Winboard Converter Readme-file
=========================
Release 1999-01-31

The Winboard converter allows chess engines for Winboard 4 to run
under ChessGenius 6.5.

0. Contents of this file

1. What is in this archive?
2. Installation
3. How does it work?
4. What is Winboard?
5. Sample procedure to add a new Winboard engine:
6. Notes
6.1 General
6.2 Engine options
6.2.1 Permanent brain
6.2.2 White's score in analysis mode
6.2.3 Can show current move
6.3 Additional settings
6.3.1 Hash table size
6.3.2 Opening book
6.3.3 Engine matches
6.3.4 Other engine settings
7. Provided eng files

1. Contents?
WBConv.dll     The Winboard Converter.
Winboard.eng   Sample eng file to add new Winboard-engines.

2. How does it work?
Both Winboard and ChessGenius 6.5 provide an interface for chess
engines. Both interfaces are completely different, so there is no
direct way for Winboard engines to run under ChessGenius 6.5.
The Winboard Converter does the job to translate between the Winboard
engine and the ChessGenius 6.5 I/O.
An *.eng file in the Genius6 folder provides all information for the
Winboard Converter to run any Winboard engine.

3. What is Winboard?
Winboard is a free program whith two main purposes:
It is an interface for playing chess on Internet chess servers and
it provides a graphical front end for chess engines.
Winboard can be found on Tim Mann's Chess Page at:
http://www.research.digital.com/SRC/personal/Tim_Mann/chess.html
This page also lists a number of Winboard engines.

4. Sample procedure to add a Winboard engine:
See also 7. for provided eng files.
  1.  Create a subfolder in the "Genius6\engines" folder.
  2.  Install the engine into this folder.
  3.  Copy the file "WBConv.dll" into this folder.
  4.  Copy the file "Winboard.eng" to the Genius6.5 folder and rename
      it for example to "MyEngine.eng".
  5.  Edit this file, see the comments in the file.

6. Notes
6.1 General
Only Winboard 4 engines are supported.
Some engines do not support all Winboard features, such as analysis
mode, permanent brain, or position setup. There is no feedback in
ChessGenius 6.5 if such a missing feature is requested from the engine.
In some cases it is necessary to close and restart the engine to make
it work again.
Some engines have implemented some Winboard commands in a wrong way.
This will lead to unpredictable results.
When playing games against an engine, it is possible that analysis
display gets lost, especially in quick levels with permanent brain
enabled, if the predicted move is played. However, moves are passed
correctly to the engine and analysis display should be correct again
a few moves later.

6.2 Engine options
The following three options can be set for Winboard engines:

6.2.1 Permanent brain
Switches Permanent brain on or off (if supported by the engine).

6.2.2 White's score in analysis mode
Engine displays score in White's favour, and not for the side to
move.

6.2.3 Can show current move
Engine can display the move which is currently analysed.

6.3 Additional settings

6.3.1 Hash table size
The hash table size of a Winboard engine should be passed to the
ChessGenius 6.5 user interface to prevent extensive disk swapping.
See the comments in the Winboard.eng file for the procedure.
If the engine is using several tables (for example hash tables and
evaluation tables), use the sum of all values.
Some engines use by default the entire RAM for hash tables. In this
case it is necessary to reduce the hash table. See the documentation
of the Winboard engine.

6.3.2 Opening book
Under ChessGenius 6.5, all Winboard engines use the ChessGenius book.
Therefor, it is recommended to switch off the internal book of the
engine.

6.3.3 Engine matches
Permanent brain should be switched off in engine matches for reliable
results.

6.3.4 Other engine settings
There are no standard Winboard commands to control engine settings so
it is not possible to modify settings through the Winboard converter.

7. Provided eng files
Two Eng files for Crafty and WBNimzo2000b are included. After the installation
of Chess Genius 6.5 you`ll find two working Winborad-Engines under Genius 6.5.
For a quick setup, create a folder with the name under "Install
folder" in the "Genius65\engines" folder and install the engines into
this folder.
If you install engines into different folders, you have to edit the
eng file to match the correct path.

=====================================================================
Winboard Converter Copyright (c) 1999 by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen.
All rights reserved.
The Winboard converter may be re-distributed freely, provided that
the contents of this archive must not be changed in any way.

Millennium2000 GmbH
Munich, Germany
http://www.computerchess.com