Universal Chess Interface
Encyclopedia
The Universal Chess Interface (UCI) is an open communication protocol that enables a chess program's engine to communicate with its user interface
.
It was designed and released by Rudolf Huber and Stefan Meyer-Kahlen
, the author of Shredder
, in November 2000, and can be seen as a rival to the older XBoard/WinBoard Communication protocol. Like the latter, it is free to use without license fees.
Customarily, UCI assigns some tasks to the user interface that have traditionally been handled by the engine itself. Most notably, the opening book
is usually expected to be handled by the interface, by simply selecting moves to play until it is out of book, and only then starting up the engine for calculation in the resulting position. (UCI does not specify any on-disk format for the opening book; different UIs
usually have their own, proprietary formats.) Also, the user interface may handle endgame tablebase
s if the engine does not support it itself, although this is often better handled in the engine, as having tablebase information can be useful to consider a possible future position.
Only a few interfaces and engines supported this protocol until Chessbase
, the chess software company which markets Fritz
, began to support UCI in 2002. , there are well over 100 engines that support UCI.
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
.
It was designed and released by Rudolf Huber and Stefan Meyer-Kahlen
Stefan Meyer-Kahlen
Stefan Meyer-Kahlen is a German programmer of the computer chess program Shredder. , his program had won 12 titles as World Computer Chess Champion. Four of the titles were blitz championships, and one was a Chess960 championship. Shredder 10 has a rating of 2824 on the November 3, 2007 SSDF...
, the author of Shredder
Shredder (chess)
Shredder is a commercial chess program developed in Germany by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen in 1993. Shredder won the World Microcomputer Chess Championship in 1996 and 2000, the World Computer Chess Championship in 1999 and 2003, the World Computer Speed Chess Championship in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and...
, in November 2000, and can be seen as a rival to the older XBoard/WinBoard Communication protocol. Like the latter, it is free to use without license fees.
Customarily, UCI assigns some tasks to the user interface that have traditionally been handled by the engine itself. Most notably, the opening book
Opening book
Chess opening book refers either to a book on chess openings, or to a database of chess openings used by chess programs.-Literature:Opening books, which discuss chess openings, are by far the most common type of literature on Chess play...
is usually expected to be handled by the interface, by simply selecting moves to play until it is out of book, and only then starting up the engine for calculation in the resulting position. (UCI does not specify any on-disk format for the opening book; different UIs
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
usually have their own, proprietary formats.) Also, the user interface may handle endgame tablebase
Endgame tablebase
An endgame tablebase is a computerized database that contains precalculated exhaustive analysis of a chess endgame position. It is typically used by a computer chess engine during play, or by a human or computer that is retrospectively analysing a game that has already been played.The tablebase...
s if the engine does not support it itself, although this is often better handled in the engine, as having tablebase information can be useful to consider a possible future position.
Only a few interfaces and engines supported this protocol until Chessbase
ChessBase
ChessBase GmbH is a German company that markets chess software, maintains a chess news site, and operates a server for online chess. Set up in 1998, it maintains and sells massive databases, containing most historic games, that permit analysis that had not been possible prior to computing...
, the chess software company which markets Fritz
Fritz (chess)
Fritz is a German chess program developed by Frans Morsch and Mathias Feist and published by ChessBase. There is also a version called Deep Fritz that is designed for multiprocessing....
, began to support UCI in 2002. , there are well over 100 engines that support UCI.
External references
- http://wbec-ridderkerk.nl/html/UCIProtocol.html - The UCI protocol as published by Stefan-Meyer Kahlen
- http://www.shredderchess.com/chess-info/features/uci-universal-chess-interface.html - UCI technical specification
- http://www.superchessengine.com/ - Website for Free UCI chess engines to download like Fruit 2.3.1, Rybka 1.0 and Toga 1.3.1