📝Greg Strong wrote on Thu, Mar 30, 2017 03:19 AM UTC:
They are distinct programs. Historically, chess "engines" have almost always been separate programs that run from a command prompt and communicate only by sending text in and out of the terminal. The graphical user interface (GUI) is a separate program that provides a nice front-end to the engines and can control different engines because they communicate with standard protocols.
ChessV is a little different because it has an engine built-in, but starting with version 2.0 it can also control external engines, such as Fairy-Max, if they communicate with the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Note that most engines do not play chess variants, and even those that do will not support all the variants that ChessV does.
They are distinct programs. Historically, chess "engines" have almost always been separate programs that run from a command prompt and communicate only by sending text in and out of the terminal. The graphical user interface (GUI) is a separate program that provides a nice front-end to the engines and can control different engines because they communicate with standard protocols.
ChessV is a little different because it has an engine built-in, but starting with version 2.0 it can also control external engines, such as Fairy-Max, if they communicate with the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Note that most engines do not play chess variants, and even those that do will not support all the variants that ChessV does.