IG WBTM 1.5 by Igor Gorelikov 2006, March 13 New - browsing gauntlet (new tournament type) - some tiny impromements and bugfixes For update you need to copy two files: - ig_wbtm_1-5.exe - ig.ini ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IG WBTM 1.4 2006, February 20 New - tournament report - list of available engines is now sorted automatically so the Sort button is gone - some tiny improvements and bugfixes IG WBTM 1.3 2006, February 13 New - option for Opening DB to keep the same position for two cycle (so that all participants can play from the same position vs all participants with switched color and the next position will be loaded each two cycles) - Open file dialog for a new engine - the button Delete (to delete an engine) - the button Sort (to sort engines by name) IG WBTM 1.2 2006, February 6 New - options for loading games/postions from PGN/FEN/EPD files (Opening DB) File to start from (Open DB) Load at random Load sequentially Set limits from ... to ... - a button to insert the selected engine into the tournament - shutdown parameter is now checked at the last moment (to allow the user to change it) IG WBTM 1.1 2006, January 30 New - Cross-table - Option can be set to keep all winboard debug files of the current tournament - Setting additional command line parameters for WB - Dialog box is added to configure a new engine (button New) - Dialog box is added to edit settings (button Options) - storing the interrupted game to aborted.pgn - the converter for winboard.ini (with engine configuration) to eng.ini format is available at my site ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. About -------- IG WBTM is a tournament manager to run automated tournaments between chess engines using Winboard. The main idea is to create/edit a file with participants, set some options in the ini file and then click two buttons - the first one to import tournament and the second to run it. 2. Files of the program ----------------------- ig_wbtm_1-0.exe the executable of the program ig.ini INI file of the program tourn.txt tournament file (sample) eng.ini engines' configuration file (sample) results.txt the file to keep results of the recent event readme.txt you read it! galis2ig.rar batch file to convert Galis' engine.ini to IG WBTM format wb2ig.exe the converter for winboard.ini (with engine configuration) to eng.ini format is available at my site 3. Features ----------- - match - round robin - gauntlet - multiple gauntlet (useful to compare different versions/engines) - tournament report - options for loading games/postions from PGN/FEN/EPD files (Opening DB) - shut down computer on completion of tournament - Option to keep all winboard debug files of the current tournament - Setting additional command line parameters for WB - storing the interrupted game to aborted.pgn - the converter for winboard.ini (with engine configuration) to eng.ini format is available at my site Any suggestions on further improvement are welcome! 4. Buttons ---------- (Main Window) Reset to set a new tournament (by importing it from tourn.txt) or reset it after you changed some options Run starts/continues tournament Options displays a dialog box to edit settings (of ig.ini) Tournament file to edit tournament file (tourn.txt) List displays list of engines (from eng.ini) Winboard runs Winboard with the engine selected among participants Report to issue report on completed (or running) tournament (Engine List) Play to play vs the selected engine New Displays dialog boxes to configure a new engine and save it to eng.ini [>] to add selected engine to the list of participants Save to save changed list of participants Delete to delete the selected engine 5. How to run a Tournament -------------------------- - Click Options and edit settings - Click Tournament File to edit tourn.txt (tournament name, PGN, list of participants) - Click button Reset - Click button Run 6. Preliminaries ---------------- Prior to run any tournament with IG WBTM you need: - Copy winboard.exe to the directory of IG WBTM. - Set winboard name using the Options button - compose the file eng.ini with engines' options (name, exe, dir, command line). Or convert it from Galis WBTM format or winboard.ini. 7. How to stop a tournament and then proceed with it ---------------------------------------------------- - To stop tournament, close winboard. - To proceed with it, click Run. 8. If the tournament failed to start ------------------------------------ - Check for Winboard name - Check for engines' settings 9. Formats of Files ------------------- Three files are used to work with IG WBTM: - ig.ini general options, edited with the Options button - tourn.txt main options of recent tournament, edited with the Tournament file button - eng.ini engine configuration file ig.ini (the file can be edited using the Options button) ------- [General] Winboard= name of Winboard executable Site= the site of event to add PGN file Shutdown= set to 1 to shutdown computer on tournament completion. set to 0 to don't [Tournament] Name= the tournament name is imported from tourn.txt Time Control= the base time control Increment= increment MovesPerSession=moves played for each time control (for example, 10) Ponder= set to true to allows pondering set to false to disable it Keep Debugs= type 'true' if you want to keep all winboard debug files of the current tournament (game1.debug, game2.debug etc.) More WB Parameters= here you may send more command line parameters to winboard if needed. For example, if you type in here: -lgf start.pgn the next game between engines will be started from PGN file (start.pgn) PGN file= the PGN name is imported from tourn.txt ; r (round robin) ; g (gauntlet) Tournament Type=set to r for round robin (or match) set to g for gauntlet (one or more vs all) Cycles= the number of subrounds (games between a pair of opponents) Gauntlets= the number of participants (from the first to down) to play versus all (for multiple gauntlets) Browsing Gauntlet=checkbox to set a browsing gauntlet tourn.txt --------- 1st line: Tournament name 2nd line: the name of PGN (with the tournament games) 3rd line: empty next lines: engine names (once per line) Note: the last line of the file can be the last engine name No blank trailing lines are allowable. eng.ini ------- The format of eng.ini is as follows: 1st line: engine name in square brackets (used for pairing and PGN file) 2nd line: CmdLine=command line 3rd line: Exe=executable name 4th line: dir=engine directory An example for two engines: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Amy 0.7] CmdLine= Exe=Amy_07.exe dir=E:\ENGINES\Amy_07 [Ant 6.06 Leiden] CmdLine=-L -t32000 Exe=Ant_606.exe dir=E:\ENGINES\ANT_606 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- etc. 10. Pairing ----------- Pairing is made by gauntlet principle with switching color after each game and after each cycle. 11. Some hints -------------- - to test/play vs one of participants, click on it to select and then click the Winboard button - On the start of IG WBTM, the focus is set on the Run button. So to continue the interrupted tourmanent, just press spacebar. - To continue an event on another computer, copy three files (ig.ini, tourn.txt, results.txt) to it and run the event. Note that eng.ini of another computer should contains participants configured. Credits -------- The program is developed using AutoIt 3.1.1. Thanks to AutoIt team for creating good scripting language and tools. To-do list ---------- - Tournament report in html format - Automated analysis of games/positions Feedback -------- Homepage: http://freehosting.hostrave.com/p/iggor/home.php For suggestions and bug reports, email to igor@vast.spb.ru Copyright (c) 2006 Igor Gorelikov