Stockfish Development Versions are build automatically if there are changes on the master branch in the git repository (https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish). Use it at your own risk.
They are compiled with gcc 11.2/mingw 10 on Ubuntu 22.04.

Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Dieter Dobbelaere
Date: Wed Feb 4 17:38:31 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1770223111

Include threat weights in network hash calculation

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6583

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Disservin
Date: Wed Feb 4 17:34:11 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1770222851

Fix clang-format complaints

Somehow we forgot to add shm.h & shm_linux.h to the list of headers to be
formatted.

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6591

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: anematode
Date: Wed Feb 4 17:32:48 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1770222768

fix return type of vmovl_high_s8

also add -flax-vector-conversions=none to the build

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6587

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Disservin
Date: Wed Feb 4 17:29:42 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1770222582

Restore development

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6581

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Joost VandeVondele
Date: Sat Jan 31 12:46:49 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1769860009

Stockfish 18

Official release version of Stockfish 18

Bench: 2050811

---

Stockfish 18

Today, we have the pleasure of announcing Stockfish 18, a new major release. As
always, you can freely download it at [stockfishchess.org/download][1] and use
it as a drop-in replacement in the [GUI of your choice][2] to benefit from
stronger play and more accurate analysis.

Whether you can spare hours or days of CPU time, your help matters for the
ongoing development of Stockfish. Find out how you can help at
[stockfishchess.org/get-involved][3]. Join our [Discord server][4] to get in
touch with the community of developers and users of the project!

Quality of chess play

In tests against Stockfish 17, this new release brings an Elo gain of up to [46
points][5], and wins [four times as many game pairs][6] as it loses. Quality
improved throughout, including in [Fischer Random Chess][7].

Stockfish is stronger than any human, even when running on older or low-end
hardware. On the highest-end hardware, where Stockfish can search over [500
million positions per second][8], it continues to [dominate chess engine
tournaments][9].

Update highlights

Next-Generation Evaluation

This release introduces the SFNNv10 network architecture. The network’s input
layer has been augmented with 'Threat Inputs' features as part of a massive
community effort. These features allow the engine to 'see' which pieces are
threatened more naturally, resulting in more accurate evaluations.

Hardware and Performance Optimizations

A key highlight is the new 'Shared Memory' implementation, which allows
different Stockfish processes to share the same memory space for neural network
weights. This makes it the most efficient version for cloud analysis and
high-concurrency testing.

Significant efforts have also been made to utilize hardware more effectively by
adapting the code to make use of modern CPU instructions and refining how
threads interact during a search.

Search Improvements

Stockfish 18 features a heavily refined search, utilizing 'Correction History'
to dynamically adjust evaluations based on patterns found during the search
itself. These and other refinements allow the engine to detect stalemates and
evaluate fortresses significantly better than previous versions. A particularly
rare issue, involving threefold repetition detection, en passant, and pins, was
also fixed.

Refactored Training Workflow

The training of Stockfish's neural networks has transitioned to an automated
and reproducible model. This new framework allows the project to employ
standardized recipes to chain complex training stages together. This transition
facilitates the training of networks using over 100 billion positions of [Lc0
evaluation data][10].

Thank you

In this release in particular, we are deeply grateful to the contributors who
shared their research and ideas to help develop the new threat-input network
architecture.

The Stockfish project builds on a thriving community of enthusiasts (thanks to
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 [14.6k stars][11] that light up
our GitHub project. Thank you for your support and encouragement – your
recognition means a lot to us. 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://stockfishchess.org/get-involved/
[4]: https://discord.gg/GWDRS3kU6R
[5]: https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/696a9e15cec152c6220c1d19
[6]: https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/696a9e4dcec152c6220c1d1b
[7]: https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/696a9e83cec152c6220c1d1d
[8]: https://openbenchmarking.org/test/pts/stockfish
[9]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockfish_(chess)#Competition_results
[10]: https://lczero.org/blog/2021/06/the-importance-of-open-data/
[11]: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/stargazers
[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
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: anematode
Date: Wed Jan 28 20:28:27 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1769628507

Fix compilation on BSD/macOS

fixes github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/6571

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6572

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: anematode
Date: Thu Jan 22 19:15:17 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1769105717

Make PGO builds deterministic again

some environment dependent execution (e.g. pid) were being std::hash'ed, and
net filenames put in unordered maps. Also uses sprintf instead of
std::to_string. Depending on precise content, this could lead to different
PGO'ed binaries. This is mitigated by using a basic hash function.

This also fixes a potential issue in net filename generation, in cases where
std::hash would use invocation dependent salt, which is not the cases today for
typical std libraries.

Closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6562

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: anematode
Date: Sun Jan 18 08:53:06 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768722786

use default signal handler after cleanup

With the current setup, on Linux, SIGILL (and SIGSEGV/SIGBUS etc., in the case
of a program bug) lead to no feedback if they occur after the signal handlers
are installed, they just exit silently. By invoking the default signal handler,
we can still get the appropriate feedback. This is particularly important for
feedback if someone downloads the wrong SF binary and runs it on Linux.

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6554

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Robert Nurnberg @ elitebook
Date: Thu Jan 15 22:19:50 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768511990

update the WDL model

This PR updates the internal WDL model, using data from 3.1M games played by
the revisions since 44d5467. Note that the normalizing constant increases only
moderately from 377 to 385.

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6549

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: anematode
Date: Thu Jan 15 22:17:14 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768511834

Skip munmap when exiting via a signal

avoid munmap of memory when exiting via signal, which avoids side effects such
as triggering asserts or (caught) segfaults while the process exists.

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6542

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Joost VandeVondele
Date: Thu Jan 15 22:13:26 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768511606

Fix integer overflow.

scaledBonus can reach rather large values,
which lead to an int overflow as detected anematode using ubsan.
(see https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/6505#issuecomment-3696988889)

It can be fixed by scaling nominator and denominator appropriately,
which doesn't change the bench, as long as there is no overflow.

First overflow/bench change happens at depth 26

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6540

Bench: 2050811
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Timothy Herchen
Date: Sun Jan 11 09:13:37 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768119217

Fix RelationCache on Windows 10 compiles

Windows 10 is missing the GroupMasks and GroupCount members, this breaks compiles on Windows 10.
Windows 11 builds, including the official ones, run fine on Windows 10/11.
To support developers/testers on Windows 10, fallback conditionally to the Windows 10 struct definition.

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6538

No functional change
see source
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: KazApps
Date: Sun Jan 11 09:09:55 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768118995

Simplify make_index

Refactor index LUT construction to simplify make_index.

Passed STC Non-Regression:
LLR: 2.93 (-2.94,2.94) <-1.75,0.25>
Total: 62432 W: 16193 L: 16006 D: 30233 Elo +1.04
Ptnml(0-2): 189, 6950, 16764, 7111, 202
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6959985ad844c1ce7cc7eac8

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6522

No functional change.
see source
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: KazApps
Date: Sat Jan 10 16:06:18 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768057578

Make enums unsigned

Speed up by using unsigned enums.

Passed STC:
LLR: 2.98 (-2.94,2.94) <0.00,2.00>
Total: 49248 W: 12894 L: 12568 D: 23786 Elo +2.30
Ptnml(0-2): 119, 5353, 13397, 5593, 16
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/695e3e5002d0182a589fe965

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6532

No functional change
see source
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: FauziAkram
Date: Sat Jan 10 15:47:11 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768056431

Simplify fail high reduction formula

Passed STC:
LLR: 2.97 (-2.94,2.94) <-1.75,0.25>
Total: 165792 W: 42849 L: 42768 D: 80175 Elo +0.17
Ptnml(0-2): 512, 19499, 42800, 19566, 519
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/695cdd95912b7ff140de60c2

Passed LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <-1.75,0.25>
Total: 80448 W: 20619 L: 20459 D: 39370 Elo +0.69
Ptnml(0-2): 47, 8693, 22596, 8829, 59
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/695f7e84ca95f52e4b852536

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6535

bench: 2050811
see source
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: anematode
Date: Sat Jan 10 15:46:01 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768056361

Make shared history allocation aware of non-uniform cache access

Although shared history has been successful overall, it led to some speed
issues with large numbers of threads. Originally we just split by NUMA node,
but on systems with non-unified L3 caches (most AMD workstation and server
CPUs, and some Intel E-core based server CPUs), this can still lead to a speed
penalty at the default config. Thus, we decided to further subdivide the shared
history based on the L3 cache structure.

Based on this test, the original SPRTs, and speed experiments, we decided that
grouping L3 domains to reach 32 threads per SharedHistories was a reasonable
balance for affected systems – but we may revisit this in the future. See the
PR for full details.

In an extreme case, a single-socket EPYC 9755 configured with 1 numa domain per socket,
the nps increases from:
Nodes/second : 182827480
to
Nodes/second : 229118365

In many cases, when L3 caches are shared between many threads, or when several
numa nodes are already configured per socket, this patch does not influence the
default. This default setting can adjusted with the existing NumaPolicy option.

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6526

No functional change.
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Disservin
Date: Sat Jan 10 15:36:52 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768055812

Compiler Check

Compiles and Runs Stockfish on all supported gcc & clang compilers.
Only linux and avx2 currently.

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6533

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Disservin
Date: Sat Jan 10 15:34:37 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768055677

Fix Compiler Warning

Only the one on line 158 is actually required but doesn't hurt to add constexpr where applicable here.

Warning was

"comparison of unsigned expression in '< 0' is always false"

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6530

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Disservin
Date: Sat Jan 10 15:33:36 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1768055616

Fix Clang Tbprobe Miscompilation

Recent changes to the Square enum (reducing it from int32_t to int8_t)
now allow the compiler to vectorize loops that were previously too wide
for targets below AVX-512. However, this vectorization which Clang
performs is not correct and causes a miscompilation.

Disable this vectorization.

This particular issue was noticable with Clang 15 and Clang 19,
on avx2 as well as applie-silicon.

Ref: #6063
Original Clang Issue: llvm/llvm-project#80494

First reported by #6528, though misinterpreted.

closes #6529

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Jakub Ciolek
Date: Tue Jan 6 12:08:08 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1767697688

qsearch: prevent bestValue from going down

The bestValue can sometimes go down. This happens 2% of the time or so.
This fix stops it from decreasing.

Failed gainer STC:
LLR: -2.94 (-2.94,2.94) <0.00,2.00>
Total: 146176 W: 37930 L: 37976 D: 70270 Elo -0.11
Ptnml(0-2): 480, 17422, 37366, 17304, 516
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6953be19572093c1986da66a

Passed Non-regression LTC:
LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) <-1.75,0.25>
Total: 257796 W: 65662 L: 65683 D: 126451 Elo -0.03
Ptnml(0-2): 164, 28247, 72087, 28246, 154
https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/69554ff0d844c1ce7cc7e333

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6520
fixes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/6519

Bench: 2477446
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: anematode
Date: Tue Jan 6 12:02:37 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1767697357

Network loading refactoring

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6523

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Syine Mineta
Date: Tue Jan 6 12:01:01 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1767697261

Fix remote access bug across NUMA nodes

Ensure that thread-local data is created within the correct NUMA
context, so that thread stacks or thread-local storage are allocated
to proper NUMA nodes.

refs https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/issues/6516

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6518

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: Joost VandeVondele
Date: Thu Jan 1 16:17:38 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1767280658

Update of the year

Happy New Year!

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6514

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: mstembera
Date: Thu Jan 1 16:13:44 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1767280424

Minor cleanup in full_threats.cpp

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6509

No functional change
see source
Windows x64 for Haswell CPUs
Windows x64 for modern computers
Windows x64 + SSSE3
Windows x64
Linux x64 for Haswell CPUs
Linux x64 for modern computers + AVX2
Linux x64 for modern computers
Linux x64 + SSSE3
Linux x64
Author: FauziAkram
Date: Thu Jan 1 16:12:35 2026 +0100
Timestamp: 1767280355

Replacing nested loops with a single range-based for loop

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6503

No functional change
see source

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