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Blizzard v0.6

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@sacon1s sacon1s released this 18 Oct 09:30
· 14 commits to main since this release
v0.6
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Learn about vigilant mode.

+182 Elo over 0.5, and ahead of Stockfish 3000. In a match against 0.5 Blizzard 0.6 scored +12 =13 −0
(74.0% in 25 games, 95% interval +102 to +285) at 0.2 s per move; the match stopped as soon as the result
was clear. Against Stockfish 19 limited to 3000 it now scores 71% (+158 Elo), and against 2800 74%.

What's new

A new search core in WebAssembly. The search now runs in WebAssembly compiled from C (core/blizzard.c,
about 50 KB, built into engine.js). It keeps a bitboard position with magic attack tables, generates only
legal moves, and runs the network on SIMD. It searches 1.2 to 1.7 million positions per second, three to four
times as many as the JavaScript search, both in the browser and in the UCI engine.

The same evaluation, only faster. Move generation matches the reference perft counts on six standard test
positions, and on 2,000 test positions the network gives exactly the same evaluation as the JavaScript code.
The JavaScript search stays as a fallback for browsers without WebAssembly and for the hand-written evaluation
(UseNNUE false).

Tested and left out. A transposition table with buckets of four entries lost 17 Elo in 286 games.

Strength

Match Games Score Elo difference (95% interval)
0.6 vs 0.5 25 74.0% +182 (+102 to +285)
0.6 vs Stockfish 2800 40 74% (0.5 scored 65%) +179 (+80 to +319)
0.6 vs Stockfish 3000 40 71% (0.5 scored 30%) +158 (+73 to +265)
0.6 vs Stockfish 3190 40 45% (not measured for 0.5) −35 (−126 to +52)

Stockfish 19 here is the single-threaded browser build, limited with UCI_Elo, at 0.2 s per move.
These are not FIDE or CCRL ratings; they compare Blizzard versions under the same conditions.

Downloads

File For SHA-256
blizzard-0.6-windows.zip Windows 10/11, 64-bit, nothing to install 46765bc9545f85cff6e0f3a0a6e9e551f34238964258b45f88fa4ddef3236805
blizzard-0.6-universal.zip macOS, Linux and others, needs Node.js 18+ 85a0adadfca9ac98b9b0e3406a9c3f8060264934f98acebed4129b2bf35228b0

Unpack, then add blizzard.exe (or node blizzard-uci.js) to Arena, Cute Chess, En Croissant or any
other UCI program. Play it in the browser at sacon1s.github.io/blizzard.

Upgrading from 0.5

  • Replace the old files. UCI options are unchanged.
  • UseNNUE false still switches to the hand-written evaluation; it runs on the JavaScript search.
  • blizzard.exe is not code-signed: if SmartScreen warns, click More info, then Run anyway.
Assets 4
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