WB heros please take a bow !

[Sean Evans]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Sean Evans at 02 July 2000 23:38:18:
Hello group,
I have been playing computer chess since 1990 when I bought my first small hand held rated maybe 1800 - 2000 ELO. I would like to comment on a few 'key' individuals who have added to computer chess in particular Winboard and their engines, without charge.
What inspired me to do so was an email I sent to 'Mogens Chr. Larsen', I asked him if he new a webpage that was better than 'zippy.readme'. He stated that he knew of one, but I had to read German. I wrote back to him and requested if he could have it translated by tomorrow -:). Guess What !! I had an email in my inbox within a couple of hours and he informed me it was translated and here is the link:
http://home1.stofanet.dk/Moq/Config.htm
Simply amazing !! This person deserves public thx from me and here it is:
Thank you very much, your a great asset to computer chess and WB !!
I would like to also mention special thx to Frank Quisinsky for his incredible web page, answering my email questions promptly, courteously and normally with the correct answer ! This person deserves to be publicly thanked ! Thank you, I only wish I could offer more praise than I have you are an incredible asset to computer chess and WB fans !!
Two other people who have also gone above and beyond the call of duty are Dann Corbit and Dr. Hyatt, thx for answering 'my' questions and providing so much support to people in the computer chess community !!
I am sure there are many others who have written free engines and so forth that deserve thx, but there are simply to many to mention.
My first top program was MChess Pro 5 which I paid an incredible $ 199 Canadian for in 1995. Now I get many programs for FREE !! Wow, this whole computer chess thing has gotten to the point of amazing !
Keep up the great work,
Thx,
Sean Evans

[Mogens Larsen]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Mogens Larsen at 03 July 2000 12:23:15:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: WB heros please take a bow ! geschrieben von: / posted by: Sean Evans at 02 July 2000 23:38:18:

Hello group,
I have been playing computer chess since 1990 when I bought my first small hand held rated maybe 1800 - 2000 ELO. I would like to comment on a few 'key' individuals who have added to computer chess in particular Winboard and their engines, without charge.
What inspired me to do so was an email I sent to 'Mogens Chr. Larsen', I asked him if he new a webpage that was better than 'zippy.readme'. He stated that he knew of one, but I had to read German. I wrote back to him and requested if he could have it translated by tomorrow -:). Guess What !! I had an email in my inbox within a couple of hours and he informed me it was translated and here is the link:
http://home1.stofanet.dk/Moq/Config.htm
Simply amazing !! This person deserves public thx from me and here it is:
Thank you very much, your a great asset to computer chess and WB !!

Hello Sean,
Thank you very much for your kind words, but it wasn't that big a deal. Previously, I had fiddled with that exact problem, so that I could play against Volker at FICS. It didn't take a lot of work translating my effort into a (hopefully) understandable text. The next project hasn't been determined yet, so ideas would be more than welcome. I was thinking about instructions for bookcreation, but that is generally very easy if you've got a good pgnfile. The only slightly tricky program is Little Goliath.
Best wishes...
Mogens

[Sean]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Sean at 03 July 2000 14:33:33:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: Re: WB heros please take a bow ! geschrieben von: / posted by: Mogens Larsen at 03 July 2000 12:23:15:

Hello Sean,
Thank you very much for your kind words, but it wasn't that big a deal. Previously, I had fiddled with that exact problem, so that I could play against Volker at FICS. It didn't take a lot of work translating my effort into a (hopefully) understandable text. The next project hasn't been determined yet, so ideas would be more than welcome. I was thinking about instructions for bookcreation, but that is generally very easy if you've got a good pgnfile. The only slightly tricky program is Little Goliath.
Best wishes...
Mogens

Yes, one question I would like answered is if I had a (C)omputer account how could I save 'all' of my games when it is playing on 'auto-accept' and I am not in attendance.
Another would be how to send out pre-set auto-seeks such as '1 2' '5 2' etc... at an ICS when I am not in attendance.
Also, I have heard rumours that Shredder 5, will be WB and ICS friendly, perhaps if we put our heads together we could make a suggestion list of what we would like in it for ourselves and send it to the author. My feeling is he will release it in the fall just before the Christmas buying rush. If we can get a complete list of what WB and ICS users want this could be the template for what other WB engines should be shooting for.
As well, if Shredder 5 sales increase due to WB and ICS friendliness, hopefully other programs like Chessbase engines, Rebel, MChess etc. will jump on the band wagon. If you go here:
http://www.rebel.nl/ect-reb1.htm
You can see that Ed is attempting virtually any angle to increase sales and he has dropped the price to $ 39.95. What is happening is computer chess is becoming a 'maturing market' and the competition is fierce, so let's try to help them so they can help us, I am certain that the programmers would listen.
Things I would like to see in Shredder 5.0 are:
- ability to hookup to WB;
- ICS friendly;
- flexibility to use 'many' well known 'plug-ins' such as, Nalimov, Thompson, 'any' pre-created opening book I wish to use;
- ability to save games automatically to a database when set to auto-mode on an ICS.
- Sell Shredder 5.0 separately from Millenium at a fair price $US 40 to $US 50
I hope others will jump on this thread that know more about WB than I do and start making suggestions, I would be happy to send an email to the author with our suggestions, I am 'sure' that constructive helpful advice of this nature would be welcomed, particularly if it will increase sales of 'their' product.
Currently I have many chess engines that can beat me so why do I need another, what I need is some flexibility so I can do the things that "I" want. I think Chessbase should be seriously considering all of the above points, as well.
Stay in touch,
Sean

[Mogens Larsen]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Mogens Larsen at 03 July 2000 14:47:23:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: Re: WB heros please take a bow ! geschrieben von: / posted by: Sean at 03 July 2000 14:33:33:

Yes, one question I would like answered is if I had a (C)omputer account how could I save 'all' of my games when it is playing on 'auto-accept' and I am not in attendance.
Another would be how to send out pre-set auto-seeks such as '1 2' '5 2' etc... at an ICS when I am not in attendance.

When I connected to FICS the first time, a WinBoard.ini file was created in my Fics directory. You just have to edit that file. Find something like
/saveGameFile="C:\Engines\Fics\Fics.pgn" (example)
and alter it to your satisfaction. That goes for board size and various other things as well.
Would
set seek 1 2
set seek 5 2
in your ICS.ini work?
Sorry, but I'm no chess server expert.
Best wishes...
Mogens

[Sean]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Sean at 03 July 2000 15:13:09:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: Re: WB heros please take a bow ! geschrieben von: / posted by: Mogens Larsen at 03 July 2000 14:47:23:

Yes, one question I would like answered is if I had a (C)omputer account how could I save 'all' of my games when it is playing on 'auto-accept' and I am not in attendance.
Another would be how to send out pre-set auto-seeks such as '1 2' '5 2' etc... at an ICS when I am not in attendance.

When I connected to FICS the first time, a WinBoard.ini file was created in my Fics directory. You just have to edit that file. Find something like
/saveGameFile="C:\Engines\Fics\Fics.pgn" (example)
and alter it to your satisfaction.
That goes for board size and various other things as well.
Would
set seek 1 2
set seek 5 2
in your ICS.ini work?
Sorry, but I'm no chess server expert.
Best wishes...
Mogens

Wow, is it really that easy, I am going to try that soon !
These are the types of things you may wish to add to your newly created 'zippy' webpage, the simple little commands that many us of don't know yet, but could create if known about !
Well the board size I set with the WB drop and click commands, it stays at that size automatically, sort of a flexible pre-set.
Unfortuately, I am not a programmer, the same as you, if a programmer sat down and worked on WB, they could really come out with some powerful tools for endusers. Everybody focuses so much on their engines, they forget about the GUI -:)
Thx,
Sean

[pete]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: pete at 03 July 2000 16:57:15:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: Re: WB heros please take a bow ! geschrieben von: / posted by: Sean at 03 July 2000 14:33:33:

Yes, one question I would like answered is if I had a (C)omputer account how could I save 'all' of my games when it is playing on 'auto-accept' and I am not in attendance.
Another would be how to send out pre-set auto-seeks such as '1 2' '5 2' etc... at an ICS when I am not in attendance.

easiest is add -sgf "youraccóunt.pgn" to your startup link which will save every game you play on server in this file ; another way is "set automail 1 " which will send every game per email to you
As for ICC
+al gameend ; see 1 2 ; see 5 2
gameend

added in a file "youraccount.ini" and add -icslogon youraccount.ini to your startup link or just type those commands at ICC ; as for FICS I don't know ; I think they don't support multi commands ?!

[Sean]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Sean at 03 July 2000 18:45:47:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: Re: WB heros please take a bow ! geschrieben von: / posted by: pete at 03 July 2000 16:57:15:

Yes, one question I would like answered is if I had a (C)omputer account how could I save 'all' of my games when it is playing on 'auto-accept' and I am not in attendance.
Another would be how to send out pre-set auto-seeks such as '1 2' '5 2' etc... at an ICS when I am not in attendance.

easiest is add -sgf "youraccóunt.pgn" to your startup link which will save every game you play on server in this file ; another way is "set automail 1 " which will send every game per email to you
As for ICC
+al gameend ; see 1 2 ; see 5 2
gameend

added in a file "youraccount.ini" and add -icslogon youraccount.ini to your startup link or just type those commands at ICC ; as for FICS I don't know ; I think they don't support multi commands ?!

Y'ah thx, I shall try some of these out, I would suggest those of you that know all these little commands to send them to Mogens Larsen new Zippy webpage so people can see them all without having to ask people over and over again.
Cheers,
Sean