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UCI chess engines

ChessVU provides a UCI (universal chess interface) for chess engines. The UCI interface is free to use for everyone, without any licence fees or restrictions. The interface is similar to Winboard, keeping its easiness but eliminating the disadvantages of it. Because most engines implement UCI interface, ChessVU does not provide a Winboard interface.

ChessVU shows the engine icon on the board. To be used, an icon must be a JPG image, size 80 x 40, and the name must be the same as the engine executable (e.g. the icon for Yace.exe must be Yace.jpg).

The following engines have been successfully tested with ChessVU:

Abrok

Amyan

AnMon

Aristarch

Dragon

EnginMax

Hagrid

LambChop

LittleGoliath

Madeleine

Monarch

Nejmet

Pepito

Pharaon

Queen

Ruffian

Sjeng

Tao

Terra

Yace

You can search the Web to download the latest engine versions.

There are problems with the following engines:

• BigLion (wants LF instead of CR LF)
  
• DelphiMax (has own interface ?)
  
• SoS_Arena (crashes when go command is issued)

ChessVU drives the engine through a standard input and output with plain text commands. It is able to drive two engines at the same time, to allow for engine against engine play. The main engine name is displayed in the status bar, together with its current status. The main engine can be used for game analysis as well.

The main engine can be used in 4 different ways:

• Free analysis: the engine is set to work with infinite time, and the analysis result can be inspected in the Analysis window
  
• Main line analysis: the engine is set to work with a given time (by Options: Engine Options: Analysis time), and the game goes ahead automatically, move by move; with this mode an existing game can be annotated move by move while viewing it (the annotations can be viewed as a diagram, by refreshing the game – View: Refresh game text window)
  
• Auto insert: the engine is set to work with a given time (by Options: Engine Options: Analysis time), and the <bestmove> is automatically inserted as a variant in the game (or as a main line, if the current position is a terminal position); with this mode a random game can be created or a game can be analyzed by inserting new variants
  
• Play game: the engine is set to play a game, using the Time controls; with this mode ChessVU becomes an opponent (you can play against the various engines, and decrease their strength by giving them a limited time)

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