ZZZZZZ 3.4 with winboard support available

[Jim Ablett]

ZZZZZZ 3.4 by G. Wiesenekker
http://home.planet.nl/~gijsbert.wiesenekker/zzzzzz.html

ZZZZZZ 3.4wb JA with winboard support.
---------------------------------------------------

How to use:
----------------
Install as a standard winboard engine. No command line options needed.
ZZZZZZ 3.4wb doesn't use it's own opening book, but 'force & go'
commands are implemented so you can use 'Bookthinker' or your chess
gui's own opening books.
The file 'brd.txt' (which contains the starting position) needs to be
in the same folder as the exe for the engine to work. When ZZZZZZ is
run it will create additional files 'game.txt', 'dbase.bin' &
'dbase.key' in it's current folder.


Changes:
--------------
1. Added winboard protocol 2 support.
2. Removed all redundant command line features.
3. Added resign function.
4. New logo.

This is another chess engine I've been meaning to convert to winboard
for a very long time, but the complexity of the source code always put
me off the idea. My programming skills have improved enough over the
past few years to attempt it again - with success this time.

ZZZZZZ (named after a fatal error routine in FORTRAN77) was entered into
the Dutch Computer Chess Championships in 1993, where it achieved a very
respectable 5 out of 10 points. Engine strength I would estimate to be
around TSCP level. There are a couple of later versions of ZZZZZZ, v3.6 for
the Mac chess gui ExaChess http://www.exachess.com/downloads.html
(this is essentially the same as 3.4 with a few small bugfixes) and v5.0
written in Delphi, which is still available on the web which has it's own
very nice gui, but unfortunately, is not winboard or UCI compatible either.

I'll update the program from time to time if bugs appear.

Available from my homepage.

Have fun!

Jim Ablett.

[Tony Thomas]

Thanks for making my wish come true. Was it me who gave you the idea?? Here is the link to an old post of mine from winboard forum.

http://www.vpittlik.org/wbforum/viewtop ... ght=#27126

[swami]

Thanks a lot, Jim! Any idea how strong it is? and at what level it plays? If it is around 2000, then I may add it in division 10 tournament.

[Jim Ablett]

Thanks for making my wish come true. Was it me who gave you the idea?? Here is the link to an old post of mine from winboard forum.

http://www.vpittlik.org/wbforum/viewtop ... ght=#27126

Yes. I hearby rename it 'ZZZZZZ 3.6wb TT edition' in your honour

Jim.

[Jim Ablett]

Thanks a lot, Jim! Any idea how strong it is? and at what level it plays? If it is around 2000, then I may add it in division 10 tournament.

Hi Swami,

I reckon it's about 1800-1900 at fast time controls. Does seem to play a bit better at longer time though.

Jim.

[hgm]

Thanks a lot, Jim! Any idea how strong it is? and at what level it plays? If it is around 2000, then I may add it in division 10 tournament.

It is about the level of Neurosis and Uragano, a little better than Prophet and Parrot.

[Jim Ablett]

Thanks a lot, Jim! Any idea how strong it is? and at what level it plays? If it is around 2000, then I may add it in division 10 tournament.

It is about the level of Neurosis and Uragano, a little better than Prophet and Parrot.

Hello Harm,

I think that would be the latest private version (6x) which currently currently in Chesswar. This version (3.4) is not as strong as
the engines you've mentioned, but could probably win the odd game on a good day.

Jim.

[swami]

Thanks a lot, Jim! Any idea how strong it is? and at what level it plays? If it is around 2000, then I may add it in division 10 tournament.

Hi Swami,

I reckon it's about 1800-1900 at fast time controls. Does seem to play a bit better at longer time though.

Jim.

Thanks for the info, Jim

I think I might add it in division 10 anyway.

[Tony Thomas]

I had no idea that Dan had a lobotomized version(Simon) of his engine Bruja much like Viper from Tord.

[Jim Ablett]

I had no idea that Dan had a lobotomized version(Simon) of his engine Bruja much like Viper from Tord.

Simon is a great starting point/code base for someone who doesn't want to create an engine from scratch.
The code is free to use, very clear, well structured, easy to understand and is bitboard based.

Jim.