Fritz 21 Handbook

Engine system

Not every good chess programmer is an expert in developing user interfaces or database applications.

For this reason the program was designed as an engine system. This means that a strict separation of user interface and chess engine has been carried out. Both program parts are independent applications which Windows allocates separate computing time and resources to. Communication between the user interface and the chess engine, e.g. when entering moves on the graphical chessboard, when changing the playing level, etc., takes place via a predefined interface.

Swapping engines

This solution offers numerous advantages:

• An author of the chess engine can concentrate exclusively on developing his program algorithms and does not have to reinvent the wheel (interface, database functions, etc.) over and over again.

• For the user, the solution has the advantage that he can use the new chess engine under a familiar, mature working environment without lengthy familiarisation and can concentrate entirely on chess.