SCID vs PC

Hi,

I've worked with Scid vs. Mac for a good time and I'm really satisfied with it, but recently I try to play some traning games with a set-up board but have many problems. First, I have Stockfish on my Scid vs. Mac and prefer to play with it. I set up a position, but don't know how I can sort out things so that Stockfish starts the game (assuming that the game is supposed to begin with a Stockfish's move). I've some other problems as well, but now the most important one is this. Could someone help me with this?

Well, I have a PC not a Mac, but let's assume they both work the same way?

Stockfish will always play the color at the top of the board. Let's say, with a particular setup position, it's White to move, but you want Stockfish to play White. Just flip the board so that the white color is at the top of the board, and it should work.

@EscherehcsE

I just read your comment and tried what you said. Happily, it worked! Thank you so much:)

Maybe in the future, I'll ask my other questions as well and hopefully they will be answered so correctly:)

Another question: I made an opening database on scid, named French Defense. I like to have some "folders" in it. I mean I'd like to have different parts for variations, say, Advance variation, Exchange variation and so on. Is it possible to do that?

As far as I know you can search for the games you want and then send them to the clip board and save them to a sub-folder. Using the opening mask should be easier and could be used with any database you have or use both. Let us know how it works out!

Faarian, As an example I have my main database (millions of games) Then I break it down into my White rep and my Black rep. I also have a couple other minor dbs. Overall, I use one opening mask linked to my main db, and add to it as needed. I just started using an opening mask and find it very useful so far.

@ Steven.

I was just wondering if you're giving any thought to moving Scid vs, PC away from the SourceForge site and hosting it somewhere else, since it appears that SourceForge is now bundling crapware in some distributions, and, even more disturbing, there is at least one report of malware being found on quite a few SourceForge pages.

It's gotten to the point that I don't even want to go to SourceForge, and I also don't think I should be sending others to SourceForge to download Scid vs. PC (or anything, for that matter).

There was a discussion of the problem in this ChessDB thread:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/help-support/is-chessdb-a-safe-to-download-data-base

@Malis1959 Thanks for the reply. As you said, I started working with mask and it looks useful. But I am also interested to know how I can create subfolders in my database. I mean, for example, I create a database named French Defense. Now I want to have some subfolders, say, Advance V. Exchange V. Alekhine Gambit and so on

@ Steven

Hi again Steven, I just checked the ver 4.14 files with VirusTotal. One AV hit on the Windows 32-bit installer; Three AV hits on the Windows 64-bit installer. I'm hoping they're just false positives and not someone monkeying with the files behind your back? Thanks in advance.

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/e149c1a9e5225789a6810e67cfb3673d7a990d329b1da79ae5ea40614f995398/analysis/1447187438/

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/155fea9fa8c1227298e3715d6fb66890578d0462ad3283f2d376d6b11a906500/analysis/1447188086/

Faarian, The only way I know to do that is to search a large database from the Key Starting Position in the variations you want or search a specific eco code, then save those games to the subfile you want.  SCID-PC has a eco finder and can change regular ECO codes to SCID ECO code (which I think is more extensive).  One other item I do is once a month I download all the games  from This Week In Chess and add the new data to my working databases. I highly recommend you backup the databases your using and updating just incase a problem crops up. (I use save as and just add a date to the file name.)

to EscherehcsE

Hello. I bought a new computer this week, and installed Scid vs. PC 4.14 on it. It is a mini desktop to use with a larger screen (previously I was working in the laptop at home, but after years it was getting my eyes tired). I got Kaspersky 2016 anti-virus for this new computer (Fujitsu Esprimo Q520) and the Kaspersky don't have any suspiction on the intaller file or the final folder after installation. I have been using Kaspersky since years and have an high grade of trust on it. So at this point I woudn't worry too much but, yes, your question is legitimate. I have the licence to many chess software and installed Scid vs PC 4.14 only in this new computer and, same as you, I care for this programme.

If the developer still follows this thread, I'd love to make a suggestion:

When annotating a game in chessbase, I have the ability to add a comment before the current move or after the current move.  An option to do this in SvsPC would be very excellent.  Annotating games without that option is a little awkward.

Yeah, I think us users are in an uncomfortable position. While I do trust the developer of Scid vs. PC, I DON'T trust the new owner of SourceForge, who seems to me is hellbent on monetizing its purchase, even if it means foisting malware on its users.

I just took a quick look, and the following free chess database programs are all on SourceForge: ChessDB, ChessX, Scid, Scidb, and Scid vs. PC.

There is no support for 'directories' per se, but use of custom flags makes for very quick searches.I just use separate DBs for various things. The tree is more meaningful, and all ops are faster.

I am aware Sourceforge has made some poor decisions, but it is a great service, and am not contemplating moving.

ScidvsPC has no intrusive elements. Windows Scidvspc (and Scid) is packaged by Inno Setup. I dont understand it perfectly, but have only good things to say about it, and doubt very much it has any malicious software in it. http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php

cheers

I appreciate the response.

I seem to recall that there is an option somewhere to automatically flip the board each time a player moves when two people are playing offline at the same computer. If so, can someone help me find that option?

Here's an endgame in which Scid vs PC did not declare a draw even though I used more than 50 moves to checkmate my opponent. There are no pawns on the board and no piece was captured until the last move. Is there any effort underway to fix this problem?

[Event "Queen vs kNight"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.11.23"]
[Round "0"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Goal "Offense: Play White and Win"]
[FEN "8/8/3Q4/2K5/4k3/4n3/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

1.Qd4+ Kf3 2.Qb4 Nf5 3.Qb1 Kf4 4.Kd5 Ne3+ 5.Kd4 Nf5+ 6.Kd3 Ke5
7.Qb5+ Ke6 8.Qc5 Nd6 9.Kd4 Nf5+ 10.Ke4 Nd6+ 11.Kd4 Nf7 12.Qd5+ Kf6 13.Qe4 Ng5 14.Qd5 Ne6+ 15.Ke4 Ng5+ 16.Kf4 Ne6+ 17.Kg4 Ke7 18.Kf5 Nd8 19.Ke5 Nf7+ 20.Kf5 Nh6+ 21.Kf4 Nf7 22.Qc5+ Kf6 23.Qb6+ Ke7 24.Qg6 Nd6 25.Ke5 Nc4+ 26.Kd5 Ne3+ 27.Kc6 Nf1 28.Qg7+ Ke6 29.Qd7+ Kf6
30.Qd6+ Kg5 31.Qe5+ Kg4 32.Qf6 Ng3 33.Kd5 Kh3 34.Ke5 Kg2 35.Qf4 Ne2 36.Qe3 Ng1 37.Kf4 Nh3+ 38.Kg4 Nf2+ 39.Kh4 Nd1 40.Qg3+ Kf1 41.Qf3+ Ke1 42.Kg4 Kd2 43.Kf4 Nc3 44.Qe3+ Kc2 45.Qf2+ Kb3 46.Qc5 Ne2+ 47.Ke3 Nc3 48.Kd3 Na4 49.Qc4+ Ka3 50.Qb5 Nb2+ 51.Kc3 Nd1+ 52.Kc2 Nb2
53.Qxb2+ Ka4 54.Qb6 Ka3 55.Qb5 Ka2 56.Qa5# 1-0

I tried Scid for the first time in a few years recently and was amazed at how much better it is than it used to be.   I actually like it better than Scid vs. PC.

Jerryl, there is no problem to fix.  You're confused about the rule.  The draw is not automatic.  It has to be claimed.  Your opponent has to claim it after 50 consecutive moves without a piece capture and a pawn move.