Synergy-Chess

Synergy-Chess is the public project of "py-goratschin" (https://github.com/feldi/py-goratschin#py-goratschin) which I have modified to allow 8 chess engines to run at the same time, instead of 2.

Synergy-Chess is a "chess engine" that supports the UCI chess protocol and combines 8 chess engines into one. In the goratschinChess.py file the names of the 8 chess engines are : boss, counselor, counselor2, counselor3, counselor4, counselor5 and counselor6, counselor7. Each chess engine is connected to its default NNUE network and has an ELO score above 3400 (March 31, 2022)

Synergy-Chess selects the "best move" to send to the GUI with the majority system of 7 chess engines. In case of a tie if a group of chess engines has the same move as the chess engine number 8 (counselor7), Synergy-Chess chooses that move, but if not, the system rewards the group with the highest positional score, finally, if all chess engines express a different opinion, in this case we choose the move of the chess engine number 8 (counselor7).

Decision-making system by majority and score

Note: chess engine = CE

Synegy-Chess chooses the Best Move to be sent to the GUI with 9 different criteria :

cr1) - Check absolute majority between 7 chess engines in the following chronological order ;

majority 7 equal moves, 6 equal moves, 5 equal moves, 4 equal moves, and the first that is True is the Best Move

Absolute Majority between 7 chess engines is always the "Priority Criterion" ;

if between 7 CE there is no absolute majority of 7, 6, 5 or 4 equal moves, we move on to the next verification - cr 2)

cr2) - Check if between 7 CE there is a group of 3 CE with equal moves and compare with the verdict of the CE n ° 8 ;

if a group of 3 CE has the same move as CE n ° 8, this is the Best Move, but if not, proceed to the next check - cr3)

cr3) - if between 7 CE 3 CE agree and 3 CE agree but with a different move from first group. in this case the Best Move is :

score move CE / 1 - score move CE / 2

if diff > = 0 : best move = move CE / 1

if diff < 0 : best move = move CE / 2

cr4) if between 7 CE there is an absolute majority of 3 CE with equal moves and if is True this is Best Move, but if not, proceed to the next check - cr5)

cr5) - Check if between 7 CE there is a group of 2 CE with equal moves and compare with the verdict of the CE n ° 8 ;

if a group of 2 CE has the same move as CE n ° 8, this is the Best Move, but if not, proceed to the next check - cr6)

cr6) - if between 7 CE 3 groups of 2 CE agree but each group has a different move, the Best Move is :

score move CE / 1 - score move CE / 2

score move CE / 1 - score move CE / 3

score move CE / 2 - score move CE / 3

if score move CE / 1 - score move CE / 2 >= 0 and score move CE / 1 - score move CE / 3 >= 0 : best move = move CE / 1

if score move CE / 1 - score move CE / 2 >= 0 and score move CE / 1 - score move CE / 3 < 0 : best move = move CE / 3

if score move CE / 1 - score move CE / 2 < 0 and score move CE / 2 - score move CE / 3 >= 0 : best move = move CE / 2

if score move CE / 1 - score move CE / 2 < 0 and score move CE / 2 - score move CE / 3 < 0 : best move = move CE / 3

cr7) - if between 7 CE 2 CE agree and 2 CE agree but with a different move :

score move CE / 1 - score move CE / 2

if diff >= 0 : best move = move CE / 1

if diff < 0 : best move = move CE / 2

cr8) if between 7 CE there is an absolute majority of 2 CE with equal moves and if is True this is Bst Move, but if not, proceed to the next check - cr9)

cr9) - the CE all give different moves : best move = move of chess engine number 8

CONSIDERATIONS

With an Intel Celeron 2 Core CPU or equivalent Synergy-Chess is suitable for games ranging from 40 minutes and up, but with Intel i5 or i7 CPUs with 4 or 6 or 8 or 10 Cores or equivalent CPUs the system can also play to shorter games thanks to the higher processing speed of the CPU and its AVX2 or BMI2 architecture that allows you to reach the "Minimum threshold of qualitative analysis" in less time; for example, if we use the AVX2 or BMI2 files of the Sinergy-Chess chess engines and a CPU that is 4 times faster than the Intel Celeron 2 Core CPU, it will be possible to play games with a minimum time of 10 minutes instead of 40 because the "minimum threshold of qualitative analysis "will be reached +/- in a quarter of the time of the Intel Celeron 2 Core CPU, so we could basically say that the minimum and optimal time per game of Synergy-Chess is directly proportional to the processing speed of the CPU used and compared with the processing speed of the Intel Celeron 2 Core CPU or equivalent.

It is true that the single opponent chess engine analyzes more in depth why Synergy-Chess is obliged to divide the CPU processing power used among the 8 chess engines, however if the minimum time for game as described above is respected the definitive best move of Synergy-Chess will always derive from the comparison of 2/8 analyzes carried out within the "Minimum qualitative threshold" with the prevalence of the absolute majority system which allows to significantly reduce the errors of a single analysis.

At the moment there is no chess GUI that allows you to create and configure a group of chess engines that work in synergy like Synergy-Chess, so it would be interesting if some chess GUI implemented such a system to simplify its use and make it accessible even to who do not has familiar with Python

System Requirements

1 - Python 3 or later installed on your PC (https://www.python.org/downloads)

2 - approximately - 850/900 MB of hard disk space

3 - GUI Arena 3.5.1 (http://www.playwitharena.de)

4 - Windows 10 operating system

5 - a little patience to fix everything.....

Synergy-Chess installation instructions

.1 - Install GUI Arena 3.5.1 on your PC
http://www.playwitharena.de

.2 - Install Python 3.9 or 3.10 on your PC
https://www.python.org/downloads

.3 - create a single directory where all necessary files will be placed.

.4 - in the directory created insert all the files necessary for the correct functioning of Synergy-Chess ; for reasons of web space on github I uploaded all the necessary files to Google Drive at this address for standard version --- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pKH9MByNX8WMHYZ6XHys6CGT6YAL3EoF/view?usp=sharing --- and this address for CPU that support AVX2 system --- https://drive.google.com/file/d/134rhzT2tCbpi3lLxnbq9FYHHRKLRbech/view?usp=sharing

List of files zipped in RAR files :

a) - 8 .exe files related to the 8 chess engines

b) - 3 files NNUE networks

c) - 1 goratschinLauncher.txt file, 1 goratschinLauncher.py file and 1 goratschinChess.py file

d) - if you have a CPU that supports BMI2 architecture you can replace the 8 chess engines with BMI2 executables, but you must check the default NNUE network of each chess engine you enter and, if necessary, replace 1 or more NNUE networks that you downloaded from Synergy-Chess, also, you need to rename the executables you add: SFa1, SFa2, SFa3, SFa4, SFa5, SFa6, SFa7, SFa8.

.5 - open the goratschinLuncher.txt file and replace the first path with the path where the Python.exe file is located on your PC, then replace the second path with the path of the single directory you created on your PC; now, save the file in the directory you created by typing gotatschinLauncher.bat in the File Name field; this .bat file will be installed as a chess engine in the GUI of Arena 3.5.1

.6 - open the goratschinLauncher.py file and in engineFolderDefault replace the existing path with the path where the single directory you created is located and save file ; the names in engineFileNames must be left unchanged.

.7 - last step: open the GUI Arena 3.5.1 and from the Engine Menu install the goratschinLauncher.bat file as a new chess engine (if you don't see the .bat file, enable the display of all files) and then from the Engine / Manage menu enable the UCI function and not Autodetecd, and we recommend enabling arena books ; finally, from the Engine Engine 1 menu (or right mouse button under the chessboard) click on configure and search "SyzygyPath" and enter the path where the endgames table is located on your PC; possibly you can download the Syzygy endings table here - https://chess.massimilianogoi.com/download/tablebases - we recommend the download of Syzygy 3-4-5 pieces table bases that take up only 1 GB of hard disk space ; the other values should not be changed, unless you know what you are doing...

.8 - Have fun with Synergy-Chess

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GUI Arena 3.5.1

Tournament between Synergy-Chess and other chess engines

a) - click on the "Engines / Tournament" menu, then in the window that appears click on "Settings"

and set the various options, including "Elo rating" to 2850 or more

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b) - then, still in the "Engines / Tournament" window, click on "Start / Quit"

and enable "Restart engines after each game", and on "Additional delay during engine start phase" set "8 or 10 seconds";

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"Additional delay" is very important because it gives Synergy-Chess the time it takes to restart

the 8 chess engines at the end of each Round and receive New Game input only when the restart is complete.