More accurate pawn attack span definition

Tweak the pawn attack span for backward pawns and the zone behind
opponent opposing pawns. This is important in positional play and
one of weaknesses of the engine in recent high level games.

STC
LLR: -2.95 (-2.94,2.94) [0.50,4.50]
Total: 66843 W: 14884 L: 14717 D: 37242
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8dcb1b0ebc590f3beb2956

LTC
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,3.50]
Total: 77699 W: 12993 L: 12602 D: 52104
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5d8de9bc0ebc590f3beb3d00

See discussion in https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/2332

Bench: 4012371

diff --git a/src/evaluate.cpp b/src/evaluate.cpp
index fadc0fea43e9781e5245e3f5588845f044984171..ee98da90e60097714a132c70e50af020705e250f 100644 (file)
--- a/src/evaluate.cpp
+++ b/src/evaluate.cpp
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ namespace {
   constexpr Score KnightOnQueen      = S( 16, 12);
   constexpr Score LongDiagonalBishop = S( 45,  0);
   constexpr Score MinorBehindPawn    = S( 18,  3);
-  constexpr Score Outpost            = S( 18,  6);
+  constexpr Score Outpost            = S( 16,  5);
   constexpr Score PassedFile         = S( 11,  8);
   constexpr Score PawnlessFlank      = S( 17, 95);
   constexpr Score RestrictedPiece    = S(  7,  7);

diff --git a/src/pawns.cpp b/src/pawns.cpp
index 50eb3aa32c3871649cf242833b657ceec73ee497..8022ae51c20d811adac0d0cb22d8208af8515e1b 100644 (file)
--- a/src/pawns.cpp
+++ b/src/pawns.cpp
@@ -71,10 +71,10 @@ namespace {
     constexpr Color     Them = (Us == WHITE ? BLACK : WHITE);
     constexpr Direction Up   = (Us == WHITE ? NORTH : SOUTH);
 
-    Bitboard neighbours, stoppers, support, phalanx;
+    Bitboard neighbours, stoppers, support, phalanx, opposed;
     Bitboard lever, leverPush;
     Square s;
-    bool opposed, backward, passed, doubled;
+    bool backward, passed, doubled;
     Score score = SCORE_ZERO;
     const Square* pl = pos.squares<PAWN>(Us);
 
@@ -94,8 +94,6 @@ namespace {
 
         Rank r = relative_rank(Us, s);
 
-        e->pawnAttacksSpan[Us] |= pawn_attack_span(Us, s);
-
         // Flag the pawn
         opposed    = theirPawns & forward_file_bb(Us, s);
         stoppers   = theirPawns & passed_pawn_span(Us, s);
@@ -112,6 +110,17 @@ namespace {
         backward =  !(neighbours & forward_ranks_bb(Them, s))
                   && (stoppers & (leverPush | (s + Up)));
 
+        // Span of backward pawns and span behind opposing pawns are not included
+        // in the pawnAttacksSpan bitboard.
+        if (!backward || phalanx)
+        {
+            if (opposed)
+                e->pawnAttacksSpan[Us] |=  pawn_attack_span(Us, s) &
+                                          ~pawn_attack_span(Us, frontmost_sq(Them, opposed));
+            else
+                e->pawnAttacksSpan[Us] |= pawn_attack_span(Us, s);
+        }
+
         // A pawn is passed if one of the three following conditions is true:
         // (a) there is no stoppers except some levers
         // (b) the only stoppers are the leverPush, but we outnumber them
@@ -130,17 +139,19 @@ namespace {
         // Score this pawn
         if (support | phalanx)
         {
-            int v =  Connected[r] * (2 + bool(phalanx) - opposed)
+            int v =  Connected[r] * (2 + bool(phalanx) - bool(opposed))
                    + 21 * popcount(support);
 
             score += make_score(v, v * (r - 2) / 4);
         }
 
         else if (!neighbours)
-            score -= Isolated + WeakUnopposed * !opposed;
+            score -=   Isolated
+                     + WeakUnopposed * !opposed;
 
         else if (backward)
-            score -= Backward + WeakUnopposed * !opposed;
+            score -=   Backward
+                     + WeakUnopposed * !opposed;
 
         if (!support)
             score -=   Doubled * doubled