[usbca_chess] Re: Load Crafty engine into Winboard and use Crafty to anal...

  • From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "Eddyz69" for DMARC)
  • To: usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2015 17:31:12 -0500

Ed Collins suggest the following:
Yes, after loading Crafty I see the exact same thing. Again, it's because
the Crafty engine doesn't allow the GUI to set options this way. Load the
most recent versions of Stockfish or Critter or Houdini 1.5a, (all which
are stronger the Crafty, by the way) and then you will see options to set.
After loading an engine, even Crafty, load a previously played game and
then try the Analyze Game feature or the Analysis Mode feature.
With Analyze Game, WinBoard will step through the game, analyzing it one
move at a time, with the engine you have loaded, (including Crafty). Be
sure to save the game to a file, and the analysis will be saved with it.
Change the /timeDelay option in the winboard.ini file to set the number of
seconds you want the engine to spend on each move.
With Analysis Mode, your loaded engine of choice will analyze the current
position. It will continue to analyze that position it until you tell it
to stop (cntrl-e is one way, the shortcut for EDIT GAME) or until you step
forward through the game. If you step forward it will then analyze THAT
current position, until you say otherwise.
Crafty's options can be changed in the crafty.rc file. It's a simple
ascii text file, and can be edited with any text editor. (TextPad, Notepad,
etc.) It should be found in the same folder as your Crafty executable file.
My crafty.rc file looks like this:
tbpath=E:\chess\Tablebases\345
egtb
resign 7
swindle on
# mt=4
smpmt=4
hash=1024M
hashp=64M
learn 7
book on
show book
book random 1
ponder off
log off
exit
In a message dated 12/20/2015 5:00:35 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
Mark.hague.list@xxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

thanks for this Edward.
My it does look quite ocomplex.
Mark.
----- Original Message -----
From: _Redacted sender "Eddyz69" for DMARC_
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To: _usbca_chess@freelists.org_ (mailto:usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Sent: Sunday, December 20, 2015 5:18 PM
Subject: [usbca_chess] Load Crafty engine into Winboard and use Crafty to
analyze games.



Hello all,
Here is a post about game analysis.
Edward
Winboard Forum • View topic - Analysis Mode? - Open d'Aurec
_www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=52388_
(http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=52388)
Analysis Mode?
Postby gatoruss » 21 May 2012, 04:14
I have been using Winboard simply as a pgn viewer for some time, but now I
would like to (i) load the Crafty engine into Winboard and (ii) use Crafty
to analyze my games via the "Analyze File" mode and the "Analysis"mode.

I have tried find some information on the internet that would explain how
to load Crafty onto Winboard and how to use the "Analyze File" and the
"Analysis"modes. I found a thread on this forum explaining that the best way
to load an engine is to use PSWBTM. Question - should I download 32 bit
crafty or 64 bit?

For the the "Analyze File" and the "Analysis"modes, I found an explanation
provided by HG Muller in this thread
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/chess-interface. But I am having
trouble following along - for example,
under the "Engine -> Engine #1 Settings" menu, there are no options to set
- a window open that is entitled settings, but all I can do is click "ok"
or "Cancel".

Are there any tutorials or other explanations that might walk me thru how
to get Crafty loaded and how to use it to do analysis?

Thanks.
gatoruss
Posts: 5
Joined: 17 Aug 2011, 12:13
Top
Re: Analysis Mode?
Postby H.G.Muller » 22 May 2012, 09:40
In WB 4.6.2 you can use Engine->Load Engine menu to load Crafty. (After
you downloaded and installed it on your machine. The 64-bit version will be
faster, but you can only use it if you have a 64-bit machine with a 64-bit
Operating System.) Just use browse button for finding the .exe. After that,
you should be able to use Mode->Analysis.

Note that Crafty is a pretty old, and not very compliant engine. It report
no options to the GUI, and to set the options it has you have to edit some
craftyrc file, (or something like that). I never use Crafty, so perhaps
someone else can provide some help her.
User avatar
H.G.Muller
Posts: 2970
Joined: 16 Nov 2005, 12:02
Location: Diemen, NL
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Re: Analysis Mode?
Postby crystalclear » 26 Jul 2012, 21:08
Crafty has a command line option produce annotation of the games in a PGN
file.

If that is what you mean by analyze a file, then I don't believe winboard
or another GUI will be of help.
To the best of my (very limited) knowledge, the command is proprietary in
the sense that it appears in Crafty and not in any other chess engines that
I am aware of.
If another engine has something similar it is still likely to have a
different command to invoke it, or different syntax.

Crafty's annotate command is useful for chess players, though they are
probably not aware of its existence.
I have seen different version of Craft and the command seemed different in
each of them.

The best version I had produced HTML output, and with properly set up
files, would display pictures of the chess positions it found interesting.
You could ask Crafty to look through a file of your games and ask it to
explain where it thought you had made mistakes of a certain size.
For example setting the error margin to 75 centipawns would cause Crafty
to show you where you had probably blundered away a pawn or piece, and show
you what you could have played instead.

I discovered the command in a help file that came with one version of
Crafty.

So if that is what you mean by ANALYZE A FILE, I don't think there is a
GUI to invoke it.
I may have misunderstood you - I often do :( If that's the case, sorry!

http://www.cis.uab.edu/hyatt/craftydoc.html
annotate | annotateh <filename> <colors | name> <moves> <margin> <time>
This command is used to annotate (make comments in) a game that has
already been played.

annotate
produces a file with the .can extension added to the original name. This
file will contain pure ascii information from the annotation pass.
annotateh
produces an HTML file instead (with the .html extension). This includes the
normal output, plus a nice bitmapped graphical board display for every
position where Crafty had 'something to say'.
....
crystalclear
Posts: 91
Joined: 22 Sep 2011, 14:19
Top
Re: Analysis Mode?
Postby EdCollins » 27 Jul 2012, 04:56
gatoruss wrote:
I found a thread on this forum explaining that the best way to load an
engine is to use PSWBTM. Question - should I download 32 bit crafty or 64 bit?


If you have a 64-bit machine, you should probably download the 64-bit
version. If you have a 32-bit machine, you will need to download the 32-bit
version. With Windows 7 (and probably Vista) you can check and confirm what
type of system you have by going to your Control Panel and clicking on
System. Your system will be listed under "System type."

PSWBTM may have been the "best way" to load an engine in the past, (I
never used it, not even with older versions of WinBoard) but I don't believe
it's the best way now. As H.G. mentioned, one way, using version 4.6.2, is
to simply point to the crafty executable file, from the LOAD ENGINE dialog
box. That's it. Another way, if you have Crafty properly listed as an
engine in your winboard.ini file, is to load it from the SELECT ENGINE FROM
LIST drop down box.

gatoruss wrote:
But I am having trouble following along - for example, under the "Engine
-> Engine #1 Settings" menu, there are no options to set - a window open
that is entitled settings, but all I can do is click "ok" or "Cancel".


Yes, after loading Crafty I see the exact same thing. Again, it's because
the Crafty engine doesn't allow the GUI to set options this way. Load the
most recent versions of Stockfish or Critter or Houdini 1.5a, (all which
are stronger the Crafty, by the way) and then you will see options to set.

After loading an engine, even Crafty, load a previously played game and
then try the Analyze Game feature or the Analysis Mode feature.

With Analyze Game, WinBoard will step through the game, analyzing it one
move at a time, with the engine you have loaded, (including Crafty). Be
sure to save the game to a file, and the analysis will be saved with it.
Change the /timeDelay option in the winboard.ini file to set the number of
seconds you want the engine to spend on each move.

With Analysis Mode, your loaded engine of choice will analyze the current
position. It will continue to analyze that position it until you tell it
to stop (cntrl-e is one way, the shortcut for EDIT GAME) or until you step
forward through the game. If you step forward it will then analyze THAT
current position, until you say otherwise.

Crafty's options can be changed in the crafty.rc file. It's a simple
ascii text file, and can be edited with any text editor. (TextPad, Notepad,
etc.) It should be found in the same folder as your Crafty executable file.
My crafty.rc file looks like this:
tbpath=E:\chess\Tablebases\345
egtb
resign 7
swindle on
# mt=4
smpmt=4
hash=1024M
hashp=64M
learn 7
book on
show book
book random 1
ponder off
log off
exit
EdCollins
Posts: 71
Joined: 16 May 2010, 09:05
Location: Southern California



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