1 POLYGLOT(6) POLYGLOT(6)
6 PolyGlot - Winboard protocol to UCI protocol adapter
7 - book engine for Polyglot books
8 - a collection of utilities for creating and analyzing
10 - a utility for analyzing epd files
14 polyglot [configfile] [-noini] [-ec engine] [-ed enginedirectory] [-en
15 enginename] [-log] [-lf logfile] [-hash value] [-bk book] [-pg
16 <name>=<value>]* [-uci <name>=<value>]*
18 polyglot make-book [-pgn inputfile] [-bin outputfile] [-max-ply ply]
19 [-min-game games] [-min-score score] [-only-white] [-only-black]
22 polyglot merge-book -in1 inputfile1 -in2 inputfile2 [-out outputfile]
24 polyglot info-book [-bin inputfile] [-exact]
26 polyglot dump-book [-bin inputfile] -color color [-out outputfile]
28 polyglot [configfile] epd-test [engineoptions] [-epd inputfile]
29 [-min-depth depth] [-max-depth depth] [-max-time time] [-depth-delta
32 polyglot perft [-fen fen] [-max-depth depth]
35 PolyGlot as adapter and book engine
36 PolyGlot is a "UCI adapter". It connects a GUI interface (such as
37 XBoard, Winboard, Arena or Chessbase) to a UCI chess engine.
39 By specifying an opening book (in PolyGlot book format) chess engines
40 can transparently use such books.
42 PolyGlot understands the two main GUI protocols: UCI and xboard.
43 Normally the protocol will be auto detected but this can be overridden
44 in the configuration file.
46 In xboard mode PolyGlot fully translates between the xboard and UCI
47 protocols. In addition it tries to solve known problems with other
48 adapters. For instance, it detects and reports draws by fifty-move
49 rule, repetition, etc ... It also supports Chess960.
51 When in UCI mode PolyGlot mostly passes commands from the GUI to the
52 engine and vice versa, except that it will play book moves on behalf of
53 the engine when the occasion arises.
55 The engine options are exported as UCI options in UCI mode and as
56 "feature option=" commands in xboard mode. The latter form an extension
57 of the xboard protocol as defined by H.G. Muller.
59 Options which normally appear in the [PolyGlot] section of the config
60 file (see below) are exported as options with their name prefixed by
61 "Polyglot". This makes it easy to filter them in the GUI.
63 NOTE: Not all options are exported, only those that make sense in the
67 PolyGlot supports the "PolyGlot opening book format". This is the
68 defacto standard non-proprietary opening book format. It is fully
71 http://alpha.uhasselt.be/Research/Algebra/Toga/book_format.html
73 Roughly speaking a PolyGlot opening book is a collection of triples
74 (position, move, weight). A "position" is represented by a 64-bit
75 Zobrist hash key. The weight is proportional to the probability the
76 move should be played.
78 Other opening book formats such as ChessBase's .ctg format and Arena's
79 .abk format are undocumented and proprietary. They can only be used by
82 PolyGlot can compile a pgn file into a binary PolyGlot book and
83 furthermore it can merge two such binary books into a third one.
85 PolyGlot can also extract some useful information from PolyGlot books.
86 The utility "dump-book" dumps the "lines" in a book for a given color.
87 By definition a line is a sequence of moves (from the starting
88 position) in which the given color makes only book moves and the other
89 color makes arbitrary moves (i.e. not necessarily book moves).
91 Since a PolyGlot book is built up from positions and not lines there
92 may be (and there usually are) many positions in the book that are not
93 on a "line" as defined in the previous paragraph. It is convenient to
94 call such positions "isolated" positions. The utility "info-book"
95 counts such isolated positions.
97 Some of the isolated positions are provably unreachable and they could
98 in principle be deleted from the book. For example if a book contains
99 only the move "e4" in the starting position but also the position after
100 "d4 d5" then this last position is provably unreachable since it
101 requires white to make a non-book move when a book move is available.
102 Such situations arise frequently from the priority rules in merging
105 Unfortunately not all isolated positions are provably unreachable and
106 it is difficult to identify the latter. If invoked with "-exact" the
107 utility info-book will attempt to count the isolated positions which
108 require a player to make a non-book move when a book move is available.
109 Due to the possibility of transpositions this is not a fool proof
113 In epd test mode, PolyGlot will search positions in an epd file and
114 record the number of times the right best move was found. The
115 arguments specify when to stop the search in any given position.
118 A perft count is the number of legal move sequence in a given position
119 up to a given depth. PolyGlot can perform such perft counts. It is
120 however much slower than other more dedicated programs.
123 When PolyGlot is invoked as an adapter of in epd-test mode it gets its
124 options from a config file and then from the command line. The default
125 config file is "polyglot.ini" but an alternative one may be optionally
126 included as first argument. The config file format is described below.
128 The following engine options may be specified on the command line.
131 Do not use a config file, even if one was specified on the command
134 -pg The argument is a string of the form <name>=<value>. This option
135 will set the Polyglot option <name> to <value>.
138 The argument is a string of the form <name>=<value>. This option
139 will set the engine option <name> to <value>.
141 -ec This sets the EngineCommand.
143 -ed This sets the EngineDir.
145 -en This sets the EngineName.
148 This is an alias for -uci "Hash=<value>".
151 This is an alias for -pg "Log=true".
153 -lf (default: "polyglot.log")
154 This is an alias for -pg "LogFile=<value>".
156 -bk This is an alias for -pg "Book=true" -pg "BookFile=<value>".
161 PolyGlot supports the following options
163 -pgn (default: "book.pgn")
164 Input file in pgn format.
166 -bin (default: "book.bin")
167 Output file in PolyGlot format.
169 -max-ply (default: 1024)
170 Specifies the maximum ply-depth of lines included in the book.
172 -min-game (default: 3)
173 Specifies the minimum number of games that have to contain this
174 move for it to be included in the book.
176 -min-score (default: 0.0)
177 Specifies the minimum score (or weight) this move should have
178 received for it to be included in the book. The score is
179 2*(wins)+(draws), globally scaled to fit into 16 bits.
182 Include only moves for white in the book.
185 Include only moves for black in the book.
188 Set all weights to 1. In other words, all moves will be selected
189 with equal probability.
194 PolyGlot supports the following options
197 First input file (in PolyGlot book format).
200 Second input file (in PolyGlot book format).
202 -out (default: out.bin)
203 Output file (in PolyGlot book format).
205 Input files are not symmetrical, "in1" has priority over "in2". In
206 other words when a position occurs both in "in1" and "in2" only the
207 moves and weights from "in1" will be retained in "out".
212 PolyGlot supports the following options
214 -bin (default: book.bin)
215 Input file in PolyGlot book format.
218 The color for whom to generate the lines.
220 -out (default: book_<color>.txt)
221 The name of the output file.
226 PolyGlot supports the following options
228 -bin (default: book.bin)
229 Input file in PolyGlot book format.
232 Attempt to count the provably unreachable positions among the
233 isolated ones. Note that this takes a very long time.
238 (possibly with a config file as first argument) PolyGlot supports
239 besides the generic options described above the following additional
242 -max-depth (default: 63)
243 Unconditionally stop the search when this depth has been reached.
245 -max-time (default: 5.0)
246 Unconditionally stop the seach after this amount of time.
248 -depth-delta (default: 3)
249 Stop the search if the solution as been found and the best move has
250 been constant for this many depths, on condition that the mininal
251 depth and minimal time have been reached.
253 -min-depth (default: 8)
254 Minimal search depth when the search is stopped using
257 -min-time (default: 1.0)
258 Minimal search time when the search is stopped using
264 PolyGlot supports the following options
266 -fen (default: starting position)
267 Fen at which to start searching.
269 -max-depth (default: 1)
270 Maximum depth to search.
273 There should be a different config file for each engine.
275 The config file is in the traditional INI format.
284 The characters "#" and ";" serve as comment characters.
286 By default initial and final white space is stripped from option
287 values. If you want to avoid this, or if you want use one of the
288 comment characters # or ; in option values (such as for NalimovPath),
289 enclose the value in quotes.
292 This section is used by PolyGlot only. The engine is unaware of these
293 options. The list of available options is detailed below.
295 EngineName (default: UCI name)
296 This is the name that will appear in the GUI. It is cosmetic only.
297 You can use different names for tweaked versions of the same
300 EngineDir (default: ".")
301 Full path of the directory where the engine is installed. You can
302 use "." (without the quotes) if you know that PolyGlot will be
303 launched in the engine directory or the engine is in the "path" and
304 does not need any data file.
307 Put here the name of the engine executable file. You can also add
308 command-line arguments. Path searching is used and the current
309 directory will be "EngineDir".
312 Whether PolyGlot should log all transactions with the interface and
313 the engine. This should be necessary only to locate problems.
315 LogFile (default: polyglot.log)
316 The name of the log file. Note that it is put where PolyGlot was
317 launched from, not into the engine directory.
319 WARNING: Log files are not cleared between sessions, and can become
320 very large. It is safe to remove them though.
322 Resign (default: false)
323 Set this to "true" if you want PolyGlot to resign on behalf of the
326 NOTE: Some engines display buggy scores from time to time although
327 the best move is correct. Use this option only if you know what
328 you are doing (e.g. you always check the final position of games).
330 ResignMoves (default: 3)
331 Number of consecutive moves with "resign" score (see below) before
332 PolyGlot resigns for the engine. Positions with only one legal
335 ResignScore (default: 600)
336 This is the score in centipawns that will trigger resign
339 ShowPonder (default: true)
340 Show search information during engine pondering. Turning this off
341 might be better for interactive use in some interfaces.
343 ScoreWhite (default: true)
344 Report score from white's point of view in xboard mode.
346 KibitzMove (default: false)
347 Whether to kibitz when playing a move.
349 KibitzPV (default: false)
350 Whether to kibitz when the PV is changed (new iteration or new best
353 KibitzCommand (default: "tellall")
354 xboard command to use for kibitzing, normally "tellall" for
355 kibitzing or "tellothers" for whispering.
357 KibitzDelay (default: 5)
358 How many seconds to wait before starting kibitzing. This has an
359 effect only if "KibitzPV" is selected, move kibitzes are always
360 sent regardless of the delay.
362 KibitzInterval (default: 0)
363 This is another form of throttling. PolyGlot will usually wait this
364 many seconds before doing the next kibitz.
367 If true PolyGlot will not understand xboard commands.
369 MateScore (default: 10000)
370 Mate score reported to GUI when in xboard mode.
372 Book (default: false)
373 Indicates whether a PolyGlot book should be used. This has no
374 effect on the engine own book (which can be controlled with the UCI
375 option "OwnBook" in the [Engine] section). In particular, it is
376 possible to use both a PolyGlot book and an engine book. In that
377 case, the engine book will be used whenever PolyGlot is out of
378 book. Remember that PolyGlot is unaware of whether the engine is
379 itself using a book or not.
381 BookFile (default: book.bin)
382 The name of the (binary) book file. Note that PolyGlot will look
383 for it in the directory it was launched from, not in the engine
384 directory. Of course, full path can be used in which case the
385 current directory does not matter.
387 BookRandom (default: true)
388 Select moves according to their weights in the book. If false the
389 move with the highest weight is selected.
391 BookLearn (default: false)
392 Store learning information in the book (which must be writable).
393 Currently no engine actually uses this information.
395 BookDepth (default: 256)
396 Stop using the book after this number of moves.
398 BookTreshold (default: 5)
399 Do not play moves with a weight (probability) lower than this (in
402 UseNice (default: false)
403 Run the engine at nice level 5, or "NiceValue" if it set. On some
404 operating systems it may be necessary to run the engine at lower
405 priority for it to be responsive to commands from PolyGlot while
408 NiceValue (default: 5)
409 Nice levels go from -20 to 20 with 20 being the lowest priority.
410 On Unix only root can set negative nice levels. On Windows the
411 standard Win32 priority levels are mapped in a sensible way to Unix
414 Affinity (default: -1)
415 This a bit vector in which each bit represents the processors that
416 a process is allowed to run on. This option works only on Windows.
418 Persist (default: true)
419 If true then PolyGlot will implement persistence by loading options
420 from an additional INI file whose name is by default derived from
421 the engine name. At exit PolyGlot will also save its options to
424 PersistFile (default: <EngineName>.ini)
425 The name of the file from which to take the additional options. It
426 is probably best to stick with the default. You can safely edit
427 this file, or delete it to restore the default options.
429 PersistDir (default: $HOME/.polyglot on Linux; ".\Polyglot Settings" on
431 The directory where the PersistFile is stored.
434 Work arounds are identical to options except that they should be used
435 only when necessary. Their purpose is to try to hide problems with
436 various software (not just engines).
438 IMPORTANT: Any of these work arounds might be removed in future
439 versions of PolyGlot. You are strongly recommended to contact the
440 author of faulty software and truly fix the problem.
442 PolyGlot supports the following work arounds:
444 UCIVersion (default: 2)
445 The default value of 2 corresponds to UCI+. Use 1 to select plain
446 UCI for engines that have problems with UCI+.
448 CanPonder (default: false)
449 PolyGlot now conforms to the documented UCI behaviour: the engine
450 will be allowed to ponder only if it (the engine) declares the
451 "Ponder" UCI option. However some engines which can actually
452 ponder do not declare the option. This work around lets PolyGlot
453 know that they can ponder.
455 SyncStop (default: false)
456 When a ponder miss occurs, Polyglot interrupts the engine and
457 IMMEDIATELY launches a new search. While there should be no
458 problem with this, some engines seem confused and corrupt their
459 search board. "SyncStop" forces PolyGlot to wait for the (now
460 useless) ponder search to finish before launching the new search.
462 PromoteWorkAround (default: false)
463 Some engines do not specify a promotion piece, e.g. they send
464 "e7e8" instead of the correct "e7e8q". This work around enables
465 the incorrect form (and of course promotes into a queen).
467 RepeatPV (default: true)
468 When true, PolyGlot repeats the last pv string (which also contains
469 score,depth and time usage) it got from the engine. Some engines
470 however do not send a new pv string just before sending the move.
471 In that case the output of PolyGlot would be inconsistent. When
472 RepeatPV is false PolyGlot does not repeat the last pv string. Due
473 to the way kibitzing is implemented, KibitzMove is disabled in that
476 WbWorkArounds (default: true)
477 The intention of these options is to provide work arounds for
478 xboard/winboard bugs should they arise. This one decapitalizes the
479 word Draw in options that contain this word. Some versions of
480 xboard/winboard contain a bug which causes such options to be
481 interpreted as draw claims by the engine.
483 Engines that send options with "Draw" in their name are Rybka and
486 WbWorkArounds2 (default: false)
487 Old version of Winboard clear the engine output window at depth 1.
488 With this work around PG will send info lines at depth >=2. This
489 may or may not improve the display.
492 This section contains engine UCI options. PolyGlot does not understand
493 them, but sends the information to the engine at startup (converted to
494 UCI form). You can add any UCI option that makes sense to the engine
495 (not just the common options about hash-table size and tablebases).
497 NOTE: use INI syntax, not UCI. For example "OwnBook = true" is
498 correct. It will be replaced by PolyGlot with "setoption name OwnBook
499 value true" at engine startup.
501 Standard UCI options are
508 Hidden options like "Ponder" or "UCI_xxx" are automatic and should not
509 be put in an INI file.
511 The other options are engine-specific. Check their name using a UCI
512 GUI or launch the engine in a console and type "uci".
515 Running the UCI engine "fruit" under xboard 4.3.15 and later (this
516 invokes PolyGlot internally).
518 xboard -fcp fruit -fUCI
520 An explicit command line for using the UCI engine "fruit" with 128M
521 hash in xboard with logging enabled (this also works on xboard 4.2.7).
523 xboard -fcp "polyglot -noini -log -ec fruit -hash 128"
525 The equivalent config file would be:
528 EngineCommand = fruit
533 Compile "games.pgn" into a book "book.bin" retaining all lines of at
536 polyglot make-book -pgn games.pgn -bin book.bin -max-ply 30
538 Merge books "w1.bin" and "w2.bin" into a book "w.bin".
540 polyglot merge-book -in1 w1.bin -in2 w2.bin -out w.bin
542 Inspect lines for white in "w.bin"
544 polyglot dump-book -bin w.bin -color white -out w_white.txt
546 Test epd file "test.epd" with a (maximum) search time of 7 minutes per
549 polyglot epd-test -epd test.epd -max-time 420
552 PolyGlot always returns 0 on exit.
555 Main author: Fabien Letouzey<fabien_letouzey(at)hotmail.com>
557 Native Windows port: Huang Chen<webmaster@elephantbase.net> ("Morning
560 Various enhancements: Fonzy Bleumers<match(at)geenvis.net>
562 UCI port, option persistence and new WB protocol: Michel Van den Bergh
563 <michel.vandenbergh(at)uhasselt.be>
570 2009-09-05 POLYGLOT(6)