Just a quick question: which free engines do you run with SCID? (If they're not Scidlet and Crafty, ie., the engines that come with SCID, please give the names & website links.)

I use the demo version of Rybka, 2.2n: http://www.rybkachess.com/index.php?auswahl=Demo+version

I also use RobboLito, which is new, GPL, and currently the strongest program out there. However, there are rumours that it was developed from stolen Rybka 4 source -- I don't know whether this is true. Also it doesn't use multiple CPUs, and it can only show one line (Scid can let Rybka show the best x moves, but it doesn't work with RobboLito). http://www.chesslogik.com/robbolito.htm

I've read a bit about Robbolito, Ivanhoe and Firebird (which can all be downloaded from Chesslogik, here), and I'm currently investigating which one to go for. I've not updated my engines yet -which is the reason for asking the question in the first place.

Scarblac - do you play against either Rybka or Robbolito, or do you only use them for analysis?

It is my 4th day with SCID. I've just plugged in stockfish.

I don't know whether it is "as good as --or-- better than" the other engines though. Any thoughts?

I use Chessbomb to watch live matches, and they use Stockfish there to analyse the games live. It seems pretty good to me. It's free, which is a bonus! Let us know how you get on with it.

Also, could you tell us whether you use it for analysis only, or do you play against it on SCID?

Russell: LOL, I've been at it for only 4 days, an hour here and an hour there. So I am by no means a power-user. At least, not yet.

Yes, I too came across stockfish at chessbomb during the WCC2010. Though I know that v1.7.1 is available, I chose to go with my Kubuntu repository which has only v1.6.

The only comments I can make about it right now are:

• It does use both the cores of my CPU... I can see it on the system graphs. It drives the CPU temperature so high that my laptop powered down suddenly once (It is hot summer here and I wasn't in an airconditioned room ). Since then, I've been carefully watching the CPU temperatures.
• So far I've used it only for analysis. It has been a long long long time since I played against any computer. It seems that can go upto 18-ply depth without overheating (taking ~300seconds for that, in most middlegame positions) on a Dell Inspiron 1525. I should be able to go deeper, but SCID quirks make it difficult. e.g., when I type stuff in my repertoire editor, the key strokes -- esp., the back arrows -- interrupt the game board and restart the engine analysis.

Sure, I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes for me.

How can I install Firebird and Ivanhoe?  It seems there's no source code on ChessLogik site.

Also, I'm using Linux Mint 9 AMD64, recently installed.  Thanks ins advance for any direction.

All download links (for Fire / Ivanhoe / Firebird) I see point to Windows executables only!

Nothing for Linux; no open source! A bit disappointing, to say the least.