Stockfish Crazyhouse Engine

[Evert]

I pushed the source of the new UCI2WB, but not to hgm.nubati.net, as the ssh key of that server seems to have changed, and I still have to figure out how to change my own keys so I can push there again. But I have a backup repository at http://winboard.nl/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi , and it is there.

Don't know about Windows, but in Linux, you can edit ~/.ssh/known_hosts and delete the line containing the old key. You'll be asked to accept the new key when you connect.

[styx]

Thanks! It works like a charm now

So for all fellow Linux users I summarize the steps to take for now:

1. Install Xboard and UCI2WB (I provide DEBs for xboard 4.9.0 and the new UCI2WB 2.2 here)
2. start xboard once via terminal using the following line:

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xboard -uxiAdapter {uci2wb -%variant %fcp %fd}

3. add the stockfish multivariant engine (or any other multivariant UCI engine) as usual but check the box "USI/UCCI" instead of "UCI"
4. to play the desired variant, you can now choose "file --> new variant"

thats it

(btw.: I usually know the difference between your and you're. Nevertheless I did it wrong a few posts above. I apologize! )

[Carlos777]

"Stockfish Crazyhouse" -fcp "UCI2WB stockfish /home/andreas/Dokumente/Chess/Engines/Stockfish_Zh/" -fd "." -variant crazyhouse -firstOptions "UCI_Variant=crazyhouse" -firstFeatures {variants="crazyhouse"}

This worked for me; I let Stockfish play a zh game against TJchess 1.3, (and it won).

This also works for me on Winboard 4.8.0b, the other solution does not. This is on Windows 7.

[hgm]

2. start xboard once via terminal using the following line:

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xboard -uxiAdapter {uci2wb -%variant %fcp %fd}

I guess that command should be included in the make-install target of the UCI2WB Makefile. The problem is that putting

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xboard -ncp -uxiAdapter {uci2wb -%variant "%fcp" "%fd"} -autoClose

in the install recipe to let XBoard read its settings and then exit immediately (saving the updated settings) would update only the user settings file of the user doing the install. So not all users would benefit. But perhaps that is what one would expect when installing from source.

In a binary package there could be an install script that invokes the command

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xboard -ncp -addMasterOption {-uxiAdapter 'uci2wb -%variant "%fcp" "%fd"'} -autoClose

to add the -uxiAdapter command in the master settings file, so it would apply to all users. But in that case the option would be added at the end, i.e. after the -settingsFile options there that redirect reading and saving settings to the user's private settings file. So it would always overrule the latter, and no user could ever use any other adapter for USI/UCCI engines anymore than UCI2WB.

This is a general, hard problem: update settings that users already have automatically for all users, in a way that does not hinder those that would not appreciate such an update. The -uxiAdapter option already exists, but currently all users will have it configured as an empty string. Perhaps I should introduce some 'magic prefix' like @@@@@@ that would make obeyance to a string option conditional: it would ignore the option if the current setting of the option is non-empty, and assign the part after the prefix to it if it was empty. In that case it would be harmless to append the option

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-uxiAdapter {@@@@@@uci2wb -%variant "%fcp" "%fd"}

to the master settings file, as it would never affect any users that already have set a value for -uxiAdapter in their private settings file.

[Guenther]

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UCI2WB 2.1 by H.G.Muller

OK,my bad. I can only upload to that server from Linux (has something to do with passive mode,which Windows ftp does not seem to support), and I can only get it there by e-mailing it to myself and downloading it from the webmail server. But I already had done that with a UCI2WB.exe before, so that FireFox stored the new UCI2WB.exe in my Downloads directory as UCI2WB(1).exe. And I of course uploaded plain UCI2WB.exe, which was the old one.

Now the new one should be there.

Just for the record, I got version 2.2 now and all works like expected!

I have another question regarding ZH.
We have seen how extremely low the draw rates are from Ferdys list.
What do you expect to be a normal draw rate interval in selfplay? (which has normally a higher draw rate)

[Guenther]

Warning: advertisement for Crazyhouse

After all those years I still love the wood image files from a very old
Aquarium installation the best...

Even Stockfish evals swing incredible in ZH.
Obviously my adjudication values must be changed for ZH.
A sore of 8 pawns doesn't guarantee a win not even a draw.

[JManion]

"Stockfish Crazyhouse" -fcp "UCI2WB stockfish /home/andreas/Dokumente/Chess/Engines/Stockfish_Zh/" -fd "." -variant crazyhouse -firstOptions "UCI_Variant=crazyhouse" -firstFeatures {variants="crazyhouse"}

This worked for me; I let Stockfish play a zh game against TJchess 1.3, (and it won).

This also works for me on Winboard 4.8.0b, the other solution does not. This is on Windows 7.

I am doing something wrong, and could use a bit of help.

In winboard 4.8 I entered the following

"stockfish8zh_x64_modern.exe" -fcp "UCI2WB stockfish "C:\Program Files (x86)\WinBoard-4.8.0\stockfish8zh_x64_modern" -fd "." -variant crazyhouse -firstOptions "UCI_Variant=crazyhouse" -firstFeatures {variants="crazyhouse"

However it did not work. I would appreciate some help!

Thank You

[Evert]

We have seen how extremely low the draw rates are from Ferdys list.
What do you expect to be a normal draw rate interval in selfplay? (which has normally a higher draw rate)

I think I get 1% or so. I haven't checked, but presumably these are all silly repetition draws or perpetual checks.

[Carlos777]

"Stockfish Crazyhouse" -fcp "UCI2WB stockfish /home/andreas/Dokumente/Chess/Engines/Stockfish_Zh/" -fd "." -variant crazyhouse -firstOptions "UCI_Variant=crazyhouse" -firstFeatures {variants="crazyhouse"}

This worked for me; I let Stockfish play a zh game against TJchess 1.3, (and it won).

This also works for me on Winboard 4.8.0b, the other solution does not. This is on Windows 7.

I am doing something wrong, and could use a bit of help.

In winboard 4.8 I entered the following

"stockfish8zh_x64_modern.exe" -fcp "UCI2WB stockfish "C:\Program Files (x86)\WinBoard-4.8.0\stockfish8zh_x64_modern" -fd "." -variant crazyhouse -firstOptions "UCI_Variant=crazyhouse" -firstFeatures {variants="crazyhouse"

However it did not work. I would appreciate some help!

Thank You

Try this:

"Stockfish 8 zh x64" -fcp "UCI2WB stockfish8zh_x64_modern.exe C:\Program Files (x86)\WinBoard-4.8.0\stockfish8zh_x64_modern" -fd "." -variant crazyhouse -firstOptions "UCI_Variant=crazyhouse" -firstFeatures {variants="crazyhouse"}

[JManion]

"Stockfish Crazyhouse" -fcp "UCI2WB stockfish /home/andreas/Dokumente/Chess/Engines/Stockfish_Zh/" -fd "." -variant crazyhouse -firstOptions "UCI_Variant=crazyhouse" -firstFeatures {variants="crazyhouse"}

This worked for me; I let Stockfish play a zh game against TJchess 1.3, (and it won).

This also works for me on Winboard 4.8.0b, the other solution does not. This is on Windows 7.

I am doing something wrong, and could use a bit of help.

In winboard 4.8 I entered the following

"stockfish8zh_x64_modern.exe" -fcp "UCI2WB stockfish "C:\Program Files (x86)\WinBoard-4.8.0\stockfish8zh_x64_modern" -fd "." -variant crazyhouse -firstOptions "UCI_Variant=crazyhouse" -firstFeatures {variants="crazyhouse"

However it did not work. I would appreciate some help!

Thank You

Try this:

"Stockfish 8 zh x64" -fcp "UCI2WB stockfish8zh_x64_modern.exe C:\Program Files (x86)\WinBoard-4.8.0\stockfish8zh_x64_modern" -fd "." -variant crazyhouse -firstOptions "UCI_Variant=crazyhouse" -firstFeatures {variants="crazyhouse"}

I got an error stockfish unexpectedly closed.