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Subject: Re: UCI versus Winboard

Author: Steve Maughan

Date: 01:59:37 08/22/02

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Dann,

>First off, I would like the protocol manager (e.g. Winboard/Arena/Whatever) to
>be able to manage/not-manage the opening book,

You can do this using UCI - but to your final point at the end of your email -
it would be great if we could have a standard opening book editor that could
produce an opening book useable by any GUI.

>EGTB files, etc.

You can do this using UCI

>I would like it to know if someone claims an illegal move that the move really
>was or was not illegal.

Doesn't WB and UCI already do this?

>I would like the protocol manager to be able to manage tournaments.

Shouldn't this surely be the job of the GUI not the protocol?

>This is such a common need that I am surprised it is missing.
>
>Some of the roles of chess engines are foolishly redundant.  Why must ever
>program on earth write an interface to the Nalimov tablebase files?  Isn't one
>good implementation enough if we put it into the protocol manager?

Do you mean the code allowing the engine to interface with the tablebases while
searching?  UCI already point each engine at the tablebases.  If you do mean the
search interface code then I'd say this is an engine specific problem.  However,
it could be improved by better interface documentation and DLLs for the Nalminov
code.


>The response
>is:
>"That's not the role of the protocol manager."
>My response is:
>"It should be.  Let's call it the 'game executive' instead."

Doing queries on the Nalminov tablebases while searching is, IMHO, more than
being a 'game executive'.  It's like asking a tournament arbitrator if he
wouldn't mind look in his library to see if an endgame is solved!

>I would also like to see a formal specification for opening books standardized.
>You can still manage your own book if you like, but it would be nice to have
>some ready made interface for this tedious task.

Yes I agree.  It would be nice to have an opening book editor that could be used
by anyone.

Regards,

Steve



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