David Broughtons computer chess Engine Philidor / MKV / MK VI
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Mclane
Posts : 3024 Join date : 2020-11-17 Age : 57 Location : United States of Europe, Germany, Ruhr area
Subject: David Broughtons computer chess Engine Philidor / MKV / MK VI Fri Feb 12, 2021 7:32 pm
This is about the very selective computerchess engine Philidor by David Broughton.
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Subject: Re: David Broughtons computer chess Engine Philidor / MKV / MK VI Sat Feb 13, 2021 8:07 pm
Yes ?
Mclane
Posts : 3024 Join date : 2020-11-17 Age : 57 Location : United States of Europe, Germany, Ruhr area
Subject: Re: David Broughtons computer chess Engine Philidor / MKV / MK VI Sat Feb 13, 2021 8:27 pm
David Broughton won the championship in Travemünde with his commercial Version on the SciSys Chess Champion MKV . A 6502 machine with 1 or 2 MHz. Then later came the MKVI Philidor but this was no real progress. It played different but was not really a breakthrough.
Then later david Broughton got a job at a Company that made the special effects For TV.
So we would not have had much, but he once developed a PC version of his Engine for the Parker company. Parker chess or Philidor.
And it is a dos engine out of a time where the hardware was very Limited. RAM was limited, cpu speed was limited and even the floppy drives had low resources.
Mclane
Posts : 3024 Join date : 2020-11-17 Age : 57 Location : United States of Europe, Germany, Ruhr area
Subject: Re: David Broughtons computer chess Engine Philidor / MKV / MK VI Sat Feb 13, 2021 8:41 pm
David Broughton writes himself in the readme:
David Broughton wrote:
Title: Documentation on Chess Program B1 File: D:\CHESS\B1\B1.DOC Last Update: 1997-03-18 Written by: David Broughton
INTRODUCTION
B1 is the development code name of the chess program also known as Philidor. It was written by me in 1982/83 for the IBM-PC as it then was, with version 1.1 of DOS. The computer had only 128 Kbytes of RAM and two floppy disk drives with a capacity of 160 Kbytes. There was no CMOS memory and no CONFIG.SYS file. The keyboard was the small version with the function keys down the left hand side and there were no arrow keys. At first there was no colour screen but a CGA screen with four colours was introduced during development when it was decided that a larger diagram of the chess board was required (as opposed to the minuscule text-based version). This was incorporated after much modification. There was no mouse available at that date.
The program was written under contract and I do not possess the copyright so this program is strictly not for sale or for giving away in any form.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT INSTALLATION AND RUNNING
This program is for running under DOS in a simple environment (i.e. no multiprogramming system, not DESQVIEW and not WINDOWS in any version). All the files must be available in the logged-in directory. After running, REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER or you will have trouble as the interrupt settings may be incorrect.
INSTALLATION
The files required in the logged-in directory are as follows:
The program name is CHESS.COM so to run the program just type CHESS and press Enter. To stop the program, press Ctrl/Alt/Del to reboot the computer. However, make sure you have saved any game first.
B1DAT.ROM is the data for a supposed ROM and contains fixed data which is loaded by CHESS.COM on start-up. The files with .BN extension are opening book files. The files with extension .OLY are overlay files. The program makes extensive use of overlays as the original IBM-PC only had 128 Kbytes of RAM.
OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS ======================
There are two screens. There is the large colour display screen called COLOUR SCREEN and the black-and-white text display called the INFORMATION SCREEN. They are toggled with Control A. On start-up the COLOUR SCREEN is selected.
Most of the general operation of the program for setting up the game must be done with the Information Screen selected. The Colour Screen can be used during the routine play, including the entering of moves with the cursor.
The INFORMATION SCREEN.
This is in three sections. At the top left is a menu of ten items which are selected with the function keys. Altogether there are six menus. Each menu is selected with the digit keys 1 to 6 (and also with Alt 1 to 6, useful when you want to select a new menu in the middle of data entry). Each menu brings in a different overlay module from the disk so the first time they are used (and sometimes subsequently) there will be a slight pause before the new menu appears. Although each menu, in general, provides a different set of options, one which is the same on most is F1 labelled STOPGO. This operation is the most important as it starts and stops the chess task. It is also available when the Colour Screen is showing.
STOP means stop the chess task, which is done by pressing F1. (The chess task is one of the multiprogramming tasks or sub-programs.) There are some operations that are not available when the chess task is running and you may see "PRESS STOP FIRST" on the screen.
To start the chess task (and to start the clocks) press Shift F1. Whilst the chess task is running it will automatically compute the program's next move. When it is your turn to move, and if THINK is selected (see below, MENU 2, F3), then the chess task may continue to analyse the current position on the basis of a predicted move by you. If you make the predicted move it will most likely play quicker on the next move. If you do not play the expected move then the chess task will start it's analysis again from the position reached.
The STOP/GO status of the chess task is shown by coloured arrows for the side to move at the side of the playing board. On the information screen the arrows are cyan for stopped, blue for the player to move and green for the program to move.
The playing board is to the right and shows black pieces as lower case letters and white pieces as upper case letters. The black pieces also have an asterisk to make them more obvious.
Under the board are various items of general information and status markers such as the mode of play, timing, analysis (if switched on) which side the computer is playing, etc. This is also where messages are given and data is entered.
The lower left of the information screen is the "printer output". If a printer is connected and is toggled ON, the information given in this part of the screen will be printed as well as being echoed here. This part of the screen will scroll up when full.
The COLOUR SCREEN
On the colour screen the STOP/GO arrows are magenta or cyan when the chess task is running (i.e GO state) and white when stopped. The magenta colour is shown when the computer is thinking about its own move and cyan when it is your turn to move.
The last few moves of the game can be displayed on the bottom line by pressing the space bar. There is little further information. Error messages will appear on the bottom line as required and will disappear after a few seconds.
MOVE ENTRY
Algebraic moves can be entered using the keyboard in the form from-square to-square. For example, E2E4. Captures are just the same. Castling moves are entered as king moves (or you can use the O-O notation). For pawn promotions, enter the promotion piece code after the move, for example, E7E8R. If no promotion piece is given, a queen is assumed.
Moves can be taken back and played forward with the + and - keys to the right of the numeric pad.
Provided Num Lock is on, the digit keys on the numeric pad can be used to direct the cursor. Once the cursor is on the piece you want to move, press 5 and move the cursor to where you wish to move the piece and press 5 again. If there is only one legal move to a particular square you can abbreviate this procedure by simply placing the cursor over the to-square and pressing 5,
MENU 1
F1: STOP/GO. STOP is F1. GO is SHIFT F1. F2: SET HEADING. Allows a heading or title for the game that will appear on printouts and will be saved on disk when and if you save the game. F3: NORMAL mode. This key sets the program to normal mode in which the program is given an average time for each move. By default this is 10 seconds per move but can be changed with SET MODE PARAMETERS on F3 of Menu 5. The program will only play to an average of this speed. In some positions it may take longer and in others it may play play much quicker. F4: PLAY WHITE. Make the program play white. F5: TOURNAMENT Mode. In this mode the program plays a given number of moves within a specified time or it will lose the game, but it can use the time freely within those constraints. The default is 30 moves per hour. F6: PLAY BLACK. Make the program play black. F7: BLITZ mode. In this mode the program plays to a fixed time for every move. The default is 10 seconds per move. F8: PLAY BOTH. The program plays both sides automatically. This is not allowed in TOURNAMENT mode or PROBLEM mode. F9: PROBLEM Mode. The program is set to find a mate within a specified number of moves or verify that no mate exists. The solution or solutions are printed on the left screen. It can also be used to find a refutation to a hypothetical solution to a problem or find multiple solutions to problems. To make the program find a refutation to mate, start the program with Ctrl F1 instead of the usual Shift F1 after playing the hypothetical mating move and reducing the number of moves to mate by one. F10: PLAY NOW. Forces the program to play its best move now, but this is not allowed in Tournament Mode.
MENU 2
F1: STOP/GO. STOP is F1. GO is SHIFT F1. F2: ANALYSIS. Toggles analysis display ON/OFF. This is a display line below the board on the information screen that shows the program's best move so far and its predicted continuation together with the value it places on the game after the move has been played. Zero is an even game with + values being used to denote a winning position for the program. The value 1.0 is the value of a pawn. Mate values are shown as +Mn or -Mn where n is the number of moves to mate. F3: THINK. This toggles the ability of the chess task to think in the opponent's time. By default it is ON as this gives the program an advantage. F4: BEEP. Toggles the speaker output. If ON, a beep is given after every move is played by the program and after some error conditions. F5: UNDERLINE. On the information display board with this feature ON you will see some pieces underlined (or, for screens with colour, in blue). This shows which pieces have not yet moved or which pawns have just moved two squares. It is used as part of the status information used by the program to generate legal moves. For example, a king that has moved may not castle. F6: SWAP BOARD. This will swap the direction of play on both the text and colour screen displays. F7: PRINTER. This will toggle the printer ON/OFF. When ON, the information sent to the lower left of the information screen will be echoed to the printer. F8: REFORM SCREEN. Used to refresh the screen display and also useful to provide a clean game score if there have been many takebacks. F9: MOVE NUMBER. The move number can be set with this key. This would be needed, for example, after setting up a game that has already started and has not been saved on disk. F10: PLAY NOW. As MENU 1.
MENU 3
F1: STOP/GO. STOP is F1. GO is SHIFT F1. F2: List Files. See what game files are on the the disk. Game files have a file extension .B10. F3: ADVANCE 10. Clears out 10 moves from the game record. This is used for very long games where all the moves played in the game cannot be stored in the game record due to limited memory (143 moves for both sides can be stored). F7: NEW GAME. Set up a new game, losing the old game. Make sure it has been saved first if you want to keep it. F8: REPLAY. Replay the game from the start. Use the + key to the right of the numeric pad to advance the game move by move according to the stored score. The - key will take moves back. F9: GET GAME. F10: SAVE GAME. These two keys allow you to save and load games on the disk. Name of game files must conform to simple DOS 8-character file names without an extension and without a path (there was no such thing as a "path" in DOS 1.1). However, a drive letter may be included.
MENU 4 POSITION SET-UP
F1: POSITION SET-UP. This key will put you into a mode where the current game will be lost and a new position will be set up. It must be pressed first.
To enter pieces on the board press the upper or lower case letter corresponding to the piece. Use the space bar to clear a square. Backspace and Enter can be used to move the marker.
F3: CLEAR BOARD. Will clear all pieces from the board. F5: QUIT. This key will cancel the position set-up mode and restore the old game and position. F7: SWAP SIDE TO MOVE. The side to move is shown on the display screen. Make sure this is correct before pressing F9. F9: Done. The old game will be lost and the position set-up mode will be terminated. (This assumes the position is legal. An extensive analysis is performed to check this and information given to tell you what is wrong with the position if it is not legal.)
It is sometimes necessary to show various status situations that the board position alone cannot show. These are done as follows:
Side to move. Press F7 to adjust the side to move before pressing F9. The side to move is shown with the arrow characters at the side of the board.
Castling status. You can show that castling is allowed when the king and rook are in their home positions by marking the king and rook as not having moved. This is done with the underline key. On a colour text screen this is shown as a dark blue colour for the piece. To show that castling is not permitted, make sure the king or rook are marked as having moved by placing the pieces on their squares in the normal manner where they will be shown in white.
En-passant captures. To show that an en-passant capture is possible on the next move, mark the pawn that has just moved two squares with the underline key and make sure that the side to move on pressing F9 is for the other side and that a pawn is in the appropriate position; i.e. on the same rank as the pawn just moved and adjacent to it.
To show that a draw by repetition is possible you must play the appropriate number of repeated moves manually after setting up before starting the chess task.
To show that a draw is possible by the 50-move rule after some given number of moves you must use Shift F9 on Menu 2 and enter the number of ply (i.e. double the number of moves) that have been played previously since the last pawn move or capture. This has to be done after pressing DONE on F9.
To change the move number, use F9 on Menu 2 after the position has been set up.
MENU 5
F1: STOP/GO. STOP is F1. GO is SHIFT F1. F2: ZERO CLOCKS. F3: SET MODE PARAMETERS. Depending on the selected mode, the program will prompt you for the required parameters. F4: Set White's clock. F6: Set Black's clock. Times are entered as three numbers separated by colons, representing hours, minutes and seconds. The seconds may be omitted. F9 & F10 allow you to adjust the program's clock in Tournament Mode in increments or decrements of 30 seconds.
MENU 6 PRINTER CONTROL COMMANDS
The function keys will print various features as labelled. The printer need not be ON as the lower left hand display will also show you what would be printed, so it is wise to play with these features before going into hard copy.
STATUS CODES
At the bottom right of the Information Screen are letters to show various status conditions as follows:
S Scroll lock is ON A Analysis display is ON U Underline mode is ON (see Menu 2, F5) L Caps lock is ON C Num Lock is ON, as it should be to use the cursor. T THINK is ON (see Menu 2, F3). B BEEP is ON (see Menu 2, F4). P PRINTER is ON (see Menu 2, F7).
FURTHER INFORMATION
Please report any errors or difficulties with understanding this document or if you cannot find out how to do some operation. David Broughton, david@ddina.demon.co.uk
Mclane
Posts : 3024 Join date : 2020-11-17 Age : 57 Location : United States of Europe, Germany, Ruhr area
Subject: Re: David Broughtons computer chess Engine Philidor / MKV / MK VI Sat Feb 13, 2021 8:53 pm
i spoke with Jeff rollason and he said he met David on tournaments and worked with him. He said the program uses "Interest Search".
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Mclane
Posts : 3024 Join date : 2020-11-17 Age : 57 Location : United States of Europe, Germany, Ruhr area
Subject: Re: David Broughtons computer chess Engine Philidor / MKV / MK VI Sun Feb 14, 2021 4:46 pm
here an example of a game of philidor in a dos emulator QEMU on a tiny lenovo yoga 2, model 20332. i guess it has a kind of pentium CPU (PENTIUM-N3530 2.16GHZ ) but without cooler and fanless.
[pgn] [Event "40/120 Philidor"] [Site "SCW"] [Date "2021.02.13"] [Round "1"] [White "Mephisto Monte Carlo IV L.E."] [Black "Philidor B1502 Qemu"] [ECO "D86"] [Result "0-1"]
Subject: Re: David Broughtons computer chess Engine Philidor / MKV / MK VI Sun Feb 14, 2021 8:02 pm
Mclane wrote:
here an example of a game of philidor in a dos emulator QEMU on a tiny lenovo yoga 2, model 20332. i guess it has a kind of pentium CPU (PENTIUM-N3530 2.16GHZ ) but without cooler and fanless.
[pgn] [Event "40/120 Philidor"] [Site "SCW"] [Date "2021.02.13"] [Round "1"] [White "Mephisto Monte Carlo IV L.E."] [Black "Philidor B1502 Qemu"] [ECO "D86"] [Result "0-1"]
Interesting game: for me, Monte Carlo suffered a big problem of the time in that game - that if there wasn't an improvement to the evaluation available within the search horizon, the computers often seemed to flap about aimlessly.
Philidor has no commercial value now: just as Ed got permission to offer some old Chessbase engines for free download, I think that the owners of this engine would probably allow it as well - especially if it's phrased as, "To honour the memory of it's author David Broughton." The most time-consuming part would be to work out who to ask.
Mclane
Posts : 3024 Join date : 2020-11-17 Age : 57 Location : United States of Europe, Germany, Ruhr area
Subject: Re: David Broughtons computer chess Engine Philidor / MKV / MK VI Sun Apr 24, 2022 8:07 pm
Jeff Rollason explained „interest search“ used in Broughtons Engine here Interest search
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Subject: Re: David Broughtons computer chess Engine Philidor / MKV / MK VI
David Broughtons computer chess Engine Philidor / MKV / MK VI