Crafty 23.0 Opening Book Files Question

[Charles B.]

On Jim Ablett's home page the Crafty 23.0 section has a downloadable Frank Quisinsky opening book for Crafty 23.0.

The one file in the download is named - book.bin



On Peter Skinner's download page for Crafty 23.0 the opening book download has these three files in it - book.bin, bookc.bin and books.bin.



Can I safely use the bookc.bin and books.bin files from the Peter Skinner site with the book.bin file from Jim Ablett's site without problem, or do the bookc.bin and books.bin files have to be tailor made for the book.bin file being used?

I haven't really read up on making books for Crafty, perhaps if I had I would already know the answer to my question.

[Gian-Carlo Pascutto]

books.bin and bookc.bin are overlaid on the book.bin file. They're effectively compatible.

But note that books.bin and bookc.bin can override what is in book.bin.

[Charles B.]

Thanks, after reading your post I did a little further digging and found the below information.

What I was having trouble understanding was whether the book.bin file could be used with Crafty alone or whether the bookc.bin and books.bin files were necessary components. I see now that the book.bin file can be used with Crafty alone when playing a human vs. engine game. Maybe my understanding is incomplete but that is the way I am seeing it at this time.

For playing engine vs engine games a bookc.bin or a books.bin file is necessary? or preferable?

Typically, book.bin contains a large opening database made from GM games. Books.bin is a short,
customized book that contains selected lines that are well-suited to Crafty's style of play.

Crafty now supports two "books.bin" type files, books.bin and bookc.bin (the bookc create command can be used to make bookc.bin). Bookc will only be used when crafty is playing a computer. This is supplied by xboard or winboard when playing on a server, or can be included in the crafty.rc/.craftyrc file when playing directly. Bookc.bin will be used when playing a computer only, and should be used to avoid unsound lines that are fine against humans, but not against other computers. If you don't use a bookc.bin, it will use the normal books.bin as always. If you use both, it will only use bookc.bin in games that have been started and then given the 'computer' command.

[Peter Skinner]

books.bin - the user is able to refine crafty's opening selection in this book, but putting lines in a pgn file, and using the books create <pgn name> 60 <--- depth to whatver you prefer.

ie of a compatible pgn file:

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[Site ""]
e4 {play 40%}
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d4 {play 30%}
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f4 {play 30%}

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e4 e5 {play 40%} 
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e4 d5 {play 10%} exd5 Qxd5 {play 100%}
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e4 c5? {play 30%}
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e4 c6 {play 20%}
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e4 e6 {play 20%}

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e4 e5 Nf3 {play 25%}
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e4 e5 Bc4 {play 25%}
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e4 e5 Nc3 {play 25%}
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e4 e5  f4 {play 25%}

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e4 e5 Nf3  d5 {play 10%}
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e4 e5 Nf3  Nf6 {play 30%}
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e4 e5 Nf3  d6 {play 30%}
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e4 e5 Nf3  Nc6 {play 30%}

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e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4 {play 30%}
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e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6  d4 {play 30%} 
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e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 {play 30%}
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e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6  c3 {play 10%}
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e4 e6 c4 nf6 Ng3 b6 g3 ba6 b3 bc1 Bd2 be7 Bf2 d5 Ne5 c6 Bc2 nf6d7 Nf5xnd7 nb8xNd7 Nd2 0-0 0-0 rc8 e4 d5xc4 bxc4 b5 Re1 b5xc4 Qa4 bb5 Qc2 Rf8-e8 Re1-d1 Qc7 {play 10%}

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e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4 Bc5 b4 {play 50%}
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e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4 Bc5 c3 {play 50%}

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e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6  d4 {play 30%} exd4 c3 {play 10%}
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e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6  d4 {play 30%} exd4 Nxd4 {play 60%}
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e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6  d4 {play 30%} exd4 Bc4 {play 30%}

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e4 c5 c4 g6 {play 100%}

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e4 Nf6 e5 Nd5 d4 d6 Nf3 dxe5 Nxe5 Nd7 Nxf7?

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d4 d5 c4 {play 100%}
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d4 d5 Nf3 Nf6 {play 100%} Bg5 Ne4 {play 100%}
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d4 d5 e3 Bf5 {play 100%}
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d4 d5 f3 Bf5 {play 100%}
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d4 d5 f4 Bf5 {play 100%}
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d4 d5 Qd3? c5 {play 100%}
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d4 d5 Nc3 Bf5 {play 100%} Bg5 f6 {play 100%}
[Site ""]
d4 d5 Bf4 Bf5 {play 100%}

[Site ""]
Nf3 d5 c3 Bf5 {play 100%}

You can do the same for bookc.bin below, and just change the book create command as such: bookc create <pgn name> 60 <-- or whatever depth you would like.

bookc.bin - a very strict, narrower book for computer vs computer play to avoid bad openings.

book.bin - main book. Can be as wide or narrow based on the options you can put in your rc file. This is usually made from a very large database of pgn games. Book making command: book create <pgn name> <depth> <times played> <winning %>, so book create <pgn name> 60 5 50 assumes the book will be 60 plies deep, only opening moves played 5 times are included, and the winning % of those games must be 50% or higher.

You do not need books.bin or bookc.bin to run Crafty.

I hope this explains the Crafty book usage.

Peter