                  Tom Kerrigan's Simple Chess Program (TSCP)
                         Copyright 1997 Tom Kerrigan
                                    README

TSCP is intended for people who want to learn about chess programming. Its
source code is designed to be very easy to understand.

The TSCP "package" includes this README file, the TSCP source code, and a copy
of TSCP for Windows 95/98/NT. I made the executable with Visual C++ 6.0
(optimizations set to Maximize Speed).

To use TSCP, run the executable and type "help" at the prompt. It's very
straightforward.

TSCP works with Tim Mann's graphical user interface XBoard/WinBoard. For more
information about Tim's program, visit his chess web page:
http://www.research.digital.com/SRC/personal/Tim_Mann/chess.html
(Note that TSCP doesn't support every WinBoard feature.)

If you're studying TSCP's source code, the following files will be
particularly helpful:
defs.h - This has all of TSCP's macros and data types.
data.c - This is where all of TSCP's global data is declared, and it's fairly
  well commented.
protos.h - This has prototypes for every function in TSCP, and it's organized
  so that finding a particular function is easy.

I've started a new page for TSCP benchmarks. I have a link to it on my
homepage. For more information, please visit it.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc., please feel free to
contact me:
  E-mail: Thomas.Kerrigan@Colorado.EDU
     WWW: http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~kerrigat/

I hope you find TSCP useful!
-Tom


                                 LEGAL STUFF

According to copyright law, you are not allowed to distribute copies of TSCP
or anything that's derived from TSCP without my authorization.

Version 1.4 of TSCP is the first version to include copyright notices, but
previous versions are also protected under law. If you are distributing an
earlier version of TSCP or a derivative work without my authorization, you are
acting illegally.

For more information about copyrights, visit this web page:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/


                                    THANKS

The following people have helped me with TSCP, mostly by pointing out bugs:
Normand Blais
Daniel Karlsson
Ruben Razquin
Brian Richardson
William Bryant
Mathias Feist
Shinya Kotani
John Stanback
David Brownlee


                               VERSION HISTORY

Version 1.73, 2/11/01
* Added code to handle EOFs from stdin.

Version 1.72, 2/1/01
* Added code to stop searching if a mate is found.
* Changed max_time/max_depth assignments in main.c.

Version 1.71, 10/30/00
* bench() now reports MIPS.
* main() now returns an int.
* Added an fflush() to think().
* Changed %ld format strings to %d.

Version 1.7, 10/28/00
* New (much cleaner) king safety.
* Removed pawn_count because it was redundant.
* Replaced gen_begin and gen_end with first_move.
* Minor speedup of in_check().
* Added print_board() to bench().
* Added a new test to make sure ftime() returns milliseconds.
* Changed GetRank/GetFile macros to ROW/COL.
* Changed longs back to ints so I don't have to keep track of which is which.

Version 1.6, 7/17/00
* Switched "game history" method from undo_dat to hply.
* Changed the names of some macros.
* Added repetition detection.
* Added support for XBoard post/nopost commands (search output).
* Added print_result() to print the result of games.

Version 1.52, 6/29/00
* Fixed a typo in eval_dark_king(); a DARK should have been LIGHT.

Version 1.51, 6/16/00
* Added support for the XBoard "time" command.
* Changed max_time from seconds to milliseconds.
* Changed print_move() to move_str().

Version 1.5, 2/13/00
* Changed all of the "time control" code. Now TSCP can search for a fixed
  amount of time.
* Stopped searching all responses to check in the quiescence search--it was
  causing the search tree to blow up.
* Fixed passed pawn scoring asymmetry.
* Added a test to make sure the search doesn't go too deep and overflow
  everything.

Version 1.42, 12/12/99
* Made "xboard" a command instead of an argument.
* Fixed code to start a new game.
* Added a test to make sure ftime() is returning milliseconds.
* Fixed king safety bug; now checks all three files around an uncastled king.
* Changed gets() to fgets() in xboard() to avoid a gcc warning.
* Added fflush() after the illegal XBoard command message.
* Added signal(SIGINT, SIG_IGN) to the beginning of xboard() to help with
  XBoard/Linux compatibility.

Version 1.41, 12/6/99
* The bonus for black passed pawns was backwards.

Version 1.4, 12/6/99
* Added the ability to undo moves.
* Added XBoard/WinBoard support.
* Added the benchmarking feature.
* Added the skill command.
* Wrote the README file.
* Added a Win32 executable to the "distribution."
* Changed main() so the engine doesn't play an illegal move if it's mated.
* Changed some array sizes and some ints to longs so TSCP works correctly with
  16-bit compilers.
* Got rid of warnings. TSCP now compiles without warnings using Visual C++,
  gcc, and Turbo C 2.
* Added whitespace in the source code to make it more readable. "x=2;" is now
  "x = 2;", etc.
* Made a small number of minor (mostly aesthetic) changes to the algorithms.
* Added copyright notices to the beginning of each source file and the text
  that TSCP prints when you run it.
