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Subject: Winboard vs. UCI - Playing on chess servers

Author: Russell Reagan

Date: 13:38:07 10/28/04


I guess this is directed mainly at engine authors, but also anyone else who runs
Winboard or UCI engines on a chess server. When I say "Winboard", I am referring
to the Winboard/XBoard protocol, not Winboard the GUI.

What are your experiences with using these protocols for playing on chess
servers?

Winboard has commands to communicate with the server, while UCI does not. Here
are some things I would be concerned about using UCI on a chess server.

* Issuing seek commands periodically
* Accepting or offering draws
* Resigning
* Accepting or rejecting match commands

There are probably more concerns I am overlooking, but you get the idea. Are
there solutions to these problems? Or do those of you who use UCI engines on
chess servers not find these to be much of a problem?

Also, I remember that some GUIs offer some workarounds for UCI engines playing
on a chess server. I think maybe it was ChessPartner (anyone know?) that you
could configure the GUI to issue seek commands for the UCI engine, and things
like that.

What GUI would you recommend for running a UCI engine on a chess server such as
ICC or FICS (either free or commercial)? Or would you recommend just using
Winboard?



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