Integrating CWU Chess in the ARENA Chess GUI Kyle Littlefield - CS Department Advisor: Razvan Andonie 1 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

Program Collaborators  Ashur Odah (graduated 2004)  Pushpinder Heer (graduated 2004)  Joseph Lemnley (graduated 2006)  Jonathan Widger (graduated 2006)  Berk Erkul (graduated 2007)  Lukas Magill (graduated 2008)  Kyle Littlefield (currently enrolled) 2 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

The CWU Chess Program  Genetic Algorithm trains 10 separate weights used in the neural network.  Increases in skill level per set of 10 games. 3 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

What is a Neural Network?  It Starts with the basic unit called a Neuron  Takes continuous input from an external source  Projects output based on the sum of the inputs and threshold of the neuron.  A neural network is excellent at classifying an input to an output.  Outputs the “learned” result from the acquired input. 4 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

Criteria used by Neural Network Carrascal, A, Manrique, D, & Rios, J Neural networks evolutionary learning in chess game. 5 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

What is a Genetic Algorithm?  Uses a population of chromosomes  Each chromosome represents an individual.  Has a fitness value representing how well it survives in this world 6 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

The Goal…  To optimize the population Find the individuals with the highest fitness. Avoid getting caught in a local optima 7 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

The CWU Chess Program  Genetic Algorithm trains 10 separate weights used in the neural network.  Increases in skill level per set of 10 games.  Neural Network controls the behavior of an Alpha-Beta Search algorithm. 8 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

What is an Alpha-Beta Search?  A search algorithm Seeks to reduce the number of nodes evaluated in a search tree Cut Off Region Node being Examined  No need to evaluate the left branch of the examined node.  The value will be 1 or less.  The root will be 8. 9 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

CWU Chess Program Running 10 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

The Problem  The CWU-Chess program used a Windows Form for a User Interface. This didn’t allow for communications with other chess interfaces or engines.  The Universal Chess Interface (UCI) Protocol allowed this to happen. 11 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

The UCI Protocol  Uses the console to communicate between the User Interface and the Chess Engine.  Communication is performed by sending and receiving textual information. 12 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

Implementation  Remove the Windows Form Interface and all dependencies to it.  Parse UCI Commands and parameters.  Use them to control the engine.  Redesign Genetic Algorithm fitness function and network parameters. 13 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009

UCI Chess Running On ARENA 14 Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE2009), Central Washington University, Ellensburg, USA, May 21st 2009