You may see something like the following: This means the engine is in console mode. For most engines, this will bring up a DOS window. If you do not know what type it is, here is a simple process to find out. This information should be available in a readme file that comes with the engine or the site you download the engine from will state what type it is. You will need to know what type each engine is. Winboard and UCI describe the way an engine and a GUI. Most modern engines are either Winboard-compliant engines or are UCI engines, though some engines are both. Here are some things you should know about chess engines. I recommend that you edit the names so that it is clear what engine and version each. Also, some authors make no attempt to clearly name the engine. Place the engine folders in a dedicated folder. I recommend that you stay very organized with the engines.

These are well-respected sites and can be trusted. You can find links to download engines at some of the sites listed at the right of this blog (WBEC, Computer Chess Wiki, RWBC, Jim Ablett). Even engines that come with their own GUI can be played in other GUIs, with the notable exception of Fritz. Though there are some chess programs that are still actively developed ( Arasan by Jon Dart comes to mind), in most cases chess engines require a commonly available GUI in order to play chess (not counting text-based console mode that nobody uses now days).

With the advent of common engine communication protocols and GUIs that understood these protocols, many authors switched all of their efforts to writing chess engines. In the past, authors wrote chess programs. A chess program is generally the combination of the two parts.

You will also need a chess GUI, which is the code that has a chess board, a clock, and handles communication between the participants. You will need to download at least one chess engine, which is the code that actually plays chess. You can find a short review for every GUI discussed in this 'how to' under the Graphical User Interfaces For Computer Chess at this blog.ĭirections for ChessGUI, ChessBase, Scid vs PC, Chess for Android, Little Blitzer, Cutechess-cli, and hopefully Shredder will be added in the near future.įirst things first. This guide will not cover every detail for every GUI, but it should provide enough information to get a beginner started on conducting engine versus engine matches. Though the majority of people who view this blog know how to set up a tournament in at least one GUI, I think beginners would find a step-by-step description of how to load engines and create a tournament for various GUIs to be helpful.

Deep shredder 13 engine parameters