Author: CLiebert
Date: 23:54:42 05/31/99
THE HIARCS7.32-WINBOARD-REPORT V 1-6-1999
- copy from www.computerschach.de/forum -
One of the most interesting functions of the Fritz5.32/Hiarcs7.32-GUI is the
support of winboard-engines. Time to make a new summary.
Used Winboard-beta engine: 1-17-99 , 22528 KB,
used surface: Hiarcs7.32, May 99
A discription how to use the winboard-engine you will find at
www.chessbase.com.
A lot of winboard engines and information you will find at
www.computerschach.de
www.computerschach.de/forum
THESE WB-/AMATEUR-ENGINES ARE WORKING WITH HIARCS 7.32
(no ranking list)
1 CRAFTY16.06 with TableBases-Support
by R. Hyatt
ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu/pub/hyatt
fritz-engine, on the h7.32-cd or at www.chessbase.com
wb-engine (16-8) is weaker under fritz (0,5-1,0 ply less depth)
The strongest free-engine for fritz!
2. LITTLE GOLIATH GOLD 2.05
by Michael Borgstaedt,
http://www.computerschach.de
The second best problem-solving-engine behind fritz,
may be even the very best (including the professionals)!
DOWNLOAD NOW AVAILABLE
More details about the lgg-history and latest changes in css 3/99
3. THE CRAZY BISHOP 0043
Author Rémi Coulom
www-leibnitz.imag.fr/~coulom
Strong french engine. Sometimes there are problems with LGG,
which doesn´t unload when tcb is playing in the same tournament?!
It it is recommend to watch the cpu-allocation with wintop!
Some more details in css 3/99
4. COMET B02
by U. Tuerke,
www.chessbase.com
fritz-engine on the hiarcs-cd and at the cb-homepage,
wb-engine plays weaker under fritz
Some more details in css 3/99
5. PHALANX XXI
Copyright (c) 1997, 1998 Dusan Dobes
- ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/games/strategy/
- ftp://ftp.math.muni.cz/pub/math/people/Dobes/
6. GROMIT 2.13
by Frank Schneider
http://home.t-online.de/home/hobblefrank
Interview with Frank Schneider in css 3/99
7. SSECHESSII 2.02
by S. Slutzky
http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/slutzksn/chess.html
8. TRISTRAM 4.1.2.
by James F. Long
http://home.fda.net/~wzrdking
9. CILIAN 4.13
www.cent.co.yu/chess
http://www.computerschach.de
by François Scheurer
works (eng-eng, too) with these settings:
[Parameter]
CommandLine = -xboard -mvnw
Debug = False
[Support]
AnalyzeMode = False or True
PonderMode = False (True: Eng-Eng st. doesn t work)
it moves a too fast, f. ex. always after a 0,5-1s in 5m/game.
St. it refuses unloading.
Changes 4.13, 26th Apr. 1999:
-little fix in the extension search (bug);
-little improvement in the extension search;
-Opennings Book implemented (new).
10. OLITHINK 2.2.1
(c) 1998 Oliver Brausch,
http://www.phy.uni-bayreuth.de/~btp434/
11. ZCHESS 1.2
by Fank Zibi
http://www.worldnet.net/~fzibi/zchess.htm
[Support]
AnalyzeMode = True
PonderMode = False
12.ARASAN 5.x
www.computerschach.de
jdart@best.com.
13. FORTRESS 1.52
www.cent.co.yu/chess
no permanent brain (info)
settings:
[Parameter]
CommandLine = -xboard -mvnow
Engine = Fortress 1.52
Author =
Debug = False
14. ANT 3.61
by Tom Vijlbrief (tom.vijlbrief@knoware.nl)
AVAILABLE NOW at www.computerschach.de
(3.61 vs. 3.60: better connection to fritz)
Dutch engine, working with hiarcs/fritz now!
15. Bionic Impact 4.01
http://www.impakt.be/bionic/download
16. Inmichess 2.15
copyright 1998 by Inmann Werner
werner.inmann@magnet.at
http://members.magnet.at/werner.inmann
the second newcomer for fritz!
17. LA DAME BLANCHE 2.0c
by M.-P. Huget
www.????
It works with:
[Parameter]
CommandLine = xb hash 8
Engine = LaDameBlanche 2.0c
Author = Marc-Philipe Huget
Debug = false
[Support]
AnalyzeMode = True
PonderMode = True
CastleAndEP = False
18. GNUCHESS
J. Stanback
available with winboard
19. EXCHESS 2.51
Dan Homan
Fritz-engine on fritz5.32 cd
Wb-engine available too (see www.chessbase.com)
20. DOCTOR 3.0?
Dr. H.-J. Kraas + Dr. G. Schrüfer
Fritz-engine on h7.32 cd
REMARKS
Crafty, Comet, Exchess are available in two versions: as winboard-engines (with
adapter for fritz) and as fritz-engines (like hiarcs or junior). Doctor is the
only amateurengine with no wb-version (in this list). Some wb-engines are
playing weaker using the adapter (for ex. Zchess, Crafty, Bionic or Gromit).
To my mind it doesn t matter. For playing with a maximum of strenght you should
choose hiarcs, junior or fritz and not one of these engines. The interessing
point for me is the differnence of style and the challenge to beat engines like
gromit or zchess (not easy!) on my own. For researching the real elo-perfromance
(whats this??) you should use the winboard interface!
Together with 5 Fritz-Engines (5.16, 5.32, 4.01, 3.01, 1.2), 2 Junior (4.6,
5.0), 3 Hiarcs- (7.32, 6.0, 4.0) and the Nimzo-Engine99 we have so far 32
Engines (minimum - not counting several versions of Crafty, Exchess, Comet,
etc.). 24 Engines of different authors! And there are still a few more engines
which are not public yet (f. ex. Patzer).
Programmers who would like to discuss details and problems should email to
chessbase (see website and the following info). If you find mistakes, if you
have tips, ideas or tricks to avoid special problems please feel free to email.
Hope you enjoy these informations...
BEST WISHES
FROM HAMBURG / GER
CHRISTIAN LIEBERT
More infos you will find in CSS 1/99 and CSS 3/99 (german)
Technical side of the Winboard Interface (Chessbase)
Dear chess software developer,
Fritz 5.32, Nimzo99, and ChessBase 7.0 support the Winboard interface. If you
would like to make your engine compatible with those programs, please have a
look at the below specifications.
Here's what you need:
Mandatory:
"new" (some programs don't have that, they won't work)
"edit" - "#" - "c" - "."
"force"
"go" - "?"
"level"
"quit"
Special cases:
- "hard" - "easy" (pondering has to be off; you may ignore it if this is the
default)
- "post" (only if this isn't default; you may ignore it if this is the default)
Additional:
- "analyze" - "exit" (print an error message like: "Error (unknown command):
analyze" if you don't have it)
- "white" - "black" (may be ignored if Tim Mann's way works)
- "ponder" (new command, only used if activated through initfile)
- "fritz" (sent once as first command, engine may switch state to be better
support our interface)
- "reset" (clear the hashtables, and other chess related information)
If you don't support some of the winboard keywords, please don't implement them
with a different meaning. Please read Tim Mann's Chess Engine Communication
Protocol from Jun 12 1998 for further information.
Please note that the Fritz interface has a different logic compared to Winboard.
Before any computation is started the engine will receive a "new", "edit" (if
it's a position), "force" (if there are moves), and all moves of the game. Then
the engine will receive "level n t p" (n=moves left for next time control,
t=time left for next time control, p=additional time per move). Then "hard",
"easy" to switch off pondering ("new" may trigger it again, I want to be sure).
The analysis is started with "go", or "analyze". "?" is used to stop a search if
necessary. To be sure, "white" or "black" is sent before "go", but you may
ignore it. If black is to start, the interface also uses Tim Mann's way of
"new", "a2a3", "edit", furthermore it will always leave "edit" with the colour
to move.
You should switch off the logfile (Crafty starts a new logfile with every "new"
otherwise). You shouldn't implement Winboard commands with different meanings
(Some engines use "exit" to quit the program, and "?" to show help).
There is a special command for pondering which was suggested by Crafty. If the
engine doesn't support this command a suboptimal pondering will be used. A
standard search will be started in this, so the opponent time may not be fully
used.
Enhancements:
1. For coding of mate values please use Steven J. Edwards' proposal in his EPD
specification. (mate value is 32767; 32767-1 is #1, -32767+2 is -#1, 32767-3 is
#2, -32767+4 is -#2, etc.)
2. The first command sent to the engine is "fritz", the second is "xboard".
3. I introduced a new command "ponder e2e4"; this command is sent instead of
"go" if the engine should start pondering. The engine should execute the move
and start pondering on it. If the user plays that move, the move is sent.
4. There are two new edit commands "castle <castleright>" and "ep <square>";
castleright is one of the following: +w00, -w00, +w000, -w000, +b00, -b00,
+b000, -b000; the "+" commands are superfluous since there's only a point in
disabling a possible castle, but sent anyway. <square> is the targetsquare of
the ep move, so it's a3..h3 if black to move and a6..h6 if white to move. You
have to activate this through the init-file.
5. Please don't clear the hashtables with "new", otherwise the engine may lose
information. There's a specific command to clear the hashtables and other chess
related information: "reset", which is used in tactical test suites, not during
games or analyzing. Please note that current versions of Fritz 5.32 won't send
this command yet. We will introduce it in the future because some programmers
critisized that Fritz never actively resets the hash tables by himself and so
tactical test suites might become indeterministic.
Shortcomings:
1. We found no way to set the ep square or the castle flags. So after "edit"
it's always assumed that all possible castle are legal, and ep is always reset.
The former may actually cause illegal moves in Fritz (which are detected and
cause no further problems), but that can't be helped. Luckily these cases are
rare. And most games will start from the starting position anyway.
2. Pondering may stop before the opponent made a move and if the ponder command
is not supported. This won't cause problems, but the thinking time is not used
optimal. In most cases it doesn't matter.
3. Some engines may not be suited perfectly to get the whole information with
every position to search, they where written to work best incrementally. For
example hashtables may be cleared with "new". Solution: Simply do not clear your
hashtables when you know you are in Fritz mode (first command was Fritz, see
above).
Initfile:
[Parameter]
CommandLine = {add command line parameters, if any}
Author = {insert your name}
Engine = {the name displayed in Fritz}
Debug = True/False {if True, a console window with the output of the engine is
opened}
[Support]
AnalyzeMode = True/False {if True, engine supports "analyze", i.e. infinite
mode}
PonderMode = True/False {if True, engine supports new command "ponder e2e4"}
CastleAndEP = True/False {if True, engine supports new edit commands castle and
ep}
This is a draft of the interface, comments of chess programmers are very
welcome.
Mathias Feist
ChessBase GmbH, 17.12.98
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