chessx-users — List for ChessX users

[Chessx-users] ChessX Moves contra Engine Evaluations

[Joseph P. <jpo...@nc...>]

I like to evaluate chess positions using the Engine Match feature (where 
I select the same engine for White and Black (so that any non-draw 
result is due to the features of the position rather than the relative 
playing strength of the engines)).

I've run into a problem where ChessX plays a move that doesn't have the 
highest evaluation (for White moves) or the lowest evaluation (for Black 
moves) according to the chess engine doing the calculating.

The problem does not happen all the time; but, it happens often enough 
that you should be able to observe it after a few tries. Here are the 
circumstances in which I've observed this phenomenon.

I give ChessX a position and let it play an engine match from that 
position with a given number of minutes per move and with the Analysis 
boxes set to display 3 moves each. (I use Stockfish for both White and 
Black, although I doubt that makes a difference).

After a number of moves have been played, I stop the engines and recheck 
suspicious looking moves as follows. I select the move immediately prior 
to the suspicious looking move and re-initiate the engine match. When 
time runs out in this "recheck" situation, ChessX halts and recommends 
the move that appears first in the Analysis box display -- but that list 
is not always sorted to put the best at the top.

Here are some actual results obtained in this manner.

FEN: r1bqk2r/pp2n1pp/1bpp1p2/8/2QPPB2/2N2N1P/P4PP1/R4RK1 b kq - 0 14

   -0.41 [+] [*] 14... d5 15. exd5 (depth 31, 0:05:00)

   -0.56 [+] [*] 14... g5 15. Bd2 g4 16. hxg4 Bxg4 17. Nh4 Qd7 18. Rab1 
Rg8 19. Rfe1 Be6 20. Qd3 Rg4 21. g3 O-O-O 22. Ng2 f5 23. Nf4 Kb8 24. d5 
Bf7 25. Rxb6 axb6 26. exf5 Re8 27. dxc6 bxc6 28. f6 Nc8 29. Rxe8 Qxe8 
30. Qxh7 d5 31. Na4 d4 32. Qh3 Rg8 (depth 30, 0:05:00)

   -0.43 [+] [*] 14... Ba5 15. Rfe1 Bxc3 16. Qxc3 Ng6 17. Bg3 O-O 18. 
Qb3+ Rf7 19. Rac1 d5 20. exd5 Qxd5 21. Qxd5 cxd5 22. Nh4 Nxh4 23. Re8+ 
Rf8 24. Rxf8+ Kxf8 25. Bxh4 b6 26. Rc7 Ba6 27. Bg3 Bc4 28. a3 Kg8 29. f3 
a5 30. a4 Ba6 31. Kf2 Rc8 32. Rxc8+ Bxc8 33. f4 Kf7 (depth 30, 0:05:00)

   [+] 14... d5 (suggested move)

   ===

FEN: r1bq1rk1/pp2n1pp/1b3p2/3p4/3P1B2/1QN2N1P/P4PP1/R4RK1 w - - 2 17

   -0.24 [+] [*] 17. Rae1 Rf7 (depth 32, 0:05:00)

   -0.13 [+] [*] 17. Rfe1 Rf7 18. Nb5 Ba5 19. Rec1 Ng6 20. Bg3 Rd7 21. 
Rc5 Ne7 22. Rac1 Nc6 23. Nd6 Rxd6 24. Bxd6 Qxd6 25. Rxd5 Qe6 26. Rxc6 
bxc6 27. Rxa5 Qxb3 28. axb3 Be6 29. Ne1 Bxb3 30. Nd3 Rd8 31. Nb4 Rxd4 
32. Nxc6 Ra4 33. Rxa7 Rxa7 34. Nxa7 Ba4 35. Kf1 Kf7 36. Ke2 Bd7 37. f3 
Ke6 38. Ke3 g5 (depth 31, 0:05:00)

   -0.65 [+] [*] 17. a4 Rf7 18. Rfe1 Ba5 19. Bd2 b6 20. Rac1 Ba6 21. Nb5 
Bxd2 22. Nxd2 Nf5 23. g4 Bxb5 24. axb5 Nh4 25. Rc6 Ng6 26. Qg3 Qd7 27. 
Qd6 Qxd6 28. Rxd6 Nf4 29. Re3 f5 30. Rc6 Rd8 31. Nb3 fxg4 32. hxg4 Ng6 
33. f3 Re7 (depth 31, 0:05:00)

   [+] 17. Rae1 (suggested move)

   ===

Assuming the evaluations are reliable[1], ChessX should sort the data 
structure backing the display box before selecting a move when time runs 
out.

Thanks,

Joe


[1]: Notice that in each of these cases, the recommended move was 
evaluated at a depth 1-ply more than the others. I suspect that, when 
time ran out, the engine was not finished evaluating at the new depth. 
That may be a source of unreliability.



-- 

Nothing Unreal is Self-Aware

[Chessx-users] chess X bug report

[jarek t. <jar...@gm...>]

hello !
"thank you for Chess X it's really great

i have encountered a problem , when using "Viktor Korchnoi games pgn

"a setting bar , with "year, opening, event, " - don't work

"i cant use "opening Bar" or "event date"

best wishes

j.tatarevitsh

Re: [Chessx-users] How to Update chessx.eco

[Joseph P. <jpo...@nc...>]

Thanks!

On 11/27/18 5:03 PM, jens-chessx wrote:
> Hello Joe,
> 
> the eco file is compiled into the executable as a resource, so you 
> cannot see it in the file system.
> The code line in question is the line 25 from ecothread.h:
> 
> if(!EcoPositions::loadEcoFile(":chessx.eco"))
> 
> This would need to be changed to allow external files. Quite an easy 
> change so I consider this for the upcoming release.
> 
> Jens
> 
>> Am 26.11.2018 um 22:52 schrieb Joseph Polanik <jpo...@nc... 
>> <mailto:jpo...@nc...>>:
>>
>> Is there a way to update the ECO codes that ChessX uses to classify 
>> opening lines?
>>
>> I found a file names chessx.eco in the package downloaded from 
>> sourceforge but it seems that file doesn't get installed onto the file 
>> system.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Joe
>>
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> Nothing Unreal is Self-Aware
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Chessx-users mailing list
>> Che...@li... 
>> <mailto:Che...@li...>
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chessx-users
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> 

-- 

Nothing Unreal is Self-Aware

@^@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@^@
       http://what-am-i.net
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Re: [Chessx-users] How to Update chessx.eco

[jens-chessx <jen...@gm...>]

Hello Joe,

the eco file is compiled into the executable as a resource, so you cannot see it in the file system.
The code line in question is the line 25 from ecothread.h:
if (!EcoPositions::loadEcoFile(":chessx.eco"))
This would need to be changed to allow external files. Quite an easy change so I consider this for the upcoming release.

Jens

> Am 26.11.2018 um 22:52 schrieb Joseph Polanik <jpo...@nc... <mailto:jpo...@nc...>>:
> 
> Is there a way to update the ECO codes that ChessX uses to classify opening lines?
> 
> I found a file names chessx.eco in the package downloaded from sourceforge but it seems that file doesn't get installed onto the file system.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Joe
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Nothing Unreal is Self-Aware
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Chessx-users mailing list
> Che...@li... <mailto:Che...@li...>
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chessx-users

[Chessx-users] How to Update chessx.eco

[Joseph P. <jpo...@nc...>]

Is there a way to update the ECO codes that ChessX uses to classify 
opening lines?

I found a file names chessx.eco in the package downloaded from 
sourceforge but it seems that file doesn't get installed onto the file 
system.

Thanks,

Joe


-- 

Nothing Unreal is Self-Aware

[Chessx-users] databases? not working on High Sierra

[david c. <asl...@gm...>]

Newby--just downloaded for the first time. Not ranting, just to let you
know, but using the latest update on High Sierra the program does not seem
to be functioning correctly. When I first opened it it gave me a message
about needing to download a database, and then crashed. I manually
downloaded one of the databases, and created my own in the program, but
they are not persistent. I can open databases, play games, etc. However,
every time I close and return none of my databases are visible in the
window (even if "kept/favorited"). I have to reopen everything each time.
They are there in my default folder. The program often crashes..."often"
meaning it appears that even when I close it normally it is actually
crashing (I later get a delayed message it has crashed), though sometimes
it just crashes even if I am not closing it. I tried mussing with various
settings, but no magic combo has appeared...

The program seems fine otherwise, and hope it gets sorted out sometime so I
can use it more comfortably...aside from that, nice program, kudos...

cheers

[Chessx-users] Mac / OS X Version Currently Broken?

[John S. <jo...@jo...>]

I wonder if anyone on here is successfully using ChessX on the latest
version of macOS (High Sierra).

While the Windows version works fine, when I try and add games in the Mac
version, the dialog for game details doesn't come up reliably (nor does it
when clicking a game in the game list). When adding details for a game, it
seems to add them to the previous game.

I can replicate/quantify in a bug report, but wanted to check to see if
anyone else has success on a Mac, and may have any suggestions, before I do.

thanks!

johnS

Re: [Chessx-users] engine matches?

[Jens N. <jen...@gm...>]

Just press F1 to see the help files. Select Manual and look for "Matches between engines".
For your second question, see the chapter on "Analysing games".

Jens


> Am 09.02.2018 um 11:33 schrieb Keith Kitson <kki...@gm...>:
> 
> Hi,
> Thank you for the ChessX download which I have just installed.
> 
> I came across a menu item entitled ‘engine match’ but don’t seem able to set which engines will play.
> I have managed to add some engines and configure them to the system similar to the way Hiarcs explorer achieves this but have failed to find any transaction to select which engines I want to play.
> Is this still under development at the present time? :-)
> Regards
> 
> I have also been unsuccessful in setting which engine to set for analysis of a position and am not sure if I have successfully kicked off analysis as I cannot seem to find an analysis result window. Might this also be under development.
> 
> I notice there is an Analysis 1 and 2 but am not sure of the differences or how they work.
> 
> Is there a user guide I can reference to overcome some or all of these queries.
> 
> Sorry to disturb you but the interface is particularly attractive and I would like to learn how I can use it in as many ways as possible.
> 
> 
> Keith Kitson
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most
> engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot
> _______________________________________________
> Chessx-users mailing list
> Che...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chessx-users

[Chessx-users] engine matches?

[Keith K. <kki...@gm...>]

Hi,
Thank you for the ChessX download which I have just installed.

I came across a menu item entitled ‘engine match’ but don’t seem able to set which engines will play.
I have managed to add some engines and configure them to the system similar to the way Hiarcs explorer achieves this but have failed to find any transaction to select which engines I want to play.
Is this still under development at the present time? :-)
Regards

I have also been unsuccessful in setting which engine to set for analysis of a position and am not sure if I have successfully kicked off analysis as I cannot seem to find an analysis result window. Might this also be under development.

I notice there is an Analysis 1 and 2 but am not sure of the differences or how they work.

Is there a user guide I can reference to overcome some or all of these queries.

Sorry to disturb you but the interface is particularly attractive and I would like to learn how I can use it in as many ways as possible.


Keith Kitson

[Chessx-users] ChessX Player vrs Computer

[David D. <yos...@gm...>]

How do you turn thee option to play the computer?

[Chessx-users] Could not enter Carlsen's move just before Caruana novelty on Ubuntu!

[Anastasios T. <abs...@ya...>]

Something weird happened today with the pgn I uploaded to https://www.chesspastebin.com/2017/09/30/caruana-fabiano-jones-gawain-c-b-by-fidetrainer/ . My intention was to play Carlsen's 14..Re8 which is also in a variation of Caruana's game from yesterday, and continue with Caruana's 15. g4 from today, but I couldn't get my stock Ubuntu 16.04 to make any move for black on move 14. I checked making other moves before and after, everything was possible except the move I wanted to play. I also got ChessX for Windows just to test, and sure enough there was no glitch. I had to strip the comments to upload the game, the version with comments is from chess.com . Has anyone seen such a thing?
In related news, is there any way I can see Stockfish's "debug info", basically I wanted to see the nodes/sec as I was switching UCI parameters.
Thanks!

Re: [Chessx-users] Installing extra boards

[Jens N. <jen...@gm...>]

See the chapter Reference in the ChessX Manual. It has a chapter on installing boards and themes.
If you set up external board directories, they will override all internal boards and themes.
Thus you need to copy internal themes into the folders you created.
This will not be necessary in the upcoming release of ChessX where internal and external folders will be merged internally.

Jens

> Am 21.07.2017 um 17:02 schrieb Rick Marolt <ric...@me...>:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> How does one install the extra boards without losing access to the standard boards?
> 
> Someone said in a discussion to put them in ~library/application support/chessx/data/themes/boards. That folder did not exist. I created it and put the extra boards there.
> 
> Then I was able to use the extra boards, but the standard boards were no longer available.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Rick
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most
> engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot
> _______________________________________________
> Chessx-users mailing list
> Che...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chessx-users

Re: [Chessx-users] Using engines other than Stockfish

[Jens N. <jen...@gm...>]

bin files are not engines, they are books.
Open them like a database and view the moves or positions in the Opening Tree.
Btw, I'm not aware that chessx installs gm2600.bin
book.bin is the opening book of stockfish.

Jens

> Am 21.07.2017 um 16:56 schrieb Rick Marolt <ric...@me...>:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> How can one get engines other than Stockfish to work?
> 
> The current version of chessx comes with an engine called gm2600.bin. I believe that I have the paths set correctly in preferences. But every time I try to use it, either nothing happens, or a message says that “There was an error (4) running engine …”
> 
> The same thing happens when I try to use book.bin, which was included in earlier versions of chessx but apparently no longer is.
> 
> How do I make these engines work?
> 
> Are there other good book engines to use somewhere that will work with chessx?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Rick
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most
> engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot
> _______________________________________________
> Chessx-users mailing list
> Che...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chessx-users

[Chessx-users] Installing extra boards

[Rick M. <ric...@me...>]

Hi,

How does one install the extra boards without losing access to the standard boards?

Someone said in a discussion to put them in ~library/application support/chessx/data/themes/boards. That folder did not exist. I created it and put the extra boards there.

Then I was able to use the extra boards, but the standard boards were no longer available.

Thanks!

Rick

[Chessx-users] Using engines other than Stockfish

[Rick M. <ric...@me...>]

Hi,

How can one get engines other than Stockfish to work?

The current version of chessx comes with an engine called gm2600.bin. I believe that I have the paths set correctly in preferences. But every time I try to use it, either nothing happens, or a message says that “There was an error (4) running engine …”

The same thing happens when I try to use book.bin, which was included in earlier versions of chessx but apparently no longer is.

How do I make these engines work?

Are there other good book engines to use somewhere that will work with chessx?

Thanks!

Rick

[Chessx-users] Beeping on keyboard entry of moves in ChessX 1.4.6

[JP <lis...@ji...>]

I recently upgraded from ChessX 1.4.0 to 1.4.6 (on Mac OS X 10.10.5).
Now whenever I type moves into the Game Text pane, I get a BEEP for
every keystroke. It didn't used to do this. It's very annoying. How can
I turn it off? I tried removing my chessx.ini file before starting
ChessX, but I get the BEEPs even then.

[Chessx-users] Bugfix Release ChessX 1.4.6

[Jens N. <jen...@gm...>]

Dear Chess-Users,

I have fixed two rather nasty bugs and posted updated installers.
I recommend updating to this latest release to avoid possible loss of data.

Jens

[Chessx-users] thanks for the new version

[Scott C. <sa...@gm...>]

Thanks for all the work on the new version.  Chessx is a life-saver for mac users.  There are no other good native solutions out there for macOS at any price.

So far it is working well.

regards,

[Chessx-users] ChessX release 1.4.4

[Jens N. <jen...@gm...>]

Dear ChessX users and developers,

I have uploaded ChessX release 1.4.4 to sourceforge servers.
Have a good time with "Picasso"

Jens

- New Feature: Drag databases into list of games

- New feature: Game time for 2-player mode
- New feature: Copy lists to IMG/HTML in Clipboard
- New feature: Workaround UCI option issue in Stockfish 8
- New feature: Extended polyglot book generation
- New feature: Reverse moving with mouse
- New feature: Dragging piece with CTRL+SHIFT asks main engine / tablebase for eval
- New feature: FICS with Clock above / below board
- New feature: cz language pack
- New feature: Message History
- New feature: Rendering for Retina displays
- New feature: Indicate number of pieces in Board Setup
- New feature: Indicate King in check
- New feature: Paint Tools
- New feature: Show possible targets for selected piece
- New feature: FICS rematch
- New feature: Search Help pages for texts
- New feature: FICS requests with color
- New feature: Show all good tablebase moves

- Bugfix: UCI_Chess960 occasionally not sent to Engine
- Bugfix: Handling of UCI empty string tag
- Bugfix: Renaming a player / event tag gave inconsistent index in case of existing target tag
- Bugfix: Restoration of floating docks
- Bugfix: Chess960 castling direction wrong
- Bugfix: Chess960 with UCI engines
- Bugfix: Resizing the application would sometimes fail
- Bugfix: Matchparameter Dialog misplaced
- Bugfix: Premoving allowed moving opponent pieces

- Changed: Analysis time up to 10 minutes
- Changed: Bundle Stockfish 8
- Changed: Icons in context menus
- Changed: Matchparameter Dialog
- Changed: Square annotations
- Changed: Tock at 30..20..10s before Timeout
- Changed: Move some preferences onto toolbar 

[Chessx-users] Compilation error (r2310)

[Michael H. <mi...@ho...>]

Hello,

while trying to compile the latest chessx I get the following error on 
my linux mint machine:


src/gui/mainwindowactions.cpp: In member function ‘void 
MainWindow::slotSetSliderText(int)’:
src/gui/mainwindowactions.cpp:3323:19: error: ‘fromMSecsSinceStartOfDay’ 
is not a member of ‘QTime’
          QTime t = QTime::fromMSecsSinceStartOfDay(interval);
                    ^
Makefile:2094: die Regel für Ziel „obj_rel/mainwindowactions.o“ scheiterte
make: *** [obj_rel/mainwindowactions.o] Fehler 1


Perhaps you can help me out!

Thanks and best regards, Michael

[Chessx-users] Fixing indentation of comments

[Fex X. <fs...@gm...>]

I posted a couple of years ago about this, but the issue still have not
been fixed, at least on Macs.

Is there a way for the indentation of variations to reflect the depth of
the variation? The indentation of variations remains incorrect or
misleading for many kinds of variations.

[Chessx-users] Comments with '<' and '>' characters do not display

[Fex X. <fs...@gm...>]

A comment like {<main>} does not render at all (MacOS, chessx 1.4.0.0).

Can this be fixed?

There are commercial databases, like the Heijden endgame study database,
that use this extensively. Can't the comment just be printed as is?

[Chessx-users] ChessX and FatICS

[<Fil...@se...>]

Hello everyone, I have a question regarding ChessX. You can edit the ChessX 
to communicate with FatICS chess server? I have had trouble with the command
"match UserFatICS 15 0 u". After the "accept" ChessX stops responding and an
error appears. Otherwise, I created a Czech chessx_cz.ts (1.4.0), you have 
an interest in it?

[Chessx-users] Option for a batch start of chessx?

[Maximilian v. W. <Max...@vo...>]

Dear developers of chessx

Your program seems to be very useful on my Macbook and thank you for all the efforts you have put into it.

For a study at school I want to test all openings of chess960. Is there a possibility to start chessx automatically with a defined variant of chess960 and let it calculate the position (and at best save the calculation to a file and start the next position)?

Best regards

Maximilian von Willich

Re: [Chessx-users] chessx text editing

[frans j. <jac...@gm...>]

Hi Jens,

thanks! I'll use <br> for the moment and see how the issue develops.

Frans