MLA 3.0 preview 1 is released (i.e. not the stable version yet), you
can download it at:

http://mogwai.lunarpages.com/lovely

It includes the current status of my ongoing work on openings in the
abalone game. The included opening book includes the top ten moves
calculated by MLA at depth=10 for each of the two first moves from
each side.

You can have this opening book used by the MLA engine by ticking the
appropriate box in the preferences (be careful if you pick the 3.0.2
engine version it will crash with the opening book ...).

If the opening book is used, the engine picks its moves from the
opening book based on an evaluation "window" (i.e. moves no degrading
the "best line" too much).

If you want to include this opening book in your engine ask me for
the file and the file format description (pretty straight forward).

Enjoy!

Mogwai.