Chess Engines & GUI, UCI ???

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DunnoItAll

GUI = Graphical User Interface, UCI = Universal Chess Interface.  A GUI is just the stuff you see that lets you interact with a program.  For instance, the GUI in your web-browser is mostly the home, forward and back buttons, and the address bar.

Chess engines are like the engines in a car, while the steering wheel and gas pedals, etc. are like the GUI.  They are both pretty useless by themselves.  You put an engine inside a GUI and control the engine with the GUI.  Arena is an exampl of a GUI for chess engines.  There are many good ones (and some that are a little easier to use than Arena that I might recommend, but that's really up to you).  UCI is the protocol that most engines use to communicate with the GUI.

As far as analysis scores, the standard way to do it is white is + and black is -, but there are programs out there that display it as the side to move is + and the other side is -.  So if your evaluation is alternating from + to - every single half-move, that is probably what's up.

Depth = how many half-moves ahead the computer has calculated

kN/sec = kilonodes per second, basically (I think) how many thousand positions per second the computer is evaluating.

tablebases = a set of completely solved positions.  You will see references to 6-man tablebases.  This means that every single possible position with up to 6 chess pieces on the board is 100% solved and doesn't require calculation to see how it evaluates--you just look up the answer in a big database.

Opening books = starting from the opening position, an opening book is just a set of preferred moves in each possible position.  An opening book can be as simple as just one move.  Say, e4.  Or it could be e4 then if c5, you play Nf3.  All the way up to extremely deep and wide trees of moves, all starting from the opening position.  It saves a lot of calculation in very well known positions and also helps shore up a weakness of a lot of engines (opening play).

idreesarif
DunnoItAll wrote:

GUI = Graphical User Interface, UCI = Universal Chess Interface.  A GUI is just the stuff you see that lets you interact with a program.  For instance, the GUI in your web-browser is mostly the home, forward and back buttons, and the address bar.

Chess engines are like the engines in a car, while the steering wheel and gas pedals, etc. are like the GUI.  They are both pretty useless by themselves.  You put an engine inside a GUI and control the engine with the GUI.  Arena is an exampl of a GUI for chess engines.  There are many good ones (and some that are a little easier to use than Arena that I might recommend, but that's really up to you).  UCI is the protocol that most engines use to communicate with the GUI.

As far as analysis scores, the standard way to do it is white is + and black is -, but there are programs out there that display it as the side to move is + and the other side is -.  So if your evaluation is alternating from + to - every single half-move, that is probably what's up.

Depth = how many half-moves ahead the computer has calculated

kN/sec = kilonodes per second, basically (I think) how many thousand positions per second the computer is evaluating.

tablebases = a set of completely solved positions.  You will see references to 6-man tablebases.  This means that every single possible position with up to 6 chess pieces on the board is 100% solved and doesn't require calculation to see how it evaluates--you just look up the answer in a big database.

Opening books = starting from the opening position, an opening book is just a set of preferred moves in each possible position.  An opening book can be as simple as just one move.  Say, e4.  Or it could be e4 then if c5, you play Nf3.  All the way up to extremely deep and wide trees of moves, all starting from the opening position.  It saves a lot of calculation in very well known positions and also helps shore up a weakness of a lot of engines (opening play).

thnx v much

easier GUIs plz .....

DunnoItAll

I think the simplest one is Tarrasch GUI.  Very easy and clean:

http://www.triplehappy.com/

Lucas Chess is also very good, but has a lot more features and you have to look around to find stuff a bit more:

http://lucaschess.host22.com/

RobotDaneelOlivaw
[COMMENT DELETED]
idreesarif

btw what happened to the arena website ?????????

DunnoItAll
idreesarif wrote:

btw what happened to the arena website ?????????

Looks fine.

http://playwitharena.com/

idreesarif
DunnoItAll wrote:
idreesarif wrote:

btw what happened to the arena website ?????????

Looks fine.

http://playwitharena.com/

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access / on this server.

 

 

 

(this is what I am getting)

RobotDaneelOlivaw
[COMMENT DELETED]
GM_Eeshaan

Seems like the perfect place for my questions:

1.What's "Kibitzer"?

2.I tried to install Fritz in LucasChess, but it says "The file ...CBLight2009/Engines/Fritz 6.eng does not correspond to a UCI engine type". What should I do?

baddogno

1. An onlooker, like the folks gathered around a public chess game.  Silent kibitzers are good; loud conversationalists, not so much.

2. Try googling "free UCI chess engine".  Load up whatever you want.  Doesn't Lucas come with about a billion chess engines already?  Mine has Komodo and critter and Stockfish, all rated over 3000.

EscherehcsE

2) You can thank Chessbase for your troubles. The Fritz engines are not UCI engines; They use the proprietary Chessbase communication protocol. In other words, Chessbase has designed the Fritz engines to only work in their own Chessbase GUIs.

GM_Eeshaan

Thanks a lotSmile

EscherehcsE
DamonevichSmithlov wrote:

Can anyone please explain in simple terms how to get stockfish into the arena program? They're seperate right now.

In simple terms,

1) Make sure you've unzipped the Stockfish files.

2) Go into the Arena "Engines" menu, and "Install New Engine...".

3) Go into the Arena "Engines" menu, and "Load Engine...".

4) Go into the Arena "Engines" menu, then the "Engine1" submenu, and "Configure".

DJVKK

Hi,

Can anyone give me how to install GUI (arena or others), which can work in Android device...like mobile phone or micromax tab...with komodo or other good chess engines.

Mandy711

For android device, download DROIDFISH which have Stockfish engine.

NZ-Kiwi

To DunnoItAll  thank you very much for your easy to understand explanation of how the Engines and GUI interface with each other.

When I first started i could not for the life of me work it out, but now have and i also checked the arena site as of 29 Oct and it is fine.

Thanks again

Cheers Kev