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Subject: Re: Draw, WinBoard and ics

Author: Tim Mann

Date: 11:50:08 02/24/01

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On February 24, 2001 at 08:12:33, Frank Phillips wrote:

>My understanding is that the opponent may offer a draw only after making a move
>ie when it is my engine?s turn to move.

No, the opponent can offer a draw at any time.  FIDE rules about offering draws
are more restrictive, but you seem to be asking about WinBoard and ICS.

>I set a flag to acknowledge the draw offer and _after_ completing the search,
>decide whether to accept the draw _or_ move.  If I wish to accept, there does
>not seem to be a way to force my opponent to accept my acceptance of their
>offer.

Right, you can't do that.  This comes out of the protocol for draw offers on
ICS, which WinBoard has to be compatible with.  Either player can offer a draw,
*or withdraw his offer* at any time.  If both players offer, then ICS declares
the game to be drawn.

So if you want to accept a draw offer in the WinBoard protocol, the way to do it
is to send "offer draw" yourself, but then keep on moving in case your opponent
withdrew his offer.  If the offers match up, you'll be told that the game ended
by being given a "result" command.

>Ie I have to also make a move and wait for them to accept my "offer
>draw" command.

Sort of; more precisely, you have to wait for ICS or WinBoard (think of it as
the "tournament director") to confirm that you have both offered a draw.

By the way, the chess-engines mailing list is a better place to ask tough
questions about the WinBoard and ICS protocols.  See
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chess-engines/.  Sometimes I don't read CCC for
long periods and I miss questions asked here.

	--Tim



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