From 5b068c96d286fa350baf426ee9f2e9e20ebc8313 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Robert Nurnberg <28635489+robertnurnberg@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 24 May 2026 14:20:31 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Play the optimal DTM move if we can

These days Stockfish at TCEC often plays trivial endgames badly, failing to find a mate score as well. This patch helps Stockfish in those situations, by forcing it to play an optimal DTM move if we can deduce it from the DTZ tables. That is, when the only zeroing move is the checkmate itself.

Hence this PR checks if there are no pawns left to push and if there are no captures or sacrifices possible that would maintain a win. Example positions where this applies are KQvK, KRvK, KBBvK and KNBvK.

The change will also lead to optimal Syzygy PV extensions once the PV enters the "known DTM" territory.

The patch should help mitigate issue #6742.

closes https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/pull/6843

No functional change
---
 src/syzygy/tbprobe.cpp | 7 +++++++
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/syzygy/tbprobe.cpp b/src/syzygy/tbprobe.cpp
index b3a7b3a6c..27d4f7cb3 100644
--- a/src/syzygy/tbprobe.cpp
+++ b/src/syzygy/tbprobe.cpp
@@ -1763,6 +1763,13 @@ Config Tablebases::rank_root_moves(const OptionsMap&            options,
 
     if (config.cardinality >= popcount(pos.pieces()) && !pos.can_castle(ANY_CASTLING))
     {
+        // Use DTZ to rank the moves if checkmate is the only zeroing move
+        rankDTZ =
+          rankDTZ
+          || (!pos.pieces(PAWN)
+              && (popcount(pos.pieces()) == 3
+                  || (popcount(pos.pieces()) == 4 && !(pos.pieces(QUEEN) | pos.pieces(ROOK)))));
+
         // Rank moves using DTZ tables, bail out if time_abort flags zeitnot
         config.rootInTB =
           root_probe(pos, rootMoves, options["Syzygy50MoveRule"], rankDTZ, time_abort);