses in its log files
Readme.txt -this file
Mate Positions.pgn -a test file
-a folder with images that Cerebro uses in its log files
Overview:
---------
Cerebro is a UCI and Winboard chess engine so users will be able to
run it under any GUI that supports at least one of those protocols. So
far Cerebro has been tested in the ChessBase, Chessmaster, Chess
Assistant, Chess Partner, Shredder Classic, Arena and Winboard
interfaces without any apparent problems.
As Cerebro doesn't have much knowledge about openings and endings,
users will need to use opening books and endgame tablebases. Users can
use a GUI book if available or you can build your own native Cerebro
opening books by running Cerebro in a DOS console and typing the
following command:
book [maxply] [mn]
where:
is the name of a .pgn file
can be:
Blancas.obk (book in .obk format for White)
Negras.obk (book in .obk format for Black)
[maxply] the depth of the book lines (default = 60)
[mn] minimal number of games to include a move (default = 2)
Cerebro utilizes different books when it plays as White and as Black
so users will have to build two books: Blancas.obk (that Cerebro
employs when playing as White) and Negras.obk (that Cerebro employs
when playing as Black). Regarding endgame tablebases, users will need
to write the path to the EGTB in the Cerebro.cfg file; it's possible
to indicate several paths separated by ";" or "," for example:
TB Path= C:\TBs; C:\EGTBs; D:\TBs
The engine needs to be improved not only in openings and endings but
also in positional play. In its current stage of development, I have
given more importance to tactical play. In many games users will
observe that the engine doesn't hesitate in keeping doubled pawns, or
isolated pawns, or backward or hanging pawns without apparent reasons;
Cerebro knows about pawns structure but mainly seeks to maximize piece
activity to attack the opposite king. This strategy has been (and is)
successful many times but in many other occasions (regrettably to me quite
frequent) takes the engine to lost endgames. So, the engine needs to
be improved a lot in this field too.
Installation:
-------------
In the same folder where the Cerebro.exe file is located, users will
need to copy the folder named "diagram". The engine will use the files
inside "diagram" to generate its log files (actually .html files with
diagrams and figurine notation). Also users will need to copy the
FigMono.TTF file to their \Windows\Fonts folder; the engine will use
this font if the "Log File" option is enabled in the Cerebro.cfg file.
Cerebro uses two hash tables: a main hash and a pawn hash. Regarding
the ram memory assigned to the main hash, it must be a power of two,
i.e. 16, 32, 64, 128, etc. but memory assigned to the pawn hash can be
any number.
Commands:
---------
Cerebro fully supports the WB-2 and UCI protocols (it also supports
analysis MultiPV under the UCI protocol). Cerebro has also support for
the old and deprecated ChessBase WB protocol so it's possible to run
it under old ChessBase GUIs as a winboard engine. Besides, in a DOS
console users can use the commands:
book to build Cerebro's native books
perft to test the speed of its move generator
Acknowledgments:
----------------
Many people helped me a lot with the development of Cerebro; many many
thanks to (in alphabetical order):
Federico Corigliano
David Dahlem
Matthias Gemuth
Gerd Isemberg
Pradu Kannan (many thanks Pradu for sharing and allowing me to use
your magic moves code)
Uschi (many thanks Uschi for your very valuable comments about how to
evaluate positions)
I especially want to thank Tom Kerrigan since the first version of Cerebro was based on the TSCP source code. When I started to write my engine (Aug-2000), I didn't know much about chess algorithms and how they work. Today, almost eight years later, Cerebro is a bitboard engine and practically nothing of the TSCP code remains in the code of my engine, but in those times of "darkness", I learned a lot by running in my compiler the engine of Tom Kerrigan in debug mode (step by step each line of his source code).
Finally I want to thank Leo Dijksman, Olivier Deville and Heinz van
Kempen who helped in testing the different versions of my engine with
their tourneys (and Leo was and is a specialist in finding bugs in
Cerebro).
Contacting the author:
----------------------
For further information about Cerebro, please contact the
author at the following mail address: ar_senatore@yahoo.com.ar
Bug notification, as well as comments and suggestions are welcome.
Antonio Senatore
Santa Fe - Argentina
Copyright ©
