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Modern Chess - Release 11.07.2026

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@wesmar wesmar released this 28 Dec 11:37

Download: Chess.7z (660K) — password: github.com

A competitive chess engine + GUI in modern C++20. Cache-line-aligned mailbox
architecture (no bitboard blueprint copying), lock-free transposition table,
full modern search arsenal — in binaries small enough to run from WinRE.

What's inside

File Purpose
Chess_x64.exe GUI application (64-bit, recommended)
Chess_x64_minSize.exe GUI, minimal CRT-free build (~260 KB)
Chess_x86[_minSize].exe 32-bit GUI builds
ChessEngineUCI_x64.exe UCI engine for Arena / Cutechess / Fritz (AVX2)
ChessEngineUCI_* UCI engine variants (x64/x86, minSize)
lang/ UI translations (en, pl, de, fr)
README.txt Setup guide (GUI + UCI options)

Engine strength

~2160 Elo at 1 thread, ~2300 Elo at 4 threads (Level 10, classical
eval) — single-thread figure measured over 200 games at 8s+0.08s vs
Stockfish 17 limited to UCI_Elo 2200; the 4-thread Lazy SMP gain measured
at +147 Elo (69.4% over 116 games, LOS 100%).

Highlights of this release

  • ~+550 Elo vs the original December baseline, every change validated by
    engine-vs-engine SPRT matches (methodology in the repo README)
  • NEW: Lazy SMP — persistent thread pool, helpers search the whole root
    at staggered depths, coordinating only through the shared lock-free TT;
    NPS ×4.1 at 4 threads, +1 ply at equal time
  • NEW: Continuation history — reply-pair move ordering (−15% tree)
  • PVS at every node, aspiration windows with progressive widening
  • Staged move picker with lazy SEE (+20% NPS)
  • Lock-free 4-way cache-line TT buckets + prefetch after make (HFT-style)
  • Lazy legality checking, O(1) occupancy restore in undo
  • Endgame knowledge: mop-up, dead-draw and OCB scaling, 50-move rule in search
  • Bounded time-management jitter (timeout latch — zero time forfeits in testing)

Quick UCI setup

Threads = physical cores | Hash = 128-256 MB | Level = 10
Move Overhead = 30-50 ms (local) / 100-200 ms (online)

Full Arena walkthrough: arena.txt


Sources: https://github.com/wesmar/Chess | MIT License | (c) WESMAR 2026