 GNU Chess 5.0.7 on WinBoard 4.2.7 |
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| Developer(s) | Tim Mann |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 4.4.0 / September 5, 2009 |
| Operating system | X11, Windows |
| Type | Computer chess |
| License | GPL |
| Website | XBoard |
XBoard (on Linux) and WinBoard (on Microsoft Windows) are free graphical user interface clients. Originally developed by Tim Mann, these programs are compatible with various chess engines that support the Chess Engine Communication Protocol such as GNU Chess. It also supports Internet Chess Servers, e-mail chess, and the playing of saved games.
Another computer chess protocol is the Universal Chess Interface (UCI).
Timeseal
The Timeseal program was an add-on for XBoard/WinBoard (though it supported other interfaces as well). It was designed to solve the problem of network latency introduced in short (blitz/lightning) games. Timeseal would record the actual amount of time the player spent making the move and send that to the chess server. Without it, network latency time would be added, giving a significant advantage to users on faster connections.
Timeseal introduced a security hole with XBoard/WinBoard. It kept track of how much time the player spent on a move, and it was running on the player's machine. Thus it could send back an incorrect value. Not surprisingly, this was eventually exploited. A variant of Timeseal appeared that applied a 0.5 multiplier to a player's move. So if a player took four seconds to move, Timeseal would report that they only took two seconds.
See also
External links
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