Laznik 1.7 ~ a strong engine that plays beautiful chess
Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 1:31 pm
Today, in this age, the emergence of chess engines have contributed to chess by quite a margin. Chess engines have changed the way chess players play, and I think most people will agree. Komodo, Stockfish, Houdini and Gull are the top-notch chess engines available today. They are arguably the strongest chess players on the globe....but there is one problem, although they are inconceivably strong...they...ummm..well...they all play really boring chess. I don't mean to disparage them in any way but that's what I feel. Chess is about amusement and art. And then, driven by the motivation to build a chess engine that would lead the resurgence of "Tal-like play"...I made Laznik.
If Mikhail Tal was ever faced with the opportunity to select a chess engine that would represent himself, he would have chosen Laznik.
Laznik 1.7 is finally here. It has improved about 95+ elo since Laznik 1.6. This is also the first public release! Laznik is a free UCI chess engine for Linux/BSD that is designed to play strong and beautiful chess. It doesn't matter whether you see beauty in positional or tactical play, this engine will deliver sheer amusement while trumping the best of the best players. It's style is intrinsically tactical and aggressive, as it also plays mostly for the initiative. It will often give difficult yet captivating sacrifices to bewilder the opponent. And it'll look into places where the likes of Stockfish, Komodo and even the well-reputed Houdini can't see anything. Laznik will always play for the win, ALWAYS. It will never accept a draw, until it's in a losing position but still then, it'll try hard to complicate the position to confuse the opponent and make them commit a mistake. The bottomline is, Laznik hates a draw more than anything but it'll only play for a draw when it feels it's in a bad losing position. Laznik has a very unique and an original style, that is just beautiful to watch.
This version is free for all. I invite people to help and contribute to the development of Laznik by testing it in tournaments and find it's precise elo. I am not quite sure what it's "true" elo is, as I have only tested it against inferior chess engines. I have not tested it against much stronger and versatile chess engines like Komodo, Stockfish...etc and to be honest, I won't be surprised if Laznik does not perform spectacularly against them.
The difference between strength of Laznik 1.6 and Laznik 1.7 is wide and colossal. The 1.6 version is weaker and plays less entertaining chess. Although the 1.7 version's main improvement is the 95+ elo for many...but for me, the main improvement is it's ability to play more captivating and amusing chess. It is fine-tuned to marvel the spectator, by playing aggressive and tactical chess, which is most people like to see.
DOWNLOAD LINK (mirror 1): http://www12.zippyshare.com/v/fRpHJtx2/file.html
Here is a sample game of Laznik that will blow your mind and might even make you say "Wow!", as in this game...Laznik trumps Sjeng quite beautifully while giving many sacrifices.
[Event "Laznik 1.7's Testing 2015"]
[Site "Raven's Box"]
[Date "2015.01.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Laznik 1.7"]
[Black "Sjeng"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Time "21:26:00"]
[PlyCount "109"]
1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e6 3. Nh3 d5 4. e5 Bd7 5. c3 f6 6. Bb5 fxe5 7. Bxc6 Bxc6 8.
Qh5+ Kd7 9. Qxe5 Nf6 10. Ng5 Qe8 11. Nd2 h6 12. Ngf3 Bd6 13. Qe3 Bb5 14. Ne5+
Kd8 15. b3 Bxe5 16. dxe5 Nd7 17. a4 Ba6 18. c4 c5 19. Ba3 d4 20. Qe4 Qh5 21.
Bxc5 Nxc5 22. Qxd4+ Nd7 23. Nf3 Ke8 24. Rd1 Qf7 25. Nd2 Qe7 26. Ne4 Qb4+ 27.
Rd2 Qe7 28. b4 b6 29. O-O Rb8 30. f4 Bb7 31. Nd6+ Kd8 32. f5 Rf8 33. f6 gxf6
34. exf6 Qh7 35. f7 Bc6 36. Qh4+ Kc7 37. Qe7 Qh8 38. b5 Qe5 39. bxc6 Qe3+ 40.
Kh1 Kxc6 41. Ne4 Qxd2 42. Nxd2 Rbd8 43. Qxe6+ Kc7 44. Ne4 Rh8 45. Qd6+ Kc8 46.
Rd1 Kb7 47. Qd5+ Kb8 48. Qd6+ Kb7 49. Qe7 Kc8 50. Nd6+ Kb8 51. Nb5 Kb7 52.
Rxd7+ Rxd7 53. Qxd7+ Kb8 54. Qxa7+ Kc8 55. Qc7# 1-0
Have fun,
Raven
If Mikhail Tal was ever faced with the opportunity to select a chess engine that would represent himself, he would have chosen Laznik.
Laznik 1.7 is finally here. It has improved about 95+ elo since Laznik 1.6. This is also the first public release! Laznik is a free UCI chess engine for Linux/BSD that is designed to play strong and beautiful chess. It doesn't matter whether you see beauty in positional or tactical play, this engine will deliver sheer amusement while trumping the best of the best players. It's style is intrinsically tactical and aggressive, as it also plays mostly for the initiative. It will often give difficult yet captivating sacrifices to bewilder the opponent. And it'll look into places where the likes of Stockfish, Komodo and even the well-reputed Houdini can't see anything. Laznik will always play for the win, ALWAYS. It will never accept a draw, until it's in a losing position but still then, it'll try hard to complicate the position to confuse the opponent and make them commit a mistake. The bottomline is, Laznik hates a draw more than anything but it'll only play for a draw when it feels it's in a bad losing position. Laznik has a very unique and an original style, that is just beautiful to watch.
This version is free for all. I invite people to help and contribute to the development of Laznik by testing it in tournaments and find it's precise elo. I am not quite sure what it's "true" elo is, as I have only tested it against inferior chess engines. I have not tested it against much stronger and versatile chess engines like Komodo, Stockfish...etc and to be honest, I won't be surprised if Laznik does not perform spectacularly against them.
The difference between strength of Laznik 1.6 and Laznik 1.7 is wide and colossal. The 1.6 version is weaker and plays less entertaining chess. Although the 1.7 version's main improvement is the 95+ elo for many...but for me, the main improvement is it's ability to play more captivating and amusing chess. It is fine-tuned to marvel the spectator, by playing aggressive and tactical chess, which is most people like to see.
DOWNLOAD LINK (mirror 1): http://www12.zippyshare.com/v/fRpHJtx2/file.html
Here is a sample game of Laznik that will blow your mind and might even make you say "Wow!", as in this game...Laznik trumps Sjeng quite beautifully while giving many sacrifices.
[Event "Laznik 1.7's Testing 2015"]
[Site "Raven's Box"]
[Date "2015.01.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Laznik 1.7"]
[Black "Sjeng"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Time "21:26:00"]
[PlyCount "109"]
1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e6 3. Nh3 d5 4. e5 Bd7 5. c3 f6 6. Bb5 fxe5 7. Bxc6 Bxc6 8.
Qh5+ Kd7 9. Qxe5 Nf6 10. Ng5 Qe8 11. Nd2 h6 12. Ngf3 Bd6 13. Qe3 Bb5 14. Ne5+
Kd8 15. b3 Bxe5 16. dxe5 Nd7 17. a4 Ba6 18. c4 c5 19. Ba3 d4 20. Qe4 Qh5 21.
Bxc5 Nxc5 22. Qxd4+ Nd7 23. Nf3 Ke8 24. Rd1 Qf7 25. Nd2 Qe7 26. Ne4 Qb4+ 27.
Rd2 Qe7 28. b4 b6 29. O-O Rb8 30. f4 Bb7 31. Nd6+ Kd8 32. f5 Rf8 33. f6 gxf6
34. exf6 Qh7 35. f7 Bc6 36. Qh4+ Kc7 37. Qe7 Qh8 38. b5 Qe5 39. bxc6 Qe3+ 40.
Kh1 Kxc6 41. Ne4 Qxd2 42. Nxd2 Rbd8 43. Qxe6+ Kc7 44. Ne4 Rh8 45. Qd6+ Kc8 46.
Rd1 Kb7 47. Qd5+ Kb8 48. Qd6+ Kb7 49. Qe7 Kc8 50. Nd6+ Kb8 51. Nb5 Kb7 52.
Rxd7+ Rxd7 53. Qxd7+ Kb8 54. Qxa7+ Kc8 55. Qc7# 1-0
Have fun,
Raven