Strongest currently available Winboard engines for import to Chessmaster?

[jewelmind]

I still find Chessmaster the most beautiful interface, easier on the eye and less cluttered than anything released since. So I want to keep using it, and I want to watch matches between good engines on it.

I've successfully imported Greko into Chessmaster 10, and the games are great, as Greko is around the same strength. Greko can even use Chessmaster opening books, which is fantastic.

For variety, I would like to import some more Winboard engines into Chessmaster at least as strong as Chessmaster 10 (or 11 - just bought it), but Greko is the only available one I could find. Everything seems to be UCI now. I find the instructions out there on how to import UCI engines into Chessmaster completely bamboozling! An example is this page:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/genera ... ci-engines

I can't use advice like this as I'm not a programmer. I don't know what a binary is, or an ini file, or how to edit it or with what etc. I'm completely lost with this. I looked at the Polyglot download page and it may as well have been written in ancient Sumerian.

So I think it's best if I just hunt for Winboard engines that can be easily imported into Chessmaster, like Greko. What's good and available and where is it? I've seen someone state that earlier versions of Crafty and Fruit were Winboard - is that true? If so, where are they?!

Note: Please don't post links to old general info like the Wikipedia list of Winboard engines - most of the links are dead now and most of the engines are weak. I need specific links to where I can get good Winboard engines now, as strong or stronger than Greko.

[jdart]

All versions of Crafty are Winboard compatible. I think Fruit was/is only UCI.

Arasan supports both Winboard and UCI (https://www.arasanchess.org).

--Jon

[supersharp77]

I still find Chessmaster the most beautiful interface, easier on the eye and less cluttered than anything released since. So I want to keep using it, and I want to watch matches between good engines on it.

I've successfully imported Greko into Chessmaster 10, and the games are great, as Greko is around the same strength. Greko can even use Chessmaster opening books, which is fantastic.

For variety, I would like to import some more Winboard engines into Chessmaster at least as strong as Chessmaster 10 (or 11 - just bought it), but Greko is the only available one I could find. Everything seems to be UCI now. I find the instructions out there on how to import UCI engines into Chessmaster completely bamboozling! An example is this page:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/genera ... ci-engines

I can't use advice like this as I'm not a programmer. I don't know what a binary is, or an ini file, or how to edit it or with what etc. I'm completely lost with this. I looked at the Polyglot download page and it may as well have been written in ancient Sumerian.

So I think it's best if I just hunt for Winboard engines that can be easily imported into Chessmaster, like Greko. What's good and available and where is it? I've seen someone state that earlier versions of Crafty and Fruit were Winboard - is that true? If so, where are they?!

Note: Please don't post links to old general info like the Wikipedia list of Winboard engines - most of the links are dead now and most of the engines are weak. I need specific links to where I can get good Winboard engines now, as strong or stronger than Greko.

Well you may need to know how to use a wb2uci adaptor for Chessmaster.....Last time I used winboard engines in Chessmaster was my beloved Chessmaster 6 (Which I still have) played around with CM10 a bit (personalities)
Heres my list (strong engines winboard)

Crafty 25.3
Crafty 25.2
Schooner 2.0.34
Scorpio v3.0
Scorpio 2.9
Scorpio 2.88
Tucano TCEC
Arasan 21.0
Minic 0.87
Ruffian Leiden
Exchess 7.97b
Little Goliath 2000v39
Nimzo 2000b
ChessBrainVB
Petir 4.92
Thinker 5.4D
Thinker 5.3B
Jonny 2.83
Smarthink 1.0
GnuChess 6.25
Godel 5.5.1
Gandalf 5
Der Bringer v1.9
Thats a good start...Enjoy! AR

[BrendanJNorman]

I still find Chessmaster the most beautiful interface, easier on the eye and less cluttered than anything released since. So I want to keep using it, and I want to watch matches between good engines on it.

I've successfully imported Greko into Chessmaster 10, and the games are great, as Greko is around the same strength. Greko can even use Chessmaster opening books, which is fantastic.

For variety, I would like to import some more Winboard engines into Chessmaster at least as strong as Chessmaster 10 (or 11 - just bought it), but Greko is the only available one I could find. Everything seems to be UCI now. I find the instructions out there on how to import UCI engines into Chessmaster completely bamboozling! An example is this page:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/genera ... ci-engines

I can't use advice like this as I'm not a programmer. I don't know what a binary is, or an ini file, or how to edit it or with what etc. I'm completely lost with this. I looked at the Polyglot download page and it may as well have been written in ancient Sumerian.

So I think it's best if I just hunt for Winboard engines that can be easily imported into Chessmaster, like Greko. What's good and available and where is it? I've seen someone state that earlier versions of Crafty and Fruit were Winboard - is that true? If so, where are they?!

Note: Please don't post links to old general info like the Wikipedia list of Winboard engines - most of the links are dead now and most of the engines are weak. I need specific links to where I can get good Winboard engines now, as strong or stronger than Greko.

I completely agree. Chessmaster ALWAYS had a stunningly beautiful interface, and I'd be using it now (Polyglot nonsense, I finally figured out), but one cannot include external engines in engine tournaments...that was a deal-breaker for me.

About Winboard Engines:

Thinker (versions 5.1c, 5.1e, 5.4d, 5.3b,5.2c are good place to start)

Frenzee 3.5.19

Dimitri (not so strong, but lots of fun)

ZChess 2.0

[xr_a_y]

http://rwbc-chess.de/chronology.htm

this might be helpful

[karger]

I recommend Fizbo 2.0x64 WB. It is rated at 3000 elo.

[Guenther]

I recommend Fizbo 2.0x64 WB. It is rated at 3000 elo.

...except that it does not exist. The last xboard version is 1.4.

Code: Select all

Changes in version 1.5, released August 16, 2015 (executables last changed on August 29th to remove default SYZYGY path, and to correct a bug in parallel search; single CPU search is unchanged.):
1. engine is now using UCI protocol. This should make it more compatible with modern chess interfaces.
2. various small modifications, mostly to search, resulting in approximately +40 ELO.
3. parallel search had a bug fixed, and should now work as intended. Estimated benefit from running on 4 cores is around 80 ELO.

[Nordlandia]

Chessmaster is a decent opponent for top humans i suppose, even today.

[Jimbo I]

but one cannot include external engines in engine tournaments...that was a deal-breaker for me.

Hello Brendan. I recently tried adding Crafty to my Chessmaster 10. I found that it wouldn't take 64-bit Winboard engines, but it would take 32-bit Winboard engines. I also needed to add an xboard command to get things to work, so there's probably an xboard compatibility requirement. With those caveats, you definitely can run external Winboard engines in a Chessmaster tournament. Cheers.

[jewelmind]

Thanks for all these great replies. I've already installed Crafty and played a game (though I notice another thread saying that a new version is being released). Got Crafty to play one 5 min game with CMX, resulting in a rather thrilling 186 move draw, ending with Crafty having a queen and CMX a rook, bishop and pawn it couldn't queen. So obviously wonderfully competitive with CMX, though Crafty's official rating should perhaps have it being a little more dominant? Hard to tell after one game of course, but I'm wondering about the way I've got it set up.

I won't go into the version of Crafty I've got or where I've got it from, as hopefully the new version will still be Winboard compatible and I'll be able to replace my current installation, but I would appreciate some advice on the Chessmaster installation options. No need for a Chessmaster opening book as Crafty was obviously using its own book in the lightning fast opening. But what should I do with:

Pondering
Endgame Database
Command Line Parameters

I left all of these off and blank. I wouldn't even know what to put in Command Line Parameters. Anyone with definite knowledge of what to enter in these fields that would allow Crafty to play as well as it can?