  We develop an efficient algorithm, coordinate descent FCI (CDFCI), for the
electronic structure ground state calculation in the configuration interaction
framework. CDFCI solves an unconstrained non-convex optimization problem, which
is a reformulation of the full configuration interaction eigenvalue problem,
via an adaptive coordinate descent method with a deterministic compression
strategy. CDFCI captures and updates appreciative determinants with different
frequencies proportional to their importance. We show that CDFCI produces
accurate variational energy for both static and dynamic correlation by
benchmarking the binding curve of nitrogen dimer in the cc-pVDZ basis with
$10^{-3}$ mHa accuracy. We also demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of
CDFCI for strongly correlated chromium dimer in the Ahlrichs VDZ basis and
produces state-of-the-art variational energy.
