Syzygy Tablebases + Chessbase 12/Deep Fritz 14

Hey guys, quick question: how does one load Syzygy tablebases into Chessbase 12 or Deep Fritz 14? I have a folder with the 3-4-5 men tablebases and when I go to Options -> Tablebases I find that there are two options: Syzygy (Engine) and Syzygy (GUI). What are the differences between these? Also, while it seems like I was able to get Stockfish to use them, it continues to calculate. Would it not instantly be able to reference said tablebases and give an exact continuation?

Thanks!

Not all engines are capable of reading the Syzygy format.  It's the new kid on the block and an older engine, or an engine that hasn't been coded to use it, won't be able to.  If so, you would have to choose Syzygy (GUI).  If you do, the GUI will check the tablebase and report the result.

Houdini 4 and Stockfish and Deep Fritz 14 are all capable of reading Syzygy.  If so, you probably want to choose Syzygy (Engine.)  If you do, the GUI WON'T read the file, but will leave it up to the engine to do so.

If you set up a position in the tablebase, and if have Syzygy (Engine) option chosen and the engine continues to calculate that position, then it doesn't sound like it's reading the file properly.  As you pointed out, it should instantly reference the file and report the best move.

Ah! Understood. Thanks! It seems that the moves are being shown where the Let's Check lines are displayed. Here's a screenshot:

Stockfish shows a mate in 29 but it appears the mate should be in 21. At a depth of 45 it now shows mate in 22 for Stockfish. Also, on the Let's Check screen it shows "(Points = 3.69)". Do you know what this means?

I don't use Fritz 14 very much, so I'm definitely not an expert with this interface.  (I prefer Scid vs. PC.)

When I fire up Fritz 14, and set up that position, and load Stockfish and then click on Infinite Analysis, Stockfish doesn't analyze the position.  It instantly reports a mate in 21.  See my screen shot below.

However, your screen shot shows that Stockfish IS reading the tablebase file.  That's what tb=21 is.  21 tablebase hits.

So, I'm not sure what is happening.  Question.  Can you get it to work with OTHER tablebases?  Nalimov or Gaviota, for example?

Do you have Houdini 4?  If so, load that engine and see if Houdini is able to read the tablebases and accurately report the distance to mate.

Yes, but the question is, why does his Stockfish continue to analyze the position, and report a mate in 27?  Notice my engine isn't doing that.

Hmm... well I don't have Houdini 4.

Could it be a problem with my Stockfish path? I have all of the files from the 3-4-5 download in one folder, along with a "checksum" file.

I've determined that area in the bottom right is information the GUI is reporting, not the engine.  (I went back into the user options and removed the syzygy bases from the Tablebase GUI section, and then closed and then reloaded the program.  Now, that tablebase information doesn't appear there at all.)

Well, the name of the path shouldn't matter.  You can call it anything you want.  And it seems Fritz is reading the tablebases fine.  It's just Stockfish that is not.  So your tablebase files are fine and your path is fine.

Confirm you have your Tablebases Engine option pointing to the same syzygy path.  Also confirm you are using a recent version of Stockfish.  Earlier versions did NOT use tablebase files.

Just knew about tablebases a while ago and downloaded the Syzygy table base and I can't make them work on my Fritz 13, i select bases path bor both gui and engine, restart Fritz 13 and then i set up a position with 4 pieces and click on analisis and can't make fritz to use the bases, the program doesn't show the "tb=" think it must show so i can know it is useing the table bases, can someone tell me what should i do?, i'll be gladly thankful

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the regular Fritz 13 program (GUI) doesn't support the Syzygy format... it doesn't know what that is.

It does support the Naimov tablebase format.

HOWEVER, I DO think DEEP Fritz 13 (and Fritz 14) supports the new Syzygy format.

Before you invest any more time in trying to get it to work, see if you can confirm that your version of Fritz 13 supports Syzygy.

Certainly by using the "Tablebases Engine" tab in options, Fritz 13 will allow Houdini and Stockfish to work with Syzygy bases.

Thank you so much guys for ur answers  :), I have Deep Fritz 13 (downloaded yes), so i don't know if i really have to buy it to make it work 100%, also i'm currently downloading Syzygy 6-men tablebases from this website: http://oics.olympuschess.com/tracker/index.php, and iwant to know if any of u have already used these table bases and what do i have to do to make them work, thanks.

@ Trevor-D, yes actualyl i've actually indicated the path in both tabs, engine tablebases and gui table bases, but my Deep Frtiz 13 just seems to not use them, should i reinstall it?, just realized i havent validated the game, do i need a valid serial? any ideas?

Did you buy Deep Fritz 13 from Chessbase?

No i downloaded it

Full disclosure: I don't use any Chessbase GUIs.

However, I did find three articles by Albert Silver (the first one was written in 2013, and the latter two in 2015):

http://en.chessbase.com/post/engines-and-endgame-tablebases

http://en.chessbase.com/post/syzygy-tablebases-newest-fastest-smallest

http://en.chessbase.com/post/syzygy-tablebases-maximizing-performance

If you read through the articles carefully, you'll notice them mention engines that work with the sygyzy bases: Houdini 4, Komodo 8, and Stockfish (no version mentioned). Nowhere in the articles does it say that any version of the Fritz engine works with sygyzy bases. That sort of implies that Fritz engines probably aren't compatible with sygyzy bases.

There's probably a lot of features which won't work on it then...

Then pay for a license and THEN ask for help.

@OP:

Syzygy bases come in two sets of files: WDL bases, which store only if the position is won/drawn/lost (file extension: rtbw), and DTZ50 bases, which store the number of moves until checkmate or conversion to a different endgame through capture/pawn promotion (file extension: rtbz).

Engines use the former set of files during search, the latter set is only used in root positions (if the current position is a tablebase position). GUIs use the latter files only.

So you should check if you have the  *.rtbw files only (only these are required for engines), or also the corresponding *.rtbz files.

The GUI can only report the distance to mate if no capture/pawn promotion is necessary on the way to checkmate (such as in a KBN vs. K endgame). Engines will continue analyzing in root positions if only WDL bases are present.

Use Nalimov tablebases if the exact number of moves until checkmate is important for you.

Missing tablebase files can be found on tablebase.sesse.net