WinBoard 4.8.0 pre-release

[hgm]

I just uploaded an installer containing the latest WinBoard and Polyglot, which we intend to release shortly as 4.8.0. (Currently the winboard.exe in it still calls itself 4.8.pre0, but unless major defects come up, it is not likely to change except in number. The unresolved stuff we still work on only considers XBoard.) Those willing to beta-test it can download it from

http://hgm.nubati.net/WinBoard-4.8.0.exe .

Some new features useful for orthodox Chess are:

* Tablebase hits, selective depth and knps can be displayed with engine output
* New Polyglot version supports this for UCI engine through showTbHits option
* WinBoard allows you to collapse columns of engine output you don't want to see
* When editing the opening book, you can play book moves by clicking them, and add moves by playing them
* The zoom factor in the Eval Graph can be controlled with the mouse wheel
* Right-clicking the Eval Graph toggles it between eval and blunder mode (displaying score change)
* Bulk saving of all games selected for display in the Game List is possible
* Save Games as Book now similarly incorporates only selected games
* Clock setting is saved as comment with aborted games, and used to set clocks on reload
* Setting up of positions is greatly improved by providing a 'palette board' next to an empty board and opening position
* WinBoard now supports bitbases, and can consult these to cut short drawn games between EGT-using engines
* Automatic playing of moves from clicked analysis PVs can be controlled better (so you won't do it accidentally so easily)

There also is (much) improved support for Chess variants:

* Support for unknown variants, by allowing the engine to define name, board format, participating pieces and initial setup
* Engines can apply colored board markings to indicate where pieces can move (or just for fun)
* GUI move generator can be configured by the engine, to have full support for unknown pieces
* Support for pieces that can capture 'in passing' (like in Checkers)
* New standard variants ASEAN and Mighty-Lion Chess

[Ferdy]

* Tablebase hits, selective depth and knps can be displayed with engine output
* New Polyglot version supports this for UCI engine through showTbHits option
* WinBoard allows you to collapse columns of engine output you don't want to see
* The zoom factor in the Eval Graph can be controlled with the mouse wheel

All the above works for me, have not tested the other features yet.

Thanks for the update.

[Guenther]

I just uploaded an installer containing the latest WinBoard and Polyglot, which we intend to release shortly as 4.8.0. (Currently the winboard.exe in it still calls itself 4.8.pre0, but unless major defects come up, it is not likely to change except in number. The unresolved stuff we still work on only considers XBoard.) Those willing to beta-test it can download it from

http://hgm.nubati.net/WinBoard-4.8.0.exe .

Some new features useful for orthodox Chess are:

* Tablebase hits, selective depth and knps can be displayed with engine output
* New Polyglot version supports this for UCI engine through showTbHits option
* WinBoard allows you to collapse columns of engine output you don't want to see
* When editing the opening book, you can play book moves by clicking them, and add moves by playing them
* The zoom factor in the Eval Graph can be controlled with the mouse wheel
* Right-clicking the Eval Graph toggles it between eval and blunder mode (displaying score change)
* Bulk saving of all games selected for display in the Game List is possible
* Save Games as Book now similarly incorporates only selected games
* Clock setting is saved as comment with aborted games, and used to set clocks on reload
* Setting up of positions is greatly improved by providing a 'palette board' next to an empty board and opening position
* WinBoard now supports bitbases, and can consult these to cut short drawn games between EGT-using engines
* Automatic playing of moves from clicked analysis PVs can be controlled better (so you won't do it accidentally so easily)

There also is (much) improved support for Chess variants:

* Support for unknown variants, by allowing the engine to define name, board format, participating pieces and initial setup
* Engines can apply colored board markings to indicate where pieces can move (or just for fun)
* GUI move generator can be configured by the engine, to have full support for unknown pieces
* Support for pieces that can capture 'in passing' (like in Checkers)
* New standard variants ASEAN and Mighty-Lion Chess

Thanks a lot!

Are you sure you had bundled this new Polyglot version?
It says 2.01 from 12/2013.

And how do I get the palette board when setting up positions?

Guenther

[hgm]

By repeatedly clicking the clock in Edit Position mode (or when you use the piece menu, repeatedly issuing the Clear Board command there). See http://hgm.nubati.net/news.html#tag-A6 .

I will check if I goofed with Polyglot. I thought I did change the version number before compiling, but the installer build script might still grab the old one.

[Guenther]

I set up a position in WB 4.80pre successfully(though it was a bit tricky after a sloppy look at your helpfile until I found out about the CTRL trick for forcing to recreate non-pawn type of pieces).

8/8/2ppk3/4p3/8/8/4NPK1/5N2 b - - 0 1

Still a question remained:
how to set the right to move for B/W for analyzing?

I then started analyze mode with a Szygy compile of Stockfish, but either something went wrong or even the Polyglot 2.02 I used
was not new enough for showing tb hits in the output window? (yes ShowTBHits was set to true in Polyglot)

Code: Select all

1411574976.953 POLYGLOG OPTIONS 
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT [PolyGlot] EngineName="Stockfish_14081923"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT [PolyGlot] EngineDir="."
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT [PolyGlot] EngineCommand="Stockfish14081923.exe"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT [PolyGlot] RepeatPV="false"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT [PolyGlot] Log="true"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT [PolyGlot] LogFile="Stockfish_14081923.log"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT [PolyGlot] ShowTBHits="true"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT [Engine] Hash="512"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT [Engine] Threads="2"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT [Engine] SyzygyPath="C:\Syzygy_5\"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT Setting PolyGlot option "EngineName=Stockfish_14081923"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT Setting PolyGlot option "EngineDir=."
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT Setting PolyGlot option "EngineCommand=Stockfish14081923.exe"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT Setting PolyGlot option "RepeatPV=false"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT Setting PolyGlot option "Log=true"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT *** SWITCHING LOGFILE ***
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT NEW LOGFILE "Stockfish_14081923.log"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT *** LOGFILE OPENED ***
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT Setting PolyGlot option "LogFile=Stockfish_14081923.log"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT *** SWITCHING LOGFILE ***
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT NEW LOGFILE "Stockfish_14081923.log"
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT *** LOGFILE OPENED ***
1411574976.953 POLYGLOT Setting PolyGlot option "ShowTBHits=true"
1411574976.953 Adapter->Engine: setoption name Hash value 512
1411574976.953 Adapter->Engine: setoption name Threads value 2
1411574976.968 Adapter->Engine: setoption name SyzygyPath value C:\Syzygy_5\
1411574976.968 POLYGLOT *** Mainloop started ***
1411574977.031 Engine->Adapter: info string Found 145 tablebases.
1411574977.031 Adapter->GUI: # info string Found 145 tablebases.

Output window

Code: Select all

	mover viewpoint		fewer / Multi-PV setting = 1 / more
exclude: none best +tail                                          
 39	 -123.47 	457.7M	3:50.61	d5 Kf3 Ke7 Ne3 Ke6 Nc3 Kd6 Nexd5 cxd5 Kg4 d4 Ne4+ Ke6 Kf3 Kd7 Nd2 Ke6 Ke4 Kf6 Nf3 Ke6 Nxe5
 38	 -123.47 	338.7M	2:50.02	d5 Kf3 Ke7 Ne3 Ke6 Nc3 Kd6 Nexd5 cxd5 Kg4 d4 Ne4+ Ke6 Kf3 Kd7 Nd2 Ke6 Ke4 Kf6 Nf3 Ke6 Nxe5
 37	 -123.47 	260.8M	2:10.63	d5 Kf3 Ke7 Ne3 Ke6 Nc3 Kd6 Nexd5 cxd5 Kg4 d4 Ne4+ Ke6 Kf3 Kd7 Nd2 Ke6 Ke4 Kf6 Nf3 Ke6 Nxe5

Log

1411575234.468 Engine->Adapter: info depth 38 seldepth 33 score cp -12347 nodes 338710677 nps 1992228 tbhits 7057424 time 170016 multipv 1 pv d6d5 g2f3 e6e7 f1e3 e7e6 e2c3 e6d6 e3d5 c6d5 f3g4 d5d4 c3e4 d6e6 g4f3 e6d7 e4d2 d7e6 f3e4 e6f6 d2f3 f6e6 f3e5
1411575234.468 Adapter->GUI: # info depth 38 seldepth 33 score cp -12347 nodes 338710677 nps 1992228 tbhits 7057424 time 170016 multipv 1 pv d6d5 g2f3 e6e7 f1e3 e7e6 e2c3 e6d6 e3d5 c6d5 f3g4 d5d4 c3e4 d6e6 g4f3 e6d7 e4d2 d7e6 f3e4 e6f6 d2f3 f6e6 f3e5

[hgm]

how to set the right to move for B/W for analyzing?

Click on the clock of the side you want to set on move (in Edit Position mode). AFAIK this has always been possible in WinBoard. It should now also work in Analysis mode to enter null move.

I then started analyze mode with a Szygy compile of Stockfish, but either something went wrong or even the Polyglot 2.02 I used
was not new enough for showing tb hits in the output window? (yes ShowTBHits was set to true in Polyglot)

Whichever version it is, it seems to recognize the option. And even if it didn't, WinBoard would just display a column of zeros. But in the Engine Output you posted, there isn't even a line with column headers.

Are you sure the option 'Headers in Engine Output' is ticked in the General Options dialog? You need to see that header, because you have to right-click it in order to open the tbHits column.

I must admit there was something strange here when I tried it, as when I ticked the headers checkbox, it only had an effect after I restarted WinBoard, while I would have expected them to be shown already in the next search. This is something I still have to check out.

Code: Select all

	mover viewpoint		fewer / Multi-PV setting = 1 / more
exclude: none best +tail                                          
 39	 -123.47 	457.7M	3:50.61	d5 Kf3 Ke7 Ne3 Ke6 Nc3 Kd6 Nexd5 cxd5 Kg4 d4 Ne4+ Ke6 Kf3 Kd7 Nd2 Ke6 Ke4 Kf6 Nf3 Ke6 Nxe5
 38	 -123.47 	338.7M	2:50.02	d5 Kf3 Ke7 Ne3 Ke6 Nc3 Kd6 Nexd5 cxd5 Kg4 d4 Ne4+ Ke6 Kf3 Kd7 Nd2 Ke6 Ke4 Kf6 Nf3 Ke6 Nxe5
 37	 -123.47 	260.8M	2:10.63	d5 Kf3 Ke7 Ne3 Ke6 Nc3 Kd6 Nexd5 cxd5 Kg4 d4 Ne4+ Ke6 Kf3 Kd7 Nd2 Ke6 Ke4 Kf6 Nf3 Ke6 Nxe5

[Guenther]

how to set the right to move for B/W for analyzing?

Click on the clock of the side you want to set on move (in Edit Position mode). AFAIK this has always been possible in WinBoard. It should now also work in Analysis mode to enter null move.

Ok I never used that before.

Are you sure the option 'Headers in Engine Output' is ticked in the General Options dialog? You need to see that header, because you have to right-click it in order to open the tbHits column.

Mea culpa. I did not know that I have to check that option in the first place. Now it works! I appreciate that you are still(or again) working on WB. Thanks a lot.

Guenther

[hgm]

I thought I had configured the headers as 'on' in the master settings file (-memoHeaders true), for this release. But your saved settings would overrule that. If you would ever have tried a 4.8 beta already having this option, it could have ended up in your saved settings as 'off', because those beta versions came as unconfigured bare .exe, and the compiled-in default for the option is 'off'.

Could that be the explanation, in your case?

[Guenther]

I thought I had configured the headers as 'on' in the master settings file (-memoHeaders true), for this release. But your saved settings would overrule that. If you would ever have tried a 4.8 beta already having this option, it could have ended up in your saved settings as 'off', because those beta versions came as unconfigured bare .exe, and the compiled-in default for the option is 'off'.

Could that be the explanation, in your case?

Yes I just extracted the exe from the install and copied it over my 4.7x version.

[hgm]

Ah, OK. That explains why it might not be configured optimally. My policy is to let a 'cold start' reproduce the old behavior as much as possible, and activate all new features through configuring.

But the configuring only works for new options that did not exist before, as existing options already have a value in the user's saved settings. This is a hard problem, as I don't want to discard existing settings ever. But sometimes I add new features which change the optimum setting of an existing option. E.g. when I added ICS chat boxes, the best way to benefit from them would be to have an extra 'Open Chat Box' item in the ICS context menu. But that menu is user-configured through an option, and some users change it very extensively. So I could not just overrule it with some minimal standard context menu that had the new item.

I guess what is needed is options to edit other options, like adding a line to them...