Set the position you want to generate in the main window.
Set the right option by clicking the corresponding checkbox:
-
No 50moves rule: The 50 moves rule is ignored. In case of a win, the number of moves given is
the distance to promotion or mate.
-
50 moves rule: The 50 moves rule is taken into account. In case of a win, the number of moves
given is the distance to conversion (pawn move or piece or pawn capture) or mate.
If you check the 50 moves rule option, if a win requires 50 or more consecutive moves (for each side)
without:
- Capturing a piece or a pawn.
- Moving a pawn.
- Reaching one position whose value was forced to a win (if any).
Then the result will be declared to be a draw. Of course, this is not applicable if the win can be
accomplished by other means within the 50 moves restriction,
Click Start/Resume, the following window will open:
Setting values manually
To force the value of a position, set up the position on the board., and set the value in the “set value”
combo box.
Once you have entered the value of the position, click the “set value “ button to force the value of the
position:
IMPORTANT. You must click the “set value” button to force a value for a position.
Otherwise the modification will not take effect.
The value cannot be set in the following situations:
- If the position is illegal.
- If the position is a checkmate or a stalemate.
- If the position exists already in the tablebase (it cannot be overwritten)
If you set the value of a position more than once, then only the last value will be retained.
When the value of a position has been established, then the current value appears next to the top left
corner, and the FEN code is added to the list.
You can set as many positions as you want. Each time you set the value of a position, the FEN code is
added to the list.
If you click a FEN in the list, then the corresponding position is set on the chessboard and you can display
the current value for that position.
Setting values from a file
You can set values from position defined in an extenal file. To do so, activate the following checkbox
and enter a file name:
The positions in the input file will be included automatically. You can set the positions manually, from a
file, or combine two methods.
The format of the input value is the following:
One line must be created for position. Each line is composed of the result and the FEN position
separated by the character “|”.
The result of the position can be
- W for a win for White
- B for a win for Black
- D for a Draw
Example of an input file containing positions:
W|8/6pp/2K5/8/3k4/8/6PP/8 w - - 0 1
B|8/6pp/2K5/8/3k2P1/8/7P/8 b - - 0 1
D|8/1k6/5R2/1K6/2P5/8/8/8 w - - 0 1
The first position has been forced to be a win for White, the second position is a win for Black, and the
third one is a draw.
IMPORTANT Error messages:
If the file does not exist, the format is not valid or any other error occurs, then the following message
appears “Could not integrate file”.
Sometimes, an error is reported about a particular position, but the process continues normally without
processing the position in error.
Sometimes you can also experience an “Unexpected error”
IN GENERAL, YOU HAVE TO BE EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS IF YOU SEE AN ERROR MESSAGE.
SOMETIMES THE PROCESS WILL CONTINUE BUT THE RESULT WILL NOT BE THE
EXPECTED ONE.
Generating the tablebase
When you have finished setting values for position, then you can
- Click the “Save and continue” button: All changes you made will be taken into account during
tablebase generation.
- Click the “Continue without saving” or close directly the window to ignore all the changes.
When the process is completed, if one or more positions were not taken into account for the generation
process, then a report will be displayed:
********************************************************************************
*
The following positions were not used
********************************************************************************
8/6pp/2K5/8/3k4/8/6PP/8 w - - 0 1
8/6pp/2K5/8/3k2P1/8/7P/8 b - - 0 1
That means that the value of the above positions were forced by the user, but they were not used during
generation because they are not part of the position set calculated from the original position.