Halogen – analysing and playing chess

Halogen is a powerful, world-class program capable of analysing and playing chess.

It is currently ranked in the top 30 chess engines.

Halogen is not a stand-alone application and should be used with any popular chess GUI that supports the UCI protocol.

Features include:

• Uses a neural network for its evaluation function. Halogen makes use of an incrementally updated architecture, inspired by the new NNUE networks in Stockfish. Halogen features an innovative neural network implementation with an abstract architecture that allows networks to be dropped in and replaced at will. Networks are trained through a private, from scratch C implementation
• Null-move pruning.
• Late move reductions
• Quiessence search, an algorithm typically used to extend search at unstable nodes in minimax game trees in game-playing computer programs.
• Transposition table that uses Zobrist Hashing.
• The search routine is multithreaded using the SMP parallelisation technique.

Website: github.com/KierenP/Halogen
Support:
Developer: Kieren Pearson
License: GNU General Public License v3.0

Halogen development is currently supported on the Openbench framework. OpenBench is an open-source Sequential Probability Ratio Testing (SPRT) framework designed for self-play testing of engines. OpenBench makes use of distributed computing, allowing anyone to contribute CPU time to further the development of some of the world’s most powerful engines.

Halogen is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

Return to Chess Engines

Explore Linux
	Best Free and Open Source Software - A huge collection of recommended free and open source software covering every major category.
	In-depth Linux Software Reviews - Detailed assessments of Linux software covering features, usability and overall quality.
	The Big List of Active Linux Distros - An extensive collection of actively developed Linux distributions.
	Open Source Alternatives - Alternatives to software and services from Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Autodesk, Oracle and others.
	Essential Linux System Tools - Indispensable utilities for monitoring, maintaining and managing Linux systems.
	Linux Productivity Tools - Useful utilities for improving productivity and streamlining everyday tasks.
	Alternatives to Popular CLI Tools - Modern alternatives to familiar command-line utilities supplied with Linux systems.
	Awesome Free Linux Game Tools - Tools, utilities and companion software that improve gaming on Linux.
	Machine Learning on Linux - Machine learning and deep learning software, self-hosted applications and practical tools.
	Saving Money with Linux - Practical ways to reduce electricity consumption and lower computing costs with Linux.
	Linux Candy - Fun, entertaining and sometimes delightfully quirky software from the lighter side of Linux.