Level and setboard clarification

[Giorgio Medeot]

Hi,
I'm wondering about what should I do in my engine, with regard to this situation: WB sends me a 'level' command (say "level 40 1 0"), then I am put in 'force' mode.
Now:
1. If I receive a move, I will perform this move on the current board AND I will decrement my moves-to-go counter. Ok.
2. If, instead, I receive a 'setboard FEN' command, what should I do? I mean, the fen string includes a full move counter, should I ignore that field or am I supposed to take those moves into account in the current time session?
BTW, I also noticed that WB will always send me this counter with a value of 1, is this intended behaviour? Even in this case, I found no clear indication in the protocol specification about this, so I want to be sure I'm doing the right thing (other GUIs could well send me a fen with a full move counter > 1).

Thanks,

Giorgio

Edit: Well, I found this thread: http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=51380&hilit=level+setboard which explains a little, but how was the question settled?

[H.G.Muller]

I think you should take the move counter in the FEN seriously. So if the FEN has move counter 10, and you are playing 40 moves/min, you should expect to get your next minute added only after 31 moves. (And after 30 moves if you are white and black was to move in the FEN.)

Like you say, currently WinBoard only allows a set-up position to have move number 1, and ignores the real move number of any FEN you paste into it. But this could change in the future. Although there is no real advantage I can see. If you want the move number to start at a higher value, you could send a FEN from earlier in the game, (like the opening position...), and then send the moves.

[Giorgio Medeot]

Yes, I agree.
Keeping track of the move counter would be safer anyway.

Thanks,

Giorgio