Answers.Body: <p>I have no problem running stockfish or a dozen other UCI engines under xboard, even running tournaments between engines at 40 moves per minute. Check a couple of things. Have you installed polyglot? If not, do install it. I had some problems when polyglot was not installed. Also, check if you can run stockfish on the command line. Run stockfish (or whatever your executable is called) in a terminal, then run the command bench. That will confirm that SF is working.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-04-30T18:06:06.383Z
Answers.Text: I've installed polyglot about half an hour before and tried to run stockfish engine ... it is now about 20 minutes overdue and xboard is already advertising that "White flag's fell" but stockfish hasn't noticed yet, and will probably be consuming computer time forever if not stopped forcefully. What I am missing?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Gyro Gearloose
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-05-01T11:49:25.047Z
Answers.Text: I can try to help debug this. Did you try running stockfish on command line? Could you post your configuration of stockfish in your .xboardrc file. Did you  install stockfish from the stockfish site or from the Ubuntu repository? I have the following lines in my .xboardrc file (one for the version with handcrafted  evaluation and one for version 16.1). On my machine I use the avx2 binary. "Stockfish 15 (hce,nn)" -fcp stockfish-15-hce-nn -fUCI -fNoOwnBookUCI
  "Stockfish 16.1" -fcp stockfish-16.1 -fUCI -fNoOwnBookUCI
  (I am not able to edit this properly.)
Answers.UserDisplayName: chesskobra
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-05-01T11:52:01.397Z
Answers.Text: "Stockfish 15 (hce,nn)" and "Stockfish 16.1" are on separate lines in the section -firstChessProgramNames in the .xboardrc file. Also, stockfish-15-hce-nn and stockfish-16.1 are the names of my executables, which I have placed in /usr/local/games.
Answers.UserDisplayName: chesskobra
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-05-02T20:05:09.983Z
Answers.Text: Yes I tried stockfish on the command line, but that was at a time I was not aware it needs to be called by a GUI. I dowloaded everything but stockfish via ubuntu. Stockfish I downloaded directly (I don't remember from where) and after some failed attempt, succeed in compiling it. The file .xboardrc is present, but won't fit into a comment.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Gyro Gearloose
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-05-02T20:27:54.020Z
Answers.Text: I just need to know what the line for SF looks like in .xboardrc file. Mine is: "Stockfish 16.1" -fcp stockfish-16.1 -fUCI -fNoOwnBookUCI - here you should replace stockfish-16.1 with whatever your executable is called. Where have you placed your executable? I place it in /usr/local/games. If you have it in the directory where you compiled, then xboard will not see it; it needs to be installed in a path that xboard can see (generally /usr/local/games or /usr/local/bin etc for manually installed programs. Did you run the bench command after starting SF on command line?
Answers.UserDisplayName: chesskobra
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-05-02T20:31:51.697Z
Answers.Text: You do not need a GUI to run stockfish. You can simply type the name of the executable in a terminal and check if it runs.
Answers.UserDisplayName: chesskobra
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-05-02T21:10:13.590Z
Answers.Text: Don't understand: what kind of executable should I type in  the terminal, where and how, to make it work as a GUI? ??????
Answers.UserDisplayName: Gyro Gearloose
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-05-03T19:09:21.433Z
Answers.Text: There are two separate things. 1. Can you run the executable in a terminal? 2. How to configure it in xboard. So we first need to confirm that the executable works in a terminal. What is the name of the executable that you obtained when you compiled SF? And what did you do to it? Did you move it to some directory like /usr/local/games? I suggest you move it to /usr/local/games - for this you will need sudo. For example, sudo cp <executable_name> /usr/local/games. After you do that, open a terminal and type executable_name and return. If it works, I can tell you how to configure it in xboard.
Answers.UserDisplayName: chesskobra
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-05-03T19:14:19.543Z
Answers.Text: When you run it in a terminal, it will not start a GUI. This is only to test that the executable works.
Answers.UserDisplayName: chesskobra
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-04-30T12:28:34.147Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2024-04-30T12:28:34.147Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: chesskobra
Answers.Body: <p>I solved this issue by just reinstalling polyglot.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-06-12T11:52:28.253Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2024-06-12T11:53:23.563Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2024-06-12T11:53:23.563Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jonel Agutaya
Answers.Body: <p>Lucas Chess is a very fun interface that incorporates Stockfish among several dozen internal chess engines. Lucas Chess also contains many small engines for modest players. It is free software and exists in Linux and Windows versions.
  To download here:
  <a href="https://lucaschess.pythonanywhere.com/downloads" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://lucaschess.pythonanywhere.com/downloads</a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-05-04T21:39:11.627Z
Answers.Text: I've installed the software from your link, and there is a runnable RunEngines, that makes the engines runnable. Testing one, it starts, but, without board to call it, naturelly, it does nothing else. There is also a directory DigitalBoards, but it contains only libraries. With xboard, I don't see these many engines. What click am I missing?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Gyro Gearloose
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-04-29T11:33:59.860Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2024-04-29T11:33:59.860Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: RobRobinson
Body: <p>It looks like xboard GUI and stockfish engine are not close friends.</p>
  <p>I can pick stockfish as an engine in xboard, but stockfish will not respect the time limits (unlike if it is used by chessX). xboard will then simply timeout the stockfish engin, saying &quot;White flags fell&quot;.</p>
  <p>Is this a principal problem, or am I just missing the proper options to xboard and/or stockfish?</p>
  <p>Background: I have recently resumed to playing chess against a computer opponent. With chessx and stockfish I lose every game very rapidly. With xboard there is a fairy-engin included that plays much weaker, but still I would lose. With limiting the strength of the engin (by restricting the engines time), I also play weaker, making me lose over again.</p>
  <p>Now, I see the weakness is within myself, I want it rough: a strong engine, like stockfish, but it won't go with xboard.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2024-04-28T20:23:03.367Z
Comments.Text: xboard protocol is really old. all chess engines use UCI nowadays. have you tried a different GUI?
Comments.UserDisplayName: qwr
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2024-04-28T20:31:58.907Z
Comments.Text: @qwr yes, previous to xboard I have tried chessx, but it comes without preinstalled engines and, on my system, there were some troubles when chessx tried to write on places where there was already some writing, messing up that part of the display. I also love that feature of xborad that informs me about the estimation of the game.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Gyro Gearloose
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2024-04-28T23:29:37.960Z
Comments.Text: you can also play against stockfish on lichess and chess.com
Comments.UserDisplayName: qwr
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2024-05-02T19:55:51.917Z
Comments.Text: @qwr I'm more than a little bit paranoid. I prefer playing on my own box.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Gyro Gearloose
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2024-05-02T21:04:31.733Z
Comments.Text: have you tried other chess GUIs? Arena is useful and I use cutechess because it's free and open source and cross-platform.
Comments.UserDisplayName: qwr
Tags: <software><stockfish><gui><xboard>
Title: xboard and stockfish not working well together
ThreadText: # xboard and stockfish not working well together
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2024-04-28)
  
  It looks like xboard GUI and stockfish engine are not close friends.
  
  I can pick stockfish as an engine in xboard, but stockfish will not respect the time limits (unlike if it is used by chessX). xboard will then simply timeout the stockfish engin, saying "White flags fell".
  
  Is this a principal problem, or am I just missing the proper options to xboard and/or stockfish?
  
  Background: I have recently resumed to playing chess against a computer opponent. With chessx and stockfish I lose every game very rapidly. With xboard there is a fairy-engin included that plays much weaker, but still I would lose. With limiting the strength of the engin (by restricting the engines time), I also play weaker, making me lose over again.
  
  Now, I see the weakness is within myself, I want it rough: a strong engine, like stockfish, but it won't go with xboard.
  
  **Tags:** software, stockfish, gui, xboard
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: xboard protocol is really old. all chess engines use UCI nowadays. have you tried a different GUI?  
  > **username_0**: @username_1 yes, previous to xboard I have tried chessx, but it comes without preinstalled engines and, on my system, there were some troubles when chessx tried to write on places where there was already some writing, messing up that part of the display. I also love that feature of xborad that informs me about the estimation of the game.  
  > **username_1**: you can also play against stockfish on lichess and chess.com  
  > **username_0**: @username_1 I'm more than a little bit paranoid. I prefer playing on my own box.  
  > **username_1**: have you tried other chess GUIs? Arena is useful and I use cutechess because it's free and open source and cross-platform.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2024-04-30. Score: 0
  
  I have no problem running stockfish or a dozen other UCI engines under xboard, even running tournaments between engines at 40 moves per minute. Check a couple of things. Have you installed polyglot? If not, do install it. I had some problems when polyglot was not installed. Also, check if you can run stockfish on the command line. Run stockfish (or whatever your executable is called) in a terminal, then run the command bench. That will confirm that SF is working.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: I've installed polyglot about half an hour before and tried to run stockfish engine ... it is now about 20 minutes overdue and xboard is already advertising that "White flag's fell" but stockfish hasn't noticed yet, and will probably be consuming computer time forever if not stopped forcefully. What I am missing?  
  > **username_2**: I can try to help debug this. Did you try running stockfish on command line? Could you post your configuration of stockfish in your .xboardrc file. Did you  install stockfish from the stockfish site or from the Ubuntu repository? I have the following lines in my .xboardrc file (one for the version with handcrafted  evaluation and one for version 16.1). On my machine I use the avx2 binary. "Stockfish 15 (hce,nn)" -fcp stockfish-15-hce-nn -fUCI -fNoOwnBookUCI "Stockfish 16.1" -fcp stockfish-16.1 -fUCI -fNoOwnBookUCI (I am not able to edit this properly.)  
  > **username_2**: "Stockfish 15 (hce,nn)" and "Stockfish 16.1" are on separate lines in the section -firstChessProgramNames in the .xboardrc file. Also, stockfish-15-hce-nn and stockfish-16.1 are the names of my executables, which I have placed in /usr/local/games.  
  > **username_0**: Yes I tried stockfish on the command line, but that was at a time I was not aware it needs to be called by a GUI. I dowloaded everything but stockfish via ubuntu. Stockfish I downloaded directly (I don't remember from where) and after some failed attempt, succeed in compiling it. The file .xboardrc is present, but won't fit into a comment.  
  > **username_2**: I just need to know what the line for SF looks like in .xboardrc file. Mine is: "Stockfish 16.1" -fcp stockfish-16.1 -fUCI -fNoOwnBookUCI - here you should replace stockfish-16.1 with whatever your executable is called. Where have you placed your executable? I place it in /usr/local/games. If you have it in the directory where you compiled, then xboard will not see it; it needs to be installed in a path that xboard can see (generally /usr/local/games or /usr/local/bin etc for manually installed programs. Did you run the bench command after starting SF on command line?  
  > **username_2**: You do not need a GUI to run stockfish. You can simply type the name of the executable in a terminal and check if it runs.  
  > **username_0**: Don't understand: what kind of executable should I type in  the terminal, where and how, to make it work as a GUI? ??????  
  > **username_2**: There are two separate things. 1. Can you run the executable in a terminal? 2. How to configure it in xboard. So we first need to confirm that the executable works in a terminal. What is the name of the executable that you obtained when you compiled SF? And what did you do to it? Did you move it to some directory like /usr/local/games? I suggest you move it to /usr/local/games - for this you will need sudo. For example, sudo cp <executable_name> /usr/local/games. After you do that, open a terminal and type executable_name and return. If it works, I can tell you how to configure it in xboard.  
  > **username_2**: When you run it in a terminal, it will not start a GUI. This is only to test that the executable works.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2024-06-12. Score: 0
  
  I solved this issue by just reinstalling polyglot.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2024-04-29. Score: 0
  
  Lucas Chess is a very fun interface that incorporates Stockfish among several dozen internal chess engines. Lucas Chess also contains many small engines for modest players. It is free software and exists in Linux and Windows versions.
  To download here:
  <https://lucaschess.pythonanywhere.com/downloads>
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: I've installed the software from your link, and there is a runnable RunEngines, that makes the engines runnable. Testing one, it starts, but, without board to call it, naturelly, it does nothing else. There is also a directory DigitalBoards, but it contains only libraries. With xboard, I don't see these many engines. What click am I missing?  
  
  ---
  
  