Winboard/UCI/Core count question

[jshriver]

Basically when using winboard's built in UCI option for engines, how do you specify the core count from the command line?

Thanks in advanced for the help!
-Josh

[Dann Corbit]

Basically when using winboard's built in UCI option for engines, how do you specify the core count from the command line?

Thanks in advanced for the help!
-Josh

One of the dirty secrets of the chess programming community is that there is no way to specify the number of threads strictly according to the UCI standard.

Now, with UCI, most engines use a spin control called threads to do it, so it is not as bad as it sounds. It is just that it is not spelled out that this is how you should do it.

UCI Standard:
https://ucichessengine.wordpress.com/20 ... -protocol/

With Winboard it is spelled out. Use cores N:
https://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/engine-intf.html

A UCI engine could call the threading/cpu/cores option anything they like, but threads should work with most engines.

I won't use the word 'defect' to describe this part of the UCI protocol, but I will use the term 'under-specified'.

Houdini, Komodo, Stockfish, Protector use 'threads'. Possibly all UCI engines use that term, but I would not count on it since it is not specified by the standard.

[hgm]

Basically when using winboard's built in UCI option for engines, how do you specify the core count from the command line?

-smpCores N

It is a persistent option, so you only have to specify it when you want to alter it.