Go Text Protocol (GTP)
SmartGo supports the Go Text Protocol, an emerging standard for connecting to other Go programs. You can now take advantage of SmartGo's user interface to conveniently play against other programs that support GTP. You can resume games, you can check what other program would play in any position, and you can automatically test SmartGo against other programs in a series of games with the Tourney feature.
The following programs have been tested to work as GTP servers with SmartGo:
| Program | Version | Download from | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| GNU Go | 3.4 and later | http://www.gnu.org/software/gnugo/gnugo.html | |
| Aya | 5.29 and later | http://www32.ocn.ne.jp/~yss/index.html | Doesn't work with Tourney yet |
| MoGo | http://www.lri.fr/~gelly/MoGo_Download.htm | mogo --9 --time 5 --dontDisplay 1 |
To add an engine to SmartGo after downloading it, choose Tools > Options > Engine > Go Text Protocol Engines. As parameter, specify 'engine --mode gtp'.
Note that Mogo requires SmartGo 2.7.2 or later, and requires special parameters (see comment above; the board size setting is ignored, MoGo will use the setting from the New Game dialog). In SmartGo 2.8.2 and later, you can pass --totalTime 600 instead of --time 5 to have MoGo use a specific amount of time for the whole game. Note also that MoGo doesn't always handle 'undo' correctly.
Please let us know of additional Go programs that implement GTP.