Chess Engine Options Configuration

Question

I modified the Goratschin Chess code so that it can run 8 chess engines at the same time, and it works;

however in the code the options management of each single chess engine is missing, so the system reads the default parameters of each exe file related to the chess engines (hash, thread, syzygyPath, evalfile nnue)

Request :

1. does anyone know how to insert custom parameters (hash, thread, syzygyPath, evalfile nnue) into the following Python code? the starting file that also contains the path and the names of the chess engines is this goratschinLauncher.py :

#!/usr/bin/env python3

# to create an EXE from this file, do:
# pip install pyinstaller
# pyinstaller -wF goratschinLauncher.py
# copy .exe from 'dist' directory in root directory

import argparse
import logging
import sys
import datetime

from goratschinChess import GoratschinChess


# folder and file names for the engines.
engineFolderDefault = "C:/Temp05/ChessCombi2/engines/"
engineFileNames = ["Combi01", "Combi02", "Combi03", "Combi04", "Combi05", "Combi06", "Combi07", "Combi08"]


if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='UCI ches engine.')
    parser.add_argument('-log', help='Name of log file.')
    parser.add_argument('-v', '--verbose', action='store_true', help='Verbose output. Changes log level from INFO to DEBUG.')
    parser.add_argument('-e', '--engineFolder', help='Engine folder.')
    parser.add_argument('-m', '--margin', type=int, default=50, help="Margin in centipawns of which the counselor's eval must be better than the boss.")
    args = parser.parse_args()

    print('args :'  + str(args), flush=True)

    # configure logging

    logger = logging.getLogger("goratschinChess")   
    logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG if args.verbose else logging.INFO) 
    if args.log:
        now = datetime.datetime.now()
        f_handler = logging.FileHandler(args.log + '-' + str(now)[:10] + ".log")
        f_format = logging.Formatter('%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s')
        f_handler.setFormatter(f_format)
        logger.addHandler(f_handler)
    
    enginesDir = args.engineFolder if args.engineFolder else engineFolderDefault
    
    print('engine folder specified: ' + str(enginesDir), flush=True)

    # start the goratschinChess engine
    GoratschinChess(enginesDir, engineFileNames, args.margin).start()

The name of the second file is goratschinChess.py but, since it is too long, I mark the link where it is possible to view it and also the first file: https://github.com/scacchig/Synergy-Chess

Answer 1

Start each engine and set options to it based on the given options.

goratschinChess.py revisions

Add options param.

def __init__(self, engineLocation, engineNames, margin, options):
    self.engineFolder = engineLocation
    self.engineFileNames = engineNames
    self.score_margin = margin / 100 # given in centipawns, default: 50
    self.options = options

Initialize the engine with the user options. When we receive isready command we will set the options.

def _mainloop():
    ...
    elif userCommand == "isready":
        # Set user options to engines.
        for i, engine in enumerate(self._engines):
            if i >= len(self.options):
                break
            optkeys = list(self.options[i].keys())
            for optname in optkeys:
                engine.stdin.write(f"setoption name {optname} value {self.options[i][optname]}\n")
                engine.stdin.flush()
                print(f"info string {self.engineFileNames[i]}: setoption name {optname} value {self.options[i][optname]}", flush=True)
        self.send_command_to_engines(userCommand)
        emit_and_log("readyok")

Log NNUE info from engine.

def _check_result():
    ...
    elif info.startswith("info string NNUE evaluation "):
        emit(info)

Define options in the launcher.

goratschinLauncher.py revision

    options = {
        0: {"Hash":128, "EvalFile": "nn-6877cd24400e.nnue"},
        1: {"Hash":128, "EvalFile": "nn-d0b74ce1e5eb.nnue"}
    }

    # start the goratschinChess engine
    GoratschinChess(enginesDir, engineFileNames, args.margin, options).start()

Arena log, upon receiving the isready command we set our options.

2022-05-30 19:43:38.593-->1:isready
2022-05-30 19:43:38.909<--1:info string SF_0: setoption name Hash value 128
2022-05-30 19:43:38.912<--1:info string SF_0: setoption name EvalFile value nn-6877cd24400e.nnue
2022-05-30 19:43:38.915<--1:info string SF_1: setoption name Hash value 128
2022-05-30 19:43:38.919<--1:info string SF_1: setoption name EvalFile value nn-d0b74ce1e5eb.nnue
2022-05-30 19:43:38.922<--1:readyok

The engines now use the specified nnue's.

2022-05-30 19:44:03.075<--1:info string NNUE evaluation using nn-6877cd24400e.nnue enabled
2022-05-30 19:44:03.077<--1:info string NNUE evaluation using nn-d0b74ce1e5eb.nnue enabled

Test result

GoratschinLauncher player uses 2 engines.

[Event "Computer chess game"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.05.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "GoratschinLauncher"]
[Black "SF_0 default"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann"]
[Time "15:27:14"]
[Variation "Advance, 4.Nf3 e6"]
[TimeControl "180+2"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[WhiteType "program"]
[BlackType "program"]

1. e4 {+0.40/19 12} c6 {-0.37/27 9} 2. d4 {+0.66/17 6} d5 {-0.40/27 5} 3.
e5 {+0.70/18 7} Bf5 {-0.22/24 2} 4. Nf3 {+0.51/16 18} e6 {-0.16/23 2} 5.
Nc3 {+0.21/20 18} c5 {-0.09/22 3} 6. Be3 {+0.35/19 12} c4 {-0.15/23 3} 7.
Ne2 {+0.47/20 5} Nc6 {+0.02/25 3} 8. c3 {+0.37/20 7} b5 {+0.01/26 3} 9. Ng3
{+0.40/18 1} Bg6 {+0.04/27 3} 10. h4 {+0.25/19 9} h6 {+0.36/26 3} 11. a3
{+0.44/17 5} Nge7 {-0.06/30 30} 12. h5 {+0.41/20 2} Bh7 {-0.31/27 7} 13.
Nh4 {+0.54/22 9} Na5 {-0.42/24 3} 14. Qg4 {+0.59/22 2} Nb3 {-0.34/28 8} 15.
Rd1 {+0.64/21 2} Bc2 {-0.25/26 2} 16. Be2 {+0.78/21 2} Qd7 {-0.25/27 3} 17.
Qh3 {+0.78/26 25} Rg8 {-0.53/28 11} 18. O-O {+0.70/24 9} g5 {-0.38/25 4}
19. hxg6 {+0.55/24 4} fxg6 {-0.37/25 4} 20. Rde1 {+0.48/27 8} a5 {-0.53/30
23} 21. f4 {+0.82/21 9} O-O-O {-0.50/26 3} 22. Rf2 {+1.07/19 1} Bd3
{-0.72/26 4} 23. Bxd3 {+2.05/19 2} cxd3 {-0.77/27 3} 24. Nf3 {+0.86/22 19}
a4 {-0.77/27 5} 25. Rd1 {+0.72/25 9} Nf5 {-0.61/28 3} 26. Rxd3 {+0.69/18 5}
Be7 {-0.18/22 3} 27. Nxf5 {+0.49/19 1} gxf5 {0.00/25 3} 28. Qh5 {+0.66/21
7} Qe8 {0.00/31 3} 29. Qxh6 {+1.31/13 0} Rg6 {0.00/35 3} 30. Qh3 {+1.05/17
6} Qf8 {0.00/28 9} 31. Ng5 {+1.17/14 0} Rh6 {0.00/27 2} 32. Qf3 {+1.12/13
0} Qh8 {0.00/29 13} 33. Rf1 {+0.97/18 1} Bxg5 {0.00/31 3} 34. fxg5
{+1.31/14 0} Rh4 {0.00/30 4} 35. Bf4 {+0.80/19 3} Na5 {0.00/30 14} 36. Kf2
{+0.56/18 2} Nc4 {0.00/32 3} 37. Rb1 {+0.70/17 0} Kb7 {0.00/30 6} 38. Rdd1
{+0.91/12 1} Kc6 {0.00/30 3} 39. Rf1 {+0.28/19 3} Rd7 {0.00/31 4} 40. b3
{+0.12/17 1} axb3 {0.00/28 1} 41. Rxb3 {0.00/17 0} Ra7 {0.00/29 1} 42. Rfb1
{+0.12/17 0} Nxa3 {0.00/28 1} 43. Ra1 {+0.08/17 0} Qa8 {0.00/30 1} 44. Kg3
{0.00/22 2} Rg4+ {0.00/25 1} 45. Kh2 {0.00/22 0} Rh4+ {0.00/38 4} 46. Kg3
{0.00/25 3} Rg4+ {0.00/37 1} 47. Kh2 {0.00/27 0} Rh4+ {0.00/40 3} 48. Kg3
{0.00/33 1 3-fold repetition} 1/2-1/2