Francesca - Quick Start

Getting up and going with the Winboard version of Francesca

1. Download the latest version of Tim Mann's Winboard program.

2. Install Winboard to the default location (c:\program files\winboard or similar), chosing all the default options.

3. Run Winboard, to check it is all working ok. Have a look at the Winboard help system, play some games, familiarize yourself.

4. Download the latest version of Francesca.

5. Unzip Francesca to a folder, for instance c:\francesca

6. To configure Winboard so that it offers the option of using the Francesca engine when run, you need to use a text editor (such as notepad) to edit the file winboard.ini file. You can find Winboard.ini in the same directory you installed Winboard. (If you cannot find the file winboard.ini in the winboard directory, you need to run winboard.exe once, then exit for the file to be generated.)

7. Using notepad, scroll to the end of the winboard.ini file

You should see this at the bottom of the file:

You need to change the above to look like:

8. That's it! When you run Winboard, you will be able to select the Francesca engine from the drop-down list on the initial Winboard screen.

Lastly, there's a good guide at computer-chess.org which can provide excellent guidance on setting up chess engines under Winboard.