This is a simple webservice to access a 7 GB Nalimov
endgame tablebase server. The server has all the 3, 4 and 5 man endgames.
The server can be accessed by sending SOAP requests to it. SOAP is a open
standard to access webservices based on open Internet and XML standards.
To simplify development of SOAP clients several free
tools are available. See the links section at the end
of this page.
The service is described by a WDSL schema file, the
schema can be found here: http://www.lokasoft.nl/uk/tbapi.wsdl
In order to make use of this service you need to be able
to make SOAP request and read the responses. To encode and decode the SOAP
request a XML parser is handy. For those on a windows platform the
Microsoft soap toolkit or Pocketsoap can be used. A simple VB test
application is available.
Methods
string ProbePosition ( string fen )
Returns the score of the given position. The input is
the position in FEN notation. A description of FEN is
at the end of this page. The score is given as distance to mat, or 0 when
the position is a draw. An error response is returned when position is invalid or not in database.
e.g. M5 = color to move gives mate in 5 , -M3 = color to move gets
mated in 5 moves.
string GetBestMoves ( string fen )
Given a FEN position as input, the
return is a list of all the valid moves together with their scores. Score
is as defined above. Sample:
fen:
8/8/8/8/6p1/7p/4kB2/6K1 b - -
returns:
Ke1-d1 0
Ke2-d2 0
h3-h2 M17
Ke2-d3 0
Ke2-f3 0
g4-g3 0
string DoMove ( string fen, string move
)
This is a simple helper function, it converts a FEN
position in a new FEN by applying a move to it.
Here you can see the server in
action.
Here you can
download a simple VB test application complete with source code that demonstrates
how to use it. Requires the Microsoft SOAP toolkit.
Sample VB code using the MSSOAP toolkit:
Dim Client As SoapClient
Dim Result As String
Set Client = New SoapClient
Client.mssoapinit "http://www.lokasoft.nl/uk/tbapi.wsdl"
Result = SoapClient.ProbePosition("6k1/6p1/8/8/8/8/4P2P/6K1 w - -")
Links
Simple Object
Access Protocol (SOAP) 1.1
SOAP
- WebServices Resource Center
SOAP Frequently
Asked Questions
http://www.salcentral.com
http://www.pocketsoap.com
Microsoft Soap Toolkit
FEN Notation
Quoted from the PGN
Specification by Steven J. Edwards
"
16.1 FEN
FEN is "Forsyth-Edwards Notation"; it is a standard for
describing chess positions using the ASCII character set.
A single FEN record uses one text line of variable length composed of six
data fields. The first four fields of the FEN specification are the same
as the first four fields of the EPD specification.
A text file composed exclusively of FEN data records should have a file
name with the suffix ".fen".
16.1.1 History
FEN is based on a 19th century standard for position recording designed by
the Scotsman David Forsyth, a newspaper journalist. The original Forsyth
standard has been slightly extended for use with chess software by Steven
Edwards with assistance from commentators on the Internet. This new
standard, FEN, was first implemented in Edwards' SAN Kit.
16.1.2 Uses for a position notation
Having a standard position notation is particularly important for chess
programmers as it allows them to share position databases. For example,
there exist standard position notation databases with many of the
classical benchmark tests for chessplaying programs, and by using a common
position notation format many hours of tedious data entry can be saved.
Additionally, a position notation can be useful for page layout programs
and for confirming position status for e-mail competition.
Many interesting chess problem sets represented using FEN can be found at
the chess.uoknor.edu ftp site in the directory pub/chess/SAN_testsuites.
16.1.3 Data fields
FEN specifies the piece placement, the active color, the castling
availability, the en passant target square, the halfmove clock, and the
fullmove number. These can all fit on a single text line in an easily read
format. The length of a FEN position description varies somewhat according
to the position. In some cases, the description could be eighty or more
characters in length and so may not fit conveniently on some displays.
However, these positions aren't too common.
A FEN description has six fields. Each field is composed only of non-blank
printing ASCII characters. Adjacent fields are separated by a single ASCII
space character.
16.1.4 Piece placement data
The first field represents the placement of the pieces on the board. The
board contents are specified starting with the eighth rank and ending with
the first rank. For each rank, the squares are specified from file a to
file h. White pieces are identified by uppercase SAN piece letters ("PNBRQK")
and black pieces are identified by lowercase SAN piece letters ("pnbrqk").
Empty squares are represented by the digits one through eight; the digit
used represents the count of contiguous empty squares along a rank. A
solidus character "/" is used to separate data of adjacent
ranks.
16.1.5 Active color
The second field represents the active color. A lower case "w"
is used if White is to move; a lower case "b" is used if Black
is the active player.
16.1.6 Castling availability
The third field represents castling availability. This indicates potential
future castling that may of may not be possible at the moment due to
blocking pieces or enemy attacks. If there is no castling availability for
either side, the single character symbol "-" is used. Otherwise,
a combination of from one to four characters are present. If White has
kingside castling availability, the uppercase letter "K"
appears. If White has queenside castling availability, the uppercase
letter "Q" appears. If Black has kingside castling availability,
the lowercase letter "k" appears. If Black has queenside
castling availability, then the lowercase letter "q" appears.
Those letters which appear will be ordered first uppercase before
lowercase and second kingside before queenside. There is no white space
between the letters.
16.1.7 En passant target square
The fourth field is the en passant target square. If there is no en
passant target square then the single character symbol "-"
appears. If there is an en passant target square then is represented by a
lowercase file character immediately followed by a rank digit. Obviously,
the rank digit will be "3" following a white pawn double advance
(Black is the active color) or else be the digit "6" after a
black pawn double advance (White being the active color).
An en passant target square is given if and only if the last move was a
pawn advance of two squares. Therefore, an en passant target square field
may have a square name even if there is no pawn of the opposing side that
may immediately execute the en passant capture.
16.1.8 Halfmove clock
The fifth field is a nonnegative integer representing the halfmove clock.
This number is the count of halfmoves (or ply) since the last pawn advance
or capturing move. This value is used for the fifty move draw rule.
16.1.9 Fullmove number
The sixth and last field is a positive integer that gives the fullmove
number. This will have the value "1" for the first move of a
game for both White and Black. It is incremented by one immediately after
each move by Black.
16.1.10 Examples
Here's the FEN for the starting position:
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
And after the move 1. e4:
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq e3 0 1
And then after 1. ... c5:
rnbqkbnr/pp1ppppp/8/2p5/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq c6 0 2
And then after 2. Nf3:
rnbqkbnr/pp1ppppp/8/2p5/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 2
For two kings on their home squares and a white pawn on e2 (White to
move) with thirty eight full moves played with five halfmoves since the
last pawn move or capture:
4k3/8/8/8/8/8/4P3/4K3 w - - 5 39
"
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