Linux, Stockfish chess engine as remote service

Here is a simple manual how to install and configure Stockfish chess engine as remote service on Linux machine.

Install stockfish chess engine (this command is for Ubuntu machine)

sudo apt install stockfish

You can also simply download newer chess engine, for example from abrok.eu, or even compile your own version, source code you can download from Stockfish GitHub.

Install xinetd service on your Linux machine (this command is for Ubuntu machine)

sudo apt install xinetd

Configure stockfish as remote service

Simply create file /etc/xinetd.d/stockfish, for example use nano editor:

sudo nano /etc/xinetd.d/stockfish

and insert this configuration:

# Stockfish remote engine
service stockfish
{
  disable = no
  server = /home/jerryg/Other/chess/engines/stockfish
  socket_type = stream
  protocol = tcp
  user = jerryg
  wait = no
  port = 3333
# only_from = localhost
}

Change the item "server" to path, where is your stockfish engine, and “user” to your username.

Now insert into file /etc/services this line:

sudo nano /etc/services

stockfish 3333/tcp

Restart xinetd service and check, if stockfish remote service is working

Restart xinetd service:

sudo systemctl restart xinetd

Check status of xinetd service:

sudo systemctl status xinetd

You should see some output text, and there should not be something like "removing stockfish", if you see this message then there is some problem.

Now simple check, if stockfish remote service is working:

telnet localhost 3333