Polyglot book format

The following description of the Polyglot book format is obtained by inspecting the freely available source code of Polyglot.

A note on copyright

I believe that the algorithm described below may be freely implemented by all GUIs, adapters and engines, including closed source ones. Polyglot itself is GPL but the GPL only covers actual code and not algorithms.

The array of 781 random numbers is of course taken from the Polyglot source code but I am pretty sure that a table of random numbers cannot be covered by copyright.

Look below for some sample code which is released in the public domain.

At the end of this document we discuss an extension of the Polyglot opening book format for Chess960. This extension is implemented in upcoming versions of xboard/winboard.

Outline

A Polyglot book is a series of "entries" of 16 bytes 

key    uint64
move   uint16 
weight uint16
learn  uint32

All integers are stored highest byte first (regardless of size)

The entries are ordered according to key. Lowest key first.

key

"key" is a 64 bit hash of a board position. Its computation is explained below.

The starting point is given by the following declaration 


#ifdef _MSC_VER
#  define U64(u) (u##ui64)
#else
#  define U64(u) (u##ULL)
#endif

const uint64 Random64[781] = {
   U64(0x9D39247E33776D41), U64(0x2AF7398005AAA5C7), U64(0x44DB015024623547), U64(0x9C15F73E62A76AE2),
   U64(0x75834465489C0C89), U64(0x3290AC3A203001BF), U64(0x0FBBAD1F61042279), U64(0xE83A908FF2FB60CA),
   U64(0x0D7E765D58755C10), U64(0x1A083822CEAFE02D), U64(0x9605D5F0E25EC3B0), U64(0xD021FF5CD13A2ED5),
   U64(0x40BDF15D4A672E32), U64(0x011355146FD56395), U64(0x5DB4832046F3D9E5), U64(0x239F8B2D7FF719CC),
   U64(0x05D1A1AE85B49AA1), U64(0x679F848F6E8FC971), U64(0x7449BBFF801FED0B), U64(0x7D11CDB1C3B7ADF0),
   U64(0x82C7709E781EB7CC), U64(0xF3218F1C9510786C), U64(0x331478F3AF51BBE6), U64(0x4BB38DE5E7219443),
   U64(0xAA649C6EBCFD50FC), U64(0x8DBD98A352AFD40B), U64(0x87D2074B81D79217), U64(0x19F3C751D3E92AE1),
   U64(0xB4AB30F062B19ABF), U64(0x7B0500AC42047AC4), U64(0xC9452CA81A09D85D), U64(0x24AA6C514DA27500),
   U64(0x4C9F34427501B447), U64(0x14A68FD73C910841), U64(0xA71B9B83461CBD93), U64(0x03488B95B0F1850F),
   U64(0x637B2B34FF93C040), U64(0x09D1BC9A3DD90A94), U64(0x3575668334A1DD3B), U64(0x735E2B97A4C45A23),
   U64(0x18727070F1BD400B), U64(0x1FCBACD259BF02E7), U64(0xD310A7C2CE9B6555), U64(0xBF983FE0FE5D8244),
   U64(0x9F74D14F7454A824), U64(0x51EBDC4AB9BA3035), U64(0x5C82C505DB9AB0FA), U64(0xFCF7FE8A3430B241),
   U64(0x3253A729B9BA3DDE), U64(0x8C74C368081B3075), U64(0xB9BC6C87167C33E7), U64(0x7EF48F2B83024E20),
   U64(0x11D505D4C351BD7F), U64(0x6568FCA92C76A243), U64(0x4DE0B0F40F32A7B8), U64(0x96D693460CC37E5D),
   U64(0x42E240CB63689F2F), U64(0x6D2BDCDAE2919661), U64(0x42880B0236E4D951), U64(0x5F0F4A5898171BB6),
   U64(0x39F890F579F92F88), U64(0x93C5B5F47356388B), U64(0x63DC359D8D231B78), U64(0xEC16CA8AEA98AD76),
   U64(0x5355F900C2A82DC7), U64(0x07FB9F855A997142), U64(0x5093417AA8A7ED5E), U64(0x7BCBC38DA25A7F3C),
   U64(0x19FC8A768CF4B6D4), U64(0x637A7780DECFC0D9), U64(0x8249A47AEE0E41F7), U64(0x79AD695501E7D1E8),
   U64(0x14ACBAF4777D5776), U64(0xF145B6BECCDEA195), U64(0xDABF2AC8201752FC), U64(0x24C3C94DF9C8D3F6),
   U64(0xBB6E2924F03912EA), U64(0x0CE26C0B95C980D9), U64(0xA49CD132BFBF7CC4), U64(0xE99D662AF4243939),
   U64(0x27E6AD7891165C3F), U64(0x8535F040B9744FF1), U64(0x54B3F4FA5F40D873), U64(0x72B12C32127FED2B),
   U64(0xEE954D3C7B411F47), U64(0x9A85AC909A24EAA1), U64(0x70AC4CD9F04F21F5), U64(0xF9B89D3E99A075C2),
   U64(0x87B3E2B2B5C907B1), U64(0xA366E5B8C54F48B8), U64(0xAE4A9346CC3F7CF2), U64(0x1920C04D47267BBD),
   U64(0x87BF02C6B49E2AE9), U64(0x092237AC237F3859), U64(0xFF07F64EF8ED14D0), U64(0x8DE8DCA9F03CC54E),
   U64(0x9C1633264DB49C89), U64(0xB3F22C3D0B0B38ED), U64(0x390E5FB44D01144B), U64(0x5BFEA5B4712768E9),
   U64(0x1E1032911FA78984), U64(0x9A74ACB964E78CB3), U64(0x4F80F7A035DAFB04), U64(0x6304D09A0B3738C4),
   U64(0x2171E64683023A08), U64(0x5B9B63EB9CEFF80C), U64(0x506AACF489889342), U64(0x1881AFC9A3A701D6),
   U64(0x6503080440750644), U64(0xDFD395339CDBF4A7), U64(0xEF927DBCF00C20F2), U64(0x7B32F7D1E03680EC),
   U64(0xB9FD7620E7316243), U64(0x05A7E8A57DB91B77), U64(0xB5889C6E15630A75), U64(0x4A750A09CE9573F7),
   U64(0xCF464CEC899A2F8A), U64(0xF538639CE705B824), U64(0x3C79A0FF5580EF7F), U64(0xEDE6C87F8477609D),
   U64(0x799E81F05BC93F31), U64(0x86536B8CF3428A8C), U64(0x97D7374C60087B73), U64(0xA246637CFF328532),
   U64(0x043FCAE60CC0EBA0), U64(0x920E449535DD359E), U64(0x70EB093B15B290CC), U64(0x73A1921916591CBD),
   U64(0x56436C9FE1A1AA8D), U64(0xEFAC4B70633B8F81), U64(0xBB215798D45DF7AF), U64(0x45F20042F24F1768),
   U64(0x930F80F4E8EB7462), U64(0xFF6712FFCFD75EA1), U64(0xAE623FD67468AA70), U64(0xDD2C5BC84BC8D8FC),
   U64(0x7EED120D54CF2DD9), U64(0x22FE545401165F1C), U64(0xC91800E98FB99929), U64(0x808BD68E6AC10365),
   U64(0xDEC468145B7605F6), U64(0x1BEDE3A3AEF53302), U64(0x43539603D6C55602), U64(0xAA969B5C691CCB7A),
   U64(0xA87832D392EFEE56), U64(0x65942C7B3C7E11AE), U64(0xDED2D633CAD004F6), U64(0x21F08570F420E565),
   U64(0xB415938D7DA94E3C), U64(0x91B859E59ECB6350), U64(0x10CFF333E0ED804A), U64(0x28AED140BE0BB7DD),
   U64(0xC5CC1D89724FA456), U64(0x5648F680F11A2741), U64(0x2D255069F0B7DAB3), U64(0x9BC5A38EF729ABD4),
   U64(0xEF2F054308F6A2BC), U64(0xAF2042F5CC5C2858), U64(0x480412BAB7F5BE2A), U64(0xAEF3AF4A563DFE43),
   U64(0x19AFE59AE451497F), U64(0x52593803DFF1E840), U64(0xF4F076E65F2CE6F0), U64(0x11379625747D5AF3),
   U64(0xBCE5D2248682C115), U64(0x9DA4243DE836994F), U64(0x066F70B33FE09017), U64(0x4DC4DE189B671A1C),
   U64(0x51039AB7712457C3), U64(0xC07A3F80C31FB4B4), U64(0xB46EE9C5E64A6E7C), U64(0xB3819A42ABE61C87),
   U64(0x21A007933A522A20), U64(0x2DF16F761598AA4F), U64(0x763C4A1371B368FD), U64(0xF793C46702E086A0),
   U64(0xD7288E012AEB8D31), U64(0xDE336A2A4BC1C44B), U64(0x0BF692B38D079F23), U64(0x2C604A7A177326B3),
   U64(0x4850E73E03EB6064), U64(0xCFC447F1E53C8E1B), U64(0xB05CA3F564268D99), U64(0x9AE182C8BC9474E8),
   U64(0xA4FC4BD4FC5558CA), U64(0xE755178D58FC4E76), U64(0x69B97DB1A4C03DFE), U64(0xF9B5B7C4ACC67C96),
   U64(0xFC6A82D64B8655FB), U64(0x9C684CB6C4D24417), U64(0x8EC97D2917456ED0), U64(0x6703DF9D2924E97E),
   U64(0xC547F57E42A7444E), U64(0x78E37644E7CAD29E), U64(0xFE9A44E9362F05FA), U64(0x08BD35CC38336615),
   U64(0x9315E5EB3A129ACE), U64(0x94061B871E04DF75), U64(0xDF1D9F9D784BA010), U64(0x3BBA57B68871B59D),
   U64(0xD2B7ADEEDED1F73F), U64(0xF7A255D83BC373F8), U64(0xD7F4F2448C0CEB81), U64(0xD95BE88CD210FFA7),
   U64(0x336F52F8FF4728E7), U64(0xA74049DAC312AC71), U64(0xA2F61BB6E437FDB5), U64(0x4F2A5CB07F6A35B3),
   U64(0x87D380BDA5BF7859), U64(0x16B9F7E06C453A21), U64(0x7BA2484C8A0FD54E), U64(0xF3A678CAD9A2E38C),
   U64(0x39B0BF7DDE437BA2), U64(0xFCAF55C1BF8A4424), U64(0x18FCF680573FA594), U64(0x4C0563B89F495AC3),
   U64(0x40E087931A00930D), U64(0x8CFFA9412EB642C1), U64(0x68CA39053261169F), U64(0x7A1EE967D27579E2),
   U64(0x9D1D60E5076F5B6F), U64(0x3810E399B6F65BA2), U64(0x32095B6D4AB5F9B1), U64(0x35CAB62109DD038A),
   U64(0xA90B24499FCFAFB1), U64(0x77A225A07CC2C6BD), U64(0x513E5E634C70E331), U64(0x4361C0CA3F692F12),
   U64(0xD941ACA44B20A45B), U64(0x528F7C8602C5807B), U64(0x52AB92BEB9613989), U64(0x9D1DFA2EFC557F73),
   U64(0x722FF175F572C348), U64(0x1D1260A51107FE97), U64(0x7A249A57EC0C9BA2), U64(0x04208FE9E8F7F2D6),
   U64(0x5A110C6058B920A0), U64(0x0CD9A497658A5698), U64(0x56FD23C8F9715A4C), U64(0x284C847B9D887AAE),
   U64(0x04FEABFBBDB619CB), U64(0x742E1E651C60BA83), U64(0x9A9632E65904AD3C), U64(0x881B82A13B51B9E2),
   U64(0x506E6744CD974924), U64(0xB0183DB56FFC6A79), U64(0x0ED9B915C66ED37E), U64(0x5E11E86D5873D484),
   U64(0xF678647E3519AC6E), U64(0x1B85D488D0F20CC5), U64(0xDAB9FE6525D89021), U64(0x0D151D86ADB73615),
   U64(0xA865A54EDCC0F019), U64(0x93C42566AEF98FFB), U64(0x99E7AFEABE000731), U64(0x48CBFF086DDF285A),
   U64(0x7F9B6AF1EBF78BAF), U64(0x58627E1A149BBA21), U64(0x2CD16E2ABD791E33), U64(0xD363EFF5F0977996),
   U64(0x0CE2A38C344A6EED), U64(0x1A804AADB9CFA741), U64(0x907F30421D78C5DE), U64(0x501F65EDB3034D07),
   U64(0x37624AE5A48FA6E9), U64(0x957BAF61700CFF4E), U64(0x3A6C27934E31188A), U64(0xD49503536ABCA345),
   U64(0x088E049589C432E0), U64(0xF943AEE7FEBF21B8), U64(0x6C3B8E3E336139D3), U64(0x364F6FFA464EE52E),
   U64(0xD60F6DCEDC314222), U64(0x56963B0DCA418FC0), U64(0x16F50EDF91E513AF), U64(0xEF1955914B609F93),
   U64(0x565601C0364E3228), U64(0xECB53939887E8175), U64(0xBAC7A9A18531294B), U64(0xB344C470397BBA52),
   U64(0x65D34954DAF3CEBD), U64(0xB4B81B3FA97511E2), U64(0xB422061193D6F6A7), U64(0x071582401C38434D),
   U64(0x7A13F18BBEDC4FF5), U64(0xBC4097B116C524D2), U64(0x59B97885E2F2EA28), U64(0x99170A5DC3115544),
   U64(0x6F423357E7C6A9F9), U64(0x325928EE6E6F8794), U64(0xD0E4366228B03343), U64(0x565C31F7DE89EA27),
   U64(0x30F5611484119414), U64(0xD873DB391292ED4F), U64(0x7BD94E1D8E17DEBC), U64(0xC7D9F16864A76E94),
   U64(0x947AE053EE56E63C), U64(0xC8C93882F9475F5F), U64(0x3A9BF55BA91F81CA), U64(0xD9A11FBB3D9808E4),
   U64(0x0FD22063EDC29FCA), U64(0xB3F256D8ACA0B0B9), U64(0xB03031A8B4516E84), U64(0x35DD37D5871448AF),
   U64(0xE9F6082B05542E4E), U64(0xEBFAFA33D7254B59), U64(0x9255ABB50D532280), U64(0xB9AB4CE57F2D34F3),
   U64(0x693501D628297551), U64(0xC62C58F97DD949BF), U64(0xCD454F8F19C5126A), U64(0xBBE83F4ECC2BDECB),
   U64(0xDC842B7E2819E230), U64(0xBA89142E007503B8), U64(0xA3BC941D0A5061CB), U64(0xE9F6760E32CD8021),
   U64(0x09C7E552BC76492F), U64(0x852F54934DA55CC9), U64(0x8107FCCF064FCF56), U64(0x098954D51FFF6580),
   U64(0x23B70EDB1955C4BF), U64(0xC330DE426430F69D), U64(0x4715ED43E8A45C0A), U64(0xA8D7E4DAB780A08D),
   U64(0x0572B974F03CE0BB), U64(0xB57D2E985E1419C7), U64(0xE8D9ECBE2CF3D73F), U64(0x2FE4B17170E59750),
   U64(0x11317BA87905E790), U64(0x7FBF21EC8A1F45EC), U64(0x1725CABFCB045B00), U64(0x964E915CD5E2B207),
   U64(0x3E2B8BCBF016D66D), U64(0xBE7444E39328A0AC), U64(0xF85B2B4FBCDE44B7), U64(0x49353FEA39BA63B1),
   U64(0x1DD01AAFCD53486A), U64(0x1FCA8A92FD719F85), U64(0xFC7C95D827357AFA), U64(0x18A6A990C8B35EBD),
   U64(0xCCCB7005C6B9C28D), U64(0x3BDBB92C43B17F26), U64(0xAA70B5B4F89695A2), U64(0xE94C39A54A98307F),
   U64(0xB7A0B174CFF6F36E), U64(0xD4DBA84729AF48AD), U64(0x2E18BC1AD9704A68), U64(0x2DE0966DAF2F8B1C),
   U64(0xB9C11D5B1E43A07E), U64(0x64972D68DEE33360), U64(0x94628D38D0C20584), U64(0xDBC0D2B6AB90A559),
   U64(0xD2733C4335C6A72F), U64(0x7E75D99D94A70F4D), U64(0x6CED1983376FA72B), U64(0x97FCAACBF030BC24),
   U64(0x7B77497B32503B12), U64(0x8547EDDFB81CCB94), U64(0x79999CDFF70902CB), U64(0xCFFE1939438E9B24),
   U64(0x829626E3892D95D7), U64(0x92FAE24291F2B3F1), U64(0x63E22C147B9C3403), U64(0xC678B6D860284A1C),
   U64(0x5873888850659AE7), U64(0x0981DCD296A8736D), U64(0x9F65789A6509A440), U64(0x9FF38FED72E9052F),
   U64(0xE479EE5B9930578C), U64(0xE7F28ECD2D49EECD), U64(0x56C074A581EA17FE), U64(0x5544F7D774B14AEF),
   U64(0x7B3F0195FC6F290F), U64(0x12153635B2C0CF57), U64(0x7F5126DBBA5E0CA7), U64(0x7A76956C3EAFB413),
   U64(0x3D5774A11D31AB39), U64(0x8A1B083821F40CB4), U64(0x7B4A38E32537DF62), U64(0x950113646D1D6E03),
   U64(0x4DA8979A0041E8A9), U64(0x3BC36E078F7515D7), U64(0x5D0A12F27AD310D1), U64(0x7F9D1A2E1EBE1327),
   U64(0xDA3A361B1C5157B1), U64(0xDCDD7D20903D0C25), U64(0x36833336D068F707), U64(0xCE68341F79893389),
   U64(0xAB9090168DD05F34), U64(0x43954B3252DC25E5), U64(0xB438C2B67F98E5E9), U64(0x10DCD78E3851A492),
   U64(0xDBC27AB5447822BF), U64(0x9B3CDB65F82CA382), U64(0xB67B7896167B4C84), U64(0xBFCED1B0048EAC50),
   U64(0xA9119B60369FFEBD), U64(0x1FFF7AC80904BF45), U64(0xAC12FB171817EEE7), U64(0xAF08DA9177DDA93D),
   U64(0x1B0CAB936E65C744), U64(0xB559EB1D04E5E932), U64(0xC37B45B3F8D6F2BA), U64(0xC3A9DC228CAAC9E9),
   U64(0xF3B8B6675A6507FF), U64(0x9FC477DE4ED681DA), U64(0x67378D8ECCEF96CB), U64(0x6DD856D94D259236),
   U64(0xA319CE15B0B4DB31), U64(0x073973751F12DD5E), U64(0x8A8E849EB32781A5), U64(0xE1925C71285279F5),
   U64(0x74C04BF1790C0EFE), U64(0x4DDA48153C94938A), U64(0x9D266D6A1CC0542C), U64(0x7440FB816508C4FE),
   U64(0x13328503DF48229F), U64(0xD6BF7BAEE43CAC40), U64(0x4838D65F6EF6748F), U64(0x1E152328F3318DEA),
   U64(0x8F8419A348F296BF), U64(0x72C8834A5957B511), U64(0xD7A023A73260B45C), U64(0x94EBC8ABCFB56DAE),
   U64(0x9FC10D0F989993E0), U64(0xDE68A2355B93CAE6), U64(0xA44CFE79AE538BBE), U64(0x9D1D84FCCE371425),
   U64(0x51D2B1AB2DDFB636), U64(0x2FD7E4B9E72CD38C), U64(0x65CA5B96B7552210), U64(0xDD69A0D8AB3B546D),
   U64(0x604D51B25FBF70E2), U64(0x73AA8A564FB7AC9E), U64(0x1A8C1E992B941148), U64(0xAAC40A2703D9BEA0),
   U64(0x764DBEAE7FA4F3A6), U64(0x1E99B96E70A9BE8B), U64(0x2C5E9DEB57EF4743), U64(0x3A938FEE32D29981),
   U64(0x26E6DB8FFDF5ADFE), U64(0x469356C504EC9F9D), U64(0xC8763C5B08D1908C), U64(0x3F6C6AF859D80055),
   U64(0x7F7CC39420A3A545), U64(0x9BFB227EBDF4C5CE), U64(0x89039D79D6FC5C5C), U64(0x8FE88B57305E2AB6),
   U64(0xA09E8C8C35AB96DE), U64(0xFA7E393983325753), U64(0xD6B6D0ECC617C699), U64(0xDFEA21EA9E7557E3),
   U64(0xB67C1FA481680AF8), U64(0xCA1E3785A9E724E5), U64(0x1CFC8BED0D681639), U64(0xD18D8549D140CAEA),
   U64(0x4ED0FE7E9DC91335), U64(0xE4DBF0634473F5D2), U64(0x1761F93A44D5AEFE), U64(0x53898E4C3910DA55),
   U64(0x734DE8181F6EC39A), U64(0x2680B122BAA28D97), U64(0x298AF231C85BAFAB), U64(0x7983EED3740847D5),
   U64(0x66C1A2A1A60CD889), U64(0x9E17E49642A3E4C1), U64(0xEDB454E7BADC0805), U64(0x50B704CAB602C329),
   U64(0x4CC317FB9CDDD023), U64(0x66B4835D9EAFEA22), U64(0x219B97E26FFC81BD), U64(0x261E4E4C0A333A9D),
   U64(0x1FE2CCA76517DB90), U64(0xD7504DFA8816EDBB), U64(0xB9571FA04DC089C8), U64(0x1DDC0325259B27DE),
   U64(0xCF3F4688801EB9AA), U64(0xF4F5D05C10CAB243), U64(0x38B6525C21A42B0E), U64(0x36F60E2BA4FA6800),
   U64(0xEB3593803173E0CE), U64(0x9C4CD6257C5A3603), U64(0xAF0C317D32ADAA8A), U64(0x258E5A80C7204C4B),
   U64(0x8B889D624D44885D), U64(0xF4D14597E660F855), U64(0xD4347F66EC8941C3), U64(0xE699ED85B0DFB40D),
   U64(0x2472F6207C2D0484), U64(0xC2A1E7B5B459AEB5), U64(0xAB4F6451CC1D45EC), U64(0x63767572AE3D6174),
   U64(0xA59E0BD101731A28), U64(0x116D0016CB948F09), U64(0x2CF9C8CA052F6E9F), U64(0x0B090A7560A968E3),
   U64(0xABEEDDB2DDE06FF1), U64(0x58EFC10B06A2068D), U64(0xC6E57A78FBD986E0), U64(0x2EAB8CA63CE802D7),
   U64(0x14A195640116F336), U64(0x7C0828DD624EC390), U64(0xD74BBE77E6116AC7), U64(0x804456AF10F5FB53),
   U64(0xEBE9EA2ADF4321C7), U64(0x03219A39EE587A30), U64(0x49787FEF17AF9924), U64(0xA1E9300CD8520548),
   U64(0x5B45E522E4B1B4EF), U64(0xB49C3B3995091A36), U64(0xD4490AD526F14431), U64(0x12A8F216AF9418C2),
   U64(0x001F837CC7350524), U64(0x1877B51E57A764D5), U64(0xA2853B80F17F58EE), U64(0x993E1DE72D36D310),
   U64(0xB3598080CE64A656), U64(0x252F59CF0D9F04BB), U64(0xD23C8E176D113600), U64(0x1BDA0492E7E4586E),
   U64(0x21E0BD5026C619BF), U64(0x3B097ADAF088F94E), U64(0x8D14DEDB30BE846E), U64(0xF95CFFA23AF5F6F4),
   U64(0x3871700761B3F743), U64(0xCA672B91E9E4FA16), U64(0x64C8E531BFF53B55), U64(0x241260ED4AD1E87D),
   U64(0x106C09B972D2E822), U64(0x7FBA195410E5CA30), U64(0x7884D9BC6CB569D8), U64(0x0647DFEDCD894A29),
   U64(0x63573FF03E224774), U64(0x4FC8E9560F91B123), U64(0x1DB956E450275779), U64(0xB8D91274B9E9D4FB),
   U64(0xA2EBEE47E2FBFCE1), U64(0xD9F1F30CCD97FB09), U64(0xEFED53D75FD64E6B), U64(0x2E6D02C36017F67F),
   U64(0xA9AA4D20DB084E9B), U64(0xB64BE8D8B25396C1), U64(0x70CB6AF7C2D5BCF0), U64(0x98F076A4F7A2322E),
   U64(0xBF84470805E69B5F), U64(0x94C3251F06F90CF3), U64(0x3E003E616A6591E9), U64(0xB925A6CD0421AFF3),
   U64(0x61BDD1307C66E300), U64(0xBF8D5108E27E0D48), U64(0x240AB57A8B888B20), U64(0xFC87614BAF287E07),
   U64(0xEF02CDD06FFDB432), U64(0xA1082C0466DF6C0A), U64(0x8215E577001332C8), U64(0xD39BB9C3A48DB6CF),
   U64(0x2738259634305C14), U64(0x61CF4F94C97DF93D), U64(0x1B6BACA2AE4E125B), U64(0x758F450C88572E0B),
   U64(0x959F587D507A8359), U64(0xB063E962E045F54D), U64(0x60E8ED72C0DFF5D1), U64(0x7B64978555326F9F),
   U64(0xFD080D236DA814BA), U64(0x8C90FD9B083F4558), U64(0x106F72FE81E2C590), U64(0x7976033A39F7D952),
   U64(0xA4EC0132764CA04B), U64(0x733EA705FAE4FA77), U64(0xB4D8F77BC3E56167), U64(0x9E21F4F903B33FD9),
   U64(0x9D765E419FB69F6D), U64(0xD30C088BA61EA5EF), U64(0x5D94337FBFAF7F5B), U64(0x1A4E4822EB4D7A59),
   U64(0x6FFE73E81B637FB3), U64(0xDDF957BC36D8B9CA), U64(0x64D0E29EEA8838B3), U64(0x08DD9BDFD96B9F63),
   U64(0x087E79E5A57D1D13), U64(0xE328E230E3E2B3FB), U64(0x1C2559E30F0946BE), U64(0x720BF5F26F4D2EAA),
   U64(0xB0774D261CC609DB), U64(0x443F64EC5A371195), U64(0x4112CF68649A260E), U64(0xD813F2FAB7F5C5CA),
   U64(0x660D3257380841EE), U64(0x59AC2C7873F910A3), U64(0xE846963877671A17), U64(0x93B633ABFA3469F8),
   U64(0xC0C0F5A60EF4CDCF), U64(0xCAF21ECD4377B28C), U64(0x57277707199B8175), U64(0x506C11B9D90E8B1D),
   U64(0xD83CC2687A19255F), U64(0x4A29C6465A314CD1), U64(0xED2DF21216235097), U64(0xB5635C95FF7296E2),
   U64(0x22AF003AB672E811), U64(0x52E762596BF68235), U64(0x9AEBA33AC6ECC6B0), U64(0x944F6DE09134DFB6),
   U64(0x6C47BEC883A7DE39), U64(0x6AD047C430A12104), U64(0xA5B1CFDBA0AB4067), U64(0x7C45D833AFF07862),
   U64(0x5092EF950A16DA0B), U64(0x9338E69C052B8E7B), U64(0x455A4B4CFE30E3F5), U64(0x6B02E63195AD0CF8),
   U64(0x6B17B224BAD6BF27), U64(0xD1E0CCD25BB9C169), U64(0xDE0C89A556B9AE70), U64(0x50065E535A213CF6),
   U64(0x9C1169FA2777B874), U64(0x78EDEFD694AF1EED), U64(0x6DC93D9526A50E68), U64(0xEE97F453F06791ED),
   U64(0x32AB0EDB696703D3), U64(0x3A6853C7E70757A7), U64(0x31865CED6120F37D), U64(0x67FEF95D92607890),
   U64(0x1F2B1D1F15F6DC9C), U64(0xB69E38A8965C6B65), U64(0xAA9119FF184CCCF4), U64(0xF43C732873F24C13),
   U64(0xFB4A3D794A9A80D2), U64(0x3550C2321FD6109C), U64(0x371F77E76BB8417E), U64(0x6BFA9AAE5EC05779),
   U64(0xCD04F3FF001A4778), U64(0xE3273522064480CA), U64(0x9F91508BFFCFC14A), U64(0x049A7F41061A9E60),
   U64(0xFCB6BE43A9F2FE9B), U64(0x08DE8A1C7797DA9B), U64(0x8F9887E6078735A1), U64(0xB5B4071DBFC73A66),
   U64(0x230E343DFBA08D33), U64(0x43ED7F5A0FAE657D), U64(0x3A88A0FBBCB05C63), U64(0x21874B8B4D2DBC4F),
   U64(0x1BDEA12E35F6A8C9), U64(0x53C065C6C8E63528), U64(0xE34A1D250E7A8D6B), U64(0xD6B04D3B7651DD7E),
   U64(0x5E90277E7CB39E2D), U64(0x2C046F22062DC67D), U64(0xB10BB459132D0A26), U64(0x3FA9DDFB67E2F199),
   U64(0x0E09B88E1914F7AF), U64(0x10E8B35AF3EEAB37), U64(0x9EEDECA8E272B933), U64(0xD4C718BC4AE8AE5F),
   U64(0x81536D601170FC20), U64(0x91B534F885818A06), U64(0xEC8177F83F900978), U64(0x190E714FADA5156E),
   U64(0xB592BF39B0364963), U64(0x89C350C893AE7DC1), U64(0xAC042E70F8B383F2), U64(0xB49B52E587A1EE60),
   U64(0xFB152FE3FF26DA89), U64(0x3E666E6F69AE2C15), U64(0x3B544EBE544C19F9), U64(0xE805A1E290CF2456),
   U64(0x24B33C9D7ED25117), U64(0xE74733427B72F0C1), U64(0x0A804D18B7097475), U64(0x57E3306D881EDB4F),
   U64(0x4AE7D6A36EB5DBCB), U64(0x2D8D5432157064C8), U64(0xD1E649DE1E7F268B), U64(0x8A328A1CEDFE552C),
   U64(0x07A3AEC79624C7DA), U64(0x84547DDC3E203C94), U64(0x990A98FD5071D263), U64(0x1A4FF12616EEFC89),
   U64(0xF6F7FD1431714200), U64(0x30C05B1BA332F41C), U64(0x8D2636B81555A786), U64(0x46C9FEB55D120902),
   U64(0xCCEC0A73B49C9921), U64(0x4E9D2827355FC492), U64(0x19EBB029435DCB0F), U64(0x4659D2B743848A2C),
   U64(0x963EF2C96B33BE31), U64(0x74F85198B05A2E7D), U64(0x5A0F544DD2B1FB18), U64(0x03727073C2E134B1),
   U64(0xC7F6AA2DE59AEA61), U64(0x352787BAA0D7C22F), U64(0x9853EAB63B5E0B35), U64(0xABBDCDD7ED5C0860),
   U64(0xCF05DAF5AC8D77B0), U64(0x49CAD48CEBF4A71E), U64(0x7A4C10EC2158C4A6), U64(0xD9E92AA246BF719E),
   U64(0x13AE978D09FE5557), U64(0x730499AF921549FF), U64(0x4E4B705B92903BA4), U64(0xFF577222C14F0A3A),
   U64(0x55B6344CF97AAFAE), U64(0xB862225B055B6960), U64(0xCAC09AFBDDD2CDB4), U64(0xDAF8E9829FE96B5F),
   U64(0xB5FDFC5D3132C498), U64(0x310CB380DB6F7503), U64(0xE87FBB46217A360E), U64(0x2102AE466EBB1148),
   U64(0xF8549E1A3AA5E00D), U64(0x07A69AFDCC42261A), U64(0xC4C118BFE78FEAAE), U64(0xF9F4892ED96BD438),
   U64(0x1AF3DBE25D8F45DA), U64(0xF5B4B0B0D2DEEEB4), U64(0x962ACEEFA82E1C84), U64(0x046E3ECAAF453CE9),
   U64(0xF05D129681949A4C), U64(0x964781CE734B3C84), U64(0x9C2ED44081CE5FBD), U64(0x522E23F3925E319E),
   U64(0x177E00F9FC32F791), U64(0x2BC60A63A6F3B3F2), U64(0x222BBFAE61725606), U64(0x486289DDCC3D6780),
   U64(0x7DC7785B8EFDFC80), U64(0x8AF38731C02BA980), U64(0x1FAB64EA29A2DDF7), U64(0xE4D9429322CD065A),
   U64(0x9DA058C67844F20C), U64(0x24C0E332B70019B0), U64(0x233003B5A6CFE6AD), U64(0xD586BD01C5C217F6),
   U64(0x5E5637885F29BC2B), U64(0x7EBA726D8C94094B), U64(0x0A56A5F0BFE39272), U64(0xD79476A84EE20D06),
   U64(0x9E4C1269BAA4BF37), U64(0x17EFEE45B0DEE640), U64(0x1D95B0A5FCF90BC6), U64(0x93CBE0B699C2585D),
   U64(0x65FA4F227A2B6D79), U64(0xD5F9E858292504D5), U64(0xC2B5A03F71471A6F), U64(0x59300222B4561E00),
   U64(0xCE2F8642CA0712DC), U64(0x7CA9723FBB2E8988), U64(0x2785338347F2BA08), U64(0xC61BB3A141E50E8C),
   U64(0x150F361DAB9DEC26), U64(0x9F6A419D382595F4), U64(0x64A53DC924FE7AC9), U64(0x142DE49FFF7A7C3D),
   U64(0x0C335248857FA9E7), U64(0x0A9C32D5EAE45305), U64(0xE6C42178C4BBB92E), U64(0x71F1CE2490D20B07),
   U64(0xF1BCC3D275AFE51A), U64(0xE728E8C83C334074), U64(0x96FBF83A12884624), U64(0x81A1549FD6573DA5),
   U64(0x5FA7867CAF35E149), U64(0x56986E2EF3ED091B), U64(0x917F1DD5F8886C61), U64(0xD20D8C88C8FFE65F),
   U64(0x31D71DCE64B2C310), U64(0xF165B587DF898190), U64(0xA57E6339DD2CF3A0), U64(0x1EF6E6DBB1961EC9),
   U64(0x70CC73D90BC26E24), U64(0xE21A6B35DF0C3AD7), U64(0x003A93D8B2806962), U64(0x1C99DED33CB890A1),
   U64(0xCF3145DE0ADD4289), U64(0xD0E4427A5514FB72), U64(0x77C621CC9FB3A483), U64(0x67A34DAC4356550B),
   U64(0xF8D626AAAF278509),
};
The array Random64 is in fact a concatenation of four subarrays 
RandomPiece     (offset:   0, length: 768)
RandomCastle    (offset: 768, length:   4) 
RandomEnPassant (offset: 772, length:   8)
RandomTurn      (offset: 780, length:   1)
"key" is a so-called "Zobrist hash function". In other words it is the exclusive or of entries taken from each of the subarrays described above. Thus we have 
key=piece^castle^enpassant^turn;

piece

"piece" is the exclusive or of entries from RandomPiece, one for each piece on the board. The offset of the entry in RandomPiece corresponding to a piece is computed as follows. 
offset_piece=64*kind_of_piece+8*row+file;
"row" and "file" are counted from 0 to 7. With this convention one has 
square      file   row
======================
a1             0     0
h1             7     0
a8             0     7
h8             7     7
"kind_of_piece" is encoded as follows 
black pawn    0
white pawn    1
black knight  2
white knight  3
black bishop  4
white bishop  5
black rook    6
white rook    7
black queen   8
white queen   9
black king   10
white king   11

castle

"castle" is the exclusive or of entries from RandomCastle. The offsets are computed as follows. 
white can castle short     0
white can castle long      1
black can castle short     2
black can castle long      3
If none of these flags apply then castle=0.

Note that these flags represent "potential future castling" as in the FEN standard even if such castling is currently not possible due to blocking pieces or enemy attacks.

In other words these flags are all true in the starting position and are only updated after the appropriate king, rook or castling moves.

en passant

If the opponent has performed a double pawn push and there is now a pawn next to it belonging to the player to move then "enpassant" is the entry from RandomEnPassant whose offset is the file of the pushed pawn (counted from 0(=a) to 7(=h)). If this does not apply then enpassant=0.

Note that this is different from the FEN standard. In the FEN standard the presence of an "en passant target square" after a double pawn push is unconditional.

Also note that it is irrelevant if the potential en passant capturing move is legal or not (examples where it would not be legal are when the capturing pawn is pinned or when the double pawn push was a discovered check).

turn

If white is to move then "turn" is the sole entry of RandomTurn. If not then "turn" is zero.

Test data

Here are some test keys. They were computed using Toga II and checked using the algorithm described above. 
starting position
FEN=rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
key=463b96181691fc9c

position after e2e4
FEN=rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq e3 0 1
key=823c9b50fd114196

position after e2e4 d75
FEN=rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq d6 0 2
key=0756b94461c50fb0

position after e2e4 d7d5 e4e5
FEN=rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3pP3/8/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2
key=662fafb965db29d4

position after e2e4 d7d5 e4e5 f7f5
FEN=rnbqkbnr/ppp1p1pp/8/3pPp2/8/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq f6 0 3
key=22a48b5a8e47ff78

position after e2e4 d7d5 e4e5 f7f5 e1e2
FEN=rnbqkbnr/ppp1p1pp/8/3pPp2/8/8/PPPPKPPP/RNBQ1BNR b kq - 0 3
key=652a607ca3f242c1

position after e2e4 d7d5 e4e5 f7f5 e1e2 e8f7
FEN=rnbq1bnr/ppp1pkpp/8/3pPp2/8/8/PPPPKPPP/RNBQ1BNR w - - 0 4
key=00fdd303c946bdd9

position after a2a4 b7b5 h2h4 b5b4 c2c4
FEN=rnbqkbnr/p1pppppp/8/8/PpP4P/8/1P1PPPP1/RNBQKBNR b KQkq c3 0 3
key=3c8123ea7b067637

position after a2a4 b7b5 h2h4 b5b4 c2c4 b4c3 a1a3
FEN=rnbqkbnr/p1pppppp/8/8/P6P/R1p5/1P1PPPP1/1NBQKBNR b Kkq - 0 4
key=5c3f9b829b279560

move

"move" is a bit field with the following meaning (bit 0 is the least significant bit) 
bits                meaning
===================================
0,1,2               to file
3,4,5               to row
6,7,8               from file
9,10,11             from row
12,13,14            promotion piece
"promotion piece" is encoded as follows 
none       0
knight     1
bishop     2
rook       3
queen      4
If the move is "0" (a1a1) then it should simply be ignored. It seems to me that in that case one might as well delete the entry from the book.

Castling moves

Castling moves are represented somewhat unconventially as follows (this convention is related to Chess960, see below). 
white short      e1h1
white long       e1a1
black short      e8h8
black long       e8a8
It is technically possible that these moves are legal non-castling moves. So before deciding that these are really castling moves the implementation may for example verify that there is really a king present on e1/e8.

weight

In the Polyglot source code this field is called "count" but it is in fact a measure for the quality of the move.

The Polyglot book generator sets it to 2*(wins)+(draws), globally scaled to fit into 16 bits. A move with a weight of zero is deleted from the book. This is just a convention and book authors are free to set this field according to their taste.

If random play is enabled in Polyglot then the probability that a move is selected is its weight divided by the sum of the weights of all the moves in the given position. In XBoard, which also supports Polyglot books, the weight can be raised to a power N (0 <= N <= infinity) before doing the probability calculation, enhancing or completely destroying the effect of the weights.

A note on zero weights

Note that older Polyglot versions are defective as to the use of zero weights, (meaning the move should never be played), and crash when they encounter them. This because of a misplaced internal consistency check, which really only made sense during book building (wich deletes all entries with zero weight from the book). Yet hand-tuning of a book often leads to the desire to completely disable a move, without deleting it. Some software approximates an entry with zero weight by giving it very low probability. This is for instance what Scid does, but it means the move will still occasionally be played. With XBoard you can edit Polyglot books to set the weight to exactly zero, as well as delete or add moves.

learn

"learn" is set to zero by the Polyglot book generator. If you set "BookLearn=true" in polyglot.ini then this field is used to record learning information. From Polyglot 2.0 on, Polyglot can also use this learn information for modulating the playing probabilities of the book moves, based on how often they were played and with how much success they met. To use this feature Polyglot should have write access to the opening book which on Unix systems will probably not be the case if the book has been installed centrally. Note that for the book to be opened for write access, the option BookLearn will have to be set before the book file is specified!

Sample code

The following sample code is released in the public domain.

Utilities

Here are a few utilities: pg_utils-0.2.tar.gz. They are released under the FreeBSD license.

Extension to Chess960

We assume that the reader is familar with the rules of Chess960 (also called Fisher Random Chess or FRC). See e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer_Random_Chess.

The Zobrist hash function used in Polyglot does not keep track of which rook has castling rights if there are multiple rooks present on the same side of the king. However it is rather unlikely that this situation would occur in the opening. So the ambiguity can be resolved in a satisfactory way by making the following convention.

Positions in which a rook has castling rights which is not an outer rook (closest to a or h file) should not be included in the book.

Nonetheless this is an unsatisfactory situation. Therefore the upcoming versions of xboard/winboard extend the Polyglot hash function in such a way that it takes into account the full castling rights in Chess960, therefore removing the need of the above disambiguating convention. This is done in a backward compatible way. I.e. ordinary chess positions or Chess960 positions in which there is no castling ambiguity will keep their old hash key.

The above declaration of RandomCastle is replaced by 

const uint64 RandomCastle[16]={
< to be filled in >
}
In this case "castle" will be the exclusive or of entries taken from RandomCastle, one for each rook that has castling rights (so at most four offsets). The offset for a rook that has castling rights is computed as follows.

Encoding of moves

A castling move is encoded as a usual move (see above) in which the "from square" is the position of the king and the "to square" is the position of the rook. This is to maintain compatibility with various Fruit derivatives.

Extension to other variants

Polyglot does not support any Chess variants other than Mad Queen and Chess960. XBoard, however, does, and has extended the definition of the Polyglot book format to cover such variants. To generalize to various board formats, it also numbers the board square in raster-scan fashion. So in Xiangqi, which has a 9x10 board, the square number equals 9*row+file, and can run upto 90. The piece numbering is also extended beyond King, keeping the alternation of white and black pieces of the same type, to accomodate unorthodox piece types. How unorthodox pieces should be mapped on numbers is not yet subject to an official standard. But variants that only the orthodox pieces (e.g. Suicide, Atomic) do not suffer from that.

To map a (piece, square) combination to a hash key, however, only the square number modulo 64 and the piece number modulo 12 is used as index in the key table. The square number divided by 64 and piece number divided by 12 is then used to decide how the retreived key should be (bit-wise) rotated to get the actual key. Square numbers in the range 64-127 rotate the key left by 8 bits, while piece values in the ranges 12-23, 24-35 and 36-47 rotate left by an additional 16, 32 or 48 bits, respectively. This is sufficient to handle boards of upto 128 squares, and up to 24 piece types.

A number derived from the variant can be XORed to the overall key, to prevent positions from variants with equal board and piece types (e.g. suicide, losers or atomic) to map to the same key, and invalidates books made for one of those for accidental use by any of the others. The table below defines the number that should be used for some common variants. Note that some variants that are mutually compatible use the same number, so that they can use the same opening book. 

 0    standard Chess (aka Mad Queen), WildCastle, NoCastle, Fischer Random Chess (aka Chess960),
 0    Xiangqi (Chinese Chess),
 6    Crazyhouse,
 7    Losers Chess,
 8    Suicide Chess, Giveaway Chess,
10    TwoKings,
12    Atomic Chess,
13    3Check,
14    Shatranj,
23    Shogi (Japanese Chess),
25    Courier Chess,
26    Gothic Chess, Capablanca Chess, Capablanca Random Chess,
28    Knightmate,
30    Cylinder Chess,
31    Falcon Chess,
33    Berolina Chess,
34    Janus Chess,
35    Superchess,
36    Great Shatranj,
38    Makruk (Thai Chess),
39    S-Chess (aka Seirawan Chess),
40    Grand Chess,
41    Spartan Chess,

For variants with holdings from which pieces can be brought (back) in play (e.g. Crazyhouse, Shogi, S-Chess), the holdings are also part of the game state, and must be encoded in the key. To do this, the holdings are considered as a single off-board square with the next available number (so square number 64 in Crazyhouse). The (piece type, square number) pair is than mapped onto a key in the same way as for on-board pieces. A complication here is that multiple pieces, possibly of the same type, can be on this 'holdings square', so that XORing the corresponding key into the total will not work. (Having two pieces of a certain type would then be indistinguishable from having none, as A XOR A equals 0 for any A!) Therefore the holdings keys are not XORed but added to the total key, after all other key terms have been taken into account through XOR.

The move encoding on large boards is fromSquare*boardSize + toSquare + boardSize*boardSize*promotionType. For large boards this might leave a shortage of promotion types, but fortunately promotions are not very common in opening theory. The meaning of the promotionType code can be variant-dependent. Especially if there is a shortage of codes, the most common promotions should receive the lowest codes. (E.g. in Grand Chess the board is 10x10, so the promotion-type multiplier is 10,000, while the 16-bit move encoding only runs upto 65,535. So there is only room for 6 promotion types, while 7 would be needed for the 6 possible piece types and non-promotion.) In asymmetric variants (e.g. Spartan Chess) the same code need not indicate the same piece type for both sides.