Engine Updates

Merlin 2.3.1 (WB)
A new release after 5 years of no activity
New website design too!
http://hun-digital.hu/merlin/index_en.html

Pulsar 2009-9b (WB)
exe file only; you need Pulsar 2009-9a first & then:
"edit the bad files for 2009-9a to refelct the new engine name"
- fixes a stalemate issue in blitz
- shatranj is now included in its variants
http://www.adam16mr.org/pulsar.html

Cyclone 4.4/xTreme (UCI)
silent update, no version change
http://www.cyclonechess.com/cyclone.htm

Chesley the Chess Engine 278 (WB)
no build for this version yet
- Add merge info.
latest builds: 274(Win32/64), 241(Mac)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/chesley/

Gray Matter 1582 (WB)
source code only update, no new build
Statistics page and TestSuitWAC page updated
- Compiler error fix
- Small change in test suite parsing
- Put time used by gray on test suite positions in a constant
- More long longs
most recent exe files: 1557 (Win64) and 1553 (Win32)
http://code.google.com/p/gray-matter/

Protector 1.2.7 (UCI)
another revision to the source code today (rev. 55)
- rook mobility scoring adjusted again
- rook values adjusted again
no new build yet
http://sourceforge.net/projects/protector/ (project site)
latest builds are here (updated often):
http://protector.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/protector/bin/ (bin files)

Down chess websites
Armageddon site down for 4 days
Averno site down for 42 days
BSC site down today (503 error)
Dann Corbit site down today
Pierre site down for 75 days
Simplex site down for 4 days

Chess News

XBoard/Winboard 4.4.0 !!!
The culmination of a lot of hard work by HG Muller
Major new features:
- that this is now an "official" version endorsed by GNU
- engine-defined options can be set from a GUI dialog (for UCI and WB engines!)
- (optional) engine logos are supported in WinBoard
- it is possible to analyze obeserved ICS games with an engine
- the WinBoard binary is distributed as an installer including all essential support programs (e.g. Polyglot) and many optional extras
http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=50387 (Winboard)

Wiki Changes

FACE Tournament
many pages changed:
- division 1, 2, 6 & 7
- how it works
- index page
http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:tournaments:face

GUI Protocol List
- updated version number and link for Winboard 4.4
http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:gui_protocol_support_list

Macintosh Engine List
- added Gridlock
http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:macintosh_engine_list

Linux Engine List
- added Gridlock
http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:linux_engine_list

Play Chess Online List
- improved comment for Liveschach
http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:play_chess_online_list

Myrddin
- updated Myrddin results at OpenWar 6
http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:engines:myrddin:index

Links
- updated Winboard version number and link
- removed link to Winboard "X"; it no longer seems relevant
http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:links

Private Engine List
- added Jabba
http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:private_engine_list

Bonus Notifications (free stuff)

Pidgin 2.6.2
open source chat program; works with almost all chat networks
http://www.pidgin.im/

WPG System64
a 64-bit Native Portable Build and Development Environment for Windows

News: "GCC has had a nasty bug fixed that caused its own native building as
Win64 Native to be very difficult. Unfortunately, the bug affected some other
builds in rare cases, the only other confirmed case being ffmpeg (even passing
the testsuite), so it is very rare. I will be updating WPG System64, within
the next 24-72 hours. I will be including WxWidgets and Codeblocks in the new
WPG System64 release, and definitely rebuild ffmpeg."

"Apparently there is a following for Mingw-w64 and WPG System64 from Chess
Programmers. Welcome! As above, Codeblocks IDE will be added to next release
of WPG64."

http://www.cadforte.com/system64.html