Tips for winboard for a newcomer?

[Aaron]

Geschrieben von:/Posted by: Aaron at 03 February 2000 05:50:12:
Just wondering if any of you have any tips for conducting a winboard tournament on a PII 266 64 MB has computer..
Lots of questions follow

So far the only thing, I have done is to adjust the Hash Tables(tweaking with ini files), turn Ponder off and save games in a PGN file specified in the winboard ini..
However, I tend to have problems keeping track of game results espically when playing a 10 players Round Robin tournament. and have to constantly recheck the game file to keep score. Is there any good utility that is suitable for keeping track of tournament scores?Elostat??
I hope you do mind when I say that engine tests on Fritz GUI is far easier since the match keeps going automatically and it keeps track of scores as well...
But Personally I have this sneaking feeling that somehow most of the winboard engines (even those "native?" or downloadable from chessbase)seem to play strangely when ported to Fritz.
It could be a lack of memory (or it takes time to update) but sometimes I see Crafty for example taking 1-2 second to "load up" every time it's crafty's move when using the Fritz interface.
Eg..Fritz6 moves, now Crafty's thinking window remains blank for 1-2s (why the delay?) while clock runs before thinking lines appear..Seems like Crafty is losing time..Anyone notice this as well?


I test using Blitz of 5 mins using winboard, since I don't have too much RAM (I understand hash tables are less important and hardly fill up in short time limits so i can get away with giving my programs 8-10 Mb Ram) but the problem is that I'm not sure if I should adjourn in the games in obviously drawn positions .
Eg Rook and Knight vers Rook and the game goes on for 100+ moves untill flags drops.
Or R+P vers R+P in a totally drawn game and after moving to and fro for 20-30 moves, one program short of time just hangs the rook??

I've even seen one program (I think it could be Comet but no bets) that failed to win a K+2B vers K endgame..

Perhaps I should learn to use Fritz6's tablebase to deal with this but I'm not really happy about unzipping tons of tablebase on my hard disk...Can some of the winboard programs excess the TBs from the CD?
Another option is to test playing say 5 seconds per move, at least this avoids the time trouble problem but the cons is that I prefer 5 mins Blitz games since this is more comparable to Human games..

So is there any advice you experienced winboard testers can give me? I'm eager to learn...

Thanks in advance

[Mogens Larsen]

Geschrieben von:/Posted by: Mogens Larsen at 03 February 2000 12:34:07:
Als Antwort auf:/As an answer to: Tips for winboard for a newcomer? geschrieben von:/posted by: Aaron at 03 February 2000 05:50:12:

Just wondering if any of you have any tips for conducting a winboard tournament on a PII 266 64 MB has computer..
Lots of questions follow

So far the only thing, I have done is to adjust the Hash Tables(tweaking with ini files), turn Ponder off and save games in a PGN file specified in the winboard ini..
However, I tend to have problems keeping track of game results espically when playing a 10 players Round Robin tournament. and have to constantly recheck the game file to keep score. Is there any good utility that is suitable for keeping track of tournament scores?Elostat??

I have the same specs, so I'll see if I can help.
Sounds reasonable. What did you use for hash? I use about 16-20Mb depending on engine.
I use a Swiss Tournament Manager 0.56B, which do the pairing and calculates the ELO change. I can't remember where I found it, but I'll take a look. It might be usefull checking out places where there are chess utilities.
Best wishes...
Mogens

[Aaron]

Geschrieben von:/Posted by: Aaron at 04 February 2000 16:04:23:
Als Antwort auf:/As an answer to: Re: Tips for winboard for a newcomer? geschrieben von:/posted by: Mogens Larsen at 03 February 2000 12:34:07:

However, I tend to have problems keeping track of game results espically when >>playing a 10 players Round Robin tournament. and have to constantly recheck >>the game file to keep score. Is there any good utility that is suitable for >>keeping track of tournament scores?Elostat??

Well..Never mind, I just figured out that Chessbase light or the version with Fritz works well enough..Doh...
BTW I'm running a Round Robin tournament with Crafty,Goliath,Anmon,Phalanx,Comet and TCB (5 Mins Blitz, 12 game match between each engine) would Frank consider putting it up ?

[Frank Quisinsky]

Geschrieben von:/Posted by: Frank Quisinsky at 04 February 2000 20:12:18:
Als Antwort auf:/As an answer to: Re: Tips for winboard for a newcomer? geschrieben von:/posted by: Aaron at 04 February 2000 16:04:23:

However, I tend to have problems keeping track of game results espically when >>playing a 10 players Round Robin tournament. and have to constantly recheck >>the game file to keep score. Is there any good utility that is suitable for >>keeping track of tournament scores?Elostat??

Well..Never mind, I just figured out that Chessbase light or the version with Fritz works well enough..Doh...
BTW I'm running a Round Robin tournament with Crafty,Goliath,Anmon,Phalanx,Comet and TCB (5 Mins Blitz, 12 game match between each engine) would Frank consider putting it up ?

Hi,
yes, yes !
When you play under WinBoard !
Please wrote me which computer system (286/10 or Pentium III 800), the hashtable size for the programs, table-bases yes/no ...
Please send me the games in PGN, when you will can you make a little txt
data with information.
Thanks !
Regards
Frank

[Aaron]

Geschrieben von:/Posted by: Aaron at 05 February 2000 09:08:06:
Als Antwort auf:/As an answer to: Re: Tips for winboard for a newcomer? geschrieben von:/posted by: Frank Quisinsky at 04 February 2000 20:12:18:

BTW I'm running a Round Robin tournament with >>Crafty,Goliath,Anmon,Phalanx,Comet and TCB (5 Mins Blitz, 12 game match >>between each engine) would Frank consider putting it up ?

Hi,
yes, yes !
When you play under WinBoard !
Please wrote me which computer system (286/10 or Pentium III 800), the >hashtable size for the programs, table-bases yes/no ...
Please send me the games in PGN, when you will can you make a little txt
data with information.

Thanks Frank..The rounds will be completed by Monday..
One question though, is it okay to post the games in Chess Base format..I converted the PGN files to CBH format for easy use..Maybe i could reverse it back..?

[Frank Quisinsky]

Geschrieben von:/Posted by: Frank Quisinsky at 05 February 2000 09:20:22:
Als Antwort auf:/As an answer to: Re: Tips for winboard for a newcomer? geschrieben von:/posted by: Aaron at 05 February 2000 09:08:06:

BTW I'm running a Round Robin tournament with >>Crafty,Goliath,Anmon,Phalanx,Comet and TCB (5 Mins Blitz, 12 game match >>between each engine) would Frank consider putting it up ?

Hi,
yes, yes !
When you play under WinBoard !
Please wrote me which computer system (286/10 or Pentium III 800), the >hashtable size for the programs, table-bases yes/no ...
Please send me the games in PGN, when you will can you make a little txt
data with information.

Thanks Frank..The rounds will be completed by Monday..
One question though, is it okay to post the games in Chess Base format..I converted the PGN files to CBH format for easy use..Maybe i could reverse it back..?

No problem !
I added the games from the tournaments in PGN format on my page. But I work with Chess-Base 7.0 ! Later all games in one cbh database in my Download Page Q (the games from all tournaments).
Thanks, it is good for me and my WinBoard page !
Regards
Frank