main -> Ghost 2 for Windows

download Ghost 2.0.1 (32-bit version)

Install guide:

• Unzip the downloaded archive, which contains the following files:
  • ghost2_win32_v2_0_1.exe: The engine (requires the cygwin1.dll)
  • settings.cfg: Optimized settings (use the command line option --read_settings settings.cfg)
  • kp_kp.gbb: Ghost Bitbases (king+pawn vs king+pawn)
  • kpp_kp_ram.gbb: Ghost Bitbases (king+pawn+pawn vs king+pawn with one pawn ram)
  • cygwin1.dll: Required because the executable has been built with GCC 4.5 under Cygwin
• It is recommended to use a graphical user interface, e.g., WinBoard or Arena.
• To show the help screen, start the engine (without a GUI) and enter help.

Tuning guide:

• Always load the optimized settings: --read_settings settings.cfg
• Increase the transposition table (e.g., --hash trans 1G)
• Check whether the bitbases files (kp_kp.gbb and kpp_kp_ram.gbb) are in the same directory as the executable

Troubleshooting:

• Loading Nalimov tablebases can be tricky, because the Windows executable (generated by GCC under Cygwin) seems to have problems with native pathnames.
• Using Cygwin's naming convention avoids that problem. For example, to load the tablebases from "D:\tablebases", use the following command line option:
  --tb nalimov 8M /cygdrive/d/tablebases

For questions:

• mailto: philipp.classen [at] gmx.net
• or: michael.classen [at] gmx.net

feel free to donate...