Limit king ring to eight squares

In current master the size of the king ring varies abruptly from eight
squares when the king is in g8, to 12 squares when it is in g7. Because
the king ring is used for estimating attack strength, this may lead to
an overestimation of king danger in some positions. This patch limits
the king ring to eight squares in all cases.

 Inspired by the following forum thread:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/fishcooking/xrUCQ7b0ObE

Passed STC:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 9244 W: 1777 L: 1611 D: 5856

and LTC:
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 87121 W: 11765 L: 11358 D: 63998

Bench: 6121121

Closes #1115

diff --git a/src/evaluate.cpp b/src/evaluate.cpp
index 3bd790bdf4f7f469a2fa9584eb21a556bd049455..f93e23f66d1ef7b1578e11b50fb740c610846f72 100644 (file)
--- a/src/evaluate.cpp
+++ b/src/evaluate.cpp
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ namespace {
 
     // kingRing[color] is the zone around the king which is considered
     // by the king safety evaluation. This consists of the squares directly
-    // adjacent to the king, and the three (or two, for a king on an edge file)
+    // adjacent to the king, and (only for a king on its first rank) the
     // squares two ranks in front of the king. For instance, if black's king
     // is on g8, kingRing[BLACK] is a bitboard containing the squares f8, h8,
     // f7, g7, h7, f6, g6 and h6.
@@ -242,7 +242,10 @@ namespace {
     // Init our king safety tables only if we are going to use them
     if (pos.non_pawn_material(Them) >= QueenValueMg)
     {
-        ei.kingRing[Us] = b | shift<Up>(b);
+        ei.kingRing[Us] = b;
+        if (relative_rank(Us, pos.square<KING>(Us)) == RANK_1)
+            ei.kingRing[Us] |= shift<Up>(b);
+
         ei.kingAttackersCount[Them] = popcount(b & ei.pe->pawn_attacks(Them));
         ei.kingAdjacentZoneAttacksCount[Them] = ei.kingAttackersWeight[Them] = 0;
     }