WinBoard/XBoard 4.8.0 released

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h.g.muller
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Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:14 am
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WinBoard/XBoard 4.8.0 released

Post by h.g.muller »

I prepared a binary installer for WinBoard 4.8.0. I haven't announced it at WB forum yet, but will update the download pages there shortly. The installer is already downloadable from http://hgm.nubati.net/WinBoard-4.8.0.exe .

Main new features that would benefit Chess users are:
* tablebase hits, selective depth and nps can be shown in Engine Output.
* Clicking moves in the Edit Book window plays them, and moves can be added to the book by playing them.
* The Evaluation Graph can be switched to differential mode ('Blunder Graph').
* Bulk saving of all selected games from a PGN database is possible, to create a new one.
* Setting up positions is made much easier by providing a 'pallette' board showing every piece once, and having a copy as well as move function for the pieces.
* The possibility to cut short engine-engine games based on scorpio bitbase probing.
* The clock times are saved as PGN comment in unfinished games, and restored when they are reloaded, making it easier to adjourn games.

The package contains a new Polyglot (2.0.2) that is needed for transmitting the tablebase hits of UCI engines. (It has a new option ShowTbHits.) It also contains a new Fairy-Max (4.8U), which supports four new variants, amongst which 'King of the Hill' and 'Charge of the Light Brigade', using the new WinBoard mechanism for engine-defined variants. General variant support of WinBoard has been greatly improved with this version; basically completely unknown variants now work just as smoothly as standard variants, because the engine can tell XBoard the rules. The new Fairy-Max uses this to improve the handling of all its existing variants that formerly had to be played with legality testing off. (E.g. Cylinder Chess.) The included Shokidoki engine now also supports Tori Shogi, which also makes use of this facility.

For XBoard there are additional new features:
* The GTK build is declared stable.
* An ICS Interaction window similar to WinBoard's, with integrated chat boxes.
* A Board Theme dialog to create and recal themes.
* More flexible use of fonts (in the GTK version).
* Automatic install of engines that comply with the plugin standard.

The XBoard source code is available from the GNU Savannah git repository. (I am not sure there are prepared tar balls yet.)

Thanks to the efforts of Joshua Pettus there also is an OS X App for XBoard available, for running on a Mac with a native feel. This will also be distributed from WB forum:

Image

For a detailed description of all new features, see the XBoard news page on the GNU website.
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