Banksia GUI released

[phhnguyen]

I did not try this GUI but I would like to know if there is a simple way to play games with different time controls in this GUI.

For example
I would like to have the possibility to define time control of 1+1 for one engine and fixed depth of 20 plies for a second engine and every gui that I know does not have this option.

The best thing that I found is in arena giving less strength for one engine so if some engine get 10% strength it is going to use only 10% of the time or 10% of the depth in case of fixed depth games but I prefer simply to be able to define different types of conditions for different engines when type A is not dependent on type B.

Yes,

I believe it's called Armageddon, for fixed depth you have to mod the engine config I would think.

Let me explain a bit more about time controls in BSG, thus you can select the right one:

BSG can set time controls (clocks) in one of three types:

1. Normal
All engines use only one-time control. It could be set to the following modes:

• Standard: standard time control which could be customized for time, move number, increment

• Move time: time per move

• Depth: depth per move

• Nodes: nodes per move (Winboard engines don’t support)

• All moves: set time for the whole game without resetting the clock in the middle of the game. It is a kind of sudden death

• Infinite: infinite move time. Suitable for analyzing and human (we are cheating but we are so special )

Be aware that with modes Depth and Nodes BSG won’t rule the game even engines go beyond the limitations (we can’t rule the engines based on what they printed out - We should trust them anyway).

2. Multi (time controls)
There are 5 different time controls (Fig. 1). Each engine can be assigned to any of them. E.g., engine A can run with the standard clock of 40/20+1, engine B can run to depth 20 and engine C can run to nodes 1000. An engine is assigned to only one clock for all its games in a tournament

3. Armageddon
It is a kind of multi-time control as above (Fig. 2). However, there are some differences:

• There are only two-time controls (instead of 5): one for White and one for Black. Which time control will be assigned to an engine depends on which side it is playing. Thus an engine may not run with the same time control for all games in a tournament

• The way to calculate results: we could select between normal way (win, draw, loss are different points) or White must win (draw = loss for White) or Black must win (draw = loss for Black)

I still have some other time controls waiting on my to-do list. E.g., hourglass. However, I’m not sure if it is really useful to implement or just add more complicated for almost nothing.


Fig. 1 Multi clocks (in pink color)


Fig. 2 Armageddon: two different clocks for White/Black and a special way to count the result

[phhnguyen]

Can i use banksia for engine tournaments on my ipad ?!

No, not at the moment.

On one hand, the number of engines is quite small and won't expand soon, thus users may get bored with similar tournaments. On the other hand, there are some tech difficulties to run/stop multi engines on iOS since they are not designed to run like that.

[Uri Blass]

I did not try this GUI but I would like to know if there is a simple way to play games with different time controls in this GUI.

For example
I would like to have the possibility to define time control of 1+1 for one engine and fixed depth of 20 plies for a second engine and every gui that I know does not have this option.

The best thing that I found is in arena giving less strength for one engine so if some engine get 10% strength it is going to use only 10% of the time or 10% of the depth in case of fixed depth games but I prefer simply to be able to define different types of conditions for different engines when type A is not dependent on type B.

Yes,

I believe it's called Armageddon, for fixed depth you have to mod the engine config I would think.

Let me explain a bit more about time controls in BSG, thus you can select the right one:

BSG can set time controls (clocks) in one of three types:

1. Normal
All engines use only one-time control. It could be set to the following modes:

• Standard: standard time control which could be customized for time, move number, increment

• Move time: time per move

• Depth: depth per move

• Nodes: nodes per move (Winboard engines don’t support)

• All moves: set time for the whole game without resetting the clock in the middle of the game. It is a kind of sudden death

• Infinite: infinite move time. Suitable for analyzing and human (we are cheating but we are so special )

Be aware that with modes Depth and Nodes BSG won’t rule the game even engines go beyond the limitations (we can’t rule the engines based on what they printed out - We should trust them anyway).

2. Multi (time controls)
There are 5 different time controls (Fig. 1). Each engine can be assigned to any of them. E.g., engine A can run with the standard clock of 40/20+1, engine B can run to depth 20 and engine C can run to nodes 1000. An engine is assigned to only one clock for all its games in a tournament

3. Armageddon
It is a kind of multi-time control as above (Fig. 2). However, there are some differences:

• There are only two-time controls (instead of 5): one for White and one for Black. Which time control will be assigned to an engine depends on which side it is playing. Thus an engine may not run with the same time control for all games in a tournament

• The way to calculate results: we could select between normal way (win, draw, loss are different points) or White must win (draw = loss for White) or Black must win (draw = loss for Black)

I still have some other time controls waiting on my to-do list. E.g., hourglass. However, I’m not sure if it is really useful to implement or just add more complicated for almost nothing.


Fig. 1 Multi clocks (in pink color)


Fig. 2 Armageddon: two different clocks for White/Black and a special way to count the result

I guess that multi is the time control that is better in this case.
Can I do a match between 2 engines when I give one engine a fixed color in multi?
The point is that in odd match I do not want engines to play both sides of a position.

[phhnguyen]

I guess that multi is the time control that is better in this case.
Can I do a match between 2 engines when I give one engine a fixed color in multi?
The point is that in odd match I do not want engines to play both sides of a position.

Yes, we can. Bellow is a part of the dialog box to create a tournament:



One method is to select "Locked side" then set a fixed side for the engine.

The second method is to uncheck "Swap sides". That is quicker and easier when the number of engines is small, especially suitable for 2 engines in your case.

[Uri Blass]

I do not see how to install engines in the GUI
The only thing that I can see in downloading engines is downloading specific engines but I do not see how I run engines that exist in my computer in the GUI.

Edit:I see that if I start a tournament I can add a new engine by auto-detect and the question is if this is the only way to add engines to the gui

[CMCanavessi]

I do not see how to install engines in the GUI
The only thing that I can see in downloading engines is downloading specific engines but I do not see how I run engines that exist in my computer in the GUI.

Edit:I see that if I start a tournament I can add a new engine by auto-detect and the question is if this is the only way to add engines to the gui

File ---> Settings ---> Engines

[Uri Blass]

I do not see how to install engines in the GUI
The only thing that I can see in downloading engines is downloading specific engines but I do not see how I run engines that exist in my computer in the GUI.

Edit:I see that if I start a tournament I can add a new engine by auto-detect and the question is if this is the only way to add engines to the gui

File ---> Settings ---> Engines

Thanks.

It seems that if I close the GUI by exit and run it again then it forget all the engines that I added and I need to add them again.
Is there a way to avoid this problem?

[CMCanavessi]

That is weird, doesn't happen to me.

[AlexChess]

I do not see how to install engines in the GUI
The only thing that I can see in downloading engines is downloading specific engines but I do not see how I run engines that exist in my computer in the GUI.

Edit:I see that if I start a tournament I can add a new engine by auto-detect and the question is if this is the only way to add engines to the gui

File ---> Settings ---> Engines

Thanks.

It seems that if I close the GUI by exit and run it again then it forget all the engines that I added and I need to add them again.
Is there a way to avoid this problem?

It's not normal. Mine remembers all settings.

Regards, Alex

[Uri Blass]

Maybe I do something wrong.

What is the application that you run when you start Benksia.

I run application with the name BanksiaGUI that is 24708 mbytes by clicking twice on it.

It is inside my BanksiaGui-0.50-win64 folder