Setting up autoplayer for chessbase.

Here I try(!) to show how to setup 'autoplayer' , so that you can play with the shredder classic gui in the chessbase engine room,
but you can also play with other programs that support the autoplayer function f.i. the chesspartner interface from lokasoft.

First we setup the autoplayer translator/connection as an engine.
To do this we need two utilities programs: Wb2uci.exe and winboard232c.exe
Wb2uci converts the uci-protocol commands from chessbase to the winboard-protocol.
winboard232c converts the winboard-protocol to the autoplayer-protocol

Put these programs together in the same folder
and edit your wb2uci.eng file accordingly f.i. :

[ENGINE]
Name=S7.04 ClGui                                    <-- this later appears as the 'engine' name, I use shredder7.04 in classic gui hence...
Author=SMK
Filename=Wb2Uci.exe
[OPTIONS]
Program=winboard232c.exe

Go to your chessbase program interface, goto menu/tools/create uci engine
and select Wb2Uci.exe



now you should get something like this



click ok. and you should be done :-)
Run this 'engine' without (or with an empty) openings book and the smallest possible hashtable size (1Mb).

Testing:

For a test we don't have to go to the server.We just start an engine match to see if moves are send and received.
First we startup the client: shredder classic .
Now:
setup up books ,hashtable size and time control always,before you start autoplayer!!
As a little bit of time is lost by transmission it is best to compensate for it f.i.
to play 60+15 games,set 59+14 in the classic gui.
Load the engine you want to run(only this one or else the autoplayer option is grayed out)



and choose autoplayer from menu:mode 
notice it is placed in slave mode.
also note that in my case Com2 is selected.,as I run both chessbase and shredder gui on 1 computer via the 2 comports.
by default winboard232 uses comport 1
Click OK.

minimize the shredder gui window and start the chessbase program gui to begin an engine match(menu/file/new/engine match)
setup the parameters and let the game run for some moves to see if all is ok.
Good luck !

Wb2Uci

is a utility written by Odd Gunnar Malin
The beta version does not seem to work well together with chesspartner.
Wb2Uci Home Page

Winboard232

is an utility written by Eberhard Boerger
unfortunately his homepage is gone.

You can still download it from Leo Dijkman's great site:WBEC-Ridderkerk
Go to his download page.There you can find two versions of winboard rs232,download the 'c' version.
The zipfile also contains a description.

As an alternative you can also download the zipfile from here.It also contains the 'd' version
which can be used without cable over network.(see description inside)

winboard232 always runs as 'server' and uses comport 1 by default.

Pipes

Recently i have done some testing on windows xp Professional (service pack 2) with chesspartner.
I used 'pipes' so there was no need for a serial cable nor comports.
Just select <network> in chesspartner's autoplayer setup screen,uncheck 'master' (as always!)
and put -pipe in the commandline of  winboard232d.exe
eg:

[ENGINE]
Name=Chess Tiger 2004
Author=Christophe Théron
Filename=Wb2Uci.exe
[OPTIONS]
Program=winboard232d.exe -pipe

This method with pipes does not seem to work in xp home edition.

Extended and Fast.

Extended:
 Minor promotion support.
 This may not work with some old engines.Use -noextend in the winboard232 commandline
  See also the documentation included with winboard232.
Fast:
The original DOS based autoplayer had a 100 millisecond delay between the sending
of each character. With the fast option this delay is eliminated. Sending one move
requires 5 characters so without the fast option this takes 500 mS.
(Lokasoft)