Re: [Chessdb-users] ChessDB 3.6.15 - Downloading history games from ICC...

[Dr. D. K. <dav...@on...>]

Caissafan wrote:
> Hi David,
>
> I downloaded a few days ago this ChessDB version knowing yet from SCID in
> past. And I did hope to manage to download games of some big guns from
> ICC.
>
>   
Yes, good idea although the TWIC download feature might be better, as it
is possible to download a lot more games from there. I tend to use the
ICC download for games from players of my own ability more.
> Well, installing ChessDB and configuring including ICC settings were fine.
> And I also managed to log in to ICC as guest!
>   
Yes, but ICC has effectively disabled the guest accounts now - much to
the annoyance of many. Logging in as guest you can do very little indeed.
However, you can log in anonymously IF you have a valid ICC account, by
adding an "!" in front of your username - so instead of foobar, use
!foobar. That is best, as it saves anyone else who might have you on
their notify list being told you have arrived. That could be a bit
annoying I suspect.
> I got the ICC Telnet window, was able to search for all recently running
> (c) accounts etc. And I put some (c) account handles into command line of
> ChessDB Download games window - but how to go on? In which way do I get
> games from the history of (c) accounts specified in command line?
>   
There are three ways to do this, but all need a valid ICC account. You
cant use a 7-day trial account either, as ICC only allow trial accounts
to be used with their own software (Blitzin and Dasher), but not ChessDB.

1) Click Login, then type 'hist someuser' in the UPPER box to see the
history of 'someuser'. Then if you want to save say game number 12, type
in the UPPER box

spgn someuser 12

(spgn is an ICC command to print the game in PGN format).

2) The second, and more convenient way, is to download ALL the games the
history of a player. In this case put the usernames (I suggest no more
than 5) into the lower window. Then click "Login" and ChessDB will
connect to ICC and download all games in the history. ChessDB is not
reliably handling logging out and back in again, so you might find you
have to restart under some circumstances.


3) You can retrieve games from the library of players IF they have saved
any games to their library. For this enter in the UPPER box

liblist someuser (to list games in the library)
spgn someuser %23 (to list game 23 from the library)

Notes
i) The upper box can be used for any ICC command, but it is not
particularly convenient for downloading multiple games, as you need to
type the commands many times.
ii) The lower box is set up specifically for downloading from the
history. It basically executes

spgn someuser -1
spgn someuser -2
spgn someuser -3
to
spgn someuser -20

iii) ICC limits access to the history, so after 100 games (5 players),
you will only be able to download one game every 30 seconds or so.
> Saving any games from history directly is not allowed to guests on ICC. So
> I had the hope to get them with a ChessDB procedure running beyond those
> restrictions.  :-/
>
>   
No, sorry, I know of know way to do that without having an account. You
might be able to tell ICC you are a linux user and get a 7-day trial
account which will work with any software. Then ChessDB will work, but
not as a guest or as a normal trial account.

I will build a windows binary which works on FICS. Although I have not
tested it fully, the source will work on FICS, but last time I knew
there was a problem with only part of longer games being downloaded.
This never appeared on my Solaris system, but I have increased some
buffer sizes, so hopefully that will be OK now. But I have not yet built
a windows binary which supports FICS - I will do so soon.