June 16th, 2016 (start point): In the past John sent me often versions of Zarkov. I tested unprofessional his engine, produced a lot of games but not more (Winboard versions of Zarkov are in the past not official available). John told me that he is working on a new engine, called Wasp. Reason enough to do a bit for him, I hope more professional as in the past. I will try to start here a beta test selection. If you like you can follow the work between John and myself. But most important for me is that the program is available for all (I tested available engines only) I hope my english is good enough for that what I will do here. Messages by John in green ...

Wasp Beta Test (all beta test games & overview)

May 21st / May 22nd / May 27th / June 01st, 2018:

Wasp 3.00 results:

40/20 CEGT = +27 Elo to Wasp 2.60 (CEGT conditions should be around 40/5 with my conditions)
40/40 CCRL = +39 Elo to Wasp 2.60 (CCRL conditions should be around 40/12 with my conditions)

I am testing with 40/10!

CEGT Elo = 2861 after 1.000 games
CCRL Elo = 2988 after 1.602 games

After my own testing (4.000 games):
~ 55 Elo to Wasp 2.50 with Elostat 1.3 calculation!
~ 35 Elo to Wasp 2.60 with Elostat 1.3 calculation!

My own calculation isn't very exactly because I am no longer working on an own rating list.

Good work John!

May 12th / May 17th / May 22nd / May 27th / June 01st, 2018:

I started the first of four test-runs vs. 20 opponents. Elo set with current CEGT 40/20 rating results.
Conditions: 40/10, ponder=off, resign=off, 4-pieces TB, 1 core, Intel i7 5930k with 4.3Ghz, 512Mb hash!
Of course with FEOBOS v20.1 Contempt = 3 opening book and the "Modern" version of Wasp.

Wasp 3.00 x64, Test: 001, final: May 12th (07:00) - May 17th, 2018 = 380.0 - 620.0, 38,00%, Perf. 2887 Elo
Wasp 3.00 x64, Test: 002, final: May 17th (08:00) - May 22nd, 2018 = 368.0 - 632.0, 36,80%, Perf. 2879 Elo

The next two test-runs vs. another group of 20 engines!

Wasp 3.00 x64, Test: 003, final: May 22nd (17:00) - May 27th, 2018 = 436.5 - 563.5, 43,65%, Perf. 2910 Elo
Wasp 3.00 x64, Test: 004, final: May 27th (22:00) - June 01st, 2018 = 430.0 - 570.0, 43,00%, Perf. 2906 Elo

Download games:
Wasp Beta Test (all beta test games & overview)

FEOBOS 20.1 Contempt 3 Stats:

Games       : 4000 (finished)

White Wins  : 1350 (33.8%)
Black Wins  :  921 (23.0%)
Draws       : 1729 (43.2%)
Unfinished  :    0

White Perf. : 55.4%
Black Perf. : 44.6%

ECO A = 1007 Games (25.2%)
ECO B = 1031 Games (25.8%)
ECO C =  686 Games (17.1%)
ECO D =  665 Games (16.6%)
ECO E =  611 Games (15.3%)

469 of 500 ECO codes played after 4.000 Wasp 3.00 x64 games with FEOBOS v20.1 Contempt 3!
03 games replayed (ended with 300 moves = 0,07%).
16 games replayed (ended with draw undo 20 moves = 0,40%).

Notes to FEOBOS v20.1 Contempt 3:

1.
At the moment I have 6.772 games played with FEOBOS 20.1 Contempt 3.
22 of 6.772 games replayed (ended with draw undo 20 moves = 0,32%)

Games       : 6772 (finished)

White Wins  : 2201 (32.5%)
Black Wins  : 1481 (21.9%)
Draws       : 3090 (45.6%)
Unfinished  :    0

White Perf. : 55.3%
Black Perf. : 44.7%

ECO A = 1598 Games (23.6%)
ECO B = 1770 Games (26.1%)
ECO C = 1128 Games (16.7%)
ECO D = 1139 Games (16.8%)
ECO E = 1137 Games (16.8%)

FEOBOS v20.1 Contempt 3 works great.
I am very happy about it!

---

The new Wasp 3.00 comes with a lot of interesting changes !!

- in the new *.rc configuration file you can set a lot of new parameters!
- a new bench test, works fine for me!

Wasp 3.00 bench results on Intel Core i7-5930k, 4.3GHz with Windows 10 OS:

running benchmark (Wasp300-x64-modern)

pos  0:   3.00 seconds
pos  1:   1.89 seconds
pos  2:   1.61 seconds
pos  3:   3.29 seconds
pos  4:   2.59 seconds
pos  5:   1.70 seconds
pos  6:   1.75 seconds
pos  7:   1.65 seconds
pos  8:   1.94 seconds
pos  9:   3.28 seconds

total time= 22.72 seconds, nodes= 40907656, nps= 1800792

May 11th, 2018:

Wasp 3.00 released!

John wrote:
Wasp 3.0 is ready for release.  It is about 50 Elo stronger than Wasp 2.6 in my testing at very fast time controls. There is also a new runtime configuration file called wasp.rc which allows users to vary some search and evaluation parameters if they want to try to create a "personality".  Below is a link to a zip file which contains the release notes, 4 Windows executables and a linux executable.  The fastest build is Wasp300-x64-modern.exe  which should work for Intel Haswell and newer CPU's.

Here are the update information from John's documentation.

Wasp 3.0: May 10, 2018
- added "wasp.rc" runtime configuration file to allow users to modify some search and evaluation parameters.
- added "-bench" command-line option.
  bench nodes = 40907656
  bench speed = 1665 Knps on i5-4690K at 3.9 Ghz
                       1542 Knps on Ryzen7-1700 at 3.7 Ghz
- modified lazy SMP. slave threads skip an iteration if 2/3 of total threads are already searching at that iteration.
- limit search extension for safe checks and pawn to 7th to pv nodes or for depth <= 8.
- combined razor and futility pruning -- at low depth, if eval is well below alpha prune if qsearch cannot bring score near alpha, otherwise search using normal lmp rules.
- allow cutoff from hash table at pv nodes if hash depth >= depth+2
- reduced minimum aspiration window at root from 24cp to 15cp
- allow search to play moves which have unresolved fail-high when the (extended) time limit is reached.
- added static null-move pruning for depth <= 2 and eval >= beta+25cp if enemy has no capture good enough to prevent cutoff (sort of similar to Senpai).
- added ProbCut pruning for depth >= 4 and static eval >= beta.
  safe captures are searched to depth-3 and node is pruned if score >= beta+100
- tweaked lmp and lmr formulas.
- modified hash replacement strategy slightly.
- improved candidate passed pawn evaluation.
- tweaked king safety algorithm.
- tweaked many evaluation function parameters.
- simplified code in quite a few places.

If you like to test Wasp please download his engine under: wasp_300.zip (1.137Mb)

Included is:
1. wasp300-x64-modern.exe : 64-bit Windows for Intel Haswell or newer CPU (uses popcnt, ctz, clz instructions)
2. wasp300-x64.exe : 64-bit Windows for Intel Nehalem or newer CPU (uses popcnt, bsf, bsr instructions)
3. wasp300-x64-ancient.exe : 64-bit Windows for older CPU's (uses software popcnt, ctz, clz)
4. wasp300-x32.exe : 32-bit Windows
5. wasp300-linux : 64-bit linux for Intel Nehalem or newer CPU
6. release-notes.txt (Wasp documentation)
7. a new logo

Thanks John!

February 24th / March 20th / March 22nd / April 03rd, 2018:

At the moment I have to test the new FEOBOS v20.1 Contempt 3 opening book.
I will test the book with 40 moves in 40 minutes repeatedly tourneys with 22 participants.

For sure with Wasp 2.60 BMI2 x64 as one of the 22 participants!

FEOBOS v20.1 with Contempt = 3,
40 moves in 40 minutes repeatedly, ponder = off, resign / offer draw = on, 512Mb for hash, 4-pieces endgame bases,
1 core on Intel Core i7-5930k / i7-4770k, 4.3Ghz, Windows 10 / 7 Prof., 4 rounds = 924 games!

Test-1, 2853 Elo after 84 games.
Test-2, 2858 Elo after 84 games.
Test-3, 2846 Elo after 84 games.

Performance for 252 games = ~ 2856 Elo (Elostat 1.3)

Statistics and games: feobos_v20.1_test-1-3_contempt-3.zip (4.633Mb).

No new knowledge can be won from the games to other test-results.
Great are the stats to the perfect running FEOBOS v20.1 opening book with "Contempt = 3".

November 22nd, 2017:

Wasp 2.60 released!

John wrote:
My testing shows this version to be about 45 Elo better than version 2.01.

Here are the update information from John's documentation.

Wasp 2.60: Nov 21, 2017
- added UCI option MultiPV
- added UCI output for hashfull, currmove, currmovenumber
- added "easy" move to save time when only one legal move or capture that appears to be much better than any other move
- modified king safety evaluation
- tuned piece values, piece square tables and many other eval parameters
- tweaked lmp and lmr rules and formula
- search speedup for positions with lots of mate positions by enabling hash cutoffs for mate scores regardless of depth searched
- modified time management routine
- modified lazy SMP implementation to designate the first thread as the "master" thread which updates the PV and score. other threads do iterative deepening loop on root position, but skip an iteration if more than half the threads are already searching that iteration. if master thread completes an iteration and another thread has a different move with better score it will redo that iteration hoping to pick up the better move quickly due to many hash table cutoffs.

If you like to test Wasp please download his engine under: wasp_260.zip (0.690Mb)

Included is:
1. wasp260-x64_no_bmi2.exe
2. wasp260-x64.exe
3. wasp260-x32.exe
4. release-notes.txt
5. The two main logos by Wilhelm Hudetz

Thanks John!

September 26th / October 05th / October 13th / October 20th / October 28th, 2017:

John sent Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 (for the moment for beta testing).

John wrote:
An extension sort of similar to singular extension added 15-20 Elo in my testing and some modifications to the evaluation and re-tuning of parameters added about 10-15 Elo.

Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 is around ~ 24-25 Elo stronger as Wasp 2.00 / 2.01 BMI2 x64. John have interest to release a new version after an Elo gain of 50 to Wasp 2.00 / 2.01 BMI2 x64! 2.850 - 2.860 Elo are possible for Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64! John itself is testing with faster time controls and here Wasp is a little bit stronger as with slower time controls (in comparing with most of opponents).

Current Elo: 2.840,00 = +01,25

Test-run 001: 2.835 Elo after 1.000 games = 47,75%, 477.5 - 522.5 points
Test-run 002: 2.842 Elo after 1.000 games = 48,80%, 488.0 - 512.0 points
Test-run 003: 2.839 Elo after 1.000 games = 48,30%, 483.0 - 517.0 points
Test-run 004: 2.844 Elo after 1.000 games = 49,10%, 491.0 - 509.0 points  = 1.939.5 - 2.060.5 points = 48,48%

Note: Contempt 4 works great!! After 4.000 games we have 23 games with fast draw up to 24 moves only = 0,57% (6 games up to 20 moves replayed = 0,15%). That's what I like to produced. With FEOBOS v10 a very strong opening book for eng-eng testing was really born.

FEOBOS v10 Contempt 4 / Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 / Test-run 001-004

Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Chiron 4 x64                     42.5 - 157.5  + 9/= 67/-125  21.25%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Booot 6.1 POP x64                51.0 - 145.5  +11/= 81/-108  25.75%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Texel 1.07a9 x64                 69.5 - 130.5  +21/= 97/- 82  34.75%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - iCE 3.0 v658 POP x64             77.5 - 122.5  +29/= 97/- 74  38.75%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - SmarThink 1.97 SSE4 x64          73.5 - 126.5  +30/= 87/- 83  36.75%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Hakkapeliitta TCEC v2 x64        83.5 - 116.5  +37/= 93/- 70  41.75%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Nemorino 2.00a POP x64          100.0 - 100.0  +47/=106/- 47  50.00%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Pedone 1.5 BMI2 x64              94.0 - 106.0  +39/=110/- 51  47.00%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Arasan 20.0 POP x64             106.0 -  94.0  +53/=106/- 41  53.00%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Vajolet2 2.3 POP x64            104.5 -  95.5  +51/=107/- 42  51.50%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Hiarcs 14 WCSC w32               96.5 - 103.5  +42/=109/- 49  48.25%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Bobcat 8.0 x64                  102.5 -  97.5  +51/=103/- 46  51.25%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Laser 1.3 x64                   101.5 -  98.5  +51/=101/- 48  50.75%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Cheng 4.39 x64                  115.0 -  85.0  +69/= 92/- 39  57.50%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Crafty 25.2 x64                 101.0 -  99.0  +53/= 96/- 51  50.50%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Junior 13.3.00 x64              127.0 -  73.0  +82/= 90/- 28  63.50%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Rodent III 0.172 x64            115.0 -  84.5  +71/= 89/- 40  57.75%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Spark 1.0 x64                   123.5 -  76.5  +73/=101/- 26  61.75%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Gaviota 1.0 AVX x64             125.0 -  75.0  +81/= 88/- 31  62.50%
Wasp 2.5 BMI2 x64 - Amoeba 2.4.x64                  129.5 -  70.5  +81/= 97/- 22  64.75%

33 games lost undo move number 60, 133 games won = 80,12% vs. average of light stronger group of opponents!
11 games lost undo move number 50,  54 games won = 83,07% vs. average of light stronger group of opponents!
Tactical skills clearly improved!

Games : 4000 (finished)

White Wins : 1.314 (32.9 %)
Black Wins :   769 (19.2 %)
Draws      : 1.917 (47.9 %)
Unfinished :     0

White Perf. : 56.8 %
Black Perf. : 43.2 %

ECO A =   591 Games (14.8 %)
ECO B =   996 Games (24.9 %)
ECO C =   645 Games (16.1 %)
ECO D =   751 Games (18.8 %)
ECO E = 1.017 Games (25.4 %)

May 28th / June 05th / June 14th / July 29th / August 06th, 2017:

After 4.000 games vs. the same group of opponents Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 is 24-25 Elo stronger as the predecessor Wasp 2.00 / 2.01 BMI2 x64! Clearly better results and more aggressive fast won games undo move number 60. A very nice step to 2.900 Elo.

Current Elo: 2.838,75 +24,00

Test-run 001: 2.835 Elo after 1.000 games = 47,80%, 478.0 - 522.0 points
Test-run 002: 2.833 Elo after 1.000 games = 47,45%, 474.5 - 525.5 points
Test-run 003: 2.838 Elo after 1.000 games = 48,20%, 482.0 - 518.0 points
Test-run 004: 2.849 Elo after 1.000 games = 49,85%, 498.5 - 501.5 points  = 1.933.0 - 2.067.0 points = 48,32%

FEOBOS v4 / Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 / Test-run 001-002
FEOBOS v5 / Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 / Test-run 003
FEOBOS v7 / Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 / Test-run 004 

Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Chiron 4 x64                46.5 - 153.5  +11/= 71/-118  23.25%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Booot 6.1 POP x64           60.0 - 140.0  +13/= 94/- 93  30.00%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Texel 1.07a9 x64            64.5 - 135.5  +15/= 99/- 86  32.25%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - iCE 3.0 v658 POP x64        70.0 - 130.0  +23/= 94/- 83  35.00%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - SmarThink 1.97 SSE4 x64     88.0 - 112.0  +46/= 84/- 70  44.00%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Hakkapeliitta TCEC v2 x64   87.5 - 112.5  +37/=101/- 62  43.75%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Nemorino 2.00a POP x64      97.5 - 102.5  +40/=115/- 45  48.75%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Pedone 1.5 BMI2 x64         95.5 - 104.5  +41/=109/- 50  47.75%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Arasan 20.0 POP x64        100.0 - 100.0  +46/=108/- 46  50.00%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Vajolet2 2.3 POP x64       103.0 -  97.0  +53/=100/- 47  51.50%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Hiarcs 14 WCSC w32          94.5 - 105.5  +43/=103/- 54  47.25%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Bobcat 8.0 x64             102.5 -  97.5  +53/= 99/- 48  51.25%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Laser 1.3 x64              103.5 -  96.5  +57/= 93/- 50  51.75%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Cheng 4.39 x64             115.5 -  84.5  +67/= 97/- 36  57.75%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Crafty 25.2 x64            110.0 -  90.0  +62/= 96/- 42  55.00%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Junior 13.3.00 x64         117.0 -  83.0  +69/= 96/- 35  58.50%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Rodent III 0.172 x64       101.0 -  99.0  +55/= 92/- 53  50.50%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Spark 1.0 x64              123.0 -  77.0  +75/= 96/- 29  61.50%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Gaviota 1.0 AVX x64        121.5 -  78.5  +71/=101/- 28  60.75%
Wasp 20170527 BMI2 x64 - Amoeba 2.4.x64             132.0 -  68.0  +88/= 88/- 24  66.00%

41 games lost undo move number 60, 140 games won = 77,34% vs. average of light stronger group of opponents!
06 games lost undo move number 50,  19 games won = 76,00% vs. average of light stronger group of opponents!
Tactical skills clearly improved!

Games : 4000 (finished)

White Wins :  1191 (29.8 %)
Black Wins :   873 (21.8 %)
Draws      :  1936 (48.4 %)
Unfinished :     0

White Perf. : 54.0 %
Black Perf. : 46.0 %

ECO A =   560 Games (14.0 %)
ECO B =  1086 Games (27.1 %)
ECO C =   640 Games (16.0 %)
ECO D =   736 Games (18.4 %)
ECO E =   978 Games (24.4 %)

May 01st / May 09th / May 18th / May 26th, 2017:

Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64 is playing 4 times the same 1.000 games test-run. I am using for the moment a prototyp version of my new opening book. This prototyp version produced not a perfect assignment to the A00-E99 ECO codes (rarely ECO codes should be play rarely and popular ECO codes should be play often) . Much rarely ECO codes are playing to often, much other ECO codes missed completely. I am using for the Wasp test-runs 20 of my favorite still under development engines, in the near of the ELO performance of Wasp. OK, much older versions with a nice playing style are included too (Spark, Junior, Hiarcs) and of course different clearly stronger engines should be included too (Chiron, Booot).

Note: The test-runs will be run very slowly (around 120 games per day). I am using one i7-4770k system only! 4 games are still running to the same time only!

Current Elo: 2.814,75

Test-run 001: 2.805 Elo after 1.000 games = 43,50%, 435.0 - 565.0 points
Test-run 002: 2.820 Elo after 1.000 games = 45,65%, 456.5 - 543.5 points
Test-run 003: 2.814 Elo after 1.000 games = 44,80%, 448.0 - 552.0 points
Test-run 004: 2.820 Elo after 1.000 games = 45,65%, 456.5 - 543.5 points  = 1.796.0 - 2.204.0 points = 44,90%

Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Chiron 4 x64                47.5 - 152.5  +11/= 73/-116  23.75%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Booot 6.1 POP x64           48.0 - 152.0  + 5/= 86/-109  24.00%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Texel 1.07a9 x64            61.5 - 138.5  +22/= 79/- 99  30.75%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - iCE 3.0 v658 POP x64        66.5 - 133.5  +26/= 81/- 93  33.25%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - SmarThink 1.97 SSE4 x64     67.0 - 133.0  +26/= 82/- 92  33.50%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Nemorino 2.00a POP x64      88.5 - 111.5  +32/=113/- 55  44.25%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Hakkapeliitta TCEC v2 x64   86.0 - 114.0  +37/= 98/- 65  43.00%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Pedone 1.5 BMI2 x64         87.5 - 112.5  +33/=109/- 58  43.75%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Arasan 20.0 POP x64         89.5 - 110.5  +40/= 99/- 61  44.75%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Vajolet2 2.3 POP x64        93.0 - 107.0  +34/=118/- 48  46.50%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Hiarcs 14 WCSC w32          89.0 - 111.0  +41/= 96/- 63  44.50%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Bobcat 8.0 x64              87.5 - 112.5  +37/=101/- 62  43.75%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Laser 1.3 x64              104.5 -  95.5  +52/=105/- 43  52.25%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Cheng 4.39 x64             102.5 -  97.5  +49/=107/- 44  51.25%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Crafty 25.2 x64            102.5 -  97.5  +61/= 83/- 56  51.25%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Junior 13.3.00 x64         108.5 -  91.5  +64/= 89/- 47  54.25%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Rodent III 0.172 x64       110.0 -  90.0  +64/= 92/- 44  55.00%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Spark 1.0 x64              116.5 -  83.5  +59/=115/- 26  58.25%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Gaviota 1.0 AVX x64        116.5 -  83.5  +70/= 93/- 37  58.25%
Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64     - Amoeba 2.4.x64             122.5 -  77.5  +77/= 91/- 32  61.25%

55 games lost undo move number 60, 113 games won = 67,26% vs. average of light stronger group of opponents!
10 games lost undo move number 50,  37 games won = 78,70% vs. average of light stronger group of opponents!

Wasp is very strong in the first gaming phase, typical Wasp statistics!
One of the reasons that Wasp is one of my engine favorits! 

Since game number 2.100 / 4.000 I am using FEOBOS v3.0 without move transpositions. D00-D99 could be ~5% higher and C00-C99 could be ~5% lesser. But I like that a lot. 5% more E00-E99 = much more interesting positions for computerchess matches in my humble opinion. My dream opening book was really born with FEOBOS. Most computer chess opening books have not enough to E00-E99. In the last years I am searching _more_ for E00-E99 balanced lines for my FCP Live Book and now the results can be see. Yes, my FEOBOS book is over optimated to E00-E99 opening systems and this is right!

FEOBOS v3.0 / Wasp 2.00 BMI2 x64
Games : 1900 (finished)

White Wins :   588 (30.9 %)
Black Wins :   417 (21.9 %)
Draws :   895 (47.1 %)
Unfinished : 0

White Perf. : 54.5 %
Black Perf. : 45.5 %

ECO A =   277 Games (14.6 %)
ECO B =   495 Games (26.1 %)
ECO C =   313 Games (16.5 %)
ECO D =   352 Games (18.5 %)
ECO E =   463 Games (24.4 %)

SUPER GM database (different sources), 1990 - end of the year 2015
Games : 135430 (finished)

White Wins : 47252 (34.9 %)
Black Wins : 29841 (22.0 %)
Draws : 58337 (43.1 %)
Unfinished : 0

White Perf. : 56.4 %
Black Perf. : 43.6 %

ECO A = 18877 Games (13.9 %)
ECO B = 36313 Games (26.8 %)
ECO C = 23767 Games (17.5 %)
ECO D = 30737 Games (22.7 %)
ECO E = 25736 Games (19.0 %)

Chessbase Big Database 2017, 2000 - 2017
Games : 147522 (finished)

White Wins : 48536 (32.9 %)
Black Wins : 30823 (20.9 %)
Draws : 68163 (46.2 %)
Unfinished : 0

White Perf. : 56.0 %
Black Perf. : 44.0 %

ECO A = 23587 Games (16.0 %)
ECO B = 37289 Games (25.3 %)
ECO C = 26905 Games (18.2 %)
ECO D = 33741 Games (22.9 %)
ECO E = 25910 Games (17.6 %)

May 04th, 2017:

Wasp 2.01 released!

John wrote:
Werner Schüle found that Wasp 2.00 was occasionally crashing with ponder ON when a mate was reached during a ponder search. There is a bug in version 2.00 which some GUI's might have been able to deal with. I found and fixed the problem for the attached version 2.01. Change the name to Wasp_201.7z and use 7-zip to extract. Please put this version on your web site.

Here are the update information from John's documentation.

Wasp 2.01: May 3, 2017
- fixed bug when pondering and search times out (usually due to mate score)
- fixed typo in blocked passed pawn penalty

Wasp 2.00: April 18, 2017
- added multi-threading using very lazy SMP approach where each thread simply does an iterative deepening loop on the root position and the only communication between threads is the shared main hash table. as others have found, this works surprisingly well.
- modified futility pruning, late-move pruning, and late-move reduction formulas to increase selectivity and reduce effective branching factor slightly
- simplified extensions-- extend safe checks, safe pawn to 7th, and capture of last enemy piece by one ply.
- tweaked many evaluation parameters
- move generator now has 3 stages where moves are generated & searched: 1. hash move, 2. captures/promotions, 3. quiet moves

If you like to test Wasp please download his engine under: wasp_201.zip (0.650Mb)

Included is:
1. wasp201-x64_no_bmi2.exe
2. wasp201-x64.exe
3. wasp201-x32.exe
4. release-notes.txt
5. The two main logos by Wilhelm Hudetz

Thanks John!

April 21st, 2017:

Wasp 2.00 released!

John wrote:
- Wasp 2.00 can now use multiple threads using "lazy SMP" search.

My testing shows that Wasp 2.00 on a single thread is about 50 Elo better than Wasp 1.25.
At very fast time controls, using 4 threads gains about 130 Elo. 

If you like to test Wasp please download his engine under: wasp_200.zip (0.650Mb)

Included is:
1. wasp200-x64_no_bmi2.exe
2. wasp200-x64.exe
3. wasp200-x32.exe
4. release-notes.txt
5. The two main logos by Wilhelm Hudetz

Thanks John! 

October 08th, 2016:

Wasp 1.25 BMI2 x64 test-run ... the final results!

Wasp 1.25 BMI2 x64 is clearly improved, most in late middlegame.
This was a great update John!

September 30th, 2016:

Wasp 1.25 released!

John wrote:
- compiled using new version of gcc (6.1.0)
- generate and try hash move (if any) before generating all other moves
- slight change to history table updating
- slight change to pruning in quiescence search
- allow late move pruning and reduction for unsafe checks
- changed late move pruning:
   - prune non-tactical moves after 1+3*depth moves have been tried
   - prune if moves_searched >= 3 and eval < alpha-100*depth (futility pruning)
- changed late move reduction to reduce by 3 plies if depth >= 6 and moves_searched >= 40 - 2*depth
- minor tweaks to most evaluation parameters such as piece values, mobility, king safety, passed pawns ...
- added term for king mobility in endgame
- removed special KRPKR evaluation function
- modified draw adjustment calculation

If you like to test Wasp please download his engine under: wasp_125.zip (0.572Mb)

Included is:
1. wasp125-x64_no_bmi2.exe
2. wasp125-x64.exe
3. wasp125-x32.exe
4. release-notes.txt
5. The two main logos by Wilhelm Hudetz

Thanks John!

July 02nd, 2016:

Wasp 1.02, bugfix released!

John wrote:
I fixed the problem with sudden-death time controls not working with Fritz GUI.  I also compiled the 32 bit exe such that it should work with older CPU's than the previous version did.  There is no change to search or eval, it should play the same as the previous version.

If you like to test Wasp please download his engine under: wasp_102.zip (0.587Mb)

Included is:
1. wasp102-x64_no_bmi2.exe
2. wasp102-x64.exe
3. wasp102-x32.exe
4. release-notes.txt
5. The two main logos by Wilhelm Hudetz

Thanks John & Ferdinand Mosca for the logfiles (TalkChess)!

July 01st, 2016:

Chess Programming WIKI updated!

Gerd Isenberg updated the detail information to John Stanback.
John Stanback (CPW)

Thanks Gerd for the work you do for the community ... again and again!

... my symbolic long time Award for Gerd!

June 23rd, 2016:

Wasp 1.01, John sent two new executables!

John wrote:
Attached are new Wasp 1.01 executables for 32-bit and 64-bit with no bit manipulation instructions for older CPU's.  I updated the 32 bit exe to display the correct version number (1.01) instead of 1.00.  There is no other change as compared to yesterday's version.

If you like to test Wasp please download his engine under: wasp_101.zip (0.587Mb)

Included is:
1. wasp101-x64_no_bmi2.exe
2. wasp101-x64.exe
3. wasp101-x32.exe
4. release-notes.txt
5. The two main logos by Wilhelm Hudetz

Thanks John

June 23rd, 2016:

FCP Rating List ended with 2740 Elo
Wasp 1.01 x64

June 22nd, 2016:

John sent a 32-bit version. For the moment no interest for MAC / Android.

John wrote:
Attached is the 32-bit version of Wasp 1.01. It is compiled for athlon-64, but I think it should also work with Pentium 3 or greater Intel processors.  It works on my old Intel Core2 system with a 32 bit version of Windows.  But I don't have any actual 32 bit computers to try it on.  On my 64 bit i5-4690K it runs about 35% slower than the 64-bit version of 1.01 with bit manipulation instructions.

June 21st, 2016:

Wasp 1.01 x64 released!

John Stanback sent the release-notes.txt ... wow 37 years chess programming, read it (interesting for chess programmers & non-programmers)!

I have to wait of the end of the test-run!
In my main interest is to create *.epd test-suites. I will used the own material for searching good and bad positions from the produced games. The database I created for FCP Rating List is interesting for each participant chess programmer. It will be a nice example what we can do with the produced games. I am sure that databases in *.epd helps chess programmers a lot.

The test-run vs. a lot of different opponents is very nice:
It seems Wasp don't like: Hakkapeliitta, Texel, Arasan, Gaviota & Disaster Area. In my opinion the most interesting sparring partners for Wasp.

June 21st, 2016:

Copyright information to Zarkov / Wasp added ...
I updated my Impressum site.

June 21st, 2016:

After 50% of my test-run ...

It's absolutely clear: Wasp 1.01 x64 is very strong in endgames without using endgame databases. The playing style is great because all is totally "human like". Not easy to beat the engine after opening book moves. Sometimes very danger after opening book moves. Weak point is the late middlegame / transition into endgame. Same weak points humans have if we compared with the strongest available chess programs today. Often in endgames Wasp have problems with draw detection (can be see in eval). So I have at first good material / ideas for my beta test. Elo is very stable with ~ 2730 - 2740. now After 1.225 games no "lost on time" or other technically problems. In my humble opinion the perfect program for self-playing and much more important ... no other engine have such a style!!

Have a look here ...
If you working on such statistics with the strongest chess players you can see it in self work too ... the "Human like style".

That's Zarkov and the main reason I like the work by John all the time. John never changed the own face Zarkov had and now Wasp is really 300 Elo stronger as Zarkov! I asked John to added again in next versions more UCI options for building other playing styles, like the older *.pst file from the Zarkov 4.1 Windows version. John have interest to do it later!

June 20th, 2016:

John is working on the readme file for the first final release.

John wrote:
I am working on the readme file that describes a few of the techniques used in Wasp.  There is nothing new or unusual compared to other programs, but it has it's own combination of search techniques and evaluation parameters which make it unique.

June 18th, 2016:

Wilhelm Hudetz sent indeed wonderful logos!
Logos with the USA & Kentucky flag and of course logos with a "Wasp"!

... our favorite!

June 18th, 2016:

Wasp 1.01 x64 test-run started!

June 18th, 2016:

Older Zarkov versions ...

zarkov-older-versions.zip (5.202Mb): MS DOS 2.x / 3.0 versions, MS Windows 4.1 version, 30 Winboard versions!!

Results from my older SWCR Rating List (40 moves in 10 minutes repeatedly, ponder = on, Intel® Core™ Q9550  hardware)

Shredder 12 x64  : 2800 after 9940 games
Zarkov 6.44 w32  : 2435 after 2340 games

The successor Wasp 1.01 x64 is ~ 300 Elo stronger!

June 17th, 2016:

I contact Wilhelm Hudetz. Wilhelm is working with me in the older Arena team and created nice engine logos. I hope and wish me that Wilhelm have time to create some nice logos.

June 16th, 2016:

My first contact after a long time with John Stanback!
Reason was a discussion in TalkChess to the topic "xb / uci chronology" I powered WB / UCI in the past a long time.

Have a look under: Computer-Chess-Wiki (Ron Murawski & Norbert Raimund Leisner do here really a fantastic work for all of us)
Have a look under: RWBC-chess by Günther Simon (very strong computer chess history site).
Have a look under: Chess-Programming-Wiki (Expert Gerd Isenberg is working all the time ...)

John wrote:
I've been planning to make Wasp public, but I keep hoping to make a big strength jump before I do.  But improvements are very hard to come by, so I guess version 1.01 is good enough for now.  Wasp only uses a single core, maybe I'll try to add support for multiple cores later.  Also, it doesn't use endgame tables.  This is compiled for fairly recent Intel 64 bit CPU's.

After the results John speaking about I think Elo could be around ~ 2750 for my FCP Rating List. John sent me Wasp 1.01 x64 for a first test. The test-run will be start June 18th, 2016.