How to connect a UCI chess engine play on FICS?

Question

I see that there are several chess bots playing on FICS. I would like to have my own chess engine running on FICS (guest mode is ok), but so far I haven't found any bot source code. I tried eboard and Raptor but these are only interface and do not allow a FICS - engine game.

Answer 1

You can use icsDrone or Zippy with Winboard to connect an engine using the Winboard protocol to FICS. You can use PolyGlot as an adapter between Winboard and UCI protocols to connect your UCI engine to Winboard or icsDrone.

Answer 2

I use ChessPartner 6.0.4.3

r.click in the Internet Console and choose Properties

Autoseek Cmd:

getgame\n

Login script:

set chanoff 1

set silence 1

set tell 0

set formula !computer & !abuser

set notakeback 1

set tolerance 0

set autoflag 1

set style 12

Answer 3

You could connect to FICS using simple telnet program. This is the basis of writing bots. Mekk- the author of watchbot on FICS has created an excellent tutorial, on going about writing FICS bots. Here's the link:

http://blog.mekk.waw.pl/archives/7-How-to-write-a-FICS-bot-part-I.html

Overall, the workflow would be something like this:

a) Create a FICS client program (using any programming language) that interacts with the FICS server using telnet.

b) Host your engine and fics client on some machine (maybe your desktop or a server)

c) Use the fics client to play games on fics, while at the same time interacting with your chess engine to evaluate the moves and feeding it back to fics client.

Answer 4

I have uploaded my script on http://smallchess.com/Scripts

The script provides you infinite flexibility because you choose your engine, time limit etc in bot.ini. You should also update your login in FICSLogin.txt. The script is written in perl and therefore runs on all platforms.