Hello,

I have rewritten my UCI Driver for the Novag Star Diamond and it is now quite stable. THis is a program which makes the SD usable as an UCI Engine in PC programs such as Fritz or Arena (I did not test other GUIs).

This drivers has several usages :

1. when you play a game between two machines : it will remove the need to enter the moves on both machines + record them. Personnally, I often finish playing only on the machines and then to rely on the replay feature of one of them to save the game. I remember games played between Citrine and SD which I played with the first version of the drivver : it was very pleasant to play the game on the Citrine and just to enter moves in Fritz and get the answers from SD there.
   
2. when you want to play against the SD itself, you can configure the GUI in "demo" mode and it will simply record the game played on the dedicated machine
   
   
3. finally, if you want to do a series of tests such as BT2450, it is cool not to have to enter the position in the machine but simply to send the position
   

There is always space for improvement so I'll be very happy to get feedback
Other machines will follow...

Here is the link of the page where this driver can be downloaded
Best regards,
Alain

Excellent Alain!! I will try to test this out this weekend, but it sounds great already !

Thanks a lot

Nick

Great job, Alain!

I just wonder if it is possible to modify your driver in a way that enables an automatic gameplay between two dedicated.
Final goal: Automatic tournaments at long time controls - with no need of human interaction.

Best regards, Willi

Well, as soon as I have two drivers working and your PC has several COM ports, I think it will work.

best regards,
Alain

A new version is on the site :
1) small corrections for Star Diamond
2) addition of Sapphire II and Diamiond

Best regards,
Alain

Just to be sure:
The new version is available by using the old download link?
I revisited your site and the link ist still called "...Novag Star Diamond only"

Regards, Willi

yes, the old link is still ok but I did not take time to update the page...
I'll do it tomorrow.

best regards,
Alain

Ich hab gestern abend mit alains UCI software gespielt und es ist SUPER !! Tut mir leid das der rest auf English ist aber ich glaube die bilder sprechen auch 1000 woerter:

After playing with Novag Citrine's connection to Arena yesterday, today I tested Alain's UCI software for Novag Star Diamond and what a difference!!

http://www.zanchetta.net/echecs/defa...age=UCIDrivers

Here is a screenshot of the moves automatically shown in Arena while I am playing Star Diamond on it's board:



Same position pic on the Star Diamond:



But you have seen nothing yet!!



The above pic shows Star Diamond playing the chess engine WJChess in Arena automatically remotely. All I had to do is sit back and watch the game :P This is awsome !!!

Thanks a lot Alain, the difference between using your software and using Citrines is amazing. I hope you have time to make a UCI for Citrine and many more dedicated computers!

[Event "Arena Dedicated vs Engine Match"]
[Site "Hoover, Alabama, USA"]
[Date "2007.11.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "WJChess"]
[Black "Alainza.Uci.StarDiamond"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2128"]
[BlackElo "2126"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. b4 a5 6. c3 axb4 7. cxb4 b6 8. a4 bxc5 9. b5 Ne4 10. Nbd2 Qa5 11. Ng5 Nxg5 12. Bxg5 Nd7 13. e4 h6 14. Bf4 dxe4 15. Bc4 g5 16. Be3 Bg7 17. Ra2 Qc3 18. O-O Bb7 19. Qb1 O-O 20. a5 Rfd8 21. a6 Bd5 22. Rc1 Qe5 23. Bxd5 exd5 24. Bxc5 Nxc5 25. Rxc5 Bf8 26. Rc6 Bd6 27. g3 Rdc8 28. Rxc8+ Rxc8 29. Nf1 Bc5 30. b6 Qb8 31. Rc2 Kh7 32. b7 Bxf2+ 33. Rxf2 Rf8 34. Qb6 e3 35. Nxe3 Qe8 36. a7 d4 1-0

Thanks again Alain !

Nick

but as I said in my answer on Hiarcs forum, the Citrine is a tough computer to interface, at least my version (I don't know if newer Citrine handle better double moves entries).

Best regards,
Alain

Verstehe ich es richtig dass man den Star Diamond so auch als PC-Schachbrett nutzen kann?

Andreas

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