Winboard Forum

I have been using Winboard simply as a pgn viewer for some time, but now I would like to (i) load the Crafty engine into Winboard and (ii) use Crafty to analyze my games via the "Analyze File" mode and the "Analysis"mode.

I have tried find some information on the internet that would explain how to load Crafty onto Winboard and how to use the "Analyze File" and the "Analysis"modes. I found a thread on this forum explaining that the best way to load an engine is to use PSWBTM. Question - should I download 32 bit crafty or 64 bit?

For the the "Analyze File" and the "Analysis"modes, I found an explanation provided by HG Muller in this thread http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/chess-interface. But I am having trouble following along - for example, under the "Engine -> Engine #1 Settings" menu, there are no options to set - a window open that is entitled settings, but all I can do is click "ok" or "Cancel".

Are there any tutorials or other explanations that might walk me thru how to get Crafty loaded and how to use it to do analysis?

Thanks.

In WB 4.6.2 you can use Engine->Load Engine menu to load Crafty. (After you downloaded and installed it on your machine. The 64-bit version will be faster, but you can only use it if you have a 64-bit machine with a 64-bit Operating System.) Just use browse button for finding the .exe. After that, you should be able to use Mode->Analysis.

Note that Crafty is a pretty old, and not very compliant engine. It report no options to the GUI, and to set the options it has you have to edit some craftyrc file, (or something like that). I never use Crafty, so perhaps someone else can provide some help her.

Crafty has a command line option produce annotation of the games in a PGN file.

If that is what you mean by analyze a file, then I don't believe winboard or another GUI will be of help.
To the best of my (very limited) knowledge, the command is proprietary in the sense that it appears in Crafty and not in any other chess engines that I am aware of.
If another engine has something similar it is still likely to have a different command to invoke it, or different syntax.

Crafty's annotate command is useful for chess players, though they are probably not aware of its existence.
I have seen different version of Craft and the command seemed different in each of them.

The best version I had produced HTML output, and with properly set up files, would display pictures of the chess positions it found interesting.
You could ask Crafty to look through a file of your games and ask it to explain where it thought you had made mistakes of a certain size.
For example setting the error margin to 75 centipawns would cause Crafty to show you where you had probably blundered away a pawn or piece, and show you what you could have played instead.

I discovered the command in a help file that came with one version of Crafty.

So if that is what you mean by ANALYZE A FILE, I don't think there is a GUI to invoke it.
I may have misunderstood you - I often do If that's the case, sorry!

http://www.cis.uab.edu/hyatt/craftydoc.html

annotate | annotateh <filename> <colors | name> <moves> <margin> <time>
This command is used to annotate (make comments in) a game that has already been played.

annotate
produces a file with the .can extension added to the original name. This file will contain pure ascii information from the annotation pass.
annotateh
produces an HTML file instead (with the .html extension). This includes the normal output, plus a nice bitmapped graphical board display for every position where Crafty had 'something to say'.
....

gatoruss wrote: I found a thread on this forum explaining that the best way to load an engine is to use PSWBTM. Question - should I download 32 bit crafty or 64 bit?

If you have a 64-bit machine, you should probably download the 64-bit version. If you have a 32-bit machine, you will need to download the 32-bit version. With Windows 7 (and probably Vista) you can check and confirm what type of system you have by going to your Control Panel and clicking on System. Your system will be listed under "System type."

PSWBTM may have been the "best way" to load an engine in the past, (I never used it, not even with older versions of WinBoard) but I don't believe it's the best way now. As H.G. mentioned, one way, using version 4.6.2, is to simply point to the crafty executable file, from the LOAD ENGINE dialog box. That's it. Another way, if you have Crafty properly listed as an engine in your winboard.ini file, is to load it from the SELECT ENGINE FROM LIST drop down box.

gatoruss wrote:But I am having trouble following along - for example, under the "Engine -> Engine #1 Settings" menu, there are no options to set - a window open that is entitled settings, but all I can do is click "ok" or "Cancel".

Yes, after loading Crafty I see the exact same thing. Again, it's because the Crafty engine doesn't allow the GUI to set options this way. Load the most recent versions of Stockfish or Critter or Houdini 1.5a, (all which are stronger the Crafty, by the way) and then you will see options to set.

After loading an engine, even Crafty, load a previously played game and then try the Analyze Game feature or the Analysis Mode feature.

With Analyze Game, WinBoard will step through the game, analyzing it one move at a time, with the engine you have loaded, (including Crafty). Be sure to save the game to a file, and the analysis will be saved with it. Change the /timeDelay option in the winboard.ini file to set the number of seconds you want the engine to spend on each move.

With Analysis Mode, your loaded engine of choice will analyze the current position. It will continue to analyze that position it until you tell it to stop (cntrl-e is one way, the shortcut for EDIT GAME) or until you step forward through the game. If you step forward it will then analyze THAT current position, until you say otherwise.

Crafty's options can be changed in the crafty.rc file. It's a simple ascii text file, and can be edited with any text editor. (TextPad, Notepad, etc.) It should be found in the same folder as your Crafty executable file. My crafty.rc file looks like this:

tbpath=E:\chess\Tablebases\345
egtb
resign 7
swindle on
# mt=4
smpmt=4
hash=1024M
hashp=64M
learn 7
book on
show book
book random 1
ponder off
log off
exit