Winboard Forum

Hi all!

I would like to play engine matches with fast time control (<10sec). My problem is when I start Winboard with command /mg x, Winboard inserts 10sec between each game for no reason.
Can you help me to eliminate this behavior?

Regards,
László

Laszlo Gaspar wrote:..., Winboard inserts 10sec between each game

Have you tried "reuse" and "reuse2"? I don't know if it is the deafult but it should shorten the waiting time.

If you like experiments then look in Winboard's source code. There is a fixed waiting time coded in it somewhere. You can shorten that and recompile.


Volker

Hi Volker,

Thanks for the quick reply! Unfortunately the reuse command doesn't work in winboard (for me), I tried different ways (/reuse, /reuse=true, /reuseFirst=true, /reuse true), not to mention the default should be true.
The recompilation also doesn't work for me because I am not familiar with C developement (I could understand the code though).

Thank you and best regards,

László

Laszlo Gaspar wrote:Hi Volker,

Thanks for the quick reply! Unfortunately the reuse command doesn't work in winboard (for me), I tried different ways (/reuse, /reuse=true, /reuseFirst=true, /reuse true), not to mention the default should be true.
The recompilation also doesn't work for me because I am not familiar with C developement (I could understand the code though).

Thank you and best regards,

László

Hello László,

There is also:

"LG2000v39" /fd="d:\program files\engines\LG2000v39" /xreuse ; /name="Little Goliath 2000 v3.9"

There is a nifty and quite wonderful Winboard ini editor by Thomas McBurney which saves techno phobes like me again and again.

I hope this helps.

Later.

Winboard intentionally delays 10 seconds, before it starts the new game of a match, even if (or in fact especially if) you 'reuse' the engine:

Code: Select all

   if (matchGame < appData.matchGames) {
       char *tmp;
       tmp = first.twoMachinesColor;
       first.twoMachinesColor = second.twoMachinesColor;
       second.twoMachinesColor = tmp;
       gameMode = nextGameMode;
       matchGame++;
       ScheduleDelayedEvent(NextMatchGame, 10000);
       return;
   } else {



I could easily make this 10000 (msec) a user-definable parameter, through, say, a command-line option '/matchPause'.

But probably it is there for a reason. The engine might need some time reinitializing, after a game end (e.g. clearing its hash table). I am not sure what would happen if you don't give it that time. Perhaps its clock will be started too early, before it is ready to start playing.

H.G.Muller wrote:But probably it is there for a reason. The engine might need some time reinitializing, after a game end (e.g. clearing its hash table). I am not sure what would happen if you don't give it that time. Perhaps its clock will be started too early, before it is ready to start playing.

I shortened the time in ChessGUI and ran into the problem that late engine output from previous terminated game arrived in new game and messed things up.


Matthias.

Yes, this was what I was afraid of. Nevertheless, I you are sure the engines you are testing shut up quickly, a 10 sec pause seems like overdoing it. Especially if you play 40 moves in 1 sec.

Anyhow, in Winboard_F I have included the /matchPause option, to which you can give a delay in msec (from 10-10000). So people can experiment how far they can go.

Many thanks for the replies!
I am now impatiently waiting for H.G-s Winboard modifications to try out...

Thank you and see you soon in tha Capablanca-Chess scene...!

Regards,
László