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Hi everyone. I decided to try SCID and see how it works on my Mac. I want to create a database for my games and analyze them. I have found plenty of lists of the highest rated free chess engines. I would like to have a couple to play against that have very distinct personalities - like maybe one that plays gambits etc. What are your favorite free chess engines to play against and favorite for analysis? Thanks for the input.
Dec 26, 2016
0
#2
All engines are pure calculation. There isn't an engine's distinct style of play. Komodo 10 is the strongest engine but it costs around $50. The semi-new Stockfish 8 is my personal favorite and it's free. Here is the link: https://stockfishchess.org/
Hope this helps!
Dec 26, 2016
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#3
I'm not a Mac user, so I can't help you very much. You may have seen the engine lists for Macs; They may be a little out of date.
http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:macintosh_engine_list
http://julien.marcel.free.fr/macchess/Chess_on_Mac/Engines.html
For playing, you might try out Rodent II. It has a lot of personalities, and you can create your own:
http://www.pkoziol.cal24.pl/rodent/rodent.htm
Like raintong said, Stockfish would be good for analysis, and you can even dumb it down for playing against it. However, it's not very tweakable.
Dec 26, 2016
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#4
To have one of them play gambits you'll need to use an opening book that is weighted towards gambits. It could be quite a bit of work creating one or modifying an existing book by weighting it.
I could possibly locate you an example or two elsewhere, but i am also not a mac user and don't know enough about how your software would work on it. Could you tell me what format an opening book would take?
Dec 26, 2016
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#5
I'm guessing that Scid uses the Polyglot opening book format. Scid vs. PC uses Polyglot opening books, and the Scid web site mentions some Wiki To-Do work on Polyglot book documentation.
I don't think there are a lot of gambit polyglot opening books out there. I found one here (I haven't tried it; I know nothing about it):
The ph-gambitbook.bin: http://talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?start=0&t=36090&topic_view=flat
I also found a gambit pgn opening book (Noomen Gambit Lines 2015.pgn) that could be converted to a polyglot book if you know how to do it:
http://www.rebel13.nl/download/books.html
I'm now using SCID vs Mac, but I'm very new with it. I'm not sure what the opening book format is, but I will look into it. I'm assuming the opening book is different than the database of games? I just learned how to add that and it takes pgn files. What engines are more tweakable than Stockfish?
I will try Rodent II out. Thanks for all the links.
Dec 26, 2016
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#8
EscherehcsE wrote:
I'm guessing that Scid uses the Polyglot opening book format. Scid vs. PC uses Polyglot opening books, and the Scid web site mentions some Wiki To-Do work on Polyglot book documentation.
I don't think there are a lot of gambit polyglot opening books out there. I found one here (I haven't tried it; I know nothing about it):
The ph-gambitbook.bin: http://talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?start=0&t=36090&topic_view=flat
I also found a gambit pgn opening book (Noomen Gambit Lines 2015.pgn) that could be converted to a polyglot book if you know how to do it:
Indeed, Jeroen's was just one book i had in mind...
Dec 27, 2016
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#9
I converted the Noomen gambit book to polyglot format (It has a .bin file extension). Enjoy.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/uxpcgh
Just point your browser to the above link, and click on the blue "Download" button. Use your system's "Save File" feature, as Sendspace doesn't appear to like download managers. That's all you have to do.
Thank you EscherehcsE!
Dec 28, 2016
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#11
You're welcome!
Oh, I forgot to mention book tuning. Assuming that Scid vs. Mac works the same as Scid vs. PC, you can change the weightings in the book by using Scid's book tuning feature. (Tools --> Book tuning).
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