CCT 15 - 72 hours left to register

[Rebel]

Does Playchess have a Linux client? If not, then that's a no go.

Peter

Indeed, if it does not then that rules out playchess. Linux seems to be far more popular among chess enthusiasts than it is in the general population.

Perhaps, but on the other hand, the potential viewing audience is much much larger, and I could arrange to have it placed in the event calendar in the main Broadcast area, the same where the elite GM events take place. Also, Playchess has free Android and iOS clients to view from as well.

Hi Albert,

Tried the software but can't access the Engine Room, not as Guest and also not after subscription.

[hgm]

Of course Linux people need not feel disadvantaged: they can use XBoard!

Xboard is best started from a terminal window, using the command

xboard -ics -icshost 83.163.204.254 -autoKibitz

The terminal window will remain as the means of communicating with the ICS. However, typing directly in the terminal is not recommended; it is better to type in the 'ICS Input Box', a dedicated small window whit a text-entry field. It pops up automatically when you start typing when the board has focus.

To save you lots of typing, you might want to open the ICS Menu:



This opens a permanent dialog similar in function to WinBoard's ICS menu. By pressing the buttons, you can send pre-cooked commands to the ICS. To pick a game to observe you would first hit 'Games' (all games) or 'Tourney Games' (the games from tourney #1, requested from mamer). This would print a list of games on the terminal.



You can then use the mouse to select the name of a player from there, and press 'Observe (name)'. This issues the command 'observe SELECTEDTEXT' to the ICS, causing the game to appear on the chess-board window. The screenshot shows how I started observing the game 'phoenics' was playing.



With auto-kibitz the kibitzed engine scores and PVs will appear in the Engine Output window (openable from the same View menu as shown above). Just like with WinBoard, right-clicking the kibitzed PVs there will cause them to be played out on the board. Auto-kibitz can be switched on and off from the Options -> ICS... menu if you rather see the engine kibitz in the terminal window.



To configure your ICS Text Menu to contain the commands for interacting with mamer (Tourney Games / Standings), you can copy the following text to a file CCT.ini, and then run XBoard once with the command line

xboard @CCT.ini

Code: Select all

-icsMenu {Tourney Standings;mam who 1;
MultiLine;
set open 0
set seek 0
set tell 1;
Tourney Games;mam games 1;
Who;who;
Finger (name);finger $name;
Players;players;
Vars (name);vars $name;
Games;games;
Observe (name);observe $name;
Sought;sought;
Match (name);match $name;
Tell (name);tell $name $input;
Play (name);play $name;
Message (name);message $name $input;
}

To organize your chats, you could open XBoard's chat window. Like the WinBoard Chat Boxes, you can type the name of the one you want to chat to in the field at the upper left. (Or a channel number, or 'shouts' or 'kibitzes'.) Press one of the buttons in the upper row to switch to another chat (or start a new one, without disturbing the current one).

[Albert Silver]

Does Playchess have a Linux client? If not, then that's a no go.

Peter

Indeed, if it does not then that rules out playchess. Linux seems to be far more popular among chess enthusiasts than it is in the general population.

Perhaps, but on the other hand, the potential viewing audience is much much larger, and I could arrange to have it placed in the event calendar in the main Broadcast area, the same where the elite GM events take place. Also, Playchess has free Android and iOS clients to view from as well.

Hi Albert,

Tried the software but can't access the Engine Room, not as Guest and also not after subscription.

The Engine room is only available to paid subscriptions, not trials. It also has virtually no audience of any kind except the fanatic users who spend day and night playing each other. I was proposing to have the event available in the Broadcast room, where all the great chess events (Wijk aan Zee, etc.) are transmitted, not the engine room. Users could watch the games from the Playchess client even from their smartphones or tablets.

That said, the engine authors would be given permanent accounts to use and access the engine room (among other things) as much as they liked. That includes you Ed (if you don't already have an account). Create an account and fill out the info (name, etc) and message me. I will have it upgraded to a full account.

[BubbaTough]

Does Playchess have a Linux client? If not, then that's a no go.

Peter

Indeed, if it does not then that rules out playchess. Linux seems to be far more popular among chess enthusiasts than it is in the general population.

Perhaps, but on the other hand, the potential viewing audience is much much larger, and I could arrange to have it placed in the event calendar in the main Broadcast area, the same where the elite GM events take place. Also, Playchess has free Android and iOS clients to view from as well.

Hi Albert,

Tried the software but can't access the Engine Room, not as Guest and also not after subscription.

The Engine room is only available to paid subscriptions, not trials. It also has virtually no audience of any kind except the fanatic users who spend day and night playing each other. I was proposing to have the event available in the Broadcast room, where all the great chess events (Wijk aan Zee, etc.) are transmitted, not the engine room. Users could watch the games from the Playchess client even from their smartphones or tablets.

That said, the engine authors would be given permanent accounts to use and access the engine room (among other things) as much as they liked. That includes you Ed (if you don't already have an account). Create an account and fill out the info (name, etc) and message me. I will have it upgraded to a full account.

I have never bothered exercising any of a number of time-limited subscriptions I got with various products, though when I used to be on ICC more a number of engine guys said good things about Playchess. Is your offer to Ed for a permanent account for the duration of an event like CCT (should there be one) or is this an offer to original engine authors for a free lifelong account to run there engines on Playchess (kind of like ICC theoretically offers)? If a free lifelong account is on the table independent of events, I might be interested in trying it out. I am considering adding some learning into Hannibal, and if I do so I would want a server I could regularly stay logged onto with learning activated like I used to do with LearningLemming on ICC.

-Sam

[Modern Times]

I am considering adding some learning into Hannibal, and if I do so I would want a server I could regularly stay logged onto with learning activated like I used to do with LearningLemming on ICC.

-Sam

You should look at Joshua's server for round the clock automated games.

[Albert Silver]

Does Playchess have a Linux client? If not, then that's a no go.

Peter

Indeed, if it does not then that rules out playchess. Linux seems to be far more popular among chess enthusiasts than it is in the general population.

Perhaps, but on the other hand, the potential viewing audience is much much larger, and I could arrange to have it placed in the event calendar in the main Broadcast area, the same where the elite GM events take place. Also, Playchess has free Android and iOS clients to view from as well.

Hi Albert,

Tried the software but can't access the Engine Room, not as Guest and also not after subscription.

The Engine room is only available to paid subscriptions, not trials. It also has virtually no audience of any kind except the fanatic users who spend day and night playing each other. I was proposing to have the event available in the Broadcast room, where all the great chess events (Wijk aan Zee, etc.) are transmitted, not the engine room. Users could watch the games from the Playchess client even from their smartphones or tablets.

That said, the engine authors would be given permanent accounts to use and access the engine room (among other things) as much as they liked. That includes you Ed (if you don't already have an account). Create an account and fill out the info (name, etc) and message me. I will have it upgraded to a full account.

I have never bothered exercising any of a number of time-limited subscriptions I got with various products, though when I used to be on ICC more a number of engine guys said good things about Playchess. Is your offer to Ed for a permanent account for the duration of an event like CCT (should there be one) or is this an offer to original engine authors for a free lifelong account to run there engines on Playchess (kind of like ICC theoretically offers)? If a free lifelong account is on the table independent of events, I might be interested in trying it out. I am considering adding some learning into Hannibal, and if I do so I would want a server I could regularly stay logged onto with learning activated like I used to do with LearningLemming on ICC.

-Sam

You understood correctly, The subscription offer is not only for participants of a possible CCT transmission. It is a free lifelong account to original authors. This was already in place before I ever joined CB, though Harvey used to be the one who facilitated the process.

The process is fairly simple: create an account using your engine's name, fill out the data such as name and email (required), and contact me or HolgerLieske. Holger is online 90% of the time, but often under odd Sysop names, so if in doubt, drop me a note. My email is silvertongued at gmail dot com.

[Richard Allbert]

Not for me. I've written to Hogler, and Chessbase many times in the past, never had the courtesy of a reply. Same with you - I PM'd you on Graham Banks' suggestion, to ask about putting Jabba in the main hall as it's so weak, and on other servers people like playing it.

As usual, I didn't get a reply.

I quite like the Playchess GUI and SetUp ( I also like Winboard), it's a shame engines are restricted so much. There's no point in leaving Jabba on the server in the Engine room, as it just gets hammered. After speakgin with Harvey, I left Jabba on for a few days a while ago (I paid for the account also) and no one played it.

On FICS, it plays all the time vs humans, and people seem to enjoy it, and it isn't hidden away in and engine room.

One big benefit of winboard for CCT is that you can use the ZippyPassword feature to send commands to your engine from another machine - this is essential if you have to leave the computer during the tournament, as you can remotely manage the engine.

It would be nice if playchess could feature this.

[Raptor]

You understood correctly, The subscription offer is not only for participants of a possible CCT transmission. It is a free lifelong account to original authors. This was already in place before I ever joined CB, though Harvey used to be the one who facilitated the process.

The process is fairly simple: create an account using your engine's name, fill out the data such as name and email (required), and contact me or HolgerLieske. Holger is online 90% of the time, but often under odd Sysop names, so if in doubt, drop me a note. My email is silvertongued at gmail dot com.

Hi Albert

In this case, I would give it a go as well!! I emailed u with a question Albert, awaiting ur reply!

[Graham Banks]

Does Playchess have a Linux client? If not, then that's a no go.

Peter

Indeed, if it does not then that rules out playchess. Linux seems to be far more popular among chess enthusiasts than it is in the general population.

Perhaps, but on the other hand, the potential viewing audience is much much larger, and I could arrange to have it placed in the event calendar in the main Broadcast area, the same where the elite GM events take place. Also, Playchess has free Android and iOS clients to view from as well.

Hi Albert,

Tried the software but can't access the Engine Room, not as Guest and also not after subscription.

Broadcasts are in the broadcast room, not in the engine room.

[Albert Silver]

Not for me. I've written to Hogler, and Chessbase many times in the past, never had the courtesy of a reply. Same with you - I PM'd you on Graham Banks' suggestion, to ask about putting Jabba in the main hall as it's so weak, and on other servers people like playing it.

As usual, I didn't get a reply.

I quite like the Playchess GUI and SetUp ( I also like Winboard), it's a shame engines are restricted so much. There's no point in leaving Jabba on the server in the Engine room, as it just gets hammered. After speakgin with Harvey, I left Jabba on for a few days a while ago (I paid for the account also) and no one played it.

On FICS, it plays all the time vs humans, and people seem to enjoy it, and it isn't hidden away in and engine room.

One big benefit of winboard for CCT is that you can use the ZippyPassword feature to send commands to your engine from another machine - this is essential if you have to leave the computer during the tournament, as you can remotely manage the engine.

It would be nice if playchess could feature this.

Hi Richard,

I'm afraid you were the victim of bad luck. I do not recall getting the message. I do see it now. I'm afraid that your request would most likely be denied, though I quite understand your position. I helped get an account for Crafty set up and the problem was the same: 90% of the engines were Houdinis. Hopefully, with more authors taking advantage of the offer, this might change.

As to interface compatibility, I can only think of that fellow some months ago who had an interface that helped run any engine interface to play with another. I know he wanted to sell it, but perhaps he might be willing to help authors out with a courtesy copy. It is all I can think of.

In any case, if you have issues with your account, or need it refreshed or whatnot, email me.

All the best,

Albert