NNUE

[CheckersGuy]

How reasonable would it be to train a nnue-policy-network to use for move-ordering ? Has anyone already tried that ?

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

It looks as if the network file is not loaded. Scan-NNUE doesn't seem to check if the file is present or not.
The file nn_20210328.gnn should be in the data folder. I had the same issue here too.

Hi Joost.

Well I guess you are right. Anyway, I don't know what to think about it anymore.

[Joost Buijs]

It looks as if the network file is not loaded. Scan-NNUE doesn't seem to check if the file is present or not.
The file nn_20210328.gnn should be in the data folder. I had the same issue here too.

Hi Joost.

Well I guess you are right. Anyway, I don't know what to think about it anymore.

Well, it just works. Two days ago I tried a match with it against KR, single core, 90 moves per minute, it came out at -13 Elo. With very fast games it is still at a disadvantage, mainly because of the slower speed. With games of 75 moves in 3 minutes it is about equal. You need a computer with fast AVX2 to get the most of it.

In the future it will only get better, better hardware for inference, better networks. It took several years before pattern evaluation was on the level it is now, for these NNUE style nets it won't be any different.

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Hi Joost.
Well, it just works. Two days ago I tried a match with it against KR, single core, 90 moves per minute, it came out at -13 Elo. With very fast games it is still at a disadvantage, mainly because of the slower speed. With games of 75 moves in 3 minutes it is about equal. You need a computer with fast AVX2 to get the most of it.

In the future it will only get better, better hardware for inference, better networks. It took several years before pattern evaluation was on the level it is now, for these NNUE style nets it won't be any different.

I think you don't need better processors these days. It is better to make a program, even if such a Stockfish.

[Joost Buijs]

I think you don't need better processors these days. It is better to make a program, even if such a Stockfish.

I dont like Stockfish, I'd rather have a nice Dutch salted herring!

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Kingsrow - Scan 3.1 NNUE - TC - 1 minute 75 moves, 6P EGDB, book - off, pondering - off, threads -1. Result of the match - 9 wins, 0 losses, 147 draws, 2 unknowns

[Joost Buijs]

This is almost the same as what I got over here:

Kingsrow 1.62 vs Scan_nnue 3.1: 7 wins, 1 losses, 150 draws, 0 unknowns

Conditions: 1 minute 90 moves, 1 thread, no pondering, book off, 6p EGDB.

With 1 thread Scan-NNUE does 4.5 mnps on my (not overclocked) 3800 MHz. i9-10980XE. I haven't tried on the AMD thread-ripper yet.

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

I have such a question for Bert. And you can do thread=8

[BertTuyt]

Krzysztof, to my knowledge the nnue implementation in scan is thread safe, so you can also test with both 8 cores search.

Bert

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Thanks for the answer Bert.

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Sorry to ask Bert - if the book is working properly.

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Kingsrow 1.62 vs Scan_nnue 3.1: 4 wins, 1 losses, 153 draws, 0 unknowns

Conditions: 1 minute 90 moves, 1 thread, no pondering, book off, 6p EGDB.

Match played on a computer with the equipment.

Processor - AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X
Hard disc - Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD 2 TB
Memory of frames - 128 GB DDR4 2400
System - Windows 10 64 bit Pro

[BertTuyt]

Krzysztof, was this was 1 or with 8 threads?

Conditions: 1 minute 90 moves, 1 thread, no pondering, book off, 6p EGDB.

As the result was quite good.

Bert

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Krzysztof, was this was 1 or with 8 threads?

Conditions: 1 minute 90 moves, 1 thread, no pondering, book off, 6p EGDB.

As the result was quite good.

Bert

1 thread. A match lasts from 8 thread.

[BertTuyt]

How reasonable would it be to train a nnue-policy-network to use for move-ordering ? Has anyone already tried that ?

So far as I know no-one has tried this for draughts (or checkers).
But I'm convinced it can be done.

As the capture (and kings) add so many moves to the moves-set, maybe on need to focus (only) on static man-moves.
Whether the improved moved ordering offset the time-penalty for the nnue calculation and the reduced search depth, and if this method yields better results then history (which I consider often as random generator ) remains to be seen.

But certainly something worth trying in the future.
And if the network is perfect, then you at least don't need search anymore.

For the short term, my focus at least, is improving nnue, and try to close the gap with Scan and Kingsrow.

Bert