Galis Winboard Tournament Manager

by Nikola Bacic

Homepage.

Content:

  1. Introduction
  2. Download
  3. Requirements
  4. Installation
  5. Files
  6. Help for using application
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Contact

 

1.    Introduction

Windows application for preparing and playing chess matches and tournaments between Winboard compatible engines, calculating chess ratings and some other statistics based on played games. For using this program you need Winboard application by Tim Mann (http://www.tim-mann.org/chess.html).

  1. Download

Full install version: galis-wbtm_0.9.102

3.    Requirements

Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP (tested on Win 98/NT 4.0 SP3/2000 Professional)

GUI optimized for display resolution 1024x768 (large fonts), but 800x600 works fine too.

4.    Installation

First unzip GalisWBTM.zip, run Setup.exe and then follow instructions.

5.    Files

This is the list of necessary files in application folder after installation:

GalisWBTM.exe

Executable

GalisWBTM.ini

Program ini file (please, do not change manually if you are not an expert)

Engines.ini

Sample list of engines with all necessary settings (please, do not change manually if you are not an expert)

First time when you start using GalisWBTM you just need change exe paths that matches with files on your computer and RUN!

cmdLine.def

List of winboard commands with different names for white and black side (for example: /xreuse & /xreuse2).

readme.htm

This file – documentation in HTML format (not necessary but useful)

 

6.    Help for using application

Menus:

Menu File

         

New =>

Tournament...

Creates new tournament

 

Statistics...

Creates new statistics file

Open =>

Tournament...

Opens existing tournament

 

Statistics...

Opens existing statistics file

Close

 

Closes opened tournament or statistics file

Save as text...

 

Saves text in selected txt file

Recent files

 

Last 4 opened tournament files

Exit

 

Exits application

Menu Edit (this menu appears only if you have opened text form)

Copy

Copies all content of text form to the Clipboard (selection not necessary)

Menu Engines

List...

Opens list of available engines (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+E)

Match...

Creates new match between selected engines (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+M)

Text list (without versions)

Shows list of available engines only by name

Text list (with versions)

Shows list of available engines by name and version

Menu Statistics (this menu appears only if you have opened statistics file)

Parameters...

 

Shows statistics dialog form (data can not be edited)

Change start rating...

 

Shows input dialog form for changing initial rating

Save

 

Saves statistics data to file

... order

 

Sorts rating list by selected criteria

Open PGN...

 

Opens PGN file for updating statistics

(this menus appears only if you have opened PGN file)

Sort =>

... order

Sorts results from opened PGN file by selected criteria

Menu Tournament (this menu appears only if you have opened tournament file)

Participants

Shows list of tournament participants in text form

Results/Pairs

Shows list of pairs for selected round and results (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+R)

Cross Table

Shows cross table for round robin tournaments  or standings table for other types of tournament (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T)

HTML Report

Generates tournament report in report.htm file (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+H)

Menu Tools

Options...

Opens dialog form for adjusting program settings (and saves in GalisWBTM.ini)

Test path

Tests executable and logo files path from engines.ini

Shut Down Computer

If this option is checked, after tournament completed automatically shuts down your computer (not useful for older computers without ATX support)

Auto-Refresh

If this option is checked, than after every match crosstable will be refreshed with newest results

Menu Help

About

Shows “About program” dialog form

Menu START!/STOP!

(this menu appears only if you have opened tournament file which not yet finished)

START!

Starts playing games (after that event, caption changes to STOP!)

STOP!

Stops playing games (after that event, caption changes to START!) Please, choose this option for regularly interrupt tournament

Menus for viewing round pairs/results

(this menus appear only if you click on menu Tournament/ Results/Pairs)

<<=

Jump to the first round

<-

Jump to the previous round

->

Jump to the next round

=>>

Jump to the last round 

Forms:

Engines list form (appears after you click on menu Engines/List...)

Engines:

List of available engines

Play

Running winboard.exe for playing against selected engine (man vs. engine mode)

New...

Shows dialog form for adding new engine to list

Edit... 

Shows dialog form for editing selected engine from list

Remove

Deletes permanently engine from list (don’t wary, you can’t delete files)

Info

Shows logo, name and author name of selected engine

Close

Closes engines list form

Add new/edit selected engine dialog form

Exe path:

Executable file of engine. Click on Browse... rather than typing file name!

REQUIRED!

Logo path:

Logo file of engine (*.bmp; *.jpg). Click on Browse... rather than typing file name!

Not required

Name and version:

First text box for entering name of engine, second for version.

REQUIRED (example for Crafty 18.12: Crafty / 18.12)

Command line:

Command line parameters (if it’s needed). After engines parameters you can enter winboard parameters for an engine, but only for white side (example for Francesca: /xreuse) – see explanation for cmdLine.def file. This parameters program automatically converts for black side when needed.           

Not required, but... (example for Crafty: xboard)

Author:

Name of engine author

Not required (example for Crafty: Robert Hyatt)

Country:

Country of author

Not required (example for Crafty: USA)

Create new match dialog form (appears after you click on menu Engines/Match...)

First engine...

Selects first engine for match

Second engine...

Selects second engine for match

Cycles:

Number of games in match

Pondering

If this option is checked, pondering is enabled

(Not recommended for single processor computers)

Time control...

Shows dialog form for selecting time control

Openings from file (*.pgn,*.fen,*.epd):

For using /loadGameFile or /loadPositionFile winboard options. Opens pgn, fen or epd file with positions from which engines will play games (example: Nunn test). For each position engines play 2 games. Number of games in match is equal to number of games in pgn file times 2. You can decrease this number (then engines play only first n games from file), but, please enter even number lower than offered number in cycles text box. For fen and epd you must select number of games manually.

Click on Browse... rather than typing file name!

OK

Starts playing games of created match with selected options

Cancel

Cancels match

Invite engine dialog form

List:

List of available engines

Command line:

Command line parameters of selected engine. You can change this for current purpose. For instance, if you want match on 2 computers, you can add: /fhipaddress” (or /shipaddress”) – quotation marks are required!

OK

Accepts selection of an engine for match or tournament event

Cancel

Cancels selection of an engine for match or tournament event

Time control dialog form

Black color means active type of time control for editing.

Blitz:

Selects fixed time for game with or without increment

You can choose some offered values (5’,4’+2” etc.)

 

Time (mm:ss):

Enter value for /tc winboard parameter

 

Increment (sec):

Enter value for /inc winboard parameter

Moves per session:

Selects x moves in y minutes type of time control

You can choose some offered values for 40 moves (5’, 2h etc.)

 

Time (mm:ss):

Enter value for /tc winboard parameter

 

Moves:

Enter value for /mps winboard parameter

Fixed:

Selects fixed time for 1 move

 

Time (mm:ss):

Enter value for /st winboard parameter

OK

 

Accepts entered time control values

Cancel

 

Cancels entered time control values

Create new/open existing tournament (appears after you click on menu File...Tournament)

When you open existing tournament, you cannot edit tournament parameters.

If you want to create new tournament based on the existing one or edit tournament parameters, after click on menu New/Tournament select that existing tournament.

Title:

 

Title of tournament (value for event tag in pgn file)

Participants:

 

 

 

List:

List of selected engines, which participate in tournament

 

Add...

Adds new engine to participate in tournament

 

Edit...

Edits selected engine from list of participants

 

Remove

Removes selected engine from list of participants

Tournament type:

 

 

 

Round robin

Round robin tournament (according to Berger tables)

 

One vs All

First engine in list of participants plays against all other engines in list

 

Matches:

Series of matches between engines in list (1 vs 2; 3 vs 4 etc.) Engines play only one match. Good for testing new versions against older versions of the same engines, for instance.

 

Swiss:

Swiss tournament – NOT YET IMPLEMENTED

Cycles:

 

Number of subrounds (for Swiss tournament: number of rounds!)

Pondering

 

If this option is checked, pondering is enabled

(not recommended for single processor computers)

Network

 

This option you can use only if you have at least 2 computers, local network, TCP/IP protocol and rshd.exe. If this option is checked, you will be asked for IP address of second computer. Always second engine of pair which playing runs on second computer (added /ship.address”).

Necessary preconditions for playing LAN tournaments: On both computers you must set up exactly the same paths for exe files of engines.

Time control...

 

Shows dialog form for selecting time control

Pgn file...

 

Selects pgn file (Warning: if you select existing file, old data will be erased!)

Close

 

Accepts parameters for created tournament, saves *.trn file and closes tournament dialog form, but don’t start playing games

Start!

 

Accepts parameters for created tournament, saves *.trn file, closes tournament dialog form, and starts playing games

Info

 

Brief info about tournament parameters

Cancel

 

Cancels creating tournament and closes tournament dialog form

Statistics dialog form (appears when you choose to create new statistics file)

File path:

 

Statistics file path

Click on Browse... rather than typing file name!

Initial rating:

 

Initial rating – offered value 1700

Versions:

 

If this option is checked, list of engines in statistics file contains not only names, but also versions (example: Crafty 17.14 and Crafty 18.12 are treated as different engines).

If this option is not checked, list of engines in statistics file contains only names (example: Crafty 17.14 and Crafty 18.12 are treated as same engine - Crafty).

Rating type:

 

 

 

Glicko rating

Selects Glicko rules for calculating rating (just like on freechess.org chess server)

 

Initial RD

Enter initial RD (see http://www.freechess.org/WWWhelp/glicko.html for more info)

 

ELO rating

Selects ELO rules for calculating rating – NOT YET IMPLEMENTED

 

Provisional period

Number of games for provisional period – NOT YET IMPLEMENTED

Notes:

 

Short description for created statistics file

(Example: Only blitz games with hash 24MB)

OK

 

Accepts entered statistics values and appears Statistics menu

Cancel

 

Cancels entered statistics values

 

Options dialog form (appears when you click on menu Tools/Options...)

Files (Click on Browse... rather than typing file name!)

Winboard.exe file:

winboard.exe location

Engines list file:

Engines list file location

Autosave PGN file:

pgn file where you want to save your games with engines

Match PGN file:

pgn file where you want to save engines match games

Folders (Click on Browse... rather than typing file name!)

Game files (*.pgn) path:

Folder for pgn files

Tournament files (*.trn) path:

Folder for tournament files

Statistics files (*.stc) path:

Folder for statistics files

Program executable files path:

Folder for engine files

User

User name:

Your name

Site:

Name of city or computer description

This is the value for Site tag in pgn games.

Event (for matches):

Value for Event tag in pgn games

Draw recognition

Recognition disabled

Disables draw recognition

Recognize all games

Enables draw recognition for all games

Recognize only "wins on time" games

Enables draw recognition only for "wins on time" games. (Notes: games finished with mate will be skipped)

Insufficient material

Checking of draw by insufficient of mated material is enabled (not only classical draw positions, but positions when winner on time has no mated material as well)

 

50 move rule

Checking of draw by 50 move rule is enabled

 

3x repetition

Checking of draw by 3x repetition is enabled

 

OK

Accepts entered settings, and if you want saves to ini file immediately

Cancel

Cancels entered changes in settings

  1. Acknowledgments

Many thanks  to Thomas Mayer, Frank Quisinsky and Leo Dijksman for their hosting of my application.

Many thanks  to Benny Antonsson for beta testing of GalisWBTM.

  1. Contact

For questions, suggestions and bug reports my e-mail address is: galisbn@yahoo.com

I hope, you will enjoy in this software!

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