1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename xboard.info
11 INFO-DIR-SECTION Games
13 * xboard: (xboard). An X Window System graphical chessboard.
22 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
23 @include copyright.texi
27 .TH xboard 6 "$Date: " "GNU"
30 xboard @- X graphical user interface for chess
35 .B xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
37 .B xboard -ncp [options]
52 XBoard is a graphical chessboard that can serve as a
53 user interface to chess engines (such as GNU Chess), the
54 Internet Chess Servers,
55 electronic mail correspondence chess, or your own collection of saved games.
57 This manual documents version @value{VERSION} of XBoard.
60 * Major modes:: The main things XBoard can do.
61 * Basic operation:: Mouse and keyboard functions.
62 * Menus:: Menus, buttons, and keys.
63 * Options:: Command options supported by XBoard.
64 * Chess Servers:: Using XBoard with an Internet Chess Server (ICS).
65 * Firewalls:: Connecting to a chess server through a firewall.
66 * Environment:: Environment variables.
67 * Limitations:: Known limitations and/or bugs.
68 * Problems:: How and where to report any problems you run into.
69 * Contributors:: People who have helped developing XBoard.
70 * CMail:: Using XBoard for electronic correspondence chess.
71 * Other programs:: Other programs you can use with XBoard.
73 * Copyright:: Copyright notice for this manual.
75 * Copying:: The GNU General Public License.
77 * Index:: Index of concepts and symbol names.
84 XBoard always runs in one of four major modes. You select the
85 major mode from the command line when you start up XBoard.
88 @item xboard [options]
89 As an interface to GNU Chess or another chess engine running on your
90 machine, XBoard lets you play a game against the machine,
91 set up arbitrary positions, force variations, watch a game between two
92 chess engines, interactively analyze your stored games or set up and
93 analyze arbitrary positions.
94 To run engines that use the UCI standard XBoard will draw upon
95 the Polyglot adapter fully transparently, but you will need to have
96 the polyglot package installed for this to work.
97 @item xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
98 As Internet Chess Server (ICS) interface, XBoard
99 lets you play against other ICS users, observe games
100 they are playing, or review games that have recently finished. Most
101 of the ICS "wild" chess variants are supported, including bughouse.
102 @item xboard -ncp [options]
103 XBoard can also be used simply
104 as an electronic chessboard to play through games. It will read and
105 write game files and allow you to play through variations
106 manually. You can use it to browse games off the net or review games
107 you have saved. These features are also available in the other modes.
109 If you want to pipe games into XBoard, use the supplied shell
110 script @file{pxboard}. For example, from the news reader @file{xrn},
111 find a message with one or more games in it, click the Save button,
112 and type @samp{|pxboard} as the file name.
113 @item cmail [options]
114 As an interface to electronic mail correspondence chess, XBoard
115 works with the cmail program. See @ref{CMail} below for
119 @node Basic operation
120 @chapter Basic operation
121 @cindex Basic operation
123 To move a piece, you can drag it with the left mouse button, or you
124 can click the left mouse button once on the piece, then once more on
125 the destination square. To under-promote a Pawn you can drag it backwards
126 until it morphs into the piece you want to promote to, after which you
127 drag that forward to the promotion square.
128 Or after selecting the pawn with a first click you can then click
129 the promotion square and move the mouse while keeping the button down
130 until the piece that you want appears in the promotion square.
131 To castle you move the King to its destination or, in Chess960,
132 on top of the Rook you want to castle with.
133 In crazyhouse, bughouse or shogi you can
134 drag and drop pieces to the board from the holdings squares
135 displayed next to the board.
137 Old behavior, where right-clicking a square brings up a menu
138 where you can select what piece to drop on it can still be
139 selected through the @samp{Drop Menu} option.
140 Only in Edit Position mode right and middle clicking a square is still used to
141 put a piece on it, and the piece to drop is selected by sweeping
142 the mouse vertically with the button held down.
144 The default function of the right mouse button in other modes is
145 to display the position the chess program thinks it will end up in.
146 While moving the mouse vertically with this button pressed
147 XBoard will step through the principal variation to show how
148 this position will be reached.
149 Lines of play displayed in the engine-output window,
150 or PGN variations in the comment window can similarly
151 be played out on the board, by right-clicking on them.
152 Only in Analysis mode, when you walk along a PV,
153 releasing the mouse button might forward the game upto that point,
154 like you entered all previous PV moves.
155 As the display of the PV in that case starts after the first move
156 a simple right-click will play the move the engine indicates.
158 In Analysis mode you can also make a move by grabbing the piece
159 with a double-click of the left mouse button
160 (or while keeping the @kbd{Ctrl} key pressed).
161 In this case the move you enter will not be played,
162 but will be excluded from the analysis of the current position.
163 (Or included if it was already excluded; it is a toggle.)
164 This only works for engines that support this feature.
166 When connected to an ICS, it is possible to call up a graphical
167 representation of players seeking a game in stead of the chess board,
168 when the latter is not in use
169 (i.e. when you are not playing or observing).
170 Left-clicking the display area will switch between this 'seek graph'
172 Hovering the mouse pointer over a dot will show the details of the
173 seek ad in the message field above the board.
174 Left-clicking the dot will challenge that player.
175 Right-clicking a dot will 'push it to the back',
176 to reveal any dots that were hidden behind it.
177 Right-clicking off dots will refresh the graph.
179 Most other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most
180 frequently used commands also have shortcut keys or on-screen buttons.
181 These shortcut keystrokes are mostly non-printable characters.
182 Typing a letter or digit while the board window has focus
183 will bring up a type-in box with the typed letter already in it.
184 You can use that to type a move in situations where it is your
185 turn to enter a move,
186 type a move number to call up the position after that move
188 or, in Edit Position mode, type a FEN.
189 Some rarely used parameters can only be set through options on the
190 command line used to invoke XBoard.
192 XBoard uses a settings file, in which it can remember any changes to
193 the settings that are made through menus or command-line options,
194 so they will still apply when you restart XBoard for another session.
195 The settings can be saved into this file automatically when XBoard exits,
196 or on explicit request of the user.
197 Note that the board window can be sized by the user, but that this
198 will not affect the size of the clocks above it, and won't be remembered
199 in the settings file.
200 To persistently change the size of the clocks, use the @code{size}
201 command-line option when starting XBoard.
202 The default name for the settings file is /etc/xboard/xboard.conf,
203 but in a standard install this file is only used as a master settings
204 file that determines the system-wide default settings,
205 and defers reading and writing of user settings to a user-specific
206 file like ~/.xboardrc in the user's home directory.
208 When XBoard is iconized, its graphical icon is a white knight if
209 it is White's turn to move, a black knight if it is Black's turn.
212 @chapter Menus, buttons, and keys
216 * File Menu:: Accessing external games and positions.
217 * Edit Menu:: Altering games, positions, PGN tags or comments.
218 * View Menu:: Controlling XBoard's shape and looks.
219 * Mode Menu:: Selecting XBoard's mode.
220 * Action Menu:: Talking to the chess engine or ICS opponents.
221 * Engine Menu:: Controlling settings and actions of the engine(s).
222 * Options Menu:: User preferences.
223 * Help Menu:: Getting help.
224 * Keys:: Other shortcut keys.
233 @cindex New Game, Menu Item
234 Resets XBoard and the chess engine to the beginning of a new chess
235 game. The @kbd{Ctrl-N} key is a keyboard equivalent. In Internet Chess
236 Server mode, clears the current state of XBoard, then
237 resynchronizes with the ICS by sending a refresh command. If you want to
238 stop playing, observing, or examining an ICS game, use an
239 appropriate command from the Action menu, not @samp{New Game}.
241 @item New Shuffle Game
242 @cindex New Shuffle Game, Menu Item
243 Similar to @samp{New Game}, but allows you to specify a particular initial position
244 (according to a standardized numbering system)
245 in chess variants which use randomized opening positions (e.g. Chess960).
246 You can also press the @samp{Pick Fixed} button to let XBoard generate
247 a random number for you.
248 The thus selected opening position will then persistently be chosen on any following
249 New Game command until you use this menu to select another.
250 Selecting position number -1 (or pushing the @samp{Randomize} button)
251 will produce a newly randomized position on any new game.
252 Using this menu item in variants that normally do not shuffle their opening position
253 does cause these variants to become shuffle variants until you use the
254 @samp{New Shuffle Game} menu to explicitly switch the randomization off,
255 or select a new variant.
257 @cindex New variant, Menu Item
258 Allows you to select a new chess variant in non-ICS mode.
259 (In ICS play, the ICS is responsible for deciding which variant will be played,
260 and XBoard adapts automatically.) The shifted @kbd{Alt+V} key is a
261 keyboard equivalent. If you play with an engine, the engine must
262 be able to play the selected variant, or the corresponding choice will be disabled.
263 XBoard supports all major variants, such as xiangqi, shogi, chess, chess960,
264 makruk, Capablanca Chess, shatranj, crazyhouse, bughouse.
266 You can overrule the default board format of the selected variant,
267 (e.g. to play suicide chess on a 6 x 6 board),
268 in this dialog, but normally you would not do that,
269 and leave them at '-1', which means 'default' for the chosen variant.
271 @cindex Load Game, Menu Item
272 Plays a game from a record file. The @kbd{Ctrl-O} key is a keyboard equivalent.
273 A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more
274 than one game, a second pop-up dialog
275 displays a list of games (with information drawn from their PGN tags, if
276 any), and you can select the one you want. Alternatively, you can load the
277 Nth game in the file directly, by typing the number @kbd{N} after the
278 file name, separated by a space.
280 The game-file parser will accept PGN (portable game notation),
281 or in fact almost any file that contains moves in algebraic
283 Notation of the form @samp{P@@f7}
284 is accepted for piece-drops in bughouse games;
285 this is a nonstandard extension to PGN.
286 If the file includes a PGN position (FEN tag), or an old-style
287 XBoard position diagram bracketed by @samp{[--} and @samp{--]}
288 before the first move, the game starts from that position. Text
289 enclosed in parentheses, square brackets, or curly braces is assumed to
290 be commentary and is displayed in a pop-up window. Any other
291 text in the file is ignored. PGN variations (enclosed in
292 parentheses) also are treated as comments;
293 however, if you rights-click them in the comment window,
294 XBoard will shelve the current line, and load the the selected variation,
295 so you can step through it.
296 You can later revert to the previous line with the @samp{Revert} command.
297 This way you can walk quite complex varation trees with XBoard.
298 The nonstandard PGN tag [Variant "varname"] functions similarly to
299 the -variant command-line option (see below), allowing games in certain chess
300 variants to be loaded.
301 Note that it must appear before any FEN tag for XBoard to recognize
302 variant FENs appropriately.
303 There is also a heuristic to
304 recognize chess variants from the Event tag, by looking for the strings
305 that the Internet Chess Servers put there when saving variant ("wild") games.
307 @cindex Load Position, Menu Item
308 Sets up a position from a position file. A pop-up dialog prompts
309 you for the file name. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-O} key is a keyboard
310 equivalent. If the file contains more than one saved
311 position, and you want to load the Nth one, type the number N
312 after the file name, separated by a space. Position files must
313 be in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation), or in the format that the
314 Save Position command writes when oldSaveStyle is turned on.
315 @item Load Next Position
316 @cindex Load Next Position, Menu Item
317 Loads the next position from the last position file you loaded.
318 The shifted @kbd{PgDn} key is a keyboard equivalent.
319 @item Load Previous Position
320 @cindex Load Previous Position, Menu Item
321 Loads the previous position from the last position file you
322 loaded. The shifted @kbd{PgUp} key is a keyboard equivalent.
323 Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
325 @cindex Save Game, Menu Item
326 Appends a record of the current game to a file.
327 The @kbd{Ctrl-S} key is a keyboard equivalent.
329 prompts you for the file name. If the game did not begin with
330 the standard starting position, the game file includes the
331 starting position used. Games are saved in the PGN (portable
332 game notation) format, unless the oldSaveStyle option is true,
333 in which case they are saved in an older format that is specific
334 to XBoard. Both formats are human-readable, and both can be
335 read back by the @samp{Load Game} command.
336 Notation of the form @samp{P@@f7}
337 is accepted for piece-drops in bughouse games;
338 this is a nonstandard extension to PGN.
340 @cindex Save Position, Menu Item
341 Appends a diagram of the current position to a file.
342 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl+S} key is a keyboard equivalent.
343 A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. Positions are saved in
344 FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation) format unless the @code{oldSaveStyle}
345 option is true, in which case they are saved in an older,
346 human-readable format that is specific to XBoard. Both formats
347 can be read back by the @samp{Load Position} command.
348 @item Save Selected Games
349 @cindex Save Selected Games
350 Will cause all games selected for display in the current Game List
351 to be appended to a file of the user's choice.
352 @item Save Games as Book
353 @cindex Save Games as Book, Menu Item
354 Creates an opening book from the currently loaded game file,
355 incorporating only the games currently selected in the Game List.
356 The book will be saved on the file specified in the @samp{Common Engine}
358 The value of @samp{Book Depth} specified in that same dialog will
359 be used to determine how many moves of each game will be added to
360 the internal book buffer.
361 This command can take a long time to process,
362 and the size of the buffer is currently limited.
363 At the end the buffer will be saved as a Polyglot book,
364 but the buffer will not be cleared,
365 so that you can continue adding games from other game files.
367 @itemx Reload CMail Message
368 @cindex Mail Move, Menu Item
369 @cindex Reload CMail Message, Menu Item
372 @cindex Exit, Menu Item
373 Exits from XBoard. The @kbd{Ctrl-Q} key is a keyboard equivalent.
382 @cindex Copy Game, Menu Item
383 Copies a record of the current game to an internal clipboard in PGN
384 format and sets the X selection to the game text. The @kbd{Ctrl-C}
385 key is a keyboard equivalent. The game can be
386 pasted to another application (such as a text editor or another copy
387 of XBoard) using that application's paste command. In many X
388 applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be
389 used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Game command.
391 @cindex Copy Position, Menu Item
392 Copies the current position to an internal clipboard in FEN format and
393 sets the X selection to the position text. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-C} key
394 is a keyboard equivalent. The position can be pasted
395 to another application (such as a text editor or another copy of
396 XBoard) using that application's paste command. In many X
397 applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be
398 used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Position command.
400 @cindex Copy Game List, Menu Item
401 Copies the current game list to the clipboard,
402 and sets the X selection to this text.
403 A format of comma-separated double-quoted strings is used,
405 so it can be easily imported into spread-sheet programs.
407 @cindex Paste Game, Menu Item
408 Interprets the current X selection as a game record and loads it, as
409 with Load Game. The @kbd{Ctrl-V} key is a keyboard equivalent.
411 @cindex Paste Position, Menu Item
412 Interprets the current X selection as a FEN position and loads it, as
413 with Load Position. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-V} key is a keyboard equivalent.
415 @cindex Edit Game, Menu Item
416 Allows you to make moves for both Black and White, and to change
417 moves after backing up with the @samp{Backward} command. The clocks do
418 not run. The @kbd{Ctrl-E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
420 In chess engine mode, the chess engine continues to check moves for legality
421 but does not participate in the game. You can bring the chess engine
422 into the game by selecting @samp{Machine White}, @samp{Machine Black},
423 or @samp{Two Machines}.
425 In ICS mode, the moves are not sent to the ICS: @samp{Edit Game} takes
426 XBoard out of ICS Client mode and lets you edit games locally.
427 If you want to edit games on ICS in a way that other ICS users
428 can see, use the ICS @kbd{examine} command or start an ICS match
431 @cindex Edit Position, Menu Item
432 Lets you set up an arbitrary board position.
433 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
434 Use mouse button 1 to drag pieces to new squares, or to delete a piece
435 by dragging it off the board or dragging an empty square on top of it.
436 When you do this keeping the @kbd{Ctrl} key pressed,
437 or start dragging with a double-click,
438 you will move a copy of the piece, leaving the piece itself where it was.
439 In variants where pieces can promote (such as Shogi),
440 left-clicking an already selected piece promotes or demotes it.
441 To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the
443 This puts a white or black pawn in the square, respectively,
444 but you can change that to any other piece type by dragging the
445 mouse down before you release the button.
446 You will then see the piece on the originally clicked square
447 cycle through the available pieces
448 (including those of opposite color),
449 and can release the button when you see the piece you want.
450 (Note you can swap the function of button 2 and 3 by pressing
451 the shift key, and that there is an option @code{monoMouse}
452 to combine al functions in one button, which then acts as
453 button 3 over an empty square, and as button 1 over a piece.)
454 To alter the side to move, you can click the clock
455 (the words White and Black above the board)
456 of the side you want to give the move to.
457 To clear the board you can click the clock of the side that
458 already has the move (which is highlighted in black).
459 If you repeat this the board will cycle from empty to a
460 @code{pallette board} containing every piece once to the initial
461 position to the one before clearing.
462 The quickest way to set up a position is usually to start
463 with the pallette board, and move the pieces to were you
464 want them, duplicating them where necessary by using the
465 @kbd{Ctrl} key, dragging those you don't want off board,
466 and use static button 2 or 3 clicks to place the Pawns.
467 The old behavior with a piece menu can still be configured
468 with the aid of the @code{pieceMenu} option.
469 Dragging empty squares off board can create boards with
470 holes (inaccessible black squares) in them.
471 Selecting @samp{Edit Position} causes XBoard to discard
472 all remembered moves in the current game.
474 In ICS mode, changes made to the position by @samp{Edit Position} are
475 not sent to the ICS: @samp{Edit Position} takes XBoard out of
476 @samp{ICS Client} mode and lets you edit positions locally. If you want to
477 edit positions on ICS in a way that other ICS users can see, use
478 the ICS @kbd{examine} command, or start an ICS match against yourself.
479 (See also the ICS Client topic above.)
481 @cindex Edit Tags, Menu Item
482 Lets you edit the PGN (portable game notation)
483 tags for the current game. After editing, the tags must still conform to
487 <tag-section> ::= <tag-pair> <tag-section>
489 <tag-pair> ::= [ <tag-name> <tag-value> ]
490 <tag-name> ::= <identifier>
491 <tag-value> ::= <string>
494 See the PGN Standard for full details. Here is an example:
497 [Event "Portoroz Interzonal"]
498 [Site "Portoroz, Yugoslavia"]
501 [White "Robert J. Fischer"]
502 [Black "Bent Larsen"]
506 Any characters that do not match this syntax are silently ignored. Note that
507 the PGN standard requires all games to have at least the seven tags shown
508 above. Any that you omit will be filled in by XBoard
509 with @samp{?} (unknown value), or @samp{-} (inapplicable value).
511 @cindex Edit Comment, Menu Item
512 Adds or modifies a comment on the current position. Comments are
513 saved by @samp{Save Game} and are displayed by @samp{Load Game},
514 PGN variations will also be printed in this window,
515 and can be promoted to main line by right-clicking them.
516 @samp{Forward}, and @samp{Backward}.
518 @cindex Edit Book, Menu Item
519 Pops up a window listing the moves available in the GUI book
520 (specified in the @samp{Common Engine Settings} dialog)
521 from the currently displayed position,
522 together with their weights and (optionally in braces) learn info.
523 You can then edit this list, and the new list will be stored
524 back into the book when you press 'save changes'.
525 When you press the button 'add next move', and play a move
526 on the board, that move will be added to the list with weight 1.
527 Note that the listed percentages are neither used, nor updated when
528 you change the weights; they are just there as an optical aid.
529 When you right-click a move in the list it will be played.
532 @cindex Revert, Menu Item
533 @cindex Annotate, Menu Item
534 If you are examining an ICS game and Pause mode is off,
535 Revert issues the ICS command @samp{revert}.
536 In local mode, when you were editing or analyzing a game,
537 and the @code{-variations} command-line option is switched on,
538 you can start a new variation by holding the Shift key down while
539 entering a move not at the end of the game.
540 Variations can also become the currently displayed line by
541 clicking a PGN variation displayed in the Comment window.
542 This can be applied recursively,
543 so that you can analyze variations on variations;
544 each time you create a new variation by entering an alternative move
545 with Shift pressed, or select a new one from the Comment window,
546 the current variation will be shelved.
547 @samp{Revert} allows you to return to the most recently shelved variation.
548 The difference between @samp{Revert} and @samp{Annotate}
549 is that with the latter,
550 the variation you are now abandoning will be added as a comment
551 (in PGN variation syntax, i.e. between parentheses)
552 to the original move where you deviated, for later recalling.
553 The @kbd{Home} key is a keyboard equivalent to @samp{Revert}.
555 @cindex Truncate Game, Menu Item
556 Discards all remembered moves of the game beyond the current
557 position. Puts XBoard into @samp{Edit Game} mode if it was not there
559 The @kbd{End} key is a keyboard equivalent.
561 @cindex Backward, Menu Item
563 Steps backward through a series of remembered moves.
564 The @samp{[<]} button and the @kbd{Alt+LeftArrow} key are equivalents,
565 as is turning the mouse wheel towards you.
566 In addition, pressing the ??? key steps back one move, and releasing
567 it steps forward again.
569 In most modes, @samp{Backward} only lets you look back at old positions;
570 it does not retract moves. This is the case if you are playing against
571 a chess engine, playing or observing a game on an ICS, or loading a game.
572 If you select @samp{Backward} in any of these situations, you will not
573 be allowed to make a different move. Use @samp{Retract Move} or
574 @samp{Edit Game} if you want to change past moves.
576 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Backward}
577 depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
578 off, @samp{Backward} issues the ICS backward command, which backs up
579 everyone's view of the game and allows you to make a different
580 move. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Backward} only backs up your local
583 @cindex Forward, Menu Item
585 Steps forward through a series of remembered moves (undoing the
586 effect of @samp{Backward}) or forward through a game file. The
587 @samp{[>]} button and the @kbd{Alt+RightArrow} key are equivalents,
588 as is turning the mouse wheel away from you.
590 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of Forward
591 depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
592 off, @samp{Forward} issues the ICS forward command, which moves
593 everyone's view of the game forward along the current line. If
594 Pause mode is on, @samp{Forward} only moves your local view forward,
595 and it will not go past the position that the game was in when
598 @cindex Back to Start, Menu Item
600 Jumps backward to the first remembered position in the game.
601 The @samp{[<<]} button and the @kbd{Alt+Home} key are equivalents.
603 In most modes, Back to Start only lets you look back at old
604 positions; it does not retract moves. This is the case if you
605 are playing against a local chess engine, playing or observing a game on
606 a chess server, or loading a game. If you select @samp{Back to Start} in any
607 of these situations, you will not be allowed to make different
608 moves. Use @samp{Retract Move} or @samp{Edit Game} if you want to change past
609 moves; or use Reset to start a new game.
611 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Back to
612 Start} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode
613 is off, @samp{Back to Start} issues the ICS @samp{backward 999999}
614 command, which backs up everyone's view of the game to the start and
615 allows you to make different moves. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Back
616 to Start} only backs up your local view.
618 @cindex Forward to End, Menu Item
620 Jumps forward to the last remembered position in the game. The
621 @samp{[>>]} button and the @kbd{Alt+End} key are equivalents.
623 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Forward to
624 End} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode
625 is off, @samp{Forward to End} issues the ICS @samp{forward 999999}
626 command, which moves everyone's view of the game forward to the end of
627 the current line. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Forward to End} only moves
628 your local view forward, and it will not go past the position
629 that the game was in when you paused.
638 @cindex Flip View, Menu Item
639 Inverts your view of the chess board for the duration of the
640 current game. Starting a new game returns the board to normal.
641 The @kbd{F2} key is a keyboard equivalent.
642 @item Show Engine Output
643 @cindex Show Engine Output, Menu Item
644 Shows or hides a window in which the thinking output of any loaded engines
645 is displayed. The shifted @kbd{Alt+O} key is a keyboard equivalent.
646 XBoard will display lines of thinking output of the same depth ordered by score,
647 (highest score on top), rather than in the order the engine produced them.
648 Usually this amounts to the same, as a normal engine search will only find new PV
649 (and emit it as thinking output)
650 when it searches a move with a higher score than the previous variation.
651 But when the engine is in multi-variation mode this needs not always be true,
652 and it is more convenient for someone analyzing games to see the moves sorted by score.
653 The order in which the engine found them is only of interest to the engine author,
654 and can still be deduced from the time or node count printed with the line.
655 Right-clicking a line in this window, and then moving the mouse vertically with the
656 right button kept down, will make XBoard play through the PV listed there.
657 The use of the board window as 'variation board' will normally end when
658 you release the right button,
659 or when the opponent plays a move.
660 But beware: in Analysis mode, moves thus played out might be added to the game,
661 depending on the setting of the option 'Play moves of clicked PV',
662 when you initiate the click left of the PV in the score area.
663 The Engine-Output pane for each engine will contain a header displaying the
664 multi-PV status and a list of excluded moves in Analysis mode,
665 which are also responsive to right-clicking:
666 Clicking the words 'fewer' or 'more' will alter the number of variations
667 shown at each depth, through the engine's MultiPV option,
668 while clicking in between those and moving the mouse horizontally adjust
669 the option 'Multi-PV Margin'. (In so far the engines support those.)
670 @item Show Move History
671 @cindex Show Move History, Menu Item
672 Shows or hides a list of moves of the current game.
673 The shifted @kbd{Alt+H} key is a keyboard equivalent.
674 This list allows you to move the display to any earlier position in the game
675 by clicking on the corresponding move.
676 @item Show Evaluation Graph
677 @cindex Show Evaluation Graph, Menu Item
678 Shows or hides a window which displays a graph of how the engine score(s)
679 evolved as a function of the move number.
680 The shifted @kbd{Alt+E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
681 The title bar shows the score (and search depth at which it was obtained)
682 of the currently displayed position numerically.
683 Clicking on the graph will bring
684 the corresponding position in the board display.
685 A button 3 click will toggle the display mode between plain and differential
686 (showing the difference in score between successive half moves).
687 Using the mouse wheel over the window will change the scale of the
688 low-score region (from -1 to +1).
690 @cindex Show Game List, Menu Item
691 Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last @samp{Load Game}
692 command. The shifted @kbd{Alt+G} key is a keyboard equivalent.
693 The line describing each game is built from a selection of the PGN tags.
694 Which tags contribute, and in what order, can be changed by the @samp{Game list tags}
695 menu dialog, which can be popped up through the @samp{Tags} button below the Game List.
696 Display can be restricted to a sub-set of the games meeting certain criteria.
697 A text entry below the game list allows you to type a text that the game lines
698 must contain in order to be displayed.
699 Games can also be selected based on their Elo PGN tag,
700 as set in the @samp{Load Game Options} dialog, which can be popped up through the
701 @samp{Thresholds} button below the Game List.
702 Finally they can be selected based on containing a position similar to the one
703 currently displayed in the main window, by pressing the 'Position' button below
704 the Game List, (which searches the entire list for the position), or the 'Narrow'
705 button (which only searches the already-selected games).
706 What counts as similar enough to be selected can also be set in the
707 @samp{Load Game Options} dialog, and ranges from an exact match to just the
710 @cindex Tags, Menu Item
711 Pops up a window which shows the PGN (portable game notation)
712 tags for the current game.
713 For now this is a duplicate of the @samp{Edit Tags} item in the @samp{Edit} menu.
715 @cindex Comments, Menu Item
716 Pops up a window which shows any comments to or variations on the current move.
717 For now this is a duplicate of the @samp{Edit Comment} item in the @samp{Edit} menu.
719 @cindex ICS Input Box, Menu Item
720 If this option is set in ICS mode,
722 creates an extra window that you can use for typing in ICS commands.
723 The input box is especially useful if you want to type in something long or do
724 some editing on your input, because output from ICS doesn't get mixed
725 in with your typing as it would in the main terminal window.
726 @item ICS Chat/Console
727 @cindex ICS Chat/Console, Menu Item
728 This menu item opens a window in which you can interact with the ICS,
729 and conduct upto 5 chats with other ICS users (or channels),
730 so you don't have to use the messy xterm from which you launched XBoard
732 The window has a text entry at the bottom where you can type your
733 commands and messages unhindered by the stream of ICS output.
734 The latter will be displayed in a large pane above the input field,
736 This pane can be vertically split into two, however, where half of it
737 is then used to display selected ICS output, belonging to a chat with
738 another user, or output from an ICS channel.
739 Such output will then not appear in the Console pane.
741 To use the window, write the name of your chat partner, the channel number,
742 or the words 'shouts', 'whispers', 'cshouts' in the upper field
743 (ending with <Enter>).
744 Everything you type in the lowest field will then automatically be sent to
745 the mentioned party, while everything that party sends to you will
746 appear in the central text pane, rather than appear in the ICS console.
747 The row of buttons allow you to choose between chat;
748 to start a new chat, just select an empty button,
749 and complete the @samp{Chat partner} field.
750 There are several keyboard accelerators to control this window:
751 Ctrl-H will hide the private chat, and dedicates the input field to
753 Ctrl-E will erase the current chat and chat partner.
754 Ctrl-N will open a new chat with a yet unspecified partner.
755 Ctrl-O will open a new chat with the last person from which you received
756 a tell in the ICS console pane.
757 <Esc> will transfer keyboard focus to the board window,
758 allowing you to invoke menu items through accelerator keys;
759 typing a printable character there transfers focus back to the input field
761 <Tab> will switch to another busy chat,
762 giving priority to those with content you have not seen yet.
763 (The buttons for selecting such chats turn orange.)
764 Up and down arrow keys can be used to recall previous input lines.
766 @cindex Board, Menu Item
767 Summons a dialog where you can customize the look of the chess board.
768 Here you can specify the directory from which piece images should be taken,
769 when you don't want to use the built-in piece images
770 (see @code{pieceImageDirectory} option),
771 external images to be used for the board squares
772 (@code{liteBackTextureFile} and @code{darkBackTextureFile} options),
773 and square and piece colors for the default pieces.
774 The current combination of these settings can be assigned a 'theme' name
775 by typing one in the text entry in the lower-left of the dialog,
776 and closing the latter with OK.
777 It will then appear in the themes listbox next time you open the dialog,
778 where you can recall the complete settings combination with a double-click.
780 @cindex Game List Tags, Menu Item
781 a duplicate of the Game List dialog in the Options menu.
790 @cindex Machine White, Menu Item
791 Tells the chess engine to play White.
792 The @kbd{Ctrl-W} key is a keyboard equivalent.
794 @cindex Machine Black, Menu Item
795 Tells the chess engine to play Black.
796 The @kbd{Ctrl-B} key is a keyboard equivalent.
798 @cindex Two Machines, Menu Item
799 Plays a game between two chess engines.
800 The @kbd{Ctrl-T} key is a keyboard equivalent.
802 @cindex Analysis Mode, Menu Item
804 @cindex move exclusion
805 XBoard tells the chess engine to start analyzing the current game/position
806 and shows you the analysis as you move pieces around.
807 The @kbd{Ctrl-A} key is a keyboard equivalent.
808 Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
810 To set up a position to analyze, you do the following:
812 1. Set up the position by any means. (E.g. using @samp{Edit Position}
813 mode, pasing a FEN or loading a game and stepping to the position.)
815 2. Select Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu to start the analysis.
817 You can now play legal moves to create follow-up positions for the
818 engine to analyze, while the moves will be remembered as a stored game,
819 and then step backward through this game to take the moves back.
820 Note that you can also click on the clocks to set the opposite
821 side to move (adding a so-called @samp{null move} to the game).
823 You can also tell the engine to exclude some moves from analysis.
824 (Engines that do not support the exclude-moves feature will
825 ignore this, however.)
826 The general way to do this is to play the move you want to exclude
827 starting with a double click on the piece.
828 When you use drag-drop moving, the piece you grab with a double click
829 will also remain on its square, to show you that you are not really
830 making the move, but just forbid it from the current position.
831 Playing a thus excluded move a second time will include it again.
832 Excluded moves will be listed as text in a header line in the
833 Engine Output window, and you can also re-include them by
834 right-clicking them there.
835 This header line will also contain the words 'best' and 'tail';
836 right-clicking those will exclude the currently best move,
837 or all moves not explicitly listed in the header line.
838 Once you leave the current position all memory of excluded
839 moves will be lost when you return there.
842 Selecting this menu item while already in @samp{Analysis Mode} will
843 toggle the participation of the second engine in the analysis.
844 The output of this engine will then be shown in the lower pane
845 of the Engine Output window.
846 The analysis function can also be used when observing games on an ICS
847 with an engine loaded (zippy mode); the engine then will analyze
848 the positions as they occur in the observed game.
851 @cindex Analyze Game, Menu Item
852 This option subjects the currently loaded game to automatic
853 analysis by the loaded engine.
854 The @kbd{Ctrl-G} key is a keyboard equivalent.
855 XBoard will start auto-playing the game from the currently displayed position,
856 while the engine is analyzing the current position.
857 The game will be annotated with the results of these analyses.
858 In particlar, the score and depth will be added as a comment,
859 and the PV will be added as a variation.
861 Normally the analysis would stop after reaching the end of the game.
862 But when a game is loaded from a multi-game file
863 while @samp{Analyze Game} was already switched on,
864 the analysis will continue with the next game in the file
865 until the end of the file is reached (or you switch to another mode).
867 The time the engine spends on analyzing each move can be controlled
868 through the command-line option @samp{-timeDelay},
869 which can also be set from the @samp{Load Game Options} menu dialog.
870 Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
872 Duplicate of the item in the Edit menu.
873 Note that @samp{Edit Game} is the idle mode of XBoard, and can be used
874 to get you out of other modes. E.g. to stop analyzing, stop a game
875 between two engines or stop editing a position.
877 Duplicate of the item in the Edit menu.
879 @cindex Training, Menu Item
880 Training mode lets you interactively guess the moves of a game for one
881 of the players. You guess the next move of the game by playing the
882 move on the board. If the move played matches the next move of the
883 game, the move is accepted and the opponent's response is auto-played.
884 If the move played is incorrect, an error message is displayed. You
885 can select this mode only while loading a game (that is, after
886 selecting @samp{Load Game} from the File menu). While XBoard is in
887 @samp{Training} mode, the navigation buttons are disabled.
889 @cindex ICS Client, Menu Item
890 This is the normal mode when XBoard
891 is connected to a chess server. If you have moved into
892 Edit Game or Edit Position mode, you can select this option to get out.
894 To use xboard in ICS mode, run it in the foreground with the -ics
895 option, and use the terminal you started it from to type commands and
896 receive text responses from the chess server. See
897 @ref{Chess Servers} below for more information.
899 XBoard activates some special position/game editing features when you
900 use the @kbd{examine} or @kbd{bsetup} commands on ICS and you have
901 @samp{ICS Client} selected on the Mode menu. First, you can issue the
902 ICS position-editing commands with the mouse. Move pieces by dragging
903 with mouse button 1. To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse
904 button 2 or 3 over the square. This brings up a menu of white pieces
905 (button 2) or black pieces (button 3). Additional menu choices let
906 you empty the square or clear the board. Click on the White or Black
907 clock to set the side to play. You cannot set the side to play or
908 drag pieces to arbitrary squares while examining on ICC, but you can
909 do so in @kbd{bsetup} mode on FICS. In addition, the menu commands
910 @samp{Forward}, @samp{Backward}, @samp{Pause}, and @samp{Stop Examining}
911 have special functions in this mode; see below.
913 @cindex Machine match, Menu Item
914 Starts a match between two chess programs,
915 with a number of games and other parameters set through
916 the @samp{Tournament Options} menu dialog.
917 When a match is already running, selecting this item will make
918 XBoard drop out of match mode after the current game finishes.
920 @cindex Pause, Menu Item
921 Pauses updates to the board, and if you are playing against a chess engine,
922 also pauses your clock. To continue, select @samp{Pause} again, and the
923 display will automatically update to the latest position.
924 The @samp{P} button and keyboard @kbd{Pause} key are equivalents.
926 If you select Pause when you are playing against a chess engine and
927 it is not your move, the chess engine's clock
928 will continue to run and it will eventually make a move, at which point
929 both clocks will stop. Since board updates are paused, however,
930 you will not see the move until you exit from Pause mode (or select Forward).
931 This behavior is meant to simulate adjournment with a sealed move.
933 If you select Pause while you are observing or examining a game on a
934 chess server, you can step backward and forward in the current history
935 of the examined game without affecting the other observers and
936 examiners, and without having your display jump forward to the latest
937 position each time a move is made. Select Pause again to reconnect
938 yourself to the current state of the game on ICS.
940 If you select @samp{Pause} while you are loading a game, the game stops
941 loading. You can load more moves manually by selecting @samp{Forward}, or
942 resume automatic loading by selecting @samp{Pause} again.
951 @cindex Accept, Menu Item
952 Accepts a pending match offer.
953 The @kbd{F3} key is a keyboard equivalent.
954 If there is more than one offer
955 pending, you will have to type in a more specific command
956 instead of using this menu choice.
958 @cindex Decline, Menu Item
959 Declines a pending offer (match, draw, adjourn, etc.).
960 The @kbd{F4} key is a keyboard equivalent. If there
961 is more than one offer pending, you will have to type in a more
962 specific command instead of using this menu choice.
964 @cindex Call Flag, Menu Item
965 Calls your opponent's flag, claiming a win on time, or claiming
966 a draw if you are both out of time.
967 The @kbd{F5} key is a keyboard equivalent.
968 You can also call your
969 opponent's flag by clicking on his clock.
971 @cindex Draw, Menu Item
972 Offers a draw to your opponent, accepts a pending draw offer
973 from your opponent, or claims a draw by repetition or the 50-move
974 rule, as appropriate. The @kbd{F6} key is a keyboard equivalent.
976 @cindex Adjourn, Menu Item
977 Asks your opponent to agree to adjourning the current game, or
978 agrees to a pending adjournment offer from your opponent.
979 The @kbd{F7} key is a keyboard equivalent.
981 @cindex Abort, Menu Item
982 Asks your opponent to agree to aborting the current game, or
983 agrees to a pending abort offer from your opponent.
984 The @kbd{F8} key is a keyboard equivalent. An aborted
985 game ends immediately without affecting either player's rating.
987 @cindex Resign, Menu Item
988 Resigns the game to your opponent. The @kbd{F9} key is a
991 @cindex Stop Observing, Menu Item
992 Ends your participation in observing a game, by issuing the ICS
993 observe command with no arguments. ICS mode only.
994 The @kbd{F10} key is a keyboard equivalent.
996 @cindex Stop Examining, Menu Item
997 Ends your participation in examining a game, by issuing the ICS
998 unexamine command. ICS mode only.
999 The @kbd{F11} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1000 @item Upload to Examine
1001 @cindex Upload to Examine, Menu Item
1002 Create an examined game of the proper variant on the ICS,
1003 and send the game there that is currenty loaded in XBoard
1004 (e.g. through pasting or loading from file).
1005 You must be connected to an ICS for this to work.
1006 @item Adjudicate to White
1007 @itemx Adjudicate to Black
1008 @itemx Adjudicate Draw
1009 @cindex Adjudicate to White, Menu Item
1010 @cindex Adjudicate to Black, Menu Item
1011 @cindex Adjudicate Draw, Menu Item
1012 Terminate an ongoing game in Two-Machines mode (including match mode),
1013 with as result a win for white, for black, or a draw, respectively.
1014 The PGN file of the game will accompany the result string
1015 by the comment "user adjudication".
1019 @section Engine Menu
1021 @cindex Menu, Engine
1023 @item Edit Engine List
1024 @cindex Edit Engine List, Menu Item
1025 Opens a window that shows the list of engines registered for use
1026 by XBoard, together with the options that would be used with them
1027 when you would select them from the @samp{Load Engine} dialogs.
1028 You can then edit this list, e.g. for re-ordering the engines,
1029 or adding uncommon options needed by this engine
1030 (e.g. to cure non-compliant behavior).
1032 By editing you can also organize the engines into collapsible groups.
1033 By sandwiching a number of engine lines between lines "# NAME" and "# end",
1034 the thus enclosed engines will not initially appear in engine listboxes
1035 of other dialogs, but only the single line "# NAME"
1036 (where NAME can be an arbitrary text) will appear in their place.
1037 Selecting that line will then show the enclosed engines in the listbox,
1038 which recursively can contain other groups.
1039 The line with the group name will still present as a header,
1040 and selecting that line will collapse the group again,
1041 and makes the listbox go back to displaying the surrounding group.
1042 @item Load New 1st Engine
1043 @itemx Load New 2nd Engine
1044 @cindex Load Engine, Menu Item
1045 Pops up a dialog where you can select or specify an engine to be loaded.
1046 You can even replace engines during a game, without disturbing that game.
1047 (Beware that after loading an engine, XBoard will always be in Edit Game mode,
1048 so you will have to tell the new engine what to do before it does anything!)
1049 When you select an already installed engine from the ‘Select Engine from List’
1051 all other fields of the dialog will be ignored.
1052 In other cases, you have to specify the engine executable,
1053 possible arguments on the engine command line
1054 (if the engine docs say the engine needs any),
1055 and the directory where the engine should look for its files
1056 (if this cannot be deduced automatically from the specification of the engine executable).
1057 You will also have to specify (with the aid of checkboxes) if the engine is UCI.
1058 If ‘Add this engine to the list’ is ticked (which it is by default),
1059 the engine will be added to the list of installed engines in your settings file,
1060 (provided you save the settings!),
1061 so that next time you can select it from the listbox.
1062 You can also specify a ‘nickname’,
1063 under which the engine will then appear in that drop-down list,
1064 and even choose to use that nickname for it in PGN files for engine-engine games.
1065 The info you supply with the checkboxes whether the engine should use GUI book,
1066 or (for variant engines) automatically switch to the current variant when loaded,
1067 will also be included in the list.
1068 For obsolete XBoard engines, which would normally take a long delay to load
1069 because XBoard is waiting for a response they will not give,
1070 you can tick ‘WB protocol v1’ to speed up the loading process.
1072 New engines are always added at the end of the existing list,
1073 but can be re-ordered with the aid of the @samp{Edit Engine List} menu item.
1074 They can even be organized in groups that can be opened or collapsed at will,
1075 which can be very useful if the list is very long.
1077 @item Engine #N Settings
1078 @cindex Engine #N Settings, Menu Item
1079 Pop up a menu dialog to alter the settings specific to the applicable engine.
1080 For each parameter the engine allows to be set,
1081 a control element will appear in this dialog that can be used to alter the value.
1082 Depending on the type of parameter (text string, number, multiple choice,
1083 on/off switch, instantaneous signal) the appropriate control will appear,
1084 with a description next to it.
1085 XBoard has no idea what these values mean; it just passes them on to the engine.
1086 How this dialog looks is completely determined by the engine,
1087 and XBoard just passes it on to the user.
1088 Many engines do not have any parameters that can be set by the user,
1089 and in that case the dialog will be empty (except for the OK and cancel buttons).
1090 UCI engines usually have many parameters. (But these are only visible with
1091 a sufficiently modern version of the Polyglot adapter needed to run UCI engines,
1092 e.g. Polyglot 2.0.1.) For native XBoard engines this is less common.
1094 @item Common Settings
1095 @cindex Common Settings, Menu Item
1096 Pops up a menu dialog where you can set some engine parameters common to most engines,
1097 such as hash-table size, tablebase cache size, maximum number of processors
1098 that SMP engines can use.
1099 The shifted @kbd{Alt+U} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1100 Older XBoard/WinBoard engines might not respond to these settings,
1101 but UCI engines always should.
1103 It is also possible to specify a GUI opening book here, i.e. an opening
1104 book that XBoard consults for any position a playing engine gets in.
1105 It then forces the engine to play the book move, rather than to think up its own,
1106 if that position is found in the book.
1107 The book can switched on and off independently for either engine.
1108 The way book moves are chosen can be influenced through the settings of
1109 book depth and variety.
1110 After both sides have played more moves than the specified depth,
1111 the book will no longer be consulted.
1112 When the variety is set to 50, moves will be played with the probability
1113 specified in the book.
1114 When set to 0, only the move(s) with the highest probability will be played.
1115 When set to 100, all listed moves will be played with equal pobability.
1116 Other settings interpolate between that.
1119 @cindex Hint, Menu Item
1120 Displays a move hint from the chess engine.
1122 @cindex Book, Menu Item
1123 Displays a list of possible moves from the chess engine's opening
1124 book. The exact format depends on what chess engine you are using.
1125 With GNU Chess 4, the first column gives moves, the second column
1126 gives one possible response for each move, and the third column shows
1127 the number of lines in the book that include the move from the first
1128 column. If you select this option and nothing happens, the chess
1129 engine is out of its book or does not support this feature.
1131 @cindex Move Now, Menu Item
1132 Forces the chess engine to move immediately. Chess engine mode only.
1133 The @kbd{Ctrl-M} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1134 Many engines won't respond to this.
1136 @cindex Retract Move, Menu Item
1137 Retracts your last move. In chess engine mode, you can do this only
1138 after the chess engine has replied to your move; if the chess engine is still
1139 thinking, use @samp{Move Now} first. In ICS mode, @samp{Retract Move}
1140 issues the command @samp{takeback 1} or @samp{takeback 2}
1141 depending on whether it is your opponent's move or yours.
1142 The @kbd{Ctrl-X} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1143 @item Recently Used Engines
1144 @cindex Recently Used Engines, In Menu
1145 At the bottom of the engine menu there can be a list of names
1146 of engines that you recently loaded through the Load Engine menu dialog
1147 in previous sessions.
1148 Clicking on such a name will load that engine as first engine,
1149 so you won't have to search for it in your list of installed engines,
1150 if that is very long.
1151 The maximum number of displayed engine names is set by the
1152 @code{recentEngines} command-line option.
1156 @section Options Menu
1157 @cindex Menu, Options
1158 @cindex Options Menu
1159 @subsection General Options
1160 @cindex General Options, Menu Item
1161 The following items to set option values appear in the dialog
1162 summoned by the general Options menu item.
1164 @item Absolute Analysis Scores
1165 @cindex Absolute Analysis Scores, Menu Item
1166 Controls if scores on the Engine Output window during analysis
1167 will be printed from the white or the side-to-move point-of-view.
1168 @item Almost Always Queen
1169 @cindex Almost Always Queen, Menu Item
1170 If this option is on, 7th-rank pawns automatically change into
1171 Queens when you pick them up,
1172 and when you drag them to the promotion square and release them there,
1173 they will promote to that.
1174 But when you drag such a pawn backwards first,
1175 its identity will start to cycle through the other available pieces.
1176 This will continue until you start to move it forward;
1177 at which point the identity of the piece will be fixed,
1178 so that you can safely put it down on the promotion square.
1179 If this option is off, what happens depends on the
1180 option @code{alwaysPromoteToQueen},
1181 which would force promotion to Queen when true.
1182 Otherwise XBoard would bring up a dialog
1183 box whenever you move a pawn to the last rank, asking what piece
1184 you want to promote to.
1185 @item Animate Dragging
1186 @cindex Animate Dragging, Menu Item
1187 If Animate Dragging is on, while you are dragging a piece with the
1188 mouse, an image of the piece follows the mouse cursor.
1189 If Animate Dragging is off, there is no visual feedback while you are
1190 dragging a piece, but if Animate Moving is on, the move will be
1191 animated when it is complete.
1192 @item Animate Moving
1193 @cindex Animate Moving, Menu Item
1194 If Animate Moving is on, all piece moves are animated. An image of the
1195 piece is shown moving from the old square to the new square when the
1196 move is completed (unless the move was already animated by Animate Dragging).
1197 If Animate Moving is off, a moved piece instantly disappears from its
1198 old square and reappears on its new square when the move is complete.
1199 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-A} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1201 @cindex Auto Flag, Menu Item
1202 If this option is on and one player runs out of time
1205 will automatically call his flag, claiming a win on time.
1206 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-F} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1207 In ICS mode, Auto Flag will only call your opponent's flag, not yours,
1208 and the ICS may award you a draw instead of a win if you have
1209 insufficient mating material. In local chess engine mode,
1211 may call either player's flag.
1212 @item Auto Flip View
1213 @cindex Auto Flip View, Menu Item
1214 If the Auto Flip View option is on when you start a game, the board
1215 will be automatically oriented so that your pawns move from the bottom
1216 of the window towards the top.
1218 If you are playing a game on an ICS, the board is always
1219 oriented at the start of the game so that your pawns move from
1220 the bottom of the window towards the top. Otherwise, the starting
1221 orientation is determined by the @code{flipView} command line option;
1222 if it is false (the default), White's pawns move from bottom to top
1223 at the start of each game; if it is true, Black's pawns move from
1224 bottom to top. @xref{User interface options}.
1226 @cindex Blindfold, Menu Item
1227 If this option is on, XBoard displays the board as usual but does
1228 not display pieces or move highlights. You can still move in the
1229 usual way (with the mouse or by typing moves in ICS mode), even though
1230 the pieces are invisible.
1232 @cindex Drop Menu, Menu Item
1233 Controls if right-clicking the board in crazyhouse / bughouse
1234 will pop up a menu to drop a piece on the clicked square
1235 (old, deprecated behavior)
1236 or allow you to step through an engine PV
1237 (new, recommended behavior).
1238 @item Enable Variation Trees
1239 @cindex Enable Variation Trees, Menu Item
1240 If this option is on, playing a move in Edit Game or Analyze mode
1241 while keeping the Shift key pressed will start a new variation.
1242 You can then recall the previous line through the @samp{Revert} menu item.
1243 When off, playing a move will truncate the game and append the move
1245 @item Headers in Engine Output Window
1246 @cindex Headers in Engine Output Window, Menu Item
1247 Controls the presence of column headers above the variations and
1248 associated information printed by the engine, on which you can issue
1249 button 3 clicks to open or close the columns.
1250 Available columns are search depth, score, node count, time used,
1251 tablebase hits, search speed and selective search depth.
1253 @cindex Hide Thinking, Menu Item
1254 If this option is off, the chess engine's notion of the score and best
1255 line of play from the current position is displayed as it is
1256 thinking. The score indicates how many pawns ahead (or if negative,
1257 behind) the chess engine thinks it is. In matches between two
1258 machines, the score is prefixed by @samp{W} or @samp{B} to indicate
1259 whether it is showing White's thinking or Black's, and only the thinking
1260 of the engine that is on move is shown.
1261 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-H} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1262 @item Highlight Last Move
1263 @cindex Highlight Last Move, Menu Item
1264 If Highlight Last Move is on, after a move is made, the starting and
1265 ending squares remain highlighted. In addition, after you use Backward
1266 or Back to Start, the starting and ending squares of the last move to
1267 be unmade are highlighted.
1268 @item Highlight with Arrow
1269 @cindex Highlight with Arrow, Menu Item
1270 Causes the highlighting described in Highlight Last Move to be done
1271 by drawing an arrow between the highlighted squares,
1272 so that it is visible even when the width of the grid lines is set to zero.
1273 @item One-Click Moving
1274 @cindex One-Click Moving, Menu Item
1275 If this option is on, XBoard does not wait for you to click both the
1276 from- and the to-square, or drag the piece, but performs a move as soon
1277 as it is uniqely specified.
1278 This applies to clicking an own piece that only has a single legal move,
1279 clicking an empty square or opponent piece where only one of your pieces
1280 can move (or capture) to.
1281 Furthermore, a double-click on a piece that can only make a single capture
1282 will cause that capture to be made.
1283 Promoting a Pawn by clicking its to-square will suppress the promotion
1284 popup or other methods for selecting an under-promotion,
1285 and make it promote to Queen.
1286 @item Periodic Updates
1287 @cindex Periodic Updates, Menu Item
1288 If this option is off (or if
1289 you are using a chess engine that does not support periodic updates),
1291 will only be updated when the analysis changes. If this option is
1292 on, the Analysis Window will be updated every two seconds.
1293 @item Play Move(s) of Clicked PV
1294 @cindex Play Move(s) of Clicked PV, Menu Item
1295 If this option is on, right-clicking on the first move of a PV
1296 or on the data fields left of it in the Engine Output window
1297 during Analyze mode will cause the first move of that PV to be played.
1298 You could also play more than one (or no) PV move by moving the mouse
1299 to engage in the PV walk such a right-click will start,
1300 to seek out another position along the PV where you want to continue
1301 the analysis, before releasing the mouse button.
1302 Clicking on later moves of the PV only temporarily show the moves
1303 for as long you keep the mouse button down,
1304 without adding them to the game.
1305 @item Ponder Next Move
1306 @cindex Ponder Next Move, Menu Item
1307 If this option is off, the chess engine will think only when it is on
1308 move. If the option is on, the engine will also think while waiting
1309 for you to make your move.
1310 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-P} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1311 @item Popup Exit Message
1312 @cindex Popup Exit Message, Menu Item
1313 If this option is on, when XBoard wants to display a message just
1314 before exiting, it brings up a modal dialog box and waits for you to
1315 click OK before exiting. If the option is off, XBoard prints the
1316 message to standard error (the terminal) and exits immediately.
1317 @item Popup Move Errors
1318 @cindex Popup Move Errors, Menu Item
1319 If this option is off, when you make an error in moving (such as
1320 attempting an illegal move or moving the wrong color piece), the
1321 error message is displayed in the message area. If the option is
1322 on, move errors are displayed in small pop-up windows like other errors.
1323 You can dismiss an error pop-up either by clicking its OK button or by
1324 clicking anywhere on the board, including down-clicking to start a move.
1325 @item Scores in Move List
1326 @cindex Scores in Move List, Menu Item
1327 If this option is on, XBoard will display the depth and score
1328 of engine moves in the Move List, in the format of a PGN comment.
1330 @cindex Show Coords, Menu Item
1331 If this option is on, XBoard displays algebraic coordinates
1332 along the board's left and bottom edges.
1333 @item Show Target Squares
1334 @cindex Show Target Squares, Menu Item
1335 If this option is on, all squares a piece that is 'picked up' with the mouse
1336 can legally move to are highighted with a fat colored dot in
1337 yellow (non-captures) or red (captures).
1338 Special moves might have other colors
1339 (e.g. magenta for promotion, cyan for a partial move).
1340 Legality testing must be on for XBoard to know how the piece moves,
1341 but with legality testing off some engines would offer this information.
1342 @item Sticky Windows
1343 @cindex Sticky Windows, Menu Item
1344 Controls whether the auxiliary windows such as Engine Output, Move History
1345 and Evaluation Graph should keep touching XBoard's main window when
1346 you move the latter.
1348 @cindex Test Legality, Menu Item
1349 If this option is on, XBoard tests whether the moves you try to make
1350 with the mouse are legal and refuses to let you make an illegal move.
1351 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-L} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1352 Moves loaded from a file with @samp{Load Game} are also checked. If
1353 the option is off, all moves are accepted, but if a local chess engine
1354 or the ICS is active, they will still reject illegal moves. Turning
1355 off this option is useful if you are playing a chess variant with
1356 rules that XBoard does not understand. (Bughouse, suicide, and wild
1357 variants where the king may castle after starting on the d file are
1358 generally supported with Test Legality on.)
1359 @item Top-Level Dialogs
1360 @cindex Top-Level Dialogs, Menu Item
1361 Controls whether the auxiliary windows will appear as icons in the
1362 task bar and independently controllable, or whether they open and
1363 minimize all together with the main window.
1366 @cindex Flash Moves, Menu Item
1367 @cindex Flash Rate, Menu Item
1368 If this option is non-zero, whenever a move is completed,
1369 the moved piece flashes the specified number of times.
1370 The flash-rate setting determines how rapidly this flashing occurs.
1371 @item Animation Speed
1372 @cindex Animation Speed, Menu Item
1373 Determines the duration (in msec) of an animation step,
1374 when @samp{Animate Moving} is swiched on.
1375 @item Zoom factor in Evaluation Graph
1376 @cindex Zoom factor in Evaluation Graph, Menu Item
1377 Sets the value of the @code{evalZoom} option,
1378 indicating the factor by which the score interval (-1,1) should be
1379 blown up on the vertical axis of the Evaluation Graph.
1381 @subsection Time Control
1382 @cindex Time Control, Menu Item
1383 Pops up a sub-menu where you can set the time-control parameters interactively.
1384 The shifted @kbd{Alt+T} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1385 Allows you to select classical or incremental time controls,
1386 set the moves per session, session duration, and time increment.
1387 Also allows specification of time-odds factors for one or both engines.
1388 If an engine is given a time-odds factor N, all time quota it gets,
1389 be it at the beginning of a session or through the time increment or
1390 fixed time per move, will be divided by N.
1392 @subsection Adjudications
1393 @cindex Adjudications, Menu Item
1394 Pops up a sub-menu where you can enable or disable various adjudications
1395 that XBoard can perform in engine-engine games.
1396 The shifted @kbd{Alt+J} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1397 You can instruct XBoard to detect and terminate the game on checkmate
1398 or stalemate, even if the engines would not do so, to verify engine
1399 result claims (forfeiting engines that make false claims), rather than
1400 naively following the engine, to declare draw on positions
1401 which can never be won for lack of mating material, (e.g. KBK),
1402 or which are impossible to win unless the opponent seeks its own demise
1404 For these adjudications to work, @samp{Test Legality} should be switched on.
1405 It is also possible to instruct XBoard to enforce a 50-move or 3-fold-repeat
1406 rule and automatically declare draw (after a user-adjustable number of moves
1407 or repeats) even if the engines are prepared to go on.
1408 It is also possible to have XBoard declare draw on games that seem to drag on
1409 forever, or adjudicate a loss if both engines agree (for 3 consecutive moves) that one
1410 of them is behind more than a user-adjustable score threshold.
1411 For the latter adjudication to work, XBoard should be able to properly understand
1412 the engine's scores. To facilitate the latter, you can inform xboard here if
1413 the engines report scores from the viewpoint of white, or from that of their own color.
1415 @subsection ICS Options
1416 @cindex ICS Options, Menu Item
1417 The following options occur in a dialog summoned by the
1418 ICS Options menu item.
1421 @cindex Auto Kibitz, Menu Item
1422 Setting this option when playing with or aginst a chess program on an ICS
1423 will cause the last line of thinking output of the engine before its move
1424 to be sent to the ICS in a kibitz command.
1425 In addition, any kibitz message received through the ICS from
1426 an opponent chess program will be diverted to the engine-output window,
1427 (and suppressed in the console),
1428 where you can play through its PV by right-clicking it.
1430 @cindex Auto Comment, Menu Item
1431 If this option is on, any remarks made on ICS while you are observing or
1432 playing a game are recorded as a comment on the current move. This includes
1433 remarks made with the ICS commands @kbd{say}, @kbd{tell}, @kbd{whisper},
1435 Limitation: remarks that you type yourself are not recognized;
1436 XBoard scans only the output from ICS, not the input you type to it.
1438 @cindex Auto Observe, Menu Item
1439 If this option is on and you add a player to your @code{gnotify}
1440 list on ICS, XBoard will automatically observe all of that
1441 player's games, unless you are doing something else (such as
1442 observing or playing a game of your own) when one starts.
1443 The games are displayed
1444 from the point of view of the player on your gnotify list; that is, his
1445 pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the top.
1446 Exceptions: If both players in a game are on your gnotify list, if
1449 variable is set to 0, or if the ICS you are using does not
1450 properly support observing from Black's point of view,
1451 you will see the game from White's point of view.
1452 @item Auto Raise Board
1453 @cindex Auto Raise Board, Menu Item
1454 If this option is on, whenever a new game begins, the chessboard window
1455 is deiconized (if necessary) and raised to the top of the stack of windows.
1457 @cindex Auto Save, Menu Item
1458 If this option is true, at the end of every game XBoard prompts
1459 you for a file name and appends a record of the game to the file
1461 Disabled if the @code{saveGameFile} command-line
1462 option is set, as in that case all games are saved to the specified file.
1463 @xref{Load and Save options}.
1464 @item Background Observe
1465 @cindex Background Observe, Menu Item
1466 Setting this option will make XBoard suppress display of any boards
1467 from observed games while you are playing.
1468 Instead the last such board will be remembered,
1469 and shown to you when you right-click the board.
1470 This allows you to peek at your bughouse partner's game when you want,
1471 without disturbing your own game too much.
1473 @cindex Dual Board, Menu Item
1474 Setting this option in combination with @samp{Background Observe}
1475 will display boards of observed games while you are playing
1476 on a second board next to that of your own game.
1478 @cindex Get Move List, Menu Item
1479 If this option is on, whenever XBoard
1480 receives the first board of a new ICS game (or a different game from
1481 the one it is currently displaying), it
1482 retrieves the list of past moves from the ICS.
1483 You can then review the moves with the @samp{Forward} and @samp{Backward}
1485 or save them with @samp{Save Game}. You might want to
1486 turn off this option if you are observing several blitz games at once,
1487 to keep from wasting time and network bandwidth fetching the move lists over
1489 When you turn this option on from the menu, XBoard
1490 immediately fetches the move list of the current game (if any).
1492 @cindex Quiet Play, Menu Item
1493 If this option is on, XBoard will automatically issue an ICS
1495 command whenever you start a game and a
1497 command whenever you finish one. Thus, you will not be distracted
1498 by shouts from other ICS users while playing.
1500 @cindex Seek Graph, Menu Item
1501 Setting this option will cause XBoard to display an graph of
1502 currently active seek ads when you left-click the board
1503 while idle and logged on to an ICS.
1504 @item Auto-Refresh Seek Graph
1505 @cindex Auto-Refresh Seek Graph, Menu Item
1506 In combination with the @samp{Seek Graph} option this
1507 will cause automatic update of the seek graph while it is up.
1508 This only works on FICS and ICC,
1509 and requires a lot of bandwidth on a busy server.
1510 @item Auto-InputBox PopUp
1511 @cindex Auto-InputBox PopUp, Menu Item
1512 Controls whether the ICS Input Box will pop up automatically when
1513 you type a printable character to the board window in ICS mode.
1514 @item Quit After Game
1515 @cindex Quit After Game, Menu Item
1516 Controls whether XBoard will automatically disconnect from the ICS
1517 and close when the game currently in progress finishes.
1519 @itemx Premove White
1520 @itemx Premove Black
1521 @itemx First White Move
1522 @itemx First Black Move
1523 @cindex Premove, Menu Item
1524 @cindex Premove White, Menu Item
1525 @cindex Premove Black, Menu Item
1526 @cindex First White Move, Menu Item
1527 @cindex First Black Move, Menu Item
1528 If this option is on while playing a game on an ICS, you can register
1529 your next planned move before it is your turn. Move the piece with
1530 the mouse in the ordinary way, and the starting and ending squares
1531 will be highlighted with a special color (red by default). When it is
1532 your turn, if your registered move is legal, XBoard will send it to
1533 ICS immediately; if not, it will be ignored and you can make a
1534 different move. If you change your mind about your premove, either
1535 make a different move, or double-click on any piece to cancel the move
1538 You can also enter premoves for the first white and black moves
1541 @itemx ICS Alarm Time
1542 @cindex ICS Alarm, Menu Item
1543 @cindex ICS Alarm Time, Menu Item
1544 When this option is on, an alarm sound is played when your clock
1545 counts down to the icsAlarmTime in an ICS game.
1546 (By default, the time is 5 seconds, but you can specify other values
1547 with the Alarm Time spin control.)
1548 For games with time controls that include an increment, the
1549 alarm will sound each time the clock counts down to the icsAlarmTime.
1550 By default, the alarm sound is the terminal bell, but on some systems
1551 you can change it to a sound file using the soundIcsAlarm option; see
1553 @item Colorize Messages
1554 @cindex Colorize Messages, Menu Item
1555 Ticking this options causes various types of ICS messages do be
1556 displayed with different foreground or background colors in the console.
1557 The colors can be individually selected for each type,
1558 through the accompanying text edits.
1561 @subsection Tournament Options
1562 @cindex Tournament Options, Menu Item
1563 Summons a dialog where you can set options important for playing automatic
1564 matches between two or more chess programs
1565 (e.g. by using the @samp{Machine Match} menu item in the @samp{Mode} menu).
1567 @item Tournament file
1568 @cindex Tournament file, Menu item
1569 To run a tournament, XBoard needs a file to record its progress,
1570 so it can resume the tourney when it is interrupted.
1571 When you want to conduct anything more complex than a simple
1572 two-player match with the currently loaded engines,
1573 (i.e. when you select a list of participants),
1574 you must not leave this field blank.
1575 When you enter the name of an existing tournament file,
1576 XBoard will ignore all other input specified in the dialog,
1577 and will take the corresponding info from that tournament file.
1578 This resumes an interrupted tournament, or adds another XBoard
1579 agent playing games for it to those that are already doing so.
1580 Specifying a not-yet-existing file will cause XBoard to create it,
1581 according to the tournament parameters specified in the rest of the dialog,
1582 before it starts the tournament on ‘OK’.
1583 Provided that you specify participants;
1584 without participants no tournament file will be made, but other entered values
1585 (e.g. for the file with opening positions) will take effect.
1586 Default: configured by the @code{defaultTourneyName} option.
1587 @item Sync after round
1588 @itemx Sync after cycle
1589 @cindex Sync after round, Menu Item
1590 @cindex Sync after cycle, Menu Item
1591 The sync options, when on, will cause WinBoard to refrain from starting games
1592 of the next round or cycle before all games of the previous round or cycle are finished.
1593 This guarantees correct ordering in the games file,
1594 even when multiple XBoard instances are concurrently playing games for the same tourney.
1595 Default: sync after cycle, but not after round.
1597 @itemx Tourney participants
1598 @cindex Select Engine, Menu Item
1599 @cindex Tourney participants, Menu Item
1600 From the Select Engine listbox you can pick an engine from your list
1601 of engines registered in the settings file, to be added to the tournament.
1602 The engines selected so far will be listed in the ‘Tourney participants’ memo.
1603 The latter is a normal text edit, so you can use normal text-editing functions
1604 to delete engines you selected accidentally, or change their order.
1605 Typing names here yourself is not recommended, because names that do not exactly match
1606 one of the names from the selection listbox will lead to undefined behavior.
1608 @cindex Tourney type, Menu Item
1609 Here you can specify the type of tournament you want.
1610 XBoard’s intrinsic tournament manager support round-robins (type = 0),
1611 where each participant plays every other participant, and (multi-)gauntlets,
1612 where one (or a few) so-called ‘gauntlet engines’ play an independent set of opponents.
1613 In the latter case, you specify the number of gauntlet engines.
1614 E.g. if you specified 10 engines, and tourney type = 2,
1615 the first 2 engines each play the remaining 8.
1616 A value of -1 instructs XBoard to play Swiss; for this to work an external
1617 pairing engine must be specified through the @code{pairingEngine} option.
1618 Each Swiss round will be considered a tourney cycle in that case.
1620 @item Number of tourney cycles
1621 @itemx Default number of Games
1622 @cindex Number of tourney cycles, Menu Item
1623 @cindex Default number of Games, Menu Item
1624 You can specify tourneys where every two opponents play each other multiple times.
1625 Such multiple games can be played in a row,
1626 as specified by the ‘number of games per pairing’,
1627 or by repeating the entire tournament schedule a number of times
1628 (specified by the ‘number of tourney cycles’).
1629 The total number of times two engines meet will be the product of these two.
1631 the number of games per pairing is the same as the default number of match games,
1632 stored in your settings file through the @code{defaultMatchGames} option.
1633 @item Save Tourney Games
1634 @cindex Save Tourney Games, Menu Item
1635 File where the tournament games are saved
1636 (duplicate of the item in the @samp{Save Game Options}).
1637 @item Game File with Opening Lines
1638 @itemx File with Start Positions
1640 @itemx Position Number
1641 @itemx Rewind Index after
1642 @cindex Game File with Opening Lines, Menu Item
1643 @cindex File with Start Positions, Menu Item
1644 @cindex Game Number, Menu Item
1645 @cindex Position Number, Menu Item
1646 @cindex Rewind Index after, Menu Item
1647 These items optionally specify the file with move sequences or board positions the tourney
1648 games should start from.
1649 The corresponding numbers specify the number of the game or position in the file.
1650 Here a value -1 means automatic stepping through all games on the file,
1651 -2 automatic stepping every two games.
1652 The Rewind-Index parameter causes a stepping index to reset to one after reaching
1654 A setting of -2 for the game number will also be effective in a tournament without
1655 specifying a game file, but playing from the GUI book instead.
1656 In this case the first (odd) games will randomly select from the book,
1657 but the second (even) games will select the same moves from the book as the previous game.
1658 (Note this leads to the same opening only if both engines use the GUI book!)
1659 Default: No game or position file will be used. The default index if such a file is used is 1.
1660 @item Disable own engine books be default
1661 @cindex Disable own engine books be default, Menu Item
1662 Setting this option reverses the default situation for use of the GUI opening book
1663 in tournaments from what it normally is, namely not using it.
1664 So unless the engine is installed with an option to explicitly specify it should
1665 not use the GUI book (i.e. @code{-firstHasOwnBookUCI true}),
1666 it will be made to use the GUI book.
1667 @item Replace Engine
1668 @itemx Upgrade Engine
1669 @cindex Replace Engine, Menu Item
1670 @cindex Upgrade Engine, Menu Item
1671 With these two buttons you can alter the participants of an already running tournament.
1672 After opening the Match Options dialog on an XBoard that is playing for the tourney,
1673 you will see all the tourney parameters in the dialog fields.
1674 You can then replace the name of one engine by that of another
1675 by editing the @samp{participants} field.
1676 (But preserve the order of the others!)
1677 Pressing the button after that will cause the substitution.
1678 With the @samp{Upgrade Engine} button the substitution will only affect future games.
1679 With @samp{Replace Engine} all games the substituted engine has already played will
1680 be invalidated, and they will be replayed with the substitute engine.
1681 In this latter case the engine must not be playing when you do this,
1682 but otherwise there is no need to pause the tournament play
1683 for making a substitution.
1685 @cindex CloneTourney, Menu Item
1686 Pressing this button after you have specified an existing tournament file
1687 will copy the contents of the latter to the dialog,
1688 and then puts the originally proposed name for the tourney file back.
1689 You can then run a tourney with the same parameters
1690 (possibly after changing the proposed name of the tourney file for the new tourney)
1692 @item Continue Later
1693 @cindex Continue Later, Menu Item
1694 Pressing the @samp{Continue Later} button confirms the current value of all
1695 items in the dialog and closes it,
1696 but will not automatically start the tournament.
1697 This allows you to return to the dialog later without losing the settings you
1698 already entered, to adjust paramenters through other menu dialogs.
1699 (The @samp{Common Engine Setting}, @samp{Time Control} and @samp{General Options}
1700 dialogs can be accessed without closing the @samp{Tournament Options} dialog
1701 through the respective buttons at the bottom of the latter.)
1704 @subsection Load Game Options
1705 @cindex Load Game Options, Menu Item
1706 Summons a dialog where you can set the @code{autoDisplayComment} and
1707 @code{autoDisplayTags} options, (which control popups when viewing loaded games),
1708 and specify the rate at which loaded games are auto-played,
1709 in seconds per move (which can be a fractional number, like 1.6).
1710 This rate is also used with the @code{Analyze Game} menu item.
1711 You can also set search criteria for determining which games
1712 will be displayed in the Game List for a multi-game file,
1713 and thus be eligible for loading:
1715 @item Elo of strongest player
1716 @itemx Elo of weakest player
1717 @itemx No games before year
1718 @cindex Elo of strongest player, Menu Item
1719 @cindex Elo of weakest player, Menu Item
1720 @cindex No games before year, Menu Item
1721 These numeric fields set thresholds (lower limits) on the Elo rating of the mentioned player,
1722 or the date the game was played.
1724 @item Final nr of pieces
1725 @cindex Final nr of pieces, Menu Item
1726 Here you can enter a range (e.g. 8-10), and only games will be selected that
1727 has a number of men in this range on the board in their final position.
1729 @cindex Search mode, Menu Item
1730 @cindex find position, Menu Item
1731 @cindex narrow, Menu Item
1732 This setting determines which positions in a game will be considered a match
1733 to the position currently displayed in the board window
1734 when you press the @samp{find position} button in the Game List.
1735 You can search for an exact match,
1736 a position that has all shown material in the same place,
1737 but might contain additional material,
1738 a position that has all Pawns in the same place,
1739 but can have the shown material anywhere,
1740 a position that can have all shown material anywhere,
1741 or a position that has material between certain limits anywhere.
1742 For the latter you have to place the material that must be present
1743 in the four lowest ranks of the board,
1744 and optional additional material in the four highest ranks of the board.
1745 You can request the optional material to be balanced.
1746 The @samp{narrow} button is similar in fuction to the @samp{find position} button,
1747 but only searches in the already selected games,
1748 rather than the complete game file,
1749 and can thus be used to refine a search based on multiple criteria.
1750 @item number of consecutive positions
1751 @cindex number of consecutive positions, Menu Item
1752 When you are searching by material, rather than for an exact match,
1753 this parameter indicates for how many consecutive game positions
1754 the same amount of material must be on the board before it is
1756 @item Also match reversed colors
1757 @itemx Also match left-right flipped position
1758 @cindex Also match reversed colors, Menu Item
1759 @cindex Also match left-right flipped position, Menu Item
1760 When looking for matching positions rather than by material,
1761 these settings determine whether mirror images
1762 (in case of a vertical flip in combination with color reversal)
1763 will be also considered a match.
1764 The left-right flipping is only useful after all castling rights
1765 have expired (or in Xiangqi).
1768 @subsection Save Game Options
1769 @cindex Save Game Options, Menu Item
1770 Summons a dialog where you can specify the files on which XBoard should
1771 automatically save any played or entered games,
1772 (the @code{saveGameFile} option),
1773 or the final position of such games (the @code{savePositionfile} option).
1774 You can also select 'auto-save' without a file name,
1775 in which case XBoard will prompt the user for a file name after each game.
1776 In ICS mode you can limit the auto-saving to your own games
1777 (i.e. suppress saving of observed games).
1778 You can also set the default value for the PGN Event tag that will
1779 be used for each new game you start.
1780 Various options for the format of the game can be specified as well,
1781 such as whether scores and depths of engine games should be saved as comments,
1782 and if a tag with info about the score with which the engine came out of book
1784 For Chess, always set the format to PGN, rather than "old save stye"!
1786 @subsection Game List
1787 @cindex Game List Tags, Menu Item
1788 Pops up a dialog where you can select the PGN tags that should appear
1789 on the lines in the game list, and their order.
1791 @subsection Sound Options
1792 @cindex Sound Options, Menu Item
1793 Summons a dialog where you can specify the sounds that should accompany
1794 various events that can occur in XBoard.
1795 Most events are only relevant to ICS play,
1796 but the move sound is an important exception.
1797 For each event listed in the dialog,
1798 you can select a standard sound from a menu.
1799 You can also select a user-supplied sound file,
1800 by typing its name into the designated text-edit field first,
1801 and then selecting "Above WAV File" from the menu for the event.
1802 A dummy event has been provided for trying out the sounds with the
1803 "play" button next to it.
1804 The directory with standard sounds, and the external program for playing
1805 the sounds can be specified too, but normally you would not touch these
1806 once XBoard is properly installed.
1807 When a move sound other than 'None' is selected,
1808 XBoard alerts you by playing that sound
1809 after each of your opponent's moves (or after every
1810 move if you are observing a game on the Internet Chess Server).
1811 The sound is not played after moves you make or moves read from a
1814 @subsection Save Settings Now
1815 @cindex Save Settings Now, Menu Item
1816 Selecting this menu item causes the current XBoard settings to be
1817 written to the settings file, so they will also apply in future sessions.
1818 Note that some settings are 'volatile', and are not saved,
1819 because XBoard considers it too unlikely that you want those to apply
1821 In particular this applies to the Chess program names, and all options
1822 giving information on those Chess programs (such as their directory,
1823 if they have their own opening book, if they are UCI or native XBoard),
1824 or the variant you are playing.
1825 Such options would still be understood when they appear in the settings
1826 file in case they were put there with the aid of a text editor, but they
1827 would disappear from the file as soon as you save the settings.
1829 Note that XBoard no longer pays attention to options values specified
1830 in the .Xresources file.
1831 (Specifying key bindings there will still work, though.)
1832 To alter the default of volatile options, you can use the following method:
1833 Rename your ~/.xboardrc settings file (to ~/.yboardrc, say), and create
1834 a new file ~/.xboardrc, which only contains the options
1837 -settingsFile ~/.yboardrc
1838 -saveSettingsFile ~/.yboardrc
1842 This will cause your settings to be saved on ~/.yboardrc in the future,
1843 so that ~/.xboardrc is no longer overwritten.
1844 You can then safely specify volatile options in ~/.xboardrc, either
1845 before or after the settingsFile options.
1846 Note that when you specify persistent options after the settingsFile options
1847 in ~/.xboardrc, you will essentially turn them into volatile options
1848 with the specified value as default, because that value will overrule
1849 the value loaded from the settings file (being read later).
1851 @subsection Save Settings on Exit
1852 @cindex Save Settings on Exit, Menu Item
1853 Setting this option has no immediate effect, but causes the settings
1854 to be saved when you quit XBoard. What happens then is otherwise
1855 identical to what happens when you use select "Save Settings Now",
1864 @cindex Info XBoard, Menu Item
1865 Displays the XBoard documentation in info format. For this feature to
1866 work, you must have the GNU info program installed on your system, and
1867 the file @file{xboard.info} must either be present in the current
1868 working directory, or have been installed by the @samp{make install}
1869 command when you built XBoard.
1871 @cindex Man XBoard, Menu Item
1872 Displays the XBoard documentation in man page format.
1873 The @kbd{F1} key is a keyboard equivalent. For this
1874 feature to work, the file @file{xboard.6} must have been installed by
1875 the @samp{make install} command when you built XBoard, and the
1876 directory it was placed in must be on the search path for your
1877 system's @samp{man} command.
1879 @cindex About XBoard, Menu Item
1880 Shows the current XBoard version number.
1884 @section Other Shortcut Keys
1886 @cindex Shortcut keys
1888 @item Show Last Move
1889 @cindex Show Last Move, Shortcut Key
1890 By hitting @kbd{Enter} the last move will be re-animated.
1891 @item Load Next Game
1892 @cindex Load Next Game, Menu Item
1893 Loads the next game from the last game record file you loaded.
1894 The @kbd{Alt+PgDn} key triggers this action.
1895 @item Load Previous Game
1896 @cindex Load Previous Game, Menu Item
1897 Loads the previous game from the last game record file you
1898 loaded. The @kbd{Alt+PgUp} key triggers this action.
1899 Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
1900 @item Reload Same Game
1901 @cindex Reload Same Game, Menu Item
1902 Reloads the last game you loaded.
1903 Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
1904 Currently no keystroke is assigned to this ReloadGameProc.
1905 @item Reload Same Position
1906 @cindex Reload Same Position, Menu Item
1907 Reloads the last position you loaded.
1908 Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
1909 Currently no keystroke is assigned to this ReloadPositionProc.
1912 In the Xaw build of XBoard you can add or remove shortcut keys
1913 using the X resources @code{paneA.translations}.
1914 Here is an example of what could go into your
1915 @file{.Xdefaults} file:
1918 XBoard*paneA.translations: \
1919 Shift<Key>?: MenuItem(Help.About) \n\
1920 Ctrl<Key>y: MenuItem(Action.Accept) \n\
1921 Ctrl<Key>n: MenuItem(Action.Decline) \n\
1922 Ctrl<Key>i: MenuItem(Nothing)
1925 So the key should always be bound to the action 'MenuItem',
1926 with the (hierarchical) name of the menu item as argument.
1927 There are a few actions available for which no menu item exists:
1928 Binding a key to @code{Nothing} makes it do nothing, thus removing
1929 it as a shortcut key. Other such functions that can be bound to keys
1933 AboutGame, DebugProc (switches the -debug option on or off),
1934 LoadNextGame, LoadPrevGame, ReloadGame, ReloadPosition.
1942 This section documents the command-line options to XBoard. You can
1943 set these options in two ways: by typing them on the shell command
1944 line you use to start XBoard, or by editing the settings file
1945 (usually ~/.xboardrc) to alter the value of the setting that was
1946 saved there. Some of the options
1947 cannot be changed while XBoard is running; others set the initial
1948 state of items that can be changed with the @ref{Options} menu.
1950 Most of the options have both a long name and a short name. To turn a
1951 boolean option on or off from the command line, either give its long
1952 name followed by the value true or false
1953 (@samp{-longOptionName true}), or give just the short name to turn the
1954 option on (@samp{-opt}), or the short name preceded by @samp{x} to
1955 turn the option off (@samp{-xopt}). For options that take strings or
1956 numbers as values, you can use the long or short option names
1960 * Chess engine options:: Controlling the chess engine.
1961 * UCI + WB Engine Settings:: Setting some very common engine parameters
1962 * Tournament options:: Running tournaments and matches between engines.
1963 * ICS options:: Connecting to and using ICS.
1964 * Load and Save options:: Input/output options.
1965 * User interface options:: Look and feel options.
1966 * Adjudication Options:: Control adjudication of engine-engine games.
1967 * Install options:: Maintaining and extending the XBoard install.
1968 * Other options:: Miscellaneous.
1971 @node Chess engine options
1972 @section Chess Engine Options
1973 @cindex options, Chess engine
1974 @cindex Chess engine options
1976 @item -tc or -timeControl minutes[:seconds]
1978 @cindex timeControl, option
1979 Each player begins with his clock set to the @code{timeControl} period.
1981 The additional options @code{movesPerSession} and @code{timeIncrement}
1982 are mutually exclusive.
1983 @item -mps or -movesPerSession moves
1985 @cindex movesPerSession, option
1986 When both players have made @code{movesPerSession} moves, a
1987 new @code{timeControl} period is added to both clocks. Default: 40 moves.
1988 @item -inc or -timeIncrement seconds
1990 @cindex timeIncrement, option
1991 If this option is specified, @code{movesPerSession} is ignored.
1992 Instead, after each player's move, @code{timeIncrement} seconds are
1994 Use @samp{-inc 0} if you want to require the entire
1995 game to be played in one @code{timeControl} period, with no increment.
1996 Default: -1, which specifies @code{movesPerSession} mode.
1997 @item -clock/-xclock or -clockMode true/false
1998 @cindex clock, option
1999 @cindex clockMode, option
2000 Determines whether or not to display the chess clocks. If clockMode is
2001 false, the clocks are not shown, but the side that is to play next
2002 is still highlighted. Also, unless @code{searchTime}
2003 is set, the chess engine still keeps track of the clock time and uses it to
2004 determine how fast to make its moves.
2005 @item -st or -searchTime minutes[:seconds]
2007 @cindex searchTime, option
2008 Tells the chess engine to spend at most the given amount of time
2009 searching for each of its moves. Without this option, the chess engine
2010 chooses its search time based on the number of moves and amount
2011 of time remaining until the next time control.
2012 Setting this option also sets clockMode to false.
2013 @item -depth or -searchDepth number
2015 @cindex searchDepth, option
2016 Tells the chess engine to look ahead at most the given number of moves
2017 when searching for a move to make. Without this option, the chess
2018 engine chooses its search depth based on the number of moves and
2019 amount of time remaining until the next time control. With the option,
2020 the engine will cut off its search early if it reaches the specified depth.
2021 @item -firstNPS number
2022 @itemx -secondNPS number
2023 @cindex firstNPS, option
2024 @cindex secondNPS, option
2025 Tells the chess engine to use an internal time standard based on its node count,
2026 rather then wall-clock time, to make its timing decisions.
2027 The time in virtual seconds should be obtained by dividing the node count
2028 through the given number, like the number was a rate in nodes per second.
2029 Xboard will manage the clocks in accordance with this, relying on the number
2030 of nodes reported by the engine in its thinking output. If the given number equals zero,
2031 it can obviously not be used to convert nodes to seconds, and the time reported
2032 by the engine is used to decrement the XBoard clock in stead. The engine is supposed to
2033 report in CPU time it uses, rather than wall-clock time, in this mode. This option
2034 can provide fairer conditions for engine-engine matches on heavily loaded machines,
2035 or with very fast games (where the wall clock is too inaccurate).
2036 @code{showThinking} must be on for this option to work. Default: -1 (off).
2037 Not many engines might support this yet!
2038 @item -firstTimeOdds factor
2039 @itemx -secondTimeOdds factor
2040 @cindex firstTimeOdds, option
2041 @cindex secondTimeOdds, option
2042 Reduces the time given to the mentioned engine by the given factor.
2043 If pondering is off, the effect is indistinguishable from what would happen
2044 if the engine was running on an n-times slower machine. Default: 1.
2045 @item -timeOddsMode mode
2046 @cindex timeOddsMode, option
2047 This option determines how the case is handled where both engines have a time-odds handicap.
2048 If mode=1, the engine that gets the most time will always get the nominal time,
2049 as specified by the time-control options, and its opponent's time is renormalized accordingly.
2050 If mode=0, both play with reduced time. Default: 0.
2051 @item -hideThinkingFromHuman true/false
2052 Controls the Hide Thinking option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2053 (Replaces the Show-Thinking option of older xboard versions.)
2054 @item -thinking/-xthinking or -showThinking true/false
2055 @cindex thinking, option
2056 @cindex showThinking, option
2057 Forces the engine to send thinking output to xboard.
2058 Used to be the only way to control if thinking output was displayed
2059 in older xboard versions,
2060 but as the thinking output in xboard 4.3 is also used for several other
2061 purposes (adjudication, storing in PGN file) the display of it is now controlled
2062 by the new option Hide Thinking. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2063 (But if xboard needs the thinking output for some purpose,
2064 it makes the engine send it despite the setting of this option.)
2065 @item -ponder/-xponder or -ponderNextMove true/false
2066 @cindex ponder, option
2067 @cindex ponderNextMove, option
2068 Sets the Ponder Next Move menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2069 @item -smpCores number
2070 Specifies the maximum number of CPUs an SMP engine is allowed to use.
2071 Only works for engines that support the XBoard/WinBoard-protocol cores feature.
2072 @item -mg or -matchGames n
2074 @cindex matchGames, option
2075 Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines,
2076 with alternating colors.
2077 If the @code{loadGameFile} or @code{loadPositionFile} option is set,
2079 starts each game with the given opening moves or the given position;
2080 otherwise, the games start with the standard initial chess position.
2081 If the @code{saveGameFile} option is set, a move record for the
2082 match is appended to the specified file. If the @code{savePositionFile}
2083 option is set, the final position reached in each game of the match is appended
2084 to the specified file. When the match is over, XBoard
2085 displays the match score and exits. Default: 0 (do not run a match).
2086 @item -mm/-xmm or -matchMode true/false
2088 @cindex matchMode, option
2089 Setting @code{matchMode} to true is equivalent to setting
2090 @code{matchGames} to 1.
2091 @item -sameColorGames n
2092 @cindex sameColorGames, option
2093 Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines,
2094 without alternating colors.
2095 Otherwise the same applies as for the @samp{-matchGames} option,
2096 over which it takes precedence if both are specified. (See there.)
2097 Default: 0 (do not run a match).
2098 @item -fcp or -firstChessProgram program
2099 @itemx -scp or -secondChessProgram program
2101 @cindex firstChessProgram, option
2103 @cindex secondChessProgram, option
2104 Name of first and second chess engine, respectively.
2105 A second chess engine is started only in Two Machines (match) mode,
2106 or in Analyze mode with two engines.
2107 The second engine is by default the same as the first.
2108 Default for the first engine: @file{fairymax}.
2109 @item -fe or -firstEngine nickname
2110 @itemx -se or -secondEngine nickname
2112 @cindex secondEngine, option
2114 @cindex firstEngine, option
2115 This is an alternative to the @code{fcp} and @code{scp} options
2116 for specifying the first and second engine,
2117 for engines that were already registered (using the @samp{Load Engine} dialog)
2118 in XBoard's settings file.
2119 It will not only retrieve the real name of the engine,
2120 but also all options configured with it.
2121 (E.g. if it is UCI, whether it should use book.)
2122 @item -fb/-xfb or -firstPlaysBlack true/false
2124 @cindex firstPlaysBlack, option
2125 In games between two chess engines, firstChessProgram normally plays
2126 white. If this option is true, firstChessProgram plays black. In a
2127 multi-game match, this option affects the colors only for the first
2128 game; they still alternate in subsequent games.
2129 @item -fh or -firstHost host
2130 @itemx -sh or -secondHost host
2132 @cindex firstHost, option
2134 @cindex secondHost, option
2135 Hosts on which the chess engines are to run. The default for
2136 each is @file{localhost}. If you specify another host, XBoard
2137 uses @file{rsh} to run the chess engine there. (You can substitute a
2138 different remote shell program for rsh using the @code{remoteShell}
2139 option described below.)
2140 @item -fd or -firstDirectory dir
2141 @itemx -sd or -secondDirectory dir
2143 @cindex firstDirectory, option
2145 @cindex secondDirectory, option
2146 Working directories in which the chess engines are to be run.
2147 The default is "", which means to run the chess engine
2148 in the same working directory as XBoard
2149 itself. (See the CHESSDIR environment variable.)
2150 This option is effective only when the chess engine is being run
2151 on the local host; it does not work if the engine is run remotely
2152 using the -fh or -sh option.
2153 @item -initString string or -firstInitString
2154 @itemx -secondInitString string
2155 @cindex initString, option
2156 @cindex firstInitString, option
2157 @cindex secondInitString, option
2158 The string that is sent to initialize each chess engine for a new game.
2166 Setting this option from the command line is tricky, because you must
2167 type in real newline characters, including one at the very end.
2168 In most shells you can do this by
2169 entering a @samp{\} character followed by a newline.
2170 Using the character sequence @samp{\n} in the string should work too, though.
2172 If you change this option, don't remove the @samp{new}
2173 command; it is required by all chess engines to
2176 You can remove the @samp{random} command if you like; including it
2177 causes GNU Chess 4 to randomize its move selection slightly so that it
2178 doesn't play the same moves in every game. Even without
2179 @samp{random}, GNU Chess 4 randomizes its choice of moves from its
2180 opening book. Many other chess engines ignore this command entirely
2181 and always (or never) randomize.
2183 You can also try adding other commands to the initString; see the
2184 documentation of the chess engine you are using for details.
2185 @item -firstComputerString string
2186 @itemx -secondComputerString string
2187 @cindex firstComputerString, option
2188 @cindex secondComputerString, option
2189 The string that is sent to the chess engine if its opponent is another
2190 computer chess engine. The default is @samp{computer\n}. Probably the
2191 only useful alternative is the empty string (@samp{}), which keeps the
2192 engine from knowing that it is playing another computer.
2193 @item -reuse/-xreuse or -reuseFirst true/false
2194 @itemx -reuse2/-xreuse2 or -reuseSecond true/false
2195 @cindex reuse, option
2196 @cindex reuseFirst, option
2197 @cindex reuse2, option
2198 @cindex reuseSecond, option
2199 If the option is false,
2200 XBoard kills off the chess engine after every game and starts
2201 it again for the next game.
2202 If the option is true (the default),
2203 XBoard starts the chess engine only once
2204 and uses it repeatedly to play multiple games.
2205 Some old chess engines may not work properly when
2206 reuse is turned on, but otherwise games will start faster if it is left on.
2207 @item -firstProtocolVersion version-number
2208 @itemx -secondProtocolVersion version-number
2209 @cindex firstProtocolVersion, option
2210 @cindex secondProtocolVersion, option
2211 This option specifies which version of the chess engine communication
2212 protocol to use. By default, version-number is 2. In version 1, the
2213 "protover" command is not sent to the engine; since version 1 is a
2214 subset of version 2, nothing else changes. Other values for
2215 version-number are not supported.
2216 @item -firstScoreAbs true/false
2217 @itemx -secondScoreAbs true/false
2218 @cindex firstScoreAbs, option
2219 @cindex secondScoreAbs, option
2220 If this option is set, the score reported by the engine is taken to be
2221 that in favor of white, even when the engine plays black.
2222 Important when XBoard uses the score for adjudications, or in PGN reporting.
2223 @item -niceEngines priority
2224 @cindex niceEngines, option
2225 This option allows you to lower the priority of the engine processes,
2226 so that the generally insatiable hunger for CPU time of chess engines does not interfere so much
2227 with smooth operation of XBoard (or the rest of your system).
2228 Negative values could increase the engine priority, which is not recommended.
2229 @item -firstOptions string
2230 @itemx -secondOptions string
2231 @cindex firstOptions, option
2232 @cindex secondOptions, option
2233 The given string is a comma-separated list of (option name=option value) pairs,
2234 like the following example: "style=Karpov,blunder rate=0".
2235 If an option announced by the engine at startup through the feature commands of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol
2236 matches one of the option names (i.e. "style" or "blunder rate"),
2237 it would be set to the given value (i.e. "Karpov" or 0)
2238 through a corresponding option command to the engine.
2239 This provided that the type of the value (text or numeric) matches as well.
2240 @item -firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
2241 @itemx -secondNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
2242 @cindex firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN, option
2243 @cindex secondNeedsNoncompliantFEN, option
2244 The castling rights and e.p. fields of the FEN sent to the mentioned engine
2245 with the setboard command will be replaced by the given string. This can for
2246 instance be used to run engines that do not understand Chess960 FENs in
2247 variant fischerandom, to make them at least understand the opening position,
2248 through setting the string to "KQkq -". (Note you also have to give the e.p. field!)
2249 Other possible applications are to provide work-arounds for engines that want to see
2250 castling and e.p. fields in variants that do not have castling or e.p.
2251 (shatranj, courier, xiangqi, shogi) so that XBoard would normally omit them
2252 (string = "- -"), or to add variant-specific fields that are not yet supported by XBoard
2253 (e.g. to indicate the number of checks in 3check).
2254 @item -shuffleOpenings
2255 @cindex shuffleOpenings, option
2256 Forces shuffling of the opening setup in variants that normally have a fixed initial position.
2257 Shufflings are symmetric for black and white, and exempt King and Rooks in variants
2258 with normal castling.
2259 Remains in force until a new variant is selected.
2260 @item -fischerCastling
2261 @cindex fischerCastling, option
2262 Specifies Fischer castling (as in Chess960) should be enabled in variants
2263 that normally would not have it.
2264 Remains in force until a new variant is selected.
2267 @node UCI + WB Engine Settings
2268 @section UCI + WB Engine Settings
2269 @cindex Engine Settings
2270 @cindex Settings, Engine
2272 @item -fUCI or -firstIsUCI true/false
2273 @itemx -sUCI or -secondIsUCI true/false
2274 @cindex fUCI, option
2275 @cindex sUCI, option
2276 @cindex firstIsUCI, option
2277 @cindex secondIsUCI, option
2278 Indicates if the mentioned engine executable file is a UCI engine,
2279 and should be run with the aid of the Polyglot adapter rather than directly.
2280 Xboard will then pass the other UCI options and engine name to Polyglot
2281 on its command line, according to the option @code{adapterCommand}.
2286 @cindex fUCCI, option
2287 @cindex sUCCI, option
2288 @cindex fUSI, option
2289 @cindex sUSI, option
2290 Options similar to @code{fUCI} and @code{sUCI}, except that they
2291 use the indicated engine with the protocol adapter specified in
2292 the @samp{uxiAdapter} option.
2293 This can then be configured for running a UCCI or USI adapter,
2295 @item -adapterCommand string
2296 @cindex adapterCommand, option
2297 The string contains the command that should be issued by XBoard
2298 to start an engine that is accompanied by the @code{fUCI} option.
2299 Any identifier following a percent sign in the command (e.g. %fcp)
2300 will be considered the name of an XBoard option, and be replaced
2301 by the value of that option at the time the engine is started.
2302 For starting the second engine, any leading "f" or "first" in
2303 the option name will first be replaced by "s" or "second",
2304 before finding its value.
2305 Default: 'polyglot -noini -ec "%fcp" -ed "%fd"'
2306 @item -uxiAdapter string
2307 @cindex uxiAdapter, option
2308 Similar to @code{adapterCommand}, but used for engines accompanied
2309 by the @code{fUCCI} or @code{fUSI} option, so you can configure
2310 XBoard to be ready to handle more than one flavor of non-native protocols.
2312 @item -polyglotDir filename
2313 @cindex polyglotDir, option
2314 Gives the name of the directory in which the Polyglot adapter for UCI engines resides.
2316 @item -usePolyglotBook true/false
2317 @cindex usePolyglotBook, option
2318 Specifies if the Polyglot book should be used as GUI book.
2319 @item -polyglotBook filename
2320 @cindex polyglotBook, option
2321 Gives the filename of the opening book.
2322 The book is only used when the @code{usePolyglotBook} option is set to true,
2323 and the option @code{firstHasOwnBookUCI} or @code{secondHasOwnBookUCI}
2324 applying to the engine is set to false.
2325 The engine will be kept in force mode as long as the current position is in book,
2326 and XBoard will select the book moves for it. Default: "".
2327 @item -fNoOwnBookUCI or -firstXBook or -firstHasOwnBookUCI true/false
2328 @itemx -sNoOwnBookUCI or -secondXBook or -secondHasOwnBookUCI true/false
2329 @cindex fNoOwnBookUCI, option
2330 @cindex sNoOwnBookUCI, option
2331 @cindex firstHasOwnBookUCI, option
2332 @cindex secondHasOwnBookUCI, option
2333 @cindex firstXBook, option
2334 @cindex secondXBook, option
2335 Indicates if the mentioned engine has its own opening book it should play from,
2336 rather than using the external book through XBoard.
2337 Default: depends on setting of the option @code{discourageOwnBooks}.
2338 @item -discourageOwnBooks true/false
2339 @cindex discourageOwnBooks, option
2340 When set, newly loaded engines will be assumed to use the GUI book,
2341 unless they explicitly specify differently.
2342 Otherwise they will be assumed to not use the GUI book,
2343 unless the specify differently (e.g. with @code{firstXBook}).
2346 @cindex bookDepth, option
2347 Limits the use of the GUI book to the first n moves of each side.
2349 @item -bookVariation n
2350 @cindex bookVariation, option
2351 A value n from 0 to 100 tunes the choice of moves from the GUI books
2352 from totally random to best-only. Default: 50
2354 @cindex mcBookMode, option
2355 When this volatile option is specified, the probing algorithm of the
2356 GUI book is altered to always select the move that is most under-represented
2357 based on its performance.
2358 When all moves are played in approximately the right proportion,
2359 a book miss will be reported, to give the engine opportunity to
2361 In addition score of the moves will be kept track of during the session
2363 By playing an match in this mode, a book will be built from scratch.
2364 The only output are the saved games, which can be converted to an
2365 actual book later, with the @samp{Save Games as Book} command.
2366 The latter command can also be used to pre-fill the book buffer
2367 before adding new games based on the probing algorithm.
2368 @item -fn string or -firstPgnName string
2369 @itemx -sn string or -secondPgnName string
2370 @cindex firstPgnName, option
2371 @cindex secondPgnName, option
2374 Indicates the name that should be used for the engine in PGN tags of
2375 engine-engine games.
2376 Intended to allow you to install versions of the same engine with different settings,
2377 and still distinguish them.
2379 @item -defaultHashSize n
2380 @cindex defaultHashSize, option
2381 Sets the size of the hash table to n MegaBytes. Together with the EGTB cache size
2382 this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines,
2383 for those that support the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 64.
2384 @item -defaultCacheSizeEGTB n
2385 @cindex defaultCacheSizeEGTB, option
2386 Sets the size of the EGTB cache to n MegaBytes. Together with the hash-table size
2387 this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines,
2388 for those that support the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 4.
2389 @item -defaultPathEGTB filename
2390 @cindex defaultPathEGTB, option
2391 Gives the name of the directory where the end-game tablebases are installed, for UCI engines.
2392 Default: "/usr/local/share/egtb".
2393 @item -egtFormats string
2394 @cindex egtFormats, option
2395 Specifies which end-game tables are installed on the computer, and where.
2396 The argument is a comma-separated list of format specifications,
2397 each specification consisting of a format name, a colon, and a directory path name,
2398 e.g. "nalimov:/usr/local/share/egtb".
2399 If the name part matches that of a format that the engine requests through a feature command,
2400 xboard will relay the path name for this format to the engine through an egtpath command.
2401 One egtpath command for each matching format will be sent.
2402 Popular formats are "nalimov" and "gaviota" DTM tablebases,
2403 syzygy DTZ tablebases and "scorpio" bitbases.
2405 @item -firstChessProgramNames=@{names@}
2406 @cindex firstChessProgramNames, option
2407 This option lets you customize the listbox with chess-engine names
2408 that appears in the @samp{Load Engine} and @samp{Tournament Options} dialog.
2409 It consists of a list of strings, one per line.
2410 When an engine is loaded, the corresponding line is prefixed with "-fcp ",
2411 and processed like it appeared on the command line.
2412 That means that apart from the engine command,
2413 it can contain any number of XBoard options you want to use with this engine.
2414 (Commonly used options here are -fd, -firstXBook, -fUCI, -variant.)
2416 The value of this option is gradually built as you load new engines
2417 through the @samp{Load Engine} menu dialog, with @samp{Add to list} ticked.
2418 To change it in other ways, (e.g. deleting engines),
2419 use the menu item @samp{Edit Engine List} in the @samp{Engine} menu.
2422 @node Tournament options
2423 @section Tournament options
2424 @cindex Tournament Options
2425 @cindex Options, Tournament
2427 @item -defaultMatchGames n
2428 @cindex defaultMatchGames, option
2429 Sets the number of games that will be used for a match between two engines
2430 started from the menu to n. Also used as games per pairing in other tournament
2431 formats. Default: 10.
2433 @cindex matchPause, option
2434 Specifies the duration of the pause between two games of a match or tournament
2435 between engines as n milliseconds.
2436 Especially engines that do not support ping need this option,
2437 to prevent that the move they are thinking on when an opponent unexpectedly
2438 resigns will be counted for the next game, (leading to illegal moves there).
2440 @item -tf filename or -tourneyFile filename
2442 @cindex tourneyFile, option
2443 Specifies the name of the tournament file used in match mode
2444 to conduct a multi-player tournament.
2445 This file is a special settings file,
2446 which stores the description of the tournament (including progress info),
2447 through normal options (e.g. for time control, load and save files),
2448 and through some special-purpose options listed below.
2449 @item -tt number or -tourneyType number
2451 @cindex tourneyType, option
2452 Specifies the type of tourney: 0 = round-robin,
2453 N>0 = (multi-)gauntlet with N gauntlet engines,
2454 -1 = Swiss through external pairing engine.
2455 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2456 @item -cy number or -tourneyCycles number
2458 @cindex tourneyCycles, option
2459 Specifies the number of cycles in a tourney.
2460 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2461 @item -participants list
2462 @cindex participants, option
2463 The list is a multi-line text string that specifies engines
2464 occurring in the @code{firstChesProgramNames} list
2465 in the settings file by their (implied or explicitly given) nicknames,
2466 one engine per line.
2467 The mentioned engines will play in the tourney.
2468 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2469 @item -results string
2470 @cindex results, option
2471 The string of +=- characters lists the result of all played games in a tourney.
2472 Games currently playing are listed as *,
2473 while a space indicates a game that is not yet played.
2474 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2475 @item -defaultTourneyName string
2476 @cindex defaultTourneyName, option
2477 Specifies the name of the tournament file XBoard should propose
2478 when the @samp{Match Options} dialog is opened.
2479 Any %y, %M, %d, %h, %m, %s in the string are replaced by the current
2480 year, month, day of the month, hours, minutes, seconds of the current time,
2481 respectively, as two-digit number.
2482 A %Y would be replaced by the year as 4-digit number. Default: empty string.
2483 @item -pairingEngine filename
2484 @cindex pairingEngine, option
2485 Specifies the external program to be used to pair the participants in Swiss tourneys.
2486 XBoard communicates with this engine in the same way as it communicates with Chess engines.
2487 The only commands sent to the pairing engine are “results N string”,
2488 (where N is the number of participants,
2489 and string the results so far in the format of the results option),
2490 and “pairing N”, (where N is the number of the tourney game).
2491 To the latter the pairing engine should answer with “A-B”,
2492 where A and B are participant numbers (in the range 1-N).
2493 (There should be no reply to the results command.) Default: empty string.
2494 @item -afterGame string
2495 @itemx -afterTourney string
2496 @cindex afterGame, option
2497 @cindex afterTourney, option
2498 When non-empty, the given string will be executed as a system command
2499 after each tournament game, or after the tourney completes, respectively.
2500 This can be used, for example, to autmatically run a cross-table generator
2501 on the PGN file where games are saved, to update the tourney standings.
2503 @item -syncAfterRound true/false
2504 @itemx -syncAfterCycle true/false
2505 @cindex syncAfterRound, option
2506 @cindex syncAfterCycle, option
2507 Controls whether different instances of XBoard concurrently running the
2508 same tournament will wait for each other.
2509 Defaults: sync after cycle, but not after round.
2510 @item -seedBase number
2511 @cindex seedBase, option
2512 Used to store the seed of the pseudo-random-number generator in the
2513 tourneyFile, so that separate instances of XBoard working on the same
2514 tourney can take coherent 'random' decisions, such as picking an
2515 opening for a given game number.
2519 @section ICS options
2521 @cindex Options, ICS
2523 @item -ics/-xics or -internetChessServerMode true/false
2525 @cindex internetChessServerMode, option
2526 Connect with an Internet Chess Server to play chess against its
2527 other users, observe games they are playing, or review games
2528 that have recently finished. Default: false.
2529 @item -icshost or -internetChessServerHost host
2530 @cindex icshost, option
2531 @cindex internetChessServerHost, option
2532 The Internet host name or address of the chess server to connect
2533 to when in ICS mode. Default: @code{chessclub.com}.
2534 Another popular chess server to try is @code{freechess.org}.
2535 If your site doesn't have a working Internet name server, try
2536 specifying the host address in numeric form.
2538 to specify the numeric address when using the icshelper option
2539 with timestamp or timeseal (see below).
2540 @item -icsport or -internetChessServerPort port-number
2541 @cindex icsport, option
2542 @cindex internetChessServerPort, option
2543 The port number to use when connecting to a chess server in ICS
2544 mode. Default: 5000.
2545 @item -icshelper or -internetChessServerHelper prog-name
2546 @cindex icshelper, option
2547 @cindex internetChessServerHelper, option
2548 An external helper program used to communicate with the chess server.
2549 You would set it to "timestamp" for ICC (chessclub.com) or
2550 "timeseal" for FICS (freechess.org), after
2551 obtaining the correct version of timestamp or timeseal for your
2552 computer. See "help timestamp" on ICC and "help timeseal" on FICS.
2553 This option is shorthand for @code{-useTelnet -telnetProgram program}.
2554 @item -telnet/-xtelnet or -useTelnet true/false
2555 @cindex telnet, option
2556 @cindex useTelnet, option
2557 This option is poorly named; it should be called useHelper.
2558 If set to true, it instructs XBoard to run an external
2559 program to communicate with the Internet Chess Server.
2560 The program to use is given by the telnetProgram option.
2562 false (the default), XBoard opens a TCP socket and uses its own
2563 internal implementation of the telnet protocol to communicate with the
2564 ICS. @xref{Firewalls}.
2565 @item -telnetProgram prog-name
2566 @cindex telnetProgram, option
2567 This option is poorly named; it should be called helperProgram.
2568 It gives the name of the telnet program to be used with
2569 the @code{gateway} and @code{useTelnet} options. The default is
2570 @file{telnet}. The telnet program is invoked with the value of
2571 @code{internetChessServerHost} as its first argument and the value
2572 of @code{internetChessServerPort} as its second argument.
2574 @item -gateway host-name
2575 @cindex gateway, option
2576 If this option is set to a host name, XBoard communicates with the
2577 Internet Chess Server by using @file{rsh} to run
2578 the @code{telnetProgram} on the given host,
2579 instead of using its own internal implementation
2580 of the telnet protocol. You can substitute a different remote shell
2581 program for @file{rsh} using the @code{remoteShell} option described below.
2583 @item -internetChessServerCommPort or -icscomm dev-name
2584 @cindex internetChessServerCommPort, option
2585 @cindex icscomm, option
2586 If this option is set, XBoard communicates with the ICS through
2587 the given character I/O device instead of opening a TCP connection.
2588 Use this option if your system does not have any kind of
2589 Internet connection itself (not even a SLIP or PPP connection),
2590 but you do have dial-up access (or a hardwired terminal line) to
2591 an Internet service provider from which you can telnet to the ICS.
2593 The support for this option in XBoard is minimal. You need to
2594 set all communication parameters and tty modes before you enter
2597 Use a script something like this:
2600 stty raw -echo 9600 > /dev/tty00
2601 xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/tty00
2604 Here replace @samp{/dev/tty00} with the name of the device that your
2605 modem is connected to. You might have to add several more
2606 options to these stty commands. See the man pages for @file{stty}
2607 and @code{tty} if you run into problems. Also, on many systems stty
2608 works on its standard input instead of standard output, so you
2609 have to use @samp{<} instead of @samp{>}.
2611 If you are using linux, try starting with the script below.
2612 Change it as necessary for your installation.
2616 # configure modem and fire up XBoard
2620 stty 2400 ; stty raw ; stty hupcl ; stty -clocal
2621 stty ignbrk ; stty ignpar ; stty ixon ; stty ixoff
2622 stty -iexten ; stty -echo
2624 xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/modem
2627 After you start XBoard in this way, type whatever commands are
2628 necessary to dial out to your Internet provider and log in.
2629 Then telnet to ICS, using a command like
2630 @kbd{telnet chessclub.com 5000}.
2631 Important: See the paragraph below about extra echoes,
2632 in @ref{Limitations}.
2633 @item -icslogon or -internetChessServerLogonScript file-name
2634 @cindex icslogon, option
2635 @cindex internetChessServerLogonScript, option
2637 Whenever XBoard connects to the Internet Chess Server,
2638 if it finds a file with the name given in this option, it feeds the
2639 file's contents to the ICS as commands. The default file name
2641 Usually the first two lines of the file should be
2642 your ICS user name and password.
2643 The file can be either in $CHESSDIR, in XBoard's working
2644 directory if CHESSDIR is not set, or in your home directory.
2645 @item -msLoginDelay delay
2646 @cindex msLoginDelay, option
2647 If you experience trouble logging on to an ICS when using the
2648 @code{-icslogon} option, inserting some delay between characters
2649 of the logon script may help. This option adds @code{delay}
2650 milliseconds of delay between characters. Good values to try
2652 @item -icsinput/-xicsinput or -internetChessServerInputBox true/false
2653 @cindex icsinput, option
2654 @cindex internetChessServerInputBox, option
2655 Sets the ICS Input Box menu option. @xref{Mode Menu}. Default: false.
2656 @item -autocomm/-xautocomm or -autoComment true/false
2657 @cindex autocomm, option
2658 @cindex autoComment, option
2659 Sets the Auto Comment menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2660 @item -autoflag/-xautoflag or -autoCallFlag true/false
2661 @cindex autoflag, option
2662 @cindex autoCallFlag, option
2663 Sets the Auto Flag menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2664 @item -autobs/-xautobs or -autoObserve true/false
2665 @cindex autobs, option
2666 @cindex autoObserve, option
2667 Sets the Auto Observe menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2669 @cindex autoKibitz, option
2670 Enables kibitzing of the engines last thinking output (depth, score, time, speed, PV)
2672 to the ICS, in zippy mode. The option @code{showThinking} must be switched on for
2673 this option to work.
2674 Also diverts similar kibitz information of an opponent engine that is playing you
2675 through the ICS to the engine-output window, as if the engine was playing locally.
2676 @item -seekGraph true/false or -sg
2677 @cindex seekGraph, option
2679 Enables displaying of the seek graph by left-clicking the board when
2680 you are logged on to an ICS and currently idle.
2681 The seek graph show all players currently seeking games on the ICS,
2682 plotted according to their rating and the time control of the game they seek,
2683 in three different colors (for rated, unrated and wild games).
2684 Computer ads are displayed as squares, human ads are dots.
2686 @item -autoRefresh true/false
2687 @cindex autoRefresh, option
2688 Enables automatic updating of the seek graph,
2689 by having the ICS send a running update of all newly placed
2690 and removed seek ads.
2691 This consumes a substantial amount of communication bandwidth,
2692 and is only supported for FICS and ICC.
2694 @item -backgroundObserve true/false
2695 @cindex backgroundObserve, option
2696 When true, boards sent to you by the ICS from other games while you are playing
2697 (e.g. because you are observing them)
2698 will not be automatically displayed.
2699 Only a summary of time left and material of both players will appear
2700 in the message field above the board.
2701 XBoard will remember the last board it has received this way,
2702 and will display it instead of the position in your own game
2703 when you press the right mouse button.
2704 No other information is stored on such games observed in the background;
2705 you cannot save such a game later, or step through its moves.
2706 This feature is provided solely for the benefit of bughouse players,
2707 to enable them to peek at their partner's game without the need
2710 @item -dualBoard true/false
2711 @cindex dualBoard, option
2712 In combination with -backgroundObserve true, this option will display
2713 the board of the background game side by side with that of your own game,
2714 so you can have it in view permanently.
2715 Any board or holdings info coming in will be displayed on the secondary
2717 This feature is still experimental and largely unfinished.
2718 There is no animation or highlighting of moves on the secondary board.
2720 @item -disguisePromotedPieces true/false
2721 @cindex disguisePromotedPieces, option
2722 When set promoted Pawns in crazyhouse/bughouse are displayed identical
2723 to primordial pieces of the same type, rather than distinguishable.
2725 @item -moves/-xmoves or -getMoveList true/false
2726 @cindex moves, option
2727 @cindex getMoveList, option
2728 Sets the Get Move List menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2729 @item -alarm/-xalarm or -icsAlarm true/false
2730 @cindex alarm, option
2731 @cindex icsAlarm, option
2732 Sets the ICS Alarm menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2733 @item -icsAlarmTime ms
2734 @cindex icsAlarmTime, option
2735 Sets the time in milliseconds for the ICS Alarm menu option.
2736 @xref{Options Menu}. Default: 5000.
2737 @item lowTimeWarning true/false
2738 @cindex lowTimeWarning, option
2739 Controls a color change of the board as a warning your time is running out.
2740 @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2741 @item -pre/-xpre \fRor\fB -premove true/false
2743 @cindex premove, option
2744 Sets the Premove menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2745 @item -prewhite/-xprewhite or -premoveWhite
2746 @itemx -preblack/-xpreblack or -premoveBlack
2747 @itemx -premoveWhiteText string
2748 @itemx -premoveBlackText string
2749 @cindex prewhite, option
2750 @cindex premoveWhite, option
2751 @cindex preblack, option
2752 @cindex premoveBlack, option
2753 @cindex premoveWhiteText, option
2754 @cindex premoveBlackText, option
2755 Set the menu options for specifying the first move for either color.
2756 @xref{Options Menu}. Defaults: false and empty strings, so no pre-moves.
2757 @item -quiet/-xquiet or -quietPlay true/false
2758 @cindex quiet, option
2759 @cindex quietPlay, option
2760 Sets the Quiet Play menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2761 @item -colorizeMessages or -colorize/-xcolorize
2763 @cindex colorize, option
2764 @cindex colorizeMessages, option
2765 Setting colorizeMessages
2766 to true tells XBoard to colorize the messages received from
2767 the ICS. Colorization works only if your xterm
2768 supports ISO 6429 escape sequences for changing text colors.
2770 @item -colorShout foreground,background,bold
2771 @itemx -colorSShout foreground,background,bold
2772 @itemx -colorCShout foreground,background,bold
2773 @itemx -colorChannel1 foreground,background,bold
2774 @itemx -colorChannel foreground,background,bold
2775 @itemx -colorKibitz foreground,background,bold
2776 @itemx -colorTell foreground,background,bold
2777 @itemx -colorChallege foreground,background,bold
2778 @itemx -colorRequest foreground,background,bold
2779 @itemx -colorSeek foreground,background,bold
2780 @itemx -colorNormal foreground,background,bold
2782 @cindex colorShout, option
2783 @cindex colorSShout, option
2784 @cindex colorCShout, option
2785 @cindex colorChannel1, option
2786 @cindex colorChannel, option
2787 @cindex colorKibitz, option
2788 @cindex colorTell, option
2789 @cindex colorChallenge, option
2790 @cindex colorRequest, option
2791 @cindex colorSeek, option
2792 @cindex colorNormal, option
2793 These options set the colors used when colorizing ICS messages.
2794 All ICS messages are grouped into one of these categories:
2795 shout, sshout, channel 1, other channel, kibitz, tell, challenge,
2796 request (including abort, adjourn, draw, pause, and takeback), or
2797 normal (all other messages).
2799 Each foreground or background argument can be one of the following:
2800 black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, or default.
2801 Here ``default'' means the default foreground or background color of
2802 your xterm. Bold can be 1 or 0. If background is omitted, ``default''
2803 is assumed; if bold is omitted, 0 is assumed.
2805 @item -soundProgram progname
2806 @cindex soundProgram, option
2808 If this option is set to a sound-playing program that is installed and
2809 working on your system, XBoard can play sound files when certain
2810 events occur, listed below. The default program name is "play". If
2811 any of the sound options is set to "$", the event rings the terminal
2812 bell by sending a ^G character to standard output, instead of playing
2813 a sound file. If an option is set to the empty string "", no sound is
2814 played for that event.
2815 @item -soundDirectory directoryname
2816 @cindex soundDirectory, option
2818 This option specifies where XBoard will look for sound files,
2819 when these are not given as an absolute path name.
2820 @item -soundShout filename
2821 @itemx -soundSShout filename
2822 @itemx -soundCShout filename
2823 @itemx -soundChannel filename
2824 @itemx -soundChannel1 filename
2825 @itemx -soundKibitz filename
2826 @itemx -soundTell filename
2827 @itemx -soundChallenge filename
2828 @itemx -soundRequest filename
2829 @itemx -soundSeek filename
2830 @cindex soundShout, option
2831 @cindex soundSShout, option
2832 @cindex soundCShout, option
2833 @cindex soundChannel, option
2834 @cindex soundChannel1, option
2835 @cindex soundKibitz, option
2836 @cindex soundTell, option
2837 @cindex soundChallenge, option
2838 @cindex soundRequest, option
2839 @cindex soundSeek, option
2840 These sounds are triggered in the same way as the colorization events
2841 described above. They all default to "", no sound. They are played
2842 only if the colorizeMessages is on.
2843 CShout is synonymous with SShout.
2844 @item -soundMove filename
2845 @cindex soundMove, option
2846 This sound is played when a player other than yourself makes a move.
2848 @item -soundRoar filename
2849 @cindex soundRoar, option
2850 This sound is played when a Lion makes a hit-and-run or double capture/
2851 Default: "" (no sound).
2852 @item -soundIcsAlarm filename
2853 @cindex soundIcsAlarm, option
2854 This sound is used by the ICS Alarm menu option. Default: "$".
2855 @item -soundIcsWin filename
2856 @cindex soundIcsWin, option
2857 This sound is played when you win an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
2858 @item -soundIcsLoss filename
2859 @cindex soundIcsLoss, option
2860 This sound is played when you lose an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
2861 @item -soundIcsDraw filename
2862 @cindex soundIcsDraw, option
2863 This sound is played when you draw an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
2864 @item -soundIcsUnfinished filename
2865 @cindex soundIcsUnfinished, option
2866 This sound is played when an ICS game that you are participating in is
2867 aborted, adjourned, or otherwise ends inconclusively. Default: "" (no
2871 @node Load and Save options
2872 @section Load and Save options
2873 @cindex Options, Load and Save
2874 @cindex Load and Save options
2876 @item -lgf or -loadGameFile file
2877 @itemx -lgi or -loadGameIndex index
2879 @cindex loadGameFile, option
2881 @cindex loadGameIndex, option
2882 If the @code{loadGameFile} option is set, XBoard loads the specified
2883 game file at startup. The file name @file{-} specifies the standard
2884 input. If there is more than one game in the file, XBoard
2885 pops up a menu of the available games, with entries based on their PGN
2886 (Portable Game Notation) tags.
2887 If the @code{loadGameIndex} option is set to @samp{N}, the menu is suppressed
2888 and the N th game found in the file is loaded immediately.
2889 The menu is also suppressed if @code{matchMode} is enabled or if the game file
2890 is a pipe; in these cases the first game in the file is loaded immediately.
2891 Use the @file{pxboard} shell script provided with XBoard if you
2892 want to pipe in files containing multiple games and still see the menu.
2893 If the loadGameIndex specifies an index -1, this triggers auto-increment
2894 of the index in @code{matchMode}, which means that after every game the
2895 index is incremented by one, causing each game of the match to be played
2896 from the next game in the file. Similarly, specifying an index value of -2
2897 causes the index to be incremented every two games, so that each game
2898 in the file is used twice (with reversed colors).
2899 The @code{rewindIndex} option causes the index to be reset to the
2900 first game of the file when it has reached a specified value.
2901 @item -rewindIndex n
2902 Causes a position file or game file to be rewound to its beginning after n
2903 positions or games in auto-increment @code{matchMode}.
2904 See @code{loadPositionIndex} and @code{loadGameIndex}.
2905 default: 0 (no rewind).
2906 @item -td or -timeDelay seconds
2908 @cindex timeDelay, option
2909 Time delay between moves during @samp{Load Game} or @samp{Analyze File}.
2910 Fractional seconds are allowed; try @samp{-td 0.4}.
2911 A time delay value of -1 tells
2912 XBoard not to step through game files automatically. Default: 1 second.
2913 @item -sgf or -saveGameFile file
2915 @cindex saveGameFile, option
2916 If this option is set, XBoard appends a record of every game
2917 played to the specified file. The file name @file{-} specifies the
2919 @item -autosave/-xautosave or -autoSaveGames true/false
2920 @cindex autosave, option
2921 @cindex autoSaveGames, option
2922 Sets the Auto Save menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2923 Ignored if @code{saveGameFile} is set.
2924 @item -onlyOwnGames true/false
2925 @cindex onlyOwnGames, option
2926 Suppresses auto-saving of ICS observed games. Default: false.
2927 @item -lpf or -loadPositionFile file
2928 @itemx -lpi or -loadPositionIndex index
2930 @cindex loadPositionFile, option
2932 @cindex loadPositionIndex, option
2933 If the @code{loadPositionFile} option is set, XBoard loads the
2934 specified position file at startup. The file name @file{-} specifies the
2935 standard input. If the @code{loadPositionIndex} option is set to N,
2936 the Nth position found in the file is loaded; otherwise the
2937 first position is loaded.
2938 If the loadPositionIndex specifies an index -1, this triggers auto-increment
2939 of the index in @code{matchMode}, which means that after every game the
2940 index is incremented by one, causing each game of the match to be played
2941 from the next position in the file. Similarly, specifying an index value of -2
2942 causes the index to be incremented every two games, so that each position
2943 in the file is used twice (with the engines playing opposite colors).
2944 The @code{rewindIndex} option causes the index to be reset to the
2945 first position of the file when it has reached a specified value.
2946 @item -spf or -savePositionFile file
2948 @cindex savePositionFile, option
2949 If this option is set, XBoard appends the final position reached
2950 in every game played to the specified file. The file name @file{-}
2951 specifies the standard output.
2952 @item -positionDir directory
2953 @cindex positionDir, option
2954 Specifies the directory where file browsing should start when using
2955 the @samp{Load Position} menu item.
2956 @item -pgnExtendedInfo true/false
2957 @cindex pgnExtendedInfo, option
2958 If this option is set, XBoard saves depth, score and time used for each
2959 move that the engine found as a comment in the PGN file.
2961 @item -pgnEventHeader string
2962 @cindex pgnEventHeader, option
2963 Sets the name used in the PGN event tag to string.
2964 Default: "Computer Chess Game".
2965 @item -pgnNumberTag true/false
2966 @cindex pgnNumberTag, option
2967 Include the (unique) sequence number of a tournament game into the saved
2968 PGN file as a 'number' tag.
2970 @item -saveOutOfBookInfo true/false
2971 @cindex saveOutOfBookInfo, option
2972 Include the information on how the engine(s) game out of its opening book
2973 in a special 'annotator' tag with the PGN file.
2975 @item -oldsave/-xoldsave or -oldSaveStyle true/false
2976 @cindex oldsave, option
2977 @cindex oldSaveStyle, option
2978 Sets the Old Save Style menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2979 @item -gameListTags string
2980 @cindex gameListTags, option
2981 The character string lists the PGN tags that should be printed in the
2982 Game List, and their order. The meaning of the codes is e=event,
2983 s=site, d=date, o=round, p=players, r=result, w=white Elo, b=black Elo,
2984 t=time control, v=variant, a=out-of-book info, c=result comment.
2986 @item -ini or -settingsFile filename
2987 @itemx -saveSettingsFile filename
2989 @cindex saveSettingsFile, option
2990 @cindex SettingsFile, option
2991 @cindex init, option
2992 @cindex at sign, option
2993 When XBoard encounters an option -settingsFile (or -ini for short),
2994 or @@filename, it tries to read the mentioned file,
2995 and substitutes the contents of it (presumaby more command-line options)
2996 in place of the option.
2997 In the case of -ini or -settingsFile, the name of a successfully read
2998 settings file is also remembered as the file to use for saving settings
2999 (automatically on exit, or on user command).
3000 An option of the form @@filename does not affect saving.
3001 The option -saveSettingsFile does specify a name of the file to use
3002 for saving, without reading any options from it, and is thus also effective
3003 when the file did not exist yet.
3004 So the settings will be saved to the file specified in the last
3005 -saveSettingsFile or succesfull -settingsFile / -ini command,
3006 if any, and in /etc/xboard/xboard.conf otherwise.
3007 Usualy the latter is only accessible for the system administrator, though,
3008 and will be used to contain system-wide default settings, amongst which
3009 a -saveSettingsFile and -settingsFile options to specify a settings file
3010 accessible to the individual user, such as ~/.xboardrc in the user's
3012 @item -saveSettingsOnExit true/false
3013 @cindex saveSettingsOnExit, option
3014 Controls saving of options on the settings file. @xref{Options Menu}.
3018 @node User interface options
3019 @section User interface options
3020 @cindex User interface options
3021 @cindex Options, User interface
3024 @cindex noGUI, option
3025 Suppresses all GUI functions of XBoard
3026 (to speed up automated ultra-fast engine-engine games, which you don't want to watch).
3027 There will be no board or clock updates, no printing of moves,
3028 and no update of the icon on the task bar in this mode.
3030 @cindex logoSize, option
3031 This option controls the drawing of player logos next to the clocks.
3032 The integer N specifies the width of the logo in pixels;
3033 the logo height will always be half the width.
3034 When N = 0, no logos will be diplayed.
3036 @item -firstLogo imagefile
3037 @itemx -secondLogo imagefile
3038 @cindex firstLogo, option
3039 @cindex secondLogo, option
3040 Specify the images to be used as player logos when @code{logoSize}
3041 is non-zero, next to the white and black clocks, respectively.
3042 @item -autoLogo true/false
3043 @itemx -logoDir filename
3044 @cindex autoLogo, option
3045 @cindex logoDir, option
3046 When @code{autoLogo} is set, XBoard will search for a PNG image file
3047 with the name of the engine or ICS in the directory specified
3049 For a human player it will look for a file <username>.png in this
3050 directory, but only when ~/.logo.png does not provide one.
3051 @item -recentEngines number
3052 @itemx -recentEngineList list
3053 @cindex recentEngines, option
3054 @cindex recentEngineList, option
3055 When the number is larger than zero, it determines how many recently
3056 used engines will be appended at the bottom of the @samp{Engines} menu.
3057 The engines will be saved in your settings file as the option
3058 @code{recentEngineList}, by their nicknames,
3059 and the most recently used one will always be sorted to the top.
3060 If the list after that is longer than the specified number,
3061 the last one is discarded.
3062 Changes in the list will only become visible the next session,
3063 provided you saved the settings.
3065 @item -oneClickMove true/false
3066 @cindex oneClickMove, option
3067 When set, this option allows you to enter moves by only clicking the to-
3068 or from-square, when only a single legal move to or from that square
3070 Double-clicking a piece (or clicking an already selected piece)
3071 will instruct that piece to make the only capture it can legally do.
3073 @item -monoMouse true/false
3074 @cindex monoMouse, option
3075 When set button 1 clicks on empty squares in Edit Position mode
3076 will be interpreted as button 3 clicks, so they place a piece.
3078 @item -movesound/-xmovesound or -ringBellAfterMoves true/false
3079 @cindex movesound, option
3080 @cindex bell, option
3081 @cindex ringBellAfterMoves, option
3082 Sets the Move Sound menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3083 For compatibility with old XBoard versions, -bell/-xbell are also
3084 accepted as abbreviations for this option.
3085 @item -exit/-xexit or -popupExitMessage true/false
3086 @cindex exit, option
3087 @cindex popupExitMessage, option
3088 Sets the Popup Exit Message menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3089 @item -popup/-xpopup or -popupMoveErrors true/false
3090 @cindex popup, option
3091 @cindex popupMoveErrors, option
3092 Sets the Popup Move Errors menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3093 @item -queen/-xqueen or -alwaysPromoteToQueen true/false
3094 @cindex queen, option
3095 @cindex alwaysPromoteToQueen, option
3096 Sets the Always Queen menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3097 @item -sweepPromotions true/false
3098 @cindex sweepPromotion, option
3099 Sets the @samp{Almost Always Promote to Queen} menu option.
3100 @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3101 @item -legal/-xlegal or -testLegality true/false
3102 @cindex legal, option
3103 @cindex testLegality, option
3104 Sets the Test Legality menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3105 @item -size or -boardSize (sizeName | n1,n2,n3,n4,n5,n6,n7)
3106 @cindex size, option
3107 @cindex boardSize, option
3109 Determines how large the board will be, by selecting the pixel size
3110 of the pieces and setting a few related parameters.
3111 The sizeName can be one of: Titanic, giving 129x129 pixel pieces,
3112 Colossal 116x116, Giant 108x108, Huge 95x95, Big 87x87, Large 80x80, Bulky 72x72,
3113 Medium 64x64, Moderate 58x58, Average 54x54, Middling 49x49, Mediocre
3114 45x45, Small 40x40, Slim 37x37, Petite 33x33, Dinky 29x29, Teeny 25x25,
3116 Xboard installs with a set of scalable (svg) piece images,
3117 which it scales to any of the requested sizes.
3118 The square size can further be continuously scaled by sizing the board window,
3119 but this only adapts the size of the pieces,
3120 and has no effect on the width of the grid lines or the font choice
3121 (both of which would depend on he selected boardSize).
3122 The default depends on the size of your screen; it is approximately the
3123 largest size that will fit without clipping.
3125 You can select other sizes or vary other layout parameters by providing
3126 a list of comma-separated values (with no spaces) as the argument.
3127 You do not need to provide all the values; for any you omit from the
3128 end of the list, defaults are taken from the nearest built-in size.
3129 The value @code{n1} gives the piece size, @code{n2} the width of the
3131 between squares, @code{n3} the desired size for the
3132 clockFont, @code{n4} the desired size for the coordFont,
3133 @code{n5} the desired size for the messageFont,
3134 @code{n6} the smallLayout flag (0 or 1),
3135 and @code{n7} the tinyLayout flag (0 or 1).
3136 All dimensions are in pixels.
3137 If the border between squares is eliminated (0 width), the various
3138 highlight options will not work, as there is nowhere to draw the highlight.
3139 If smallLayout is 1 and @code{titleInWindow} is true,
3140 the window layout is rearranged to make more room for the title.
3141 If tinyLayout is 1, the labels on the menu bar are abbreviated
3142 to one character each and the buttons in the button bar are made narrower.
3143 @item -overrideLineGap n
3144 @cindex overrideLineGap, option
3145 When n >= 0, this forces the width of the black border between squares
3146 to n pixels for any board size. Mostly used to suppress the grid
3147 entirely by setting n = 0, e.g. in xiangqi or just getting a prettier
3148 picture. When n < 0 this the size-dependent width of the grid lines
3149 is used. Default: -1.
3150 @item -coords/-xcoords or -showCoords true/false
3151 @cindex coords, option
3152 @cindex showCoords, option
3153 Sets the Show Coords menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3154 The @code{coordFont} option specifies what font to use.
3155 @item -autoraise/-xautoraise or -autoRaiseBoard true/false
3156 @cindex autoraise, option
3157 @cindex autoRaiseBoard, option
3158 Sets the Auto Raise Board menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3159 @item -autoflip/-xautoflip or -autoFlipView true/false
3160 @cindex autoflip, option
3161 @cindex autoFlipView, option
3162 Sets the Auto Flip View menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3163 @item -flip/-xflip or -flipView true/false
3164 @cindex flip, option
3165 @cindex flipView, option
3166 If Auto Flip View is not set, or if you are observing but not participating
3167 in a game, then the positioning of the board at the start of each game
3168 depends on the flipView option. If flipView is false (the default),
3169 the board is positioned so that the white pawns move from the bottom to the
3170 top; if true, the black pawns move from the bottom to the top.
3171 In any case, the Flip menu option (see @ref{Options Menu})
3172 can be used to flip the board after
3174 @item -title/-xtitle or -titleInWindow true/false
3175 @cindex title, option
3176 @cindex titleInWindow, option
3177 If this option is true, XBoard displays player names (for ICS
3178 games) and game file names (for @samp{Load Game}) inside its main
3179 window. If the option is false (the default), this information is
3180 displayed only in the window banner. You probably won't want to
3181 set this option unless the information is not showing up in the
3182 banner, as happens with a few X window managers.
3183 @item -buttons/-xbuttons or -showButtonBar True/False
3184 @cindex buttons, option
3185 @cindex showButtonBar, option
3186 If this option is False, xboard omits the [<<] [<] [P] [>] [>>] button
3187 bar from the window, allowing the message line to be wider. You can
3188 still get the functions of these buttons using the menus or their keyboard
3189 shortcuts. Default: true.
3190 @item -evalZoom factor
3191 @cindex evalZoom, option
3192 The score interval (-1,1) is blown up on the vertical axis of
3193 the Evaluation Graph by the given factor.
3195 @item -evalThreshold n
3196 @cindex evalThreshold, option
3197 Score below n (centiPawn) are plotted as 0 in the Evaluation Graph.
3199 @item -mono/-xmono or -monoMode true/false
3200 @cindex mono, option
3201 @cindex monoMode, option
3202 Determines whether XBoard displays its pieces and squares with
3203 two colors (true) or four (false). You shouldn't have to
3204 specify @code{monoMode}; XBoard will determine if it is necessary.
3205 @item -showTargetSquares true/false
3206 @cindex showTargetSquares, option
3207 Determines whether XBoard can highlight the squares a piece has
3208 legal moves to, when you grab that piece with the mouse.
3210 @item -flashCount count
3211 @itemx -flashRate rate
3212 @itemx -flash/-xflash
3213 @cindex flashCount, option
3214 @cindex flashRate, option
3215 @cindex flash, option
3216 @cindex xflash, option
3217 These options enable flashing of pieces when they
3218 land on their destination square.
3220 tells XBoard how many times to flash a piece after it
3221 lands on its destination square.
3223 controls the rate of flashing (flashes/sec).
3226 sets flashCount to 3.
3228 sets flashCount to 0.
3229 Defaults: flashCount=0 (no flashing), flashRate=5.
3230 @item -highlight/-xhighlight or -highlightLastMove true/false
3231 @cindex highlight, option
3232 @cindex highlightLastMove, option
3233 Sets the Highlight Last Move menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3234 @item -highlightMoveWithArrow true/false
3235 @cindex highlight Arrow, option
3236 @cindex highlightMoveWithArrow, option
3237 Sets the Highlight with Arrow menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3238 @item -blind/-xblind or -blindfold true/false
3239 @cindex blind, option
3240 @cindex blindfold, option
3241 Sets the Blindfold menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3242 @item -periodic/-xperiodic or -periodicUpdates true/false
3243 @cindex periodic, option
3244 @cindex periodicUpdates, option
3245 Controls updating of current move andnode counts in analysis mode. Default: true.
3248 @cindex fSAN, option
3249 @cindex sSAN, option
3250 Causes the PV in thinking output of the mentioned engine to be converted
3251 to SAN before it is further processed.
3252 Warning: this might lose engine output not understood by the parser,
3253 and uses a lot of CPU power.
3254 Default: the PV is displayed exactly as the engine produced it.
3255 @item -showEvalInMoveHistory true/false
3256 @cindex showEvalInMoveHistory, option
3257 Controls whether the evaluation scores and search depth of engine moves
3258 are displayed with the move in the move-history window.
3260 @item -clockFont font
3261 @cindex clockFont, option
3263 The font used for the clocks. If the option value is a pattern
3264 that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an
3265 appropriate font for the board size being used.
3266 Default Xaw: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
3267 Default GTK: Sans Bold %d.
3268 @item -coordFont font
3269 @cindex coordFont, option
3270 @cindex Font, coordinates
3271 The font used for rank and file coordinate labels if @code{showCoords}
3272 is true. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify
3273 the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for
3274 the board size being used.
3275 Default Xaw: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
3276 Default GTK: Sans Bold %d.
3277 @item -messageFont font
3278 @cindex messageFont, option
3279 @cindex Font, message
3280 The font used for popup dialogs, menus, etc.
3281 If the option value is a pattern that does not specify
3282 the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for
3283 the board size being used.
3284 Default Xaw: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
3285 Default GTK: Sans Bold %d
3286 @item -tagsFont font
3287 @cindex tagsFont, option
3289 The font used in the Edit Tags dialog.
3290 If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
3291 an appropriate font for the board size being used.
3292 (Only used in GTK build.)
3293 Default: Sans Normal %d.
3294 @item -commentFont font
3295 @cindex commentFont, option
3296 @cindex Font, comment
3297 The font used in the Edit Comment dialog.
3298 If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
3299 an appropriate font for the board size being used.
3300 (Only used in GTK build.)
3301 Default: Sans Normal %d.
3303 @cindex icsFont, option
3305 The font used to display ICS output in the ICS Chat window.
3306 As ICS output often contains tables aligned by spaces,
3307 a mono-space font is recommended here.
3308 If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
3309 an appropriate font for the board size being used.
3310 (Only used in GTK build.)
3311 Default: Monospace Normal %d.
3312 @item -moveHistoryFont font
3313 @cindex moveHistoryFont, option
3314 @cindex Font, moveHistory
3315 The font used in Move History and Engine Output windows.
3316 As these windows display mainly moves,
3317 one could use a figurine font here.
3318 If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
3319 an appropriate font for the board size being used.
3320 (Only used in GTK build.)
3321 Default: Sans Normal %d.
3322 @item -gameListFont font
3323 @cindex gameListFont, option
3324 @cindex Font, gameList
3325 The font used in the listbox of the Game List window.
3326 If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
3327 an appropriate font for the board size being used.
3328 (Only used in GTK build.)
3329 Default: Sans Bold %d.
3330 @item -fontSizeTolerance tol
3331 @cindex fontSizeTolerance, option
3332 In the font selection algorithm, a nonscalable font will be preferred
3333 over a scalable font if the nonscalable font's size differs
3334 by @code{tol} pixels
3335 or less from the desired size. A value of -1 will force
3336 a scalable font to always be used if available; a value of 0 will
3337 use a nonscalable font only if it is exactly the right size;
3338 a large value (say 1000) will force a nonscalable font to always be
3339 used if available. Default: 4.
3340 @item -pid or -pieceImageDirectory dir
3342 @cindex pieceImageDirectory, option
3343 This options control what piece images xboard uses.
3344 XBoard will look in the specified directory for an image in png
3345 or svg format for every piece type, with names like BlackQueen.svg,
3346 WhiteKnight.svg etc.
3347 When neither of these is found (or no valid directory is specified)
3348 XBoard will first ty to use an image White/BlackTile.svg in that same
3349 directory, and if that is not present either
3350 use the svg piece that was installed with it
3351 (from the source-tree directory @samp{svg}).
3352 Both svg and png images will be scaled by XBoard to the required size,
3353 but the png pieces lose much in quality when scaled too much.
3355 @item -inscriptions utf8string
3356 @cindex inscriptions, option
3357 The positions in the utf8string correspond to XBoard's piece types,
3358 and for each type a glyph can be defined.
3359 This glyph will then be rendered on top of the image for the piece.
3360 This is useful in combination with the White/BlackTile.svg images,
3361 which could be the image of a blank Shogi tile, for writing the
3362 kanji piece name on top of it on the fly.
3365 @item -whitePieceColor color
3366 @itemx -blackPieceColor color
3367 @itemx -lightSquareColor color
3368 @itemx -darkSquareColor color
3369 @itemx -highlightSquareColor color
3370 @itemx -preoveHighlightColor color
3371 @itemx -lowTimeWarningColor color
3373 @cindex whitePieceColor, option
3374 @cindex blackPieceColor, option
3375 @cindex lightSquareColor, option
3376 @cindex darkSquareColor, option
3377 @cindex highlightSquareColor, option
3378 @cindex premoveHighlightColor, option
3379 @cindex lowTimeWarningColor, option
3380 Colors to use for the pieces, squares, and square highlights.
3384 -whitePieceColor #FFFFCC
3385 -blackPieceColor #202020
3386 -lightSquareColor #C8C365
3387 -darkSquareColor #77A26D
3388 -highlightSquareColor #FFFF00
3389 -premoveHighlightColor #FF0000
3390 -lowTimeWarningColor #FF0000
3393 On a grayscale monitor you might prefer:
3396 -whitePieceColor gray100
3397 -blackPieceColor gray0
3398 -lightSquareColor gray80
3399 -darkSquareColor gray60
3400 -highlightSquareColor gray100
3401 -premoveHighlightColor gray70
3402 -lowTimeWarningColor gray70
3405 The PieceColor options only work properly if the image files
3406 defining the pieces were pure black & white
3407 (possibly anti-aliased to produce gray scales
3408 and semi-transparancy),
3409 like the pieces images that come with the install.
3410 Their effect on colored pieces is undefined.
3411 The SquareColor option only have an effect
3412 when no board textures are used.
3413 @item -trueColors true/false
3414 @cindex trueColors, option
3415 When set, this option suppresses the effect of the
3416 PieceColor options mentioned above.
3417 This is recommended for images that are already colored.
3418 @item -useBoardTexture true/false
3419 @itemx -liteBackTextureFile filename
3420 @itemx -darkBackTextureFile filename
3421 @cindex useBoardTexture, option
3422 @cindex liteBackTextureFile, option
3423 @cindex darkBackTextureFile, option
3424 Indicate the png image files to be used for drawing the board squares,
3425 and if they should be used rather than using simple colors.
3426 The algorithm for cutting squares out of a given bitmap is such that
3427 the picture is perfectly reproduced when a bitmap the size of
3428 the complete board is given.
3429 If the filename ends in "-NxM.png", with integer N and M,
3430 it is assumed to contain a bitmap of a complete board of N files
3431 and M ranks, and XBoard will scale it to exactly match the
3432 current square size.
3433 If N=M=0 it scales the entire bitmap to the size of the board,
3434 irrespective of the number of files and ranks of the latter.
3435 Without any -NxM suffix textures are only blown up by an integer
3436 factor when they are smaller than the square size, or,
3437 when the name starts with "xq", too small to cover the
3438 complete Xiangqi board.
3439 Default: false and ""
3440 @item -drag/-xdrag or -animateDragging true/false
3441 @cindex drag, option
3442 @cindex animateDragging, option
3443 Sets the Animate Dragging menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3444 @item -animate/-xanimate or -animateMoving true/false
3445 @cindex animate, option
3446 @cindex animateMoving, option
3447 Sets the Animate Moving menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3448 @item -animateSpeed n
3449 @cindex -animateSpeed, option
3450 Number of milliseconds delay between each animation frame when Animate
3452 @item -autoDisplayComment true/false
3453 @itemx -autoDisplayTags true/false
3454 @cindex -autoDisplayComment, option
3455 @cindex -autoDisplayTags, option
3456 If set to true, these options cause the window with the move comments,
3457 and the window with PGN tags, respectively, to pop up automatically when
3458 such tags or comments are encountered during the replaying a stored or
3459 loaded game. Default: true.
3460 @item -pasteSelection true/false
3461 @cindex -pasteSelection, option
3462 If this option is set to true, the Paste Position and Paste Game
3463 options paste from the currently selected text. If false, they paste
3464 from the clipboard. Default: false.
3465 @item -autoCopyPV true|false
3466 @cindex autoCopyPV, option
3467 When this option is set, the position displayed on the board when
3468 you terminate a PV walk
3469 (initiated by a right-click on board or engine-output window)
3470 will be automatically put on the clipboard as FEN.
3472 @item -dropMenu true|false
3473 @cindex dropMenu, option
3474 This option allows you to emulate old behavior,
3475 where the right mouse button brings up the (now deprecated) drop menu
3476 rather than displaying the position at the end of the principal variation.
3478 @item -pieceMenu true|false
3479 @cindex pieceMenu, option
3480 This option allows you to emulate old behavior,
3481 where the right mouse button brings up the (now deprecated) piece menu
3482 in Edit Position mode.
3483 From this menu you can select the piece to put on the square you
3484 clicked to bring up the menu,
3485 or select items such as @kbd{clear board}.
3486 You can also @kbd{promote} or @kbd{demote} a clicked piece to convert
3487 it into an unorthodox piece that is not directly in the menu,
3488 or give the move to @kbd{black} or @kbd{white}.
3489 @item -variations true|false
3490 @cindex variations, option
3491 When this option is on, you can start new variations in Edit Game or
3492 Analyze mode by holding the Shift key down while entering a move.
3493 When it is off, the Shift key will be ignored.
3495 @item -appendPV true|false
3496 @cindex appendPV, option
3497 When this option is on, a button 3 click left of a PV in the Engine
3498 Output window will play the first move of that PV in Analyze mode,
3499 or as many moves as you walk through it by moving the mouse.
3501 @item -absoluteAnalysisScores true|false
3502 @cindex absoluteAnalysisScores, option
3503 When true, scores on the Engine Output window during analysis
3504 will be printed from the white point-of-view, rather than the
3505 side-to-move point-of-view.
3507 @item -scoreWhite true|false
3508 @cindex scoreWhite, option
3509 When true, scores will always be printed from the white point-of-view,
3510 rather than the side-to-move point-of-view.
3512 @item -memoHeaders true|false
3513 @cindex memoHeaders, option
3514 When true, column headers will be displayed in the Engine Output window
3515 for the depth, score, time and nodes data.
3516 A button 3 click on these headers will hide or show the corresponding data.
3517 (Not intended for dynamic use, as already printed data of the current search
3518 will not be affected!)
3522 @node Adjudication Options
3523 @section Adjudication Options
3524 @cindex Options, adjudication
3526 @item -adjudicateLossThreshold n
3527 @cindex adjudicateLossThreshold, option
3528 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a loss
3529 if both engines agree for a duration of 6 consecutive ply that the score
3530 is below the given score threshold for that engine. Make sure the score
3531 is interpreted properly by XBoard,
3532 using @code{-firstScoreAbs} and @code{-secondScoreAbs} if needed.
3533 Default: 0 (no adjudication)
3534 @item -adjudicateDrawMoves n
3535 @cindex adjudicateDrawMoves, option
3536 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a draw
3537 if after the given number of moves it was not yet decided. Default: 0 (no adjudication)
3538 @item -checkMates true/false
3539 @cindex checkMates, option
3540 If this option is set, XBoard detects all checkmates and stalemates,
3541 and ends the game as soon as they occur.
3542 Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work.
3544 @item -testClaims true/false
3545 @cindex testClaims, option
3546 If this option is set, XBoard verifies all result claims made by engines,
3547 and those who send false claims will forfeit the game because of it.
3548 Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true
3549 @item -materialDraws true/false
3550 @cindex materialDraws, option
3551 If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws when there is
3552 no sufficient material left to inflict a checkmate.
3553 This applies to KBKB with like bishops (any number, actually), and to KBK, KNK and KK.
3554 Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true
3555 @item -trivialDraws true/false
3556 @cindex trivialDraws, option
3557 If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws that cannot be
3558 usually won without opponent cooperation. This applies to KBKB with unlike bishops,
3559 and to KBKN, KNKN, KNNK, KRKR and KQKQ. The draw is called after 6 ply into these end-games,
3560 to allow quick mates that can occur in some exceptional positions to be found by the engines.
3561 KQKQ does not really belong in this category, and might be taken out in the future.
3562 (When bitbase-based adjudications are implemented.)
3563 Legality-testing must be on for this option to work. Default: false
3565 @cindex ruleMoves, option
3566 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a draw after the given
3567 number of consecutive reversible moves. Engine draw claims are always accepted after 50 moves,
3568 irrespective of the given value of n.
3569 @item -repeatsToDraw n
3570 If the given value is non-zero, xboard adjudicates the game as a draw if a position
3571 is repeated the given number of times. Engines draw claims are always accepted after 3 repeats,
3572 (on the 3rd occurrence, actually), irrespective of the value of n.
3573 Beware that positions that have different castling or en-passant rights do not count
3574 as repeats, XBoard is fully e.p. and castling aware!
3577 @node Install options
3578 @section Install options
3579 @cindex Options, install
3581 @item --show-config parameter
3582 @cindex show-config, option
3583 When called with this option, XBoard will close immediately after printing the
3584 value of the indicated configuration parameter, or, when no parameter was given,
3585 after printing a list of all such parameters.
3586 Currently the only valid values for parameter are Datadir and Sysconfdir.
3587 This option can be used by install scripts for board themes
3588 to figure out where the currently active XBoard stores its data.
3589 @item -date timestamp
3590 @itemx -saveDate timestamp
3591 @cindex date, option
3592 @cindex saveDate, option
3593 These options specify an epoch as an integer number.
3594 The @code{saveDate} option is written by XBoard in the settings file every time the
3595 settings are saved, with the current time, so that later runs of XBoard can know this.
3596 The @code{date} option can be included in settings files to indicate when lines
3597 following it were added to those files.
3598 Some options will be ignored if the epoch specified by the latest @code{date} option
3599 predates the -saveDate setting (implying they must have been seen before).
3600 @item -autoInstall list
3601 @cindex autoInstall, option
3602 When the list is set to a non-empty string, XBoard will scan the
3603 operating system's plugin directory for engines supporting UCI
3604 and XBoard protocol at startup.
3605 When it finds an engine that was installed after it last saved
3606 its settings, a line to launch that engine (as per specs in
3607 the plugin file) is appended to the -firstChessProgramNames
3608 list of installed engines.
3609 In the future it will be possible to use the autoInstall list to limit
3610 this automatic adding of engines based on the chess variant they play.
3611 @item -addMasterOption string
3612 @cindex addMasterOption, option
3613 Adds the mentioned string as an additional line of XBoard's master settings file,
3614 after adding a line with a @code{date} option to timestamp it.
3615 Intended to add options of the 'install' type (see below) to the master file,
3616 which will then be processed by any XBoard that has not seen them since
3617 it last saved its settings.
3619 @cindex autoClose, option
3620 The presence of this option cause XBoard to close immediately after processing
3621 all its options (from settings file and command line).
3622 Typically used from install scripts together with options that change XBoard's
3623 settings files, so that XBoard can be run in batch mode rather than interactively.
3624 @item -installEngine string
3625 @cindex installEngine, option
3626 Adds the given string as an additional line to the value of the
3627 @code{firstChessProgramNames} option when the -saveDate setting preceeds the -date setting.
3628 Intended for adding to the master settings file with the aid of -addMasterOption
3629 in the install script of engines, as a method for broadcasting the presence
3630 of a new engine to all users,
3631 which would then see it automatically registered with XBoard.
3632 Made obsolete by the advent of the plugin standard (see the @code{autoInstall} option),
3633 which broadcasts such presence in a non-XBoard-specific way
3634 by dropping *.eng files in a certain system directory.
3635 @item -installTheme string
3636 @cindex installTheme, option
3637 Adds the given string as an additional line to the value of the
3638 -themeNames option when the -saveDate setting preceeds the -date setting.
3639 Intended for adding to the master settings file with the aid of -addMasterOption
3640 in the install script of board graphics themes,
3641 as a method for broadcasting the availability of a new theme to all users,
3642 who would then see the theme appear automatically in the listbox in the
3643 View Board menu dialog next time they run XBoard.
3647 @section Other options
3648 @cindex Options, miscellaneous
3650 @item -ncp/-xncp or -noChessProgram true/false
3652 @cindex noChessProgram, option
3653 If this option is true, XBoard acts as a passive chessboard; it
3654 does not start a chess engine at all. Turning on this option
3655 also turns off clockMode. Default: false.
3657 @itemx -viewerOptions string
3658 @cindex viewer, option
3659 @cindex viewerOptions, option
3660 Presence of the volatile option @code{viewer} on the command line
3661 will cause the value of the persistent option @code{viewerOptions}
3662 as stored in the settings file to be appended to the command line.
3663 The @code{view} option will be used by desktop associations with
3664 game or position file types, so that @code{viewerOptions} can be
3665 used to configure the exact mode XBoard will start in when it
3666 should act on such a file (e.g. in -ncp mode, or analyzing
3667 with your favorite engine). The options are also automatically
3668 appended when Board is invoked with a single argument not being
3669 an option name, which is then assumed to be the name of a
3670 @code{loadGameFile} or (when the name ends in .fen) a
3671 @code{loadPositionFile}.
3672 Default: "-ncp -engineOutputUp false -saveSettingsOnExit false".
3673 @item -tourneyOptions string
3674 @cindex tourneyOptions, option
3675 When XBoard is invoked with a single argument that is a file
3676 with .trn extension, it will assume this argument to be the value
3677 of a @code{tourneyFile} option,
3678 and append the value of the persistent option @code{tourneyOptions}
3679 as stored in the settings file to the command line.
3680 Thus the value of @code{tourneyOptions} can be
3681 used to configure XBoard to automatically start running a
3682 tournament when it should act on such a file.
3683 Default: "-ncp -mm -saveSettingsOnExit false".
3684 @item -mode or -initialMode modename
3685 @cindex mode, option
3686 @cindex initalMode, option
3687 If this option is given, XBoard selects the given modename
3688 from the Mode menu after starting and (if applicable) processing the
3689 loadGameFile or loadPositionFile option. Default: "" (no selection).
3690 Other supported values are
3691 MachineWhite, MachineBlack, TwoMachines, Analysis,
3692 AnalyzeFile, EditGame, EditPosition, and Training.
3693 @item -variant varname
3694 @cindex variant, option
3695 Activates (sometimes partial) support for playing chess variants
3696 against a local engine or editing variant games. This flag is not
3697 needed in ICS mode. Recognized variant names are:
3701 wildcastle Shuffle chess, king can castle from d file
3702 nocastle Shuffle chess, no castling allowed
3703 fischerandom Fischer Random shuffle chess
3704 bughouse Bughouse, ICC/FICS rules
3705 crazyhouse Crazyhouse, ICC/FICS rules
3706 losers Lose all pieces or get mated (ICC wild 17)
3707 suicide Lose all pieces including king (FICS)
3708 giveaway Try to have no legal moves (ICC wild 26)
3709 twokings Weird ICC wild 9
3710 kriegspiel Opponent's pieces are invisible
3711 atomic Capturing piece explodes (ICC wild 27)
3712 3check Win by giving check 3 times (ICC wild 25)
3713 shatranj An ancient precursor of chess (ICC wild 28)
3714 xiangqi Chinese Chess (on a 9x10 board)
3715 shogi Japanese Chess (on a 9x9 board & piece drops)
3716 capablanca Capablanca Chess (10x8 board, with Archbishop
3717 and Chancellor pieces)
3718 gothic similar, with a better initial position
3719 caparandom An FRC-like version of Capablanca Chess (10x8)
3720 janus A game with two Archbishops (10x8 board)
3721 courier Medieval intermediate between shatranj and
3722 modern Chess (on 12x8 board)
3723 falcon Patented 10x8 variant with two Falcon pieces
3724 berolina Pawns capture straight ahead, and move diagonally
3725 cylinder Pieces wrap around the board edge
3726 knightmate King moves as Knight, and vice versa
3727 super Superchess (shuffle variant with 4 exo-pieces)
3728 makruk Thai Chess (shatranj-like, P promotes on 6th rank)
3729 asean ASEAN Chess (a modernized version of Makruk)
3730 spartan Spartan Chess (black has unorthodox pieces)
3731 great Great Shatranj, a 10x8 variant without sliders
3732 grand Grand Chess, on 10x10 with Capablanca pieces
3733 lion Mighty-Lion Chess, with a multi-capturing Lion
3734 elven Eleven Chess, with Lion and crowned sliders on 10x10
3735 chu Chu Shogi, historic 12x12 variant with 2x46 pieces
3736 fairy A catchall variant in which all piece types
3737 known to XBoard can participate (8x8)
3738 unknown Catchall for other unknown variants
3741 In the shuffle variants, XBoard does shuffle the pieces, although
3742 you can still do it by hand using Edit Position. Some variants are
3743 supported only in ICS mode, including bughouse, and
3745 Berolina and cylinder chess are only partially supported,
3746 and can only be played with legality testing off.
3748 Apart from these standard variants, engines can define variants
3749 of arbitrary names, briefing XBoard transparently on the rules
3750 for piece movement, board size and initial setup,
3751 so that they work nearly as well as fully-supported standard variants.
3752 (But obviously only while using that engine.)
3753 The user might have to alter the adjudication settings for some
3754 variants, however. E.g. it makes no sense to adjudicate a draw
3755 after 50 reversible moves in variants that have a 64-move rule,
3756 or no similar rule at all.
3758 Default: "normal". Except when the first engine gave an explicit list
3759 of variants it supports, and 'normal' is not amongst those.
3760 In that case the first variant the engine mentioned it did play will
3762 @item -boardHeight N
3763 @cindex boardHeight, option
3764 Allows you to set a non-standard number of board ranks in any variant.
3765 If the height is given as -1, the default height for the variant is used.
3768 @cindex boardWidth, option
3769 Allows you to set a non-standard number of board files in any variant.
3770 If the width is given as -1, the default width for the variant is used.
3771 With a non-standard width, the initial position will always be an empty board,
3772 as the usual opening array will not fit.
3774 @item -holdingsSize N
3775 @cindex holdingsSize, option
3776 Allows you to set a non-standard size for the holdings in any variant.
3777 If the size is given as -1, the default holdings size for the variant is used.
3778 The first N piece types will go into the holdings on capture, and you will be
3779 able to drop them on the board in stead of making a normal move. If size equals 0,
3780 there will be no holdings.
3782 @item -defaultFrcPosition N
3783 @cindex defaultFrcPosition, option
3784 Specifies the number of the opening position in shuffle games like Chess960.
3785 A value of -1 means the position is randomly generated by XBoard
3786 at the beginning of every game.
3788 @item -pieceToCharTable string
3789 @cindex pieceToCharTable, option
3790 The characters that are used to represent the piece types XBoard knows in FEN
3791 diagrams and SAN moves.
3792 You should not have to use this option often: each variant has its own default
3793 setting for the piece representation in FEN, which should be sufficient in normal use.
3794 The string argument has to specify an even number of pieces
3795 (or it will be ignored), as white and black pieces have to be given separately
3796 (in that order). The last letter for each color will be the King.
3797 The letters before that will be PNBRQ and then a whole host of fairy pieces
3798 in an order that has not fully crystallized yet (currently FEACWMOHIJGDVLSU,
3799 F=Ferz, Elephant, A=Archbishop, C=Chancellor, W=Wazir, M=Commoner, O=Cannon,
3800 H=Nightrider). You should list at least all pieces that occur in the variant
3801 you are playing. If you have fewer characters in the string than XBoard has
3802 pieces, the pieces not mentioned will get assigned a period,
3803 and will not be usable in the variant.
3804 You can also explicitly assign pieces a period, in which case they
3805 will not be counted in deciding which captured pieces can go into the holdings.
3806 A tilde '~' as a piece name does mean this piece is used to represent a promoted
3807 Pawn in crazyhouse-like games, i.e. on capture it turns back to a Pawn.
3808 A '+' similarly indicates the piece is a shogi-style promoted piece, that should
3809 revert to its non-promoted version on capture (rather than to a Pawn).
3810 By default the second 11 pieces known to XBoard are the promoted forms of the first 11.
3811 A piece specified by the character combination ^ plus letter will be assumed
3812 to be the promoted form of the piece indicated by that letter,
3813 and get a '+' assigned.
3814 To get around the limitation of the alphabet,
3815 piece IDs can also be 'dressed letters', i.e. a single letter
3816 (upper case for white, lower case for black)
3817 followed by a single quote or an exclamation point.
3818 Default: "" (meaning the default for the variant is used).
3819 @item -pieceNickNames string
3820 @cindex pieceNickNames, option
3821 The characters in the string are interpreted the same way as in the
3822 @code{pieceToCharTable} option. But on input, piece-ID letters are
3823 first looked up in the nicknames, and only if not defined there,
3824 in the normal pieceToCharTable. This allows you to have two letters
3825 designate the same piece, (e.g. N as an alternative to H for Horse
3826 in Xiangqi), to make reading of non-compliant notations easier.
3828 @item -colorNickNames string
3829 @cindex colorNickNames, option
3830 The side-to-move field in a FEN will be first matched against the letters
3831 in the string (first character for white, second for black),
3832 before it is matched to the regular 'w' and 'b'.
3833 This makes it easier to read non-compliant FENs,
3834 which, say, use 'r' for white.
3836 @item -debug/-xdebug or -debugMode true/false
3837 @cindex debug, option
3838 @cindex debugMode, option
3839 Turns on debugging printout.
3840 @item -debugFile filename or -nameOfDebugFile filename
3841 @cindex debugFile, option
3842 @cindex nameOfDebugFile, option
3843 Sets the name of the file to which XBoard saves debug information
3844 (including all communication to and from the engines).
3845 A @kbd{%d} in the given file name (e.g. game%d.debug) will be replaced
3846 by the unique sequence number of a tournament game,
3847 so that the debug output of each game will be written on a separate file.
3848 @item -engineDebugOutput number
3849 @cindex engineDebugOutput, option
3850 Specifies how XBoard should handle unsolicited output from the engine,
3851 with respect to saving it in the debug file.
3852 The output is further (hopefully) ignored.
3853 If number=0, XBoard refrains from writing such spurious output to the debug file.
3854 If number=1, all engine output is written faithfully to the debug file.
3855 If number=2, any protocol-violating line is prefixed with a '#' character,
3856 as the engine itself should have done if it wanted to submit info for inclusion in the debug file.
3857 This option is provided for the benefit of applications that use the debug file
3858 as a source of information, such as the broadcaster of live games TLCV / TLCS.
3859 Such applications can be protected from spurious engine output that might otherwise confuse them.
3860 @item -rsh or -remoteShell shell-name
3862 @cindex remoteShell, option
3863 Name of the command used to run programs remotely. The default
3864 is @file{rsh} or @file{remsh}, determined when XBoard is
3865 configured and compiled.
3866 @item -ruser or -remoteUser user-name
3867 @cindex ruser, option
3868 @cindex remoteUser, option
3869 User name on the remote system when running programs with the
3870 @code{remoteShell}. The default is your local user name.
3871 @item -userName username
3872 @cindex userName, option
3873 Name under which the Human player will be listed in the PGN file.
3874 Default is the login name on your local computer.
3875 @item -delayBeforeQuit number
3876 @itemx -delayAfterQuit number
3877 @cindex delayBeforeQuit, option
3878 @cindex delayAfterQuit, option
3879 These options order pauses before and after sending the "quit" command to an engine that must be terminated.
3880 The pause between quit and the previous command is specified in milliseconds.
3881 The pause after quit is used to schedule a kill signal to be sent to the engine process after the
3882 number of specified seconds plus one.
3883 This signal is a different one as the terminiation signal described in the protocol specs
3884 which engines can suppress or ignore, and which is sent directly after the "quit" command.
3885 Setting @code{delayAfterQuit} to -1 will suppress sending of the kill signal.
3888 @cindex searchMode, option
3889 The integer n encodes the mode for the @samp{find position} function.
3890 Default: 1 (= Exact position match)
3891 @item -eloThresholdBoth elo
3892 @itemx -eloThresholdAny elo
3893 @cindex eloThresholdBoth, option
3894 @cindex eloThresholdAny, option
3895 Defines a lower limit for the Elo rating, which has to be surpassed
3896 before a game will be considered when searching for a board position.
3898 @item -dateThreshold year
3899 @cindex dateThreshold, option
3900 Only games not played before the given year will be considered when
3901 searching for a board position
3907 @chapter Chess Servers
3909 @cindex ICS, addresses
3910 @cindex Internet Chess Server
3911 An @dfn{Internet Chess Server}, or @dfn{ICS}, is a place on the
3912 Internet where people can get together to play chess, watch other
3913 people's games, or just chat. You can use either @code{telnet} or a
3914 client program like XBoard to connect to the server. There are
3915 thousands of registered users on the different ICS hosts, and it is
3916 not unusual to meet 200 on both chessclub.com and freechess.org.
3918 Most people can just type @kbd{xboard -ics} to start XBoard as an ICS
3919 client. Invoking XBoard in this way connects you to the Internet
3920 Chess Club (ICC), a commercial ICS. You can log in there as a guest
3921 even if you do not have a paid account. To connect to the largest
3922 Free ICS (FICS), use the command @kbd{xboard -ics -icshost freechess.org}
3923 instead, or substitute a different host name to connect to your
3925 For a full description of command-line options that control
3926 the connection to ICS and change the default values of ICS options, see
3929 While you are running XBoard as an ICS client,
3930 you use the terminal window that you started XBoard from
3931 as a place to type in commands and read information that is
3932 not available on the chessboard.
3934 The first time you need to use the terminal is to enter your login name
3935 and password, if you are a registered player. (You don't need to do
3936 this manually; the @code{icsLogon} option can do it for you.
3937 @pxref{ICS options}.) If you are not registered,
3938 enter @kbd{g} as your name, and the server will pick a
3939 unique guest name for you.
3941 Some useful ICS commands
3945 @cindex help, ICS command
3946 to get help on the given <topic>. To get a list of possible topics type
3947 @dfn{help} without topic. Try the help command before you ask other
3948 people on the server for help.
3950 For example @kbd{help register} tells you how to become a registered
3953 @cindex who, ICS command
3954 to see a list of people who are logged on. Administrators
3955 (people you should talk to if you have a problem) are marked
3956 with the character @samp{*}, an asterisk. The <flags> allow you to
3957 display only selected players: For example, @kbd{who of} shows a
3958 list of players who are interested in playing but do not have
3961 @cindex games, ICS command
3962 to see what games are being played
3963 @item match <player> [<mins>] [<inc>]
3964 to challenge another player to a game. Both opponents get <mins> minutes
3965 for the game, and <inc> seconds will be added after each move.
3966 If another player challenges you, the server asks if you want to
3967 accept the challenge; use the @kbd{accept} or @kbd{decline} commands
3971 @cindex accept, ICS command
3972 @cindex decline, ICS command
3973 to accept or decline another player's offer.
3974 The offer may be to start a new game, or to agree to a
3975 @kbd{draw}, @kbd{adjourn} or @kbd{abort} the current game. @xref{Action Menu}.
3977 If you have more than one pending offer (for example, if more than one player
3978 is challenging you, or if your opponent offers both a draw and to adjourn the
3979 game), you have to supply additional information, by typing something
3980 like @kbd{accept <player>}, @kbd{accept draw}, or @kbd{draw}.
3984 @cindex draw, ICS command
3985 @cindex adjourn, ICS command
3986 @cindex abort, ICS command
3987 asks your opponent to terminate a game by mutual agreement. Adjourned
3988 games can be continued later.
3989 Your opponent can either @kbd{decline} your offer or accept it (by typing the
3990 same command or typing @kbd{accept}). In some cases these commands work
3991 immediately, without asking your opponent to agree. For example, you can
3992 abort the game unilaterally if your opponent is out of time, and you can claim
3993 a draw by repetition or the 50-move rule if available simply by typing
3995 @item finger <player>
3996 @cindex finger, ICS command
3997 to get information about the given <player>. (Default: yourself.)
3999 @cindex vars, ICS command
4000 to get a list of personal settings
4001 @item set <var> <value>
4002 @cindex set, ICS command
4003 to modify these settings
4004 @item observe <player>
4005 @cindex observe, ICS command
4006 to observe an ongoing game of the given <player>.
4009 @cindex examine, ICS command
4010 @cindex oldmoves, ICS command
4011 to review a recently completed game
4014 Some special XBoard features are activated when you are
4015 in examine mode on ICS. See the descriptions of the menu commands
4016 @samp{Forward}, @samp{Backward}, @samp{Pause}, @samp{ICS Client},
4017 and @samp{Stop Examining} on the @ref{Edit Menu}, @ref{Mode Menu}, and
4022 By default, XBoard communicates with an Internet Chess Server
4023 by opening a TCP socket directly from the machine it is running on
4024 to the ICS. If there is a firewall between your machine and the ICS,
4025 this won't work. Here are some recipes for getting around common
4026 kinds of firewalls using special options to XBoard.
4027 Important: See the paragraph in the below about extra echoes, in
4030 Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can telnet
4031 to a firewall host, log in, and then telnet from there to ICS.
4032 Let's say the firewall is called @samp{firewall.example.com}. Set
4033 command-line options as follows:
4036 xboard -ics -icshost firewall.example.com -icsport 23
4039 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, you will be prompted
4040 to log in to the firewall host. This works because port 23 is the
4041 standard telnet login service. Do so, then telnet to ICS, using a
4042 command like @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000}, or whatever command
4043 the firewall provides for telnetting to port 5000.
4045 If your firewall lets you telnet (or rlogin) to remote hosts but
4046 doesn't let you telnet to port 5000, you may be able to connect to the
4047 chess server on port 23 instead, which is the port the telnet program
4048 uses by default. Some chess servers support this (including
4049 chessclub.com and freechess.org), while some do not.
4051 If your chess server does not allow connections on port 23 and your
4052 firewall does not allow you to connect to other ports, you may be able
4053 to connect by hopping through another host outside the firewall that
4054 you have an account on. For instance, suppose you have a shell
4055 account at @samp{foo.edu}. Follow the recipe above, but instead of
4056 typing @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000} to the firewall, type
4057 @samp{telnet foo.edu} (or @samp{rlogin foo.edu}), log in there, and
4058 then type @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000}.
4060 Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can use rsh
4061 to run programs on a firewall host, and that host can telnet to ICS.
4062 Let's say the firewall is called @samp{rsh.example.com}. Set
4063 command-line options as follows:
4066 xboard -ics -gateway rsh.example.com -icshost chessclub.com
4070 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will connect to
4071 the ICS by using @file{rsh} to run the command
4072 @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000} on host @samp{rsh.example.com}.
4074 Suppose that you can telnet anywhere you want, but you have to
4075 run a special program called @file{ptelnet} to do so.
4077 First, we'll consider the easy case, in which
4078 @samp{ptelnet chessclub.com 5000} gets you to the chess server.
4079 In this case set command line options as follows:
4082 xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet
4086 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the
4087 command @samp{ptelnet chessclub.com 5000} to connect to the ICS.
4089 Next, suppose that @samp{ptelnet chessclub.com 5000} doesn't work;
4090 that is, your @file{ptelnet} program doesn't let you connect to
4091 alternative ports. As noted above, your chess server may allow you to
4092 connect on port 23 instead. In that case, just add the option
4093 @samp{-icsport ""} to the above command.
4094 But if your chess server doesn't let you connect on port 23, you will have
4095 to find some other host outside the firewall and hop through it. For
4096 instance, suppose you have a shell account at @samp{foo.edu}. Set
4097 command line options as follows:
4100 xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet -icshost foo.edu -icsport ""
4104 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the
4105 command @samp{ptelnet foo.edu} to connect to your account at
4106 @samp{foo.edu}. Log in there, then type @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000}.
4108 ICC timestamp and FICS timeseal do not work through some
4109 firewalls. You can use them only if your firewall gives a clean TCP
4110 connection with a full 8-bit wide path. If your firewall allows you
4111 to get out only by running a special telnet program, you can't use
4112 timestamp or timeseal across it. But if you have access to a
4113 computer just outside your firewall, and you have much lower netlag
4114 when talking to that computer than to the ICS, it might be worthwhile
4115 running timestamp there. Follow the instructions above for hopping
4116 through a host outside the firewall (foo.edu in the example),
4117 but run timestamp or timeseal on that host instead of telnet.
4119 Suppose that you have a SOCKS firewall that will give you a clean
4120 8-bit wide TCP connection to the chess server, but only after you
4121 authenticate yourself via the SOCKS protocol. In that case, you could
4122 make a socksified version of XBoard and run that. If you are using
4123 timestamp or timeseal, you will to socksify it, not XBoard; this may
4124 be difficult seeing that ICC and FICS do not provide source code for
4125 these programs. Socksification is beyond the scope of this document,
4126 but see the SOCKS Web site at http://www.socks.permeo.com/.
4127 If you are missing SOCKS, try http://www.funbureau.com/.
4130 @chapter Environment variables
4131 @cindex Environment variables
4133 Game and position files are found in a directory named by the
4134 @code{CHESSDIR} environment variable. If this variable is not set, the
4135 current working directory is used. If @code{CHESSDIR} is set,
4136 XBoard actually changes its working directory to
4137 @code{$CHESSDIR}, so any files written by the chess engine
4138 will be placed there too.
4141 @chapter Limitations and known bugs
4144 There is no way for two people running copies of XBoard to play
4145 each other without going through an Internet Chess Server.
4147 Under some circumstances, your ICS password may be echoed when you log on.
4149 If you are connecting to the ICS by running telnet on an Internet
4150 provider or firewall host, you may find that each line you type is
4151 echoed back an extra time after you hit @key{Enter}. If your Internet
4152 provider is a Unix system, you can probably turn its echo off by
4153 typing @kbd{stty -echo} after you log in, and/or typing
4154 @key{^E}@key{Enter} (Ctrl+E followed by the Enter key) to the telnet
4155 program after you have logged into ICS. It is a good idea to do this
4156 if you can, because the extra echo can occasionally confuse XBoard's
4159 The game parser recognizes only algebraic notation.
4161 Many of the following points used to be limitations in XBoard 4.2.7 and earlier,
4163 The internal move legality tester in XBoard 4.3.xx does look at the game history,
4164 and is fully aware of castling or en-passant-capture rights. It permits castling with
4165 the king on the d file because this is possible in some "wild 1" games on ICS.
4166 The piece-drop menu does not check piece drops in bughouse to see if you actually hold
4167 the piece you are trying to drop. But this way of dropping pieces should be considered
4168 an obsolete feature, now that pieces can be dropped by dragging them from the holdings
4169 to the board. Anyway, if you would attempt an illegal move when using a chess engine or the ICS,
4170 XBoard will accept the error message that comes back, undo the move, and let you try another.
4171 FEN positions saved by XBoard do include correct information about whether castling or
4172 en passant are legal, and also handle the 50-move counter.
4173 The mate detector does not understand that non-contact mate is not really mate in bughouse.
4174 The only problem this causes while playing is minor: a "#" (mate indicator) character will
4175 show up after a non-contact mating move in the move list. XBoard will not assume the game
4176 is over at that point, not even when the option Detect Mates is on.
4177 Edit Game mode always uses the rules of the selected variant,
4178 which can be a variant that uses piece drops.
4179 You can load and edit games that contain piece drops.
4180 The (obsolete) piece menus are not active,
4181 but you can perform piece drops by dragging pieces from the holdings.
4182 Fischer Random castling is fully understood.
4183 You can enter castlings by dragging the King on top of your Rook.
4184 You can probably also play Fischer Random successfully on ICS by typing
4185 castling moves into the ICS Interaction window.
4187 The menus may not work if your keyboard is in Caps Lock or Num Lock mode.
4188 This seems to be a problem with the Athena menu widget,
4191 Also see the ToDo file included with the distribution for many other
4192 possible bugs, limitations, and ideas for improvement that have been
4195 @chapter Reporting problems
4198 @cindex Reporting bugs
4200 @cindex Reporting problems
4202 You can report bugs and problems with XBoard using
4203 the bug tracker at @code{https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/}
4204 or by sending mail to @code{<bug-xboard@@gnu.org>}. It can also
4205 be useful to report or discuss bugs in the WinBoard Forum at
4206 @code{http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/},
4207 WinBoard development section.
4209 Please use the @file{script} program to start a typescript, run
4210 XBoard with the @samp{-debug} option, and include the typescript
4211 output in your message.
4212 Also tell us what kind of machine and what operating system version
4213 you are using. The command @samp{uname -a} will often tell you this.
4215 If you improve XBoard, please send a message about your changes,
4216 and we will get in touch with you about merging them in
4217 to the main line of development.
4220 @chapter Authors and contributors
4222 @cindex Contributors
4224 Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original XBoard. They were
4225 responsible for versions 1.0 through 1.2. The color scheme was taken
4226 from Wayne Christopher's @code{XChess} program.
4228 Tim Mann was primarily responsible for XBoard versions 1.3 through
4229 4.2.7, and for WinBoard (a port of XBoard to Microsoft Win32) from its
4230 inception through version 4.2.7.
4232 John Chanak contributed the initial implementation of ICS mode. Evan
4233 Welsh wrote @code{CMail}, and Patrick Surry helped in designing,
4234 testing, and documenting it. Elmar Bartel contributed the new piece
4235 bitmaps introduced in version 3.2. Jochen Wiedmann converted the
4236 documentation to texinfo. Frank McIngvale added click/click moving,
4237 the Analysis modes, piece flashing, ZIICS import, and ICS text
4238 colorization to XBoard. Hugh Fisher added animated piece movement to
4239 XBoard, and Henrik Gram added it to WinBoard. Mark Williams
4240 contributed the initial (WinBoard-only) implementation of many new
4241 features added to both XBoard and WinBoard in version 4.1.0, including
4242 copy/paste, premove, icsAlarm, autoFlipView, training mode, auto
4243 raise, and blindfold. Ben Nye contributed X copy/paste code for
4246 In a fork from version 4.2.7, Alessandro Scotti added many elements to
4247 the user interface of WinBoard, including the board textures and
4248 font-based rendering, the evaluation-graph, move-history and
4249 engine-output window. He was also responsible for adding the UCI
4252 H. G. Muller continued this fork of the project, producing version
4253 4.3. He made WinBoard castling- and e.p.-aware, added variant support
4254 with adjustable board sizes, the crazyhouse holdings, and the fairy
4255 pieces. In addition he added most of the adjudication options, made
4256 WinBoard more robust in dealing with buggy and crashing engines, and
4257 extended time control with a time-odds and node-count-based modes.
4258 Most of the options that initially were WinBoard only have now been
4259 back-ported to XBoard.
4261 Michel van den Bergh provided the code for reading Polyglot opening books.
4263 Meanwhile, some work continued on the GNU XBoard project maintained at
4264 savannah.gnu.org, but version 4.2.8 was never released. Daniel
4265 Mehrmann was responsible for much of this work.
4267 Most recently, Arun Persaud worked with H. G. Muller to merge all
4268 the features of the never-released XBoard/WinBoard 4.2.8 of the GNU
4269 XBoard project and the never-released 4.3.16 from H. G.'s fork into a
4270 unified XBoard/WinBoard 4.4, which is now available both from the
4271 savannah.gnu.org web site and the WinBoard forum.
4276 The @file{cmail} program can help you play chess by email with opponents of
4277 your choice using XBoard as an interface.
4279 You will usually run @file{cmail} without giving any options.
4282 * CMail options:: Invoking CMail.
4283 * CMail game:: Starting a CMail game.
4284 * CMail answer:: Answering a move.
4285 * CMail multi:: Multiple games in one message.
4286 * CMail completion:: Completing a game.
4287 * CMail trouble:: Known CMail problems.
4291 @section CMail options
4294 Displays @file{cmail} usage information.
4296 Shows the conditions of the GNU General Public License.
4299 Shows the warranty notice of the GNU General Public License.
4303 Provides or inhibits verbose output from @file{cmail} and XBoard,
4304 useful for debugging. The
4306 form also inhibits the cmail introduction message.
4309 Invokes or inhibits the sending of a mail message containing the move.
4312 Invokes or inhibits the running of XBoard on the game file.
4315 Invokes or inhibits the reuse of an existing XBoard to display the
4318 Resends the last mail message for that game. This inhibits running
4321 The name of the game to be processed.
4322 @item -wgames <number>
4323 @itemx -bgames <number>
4324 @itemx -games <number>
4325 Number of games to start as White, as Black or in total. Default is 1 as
4326 white and none as black. If only one color is specified then none of the
4327 other color is assumed. If no color is specified then equal numbers of
4328 White and Black games are started, with the extra game being as White if an
4329 odd number of total games is specified.
4330 @item -me <short name>
4331 @itemx -opp <short name>
4332 A one-word alias for yourself or your opponent.
4333 @item -wname <full name>
4334 @itemx -bname <full name>
4335 @itemx -myname <full name>
4336 @itemx -oppname <full name>
4337 The full name of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.
4338 @item -wna <net address>
4339 @itemx -bna <net address>
4340 @itemx -na <net address>
4341 @itemx -oppna <net address>
4342 The email address of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.
4343 @item -dir <directory>
4344 The directory in which @file{cmail} keeps its files. This defaults to the
4345 environment variable @code{$CMAIL_DIR} or failing that, @code{$CHESSDIR},
4346 @file{$HOME/Chess} or @file{~/Chess}. It will be created if it does not exist.
4347 @item -arcdir <directory>
4348 The directory in which @file{cmail} archives completed games. Defaults to
4349 the environment variable @code{$CMAIL_ARCDIR} or, in its absence, the same
4350 directory as cmail keeps its working files (above).
4351 @item -mailprog <mail program>
4352 The program used by cmail to send email messages. This defaults to the
4353 environment variable @code{$CMAIL_MAILPROG} or failing that
4354 @file{/usr/ucb/Mail}, @file{/usr/ucb/mail} or @file{Mail}. You will need
4355 to set this variable if none of the above paths fit your system.
4356 @item -logFile <file>
4357 A file in which to dump verbose debugging messages that are invoked with
4360 @item -event <event>
4361 The PGN Event tag (default @samp{Email correspondence game}).
4363 The PGN Site tag (default @samp{NET}).
4364 @item -round <round>
4365 The PGN Round tag (default @samp{-}, not applicable).
4367 The PGN Mode tag (default @samp{EM}, Electronic Mail).
4369 Any option flags not listed above are passed through to XBoard.
4370 Invoking XBoard through CMail changes the default values of two XBoard
4371 options: The default value for @samp{-noChessProgram} is changed to
4372 true; that is, by default no chess engine is started. The default
4373 value for @samp{-timeDelay} is changed to 0; that is, by default
4374 XBoard immediately goes to the end of the game as played so far,
4375 rather than stepping through the moves one by one. You can still set
4376 these options to whatever values you prefer by supplying them on
4377 CMail's command line. @xref{Options}.
4381 @section Starting a CMail Game
4382 Type @file{cmail} from a shell to start a game as white. After an opening
4383 message, you will be prompted for a game name, which is optional---if you
4384 simply press @key{Enter}, the game name will take the form
4385 @samp{you-VS-opponent}. You will next be prompted for the short name
4386 of your opponent. If you haven't played this person before, you will also
4387 be prompted for his/her email address. @file{cmail} will then invoke
4388 XBoard in the background. Make your first move and select
4389 @samp{Mail Move} from the @samp{File} menu. @xref{File Menu}. If all is well,
4390 @file{cmail} will mail a copy of the move to your opponent. If you select
4391 @samp{Exit} without having selected @samp{Mail Move} then no move will be
4395 @section Answering a Move
4396 When you receive a message from an opponent containing a move in one of
4397 your games, simply pipe the message through @file{cmail}. In some mailers
4398 this is as simple as typing @kbd{| cmail} when viewing the message, while in
4399 others you may have to save the message to a file and do @kbd{cmail < file}
4400 at the command line. In either case @file{cmail} will display the game using
4401 XBoard. If you didn't exit XBoard when you made your first move
4402 then @file{cmail} will do its best to use the existing XBoard instead
4403 of starting a new one. As before, simply make a move and select
4404 @samp{Mail Move} from the @samp{File} menu. @xref{File Menu}. @file{cmail}
4406 XBoard that was most recently used to display the current game. This
4407 means that many games can be in progress simultaneously, each with its own
4410 If you want to look at the history or explore a variation, go ahead, but
4411 you must return to the current position before XBoard will allow you
4412 to mail a move. If you edit the game's history you must select
4413 @samp{Reload Same Game} from the @samp{File} menu to get back to the original
4414 position, then make the move you want and select @samp{Mail Move}.
4415 As before, if you decide you aren't ready to make a move just yet you can
4416 either select @samp{Exit} without sending a move or just leave
4417 XBoard running until you are ready.
4420 @section Multi-Game Messages
4422 It is possible to have a @file{cmail} message carry more than one game.
4423 This feature was implemented to handle IECG (International Email Chess
4424 Group) matches, where a match consists of one game as white and one as black,
4425 with moves transmitted simultaneously. In case there are more general uses,
4426 @file{cmail} itself places no limit on the number of black/white games
4427 contained in a message; however, XBoard does.
4429 @node CMail completion
4430 @section Completing a Game
4431 Because XBoard can detect checkmate and stalemate, @file{cmail}
4432 handles game termination sensibly. As well as resignation, the
4433 @samp{Action} menu allows draws to be offered and accepted for
4436 For multi-game messages, only unfinished and just-finished games will be
4437 included in email messages. When all the games are finished, they are
4438 archived in the user's archive directory, and similarly in the opponent's
4439 when he or she pipes the final message through @file{cmail}. The archive
4440 file name includes the date the game was started.
4443 @section Known CMail Problems
4444 It's possible that a strange conjunction of conditions may occasionally
4445 mean that @file{cmail} has trouble reactivating an existing
4446 XBoard. If this should happen, simply trying it again should work.
4447 If not, remove the file that stores the XBoard's PID
4448 (@file{game.pid}) or use the @samp{-xreuse} option to force
4449 @file{cmail} to start a new XBoard.
4451 Versions of @file{cmail} after 2.16 no longer understand the old file format
4452 that XBoard used to use and so cannot be used to correspond with
4453 anyone using an older version.
4455 Versions of @file{cmail} older than 2.11 do not handle multi-game messages,
4456 so multi-game correspondence is not possible with opponents using an older
4459 @node Other programs
4460 @chapter Other programs you can use with XBoard
4461 @cindex Other programs
4463 Here are some other programs you can use with XBoard
4466 * GNU Chess:: The GNU Chess engine.
4467 * Fairy-Max:: The Fairy-Max chess engine.
4468 * HoiChess:: The HoiChess chess engine.
4469 * Crafty:: The Crafty chess engine.
4475 The GNU Chess engine is available from:
4477 ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuchess/
4479 You can use XBoard to play a game against GNU Chess, or to
4480 interface GNU Chess to an ICS.
4485 Fairy-Max is a derivative from the once World's smallest Chess program micro-Max,
4486 which measures only about 100 lines of source code.
4487 The main difference with micro-Max is that Fairy-Max loads its move-generator
4488 tables from a file, so that the rules for piece movement can be easily configured
4489 to implement unorthodox pieces.
4490 Fairy-Max can therefore play a large number of variants, normal Chess being one of those.
4491 In addition it plays Knightmate, Capablanca and Gothic Chess, Shatranj, Courier Chess,
4492 Cylinder chess, Berolina Chess, while the user can easily define new variants.
4493 It can be obtained from:
4495 http://home.hccnet.nl/h.g.muller/dwnldpage.html
4500 HoiChess is a not-so-very-strong Chess engine, which comes with a derivative HoiXiangqi,
4501 able to play Chinese Chess. It can be obtained from the standard Linux repositories
4504 sudo apt-get install hoichess
4509 Crafty is a chess engine written by Bob Hyatt.
4510 You can use XBoard to play a game against Crafty, hook Crafty up
4511 to an ICS, or use Crafty to interactively analyze games and positions
4514 Crafty is a strong, rapidly evolving chess program. This rapid
4515 pace of development is good, because it means Crafty is always
4516 getting better. This can sometimes cause problems with
4517 backwards compatibility, but usually the latest version of Crafty
4518 will work well with the latest version of XBoard.
4519 Crafty can be obtained from its author's FTP site:
4520 ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu/hyatt/.
4522 To use Crafty with XBoard, give the -fcp and -fd options as follows, where
4523 <crafty's directory> is the directory in which you installed Crafty
4524 and placed its book and other support files.
4528 @unnumbered Copyright
4529 @include copyright.texi
4533 @unnumbered GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
4534 @include gpl.texinfo