Strongest currently available Winboard engines for import to Chessmaster?

Jimbo I · Post by **Jimbo I** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 4:14 pm

jewelmind wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:55 am Thanks for all these great replies. I've already installed Crafty and played a game (though I notice another thread saying that a new version is being released). Got Crafty to play one 5 min game with CMX, resulting in a rather thrilling 186 move draw, ending with Crafty having a queen and CMX a rook, bishop and pawn it couldn't queen. So obviously wonderfully competitive with CMX, though Crafty's official rating should perhaps have it being a little more dominant? Hard to tell after one game of course, but I'm wondering about the way I've got it set up.

I won't go into the version of Crafty I've got or where I've got it from, as hopefully the new version will still be Winboard compatible and I'll be able to replace my current installation, but I would appreciate some advice on the Chessmaster installation options. No need for a Chessmaster opening book as Crafty was obviously using its own book in the lightning fast opening. But what should I do with:

Pondering
Endgame Database
Command Line Parameters

I left all of these off and blank. I wouldn't even know what to put in Command Line Parameters. Anyone with definite knowledge of what to enter in these fields that would allow Crafty to play as well as it can?

It's hard to say what you should do with those three Chessmaster options, since I don't know if you're using a crafty.rc file. The crafty.rc file can handle the settings for all three Chessmaster options that you mentioned, plus many more.

Crafty might already be pondering (thinking on the opponent's time), but you won't know for sure unless you look inside the crafty.rc file or open the Windows Task Manager. If Crafty isn't currently pondering, turning on its ponder setting will help the strength a bit. The Chessmaster engine normally ponders, so activating the Crafty ponder setting would be helping to level the playing field, so to speak.

Crafty probably isn't using endgame databases unless you've already installed Nalimov or Syzygy tablebases in your PC. The bad news is that Crafty can't use the Chessmaster endgame database files, so activating this setting for Crafty will not do any good. The good news is that this feature probably doesn't change the strength of Crafty much at all.

Until you gain enough knowledge to edit the crafty.rc file, it's probably best to just activate the pondering setting and leave the other two settings alone.

Jimbo I · Post by **Jimbo I** » Wed Sep 11, 2019 5:16 pm

jewelmind wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:23 am I still find Chessmaster the most beautiful interface, easier on the eye and less cluttered than anything released since. So I want to keep using it, and I want to watch matches between good engines on it.

I've successfully imported Greko into Chessmaster 10, and the games are great, as Greko is around the same strength. Greko can even use Chessmaster opening books, which is fantastic.

For variety, I would like to import some more Winboard engines into Chessmaster at least as strong as Chessmaster 10 (or 11 - just bought it), but Greko is the only available one I could find. Everything seems to be UCI now. I find the instructions out there on how to import UCI engines into Chessmaster completely bamboozling! An example is this page:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/genera ... ci-engines

I can't use advice like this as I'm not a programmer. I don't know what a binary is, or an ini file, or how to edit it or with what etc. I'm completely lost with this. I looked at the Polyglot download page and it may as well have been written in ancient Sumerian.

So I think it's best if I just hunt for Winboard engines that can be easily imported into Chessmaster, like Greko. What's good and available and where is it? I've seen someone state that earlier versions of Crafty and Fruit were Winboard - is that true? If so, where are they?!

Note: Please don't post links to old general info like the Wikipedia list of Winboard engines - most of the links are dead now and most of the engines are weak. I need specific links to where I can get good Winboard engines now, as strong or stronger than Greko.

Jimbo I · Post by **Jimbo I** » Wed Sep 11, 2019 5:50 pm

In its first tournament game, Spike 1.4 lost on time. I'll have to keep a watch on Spike. If it loses many more games on time, I'll have to drop it from the list.

I forgot to mention that in my list of engines, I did not have to edit any configuration files; I only added command line parameters for the two noted engines.

Jimbo I · Post by **Jimbo I** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 4:24 am

Spike 1.4 just lost another game on time, and it wasn't even close. It just stopped working in the middle of the game. Scratch Spike 1.4 from the list.

Jonathan003 · Post by **Jonathan003** » Fri Mar 12, 2021 10:42 pm

jewelmind wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:23 am I still find Chessmaster the most beautiful interface, easier on the eye and less cluttered than anything released since. So I want to keep using it, and I want to watch matches between good engines on it.

I've successfully imported Greko into Chessmaster 10, and the games are great, as Greko is around the same strength. Greko can even use Chessmaster opening books, which is fantastic.

For variety, I would like to import some more Winboard engines into Chessmaster at least as strong as Chessmaster 10 (or 11 - just bought it), but Greko is the only available one I could find. Everything seems to be UCI now. I find the instructions out there on how to import UCI engines into Chessmaster completely bamboozling! An example is this page:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/genera ... ci-engines

I can't use advice like this as I'm not a programmer. I don't know what a binary is, or an ini file, or how to edit it or with what etc. I'm completely lost with this. I looked at the Polyglot download page and it may as well have been written in ancient Sumerian.

So I think it's best if I just hunt for Winboard engines that can be easily imported into Chessmaster, like Greko. What's good and available and where is it? I've seen someone state that earlier versions of Crafty and Fruit were Winboard - is that true? If so, where are they?!

Note: Please don't post links to old general info like the Wikipedia list of Winboard engines - most of the links are dead now and most of the engines are weak. I need specific links to where I can get good Winboard engines now, as strong or stronger than Greko.

I understand and I had the same problem. Once you figure out out what to do it is very simple.
Here is how I did it:

Uninstall Chessmaster 11 with a Revo uninstaller, and do an advanced search to delelete all leftover files.
Reinstall Chessmaster 11 and make sure the update patch 1.02 is installed and set the engine options to high recourses, and the Transpostion Table Memory to 1024

Make a folder where you download your engines and call it winboard. Create a new folder in this windboard folder for stockfish 13.
Put the uci engine stockfish 13 in it, and change the name to someting short like stockfish13.
And don't use spaces or underscores in the engine names, and engine path names.
Launce the tool Polyglot_GUI
You can download this tool here: https://web.archive.org/web/20200612014 ... b.com/?i=1
Set ponder to on, treads to 4 and hash to 1024
Check UCI_AnalyseMode, and set the SyzygyPath C:\Syzygy
Set UCI_elo to the max of 2850
I think that I don't need the file that ends with _wb.exe that Polyglot_GUI created, but I just put it in the same file with the uci engine, the adapter and the ini file.

Now in Chessmaster 11 go to Game->Import Winboard engine and a window comes up.

Put in some name, for example stockfish13_wb

For the engine filename browse to the Polyglot_CMXI.exe, so you have the full path there. For example c:\stuff\chess\stockfish\Polyglot_CMXI.exe (I avoid spaces in the folder names)

In the command line parameters, put the full path to the polyglot.ini, example:

example c:\stuff\chess\stockfish\polyglot.ini

BUT PUT A COUPLE OF SPACES AT THE END!!! (after ....polyglot.ini put a couple of spaces!)

I suggest you enable Pondering to allow the engine to think on the opponent's time, it's optional. I also Check the otption Use endgame databases.

You can change the personality that Chessmaster uses for all mentor features by updating the INI file. Under the Mentor section, add a line like the following:

personality=stockfish13_wb

You can find this INI file in this folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition\Data\Users\Jonathan

When you open the windows task manager you will not find stockfish13 or stockfish13_wb, but it is stockfish13 running.
You can check this by running engine matches and choose the personality stockfish13_wb.
The personality stockfish13_wb will always win.

frankiekam · Post by **frankiekam** » Sat Aug 07, 2021 2:48 pm

Hi Jonathan003

The strongest Winboard chess engine for Chessmaster is Slow Chess Blitz 2.6. Give it a try. It's very strong and it demolishes all the other engines in Chessmaster including the King.exe. See here: https://www.3dkingdoms.com/chess/slow.htm
Well the previous statement won't impress anyone since the last Chessmaster came out in 2007. Perhaps the information below will impress you. SlowChess' performance in the Top Chess Engine Championship (TCEC) Season 19 from 6 August 2020 to 16 October 2020. Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCEC_Season_19

* Qualification League: 1st place, scoring 16 wins and 6 draws. No losses (19/22);
* League 3: 1st place, scoring 8 wins and 10 draws. No losses (13/18);
* League 2: 2nd place behind Igel, scoring 9 wins, 8 draws and 1 loss (13/18).
* League 1: 3rd place after Fire and ScorpionNN. 3 wins, 14 draws and 1 loss. Missed promotion to the Premier Division by half a point!

I have it installed as a Winboard engine on my Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition. Give it a try.

Cheers
Frankie Kam

Strongest currently available Winboard engines for import to Chessmaster?

Re: Strongest currently available Winboard engines for import to Chessmaster?

Re: Strongest currently available Winboard engines for import to Chessmaster?

Re: Strongest currently available Winboard engines for import to Chessmaster?

Re: Strongest currently available Winboard engines for import to Chessmaster?

Re: Strongest currently available Winboard engines for import to Chessmaster?

Re: Strongest currently available Winboard engines for import to Chessmaster?