4 Usage: bsetup [argument]
6 Summary: Bsetup mode is a special form of the "examine" mode that allows you
7 to set up any position you want and then use examine mode to analyze it. The
8 standard alias for "bsetup" is "setup".
13 There are two ways to enter bsetup mode: from scratch and from "examine"
14 mode. The difference in the two procedures concerns the start position of the
15 board in bsetup mode: empty board versus a board position.
17 (a) FROM SCRATCH -- When nothing else is active (that is, you are not
18 playing or examining another game), type either "bsetup" or "examine setup".
19 The board will be totally empty when you enter bsetup mode; you will have to
20 place all of the pieces where you want to have them.
22 (b) FROM WITHIN EXAMINE MODE -- Typing "bsetup" during examine mode (namely
23 while you are examining a game) places you in "examine bsetup" mode. The move
24 list is cleared and a new move list will be established. However, the current
25 board position will be used as the starting board position; you can then
26 modify that position and arrange the pieces to be where you want them to be.
31 There are several commands you can use in order to create a board position
32 and designate which side is going to move next.
34 BSETUP CLEAR -- Typing the command "bsetup clear" will give you a new,
37 BSETUP START -- Typing the command "bsetup start" will give you the regular
38 starting position for a game of chess.
40 BSETUP board_category board -- You can load a non-standard board position if
41 you want. The chess server has several non-standard boards. They can be
42 listed by using the "board" command. For example, "boards openings" will list
43 the various openings you can start a game from and "boards wild" will list
44 "wild" opening positions. Note: you must first be in bsetup mode in order to
45 create a given board position.
46 To create a suicide game, type "bsetup suicide".
48 BESETUP FEN position -- You can also set up complete board positions by
49 supplying a FEN position. For example:
51 bsetup fen rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/3P4/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR
53 You have to indicate the pieces and blank squares on each rank of the chess
54 board, starting with rank 8 (Black's back rank) and going from the a-file to
55 the h-file. The '/' mark divides one rank of pieces from another. Letters in
56 CAPS mean a White piece (such as 'K' for White King); small letters mean a
57 Black piece (such as 'k' for Black King). The numbers (such as 1, 3, 4 and 8)
58 refer to the number of *consecutive* blank squares. For example, the fen
59 position given above is the one that occurs when White opens the game with
60 Pd3. NOTE: You just give the board position, not which side is to move;
61 use "tomove" to modify whose move it is.
63 Placing pieces -- There are two formats for placing pieces: case sensitive
64 and designate color. Either one works. Here is a table of the formats. For
65 the "square" portion, enter a square in algebraic notation, such as e4 or h5.
66 You can use either "@" or "*" as the special symbol.
68 CASE SENSITIVE DESIGNATE COLOR
70 Piece White Black White Black
71 ----- -------- -------- --------- ---------
72 king K@square k@square wk@square bk@square
73 queen Q@square q@square wq@square bq@square
74 rook R@square r@square wr@square br@square
75 bishop B@square b@square wb@square bb@square
76 knight N@square n@square wn@square bn@square
77 pawn P@square p@square wp@square bp@square
79 Clearing a square -- There are two ways you can clear a square and make it
80 empty: either place an 'x' (meaning empty piece) or "clear" the square.
84 bsetup clearsquare square
86 For example, "x@e4", "clrsquare e4" and "bsetup clearsquare e4" would all have
87 the same effect: making e4 an open square. NOTE: you do not have to clear a
88 square before placing a piece. For example, if there is a Black Queen on e5,
89 placing a Black Pawn on e5 will automatically remove the Black Queen.
91 BSETUP TOMOVE white|black -- Typing "bsetup tomove white" will have White be
92 the player to move next. Typing "bsetup tomove black" will have Black be the
93 player to move next. NOTE: You do not need to include the "bsetup" part of
94 the command; the "tomove" command works alone once you are in bsetup mode.
96 BSETUP wcastle <rights>|bcastle <rights> -- You may also set the castling
97 rights for the game. Use "bsetup wcastle <rights>" and "bsetup bcastle
98 <rights>" to set the castling rights for White and Black respectively. The
99 possible 'rights' are:
102 kside (kingside only)
103 qside (queenside only)
106 When you load a board using bsetup the rights are set up automatically. On a
107 cleared board both player's rights are set to 'none'. Therefore if you use a
108 ready made board and move the rooks and kings around, you will need to set the
109 appropriate castling rights. Castling rights are validated when you exit
110 bsetup; if the rights are invalid, you will receive an error message.
112 BSETUP EPPOS <file> -- You can indicate whether an "en passant" capture is
113 possible, as if a pawn had just been advanced two squares. In this case, you
114 need to specify the file of the pawn (a - h). For example, "bsetup eppos c"
115 would mean that a pawn on the c-file has just been moved from c7-c5 or from
116 c2-c4, depending on the "tomove" setting. NOTE: You need to have a pawn on
117 the right square and have the correct player "tomove" in order for the eppos
118 command to work; otherwise, you will get an error message.
120 RULES -- Lastly! You can also change the rules for the chess game. There
121 are different rules for suicide chess, of course ("help suicide_chess"); but
122 there are also different castling rules for Fischer Random chess ("help fr")
123 and for certain kinds of wild chess ("help wild"). In order to use the
124 correct rules, you need to use bsetup to change them.
126 bsetup fischer [for Fischer Random chess]
127 bsetup standard [for normal chess -- this is the default]
128 bsetup suicide [for suicide chess]
129 bsetup wild [for wild chess]
135 BSETUP DONE -- Typing "bsetup done" will exit bsetup mode and start examine
136 mode. However, the position will be validated first. For example, the player
137 who is not about to move cannot be in check, pawns cannot be on the 1st or 8th
138 ranks, each side must have a king, neither side can have more than one king.
140 If the position is valid, you will enter examine mode next. If the position
141 is invalid, a message will be sent to you and you will remain in bsetup mode.
143 UNEXAMINE -- Typing "unexamine" at any point will immediate cancel both
144 bsetup and examine modes.
149 (a) Games in bsetup mode will be listed in the "games" display.
151 (b) Users in bsetup mode will have comments to that effect in their finger
152 displays and will have the symbol "#" next to their handles in "who" displays.
153 "Tells" to users in bsetup mode will give the feedback that the user is in
156 (c) You cannot create a position and then play a match with an opponent.
157 However, you can examine a game with another user, use "mexamine" to allow the
158 other user to move the pieces, and you can alternate moves back and forth as
159 if you were playing a game. You will be in examine mode the whole time, of
160 course, and the game will not appear in "history" displays.
162 (d) At present, you cannot use "jsave" in order to save an examined or bsetup
163 game to your "journal". This capability is being developed.
165 (e) A standard alias for "bsetup" is "setup".
167 (f) You can change the names of the players of the game by using the "wname"
168 and "bname" commands.
170 See also: alias bname board clrsquare examine finger fr games handle
171 history journal jsave mexamine suicide_chess tell unexamine who wild
174 [Last modified -- October 30, 1997 -- Friar]