Stockfish 17.1

Official release version of Stockfish 17.1

Bench: 2030154

---

Stockfish 17.1

Today, we have the pleasure to announce Stockfish 17.1. As always, you can
**freely** download it at [stockfishchess.org/download][1] and use it in the
[GUI of your choice][2].

Join our [Discord server][3] to get in touch with the community of developers
and users of the project!

Quality of chess play

In our testing against its predecessor, Stockfish 17.1 shows a consistent
improvement in performance, with an [Elo gain of up to 20 points][4] and
winning close to 2 times more game pairs than it loses.

Update highlights

New speedtest command

The new `speedtest` command benchmarks your computer's performance (measured in
nodes per second) using a realistic and stable test. To run it, you'll need
[command line access][5]—give it a try and share your results with the
community!

Improved hardware support

Stockfish is [no longer limited to 1024 threads][6] and will allow users to
specify whatever their system is capable of. Additionally, hardware such as
ppc64 and Loongson is now better supported at build time.

Bug fixes for tablebase support

Our previous release introduced improved engine lines (principal variations)
ending in mate as soon as a mate score is announced. A side effect of this
improvement was a [rare corner case][7] involving cursed tablebase wins, only
relevant in correspondence chess when the 50-move rule does not apply,  which
has now been fixed. Relatedly, [time management][8] has also been improved to
avoid potential time losses.

Shoutouts

Download page redesign

We've redesigned the [download page][1] to address unclear wording and simplify
a previously cluttered experience. The page now features a modernized layout,
streamlined navigation, and clearer guidance to help you select the right
binary for your system.

Fishtest framework

Our testing framework has been improved in various ways, both on the worker
side, including the adoption of [Fastchess][9] as a new game manager, and on
the server side, such as streamlined configuration. The reliable availability
of testing resources is key for the progress of the engine.

Thank you

The Stockfish project builds on a thriving community of enthusiasts (thanks
everybody!) who contribute their expertise, time, and resources to build a free
and open-source chess engine that is robust, widely available, and very strong.

We would like to express our gratitude for the [12k stars][10] that light up
our GitHub project! Thank you for your support and encouragement – your
recognition means a lot to us.

We invite our chess fans to [join the Fishtest testing framework][11] to
contribute compute resources needed for development. Programmers can contribute
to the project either directly to [Stockfish][12] (C++), to [Fishtest][13]
(HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Python), to our trainer [nnue-pytorch][14] (C++ and
Python), or to our [website][15] (HTML, CSS/SCSS, and JavaScript).

The Stockfish team

[1]: https://stockfishchess.org/download
[2]: https://official-stockfish.github.io/docs/stockfish-wiki/Download-and-usage.html#download-a-chess-gui
[3]: https://discord.gg/GWDRS3kU6R
[4]: https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/67e7d2fd6682f97da2178fbd
[5]: https://official-stockfish.github.io/docs/stockfish-wiki/UCI-&-Commands.html#speedtest
[6]: 652a8874b5
[7]: 6c7c5c7e47
[8]: 0f9ae0d11c
[9]: https://github.com/Disservin/fastchess
[10]: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/stargazers
[11]: https://official-stockfish.github.io/docs/fishtest-wiki/Running-the-Worker.html
[12]: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish
[13]: https://github.com/official-stockfish/fishtest
[14]: https://github.com/official-stockfish/nnue-pytorch
[15]: https://github.com/official-stockfish/stockfish-web

src/misc.cpp

@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ namespace Stockfish {
 namespace {
 
 // Version number or dev.
-constexpr std::string_view version = "dev";
+constexpr std::string_view version = "17.1";
 
 // Our fancy logging facility. The trick here is to replace cin.rdbuf() and
 // cout.rdbuf() with two Tie objects that tie cin and cout to a file stream. We