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).
247 @cindex shuffle, Menu Item
248 Ticking @samp{shuffle} will cause the current variant to be played
249 with shuffled initial position.
250 Shuffling will preserve the possibility to castle in the way allowed by the variant.
251 @item Fischer castling
252 @cindex Fischer castling, menu item
253 Ticking @samp{Fischer castling} will allow castling with Kings and Rooks
254 that did not start in their normal place, as in Chess960.
255 @item Start-position number
258 @cindex randomize, Menu Item
259 @cindex pick fixed, Menu Item
260 @cindex Start-position number, Menu Item
261 The @samp{Start-position number} selects a particular start position
262 from all allowed shufflings, which will then be used for every new game.
263 Setting this to -1 (which can be done by pressing the @samp{randomize} button)
264 will cause a fresh random position to be picked for every new game.
265 Pressing the @samp{pick fixed} button causes @samp{Start-position number}
266 to be set to a random value, to be used for all subsequent games.
268 @cindex New variant, Menu Item
269 Allows you to select a new chess variant in non-ICS mode.
270 (In ICS play, the ICS is responsible for deciding which variant will be played,
271 and XBoard adapts automatically.) The shifted @kbd{Alt+V} key is a
272 keyboard equivalent. If you play with an engine, the engine must
273 be able to play the selected variant, or the corresponding choice will be disabled.
274 XBoard supports all major variants, such as xiangqi, shogi, chess, chess960,
275 makruk, Capablanca Chess, shatranj, crazyhouse, bughouse.
277 You can overrule the default board format of the selected variant,
278 (e.g. to play suicide chess on a 6 x 6 board),
279 in this dialog, but normally you would not do that,
280 and leave them at '-1', which means 'default' for the chosen variant.
282 @cindex Load Game, Menu Item
283 Plays a game from a record file. The @kbd{Ctrl-O} key is a keyboard equivalent.
284 A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more
285 than one game, a second pop-up dialog
286 displays a list of games (with information drawn from their PGN tags, if
287 any), and you can select the one you want. Alternatively, you can load the
288 Nth game in the file directly, by typing the number @kbd{N} after the
289 file name, separated by a space.
291 The game-file parser will accept PGN (portable game notation),
292 or in fact almost any file that contains moves in algebraic
294 Notation of the form @samp{P@@f7}
295 is accepted for piece-drops in bughouse games;
296 this is a nonstandard extension to PGN.
297 If the file includes a PGN position (FEN tag), or an old-style
298 XBoard position diagram bracketed by @samp{[--} and @samp{--]}
299 before the first move, the game starts from that position. Text
300 enclosed in parentheses, square brackets, or curly braces is assumed to
301 be commentary and is displayed in a pop-up window. Any other
302 text in the file is ignored. PGN variations (enclosed in
303 parentheses) also are treated as comments;
304 however, if you rights-click them in the comment window,
305 XBoard will shelve the current line, and load the the selected variation,
306 so you can step through it.
307 You can later revert to the previous line with the @samp{Revert} command.
308 This way you can walk quite complex varation trees with XBoard.
309 The nonstandard PGN tag [Variant "varname"] functions similarly to
310 the -variant command-line option (see below), allowing games in certain chess
311 variants to be loaded.
312 Note that it must appear before any FEN tag for XBoard to recognize
313 variant FENs appropriately.
314 There is also a heuristic to
315 recognize chess variants from the Event tag, by looking for the strings
316 that the Internet Chess Servers put there when saving variant ("wild") games.
318 @cindex Load Position, Menu Item
319 Sets up a position from a position file. A pop-up dialog prompts
320 you for the file name. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-O} key is a keyboard
321 equivalent. If the file contains more than one saved
322 position, and you want to load the Nth one, type the number N
323 after the file name, separated by a space. Position files must
324 be in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation), or in the format that the
325 Save Position command writes when oldSaveStyle is turned on.
326 @item Load Next Position
327 @cindex Load Next Position, Menu Item
328 Loads the next position from the last position file you loaded.
329 The shifted @kbd{PgDn} key is a keyboard equivalent.
330 @item Load Previous Position
331 @cindex Load Previous Position, Menu Item
332 Loads the previous position from the last position file you
333 loaded. The shifted @kbd{PgUp} key is a keyboard equivalent.
334 Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
336 @cindex Save Game, Menu Item
337 Appends a record of the current game to a file.
338 The @kbd{Ctrl-S} key is a keyboard equivalent.
340 prompts you for the file name. If the game did not begin with
341 the standard starting position, the game file includes the
342 starting position used. Games are saved in the PGN (portable
343 game notation) format, unless the oldSaveStyle option is true,
344 in which case they are saved in an older format that is specific
345 to XBoard. Both formats are human-readable, and both can be
346 read back by the @samp{Load Game} command.
347 Notation of the form @samp{P@@f7}
348 is accepted for piece-drops in bughouse games;
349 this is a nonstandard extension to PGN.
351 @cindex Save Position, Menu Item
352 Appends a diagram of the current position to a file.
353 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl+S} key is a keyboard equivalent.
354 A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. Positions are saved in
355 FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation) format unless the @code{oldSaveStyle}
356 option is true, in which case they are saved in an older,
357 human-readable format that is specific to XBoard. Both formats
358 can be read back by the @samp{Load Position} command.
359 @item Save Selected Games
360 @cindex Save Selected Games
361 Will cause all games selected for display in the current Game List
362 to be appended to a file of the user's choice.
363 @item Save Games as Book
364 @cindex Save Games as Book, Menu Item
365 Creates an opening book from the currently loaded game file,
366 incorporating only the games currently selected in the Game List.
367 The book will be saved on the file specified in the @samp{Common Engine}
369 The value of @samp{Book Depth} specified in that same dialog will
370 be used to determine how many moves of each game will be added to
371 the internal book buffer.
372 This command can take a long time to process,
373 and the size of the buffer is currently limited.
374 At the end the buffer will be saved as a Polyglot book,
375 but the buffer will not be cleared,
376 so that you can continue adding games from other game files.
378 @itemx Reload CMail Message
379 @cindex Mail Move, Menu Item
380 @cindex Reload CMail Message, Menu Item
383 @cindex Exit, Menu Item
384 Exits from XBoard. The @kbd{Ctrl-Q} key is a keyboard equivalent.
393 @cindex Copy Game, Menu Item
394 Copies a record of the current game to an internal clipboard in PGN
395 format and sets the X selection to the game text. The @kbd{Ctrl-C}
396 key is a keyboard equivalent. The game can be
397 pasted to another application (such as a text editor or another copy
398 of XBoard) using that application's paste command. In many X
399 applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be
400 used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Game command.
402 @cindex Copy Position, Menu Item
403 Copies the current position to an internal clipboard in FEN format and
404 sets the X selection to the position text. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-C} key
405 is a keyboard equivalent. The position can be pasted
406 to another application (such as a text editor or another copy of
407 XBoard) using that application's paste command. In many X
408 applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be
409 used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Position command.
411 @cindex Copy Game List, Menu Item
412 Copies the current game list to the clipboard,
413 and sets the X selection to this text.
414 A format of comma-separated double-quoted strings is used,
416 so it can be easily imported into spread-sheet programs.
418 @cindex Paste Game, Menu Item
419 Interprets the current X selection as a game record and loads it, as
420 with Load Game. The @kbd{Ctrl-V} key is a keyboard equivalent.
422 @cindex Paste Position, Menu Item
423 Interprets the current X selection as a FEN position and loads it, as
424 with Load Position. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-V} key is a keyboard equivalent.
426 @cindex Edit Game, Menu Item
427 Allows you to make moves for both Black and White, and to change
428 moves after backing up with the @samp{Backward} command. The clocks do
429 not run. The @kbd{Ctrl-E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
431 In chess engine mode, the chess engine continues to check moves for legality
432 but does not participate in the game. You can bring the chess engine
433 into the game by selecting @samp{Machine White}, @samp{Machine Black},
434 or @samp{Two Machines}.
436 In ICS mode, the moves are not sent to the ICS: @samp{Edit Game} takes
437 XBoard out of ICS Client mode and lets you edit games locally.
438 If you want to edit games on ICS in a way that other ICS users
439 can see, use the ICS @kbd{examine} command or start an ICS match
442 @cindex Edit Position, Menu Item
443 Lets you set up an arbitrary board position.
444 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
445 Use mouse button 1 to drag pieces to new squares, or to delete a piece
446 by dragging it off the board or dragging an empty square on top of it.
447 When you do this keeping the @kbd{Ctrl} key pressed,
448 or start dragging with a double-click,
449 you will move a copy of the piece, leaving the piece itself where it was.
450 In variants where pieces can promote (such as Shogi),
451 left-clicking an already selected piece promotes or demotes it.
452 To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the
454 This puts a white or black pawn in the square, respectively,
455 but you can change that to any other piece type by dragging the
456 mouse down before you release the button.
457 You will then see the piece on the originally clicked square
458 cycle through the available pieces
459 (including those of opposite color),
460 and can release the button when you see the piece you want.
461 (Note you can swap the function of button 2 and 3 by pressing
462 the shift key, and that there is an option @code{monoMouse}
463 to combine al functions in one button, which then acts as
464 button 3 over an empty square, and as button 1 over a piece.)
465 To alter the side to move, you can click the clock
466 (the words White and Black above the board)
467 of the side you want to give the move to.
468 To clear the board you can click the clock of the side that
469 already has the move (which is highlighted in black).
470 If you repeat this the board will cycle from empty to a
471 @code{pallette board} containing every piece once to the initial
472 position to the one before clearing.
473 The quickest way to set up a position is usually to start
474 with the pallette board, and move the pieces to were you
475 want them, duplicating them where necessary by using the
476 @kbd{Ctrl} key, dragging those you don't want off board,
477 and use static button 2 or 3 clicks to place the Pawns.
478 The old behavior with a piece menu can still be configured
479 with the aid of the @code{pieceMenu} option.
480 Dragging empty squares off board can create boards with
481 holes (inaccessible black squares) in them.
482 Selecting @samp{Edit Position} causes XBoard to discard
483 all remembered moves in the current game.
485 In ICS mode, changes made to the position by @samp{Edit Position} are
486 not sent to the ICS: @samp{Edit Position} takes XBoard out of
487 @samp{ICS Client} mode and lets you edit positions locally. If you want to
488 edit positions on ICS in a way that other ICS users can see, use
489 the ICS @kbd{examine} command, or start an ICS match against yourself.
490 (See also the ICS Client topic above.)
492 @cindex Edit Tags, Menu Item
493 Lets you edit the PGN (portable game notation)
494 tags for the current game. After editing, the tags must still conform to
498 <tag-section> ::= <tag-pair> <tag-section>
500 <tag-pair> ::= [ <tag-name> <tag-value> ]
501 <tag-name> ::= <identifier>
502 <tag-value> ::= <string>
505 See the PGN Standard for full details. Here is an example:
508 [Event "Portoroz Interzonal"]
509 [Site "Portoroz, Yugoslavia"]
512 [White "Robert J. Fischer"]
513 [Black "Bent Larsen"]
517 Any characters that do not match this syntax are silently ignored. Note that
518 the PGN standard requires all games to have at least the seven tags shown
519 above. Any that you omit will be filled in by XBoard
520 with @samp{?} (unknown value), or @samp{-} (inapplicable value).
522 @cindex Edit Comment, Menu Item
523 Adds or modifies a comment on the current position. Comments are
524 saved by @samp{Save Game} and are displayed by @samp{Load Game},
525 PGN variations will also be printed in this window,
526 and can be promoted to main line by right-clicking them.
527 @samp{Forward}, and @samp{Backward}.
529 @cindex Edit Book, Menu Item
530 Pops up a window listing the moves available in the GUI book
531 (specified in the @samp{Common Engine Settings} dialog)
532 from the currently displayed position,
533 together with their weights and (optionally in braces) learn info.
534 You can then edit this list, and the new list will be stored
535 back into the book when you press 'save changes'.
536 When you press the button 'add next move', and play a move
537 on the board, that move will be added to the list with weight 1.
538 Note that the listed percentages are neither used, nor updated when
539 you change the weights; they are just there as an optical aid.
540 When you right-click a move in the list it will be played.
543 @cindex Revert, Menu Item
544 @cindex Annotate, Menu Item
545 If you are examining an ICS game and Pause mode is off,
546 Revert issues the ICS command @samp{revert}.
547 In local mode, when you were editing or analyzing a game,
548 and the @code{-variations} command-line option is switched on,
549 you can start a new variation by holding the Shift key down while
550 entering a move not at the end of the game.
551 Variations can also become the currently displayed line by
552 clicking a PGN variation displayed in the Comment window.
553 This can be applied recursively,
554 so that you can analyze variations on variations;
555 each time you create a new variation by entering an alternative move
556 with Shift pressed, or select a new one from the Comment window,
557 the current variation will be shelved.
558 @samp{Revert} allows you to return to the most recently shelved variation.
559 The difference between @samp{Revert} and @samp{Annotate}
560 is that with the latter,
561 the variation you are now abandoning will be added as a comment
562 (in PGN variation syntax, i.e. between parentheses)
563 to the original move where you deviated, for later recalling.
564 The @kbd{Home} key is a keyboard equivalent to @samp{Revert}.
566 @cindex Truncate Game, Menu Item
567 Discards all remembered moves of the game beyond the current
568 position. Puts XBoard into @samp{Edit Game} mode if it was not there
570 The @kbd{End} key is a keyboard equivalent.
573 @cindex Backward, Menu Item
575 Steps backward through a series of remembered moves.
576 The @samp{[<]} button and the @kbd{Alt+LeftArrow} key are equivalents,
577 as is turning the mouse wheel towards you.
578 In addition, pressing the ??? key steps back one move, and releasing
579 it steps forward again.
581 In most modes, @samp{Backward} only lets you look back at old positions;
582 it does not retract moves. This is the case if you are playing against
583 a chess engine, playing or observing a game on an ICS, or loading a game.
584 If you select @samp{Backward} in any of these situations, you will not
585 be allowed to make a different move. Use @samp{Retract Move} or
586 @samp{Edit Game} if you want to change past moves.
588 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Backward}
589 depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
590 off, @samp{Backward} issues the ICS backward command, which backs up
591 everyone's view of the game and allows you to make a different
592 move. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Backward} only backs up your local
596 @cindex Forward, Menu Item
598 Steps forward through a series of remembered moves (undoing the
599 effect of @samp{Backward}) or forward through a game file. The
600 @samp{[>]} button and the @kbd{Alt+RightArrow} key are equivalents,
601 as is turning the mouse wheel away from you.
603 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of Forward
604 depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
605 off, @samp{Forward} issues the ICS forward command, which moves
606 everyone's view of the game forward along the current line. If
607 Pause mode is on, @samp{Forward} only moves your local view forward,
608 and it will not go past the position that the game was in when
612 @cindex Back to Start, Menu Item
614 Jumps backward to the first remembered position in the game.
615 The @samp{[<<]} button and the @kbd{Alt+Home} key are equivalents.
617 In most modes, Back to Start only lets you look back at old
618 positions; it does not retract moves. This is the case if you
619 are playing against a local chess engine, playing or observing a game on
620 a chess server, or loading a game. If you select @samp{Back to Start} in any
621 of these situations, you will not be allowed to make different
622 moves. Use @samp{Retract Move} or @samp{Edit Game} if you want to change past
623 moves; or use Reset to start a new game.
625 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Back to
626 Start} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode
627 is off, @samp{Back to Start} issues the ICS @samp{backward 999999}
628 command, which backs up everyone's view of the game to the start and
629 allows you to make different moves. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Back
630 to Start} only backs up your local view.
633 @cindex Forward to End, Menu Item
635 Jumps forward to the last remembered position in the game. The
636 @samp{[>>]} button and the @kbd{Alt+End} key are equivalents.
638 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Forward to
639 End} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode
640 is off, @samp{Forward to End} issues the ICS @samp{forward 999999}
641 command, which moves everyone's view of the game forward to the end of
642 the current line. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Forward to End} only moves
643 your local view forward, and it will not go past the position
644 that the game was in when you paused.
653 @cindex Flip View, Menu Item
654 Inverts your view of the chess board for the duration of the
655 current game. Starting a new game returns the board to normal.
656 The @kbd{F2} key is a keyboard equivalent.
657 @item Show Engine Output
658 @cindex Show Engine Output, Menu Item
659 Shows or hides a window in which the thinking output of any loaded engines
660 is displayed. The shifted @kbd{Alt+O} key is a keyboard equivalent.
661 XBoard will display lines of thinking output of the same depth ordered by score,
662 (highest score on top), rather than in the order the engine produced them.
663 Usually this amounts to the same, as a normal engine search will only find new PV
664 (and emit it as thinking output)
665 when it searches a move with a higher score than the previous variation.
666 But when the engine is in multi-variation mode this needs not always be true,
667 and it is more convenient for someone analyzing games to see the moves sorted by score.
668 The order in which the engine found them is only of interest to the engine author,
669 and can still be deduced from the time or node count printed with the line.
670 Right-clicking a line in this window, and then moving the mouse vertically with the
671 right button kept down, will make XBoard play through the PV listed there.
672 The use of the board window as 'variation board' will normally end when
673 you release the right button,
674 or when the opponent plays a move.
675 But beware: in Analysis mode, moves thus played out might be added to the game,
676 depending on the setting of the option 'Play moves of clicked PV',
677 when you initiate the click left of the PV in the score area.
678 The Engine-Output pane for each engine will contain a header displaying the
679 multi-PV status and a list of excluded moves in Analysis mode,
680 which are also responsive to right-clicking:
681 Clicking the words 'fewer' or 'more' will alter the number of variations
682 shown at each depth, through the engine's MultiPV option,
683 while clicking in between those and moving the mouse horizontally adjust
684 the option 'Multi-PV Margin'. (In so far the engines support those.)
685 @item Show Move History
686 @cindex Show Move History, Menu Item
687 Shows or hides a list of moves of the current game.
688 The shifted @kbd{Alt+H} key is a keyboard equivalent.
689 This list allows you to move the display to any earlier position in the game
690 by clicking on the corresponding move.
691 @item Show Evaluation Graph
692 @cindex Show Evaluation Graph, Menu Item
693 Shows or hides a window which displays a graph of how the engine score(s)
694 evolved as a function of the move number.
695 The shifted @kbd{Alt+E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
696 The title bar shows the score (and search depth at which it was obtained)
697 of the currently displayed position numerically.
698 Clicking on the graph will bring
699 the corresponding position in the board display.
700 A button 3 click will toggle the display mode between plain and differential
701 (showing the difference in score between successive half moves).
702 Using the mouse wheel over the window will change the scale of the
703 low-score region (from -1 to +1).
705 @cindex Show Game List, Menu Item
706 Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last @samp{Load Game}
707 command. The shifted @kbd{Alt+G} key is a keyboard equivalent.
708 The line describing each game is built from a selection of the PGN tags.
709 Which tags contribute, and in what order, can be changed by the @samp{Game list tags}
710 menu dialog, which can be popped up through the @samp{Tags} button below the Game List.
711 Display can be restricted to a sub-set of the games meeting certain criteria.
712 A text entry below the game list allows you to type a text that the game lines
713 must contain in order to be displayed.
714 Games can also be selected based on their Elo PGN tag,
715 as set in the @samp{Load Game Options} dialog, which can be popped up through the
716 @samp{Thresholds} button below the Game List.
717 Finally they can be selected based on containing a position similar to the one
718 currently displayed in the main window, by pressing the 'Position' button below
719 the Game List, (which searches the entire list for the position), or the 'Narrow'
720 button (which only searches the already-selected games).
721 What counts as similar enough to be selected can also be set in the
722 @samp{Load Game Options} dialog, and ranges from an exact match to just the
725 @cindex Tags, Menu Item
726 Pops up a window which shows the PGN (portable game notation)
727 tags for the current game.
728 For now this is a duplicate of the @samp{Edit Tags} item in the @samp{Edit} menu.
730 @cindex Comments, Menu Item
731 Pops up a window which shows any comments to or variations on the current move.
732 For now this is a duplicate of the @samp{Edit Comment} item in the @samp{Edit} menu.
734 @cindex ICS Input Box, Menu Item
735 If this option is set in ICS mode,
737 creates an extra window that you can use for typing in ICS commands.
738 The input box is especially useful if you want to type in something long or do
739 some editing on your input, because output from ICS doesn't get mixed
740 in with your typing as it would in the main terminal window.
741 @item ICS/Chat Console
742 @cindex ICS Chat/Console, Menu Item
743 This menu item opens a window in which you can interact with the ICS,
744 so you don't have to use the messy xterm from which you launched XBoard
746 The window has a text entry at the bottom where you can type your
747 commands and messages unhindered by the stream of ICS output.
748 The latter will be displayed in a large pane above the input field,
750 Up and down arrow keys can be used to recall previous input lines.
751 Typing an <Esc> character in the input field transfers focus back
752 to the board window (so you could operate the menus there
753 through accelerator keys).
754 Typing a printable character in the board window transfers focus
755 back to the input field of the @samp{ICS Chat/Console} window.
758 There is a row of buttons at the top of the @samp{ICS Chat/Console} dialog,
759 which can be used to navigate between upto 5 'chats'
760 with other ICS users (or channels).
761 These will switch the window to 'chat mode',
762 where the ICS output pane is vertically split to divert messages from
763 a specific user or ICS channel to the lower half.
764 Lines typed in the input field will then be interpreted as messages
765 to be sent to that user or channel,
766 (automatically prefixed with the apporpriate ICS command and user name)
767 rather than as commands to the ICS.
768 Chats will keep collecting ICS output intended for them even when not displayed,
769 and their buttons will turn orange to alert the user there has been activity.
770 Typing <Tab> in the input field will switch to another active chat,
771 giving priority to those with content you have not seen yet.
773 @cindex New Chat, Menu Item
774 Buttons for chats currently not assigned to a user or channel
775 will carry the text @samp{New Chat}, and pressing them will
776 switch to chat mode, enabling you to enter the user name or channel number
777 you want to use it for.
778 Typing Ctrl-N in the input field is a keyboard equivalent.
780 @cindex Chat partner, Menu Item
781 To (re-)assign a chat, write the name of your chat partner, the channel number,
782 or the words 'shouts', 'whispers', 'cshouts' in the @samp{Chat partner} text entry
783 (ending with <Enter>!).
784 Typing Ctrl-O in the input field at the bottom of the window will
785 open a chat with the person that last sent you a 'tell' that was printed
786 in the ICS Console output pane.
787 The @samp{ICS text menu} can contain a button @samp{Open Chat (name)}
788 that can be used to open a chat with as partner the word/number you
789 right-clicked in the output pane to pop up this menu.
791 @cindex End Chat, Menu Item
792 This button, only visible when the chat pane is open,
793 will clear the @samp{Chat partner} field, so that the chat can be
794 assigned to a new user or channel.
795 Typing Ctrl-E in the input field is a keyboard equivalent.
797 @cindex Hide, Menu Item
798 This button, only visible when the chat pane is open,
799 will close the latter, so you can use the input field
800 to give commands to the ICS again.
801 Typing Ctrl-H in the input field is a keyboard equivalent.
803 @cindex ICS text menu, Menu Item
804 Brings up a menu that is user-configurable through the @code{icsMenu} option.
805 Buttons in this menu can sent pre-configured commands directly to the ICS,
806 or can put partial commands in the input field of the @samp{ICS Chat/Console}
807 window, so that you can complete those with some text of your own before
808 sending them to the ICS by pressing Enter.
809 This menu item can also be popped up by right-clicking in the text memos
810 of the ICS Chat/Console window.
811 In that case the word that was clicked can be incorporated in the message
812 sent to the ICS. E.g. to challenge a player whose name you click for a game,
813 or prepare for sending him a message through a 'tell' commands.
815 @cindex Board, Menu Item
816 Summons a dialog where you can customize the look of the chess board.
817 @item White Piece Color
818 @itemx Black Piece Color
819 @itemx Light Square Color
820 @itemx Dark Square Color
821 @itemx Highlight Color
822 @itemx Premove Highlight Color
823 @cindex Piece Color, Menu Item
824 @cindex Square Color, Menu Item
825 @cindex Highlight Color, Menu Item
826 These items set the color of pieces, board squares and move highlights
828 Square colors are only used when the @samp{Use Board Textures} option is off,
829 the piece colors only when @samp{Use piece bitmaps with their own colors} is off.
830 You can type the color as hexadecimally encoded RGB value preceded by '#',
831 or adjust it through the R, G, B and D buttons to make it redder, greener, bluer
833 A sample of the adjusted color will be displayed behind its text description;
834 pressing this colored button restores the default value for the color.
835 @item Flip Pieces Shogi Style
836 @cindex Flip Pieces Shogi Style, Menu Item
837 With this option on XBoard will swap white and black pieces,
838 when you flip the view of the board to make white play downward.
839 This should be used with piece themes that do not distinguish sides by color,
842 @cindex Mono Mode, Menu Item
843 This option sets XBoard to pure black-and-white display
844 (no grey scales, and thus no anti-aliasing).
846 @cindex Logo Size, Menu Item
847 Specifies the width of the engine logos displayed next to the clocks, in pixels.
848 Setting it to 0 suppresses the display of such logos.
849 The height of the logo will be half its width.
850 In the GTK build of XBoard any non-zero value is equivalent,
851 and the logos are always sized to 1/4 of the board width.
853 @cindex Line Gap, Menu Item
854 This option specifies the width of the grid lines that separate the squares,
855 which change color on highlighting the move.
856 Setting it to 0 suppresses these lines, which in general looks better,
857 but hides the square-border highlights,
858 so that you would have to rely on other forms of highlighting.
859 Setting the value to -1 makes XBoard choose a width by itself,
860 depending on the square size.
861 @item Use Board Textures
862 @itemx Light-Squares Texture File
863 @itemx Dark-Squares Texture File
864 @cindex Use Board Texture, Menu Item
865 @cindex Texture Files, Menu Item
866 When the option @samp{Use Board Textures} is set,
867 the squares will not be drawn as evenly colored surfaces,
868 but will be cut from a texture image, as specified by the
869 @samp{Texture Files}.
870 Separate images can be used for light and dark squares.
871 XBoard will try to cut the squares out of the texture image
872 with as little overlap as possible, so they all look different.
873 The name of the texture file can contain a size hint,
874 e.g. @code{xqboard-9x10.png}, alerting XBoard to the fact that
875 it contains a whole-board image, out of which squares have to
876 be cut in register with the nominal sub-division.
877 @item Use external piece bitmaps with their own color
878 @cindex Draw pieces with their own colors, Menu Item
879 When this option is on XBoard will ignore the piece-color settings,
880 and draw the piece images in their original colors.
881 The piece-color settings would only work well for evenly colored
882 pieces, such as the default theme.
883 @item Directory with Pieces Images
884 @cindex Piece-Image Directory, Menu Item
885 When a directory is specified here, XBoard will first look for
886 piece images (SVG or PNG files) in that directory,
887 and fall back on the image from the default theme only for
888 images it cannot find there.
889 An image file called White/BlackTile in the directory will be prefered
890 as fall-back for missing pieces over the default image, however.
891 @item Selectable themes
892 @itemx New name for current theme
893 @cindex Board Themes, Menu Item
894 @cindex Theme name, Menu Item
895 When a theme name is specified while pressing 'OK',
896 the combination of settings specified in the dialog
897 will be stored in XBoard's list of themes,
898 which will be saved with the other options in the settings file
899 (as the @code{themeNames} option).
900 This name will then appear in the selection listbox next time
902 so that you can recall the entire combination of settings
903 by double-clicking it.
906 Here you can specify the directory from which piece images should be taken,
907 when you don't want to use the built-in piece images
908 (see @code{pieceImageDirectory} option),
909 external images to be used for the board squares
910 (@code{liteBackTextureFile} and @code{darkBackTextureFile} options),
911 and square and piece colors for the default pieces.
912 The current combination of these settings can be assigned a 'theme' name
913 by typing one in the text entry in the lower-left of the dialog,
914 and closing the latter with OK.
915 It will then appear in the themes listbox next time you open the dialog,
916 where you can recall the complete settings combination with a double-click.
918 @cindex Fonts, Menu Item
919 Pops up a dialog where you can set the fonts used in the main elements of various windows.
920 Pango font names can be typed for each window type,
921 and behind each text entry there are buttons to adjust the point size,
922 and toggle the 'bold' or 'italic' attributes of the font.
924 @cindex Game List Tags, Menu Item
925 a duplicate of the Game List dialog in the Options menu.
934 @cindex Machine White, Menu Item
935 Tells the chess engine to play White.
936 The @kbd{Ctrl-W} key is a keyboard equivalent.
938 @cindex Machine Black, Menu Item
939 Tells the chess engine to play Black.
940 The @kbd{Ctrl-B} key is a keyboard equivalent.
942 @cindex Two Machines, Menu Item
943 Plays a game between two chess engines.
944 The @kbd{Ctrl-T} key is a keyboard equivalent.
946 @cindex Analysis Mode, Menu Item
948 @cindex move exclusion
949 XBoard tells the chess engine to start analyzing the current game/position
950 and shows you the analysis as you move pieces around.
951 The @kbd{Ctrl-A} key is a keyboard equivalent.
952 Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
954 To set up a position to analyze, you do the following:
956 1. Set up the position by any means. (E.g. using @samp{Edit Position}
957 mode, pasing a FEN or loading a game and stepping to the position.)
959 2. Select Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu to start the analysis.
961 You can now play legal moves to create follow-up positions for the
962 engine to analyze, while the moves will be remembered as a stored game,
963 and then step backward through this game to take the moves back.
964 Note that you can also click on the clocks to set the opposite
965 side to move (adding a so-called @samp{null move} to the game).
967 You can also tell the engine to exclude some moves from analysis.
968 (Engines that do not support the exclude-moves feature will
969 ignore this, however.)
970 The general way to do this is to play the move you want to exclude
971 starting with a double click on the piece.
972 When you use drag-drop moving, the piece you grab with a double click
973 will also remain on its square, to show you that you are not really
974 making the move, but just forbid it from the current position.
975 Playing a thus excluded move a second time will include it again.
976 Excluded moves will be listed as text in a header line in the
977 Engine Output window, and you can also re-include them by
978 right-clicking them there.
979 This header line will also contain the words 'best' and 'tail';
980 right-clicking those will exclude the currently best move,
981 or all moves not explicitly listed in the header line.
982 Once you leave the current position all memory of excluded
983 moves will be lost when you return there.
986 Selecting this menu item while already in @samp{Analysis Mode} will
987 toggle the participation of the second engine in the analysis.
988 The output of this engine will then be shown in the lower pane
989 of the Engine Output window.
990 The analysis function can also be used when observing games on an ICS
991 with an engine loaded (zippy mode); the engine then will analyze
992 the positions as they occur in the observed game.
995 @cindex Analyze Game, Menu Item
996 This option subjects the currently loaded game to automatic
997 analysis by the loaded engine.
998 The @kbd{Ctrl-G} key is a keyboard equivalent.
999 XBoard will start auto-playing the game from the currently displayed position,
1000 while the engine is analyzing the current position.
1001 The game will be annotated with the results of these analyses.
1002 In particlar, the score and depth will be added as a comment,
1003 and the PV will be added as a variation.
1005 Normally the analysis would stop after reaching the end of the game.
1006 But when a game is loaded from a multi-game file
1007 while @samp{Analyze Game} was already switched on,
1008 the analysis will continue with the next game in the file
1009 until the end of the file is reached (or you switch to another mode).
1011 The time the engine spends on analyzing each move can be controlled
1012 through the command-line option @samp{-timeDelay},
1013 which can also be set from the @samp{Load Game Options} menu dialog.
1014 Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
1016 Duplicate of the item in the Edit menu.
1017 Note that @samp{Edit Game} is the idle mode of XBoard, and can be used
1018 to get you out of other modes. E.g. to stop analyzing, stop a game
1019 between two engines or stop editing a position.
1021 Duplicate of the item in the Edit menu.
1023 @cindex Training, Menu Item
1024 Training mode lets you interactively guess the moves of a game for one
1025 of the players. You guess the next move of the game by playing the
1026 move on the board. If the move played matches the next move of the
1027 game, the move is accepted and the opponent's response is auto-played.
1028 If the move played is incorrect, an error message is displayed. You
1029 can select this mode only while loading a game (that is, after
1030 selecting @samp{Load Game} from the File menu). While XBoard is in
1031 @samp{Training} mode, the navigation buttons are disabled.
1033 @cindex ICS Client, Menu Item
1034 This is the normal mode when XBoard
1035 is connected to a chess server. If you have moved into
1036 Edit Game or Edit Position mode, you can select this option to get out.
1038 To use xboard in ICS mode, run it in the foreground with the -ics
1039 option, and use the terminal you started it from to type commands and
1040 receive text responses from the chess server. See
1041 @ref{Chess Servers} below for more information.
1043 XBoard activates some special position/game editing features when you
1044 use the @kbd{examine} or @kbd{bsetup} commands on ICS and you have
1045 @samp{ICS Client} selected on the Mode menu. First, you can issue the
1046 ICS position-editing commands with the mouse. Move pieces by dragging
1047 with mouse button 1. To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse
1048 button 2 or 3 over the square. This brings up a menu of white pieces
1049 (button 2) or black pieces (button 3). Additional menu choices let
1050 you empty the square or clear the board. Click on the White or Black
1051 clock to set the side to play. You cannot set the side to play or
1052 drag pieces to arbitrary squares while examining on ICC, but you can
1053 do so in @kbd{bsetup} mode on FICS. In addition, the menu commands
1054 @samp{Forward}, @samp{Backward}, @samp{Pause}, and @samp{Stop Examining}
1055 have special functions in this mode; see below.
1057 @cindex Machine match, Menu Item
1058 Starts a match between two chess programs,
1059 with a number of games and other parameters set through
1060 the @samp{Tournament Options} menu dialog.
1061 When a match is already running, selecting this item will make
1062 XBoard drop out of match mode after the current game finishes.
1064 @cindex Pause, Menu Item
1065 Pauses updates to the board, and if you are playing against a chess engine,
1066 also pauses your clock. To continue, select @samp{Pause} again, and the
1067 display will automatically update to the latest position.
1068 The @samp{P} button and keyboard @kbd{Pause} key are equivalents.
1070 If you select Pause when you are playing against a chess engine and
1071 it is not your move, the chess engine's clock
1072 will continue to run and it will eventually make a move, at which point
1073 both clocks will stop. Since board updates are paused, however,
1074 you will not see the move until you exit from Pause mode (or select Forward).
1075 This behavior is meant to simulate adjournment with a sealed move.
1077 If you select Pause while you are observing or examining a game on a
1078 chess server, you can step backward and forward in the current history
1079 of the examined game without affecting the other observers and
1080 examiners, and without having your display jump forward to the latest
1081 position each time a move is made. Select Pause again to reconnect
1082 yourself to the current state of the game on ICS.
1084 If you select @samp{Pause} while you are loading a game, the game stops
1085 loading. You can load more moves manually by selecting @samp{Forward}, or
1086 resume automatic loading by selecting @samp{Pause} again.
1090 @section Action Menu
1091 @cindex Menu, Action
1092 @cindex Action, Menu
1095 @cindex Accept, Menu Item
1096 Accepts a pending match offer.
1097 The @kbd{F3} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1098 If there is more than one offer
1099 pending, you will have to type in a more specific command
1100 instead of using this menu choice.
1102 @cindex Decline, Menu Item
1103 Declines a pending offer (match, draw, adjourn, etc.).
1104 The @kbd{F4} key is a keyboard equivalent. If there
1105 is more than one offer pending, you will have to type in a more
1106 specific command instead of using this menu choice.
1108 @cindex Call Flag, Menu Item
1109 Calls your opponent's flag, claiming a win on time, or claiming
1110 a draw if you are both out of time.
1111 The @kbd{F5} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1112 You can also call your
1113 opponent's flag by clicking on his clock.
1115 @cindex Draw, Menu Item
1116 Offers a draw to your opponent, accepts a pending draw offer
1117 from your opponent, or claims a draw by repetition or the 50-move
1118 rule, as appropriate. The @kbd{F6} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1120 @cindex Adjourn, Menu Item
1121 Asks your opponent to agree to adjourning the current game, or
1122 agrees to a pending adjournment offer from your opponent.
1123 The @kbd{F7} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1125 @cindex Abort, Menu Item
1126 Asks your opponent to agree to aborting the current game, or
1127 agrees to a pending abort offer from your opponent.
1128 The @kbd{F8} key is a keyboard equivalent. An aborted
1129 game ends immediately without affecting either player's rating.
1131 @cindex Resign, Menu Item
1132 Resigns the game to your opponent. The @kbd{F9} key is a
1133 keyboard equivalent.
1134 @item Stop Observing
1135 @cindex Stop Observing, Menu Item
1136 Ends your participation in observing a game, by issuing the ICS
1137 observe command with no arguments. ICS mode only.
1138 The @kbd{F10} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1139 @item Stop Examining
1140 @cindex Stop Examining, Menu Item
1141 Ends your participation in examining a game, by issuing the ICS
1142 unexamine command. ICS mode only.
1143 The @kbd{F11} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1144 @item Upload to Examine
1145 @cindex Upload to Examine, Menu Item
1146 Create an examined game of the proper variant on the ICS,
1147 and send the game there that is currenty loaded in XBoard
1148 (e.g. through pasting or loading from file).
1149 You must be connected to an ICS for this to work.
1150 @item Adjudicate to White
1151 @itemx Adjudicate to Black
1152 @itemx Adjudicate Draw
1153 @cindex Adjudicate to White, Menu Item
1154 @cindex Adjudicate to Black, Menu Item
1155 @cindex Adjudicate Draw, Menu Item
1156 Terminate an ongoing game in Two-Machines mode (including match mode),
1157 with as result a win for white, for black, or a draw, respectively.
1158 The PGN file of the game will accompany the result string
1159 by the comment "user adjudication".
1163 @section Engine Menu
1165 @cindex Menu, Engine
1167 @item Edit Engine List
1168 @cindex Edit Engine List, Menu Item
1169 Opens a window that shows the list of engines registered for use
1170 by XBoard, together with the options that would be used with them
1171 when you would select them from the @samp{Load Engine} dialogs.
1172 You can then edit this list, e.g. for re-ordering the engines,
1173 or adding uncommon options needed by this engine
1174 (e.g. to cure non-compliant behavior).
1176 By editing you can also organize the engines into collapsible groups.
1177 By sandwiching a number of engine lines between lines "# NAME" and "# end",
1178 the thus enclosed engines will not initially appear in engine listboxes
1179 of other dialogs, but only the single line "# NAME"
1180 (where NAME can be an arbitrary text) will appear in their place.
1181 Selecting that line will then show the enclosed engines in the listbox,
1182 which recursively can contain other groups.
1183 The line with the group name will still present as a header,
1184 and selecting that line will collapse the group again,
1185 and makes the listbox go back to displaying the surrounding group.
1186 @item Load New 1st Engine
1187 @itemx Load New 2nd Engine
1188 @cindex Load New Engine, Menu Item
1189 Pops up a dialog where you can select or specify an engine to be loaded.
1190 You can even replace engines during a game, without disturbing that game.
1191 (Beware that after loading an engine, XBoard will always be in Edit Game mode,
1192 so you will have to tell the new engine what to do before it does anything!)
1194 @item Select engine from list
1195 @cindex Select engine, Menu Item
1196 The listbox shows the engines registered for use with XBoard before.
1197 (This means XBoard has information on the engine type, whether it plays book etc.
1198 in the engine list stored in its settings file.)
1199 Double-clicking an engine here will load it and close the dialog.
1200 The list can also contain groups, indicated by a starting '#' sign.
1201 Double-clicking such a group will 'open' it,
1202 and show the group contents in the listbox instead of the total list,
1203 with the group name as header.
1204 Double-clicking the header will 'close' the group again.
1206 @itemx Use nickname in PGN player tags of engine-engine games
1207 @cindex Nickname, Menu Item
1208 When a @samp{Nickname} is specified, the engine will appear under this name
1209 in the @samp{Select Engine} listbox.
1210 Otherwise the name there will be a tidied version of the engine command.
1211 The user can specify if the nickname is also to be used in PGN tags;
1212 normally the name engines report theselves would be used there.
1213 @item Engine Command
1214 @cindex Engine Command, Menu Item
1215 The command needed to start the engine from the command line.
1216 For compliantly installed engine this is usually just a single word,
1217 the name of the engine package (e.g. 'crafty' or 'stockfish').
1218 Some engines need additional parameters on the command line.
1219 For engines that are not in a place where the system would expect them
1220 a full pathname can be specified, and usually the browse button
1221 for this oprion is the easiest way to obtain that.
1222 @item Engine Directory
1223 @cindex Engine Directory, Menu Item
1224 Compliant engines could run from any directory,
1225 and by default this option is proposed as '.', the current directory.
1226 If a (path)name is specified here, XBoard will start the engine
1228 If you make the field empty, it will try to derive the directory
1229 from the engine command (if that was a path name).
1231 @cindex UCI, Menu Item
1232 When the @samp{UCI} checkbox is ticked XBoard will assume
1233 the engine is of UCI type, and will invoke the corresponding adapter
1234 (as specified in the @code{adapterCommand} option stored in its
1235 settings file)to use it.
1236 By default this adapter is Polyglot,
1237 which must be installed from a separate package!
1239 @cindex USI/UCCI, Menu Item
1240 Ticking this checkbox informs XBoard that the engine is of USI or UCCI type
1241 (as Shogi or Xiangqi engines often are).
1242 This makes XBoard invoke an adapter to run the engines,
1243 as specified by the @code{uxiAdapter} option stored in its settings file.
1244 The UCI2WB program is an adapter that can handle both these engine types,
1246 @item WB protocol v1
1247 @cindex WB protocol v1, Menu Item
1248 Ticking this checkbox informs XBoard the engine is using an old version (1)
1249 of the communication protocol, so that it won't respond to a request
1250 to interrogate its properties.
1251 XBoard then won't even try that, saving you a wait of several seconds
1252 each time the engine is started.
1253 Do not use this on state-of-the-art engines,
1254 as it would prevent XBoard from interrogating its capabilities,
1255 so that many of its features might not work!
1256 @item Must not use GUI book
1257 @cindex Use GUI book, Menu Item
1258 By default XBoard assumes engines are responsible for their own opening book,
1259 but unticking this option makes XBoard consult its own book
1260 (as per @samp{Opening-Book Filename}) on behalf of the engine.
1261 @item Add this engine to the list
1262 @cindex Add engine, Menu Item
1263 By default XBoard would add the engine you specified,
1264 with all the given options to its list of registered engines
1265 (kept in its settings file), when you press 'OK'.
1266 Next time you could then simply select it from the listbox,
1267 or use the command "xboard -fe NICKNAME" to start XBoard with the
1268 engine and accompanying options.
1269 New engines are always added at the end of the existing list,
1270 or, when you have opened a group in the @samp{Select Engine} listbox,
1271 at the end of that group.
1272 But can be re-ordered later with the aid
1273 of the @samp{Edit Engine List} menu item.
1274 When you untick this checkbox before pressing 'OK'
1275 the engine will be loaded, but will not be added to the engine list.
1276 @item Force current variant with this engine
1277 @cindex Force variant with engine, Menu Item
1278 Ticking this option will make XBoard automatically start the engine
1279 in the current variant, even when XBoard was set for a different
1280 variant when you loaded the engine.
1281 Useful when the engine plays multiple variants,
1282 and you specifically want to play one different from its primary one.
1285 @item Engine #1 Settings
1286 @itemx Engine #2 Settings
1287 @cindex Engine #N Settings, Menu Item
1288 Pop up a menu dialog to alter the settings specific to the applicable engine.
1289 For each parameter the engine allows to be set,
1290 a control element will appear in this dialog that can be used to alter the value.
1291 Depending on the type of parameter (text string, number, multiple choice,
1292 on/off switch, instantaneous signal) the appropriate control will appear,
1293 with a description next to it.
1294 XBoard has no idea what these values mean; it just passes them on to the engine.
1295 How this dialog looks is completely determined by the engine,
1296 and XBoard just passes it on to the user.
1297 Many engines do not have any parameters that can be set by the user,
1298 and in that case the dialog will be empty (except for the OK and cancel buttons).
1299 UCI engines usually have many parameters. (But these are only visible with
1300 a sufficiently modern version of the Polyglot adapter needed to run UCI engines,
1301 e.g. Polyglot 2.0.1.) For native XBoard engines this is less common.
1303 @item Common Settings
1304 @cindex Common Settings, Menu Item
1305 Pops up a menu dialog where you can set some engine parameters common to most engines,
1306 such as hash-table size, tablebase cache size, maximum number of processors
1307 that SMP engines can use.
1308 The shifted @kbd{Alt+U} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1309 Older XBoard/WinBoard engines might not respond to these settings,
1310 but UCI engines always should.
1311 @item Maximum Number of CPUs per Engine
1312 @cindex Max. Number of CPUs, Menu Item
1313 Specifies the number of search threads any engine can maximally use.
1314 Do not set it to a number larger than the number of cores your computer has.
1315 (Or half of it when you want two engines to run simultaneously,
1316 as in a Two-Machines game with @samp{Ponder Next Move} on.)
1317 @item Polyglot Directory
1318 @item Hash-Table Size
1319 @cindex Hash-Table Size
1320 Specifies the maximum amount of memory (RAM) each engine is allowed to use
1321 for storing info on positions it already searched,
1322 so it would not have to search them again.
1323 Do not set it so that it is more than half
1324 (or if you use two engines, more than a quarter)
1325 of the memory your computer has,
1326 or it would slow the engines down by an extreme amount.
1328 @cindex EGTB Path, Menu Item
1329 Sets the value of the @code{egtFormats} option, which specifies
1330 where on your computer the files for End-Game Tables are stored.
1331 It must be a comma-separated list of path names,
1332 the path for each EGT flavor prefixed with the name of the latter
1333 and a colon. E.g. "nalimov:/home/egt/dtm,syzygy:/home/egt/dtz50".
1334 The path names after the colon will be sent to the engines
1335 that say they can use the corresponding EGT flavor.
1336 @item EGTB Cache Size
1337 @cindex EGTB Cache Size, Menu Item
1338 Specifies the amount of memory the engine should use to
1339 buffer end-game information.
1340 Together with the @samp{Hash-Table Size} this determines how
1341 much memory the engine is allowed to use in total.
1343 @itemx Opening-Book Filename
1344 @cindex Use GUI Book, Menu Item
1345 @cindex Opening-Book Filename, Menu Item
1346 The @samp{Opening-Book Filename} specifies an opening book
1347 in Polyglot format (usually a .bin file),
1348 from which XBoard can play moves on behalf of the engine.
1349 This is also the book file on which the @samp{Edit Book}
1350 and @samp{Save Games as Book} menu items operate.
1351 A checkbox @samp{Use GUI Book} can be used to temporarily
1352 disable the book without losing the setting.
1353 (This does not prevent editing or saving games on it!)
1356 @cindex Book Depth, Menu Item
1357 @cindex Book Variety, Menu Item
1358 The way moves are selected from the book can be controlled by two options.
1359 @samp{Book Depth} controls for how deep into the game the book
1360 will be consulted (measured in full moves).
1361 @samp{Book Variety} controls the likelihood of playing weaker moves.
1362 When the variety is set to 50, moves will be played with the probability
1363 specified in the book.
1364 When set to 0, only the move(s) with the highest probability will be played.
1365 When set to 100, all listed moves will be played with equal pobability.
1366 Other settings interpolate between that.
1367 @item Engine #1 Has Own Book
1368 @itemx Engine #2 Has Own Book
1369 @cindex Engine Has Own Book
1370 These checkboxes control on a per-engine basis
1371 whether XBoard will consult the opening book for them.
1372 If ticked, XBoard will never play moves from its GUI book,
1373 giving the engine the opportunity to use its own.
1374 These options are automatically set whenever you load an engine,
1375 based on the setting of @samp{Must not use GUI book}
1376 when you installed that through the @samp{Load Engine} menu dialog.
1378 @cindex Hint, Menu Item
1379 Displays a move hint from the chess engine.
1381 @cindex Book, Menu Item
1382 Displays a list of possible moves from the chess engine's opening
1383 book. The exact format depends on what chess engine you are using.
1384 With GNU Chess 4, the first column gives moves, the second column
1385 gives one possible response for each move, and the third column shows
1386 the number of lines in the book that include the move from the first
1387 column. If you select this option and nothing happens, the chess
1388 engine is out of its book or does not support this feature.
1390 @cindex Move Now, Menu Item
1391 Forces the chess engine to move immediately. Chess engine mode only.
1392 The @kbd{Ctrl-M} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1393 Many engines won't respond to this.
1395 @cindex Retract Move, Menu Item
1396 Retracts your last move. In chess engine mode, you can do this only
1397 after the chess engine has replied to your move; if the chess engine is still
1398 thinking, use @samp{Move Now} first. In ICS mode, @samp{Retract Move}
1399 issues the command @samp{takeback 1} or @samp{takeback 2}
1400 depending on whether it is your opponent's move or yours.
1401 The @kbd{Ctrl-X} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1402 @item Recently Used Engines
1403 @cindex Recently Used Engines, In Menu
1404 At the bottom of the engine menu there can be a list of names
1405 of engines that you recently loaded through the Load Engine menu dialog
1406 in previous sessions.
1407 Clicking on such a name will load that engine as first engine,
1408 so you won't have to search for it in your list of installed engines,
1409 if that is very long.
1410 The maximum number of displayed engine names is set by the
1411 @code{recentEngines} command-line option.
1415 @section Options Menu
1416 @cindex Menu, Options
1417 @cindex Options Menu
1418 @section General Options
1419 @cindex General Options, Menu Item
1420 The following items to set option values appear in the dialog
1421 summoned by the general Options menu item.
1423 @item Absolute Analysis Scores
1424 @cindex Absolute Analysis Scores, Menu Item
1425 Controls if scores on the Engine Output window during analysis
1426 will be printed from the white or the side-to-move point-of-view.
1427 @item Almost Always Queen
1428 @cindex Almost Always Queen, Menu Item
1429 If this option is on, 7th-rank pawns automatically change into
1430 Queens when you pick them up,
1431 and when you drag them to the promotion square and release them there,
1432 they will promote to that.
1433 But when you drag such a pawn backwards first,
1434 its identity will start to cycle through the other available pieces.
1435 This will continue until you start to move it forward;
1436 at which point the identity of the piece will be fixed,
1437 so that you can safely put it down on the promotion square.
1438 If this option is off, what happens depends on the
1439 option @code{alwaysPromoteToQueen},
1440 which would force promotion to Queen when true.
1441 Otherwise XBoard would bring up a dialog
1442 box whenever you move a pawn to the last rank, asking what piece
1443 you want to promote to.
1444 @item Animate Dragging
1445 @cindex Animate Dragging, Menu Item
1446 If Animate Dragging is on, while you are dragging a piece with the
1447 mouse, an image of the piece follows the mouse cursor.
1448 If Animate Dragging is off, there is no visual feedback while you are
1449 dragging a piece, but if Animate Moving is on, the move will be
1450 animated when it is complete.
1451 @item Animate Moving
1452 @cindex Animate Moving, Menu Item
1453 If Animate Moving is on, all piece moves are animated. An image of the
1454 piece is shown moving from the old square to the new square when the
1455 move is completed (unless the move was already animated by Animate Dragging).
1456 If Animate Moving is off, a moved piece instantly disappears from its
1457 old square and reappears on its new square when the move is complete.
1458 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-A} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1460 @cindex Auto Flag, Menu Item
1461 If this option is on and one player runs out of time
1464 will automatically call his flag, claiming a win on time.
1465 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-F} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1466 In ICS mode, Auto Flag will only call your opponent's flag, not yours,
1467 and the ICS may award you a draw instead of a win if you have
1468 insufficient mating material. In local chess engine mode,
1470 may call either player's flag.
1471 @item Auto Flip View
1472 @cindex Auto Flip View, Menu Item
1473 If the Auto Flip View option is on when you start a game, the board
1474 will be automatically oriented so that your pawns move from the bottom
1475 of the window towards the top.
1477 If you are playing a game on an ICS, the board is always
1478 oriented at the start of the game so that your pawns move from
1479 the bottom of the window towards the top. Otherwise, the starting
1480 orientation is determined by the @code{flipView} command line option;
1481 if it is false (the default), White's pawns move from bottom to top
1482 at the start of each game; if it is true, Black's pawns move from
1483 bottom to top. @xref{User interface options}.
1485 @cindex Blindfold, Menu Item
1486 If this option is on, XBoard displays the board as usual but does
1487 not display pieces or move highlights. You can still move in the
1488 usual way (with the mouse or by typing moves in ICS mode), even though
1489 the pieces are invisible.
1491 @cindex Drop Menu, Menu Item
1492 Controls if right-clicking the board in crazyhouse / bughouse
1493 will pop up a menu to drop a piece on the clicked square
1494 (old, deprecated behavior)
1495 or allow you to step through an engine PV
1496 (new, recommended behavior).
1497 @item Enable Variation Trees
1498 @cindex Enable Variation Trees, Menu Item
1499 If this option is on, playing a move in Edit Game or Analyze mode
1500 while keeping the Shift key pressed will start a new variation.
1501 You can then recall the previous line through the @samp{Revert} menu item.
1502 When off, playing a move will truncate the game and append the move
1504 @item Headers in Engine Output Window
1505 @cindex Headers in Engine Output Window, Menu Item
1506 Controls the presence of column headers above the variations and
1507 associated information printed by the engine, on which you can issue
1508 button 3 clicks to open or close the columns.
1509 Available columns are search depth, score, node count, time used,
1510 tablebase hits, search speed and selective search depth.
1512 @cindex Hide Thinking, Menu Item
1513 If this option is off, the chess engine's notion of the score and best
1514 line of play from the current position is displayed as it is
1515 thinking. The score indicates how many pawns ahead (or if negative,
1516 behind) the chess engine thinks it is. In matches between two
1517 machines, the score is prefixed by @samp{W} or @samp{B} to indicate
1518 whether it is showing White's thinking or Black's, and only the thinking
1519 of the engine that is on move is shown.
1520 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-H} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1521 @item Highlight Last Move
1522 @cindex Highlight Last Move, Menu Item
1523 If Highlight Last Move is on, after a move is made, the starting and
1524 ending squares remain highlighted. In addition, after you use Backward
1525 or Back to Start, the starting and ending squares of the last move to
1526 be unmade are highlighted.
1527 @item Highlight with Arrow
1528 @cindex Highlight with Arrow, Menu Item
1529 Causes the highlighting described in Highlight Last Move to be done
1530 by drawing an arrow between the highlighted squares,
1531 so that it is visible even when the width of the grid lines is set to zero.
1532 @item One-Click Moving
1533 @cindex One-Click Moving, Menu Item
1534 If this option is on, XBoard does not wait for you to click both the
1535 from- and the to-square, or drag the piece, but performs a move as soon
1536 as it is uniqely specified.
1537 This applies to clicking an own piece that only has a single legal move,
1538 clicking an empty square or opponent piece where only one of your pieces
1539 can move (or capture) to.
1540 Furthermore, a double-click on a piece that can only make a single capture
1541 will cause that capture to be made.
1542 Promoting a Pawn by clicking its to-square will suppress the promotion
1543 popup or other methods for selecting an under-promotion,
1544 and make it promote to Queen.
1545 @item Periodic Updates
1546 @cindex Periodic Updates, Menu Item
1547 If this option is off (or if
1548 you are using a chess engine that does not support periodic updates),
1550 will only be updated when the analysis changes. If this option is
1551 on, the Analysis Window will be updated every two seconds.
1552 @item Play Move(s) of Clicked PV
1553 @cindex Play Move(s) of Clicked PV, Menu Item
1554 If this option is on, right-clicking on the first move of a PV
1555 or on the data fields left of it in the Engine Output window
1556 during Analyze mode will cause the first move of that PV to be played.
1557 You could also play more than one (or no) PV move by moving the mouse
1558 to engage in the PV walk such a right-click will start,
1559 to seek out another position along the PV where you want to continue
1560 the analysis, before releasing the mouse button.
1561 Clicking on later moves of the PV only temporarily show the moves
1562 for as long you keep the mouse button down,
1563 without adding them to the game.
1564 @item Ponder Next Move
1565 @cindex Ponder Next Move, Menu Item
1566 If this option is off, the chess engine will think only when it is on
1567 move. If the option is on, the engine will also think while waiting
1568 for you to make your move.
1569 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-P} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1570 @item Popup Exit Message
1571 @cindex Popup Exit Message, Menu Item
1572 If this option is on, when XBoard wants to display a message just
1573 before exiting, it brings up a modal dialog box and waits for you to
1574 click OK before exiting. If the option is off, XBoard prints the
1575 message to standard error (the terminal) and exits immediately.
1576 @item Popup Move Errors
1577 @cindex Popup Move Errors, Menu Item
1578 If this option is off, when you make an error in moving (such as
1579 attempting an illegal move or moving the wrong color piece), the
1580 error message is displayed in the message area. If the option is
1581 on, move errors are displayed in small pop-up windows like other errors.
1582 You can dismiss an error pop-up either by clicking its OK button or by
1583 clicking anywhere on the board, including down-clicking to start a move.
1584 @item Scores in Move List
1585 @cindex Scores in Move List, Menu Item
1586 If this option is on, XBoard will display the depth and score
1587 of engine moves in the Move List, in the format of a PGN comment.
1589 @cindex Show Coords, Menu Item
1590 If this option is on, XBoard displays algebraic coordinates
1591 along the board's left and bottom edges.
1592 @item Show Target Squares
1593 @cindex Show Target Squares, Menu Item
1594 If this option is on, all squares a piece that is 'picked up' with the mouse
1595 can legally move to are highighted with a fat colored dot in
1596 yellow (non-captures) or red (captures).
1597 Special moves might have other colors
1598 (e.g. magenta for promotion, cyan for a partial move).
1599 Legality testing must be on for XBoard to know how the piece moves,
1600 but with legality testing off some engines would offer this information.
1601 @item Sticky Windows
1602 @cindex Sticky Windows, Menu Item
1603 Controls whether the auxiliary windows such as Engine Output, Move History
1604 and Evaluation Graph should keep touching XBoard's main window when
1605 you move the latter.
1607 @cindex Test Legality, Menu Item
1608 If this option is on, XBoard tests whether the moves you try to make
1609 with the mouse are legal and refuses to let you make an illegal move.
1610 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-L} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1611 Moves loaded from a file with @samp{Load Game} are also checked. If
1612 the option is off, all moves are accepted, but if a local chess engine
1613 or the ICS is active, they will still reject illegal moves. Turning
1614 off this option is useful if you are playing a chess variant with
1615 rules that XBoard does not understand. (Bughouse, suicide, and wild
1616 variants where the king may castle after starting on the d file are
1617 generally supported with Test Legality on.)
1618 @item Top-Level Dialogs
1619 @cindex Top-Level Dialogs, Menu Item
1620 Controls whether the auxiliary windows will appear as icons in the
1621 task bar and independently controllable, or whether they open and
1622 minimize all together with the main window.
1625 @cindex Flash Moves, Menu Item
1626 @cindex Flash Rate, Menu Item
1627 If this option is non-zero, whenever a move is completed,
1628 the moved piece flashes the specified number of times.
1629 The flash-rate setting determines how rapidly this flashing occurs.
1630 @item Animation Speed
1631 @cindex Animation Speed, Menu Item
1632 Determines the duration (in msec) of an animation step,
1633 when @samp{Animate Moving} is swiched on.
1634 @item Zoom factor in Evaluation Graph
1635 @cindex Zoom factor in Evaluation Graph, Menu Item
1636 Sets the value of the @code{evalZoom} option,
1637 indicating the factor by which the score interval (-1,1) should be
1638 blown up on the vertical axis of the Evaluation Graph.
1640 @section Time Control
1641 @cindex Time Control, Menu Item
1642 Pops up a sub-menu where you can set the time-control parameters interactively.
1643 The shifted @kbd{Alt+T} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1646 @cindex classical, Menu Item
1647 Selects classical TC,
1648 where the game is devided into sessions of a certain number of moves,
1649 and after each session the start time is again added to the clocks.
1651 @cindex incremental, Menu Item
1652 Selects a TC mode where the game will start with a base time on the clocks,
1653 and after every move an 'increment' will be added to it.
1655 @cindex fixed max, Menu Item
1656 Selects a TC mode where you have to make each move within a given time,
1657 and any left-over time is not carried over to the next move.
1658 @item Divide entered times by 60
1659 @cindex Divide entered times by 60, Menu Item
1660 To allow entering of sub-minute initial time or sub-second increment,
1661 you can tick this checkbox.
1662 The initial time can then be entered in seconds,
1663 and the increment in units of 1/60 second.
1664 @item Moves per session
1665 @cindex Moves per session, Menu Item
1666 Sets the duration of a session for classical time control.
1668 @cindex Initial time, Menu Item
1669 Time initially on the clock in classical or incremental time controls.
1670 In classical time controls this time will also be added to the clock
1671 at the start of ach new session.
1672 @item Increment or max
1673 @cindex Increment or max, Menu Item
1674 Time to be added to the clock after every move in incremental TC mode.
1675 Fore 'fixed maximum' TC mode, the clock will be set to this time
1676 before every move, irrespective of how much was left on that clock.
1677 @item Time-Odds factors
1678 @cindex Time-Odds factors, Menu Item
1679 When these options are set to 1 the clocks of the players will be set
1680 according to the other specified TC parameters.
1681 Players can be given unequal times by specifying a time-odds factor
1682 for one of them (or a different factor for both of them).
1683 Any time received by that player will then be divided by that factor.
1686 @section Adjudications
1687 @cindex Adjudications, Menu Item
1688 Pops up a sub-menu where you can enable or disable various adjudications
1689 that XBoard can perform in engine-engine games.
1690 The shifted @kbd{Alt+J} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1692 @item Detect all Mates
1693 @cindex Detect all Mates, Menu Item
1694 When this option is set
1695 XBoard will terminate the game on checkmate or stalemate,
1696 even if the engines would not do so.
1697 Only works when @samp{Test Legality} is on.
1698 @item Verify Engine Result Claims
1699 @cindex Verify Engine Result Claims, Menu Item
1700 When this option is set
1701 XBoard will verify engine result claims,
1702 (forfeiting engines that make false claims),
1703 rather than naively beleiving the engine.
1704 Only works when @samp{Test Legality} is on.
1705 @item Draw if Insufficient Mating Material
1706 @cindex Draw if Insufficient Mating Material, Menu Item
1707 When this option is set
1708 XBoard will terminate games with a draw result
1709 when so little material is left
1710 that checkmate is not longer possible.
1711 In normal Chess this applies to KK, KNK, KBK
1712 and some positions with multiple Bishops all on the same
1714 Only works when @samp{Test Legality} is on.
1715 @item Adjudicate Trivial Draws
1716 @cindex Adjudicate Trivial Draws, Menu Item
1717 When this option is set
1718 XBoard will terminate games with a draw result
1719 in positions that could only be won against an idiot.
1720 In normal Chess this applies to KNNK, KRKR, KBKN, KNKN,
1721 and KBKB with Bishops on different square shades.
1722 KQKQ will also be adjudicated a draw (possibly unjustly so).
1723 Only works when @samp{Test Legality} is on.
1725 @cindex N-Move Rule, Menu Item
1726 When this option is set to a value differnt from zero
1727 XBoard will terminate games with a draw result
1728 after the specified number of reversible moves
1729 (i.e. without captures or pawn pushes) is made.
1730 @item N-fold Repeats
1731 @cindex N-fold Repeats, Menu Item
1732 When this option is set to a value larger than 1,
1733 XBoard will terminate games with a draw result when
1734 the same position has occurred the specified number of times.
1735 @item Draw after N Moves Total
1736 @cindex Draw after N Moves Total, Menu Item
1737 When this option is set to a value different from zero,
1738 XBoard will terminate games with a draw result
1739 after that many moves have been played.
1740 Useful in automated engine-engine matches,
1741 to prevent one game between stubborn engines will soak up
1742 all your computer time.
1743 @item Win / Loss Threshold
1744 @cindex Win / Loss Threshold, Menu Item
1745 When this option is set to a value different from zero,
1746 XBoard will terminate games as a win when both engines
1747 agree the score is above the specified value
1748 (interpreted as centi-Pawn)
1749 for three successive moves.
1750 @item Negate Score of Engine #1
1751 @itemx Negate Score of Engine #2
1752 @cindex Negate Score of Engine, Menu Item
1753 These options should be used with engines
1754 that report scores from the white point of view,
1755 rather than the side-to-move POV as XBoard would otherwise
1756 assume when adjudicating games based on the engine score.
1757 When the engine is installed with the extra option
1758 @code{firstScoreIsAbs} true in the engine list
1759 the option would be automatically set when the engine is
1760 loaded throuhgh the Engine menu,
1761 or with the @code{fe} or @code{se} command-line option.
1764 @section ICS Options
1765 @cindex ICS Options, Menu Item
1766 Pops up a menu dialog where options can be set that affect
1767 playing against an Internet Chess Server.
1770 @cindex Auto-Kibitz, Menu Item
1771 Setting this option when playing with or aginst a chess program on an ICS
1772 will cause the last line of thinking output of the engine before its move
1773 to be sent to the ICS in a kibitz command.
1774 In addition, any kibitz message received through the ICS from
1775 an opponent chess program will be diverted to the engine-output window,
1776 (and suppressed in the console),
1777 where you can play through its PV by right-clicking it.
1779 @cindex Auto-Comment, Menu Item
1780 If this option is on, any remarks made on ICS while you are observing or
1781 playing a game are recorded as a comment on the current move. This includes
1782 remarks made with the ICS commands @kbd{say}, @kbd{tell}, @kbd{whisper},
1784 Limitation: remarks that you type yourself are not recognized;
1785 XBoard scans only the output from ICS, not the input you type to it.
1787 @cindex Auto-Observe, Menu Item
1788 If this option is on and you add a player to your @code{gnotify}
1789 list on ICS, XBoard will automatically observe all of that
1790 player's games, unless you are doing something else (such as
1791 observing or playing a game of your own) when one starts.
1792 The games are displayed
1793 from the point of view of the player on your gnotify list; that is, his
1794 pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the top.
1795 Exceptions: If both players in a game are on your gnotify list, if
1798 variable is set to 0, or if the ICS you are using does not
1799 properly support observing from Black's point of view,
1800 you will see the game from White's point of view.
1801 @item Auto-Raise Board
1802 @cindex Auto Raise Board, Menu Item
1803 If this option is on, whenever a new game begins, the chessboard window
1804 is deiconized (if necessary) and raised to the top of the stack of windows.
1806 @cindex Auto Save, Menu Item
1807 If this option is true, at the end of every game XBoard prompts
1808 you for a file name and appends a record of the game to the file
1810 Disabled if the @code{saveGameFile} command-line
1811 option is set, as in that case all games are saved to the specified file.
1812 @xref{Load and Save options}.
1813 @item Background Observe while Playing
1814 @cindex Background Observe while Playing, Menu Item
1815 Setting this option will make XBoard suppress display of any boards
1816 from observed games while you are playing.
1817 Instead the last such board will be remembered,
1818 and shown to you when you right-click the board.
1819 This allows you to peek at your bughouse partner's game when you want,
1820 without disturbing your own game too much.
1821 @item Dual Board for Background-Observed Game
1822 @cindex Dual Board for Background-Observed Game, Menu Item
1823 Setting this option in combination with @samp{Background Observe}
1824 will display boards of observed games while you are playing
1825 on a second board next to that of your own game.
1827 @cindex Get Move List, Menu Item
1828 If this option is on, whenever XBoard
1829 receives the first board of a new ICS game (or a different game from
1830 the one it is currently displaying), it
1831 retrieves the list of past moves from the ICS.
1832 You can then review the moves with the @samp{Forward} and @samp{Backward}
1834 or save them with @samp{Save Game}. You might want to
1835 turn off this option if you are observing several blitz games at once,
1836 to keep from wasting time and network bandwidth fetching the move lists over
1838 When you turn this option on from the menu, XBoard
1839 immediately fetches the move list of the current game (if any).
1841 @cindex Quiet Play, Menu Item
1842 If this option is on, XBoard will automatically issue an ICS
1844 command whenever you start a game and a
1846 command whenever you finish one. Thus, you will not be distracted
1847 by shouts from other ICS users while playing.
1849 @cindex Seek Graph, Menu Item
1850 Setting this option will cause XBoard to display an graph of
1851 currently active seek ads when you left-click the board
1852 while idle and logged on to an ICS.
1853 @item Auto-Refresh Seek Graph
1854 @cindex Auto-Refresh Seek Graph, Menu Item
1855 In combination with the @samp{Seek Graph} option this
1856 will cause automatic update of the seek graph while it is up.
1857 This only works on FICS and ICC,
1858 and requires a lot of bandwidth on a busy server.
1859 @item Auto-InputBox PopUp
1860 @cindex Auto-InputBox PopUp, Menu Item
1861 Controls whether the ICS Input Box will pop up automatically when
1862 you type a printable character to the board window in ICS mode.
1863 @item Quit After Game
1864 @cindex Quit After Game, Menu Item
1865 Controls whether XBoard will automatically disconnect from the ICS
1866 and close when the game currently in progress finishes.
1868 @itemx Premove for White
1869 @itemx Premove for Black
1870 @itemx First White Move
1871 @itemx First Black Move
1872 @cindex Premove, Menu Item
1873 @cindex Premove for White, Menu Item
1874 @cindex Premove for Black, Menu Item
1875 @cindex First White Move, Menu Item
1876 @cindex First Black Move, Menu Item
1877 If the @samp{Premove} option is on while playing a game on an ICS,
1878 you can register your next planned move before it is your turn.
1880 the mouse in the ordinary way, and the starting and ending squares
1881 will be highlighted with a special color (red by default). When it is
1882 your turn, if your registered move is legal, XBoard will send it to
1883 ICS immediately; if not, it will be ignored and you can make a
1884 different move. If you change your mind about your premove, either
1885 make a different move, or double-click on any piece to cancel the move
1888 You can also enter premoves for the first white and black moves
1892 @cindex Alarm, Menu Item
1893 @cindex Alarm Time, Menu Item
1894 When this option is on, an alarm sound is played when your clock
1895 counts down to the @samp{Alarm Time} in an ICS game.
1896 (By default, the time is 5 seconds, but you can specify other values
1897 with the Alarm Time spin control.)
1898 For games with time controls that include an increment, the
1899 alarm will sound each time the clock counts down to the icsAlarmTime.
1900 By default, the alarm sound is the terminal bell, but on some systems
1901 you can change it to a sound file using the soundIcsAlarm option; see
1903 @item Colorize Messages
1904 @cindex Colorize Messages, Menu Item
1905 Ticking this options causes various types of ICS messages do be
1906 displayed with different foreground or background colors in the console.
1907 The colors can be individually selected for each type,
1908 through the accompanying text edits.
1909 @item -icsMenu string
1910 @cindex icsMenu, option
1911 The string defines buttons for the @samp{ICS text menu}.
1912 Each button definition consists of two semi-colon-terminated pieces of text,
1913 the first giving the label to be written on the button,
1914 the second the text that should be sent to the ICS when that button is pressed.
1915 This second part (the 'message') can contain linefeeds, so that you can send
1916 multiple ICS commands with one button.
1917 Some message in the text, all starting with a $-sign, are treated special.
1918 When the message contains '$input', it will not be sent directly to the ICS,
1919 but will be put in the input field of the @samp{ICS Chat/Console},
1920 with the text cursor at the indicated place, so you can addsome text to
1921 the message before sending it off.
1922 If such a message starts with '$add' it will be placed behind any text
1923 that is already present in the input field, otherwise this field will
1925 The word '$name' occurring in the message will be replaced by the word
1926 that was clicked (through button 3) in the ICS Chat/Console.
1927 There are two special messages: '$chat' will open a new chat with
1928 the clicked word in the chat-partner field,
1929 while '$copy' will copy the text that is currently-selected
1930 in the ICS Console to the clipboard.
1931 An example of a text menu as it might occur in your settings file
1932 (where you could edit it):
1935 -icsMenu @{copy;$copy;
1938 finger (player);finger $name;
1939 bullet (player);match $name 1 1 r;
1940 blitz (player);match $name 5 1 r;
1941 rapid (player);match $name 30 0 r;
1942 open chat (player);$chat;
1943 tell (player);tell $name $input;
1944 ask pieces;ptell Please give me a $input;
1946 N;$add Knight $input;
1947 B;$add Bishop $input;
1949 Q;$add Queen $input;
1954 @section Tournament Options
1955 @cindex Tournament Options, Menu Item
1956 Summons a dialog where you can set options important for playing automatic
1957 matches between two or more chess programs
1958 (e.g. by using the @samp{Machine Match} menu item in the @samp{Mode} menu).
1960 @item Tournament file
1961 @cindex Tournament file, Menu item
1962 To run a tournament, XBoard needs a file to record its progress,
1963 so it can resume the tourney when it is interrupted.
1964 When you want to conduct anything more complex than a simple
1965 two-player match with the currently loaded engines,
1966 (i.e. when you select a list of participants),
1967 you must not leave this field blank.
1968 When you enter the name of an existing tournament file,
1969 XBoard will ignore all other input specified in the dialog,
1970 and will take the corresponding info from that tournament file.
1971 This resumes an interrupted tournament, or adds another XBoard
1972 agent playing games for it to those that are already doing so.
1973 Specifying a not-yet-existing file will cause XBoard to create it,
1974 according to the tournament parameters specified in the rest of the dialog,
1975 before it starts the tournament on ‘OK’.
1976 Provided that you specify participants;
1977 without participants no tournament file will be made, but other entered values
1978 (e.g. for the file with opening positions) will take effect.
1979 Default: configured by the @code{defaultTourneyName} option.
1980 @item Sync after round
1981 @itemx Sync after cycle
1982 @cindex Sync after round, Menu Item
1983 @cindex Sync after cycle, Menu Item
1984 The sync options, when on, will cause WinBoard to refrain from starting games
1985 of the next round or cycle before all games of the previous round or cycle are finished.
1986 This guarantees correct ordering in the games file,
1987 even when multiple XBoard instances are concurrently playing games for the same tourney.
1988 Default: sync after cycle, but not after round.
1990 @itemx Tourney participants
1991 @cindex Select Engine, Menu Item
1992 @cindex Tourney participants, Menu Item
1993 From the Select Engine listbox you can pick an engine from your list
1994 of engines registered in the settings file, to be added to the tournament.
1995 The engines selected so far will be listed in the ‘Tourney participants’ memo.
1996 The latter is a normal text edit, so you can use normal text-editing functions
1997 to delete engines you selected accidentally, or change their order.
1998 Typing names here yourself is not recommended, because names that do not exactly match
1999 one of the names from the selection listbox will lead to undefined behavior.
2001 @cindex Tourney type, Menu Item
2002 Here you can specify the type of tournament you want.
2003 XBoard’s intrinsic tournament manager support round-robins (type = 0),
2004 where each participant plays every other participant, and (multi-)gauntlets,
2005 where one (or a few) so-called ‘gauntlet engines’ play an independent set of opponents.
2006 In the latter case, you specify the number of gauntlet engines.
2007 E.g. if you specified 10 engines, and tourney type = 2,
2008 the first 2 engines each play the remaining 8.
2009 A value of -1 instructs XBoard to play Swiss; for this to work an external
2010 pairing engine must be specified through the @code{pairingEngine} option.
2011 Each Swiss round will be considered a tourney cycle in that case.
2013 @item Number of tourney cycles
2014 @itemx Default Number of Games in Match
2015 @cindex Number of tourney cycles, Menu Item
2016 @cindex Number of Games in Match, Menu Item
2017 You can specify tourneys where every two opponents play each other multiple times.
2018 Such multiple games can be played in a row,
2019 as specified by the ‘number of games per pairing’,
2020 or by repeating the entire tournament schedule a number of times
2021 (specified by the ‘number of tourney cycles’).
2022 The total number of times two engines meet will be the product of these two.
2024 the number of games per pairing is the same as the default number of match games,
2025 stored in your settings file through the @code{defaultMatchGames} option.
2026 @item Pause between Match Games
2027 @cindex Pause between Match Games, Menu Item
2028 Time (in milliseconds) XBoard waits before starting a new game after
2029 a previous match or tournament game finishes.
2030 Such a waiting period is important for engines that do not support 'ping',
2031 as these sometimes still produce a move long after the game finished because
2032 of the opponent resigning, which would be mistaken for a move in the next
2033 game if that had already started.
2034 @item Save Tourney Games on
2035 @cindex Save Tourney Games, Menu Item
2036 File where the tournament games are saved
2037 (duplicate of the item in the @samp{Save Game Options}).
2038 @item Game File with Opening Lines
2039 @itemx File with Start Positions
2041 @itemx Position Number
2042 @itemx Rewind Index after this many Games
2043 @cindex Game File with Opening Lines, Menu Item
2044 @cindex File with Start Positions, Menu Item
2045 @cindex Game Number, Menu Item
2046 @cindex Position Number, Menu Item
2047 @cindex Rewind Index after, Menu Item
2048 These items optionally specify the file with move sequences or board positions the tourney
2049 games should start from.
2050 The corresponding numbers specify the number of the game or position in the file.
2051 Here a value -1 means automatic stepping through all games on the file,
2052 -2 automatic stepping every two games.
2053 The Rewind-Index parameter causes a stepping index to reset to one after reaching
2055 A setting of -2 for the game number will also be effective in a tournament without
2056 specifying a game file, but playing from the GUI book instead.
2057 In this case the first (odd) games will randomly select from the book,
2058 but the second (even) games will select the same moves from the book as the previous game.
2059 (Note this leads to the same opening only if both engines use the GUI book!)
2060 Default: No game or position file will be used. The default index if such a file is used is 1.
2061 @item Disable own engine books by default
2062 @cindex Disable own engine books by default, Menu Item
2063 Setting this option reverses the default situation for use of the GUI opening book
2064 in tournaments from what it normally is, namely not using it.
2065 So unless the engine is installed with an option to explicitly specify it should
2066 not use the GUI book (i.e. @code{-firstHasOwnBookUCI true}),
2067 it will be made to use the GUI book.
2068 @item Replace Engine
2069 @itemx Upgrade Engine
2070 @cindex Replace Engine, Menu Item
2071 @cindex Upgrade Engine, Menu Item
2072 With these two buttons you can alter the participants of an already running tournament.
2073 After opening the Match Options dialog on an XBoard that is playing for the tourney,
2074 you will see all the tourney parameters in the dialog fields.
2075 You can then replace the name of one engine by that of another
2076 by editing the @samp{participants} field.
2077 (But preserve the order of the others!)
2078 Pressing the button after that will cause the substitution.
2079 With the @samp{Upgrade Engine} button the substitution will only affect future games.
2080 With @samp{Replace Engine} all games the substituted engine has already played will
2081 be invalidated, and they will be replayed with the substitute engine.
2082 In this latter case the engine must not be playing when you do this,
2083 but otherwise there is no need to pause the tournament play
2084 for making a substitution.
2086 @cindex CloneTourney, Menu Item
2087 Pressing this button after you have specified an existing tournament file
2088 will copy the contents of the latter to the dialog,
2089 and then puts the originally proposed name for the tourney file back.
2090 You can then run a tourney with the same parameters
2091 (possibly after changing the proposed name of the tourney file for the new tourney)
2093 @item Continue Later
2094 @cindex Continue Later, Menu Item
2095 Pressing the @samp{Continue Later} button confirms the current value of all
2096 items in the dialog and closes it,
2097 but will not automatically start the tournament.
2098 This allows you to return to the dialog later without losing the settings you
2099 already entered, to adjust paramenters through other menu dialogs.
2100 (The @samp{Common Engine Setting}, @samp{Time Control} and @samp{General Options}
2101 dialogs can be accessed without closing the @samp{Tournament Options} dialog
2102 through the respective buttons at the bottom of the latter.)
2105 @section Load Game Options
2106 @cindex Load Game Options, Menu Item
2107 Summons a dialog where you can set options that control loading of games.
2109 @item Auto-Display Tags
2110 @cindex Auto-Display Tags, Menu Item
2111 Setting this option causes a window to pop up on loading a game,
2112 displaying the PGN Tags for that game.
2113 @item Auto-Display Comment
2114 @cindex Auto-Display Comment, Menu Item
2115 Setting this option causes a window to pop up whenever there
2116 is a comment to (or variation on) the currently displayed move.
2117 @item Auto-Play speed of loaded games
2118 @cindex Auto-Play speed, Menu Item
2119 This option sets the number of seconds between moves
2120 when a newly loaded game is auto-playing.
2121 A decimal fraction on the number is understood.
2122 Setting it to -1 disables auto-play, staying in the start position
2123 of the game after the loading completes.
2124 Setting it to 0 will instantly move to the final position of the game.
2125 The @samp{Auto-Play speed} is also used to determine the
2126 analysis time for each move during @samp{Analyze Game}.
2127 Note that auto-playing (including game analysis) can be stopped at any
2128 time through the @samp{P} button above the board.
2129 @item options to use in game-viewer mode
2130 @cindex Game-Viewer options, Menu Item
2131 Specifies the options automatically set when XBoard is invoked
2132 with the option @code{-viewer} on its command line,
2133 as will happen when it is started in response to clicking a PGN game file.
2134 The default setting would start XBoard without engine
2135 (due to the @code{-ncp} option),
2136 but if you want it to automatically start with your favorite engine,
2137 and automatically start analyzing, you could include the necessary
2138 options for that here (e.g. @code{-fe <engine> -initialMode analysis}).
2139 @item Thresholds for position filtering in game list
2140 @cindex Thresholds for game selection, Menu Item
2141 The following options can be set to limit the display of games
2142 in the @samp{Game List} window to a sub-set,
2143 meeting the specified criteria.
2144 @item Elo of strongest player at least
2145 @item Elo of weakest player at least
2146 @cindex Elo limits, Menu Item
2147 Games with an Elo tag specifying a lower rating for the mentioned player
2148 will not be diplayed in the @samp{Game List}.
2149 @item No games before year
2150 @cindex Date limit, Menu item
2151 Games with a Date tag before the specified year
2152 will not be diplayed in the @samp{Game List}.
2153 @item Final nr of pieces
2154 @cindex Final number of pieces, Menu Item
2155 A single number or a range (like 8-10) can be entered here,
2156 and will cause only games where the number of men in the final
2157 position is in the given range
2158 will be diplayed in the @samp{Game List}.
2159 @item Minimum nr consecutive positions
2160 @cindex Consecutive positions, Menu Item
2161 Specifies for how many consecutive positions the more fuzzy
2162 position-matching criteria have to be satisfied
2163 in order to count as a match.
2165 @itemx find position
2166 @cindex Search mode, Menu Item
2167 @cindex find position, Menu Item
2168 XBoard can select games for display in the @samp{Game List}
2169 based on whether (in addition to the conditions on the PGN tags)
2170 they contain a position that matches the
2171 position currently displayed on the board,
2172 by pressing the @samp{find position}
2173 or @samp{narrow} buttons in the @samp{Game List} window.
2174 The @samp{Search mode} setting determines what counts as match.
2175 You can search for an exact match,
2176 a position that has all shown material in the same place,
2177 but might contain additional material,
2178 a position that has all Pawns in the same place,
2179 but can have the shown material anywhere,
2180 a position that can have all shown material anywhere,
2181 or a position that has material between certain limits anywhere.
2182 For the latter you have to place the material that must minimally be present
2183 in the four lowest ranks of the board,
2184 and optional additional material in the four highest ranks of the board.
2185 You can request the optional material to be balanced,
2186 i.e. equal for white and black.
2188 @cindex narrow, Menu Item
2189 The @samp{narrow} button is similar in fuction to the @samp{find position} button,
2190 but only searches in the already selected games,
2191 rather than the complete game file,
2192 and can thus be used to refine a search based on multiple criteria.
2193 @item Also match reversed colors
2194 @itemx Also match left-right flipped position
2195 @cindex Match reversed colors, Menu Item
2196 @cindex Match left-right flipped position, Menu Item
2197 When looking for matching positions rather than by material,
2198 these settings determine whether mirror images
2199 (in case of a vertical flip in combination with color reversal)
2200 will be also considered a match.
2201 The left-right flipping is only useful after all castling rights
2202 have expired (or in Xiangqi).
2205 @section Save Game Options
2206 @cindex Save Game Options, Menu Item
2207 Summons a dialog where you can specify whether XBoard should
2208 automatically save files of games when they finish,
2209 and where and how to do that.
2211 @item Auto-Save Games
2212 @cindex Auto-Save Games, Menu Item
2213 When set XBoard will automatically save games on a file as they finish.
2214 (Not when you abort them by pressing @samp{New Game}, though!)
2215 It will either prompt you for a filename,
2216 or use the file specified by the @code{saveGameFile} option.
2217 @item Own Games Only
2218 @cindex Own Games Only, Menu Item
2219 Setting this option will exclude games by others observed on an
2220 Internet Chess Server from automatic saving.
2221 @item Save Games on File
2222 @cindex Save Games on File, Menu Item
2223 Name of the file on which games should be saved automatically.
2224 Games are always appended to the file,
2225 and will never overwrite anything.
2226 @item Save Final Position on File
2227 @cindex Save Final Position on File, Menu Item
2228 When a name is defined, the final position of each game
2229 is appended to the mentioned file.
2230 @item PGN Event Header
2231 @cindex PGN Event Header, Menu Item
2232 Specifies the name of the event used in the PGN event tag
2233 of new games that you create.
2234 @item Old Save Style
2235 @cindex Old Save Style, Menu Item
2236 Saves games in an obsolete and now long forgotten format,
2237 rather than as PGN. Never use this for orthodox Chess!
2238 @item Include Number Tag in tourney PGN
2239 @cindex Include Number Tag in tourney PGN, Menu Item
2240 When on this option will cause the non-standard 'Number' tag
2241 to be written in any game saved in PGN format.
2242 It will contain the unique number of the game in the tourney.
2243 (As opposed to the 'Round' tag, which can be shared by many games.)
2244 @item Save Score/Depth Info in PGN
2245 @cindex Save Score/Depth in PGN, Menu Item
2246 When on this option will cause the score and depth at which it was
2247 calculated by an engine, and (when available) thinking time
2248 to be saved with the move as a comment to the move,
2249 in the format @{score/depth time@}.
2250 Here 'score'is in pawn units from the point of view of the player
2251 that made the move, with two digits behind the decimal Pawn.
2252 'Time' is in seconds, or min:sec.
2253 @item Save Out-of-Book Info in PGN
2254 @cindex Save Out-of-Book Info in PGN, Menu Item
2255 When on this option causes the score of the first move
2256 the engine made after coming out of book in an 'Annotator' PGN tag.
2260 @cindex Game List Tags, Menu Item
2261 Pops up a dialog where you can select the PGN tags that should appear
2262 on the lines in the @samp{Game List}, and their order.
2264 @section Sound Options
2265 @cindex Sound Options, Menu Item
2266 Summons a dialog where you can specify the sounds that should accompany
2267 various events that can occur in XBoard.
2268 Most events are only relevant to ICS play,
2269 but the move sound is an important exception.
2270 For each event listed in the dialog,
2271 you can select a standard sound from a menu.
2274 @cindex Sound Program, Menu Item
2275 Specifies the command XBoard should invoke to play sounds.
2276 The specified text will be suffixed by the name of the sound file,
2277 and then run as a command.
2278 @item Sounds Directory
2279 @cindex Sounds Directory, Menu Item
2280 Specifies the directory where XBoard will look for files with
2281 the names of the standard sounds.
2283 @cindex User WAV File, Menu Item
2284 When we type a filename here, it can be assigned to the events
2285 by selecting @samp{Above WAV File} from the drop downs.
2288 @cindex Try-Out Sound, Menu Item
2289 The 'event' triggering the Try-Out sound is pressing
2290 of the @samp{Play} button behind it.
2291 This allows you to judge the sounds.
2294 @section Save Settings Now
2295 @cindex Save Settings Now, Menu Item
2296 Selecting this menu item causes the current XBoard settings to be
2297 written to the settings file, (.xboardrc in your home directory),
2298 so they will also apply in future sessions.
2299 Note that some settings are 'volatile', and are not saved,
2300 because XBoard considers it too unlikely that you want those to apply
2302 In particular this applies to the Chess program, and all options
2303 giving information on those Chess programs (such as their directory,
2304 if they have their own opening book, if they are UCI or native XBoard),
2305 or the variant you are playing.
2306 Such options would still be understood when they appear in the settings
2307 file in case they were put there with the aid of a text editor, but they
2308 would disappear from the file as soon as you save the settings.
2310 Note that XBoard no longer pays attention to options values specified
2311 in the .Xresources file.
2312 (Specifying key bindings there will still work, though.)
2313 To alter the default of volatile options, you can use the following method:
2314 Rename your ~/.xboardrc settings file (to ~/.yboardrc, say), and create
2315 a new file ~/.xboardrc, which only contains the options
2318 -settingsFile ~/.yboardrc
2319 -saveSettingsFile ~/.yboardrc
2323 This will cause your settings to be saved on ~/.yboardrc in the future,
2324 so that ~/.xboardrc is no longer overwritten.
2325 You can then safely specify volatile options in ~/.xboardrc, either
2326 before or after the settingsFile options.
2327 Note that when you specify persistent options after the settingsFile options
2328 in this ~/.xboardrc, you will essentially turn them into volatile options
2329 with the specified value as default, because that value will overrule
2330 the value loaded from the settings file (being read later).
2332 @section Save Settings on Exit
2333 @cindex Save Settings on Exit, Menu Item
2334 Setting this option has no immediate effect, but causes the settings
2335 to be saved when you quit XBoard. What happens then is otherwise
2336 identical to what happens when you use select "Save Settings Now",
2345 @cindex Info XBoard, Menu Item
2346 Displays the XBoard documentation in info format. For this feature to
2347 work, you must have the GNU info program installed on your system, and
2348 the file @file{xboard.info} must either be present in the current
2349 working directory, or have been installed by the @samp{make install}
2350 command when you built XBoard.
2352 @cindex Man XBoard, Menu Item
2353 Displays the XBoard documentation in man page format.
2354 The @kbd{F1} key is a keyboard equivalent. For this
2355 feature to work, the file @file{xboard.6} must have been installed by
2356 the @samp{make install} command when you built XBoard, and the
2357 directory it was placed in must be on the search path for your
2358 system's @samp{man} command.
2360 @cindex About XBoard, Menu Item
2361 Shows the current XBoard version number.
2365 @section Other Shortcut Keys
2367 @cindex Shortcut keys
2369 @item Show Last Move
2370 @cindex Show Last Move, Shortcut Key
2371 By hitting @kbd{Enter} the last move will be re-animated.
2372 @item Load Next Game
2373 @cindex Load Next Game, Menu Item
2374 Loads the next game from the last game record file you loaded.
2375 The @kbd{Alt+PgDn} key triggers this action.
2376 @item Load Previous Game
2377 @cindex Load Previous Game, Menu Item
2378 Loads the previous game from the last game record file you
2379 loaded. The @kbd{Alt+PgUp} key triggers this action.
2380 Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
2381 @item Reload Same Game
2382 @cindex Reload Same Game, Menu Item
2383 Reloads the last game you loaded.
2384 Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
2385 Currently no keystroke is assigned to this ReloadGameProc.
2386 @item Reload Same Position
2387 @cindex Reload Same Position, Menu Item
2388 Reloads the last position you loaded.
2389 Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
2390 Currently no keystroke is assigned to this ReloadPositionProc.
2393 In the Xaw build of XBoard you can add or remove shortcut keys
2394 using the X resources @code{paneA.translations}.
2395 Here is an example of what could go into your
2396 @file{.Xdefaults} file:
2399 XBoard*paneA.translations: \
2400 Shift<Key>?: MenuItem(Help.About) \n\
2401 Ctrl<Key>y: MenuItem(Action.Accept) \n\
2402 Ctrl<Key>n: MenuItem(Action.Decline) \n\
2403 Ctrl<Key>i: MenuItem(Nothing)
2406 So the key should always be bound to the action 'MenuItem',
2407 with the (hierarchical) name of the menu item as argument.
2408 There are a few actions available for which no menu item exists:
2409 Binding a key to @code{Nothing} makes it do nothing, thus removing
2410 it as a shortcut key. Other such functions that can be bound to keys
2414 AboutGame, DebugProc (switches the -debug option on or off),
2415 LoadNextGame, LoadPrevGame, ReloadGame, ReloadPosition.
2423 This section documents the command-line options to XBoard. You can
2424 set these options in two ways: by typing them on the shell command
2425 line you use to start XBoard, or by editing the settings file
2426 (usually ~/.xboardrc) to alter the value of the setting that was
2427 saved there. Some of the options
2428 cannot be changed while XBoard is running; others set the initial
2429 state of items that can be changed with the @ref{Options} menu.
2431 Most of the options have both a long name and a short name. To turn a
2432 boolean option on or off from the command line, either give its long
2433 name followed by the value true or false
2434 (@samp{-longOptionName true}), or give just the short name to turn the
2435 option on (@samp{-opt}), or the short name preceded by @samp{x} to
2436 turn the option off (@samp{-xopt}). For options that take strings or
2437 numbers as values, you can use the long or short option names
2441 * Chess engine options:: Controlling the chess engine.
2442 * UCI + WB Engine Settings:: Setting some very common engine parameters
2443 * Tournament options:: Running tournaments and matches between engines.
2444 * ICS options:: Connecting to and using ICS.
2445 * Load and Save options:: Input/output options.
2446 * User interface options:: Look and feel options.
2447 * Adjudication Options:: Control adjudication of engine-engine games.
2448 * Install options:: Maintaining and extending the XBoard install.
2449 * Other options:: Miscellaneous.
2452 @node Chess engine options
2453 @section Chess Engine Options
2454 @cindex options, Chess engine
2455 @cindex Chess engine options
2457 @item -tc or -timeControl minutes[:seconds]
2459 @cindex timeControl, option
2460 Each player begins with his clock set to the @code{timeControl} period.
2462 The additional options @code{movesPerSession} and @code{timeIncrement}
2463 are mutually exclusive.
2464 @item -mps or -movesPerSession moves
2466 @cindex movesPerSession, option
2467 When both players have made @code{movesPerSession} moves, a
2468 new @code{timeControl} period is added to both clocks. Default: 40 moves.
2469 @item -inc or -timeIncrement seconds
2471 @cindex timeIncrement, option
2472 If this option is specified, @code{movesPerSession} is ignored.
2473 Instead, after each player's move, @code{timeIncrement} seconds are
2475 Use @samp{-inc 0} if you want to require the entire
2476 game to be played in one @code{timeControl} period, with no increment.
2477 Default: -1, which specifies @code{movesPerSession} mode.
2478 @item -clock/-xclock or -clockMode true/false
2479 @cindex clock, option
2480 @cindex clockMode, option
2481 Determines whether or not to display the chess clocks. If clockMode is
2482 false, the clocks are not shown, but the side that is to play next
2483 is still highlighted. Also, unless @code{searchTime}
2484 is set, the chess engine still keeps track of the clock time and uses it to
2485 determine how fast to make its moves.
2486 @item -shoMoveTime true/false
2487 @cindex showMoveTime, option
2488 When this option is set the time that has been thought about the current move
2489 will be displayed behind the remaining time in parentheses (in seconds).
2491 @item -st or -searchTime minutes[:seconds]
2493 @cindex searchTime, option
2494 Tells the chess engine to spend at most the given amount of time
2495 searching for each of its moves. Without this option, the chess engine
2496 chooses its search time based on the number of moves and amount
2497 of time remaining until the next time control.
2498 Setting this option also sets clockMode to false.
2499 @item -depth or -searchDepth number
2501 @cindex searchDepth, option
2502 Tells the chess engine to look ahead at most the given number of moves
2503 when searching for a move to make. Without this option, the chess
2504 engine chooses its search depth based on the number of moves and
2505 amount of time remaining until the next time control. With the option,
2506 the engine will cut off its search early if it reaches the specified depth.
2507 @item -firstNPS number
2508 @itemx -secondNPS number
2509 @cindex firstNPS, option
2510 @cindex secondNPS, option
2511 Tells the chess engine to use an internal time standard based on its node count,
2512 rather then wall-clock time, to make its timing decisions.
2513 The time in virtual seconds should be obtained by dividing the node count
2514 through the given number, like the number was a rate in nodes per second.
2515 Xboard will manage the clocks in accordance with this, relying on the number
2516 of nodes reported by the engine in its thinking output. If the given number equals zero,
2517 it can obviously not be used to convert nodes to seconds, and the time reported
2518 by the engine is used to decrement the XBoard clock in stead. The engine is supposed to
2519 report in CPU time it uses, rather than wall-clock time, in this mode. This option
2520 can provide fairer conditions for engine-engine matches on heavily loaded machines,
2521 or with very fast games (where the wall clock is too inaccurate).
2522 @code{showThinking} must be on for this option to work. Default: -1 (off).
2523 Not many engines might support this yet!
2524 @item -firstTimeOdds factor
2525 @itemx -secondTimeOdds factor
2526 @cindex firstTimeOdds, option
2527 @cindex secondTimeOdds, option
2528 Reduces the time given to the mentioned engine by the given factor.
2529 If pondering is off, the effect is indistinguishable from what would happen
2530 if the engine was running on an n-times slower machine. Default: 1.
2531 @item -timeOddsMode mode
2532 @cindex timeOddsMode, option
2533 This option determines how the case is handled where both engines have a time-odds handicap.
2534 If mode=1, the engine that gets the most time will always get the nominal time,
2535 as specified by the time-control options, and its opponent's time is renormalized accordingly.
2536 If mode=0, both play with reduced time. Default: 0.
2537 @item -hideThinkingFromHuman true/false
2538 Controls the Hide Thinking option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2539 (Replaces the Show-Thinking option of older xboard versions.)
2540 @item -thinking/-xthinking or -showThinking true/false
2541 @cindex thinking, option
2542 @cindex showThinking, option
2543 Forces the engine to send thinking output to xboard.
2544 Used to be the only way to control if thinking output was displayed
2545 in older xboard versions,
2546 but as the thinking output in xboard 4.3 is also used for several other
2547 purposes (adjudication, storing in PGN file) the display of it is now controlled
2548 by the new option Hide Thinking. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2549 (But if xboard needs the thinking output for some purpose,
2550 it makes the engine send it despite the setting of this option.)
2551 @item -ponder/-xponder or -ponderNextMove true/false
2552 @cindex ponder, option
2553 @cindex ponderNextMove, option
2554 Sets the Ponder Next Move menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2555 @item -smpCores number
2556 Specifies the maximum number of CPUs an SMP engine is allowed to use.
2557 Only works for engines that support the XBoard/WinBoard-protocol cores feature.
2558 @item -mg or -matchGames n
2560 @cindex matchGames, option
2561 Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines,
2562 with alternating colors.
2563 If the @code{loadGameFile} or @code{loadPositionFile} option is set,
2565 starts each game with the given opening moves or the given position;
2566 otherwise, the games start with the standard initial chess position.
2567 If the @code{saveGameFile} option is set, a move record for the
2568 match is appended to the specified file. If the @code{savePositionFile}
2569 option is set, the final position reached in each game of the match is appended
2570 to the specified file. When the match is over, XBoard
2571 displays the match score and exits. Default: 0 (do not run a match).
2572 @item -mm/-xmm or -matchMode true/false
2574 @cindex matchMode, option
2575 Setting @code{matchMode} to true is equivalent to setting
2576 @code{matchGames} to 1.
2577 @item -sameColorGames n
2578 @cindex sameColorGames, option
2579 Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines,
2580 without alternating colors.
2581 Otherwise the same applies as for the @samp{-matchGames} option,
2582 over which it takes precedence if both are specified. (See there.)
2583 Default: 0 (do not run a match).
2586 This option puts XBoard in a special mode for solving EPD test-suites,
2587 for the entire duration of the session.
2588 In this mode games are aborted after a single move,
2589 and that move will be compared with the best-move or avoid-move
2590 from the EPD position description from which the 'game' was started.
2591 Playing a best move counts as a win, playing an avoid move as a loss,
2592 and playing any other move counts as a draw.
2593 This option should be used in combination with match mode,
2594 and an EPD file of starting positions with an auto-incrementing index.
2595 Color assignment will be such that the first engine plays all moves,
2596 and the second engine will be never involved.
2597 The results for individual positions,
2598 as well as the time used for solving them,
2599 will be reported in the lower pane of the Engine Output window.
2600 @item -fcp or -firstChessProgram program
2601 @itemx -scp or -secondChessProgram program
2603 @cindex firstChessProgram, option
2605 @cindex secondChessProgram, option
2606 Name of first and second chess engine, respectively.
2607 A second chess engine is started only in Two Machines (match) mode,
2608 or in Analyze mode with two engines.
2609 The second engine is by default the same as the first.
2610 Default for the first engine: @file{fairymax}.
2611 @item -fe or -firstEngine nickname
2612 @itemx -se or -secondEngine nickname
2614 @cindex secondEngine, option
2616 @cindex firstEngine, option
2617 This is an alternative to the @code{fcp} and @code{scp} options
2618 for specifying the first and second engine,
2619 for engines that were already registered (using the @samp{Load Engine} dialog)
2620 in XBoard's settings file.
2621 It will not only retrieve the real name of the engine,
2622 but also all options configured with it.
2623 (E.g. if it is UCI, whether it should use book.)
2624 @item -fb/-xfb or -firstPlaysBlack true/false
2626 @cindex firstPlaysBlack, option
2627 In games between two chess engines, firstChessProgram normally plays
2628 white. If this option is true, firstChessProgram plays black. In a
2629 multi-game match, this option affects the colors only for the first
2630 game; they still alternate in subsequent games.
2631 @item -fh or -firstHost host
2632 @itemx -sh or -secondHost host
2634 @cindex firstHost, option
2636 @cindex secondHost, option
2637 Hosts on which the chess engines are to run. The default for
2638 each is @file{localhost}. If you specify another host, XBoard
2639 uses @file{rsh} to run the chess engine there. (You can substitute a
2640 different remote shell program for rsh using the @code{remoteShell}
2641 option described below.)
2642 @item -fd or -firstDirectory dir
2643 @itemx -sd or -secondDirectory dir
2645 @cindex firstDirectory, option
2647 @cindex secondDirectory, option
2648 Working directories in which the chess engines are to be run.
2649 The default is "", which means to run the chess engine
2650 in the same working directory as XBoard
2651 itself. (See the CHESSDIR environment variable.)
2652 This option is effective only when the chess engine is being run
2653 on the local host; it does not work if the engine is run remotely
2654 using the -fh or -sh option.
2655 @item -initString string or -firstInitString
2656 @itemx -secondInitString string
2657 @cindex initString, option
2658 @cindex firstInitString, option
2659 @cindex secondInitString, option
2660 The string that is sent to initialize each chess engine for a new game.
2668 Setting this option from the command line is tricky, because you must
2669 type in real newline characters, including one at the very end.
2670 In most shells you can do this by
2671 entering a @samp{\} character followed by a newline.
2672 Using the character sequence @samp{\n} in the string should work too, though.
2674 If you change this option, don't remove the @samp{new}
2675 command; it is required by all chess engines to
2678 You can remove the @samp{random} command if you like; including it
2679 causes GNU Chess 4 to randomize its move selection slightly so that it
2680 doesn't play the same moves in every game. Even without
2681 @samp{random}, GNU Chess 4 randomizes its choice of moves from its
2682 opening book. Many other chess engines ignore this command entirely
2683 and always (or never) randomize.
2685 You can also try adding other commands to the initString; see the
2686 documentation of the chess engine you are using for details.
2687 @item -firstComputerString string
2688 @itemx -secondComputerString string
2689 @cindex firstComputerString, option
2690 @cindex secondComputerString, option
2691 The string that is sent to the chess engine if its opponent is another
2692 computer chess engine. The default is @samp{computer\n}. Probably the
2693 only useful alternative is the empty string (@samp{}), which keeps the
2694 engine from knowing that it is playing another computer.
2695 @item -reuse/-xreuse or -reuseFirst true/false
2696 @itemx -reuse2/-xreuse2 or -reuseSecond true/false
2697 @cindex reuse, option
2698 @cindex reuseFirst, option
2699 @cindex reuse2, option
2700 @cindex reuseSecond, option
2701 If the option is false,
2702 XBoard kills off the chess engine after every game and starts
2703 it again for the next game.
2704 If the option is true (the default),
2705 XBoard starts the chess engine only once
2706 and uses it repeatedly to play multiple games.
2707 Some old chess engines may not work properly when
2708 reuse is turned on, but otherwise games will start faster if it is left on.
2709 @item -firstProtocolVersion version-number
2710 @itemx -secondProtocolVersion version-number
2711 @cindex firstProtocolVersion, option
2712 @cindex secondProtocolVersion, option
2713 This option specifies which version of the chess engine communication
2714 protocol to use. By default, version-number is 2. In version 1, the
2715 "protover" command is not sent to the engine; since version 1 is a
2716 subset of version 2, nothing else changes. Other values for
2717 version-number are not supported.
2718 @item -firstScoreAbs true/false
2719 @itemx -secondScoreAbs true/false
2720 @cindex firstScoreAbs, option
2721 @cindex secondScoreAbs, option
2722 If this option is set, the score reported by the engine is taken to be
2723 that in favor of white, even when the engine plays black.
2724 Important when XBoard uses the score for adjudications, or in PGN reporting.
2725 @item -niceEngines priority
2726 @cindex niceEngines, option
2727 This option allows you to lower the priority of the engine processes,
2728 so that the generally insatiable hunger for CPU time of chess engines does not interfere so much
2729 with smooth operation of XBoard (or the rest of your system).
2730 Negative values could increase the engine priority, which is not recommended.
2731 @item -firstOptions string
2732 @itemx -secondOptions string
2733 @cindex firstOptions, option
2734 @cindex secondOptions, option
2735 The given string is a comma-separated list of (option name=option value) pairs,
2736 like the following example: "style=Karpov,blunder rate=0".
2737 If an option announced by the engine at startup through the feature commands of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol
2738 matches one of the option names (i.e. "style" or "blunder rate"),
2739 it would be set to the given value (i.e. "Karpov" or 0)
2740 through a corresponding option command to the engine.
2741 This provided that the type of the value (text or numeric) matches as well.
2742 @item -firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
2743 @itemx -secondNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
2744 @cindex firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN, option
2745 @cindex secondNeedsNoncompliantFEN, option
2746 The castling rights and e.p. fields of the FEN sent to the mentioned engine
2747 with the setboard command will be replaced by the given string. This can for
2748 instance be used to run engines that do not understand Chess960 FENs in
2749 variant fischerandom, to make them at least understand the opening position,
2750 through setting the string to "KQkq -". (Note you also have to give the e.p. field!)
2751 Other possible applications are to provide work-arounds for engines that want to see
2752 castling and e.p. fields in variants that do not have castling or e.p.
2753 (shatranj, courier, xiangqi, shogi) so that XBoard would normally omit them
2754 (string = "- -"), or to add variant-specific fields that are not yet supported by XBoard
2755 (e.g. to indicate the number of checks in 3check).
2756 @item -shuffleOpenings
2757 @cindex shuffleOpenings, option
2758 Forces shuffling of the opening setup in variants that normally have a fixed initial position.
2759 Shufflings are symmetric for black and white, and exempt King and Rooks in variants
2760 with normal castling.
2761 Remains in force until a new variant is selected.
2762 @item -fischerCastling
2763 @cindex fischerCastling, option
2764 Specifies Fischer castling (as in Chess960) should be enabled in variants
2765 that normally would not have it.
2766 Remains in force until a new variant is selected.
2769 @node UCI + WB Engine Settings
2770 @section UCI + WB Engine Settings
2771 @cindex Engine Settings
2772 @cindex Settings, Engine
2774 @item -fUCI or -firstIsUCI true/false
2775 @itemx -sUCI or -secondIsUCI true/false
2776 @cindex fUCI, option
2777 @cindex sUCI, option
2778 @cindex firstIsUCI, option
2779 @cindex secondIsUCI, option
2780 Indicates if the mentioned engine executable file is a UCI engine,
2781 and should be run with the aid of the Polyglot adapter rather than directly.
2782 Xboard will then pass the other UCI options and engine name to Polyglot
2783 on its command line, according to the option @code{adapterCommand}.
2788 @cindex fUCCI, option
2789 @cindex sUCCI, option
2790 @cindex fUSI, option
2791 @cindex sUSI, option
2792 Options similar to @code{fUCI} and @code{sUCI}, except that they
2793 use the indicated engine with the protocol adapter specified in
2794 the @samp{uxiAdapter} option.
2795 This can then be configured for running a UCCI or USI adapter,
2797 @item -adapterCommand string
2798 @cindex adapterCommand, option
2799 The string contains the command that should be issued by XBoard
2800 to start an engine that is accompanied by the @code{fUCI} option.
2801 Any identifier following a percent sign in the command (e.g. %fcp)
2802 will be considered the name of an XBoard option, and be replaced
2803 by the value of that option at the time the engine is started.
2804 For starting the second engine, any leading "f" or "first" in
2805 the option name will first be replaced by "s" or "second",
2806 before finding its value.
2807 Default: 'polyglot -noini -ec "%fcp" -ed "%fd"'
2808 @item -uxiAdapter string
2809 @cindex uxiAdapter, option
2810 Similar to @code{adapterCommand}, but used for engines accompanied
2811 by the @code{fUCCI} or @code{fUSI} option, so you can configure
2812 XBoard to be ready to handle more than one flavor of non-native protocols.
2814 @item -polyglotDir filename
2815 @cindex polyglotDir, option
2816 Gives the name of the directory in which the Polyglot adapter for UCI engines resides.
2818 @item -usePolyglotBook true/false
2819 @cindex usePolyglotBook, option
2820 Specifies if the Polyglot book should be used as GUI book.
2821 @item -polyglotBook filename
2822 @cindex polyglotBook, option
2823 Gives the filename of the opening book.
2824 The book is only used when the @code{usePolyglotBook} option is set to true,
2825 and the option @code{firstHasOwnBookUCI} or @code{secondHasOwnBookUCI}
2826 applying to the engine is set to false.
2827 The engine will be kept in force mode as long as the current position is in book,
2828 and XBoard will select the book moves for it. Default: "".
2829 @item -fNoOwnBookUCI or -firstXBook or -firstHasOwnBookUCI true/false
2830 @itemx -sNoOwnBookUCI or -secondXBook or -secondHasOwnBookUCI true/false
2831 @cindex fNoOwnBookUCI, option
2832 @cindex sNoOwnBookUCI, option
2833 @cindex firstHasOwnBookUCI, option
2834 @cindex secondHasOwnBookUCI, option
2835 @cindex firstXBook, option
2836 @cindex secondXBook, option
2837 Indicates if the mentioned engine has its own opening book it should play from,
2838 rather than using the external book through XBoard.
2839 Default: depends on setting of the option @code{discourageOwnBooks}.
2840 @item -discourageOwnBooks true/false
2841 @cindex discourageOwnBooks, option
2842 When set, newly loaded engines will be assumed to use the GUI book,
2843 unless they explicitly specify differently.
2844 Otherwise they will be assumed to not use the GUI book,
2845 unless the specify differently (e.g. with @code{firstXBook}).
2848 @cindex bookDepth, option
2849 Limits the use of the GUI book to the first n moves of each side.
2851 @item -bookVariation n
2852 @cindex bookVariation, option
2853 A value n from 0 to 100 tunes the choice of moves from the GUI books
2854 from totally random to best-only. Default: 50
2856 @cindex mcBookMode, option
2857 When this volatile option is specified, the probing algorithm of the
2858 GUI book is altered to always select the move that is most under-represented
2859 based on its performance.
2860 When all moves are played in approximately the right proportion,
2861 a book miss will be reported, to give the engine opportunity to
2863 In addition score of the moves will be kept track of during the session
2865 By playing an match in this mode, a book will be built from scratch.
2866 The only output are the saved games, which can be converted to an
2867 actual book later, with the @samp{Save Games as Book} command.
2868 The latter command can also be used to pre-fill the book buffer
2869 before adding new games based on the probing algorithm.
2870 @item -fn string or -firstPgnName string
2871 @itemx -sn string or -secondPgnName string
2872 @cindex firstPgnName, option
2873 @cindex secondPgnName, option
2876 Indicates the name that should be used for the engine in PGN tags of
2877 engine-engine games.
2878 Intended to allow you to install versions of the same engine with different settings,
2879 and still distinguish them.
2881 @item -defaultHashSize n
2882 @cindex defaultHashSize, option
2883 Sets the size of the hash table to n MegaBytes. Together with the EGTB cache size
2884 this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines,
2885 for those that support the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 64.
2886 @item -defaultCacheSizeEGTB n
2887 @cindex defaultCacheSizeEGTB, option
2888 Sets the size of the EGTB cache to n MegaBytes. Together with the hash-table size
2889 this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines,
2890 for those that support the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 4.
2891 @item -defaultPathEGTB filename
2892 @cindex defaultPathEGTB, option
2893 Gives the name of the directory where the end-game tablebases are installed, for UCI engines.
2894 Default: "/usr/local/share/egtb".
2895 @item -egtFormats string
2896 @cindex egtFormats, option
2897 Specifies which end-game tables are installed on the computer, and where.
2898 The argument is a comma-separated list of format specifications,
2899 each specification consisting of a format name, a colon, and a directory path name,
2900 e.g. "nalimov:/usr/local/share/egtb".
2901 If the name part matches that of a format that the engine requests through a feature command,
2902 xboard will relay the path name for this format to the engine through an egtpath command.
2903 One egtpath command for each matching format will be sent.
2904 Popular formats are "nalimov" and "gaviota" DTM tablebases,
2905 syzygy DTZ tablebases and "scorpio" bitbases.
2907 @item -firstChessProgramNames=@{names@}
2908 @cindex firstChessProgramNames, option
2909 This option lets you customize the listbox with chess-engine names
2910 that appears in the @samp{Load Engine} and @samp{Tournament Options} dialog.
2911 It consists of a list of strings, one per line.
2912 When an engine is loaded, the corresponding line is prefixed with "-fcp ",
2913 and processed like it appeared on the command line.
2914 That means that apart from the engine command,
2915 it can contain any number of XBoard options you want to use with this engine.
2916 (Commonly used options here are -fd, -firstXBook, -fUCI, -variant.)
2918 The value of this option is gradually built as you load new engines
2919 through the @samp{Load Engine} menu dialog, with @samp{Add to list} ticked.
2920 To change it in other ways, (e.g. deleting engines),
2921 use the menu item @samp{Edit Engine List} in the @samp{Engine} menu.
2924 @node Tournament options
2925 @section Tournament options
2926 @cindex Tournament Options
2927 @cindex Options, Tournament
2929 @item -defaultMatchGames n
2930 @cindex defaultMatchGames, option
2931 Sets the number of games that will be used for a match between two engines
2932 started from the menu to n. Also used as games per pairing in other tournament
2933 formats. Default: 10.
2935 @cindex matchPause, option
2936 Specifies the duration of the pause between two games of a match or tournament
2937 between engines as n milliseconds.
2938 Especially engines that do not support ping need this option,
2939 to prevent that the move they are thinking on when an opponent unexpectedly
2940 resigns will be counted for the next game, (leading to illegal moves there).
2942 @item -tf filename or -tourneyFile filename
2944 @cindex tourneyFile, option
2945 Specifies the name of the tournament file used in match mode
2946 to conduct a multi-player tournament.
2947 This file is a special settings file,
2948 which stores the description of the tournament (including progress info),
2949 through normal options (e.g. for time control, load and save files),
2950 and through some special-purpose options listed below.
2951 @item -tt number or -tourneyType number
2953 @cindex tourneyType, option
2954 Specifies the type of tourney: 0 = round-robin,
2955 N>0 = (multi-)gauntlet with N gauntlet engines,
2956 -1 = Swiss through external pairing engine.
2957 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2958 @item -cy number or -tourneyCycles number
2960 @cindex tourneyCycles, option
2961 Specifies the number of cycles in a tourney.
2962 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2963 @item -participants list
2964 @cindex participants, option
2965 The list is a multi-line text string that specifies engines
2966 occurring in the @code{firstChesProgramNames} list
2967 in the settings file by their (implied or explicitly given) nicknames,
2968 one engine per line.
2969 The mentioned engines will play in the tourney.
2970 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2971 @item -results string
2972 @cindex results, option
2973 The string of +=- characters lists the result of all played games in a tourney.
2974 Games currently playing are listed as *,
2975 while a space indicates a game that is not yet played.
2976 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2977 @item -defaultTourneyName string
2978 @cindex defaultTourneyName, option
2979 Specifies the name of the tournament file XBoard should propose
2980 when the @samp{Match Options} dialog is opened.
2981 Any %y, %M, %d, %h, %m, %s in the string are replaced by the current
2982 year, month, day of the month, hours, minutes, seconds of the current time,
2983 respectively, as two-digit number.
2984 A %Y would be replaced by the year as 4-digit number. Default: empty string.
2985 @item -pairingEngine filename
2986 @cindex pairingEngine, option
2987 Specifies the external program to be used to pair the participants in Swiss tourneys.
2988 XBoard communicates with this engine in the same way as it communicates with Chess engines.
2989 The only commands sent to the pairing engine are “results N string”,
2990 (where N is the number of participants,
2991 and string the results so far in the format of the results option),
2992 and “pairing N”, (where N is the number of the tourney game).
2993 To the latter the pairing engine should answer with “A-B”,
2994 where A and B are participant numbers (in the range 1-N).
2995 (There should be no reply to the results command.) Default: empty string.
2996 @item -afterGame string
2997 @itemx -afterTourney string
2998 @cindex afterGame, option
2999 @cindex afterTourney, option
3000 When non-empty, the given string will be executed as a system command
3001 after each tournament game, or after the tourney completes, respectively.
3002 This can be used, for example, to autmatically run a cross-table generator
3003 on the PGN file where games are saved, to update the tourney standings.
3005 @item -syncAfterRound true/false
3006 @itemx -syncAfterCycle true/false
3007 @cindex syncAfterRound, option
3008 @cindex syncAfterCycle, option
3009 Controls whether different instances of XBoard concurrently running the
3010 same tournament will wait for each other.
3011 Defaults: sync after cycle, but not after round.
3012 @item -seedBase number
3013 @cindex seedBase, option
3014 Used to store the seed of the pseudo-random-number generator in the
3015 tourneyFile, so that separate instances of XBoard working on the same
3016 tourney can take coherent 'random' decisions, such as picking an
3017 opening for a given game number.
3021 @section ICS options
3023 @cindex Options, ICS
3025 @item -ics/-xics or -internetChessServerMode true/false
3027 @cindex internetChessServerMode, option
3028 Connect with an Internet Chess Server to play chess against its
3029 other users, observe games they are playing, or review games
3030 that have recently finished. Default: false.
3031 @item -icshost or -internetChessServerHost host
3032 @cindex icshost, option
3033 @cindex internetChessServerHost, option
3034 The Internet host name or address of the chess server to connect
3035 to when in ICS mode. Default: @code{chessclub.com}.
3036 Another popular chess server to try is @code{freechess.org}.
3037 If your site doesn't have a working Internet name server, try
3038 specifying the host address in numeric form.
3040 to specify the numeric address when using the icshelper option
3041 with timestamp or timeseal (see below).
3042 @item -icsport or -internetChessServerPort port-number
3043 @cindex icsport, option
3044 @cindex internetChessServerPort, option
3045 The port number to use when connecting to a chess server in ICS
3046 mode. Default: 5000.
3047 @item -icshelper or -internetChessServerHelper prog-name
3048 @cindex icshelper, option
3049 @cindex internetChessServerHelper, option
3050 An external helper program used to communicate with the chess server.
3051 You would set it to "timestamp" for ICC (chessclub.com) or
3052 "timeseal" for FICS (freechess.org), after
3053 obtaining the correct version of timestamp or timeseal for your
3054 computer. See "help timestamp" on ICC and "help timeseal" on FICS.
3055 This option is shorthand for @code{-useTelnet -telnetProgram program}.
3056 @item -telnet/-xtelnet or -useTelnet true/false
3057 @cindex telnet, option
3058 @cindex useTelnet, option
3059 This option is poorly named; it should be called useHelper.
3060 If set to true, it instructs XBoard to run an external
3061 program to communicate with the Internet Chess Server.
3062 The program to use is given by the telnetProgram option.
3064 false (the default), XBoard opens a TCP socket and uses its own
3065 internal implementation of the telnet protocol to communicate with the
3066 ICS. @xref{Firewalls}.
3067 @item -telnetProgram prog-name
3068 @cindex telnetProgram, option
3069 This option is poorly named; it should be called helperProgram.
3070 It gives the name of the telnet program to be used with
3071 the @code{gateway} and @code{useTelnet} options. The default is
3072 @file{telnet}. The telnet program is invoked with the value of
3073 @code{internetChessServerHost} as its first argument and the value
3074 of @code{internetChessServerPort} as its second argument.
3076 @item -gateway host-name
3077 @cindex gateway, option
3078 If this option is set to a host name, XBoard communicates with the
3079 Internet Chess Server by using @file{rsh} to run
3080 the @code{telnetProgram} on the given host,
3081 instead of using its own internal implementation
3082 of the telnet protocol. You can substitute a different remote shell
3083 program for @file{rsh} using the @code{remoteShell} option described below.
3085 @item -internetChessServerCommPort or -icscomm dev-name
3086 @cindex internetChessServerCommPort, option
3087 @cindex icscomm, option
3088 If this option is set, XBoard communicates with the ICS through
3089 the given character I/O device instead of opening a TCP connection.
3090 Use this option if your system does not have any kind of
3091 Internet connection itself (not even a SLIP or PPP connection),
3092 but you do have dial-up access (or a hardwired terminal line) to
3093 an Internet service provider from which you can telnet to the ICS.
3095 The support for this option in XBoard is minimal. You need to
3096 set all communication parameters and tty modes before you enter
3099 Use a script something like this:
3102 stty raw -echo 9600 > /dev/tty00
3103 xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/tty00
3106 Here replace @samp{/dev/tty00} with the name of the device that your
3107 modem is connected to. You might have to add several more
3108 options to these stty commands. See the man pages for @file{stty}
3109 and @code{tty} if you run into problems. Also, on many systems stty
3110 works on its standard input instead of standard output, so you
3111 have to use @samp{<} instead of @samp{>}.
3113 If you are using linux, try starting with the script below.
3114 Change it as necessary for your installation.
3118 # configure modem and fire up XBoard
3122 stty 2400 ; stty raw ; stty hupcl ; stty -clocal
3123 stty ignbrk ; stty ignpar ; stty ixon ; stty ixoff
3124 stty -iexten ; stty -echo
3126 xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/modem
3129 After you start XBoard in this way, type whatever commands are
3130 necessary to dial out to your Internet provider and log in.
3131 Then telnet to ICS, using a command like
3132 @kbd{telnet chessclub.com 5000}.
3133 Important: See the paragraph below about extra echoes,
3134 in @ref{Limitations}.
3135 @item -icslogon or -internetChessServerLogonScript file-name
3136 @cindex icslogon, option
3137 @cindex internetChessServerLogonScript, option
3139 Whenever XBoard connects to the Internet Chess Server,
3140 if it finds a file with the name given in this option, it feeds the
3141 file's contents to the ICS as commands. The default file name
3143 Usually the first two lines of the file should be
3144 your ICS user name and password.
3145 The file can be either in $CHESSDIR, in XBoard's working
3146 directory if CHESSDIR is not set, or in your home directory.
3147 @item -msLoginDelay delay
3148 @cindex msLoginDelay, option
3149 If you experience trouble logging on to an ICS when using the
3150 @code{-icslogon} option, inserting some delay between characters
3151 of the logon script may help. This option adds @code{delay}
3152 milliseconds of delay between characters. Good values to try
3154 @item -icsinput/-xicsinput or -internetChessServerInputBox true/false
3155 @cindex icsinput, option
3156 @cindex internetChessServerInputBox, option
3157 Sets the ICS Input Box menu option. @xref{Mode Menu}. Default: false.
3158 @item -autocomm/-xautocomm or -autoComment true/false
3159 @cindex autocomm, option
3160 @cindex autoComment, option
3161 Sets the Auto Comment menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3162 @item -autoflag/-xautoflag or -autoCallFlag true/false
3163 @cindex autoflag, option
3164 @cindex autoCallFlag, option
3165 Sets the Auto Flag menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3166 @item -autobs/-xautobs or -autoObserve true/false
3167 @cindex autobs, option
3168 @cindex autoObserve, option
3169 Sets the Auto Observe menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3171 @cindex autoKibitz, option
3172 Enables kibitzing of the engines last thinking output (depth, score, time, speed, PV)
3174 to the ICS, in zippy mode. The option @code{showThinking} must be switched on for
3175 this option to work.
3176 Also diverts similar kibitz information of an opponent engine that is playing you
3177 through the ICS to the engine-output window, as if the engine was playing locally.
3178 @item -seekGraph true/false or -sg
3179 @cindex seekGraph, option
3181 Enables displaying of the seek graph by left-clicking the board when
3182 you are logged on to an ICS and currently idle.
3183 The seek graph show all players currently seeking games on the ICS,
3184 plotted according to their rating and the time control of the game they seek,
3185 in three different colors (for rated, unrated and wild games).
3186 Computer ads are displayed as squares, human ads are dots.
3188 @item -autoRefresh true/false
3189 @cindex autoRefresh, option
3190 Enables automatic updating of the seek graph,
3191 by having the ICS send a running update of all newly placed
3192 and removed seek ads.
3193 This consumes a substantial amount of communication bandwidth,
3194 and is only supported for FICS and ICC.
3196 @item -backgroundObserve true/false
3197 @cindex backgroundObserve, option
3198 When true, boards sent to you by the ICS from other games while you are playing
3199 (e.g. because you are observing them)
3200 will not be automatically displayed.
3201 Only a summary of time left and material of both players will appear
3202 in the message field above the board.
3203 XBoard will remember the last board it has received this way,
3204 and will display it instead of the position in your own game
3205 when you press the right mouse button.
3206 No other information is stored on such games observed in the background;
3207 you cannot save such a game later, or step through its moves.
3208 This feature is provided solely for the benefit of bughouse players,
3209 to enable them to peek at their partner's game without the need
3212 @item -dualBoard true/false
3213 @cindex dualBoard, option
3214 In combination with -backgroundObserve true, this option will display
3215 the board of the background game side by side with that of your own game,
3216 so you can have it in view permanently.
3217 Any board or holdings info coming in will be displayed on the secondary
3219 This feature is still experimental and largely unfinished.
3220 There is no animation or highlighting of moves on the secondary board.
3222 @item -disguisePromotedPieces true/false
3223 @cindex disguisePromotedPieces, option
3224 When set promoted Pawns in crazyhouse/bughouse are displayed identical
3225 to primordial pieces of the same type, rather than distinguishable.
3227 @item -moves/-xmoves or -getMoveList true/false
3228 @cindex moves, option
3229 @cindex getMoveList, option
3230 Sets the Get Move List menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3231 @item -alarm/-xalarm or -icsAlarm true/false
3232 @cindex alarm, option
3233 @cindex icsAlarm, option
3234 Sets the ICS Alarm menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3235 @item -icsAlarmTime ms
3236 @cindex icsAlarmTime, option
3237 Sets the time in milliseconds for the ICS Alarm menu option.
3238 @xref{Options Menu}. Default: 5000.
3239 @item lowTimeWarning true/false
3240 @cindex lowTimeWarning, option
3241 Controls a color change of the board as a warning your time is running out.
3242 @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3243 @item -pre/-xpre \fRor\fB -premove true/false
3245 @cindex premove, option
3246 Sets the Premove menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3247 @item -prewhite/-xprewhite or -premoveWhite
3248 @itemx -preblack/-xpreblack or -premoveBlack
3249 @itemx -premoveWhiteText string
3250 @itemx -premoveBlackText string
3251 @cindex prewhite, option
3252 @cindex premoveWhite, option
3253 @cindex preblack, option
3254 @cindex premoveBlack, option
3255 @cindex premoveWhiteText, option
3256 @cindex premoveBlackText, option
3257 Set the menu options for specifying the first move for either color.
3258 @xref{Options Menu}. Defaults: false and empty strings, so no pre-moves.
3259 @item -quiet/-xquiet or -quietPlay true/false
3260 @cindex quiet, option
3261 @cindex quietPlay, option
3262 Sets the Quiet Play menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3263 @item -colorizeMessages or -colorize/-xcolorize
3265 @cindex colorize, option
3266 @cindex colorizeMessages, option
3267 Setting colorizeMessages
3268 to true tells XBoard to colorize the messages received from
3269 the ICS. Colorization works only if your xterm
3270 supports ISO 6429 escape sequences for changing text colors.
3272 @item -colorShout foreground,background,bold
3273 @itemx -colorSShout foreground,background,bold
3274 @itemx -colorCShout foreground,background,bold
3275 @itemx -colorChannel1 foreground,background,bold
3276 @itemx -colorChannel foreground,background,bold
3277 @itemx -colorKibitz foreground,background,bold
3278 @itemx -colorTell foreground,background,bold
3279 @itemx -colorChallege foreground,background,bold
3280 @itemx -colorRequest foreground,background,bold
3281 @itemx -colorSeek foreground,background,bold
3282 @itemx -colorNormal foreground,background,bold
3284 @cindex colorShout, option
3285 @cindex colorSShout, option
3286 @cindex colorCShout, option
3287 @cindex colorChannel1, option
3288 @cindex colorChannel, option
3289 @cindex colorKibitz, option
3290 @cindex colorTell, option
3291 @cindex colorChallenge, option
3292 @cindex colorRequest, option
3293 @cindex colorSeek, option
3294 @cindex colorNormal, option
3295 These options set the colors used when colorizing ICS messages.
3296 All ICS messages are grouped into one of these categories:
3297 shout, sshout, channel 1, other channel, kibitz, tell, challenge,
3298 request (including abort, adjourn, draw, pause, and takeback), or
3299 normal (all other messages).
3301 Each foreground or background argument can be one of the following:
3302 black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, or default.
3303 Here ``default'' means the default foreground or background color of
3304 your xterm. Bold can be 1 or 0. If background is omitted, ``default''
3305 is assumed; if bold is omitted, 0 is assumed.
3307 @item -soundProgram progname
3308 @cindex soundProgram, option
3310 If this option is set to a sound-playing program that is installed and
3311 working on your system, XBoard can play sound files when certain
3312 events occur, listed below. The default program name is "play". If
3313 any of the sound options is set to "$", the event rings the terminal
3314 bell by sending a ^G character to standard output, instead of playing
3315 a sound file. If an option is set to the empty string "", no sound is
3316 played for that event.
3317 @item -soundDirectory directoryname
3318 @cindex soundDirectory, option
3320 This option specifies where XBoard will look for sound files,
3321 when these are not given as an absolute path name.
3322 @item -soundShout filename
3323 @itemx -soundSShout filename
3324 @itemx -soundCShout filename
3325 @itemx -soundChannel filename
3326 @itemx -soundChannel1 filename
3327 @itemx -soundKibitz filename
3328 @itemx -soundTell filename
3329 @itemx -soundChallenge filename
3330 @itemx -soundRequest filename
3331 @itemx -soundSeek filename
3332 @cindex soundShout, option
3333 @cindex soundSShout, option
3334 @cindex soundCShout, option
3335 @cindex soundChannel, option
3336 @cindex soundChannel1, option
3337 @cindex soundKibitz, option
3338 @cindex soundTell, option
3339 @cindex soundChallenge, option
3340 @cindex soundRequest, option
3341 @cindex soundSeek, option
3342 These sounds are triggered in the same way as the colorization events
3343 described above. They all default to "", no sound. They are played
3344 only if the colorizeMessages is on.
3345 CShout is synonymous with SShout.
3346 @item -soundMove filename
3347 @cindex soundMove, option
3348 This sound is played when a player other than yourself makes a move.
3350 @item -soundRoar filename
3351 @cindex soundRoar, option
3352 This sound is played when a Lion makes a hit-and-run or double capture/
3353 Default: "" (no sound).
3354 @item -soundIcsAlarm filename
3355 @cindex soundIcsAlarm, option
3356 This sound is used by the ICS Alarm menu option. Default: "$".
3357 @item -soundIcsWin filename
3358 @cindex soundIcsWin, option
3359 This sound is played when you win an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
3360 @item -soundIcsLoss filename
3361 @cindex soundIcsLoss, option
3362 This sound is played when you lose an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
3363 @item -soundIcsDraw filename
3364 @cindex soundIcsDraw, option
3365 This sound is played when you draw an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
3366 @item -soundIcsUnfinished filename
3367 @cindex soundIcsUnfinished, option
3368 This sound is played when an ICS game that you are participating in is
3369 aborted, adjourned, or otherwise ends inconclusively. Default: "" (no
3373 @node Load and Save options
3374 @section Load and Save options
3375 @cindex Options, Load and Save
3376 @cindex Load and Save options
3378 @item -lgf or -loadGameFile file
3379 @itemx -lgi or -loadGameIndex index
3381 @cindex loadGameFile, option
3383 @cindex loadGameIndex, option
3384 If the @code{loadGameFile} option is set, XBoard loads the specified
3385 game file at startup. The file name @file{-} specifies the standard
3386 input. If there is more than one game in the file, XBoard
3387 pops up a menu of the available games, with entries based on their PGN
3388 (Portable Game Notation) tags.
3389 If the @code{loadGameIndex} option is set to @samp{N}, the menu is suppressed
3390 and the N th game found in the file is loaded immediately.
3391 The menu is also suppressed if @code{matchMode} is enabled or if the game file
3392 is a pipe; in these cases the first game in the file is loaded immediately.
3393 Use the @file{pxboard} shell script provided with XBoard if you
3394 want to pipe in files containing multiple games and still see the menu.
3395 If the loadGameIndex specifies an index -1, this triggers auto-increment
3396 of the index in @code{matchMode}, which means that after every game the
3397 index is incremented by one, causing each game of the match to be played
3398 from the next game in the file. Similarly, specifying an index value of -2
3399 causes the index to be incremented every two games, so that each game
3400 in the file is used twice (with reversed colors).
3401 The @code{rewindIndex} option causes the index to be reset to the
3402 first game of the file when it has reached a specified value.
3403 @item -rewindIndex n
3404 Causes a position file or game file to be rewound to its beginning after n
3405 positions or games in auto-increment @code{matchMode}.
3406 See @code{loadPositionIndex} and @code{loadGameIndex}.
3407 default: 0 (no rewind).
3408 @item -td or -timeDelay seconds
3410 @cindex timeDelay, option
3411 Time delay between moves during @samp{Load Game} or @samp{Analyze File}.
3412 Fractional seconds are allowed; try @samp{-td 0.4}.
3413 A time delay value of -1 tells
3414 XBoard not to step through game files automatically. Default: 1 second.
3415 @item -sgf or -saveGameFile file
3417 @cindex saveGameFile, option
3418 If this option is set, XBoard appends a record of every game
3419 played to the specified file. The file name @file{-} specifies the
3421 @item -autosave/-xautosave or -autoSaveGames true/false
3422 @cindex autosave, option
3423 @cindex autoSaveGames, option
3424 Sets the Auto Save menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3425 Ignored if @code{saveGameFile} is set.
3426 @item -onlyOwnGames true/false
3427 @cindex onlyOwnGames, option
3428 Suppresses auto-saving of ICS observed games. Default: false.
3429 @item -lpf or -loadPositionFile file
3430 @itemx -lpi or -loadPositionIndex index
3432 @cindex loadPositionFile, option
3434 @cindex loadPositionIndex, option
3435 If the @code{loadPositionFile} option is set, XBoard loads the
3436 specified position file at startup. The file name @file{-} specifies the
3437 standard input. If the @code{loadPositionIndex} option is set to N,
3438 the Nth position found in the file is loaded; otherwise the
3439 first position is loaded.
3440 If the loadPositionIndex specifies an index -1, this triggers auto-increment
3441 of the index in @code{matchMode}, which means that after every game the
3442 index is incremented by one, causing each game of the match to be played
3443 from the next position in the file. Similarly, specifying an index value of -2
3444 causes the index to be incremented every two games, so that each position
3445 in the file is used twice (with the engines playing opposite colors).
3446 The @code{rewindIndex} option causes the index to be reset to the
3447 first position of the file when it has reached a specified value.
3448 @item -spf or -savePositionFile file
3450 @cindex savePositionFile, option
3451 If this option is set, XBoard appends the final position reached
3452 in every game played to the specified file. The file name @file{-}
3453 specifies the standard output.
3454 @item -positionDir directory
3455 @cindex positionDir, option
3456 Specifies the directory where file browsing should start when using
3457 the @samp{Load Position} menu item.
3458 @item -pgnExtendedInfo true/false
3459 @cindex pgnExtendedInfo, option
3460 If this option is set, XBoard saves depth, score and time used for each
3461 move that the engine found as a comment in the PGN file.
3463 @item -pgnTimeLeft true/false
3464 @cindex pgnTimeLeft, option
3465 If this option is set, XBoard will save the remaining clock time for
3466 the player that has just moved as part of the @samp{pgnExtendedInfo},
3467 rather than the time that player thought about his latest move.
3469 @item -pgnEventHeader string
3471 @cindex pgnEventHeader, option
3472 Sets the name used in the PGN event tag to string.
3473 Default: "Computer Chess Game".
3474 @item -pgnNumberTag true/false
3475 @cindex pgnNumberTag, option
3476 Include the (unique) sequence number of a tournament game into the saved
3477 PGN file as a 'number' tag.
3479 @item -saveOutOfBookInfo true/false
3480 @cindex saveOutOfBookInfo, option
3481 Include the information on how the engine(s) game out of its opening book
3482 in a special 'annotator' tag with the PGN file.
3484 @item -oldsave/-xoldsave or -oldSaveStyle true/false
3485 @cindex oldsave, option
3486 @cindex oldSaveStyle, option
3487 Sets the Old Save Style menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3488 @item -gameListTags string
3489 @cindex gameListTags, option
3490 The character string lists the PGN tags that should be printed in the
3491 Game List, and their order. The meaning of the codes is e=event,
3492 s=site, d=date, o=round, p=players, r=result, w=white Elo, b=black Elo,
3493 t=time control, v=variant, a=out-of-book info, c=result comment.
3495 @item -ini or -settingsFile filename
3496 @itemx -saveSettingsFile filename
3498 @cindex saveSettingsFile, option
3499 @cindex SettingsFile, option
3500 @cindex init, option
3501 @cindex at sign, option
3502 When XBoard encounters an option -settingsFile (or -ini for short),
3503 or @@filename, it tries to read the mentioned file,
3504 and substitutes the contents of it (presumaby more command-line options)
3505 in place of the option.
3506 In the case of -ini or -settingsFile, the name of a successfully read
3507 settings file is also remembered as the file to use for saving settings
3508 (automatically on exit, or on user command).
3509 An option of the form @@filename does not affect saving.
3510 The option -saveSettingsFile does specify a name of the file to use
3511 for saving, without reading any options from it, and is thus also effective
3512 when the file did not exist yet.
3513 So the settings will be saved to the file specified in the last
3514 -saveSettingsFile or succesfull -settingsFile / -ini command,
3515 if any, and in /etc/xboard/xboard.conf otherwise.
3516 Usualy the latter is only accessible for the system administrator, though,
3517 and will be used to contain system-wide default settings, amongst which
3518 a -saveSettingsFile and -settingsFile options to specify a settings file
3519 accessible to the individual user, such as ~/.xboardrc in the user's
3521 @item -saveSettingsOnExit true/false
3522 @cindex saveSettingsOnExit, option
3523 Controls saving of options on the settings file. @xref{Options Menu}.
3527 @node User interface options
3528 @section User interface options
3529 @cindex User interface options
3530 @cindex Options, User interface
3533 @cindex noGUI, option
3534 Suppresses all GUI functions of XBoard
3535 (to speed up automated ultra-fast engine-engine games, which you don't want to watch).
3536 There will be no board or clock updates, no printing of moves,
3537 and no update of the icon on the task bar in this mode.
3539 @cindex logoSize, option
3540 This option controls the drawing of player logos next to the clocks.
3541 The integer N specifies the width of the logo in pixels;
3542 the logo height will always be half the width.
3543 When N = 0, no logos will be diplayed.
3545 @item -firstLogo imagefile
3546 @itemx -secondLogo imagefile
3547 @cindex firstLogo, option
3548 @cindex secondLogo, option
3549 Specify the images to be used as player logos when @code{logoSize}
3550 is non-zero, next to the white and black clocks, respectively.
3551 @item -autoLogo true/false
3552 @itemx -logoDir filename
3553 @cindex autoLogo, option
3554 @cindex logoDir, option
3555 When @code{autoLogo} is set, XBoard will search for a PNG image file
3556 with the name of the engine or ICS in the directory specified
3558 For a human player it will look for a file <username>.png in this
3559 directory, but only when ~/.logo.png does not provide one.
3560 @item -recentEngines number
3561 @itemx -recentEngineList list
3562 @cindex recentEngines, option
3563 @cindex recentEngineList, option
3564 When the number is larger than zero, it determines how many recently
3565 used engines will be appended at the bottom of the @samp{Engines} menu.
3566 The engines will be saved in your settings file as the option
3567 @code{recentEngineList}, by their nicknames,
3568 and the most recently used one will always be sorted to the top.
3569 If the list after that is longer than the specified number,
3570 the last one is discarded.
3571 Changes in the list will only become visible the next session,
3572 provided you saved the settings.
3574 @item -oneClickMove true/false
3575 @cindex oneClickMove, option
3576 When set, this option allows you to enter moves by only clicking the to-
3577 or from-square, when only a single legal move to or from that square
3579 Double-clicking a piece (or clicking an already selected piece)
3580 will instruct that piece to make the only capture it can legally do.
3582 @item -monoMouse true/false
3583 @cindex monoMouse, option
3584 When set button 1 clicks on empty squares in Edit Position mode
3585 will be interpreted as button 3 clicks, so they place a piece.
3587 @item -movesound/-xmovesound or -ringBellAfterMoves true/false
3588 @cindex movesound, option
3589 @cindex bell, option
3590 @cindex ringBellAfterMoves, option
3591 Sets the Move Sound menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3592 For compatibility with old XBoard versions, -bell/-xbell are also
3593 accepted as abbreviations for this option.
3594 @item -analysisBell N
3595 @cindex analysisBell, option
3596 When N is non-zero, the Move Sound will be played whenever a new
3597 PV arrives in analysis mode after more than N seconds of analysis.
3599 @item -exit/-xexit or -popupExitMessage true/false
3600 @cindex exit, option
3601 @cindex popupExitMessage, option
3602 Sets the Popup Exit Message menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3603 @item -popup/-xpopup or -popupMoveErrors true/false
3604 @cindex popup, option
3605 @cindex popupMoveErrors, option
3606 Sets the Popup Move Errors menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3607 @item -queen/-xqueen or -alwaysPromoteToQueen true/false
3608 @cindex queen, option
3609 @cindex alwaysPromoteToQueen, option
3610 Sets the Always Queen menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3611 @item -sweepPromotions true/false
3612 @cindex sweepPromotion, option
3613 Sets the @samp{Almost Always Promote to Queen} menu option.
3614 @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3615 @item -legal/-xlegal or -testLegality true/false
3616 @cindex legal, option
3617 @cindex testLegality, option
3618 Sets the Test Legality menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3619 @item -size or -boardSize (sizeName | n1,n2,n3,n4,n5,n6,n7)
3620 @cindex size, option
3621 @cindex boardSize, option
3623 Determines how large the board will be, by selecting the pixel size
3624 of the pieces and setting a few related parameters.
3625 The sizeName can be one of: Titanic, giving 129x129 pixel pieces,
3626 Colossal 116x116, Giant 108x108, Huge 95x95, Big 87x87, Large 80x80, Bulky 72x72,
3627 Medium 64x64, Moderate 58x58, Average 54x54, Middling 49x49, Mediocre
3628 45x45, Small 40x40, Slim 37x37, Petite 33x33, Dinky 29x29, Teeny 25x25,
3630 Xboard installs with a set of scalable (svg) piece images,
3631 which it scales to any of the requested sizes.
3632 The square size can further be continuously scaled by sizing the board window,
3633 but this only adapts the size of the pieces,
3634 and has no effect on the width of the grid lines or the font choice
3635 (both of which would depend on he selected boardSize).
3636 The default depends on the size of your screen; it is approximately the
3637 largest size that will fit without clipping.
3639 You can select other sizes or vary other layout parameters by providing
3640 a list of comma-separated values (with no spaces) as the argument.
3641 You do not need to provide all the values; for any you omit from the
3642 end of the list, defaults are taken from the nearest built-in size.
3643 The value @code{n1} gives the piece size, @code{n2} the width of the
3645 between squares, @code{n3} the desired size for the
3646 clockFont, @code{n4} the desired size for the coordFont,
3647 @code{n5} the desired size for the messageFont,
3648 @code{n6} the smallLayout flag (0 or 1),
3649 and @code{n7} the tinyLayout flag (0 or 1).
3650 All dimensions are in pixels.
3651 If the border between squares is eliminated (0 width), the various
3652 highlight options will not work, as there is nowhere to draw the highlight.
3653 If smallLayout is 1 and @code{titleInWindow} is true,
3654 the window layout is rearranged to make more room for the title.
3655 If tinyLayout is 1, the labels on the menu bar are abbreviated
3656 to one character each and the buttons in the button bar are made narrower.
3657 @item -overrideLineGap n
3658 @cindex overrideLineGap, option
3659 When n >= 0, this forces the width of the black border between squares
3660 to n pixels for any board size. Mostly used to suppress the grid
3661 entirely by setting n = 0, e.g. in xiangqi or just getting a prettier
3662 picture. When n < 0 this the size-dependent width of the grid lines
3663 is used. Default: -1.
3664 @item -coords/-xcoords or -showCoords true/false
3665 @cindex coords, option
3666 @cindex showCoords, option
3667 Sets the Show Coords menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3668 The @code{coordFont} option specifies what font to use.
3669 @item -autoraise/-xautoraise or -autoRaiseBoard true/false
3670 @cindex autoraise, option
3671 @cindex autoRaiseBoard, option
3672 Sets the Auto Raise Board menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3673 @item -autoflip/-xautoflip or -autoFlipView true/false
3674 @cindex autoflip, option
3675 @cindex autoFlipView, option
3676 Sets the Auto Flip View menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3677 @item -flip/-xflip or -flipView true/false
3678 @cindex flip, option
3679 @cindex flipView, option
3680 If Auto Flip View is not set, or if you are observing but not participating
3681 in a game, then the positioning of the board at the start of each game
3682 depends on the flipView option. If flipView is false (the default),
3683 the board is positioned so that the white pawns move from the bottom to the
3684 top; if true, the black pawns move from the bottom to the top.
3685 In any case, the Flip menu option (see @ref{Options Menu})
3686 can be used to flip the board after
3688 @item -title/-xtitle or -titleInWindow true/false
3689 @cindex title, option
3690 @cindex titleInWindow, option
3691 If this option is true, XBoard displays player names (for ICS
3692 games) and game file names (for @samp{Load Game}) inside its main
3693 window. If the option is false (the default), this information is
3694 displayed only in the window banner. You probably won't want to
3695 set this option unless the information is not showing up in the
3696 banner, as happens with a few X window managers.
3697 @item -buttons/-xbuttons or -showButtonBar True/False
3698 @cindex buttons, option
3699 @cindex showButtonBar, option
3700 If this option is False, xboard omits the [<<] [<] [P] [>] [>>] button
3701 bar from the window, allowing the message line to be wider. You can
3702 still get the functions of these buttons using the menus or their keyboard
3703 shortcuts. Default: true.
3704 @item -evalZoom factor
3705 @cindex evalZoom, option
3706 The score interval (-1,1) is blown up on the vertical axis of
3707 the Evaluation Graph by the given factor.
3709 @item -evalThreshold n
3710 @cindex evalThreshold, option
3711 Score below n (centiPawn) are plotted as 0 in the Evaluation Graph.
3713 @item -mono/-xmono or -monoMode true/false
3714 @cindex mono, option
3715 @cindex monoMode, option
3716 Determines whether XBoard displays its pieces and squares with
3717 two colors (true) or four (false). You shouldn't have to
3718 specify @code{monoMode}; XBoard will determine if it is necessary.
3719 @item -showTargetSquares true/false
3720 @cindex showTargetSquares, option
3721 Determines whether XBoard can highlight the squares a piece has
3722 legal moves to, when you grab that piece with the mouse.
3724 @item -flashCount count
3725 @itemx -flashRate rate
3726 @itemx -flash/-xflash
3727 @cindex flashCount, option
3728 @cindex flashRate, option
3729 @cindex flash, option
3730 @cindex xflash, option
3731 These options enable flashing of pieces when they
3732 land on their destination square.
3734 tells XBoard how many times to flash a piece after it
3735 lands on its destination square.
3737 controls the rate of flashing (flashes/sec).
3740 sets flashCount to 3.
3742 sets flashCount to 0.
3743 Defaults: flashCount=0 (no flashing), flashRate=5.
3744 @item -highlight/-xhighlight or -highlightLastMove true/false
3745 @cindex highlight, option
3746 @cindex highlightLastMove, option
3747 Sets the Highlight Last Move menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3748 @item -highlightMoveWithArrow true/false
3749 @cindex highlight Arrow, option
3750 @cindex highlightMoveWithArrow, option
3751 Sets the Highlight with Arrow menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3752 @item -blind/-xblind or -blindfold true/false
3753 @cindex blind, option
3754 @cindex blindfold, option
3755 Sets the Blindfold menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
3756 @item -periodic/-xperiodic or -periodicUpdates true/false
3757 @cindex periodic, option
3758 @cindex periodicUpdates, option
3759 Controls updating of current move andnode counts in analysis mode. Default: true.
3762 @cindex fSAN, option
3763 @cindex sSAN, option
3764 Causes the PV in thinking output of the mentioned engine to be converted
3765 to SAN before it is further processed.
3766 Warning: this might lose engine output not understood by the parser,
3767 and uses a lot of CPU power.
3768 Default: the PV is displayed exactly as the engine produced it.
3769 @item -showEvalInMoveHistory true/false
3770 @cindex showEvalInMoveHistory, option
3771 Controls whether the evaluation scores and search depth of engine moves
3772 are displayed with the move in the move-history window.
3774 @item -clockFont font
3775 @cindex clockFont, option
3777 The font used for the clocks. If the option value is a pattern
3778 that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an
3779 appropriate font for the board size being used.
3780 Default Xaw: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
3781 Default GTK: Sans Bold %d.
3782 @item -coordFont font
3783 @cindex coordFont, option
3784 @cindex Font, coordinates
3785 The font used for rank and file coordinate labels if @code{showCoords}
3786 is true. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify
3787 the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for
3788 the board size being used.
3789 Default Xaw: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
3790 Default GTK: Sans Bold %d.
3791 @item -messageFont font
3792 @cindex messageFont, option
3793 @cindex Font, message
3794 The font used for popup dialogs, menus, etc.
3795 If the option value is a pattern that does not specify
3796 the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for
3797 the board size being used.
3798 Default Xaw: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
3799 Default GTK: Sans Bold %d
3800 @item -tagsFont font
3801 @cindex tagsFont, option
3803 The font used in the Edit Tags dialog.
3804 If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
3805 an appropriate font for the board size being used.
3806 (Only used in GTK build.)
3807 Default: Sans Normal %d.
3808 @item -commentFont font
3809 @cindex commentFont, option
3810 @cindex Font, comment
3811 The font used in the Edit Comment dialog.
3812 If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
3813 an appropriate font for the board size being used.
3814 (Only used in GTK build.)
3815 Default: Sans Normal %d.
3817 @cindex icsFont, option
3819 The font used to display ICS output in the ICS Chat window.
3820 As ICS output often contains tables aligned by spaces,
3821 a mono-space font is recommended here.
3822 If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
3823 an appropriate font for the board size being used.
3824 (Only used in GTK build.)
3825 Default: Monospace Normal %d.
3826 @item -moveHistoryFont font
3827 @cindex moveHistoryFont, option
3828 @cindex Font, moveHistory
3829 The font used in Move History and Engine Output windows.
3830 As these windows display mainly moves,
3831 one could use a figurine font here.
3832 If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
3833 an appropriate font for the board size being used.
3834 (Only used in GTK build.)
3835 Default: Sans Normal %d.
3836 @item -gameListFont font
3837 @cindex gameListFont, option
3838 @cindex Font, gameList
3839 The font used in the listbox of the Game List window.
3840 If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
3841 an appropriate font for the board size being used.
3842 (Only used in GTK build.)
3843 Default: Sans Bold %d.
3844 @item -fontSizeTolerance tol
3845 @cindex fontSizeTolerance, option
3846 In the font selection algorithm, a nonscalable font will be preferred
3847 over a scalable font if the nonscalable font's size differs
3848 by @code{tol} pixels
3849 or less from the desired size. A value of -1 will force
3850 a scalable font to always be used if available; a value of 0 will
3851 use a nonscalable font only if it is exactly the right size;
3852 a large value (say 1000) will force a nonscalable font to always be
3853 used if available. Default: 4.
3854 @item -pid or -pieceImageDirectory dir
3856 @cindex pieceImageDirectory, option
3857 This options control what piece images xboard uses.
3858 XBoard will look in the specified directory for an image in png
3859 or svg format for every piece type, with names like BlackQueen.svg,
3860 WhiteKnight.svg etc.
3861 When neither of these is found (or no valid directory is specified)
3862 XBoard will first ty to use an image White/BlackTile.svg in that same
3863 directory, and if that is not present either
3864 use the svg piece that was installed with it
3865 (from the source-tree directory @samp{svg}).
3866 Both svg and png images will be scaled by XBoard to the required size,
3867 but the png pieces lose much in quality when scaled too much.
3869 @item -inscriptions utf8string
3870 @cindex inscriptions, option
3871 The positions in the utf8string correspond to XBoard's piece types,
3872 and for each type a glyph can be defined.
3873 This glyph will then be rendered on top of the image for the piece.
3874 This is useful in combination with the White/BlackTile.svg images,
3875 which could be the image of a blank Shogi tile, for writing the
3876 kanji piece name on top of it on the fly.
3879 @item -whitePieceColor color
3880 @itemx -blackPieceColor color
3881 @itemx -lightSquareColor color
3882 @itemx -darkSquareColor color
3883 @itemx -highlightSquareColor color
3884 @itemx -preoveHighlightColor color
3885 @itemx -lowTimeWarningColor color
3887 @cindex whitePieceColor, option
3888 @cindex blackPieceColor, option
3889 @cindex lightSquareColor, option
3890 @cindex darkSquareColor, option
3891 @cindex highlightSquareColor, option
3892 @cindex premoveHighlightColor, option
3893 @cindex lowTimeWarningColor, option
3894 Colors to use for the pieces, squares, and square highlights.
3898 -whitePieceColor #FFFFCC
3899 -blackPieceColor #202020
3900 -lightSquareColor #C8C365
3901 -darkSquareColor #77A26D
3902 -highlightSquareColor #FFFF00
3903 -premoveHighlightColor #FF0000
3904 -lowTimeWarningColor #FF0000
3907 On a grayscale monitor you might prefer:
3910 -whitePieceColor gray100
3911 -blackPieceColor gray0
3912 -lightSquareColor gray80
3913 -darkSquareColor gray60
3914 -highlightSquareColor gray100
3915 -premoveHighlightColor gray70
3916 -lowTimeWarningColor gray70
3919 The PieceColor options only work properly if the image files
3920 defining the pieces were pure black & white
3921 (possibly anti-aliased to produce gray scales
3922 and semi-transparancy),
3923 like the pieces images that come with the install.
3924 Their effect on colored pieces is undefined.
3925 The SquareColor option only have an effect
3926 when no board textures are used.
3927 @item -trueColors true/false
3928 @cindex trueColors, option
3929 When set, this option suppresses the effect of the
3930 PieceColor options mentioned above.
3931 This is recommended for images that are already colored.
3932 @item -useBoardTexture true/false
3933 @itemx -liteBackTextureFile filename
3934 @itemx -darkBackTextureFile filename
3935 @cindex useBoardTexture, option
3936 @cindex liteBackTextureFile, option
3937 @cindex darkBackTextureFile, option
3938 Indicate the png image files to be used for drawing the board squares,
3939 and if they should be used rather than using simple colors.
3940 The algorithm for cutting squares out of a given bitmap is such that
3941 the picture is perfectly reproduced when a bitmap the size of
3942 the complete board is given.
3943 If the filename ends in "-NxM.png", with integer N and M,
3944 it is assumed to contain a bitmap of a complete board of N files
3945 and M ranks, and XBoard will scale it to exactly match the
3946 current square size.
3947 If N=M=0 it scales the entire bitmap to the size of the board,
3948 irrespective of the number of files and ranks of the latter.
3949 Without any -NxM suffix textures are only blown up by an integer
3950 factor when they are smaller than the square size, or,
3951 when the name starts with "xq", too small to cover the
3952 complete Xiangqi board.
3953 Default: false and ""
3954 @item -drag/-xdrag or -animateDragging true/false
3955 @cindex drag, option
3956 @cindex animateDragging, option
3957 Sets the Animate Dragging menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3958 @item -animate/-xanimate or -animateMoving true/false
3959 @cindex animate, option
3960 @cindex animateMoving, option
3961 Sets the Animate Moving menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
3962 @item -animateSpeed n
3963 @cindex -animateSpeed, option
3964 Number of milliseconds delay between each animation frame when Animate
3966 @item -autoDisplayComment true/false
3967 @itemx -autoDisplayTags true/false
3968 @cindex -autoDisplayComment, option
3969 @cindex -autoDisplayTags, option
3970 If set to true, these options cause the window with the move comments,
3971 and the window with PGN tags, respectively, to pop up automatically when
3972 such tags or comments are encountered during the replaying a stored or
3973 loaded game. Default: true.
3974 @item -pasteSelection true/false
3975 @cindex -pasteSelection, option
3976 If this option is set to true, the Paste Position and Paste Game
3977 options paste from the currently selected text. If false, they paste
3978 from the clipboard. Default: false.
3979 @item -autoCopyPV true|false
3980 @cindex autoCopyPV, option
3981 When this option is set, the position displayed on the board when
3982 you terminate a PV walk
3983 (initiated by a right-click on board or engine-output window)
3984 will be automatically put on the clipboard as FEN.
3986 @item -dropMenu true|false
3987 @cindex dropMenu, option
3988 This option allows you to emulate old behavior,
3989 where the right mouse button brings up the (now deprecated) drop menu
3990 rather than displaying the position at the end of the principal variation.
3992 @item -pieceMenu true|false
3993 @cindex pieceMenu, option
3994 This option allows you to emulate old behavior,
3995 where the right mouse button brings up the (now deprecated) piece menu
3996 in Edit Position mode.
3997 From this menu you can select the piece to put on the square you
3998 clicked to bring up the menu,
3999 or select items such as @kbd{clear board}.
4000 You can also @kbd{promote} or @kbd{demote} a clicked piece to convert
4001 it into an unorthodox piece that is not directly in the menu,
4002 or give the move to @kbd{black} or @kbd{white}.
4003 @item -variations true|false
4004 @cindex variations, option
4005 When this option is on, you can start new variations in Edit Game or
4006 Analyze mode by holding the Shift key down while entering a move.
4007 When it is off, the Shift key will be ignored.
4009 @item -appendPV true|false
4010 @cindex appendPV, option
4011 When this option is on, a button 3 click left of a PV in the Engine
4012 Output window will play the first move of that PV in Analyze mode,
4013 or as many moves as you walk through it by moving the mouse.
4015 @item -absoluteAnalysisScores true|false
4016 @cindex absoluteAnalysisScores, option
4017 When true, scores on the Engine Output window during analysis
4018 will be printed from the white point-of-view, rather than the
4019 side-to-move point-of-view.
4021 @item -scoreWhite true|false
4022 @cindex scoreWhite, option
4023 When true, scores will always be printed from the white point-of-view,
4024 rather than the side-to-move point-of-view.
4026 @item -memoHeaders true|false
4027 @cindex memoHeaders, option
4028 When true, column headers will be displayed in the Engine Output window
4029 for the depth, score, time and nodes data.
4030 A button 3 click on these headers will hide or show the corresponding data.
4031 (Not intended for dynamic use, as already printed data of the current search
4032 will not be affected!)
4036 @node Adjudication Options
4037 @section Adjudication Options
4038 @cindex Options, adjudication
4040 @item -adjudicateLossThreshold n
4041 @cindex adjudicateLossThreshold, option
4042 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a loss
4043 if both engines agree for a duration of 6 consecutive ply that the score
4044 is below the given score threshold for that engine. Make sure the score
4045 is interpreted properly by XBoard,
4046 using @code{-firstScoreAbs} and @code{-secondScoreAbs} if needed.
4047 Default: 0 (no adjudication)
4048 @item -adjudicateDrawMoves n
4049 @cindex adjudicateDrawMoves, option
4050 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a draw
4051 if after the given number of moves it was not yet decided. Default: 0 (no adjudication)
4052 @item -checkMates true/false
4053 @cindex checkMates, option
4054 If this option is set, XBoard detects all checkmates and stalemates,
4055 and ends the game as soon as they occur.
4056 Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work.
4058 @item -testClaims true/false
4059 @cindex testClaims, option
4060 If this option is set, XBoard verifies all result claims made by engines,
4061 and those who send false claims will forfeit the game because of it.
4062 Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true
4063 @item -materialDraws true/false
4064 @cindex materialDraws, option
4065 If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws when there is
4066 no sufficient material left to inflict a checkmate.
4067 This applies to KBKB with like bishops (any number, actually), and to KBK, KNK and KK.
4068 Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true
4069 @item -trivialDraws true/false
4070 @cindex trivialDraws, option
4071 If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws that cannot be
4072 usually won without opponent cooperation. This applies to KBKB with unlike bishops,
4073 and to KBKN, KNKN, KNNK, KRKR and KQKQ. The draw is called after 6 ply into these end-games,
4074 to allow quick mates that can occur in some exceptional positions to be found by the engines.
4075 KQKQ does not really belong in this category, and might be taken out in the future.
4076 (When bitbase-based adjudications are implemented.)
4077 Legality-testing must be on for this option to work. Default: false
4079 @cindex ruleMoves, option
4080 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a draw after the given
4081 number of consecutive reversible moves. Engine draw claims are always accepted after 50 moves,
4082 irrespective of the given value of n.
4083 @item -repeatsToDraw n
4084 If the given value is non-zero, xboard adjudicates the game as a draw if a position
4085 is repeated the given number of times. Engines draw claims are always accepted after 3 repeats,
4086 (on the 3rd occurrence, actually), irrespective of the value of n.
4087 Beware that positions that have different castling or en-passant rights do not count
4088 as repeats, XBoard is fully e.p. and castling aware!
4091 @node Install options
4092 @section Install options
4093 @cindex Options, install
4095 @item --show-config parameter
4096 @cindex show-config, option
4097 When called with this option, XBoard will close immediately after printing the
4098 value of the indicated configuration parameter, or, when no parameter was given,
4099 after printing a list of all such parameters.
4100 Currently the only valid values for parameter are Datadir and Sysconfdir.
4101 This option can be used by install scripts for board themes
4102 to figure out where the currently active XBoard stores its data.
4103 @item -date timestamp
4104 @itemx -saveDate timestamp
4105 @cindex date, option
4106 @cindex saveDate, option
4107 These options specify an epoch as an integer number.
4108 The @code{saveDate} option is written by XBoard in the settings file every time the
4109 settings are saved, with the current time, so that later runs of XBoard can know this.
4110 The @code{date} option can be included in settings files to indicate when lines
4111 following it were added to those files.
4112 Some options will be ignored if the epoch specified by the latest @code{date} option
4113 predates the -saveDate setting (implying they must have been seen before).
4114 @item -autoInstall list
4115 @cindex autoInstall, option
4116 When the list is set to a non-empty string, XBoard will scan the
4117 operating system's plugin directory for engines supporting UCI
4118 and XBoard protocol at startup.
4119 When it finds an engine that was installed after it last saved
4120 its settings, a line to launch that engine (as per specs in
4121 the plugin file) is appended to the -firstChessProgramNames
4122 list of installed engines.
4123 In the future it will be possible to use the autoInstall list to limit
4124 this automatic adding of engines based on the chess variant they play.
4125 @item -addMasterOption string
4126 @cindex addMasterOption, option
4127 Adds the mentioned string as an additional line of XBoard's master settings file,
4128 after adding a line with a @code{date} option to timestamp it.
4129 Intended to add options of the 'install' type (see below) to the master file,
4130 which will then be processed by any XBoard that has not seen them since
4131 it last saved its settings.
4133 @cindex autoClose, option
4134 The presence of this option cause XBoard to close immediately after processing
4135 all its options (from settings file and command line).
4136 Typically used from install scripts together with options that change XBoard's
4137 settings files, so that XBoard can be run in batch mode rather than interactively.
4138 @item -installEngine string
4139 @cindex installEngine, option
4140 Adds the given string as an additional line to the value of the
4141 @code{firstChessProgramNames} option when the -saveDate setting preceeds the -date setting.
4142 Intended for adding to the master settings file with the aid of -addMasterOption
4143 in the install script of engines, as a method for broadcasting the presence
4144 of a new engine to all users,
4145 which would then see it automatically registered with XBoard.
4146 Made obsolete by the advent of the plugin standard (see the @code{autoInstall} option),
4147 which broadcasts such presence in a non-XBoard-specific way
4148 by dropping *.eng files in a certain system directory.
4149 @item -installTheme string
4150 @cindex installTheme, option
4151 Adds the given string as an additional line to the value of the
4152 -themeNames option when the -saveDate setting preceeds the -date setting.
4153 Intended for adding to the master settings file with the aid of -addMasterOption
4154 in the install script of board graphics themes,
4155 as a method for broadcasting the availability of a new theme to all users,
4156 who would then see the theme appear automatically in the listbox in the
4157 View Board menu dialog next time they run XBoard.
4161 @section Other options
4162 @cindex Options, miscellaneous
4164 @item -ncp/-xncp or -noChessProgram true/false
4166 @cindex noChessProgram, option
4167 If this option is true, XBoard acts as a passive chessboard; it
4168 does not start a chess engine at all. Turning on this option
4169 also turns off clockMode. Default: false.
4171 @itemx -viewerOptions string
4172 @cindex viewer, option
4173 @cindex viewerOptions, option
4174 Presence of the volatile option @code{viewer} on the command line
4175 will cause the value of the persistent option @code{viewerOptions}
4176 as stored in the settings file to be appended to the command line.
4177 The @code{view} option will be used by desktop associations with
4178 game or position file types, so that @code{viewerOptions} can be
4179 used to configure the exact mode XBoard will start in when it
4180 should act on such a file (e.g. in -ncp mode, or analyzing
4181 with your favorite engine). The options are also automatically
4182 appended when Board is invoked with a single argument not being
4183 an option name, which is then assumed to be the name of a
4184 @code{loadGameFile} or (when the name ends in .fen) a
4185 @code{loadPositionFile}.
4186 Default: "-ncp -engineOutputUp false -saveSettingsOnExit false".
4187 @item -tourneyOptions string
4188 @cindex tourneyOptions, option
4189 When XBoard is invoked with a single argument that is a file
4190 with .trn extension, it will assume this argument to be the value
4191 of a @code{tourneyFile} option,
4192 and append the value of the persistent option @code{tourneyOptions}
4193 as stored in the settings file to the command line.
4194 Thus the value of @code{tourneyOptions} can be
4195 used to configure XBoard to automatically start running a
4196 tournament when it should act on such a file.
4197 Default: "-ncp -mm -saveSettingsOnExit false".
4198 @item -mode or -initialMode modename
4199 @cindex mode, option
4200 @cindex initalMode, option
4201 If this option is given, XBoard selects the given modename
4202 from the Mode menu after starting and (if applicable) processing the
4203 loadGameFile or loadPositionFile option. Default: "" (no selection).
4204 Other supported values are
4205 MachineWhite, MachineBlack, TwoMachines, Analysis,
4206 AnalyzeFile, EditGame, EditPosition, and Training.
4207 @item -variant varname
4208 @cindex variant, option
4209 Activates (sometimes partial) support for playing chess variants
4210 against a local engine or editing variant games. This flag is not
4211 needed in ICS mode. Recognized variant names are:
4215 wildcastle Shuffle chess, king can castle from d file
4216 nocastle Shuffle chess, no castling allowed
4217 fischerandom Fischer Random shuffle chess
4218 bughouse Bughouse, ICC/FICS rules
4219 crazyhouse Crazyhouse, ICC/FICS rules
4220 losers Lose all pieces or get mated (ICC wild 17)
4221 suicide Lose all pieces including king (FICS)
4222 giveaway Try to have no legal moves (ICC wild 26)
4223 twokings Weird ICC wild 9
4224 kriegspiel Opponent's pieces are invisible
4225 atomic Capturing piece explodes (ICC wild 27)
4226 3check Win by giving check 3 times (ICC wild 25)
4227 shatranj An ancient precursor of chess (ICC wild 28)
4228 xiangqi Chinese Chess (on a 9x10 board)
4229 shogi Japanese Chess (on a 9x9 board & piece drops)
4230 capablanca Capablanca Chess (10x8 board, with Archbishop
4231 and Chancellor pieces)
4232 gothic similar, with a better initial position
4233 caparandom An FRC-like version of Capablanca Chess (10x8)
4234 janus A game with two Archbishops (10x8 board)
4235 courier Medieval intermediate between shatranj and
4236 modern Chess (on 12x8 board)
4237 falcon Patented 10x8 variant with two Falcon pieces
4238 berolina Pawns capture straight ahead, and move diagonally
4239 cylinder Pieces wrap around the board edge
4240 knightmate King moves as Knight, and vice versa
4241 super Superchess (shuffle variant with 4 exo-pieces)
4242 makruk Thai Chess (shatranj-like, P promotes on 6th rank)
4243 asean ASEAN Chess (a modernized version of Makruk)
4244 spartan Spartan Chess (black has unorthodox pieces)
4245 great Great Shatranj, a 10x8 variant without sliders
4246 grand Grand Chess, on 10x10 with Capablanca pieces
4247 lion Mighty-Lion Chess, with a multi-capturing Lion
4248 elven Eleven Chess, with Lion and crowned sliders on 10x10
4249 chu Chu Shogi, historic 12x12 variant with 2x46 pieces
4250 fairy A catchall variant in which all piece types
4251 known to XBoard can participate (8x8)
4252 unknown Catchall for other unknown variants
4255 In the shuffle variants, XBoard does shuffle the pieces, although
4256 you can still do it by hand using Edit Position. Some variants are
4257 supported only in ICS mode, including bughouse, and
4259 Berolina and cylinder chess are only partially supported,
4260 and can only be played with legality testing off.
4262 Apart from these standard variants, engines can define variants
4263 of arbitrary names, briefing XBoard transparently on the rules
4264 for piece movement, board size and initial setup,
4265 so that they work nearly as well as fully-supported standard variants.
4266 (But obviously only while using that engine.)
4267 The user might have to alter the adjudication settings for some
4268 variants, however. E.g. it makes no sense to adjudicate a draw
4269 after 50 reversible moves in variants that have a 64-move rule,
4270 or no similar rule at all.
4272 Default: "normal". Except when the first engine gave an explicit list
4273 of variants it supports, and 'normal' is not amongst those.
4274 In that case the first variant the engine mentioned it did play will
4276 @item -boardHeight N
4277 @cindex boardHeight, option
4278 Allows you to set a non-standard number of board ranks in any variant.
4279 If the height is given as -1, the default height for the variant is used.
4282 @cindex boardWidth, option
4283 Allows you to set a non-standard number of board files in any variant.
4284 If the width is given as -1, the default width for the variant is used.
4285 With a non-standard width, the initial position will always be an empty board,
4286 as the usual opening array will not fit.
4288 @item -holdingsSize N
4289 @cindex holdingsSize, option
4290 Allows you to set a non-standard size for the holdings in any variant.
4291 If the size is given as -1, the default holdings size for the variant is used.
4292 The first N piece types will go into the holdings on capture, and you will be
4293 able to drop them on the board in stead of making a normal move. If size equals 0,
4294 there will be no holdings.
4296 @item -defaultFrcPosition N
4297 @cindex defaultFrcPosition, option
4298 Specifies the number of the opening position in shuffle games like Chess960.
4299 A value of -1 means the position is randomly generated by XBoard
4300 at the beginning of every game.
4302 @item -pieceToCharTable string
4303 @cindex pieceToCharTable, option
4304 The characters that are used to represent the piece types XBoard knows in FEN
4305 diagrams and SAN moves.
4306 You should not have to use this option often: each variant has its own default
4307 setting for the piece representation in FEN, which should be sufficient in normal use.
4308 The string argument has to specify an even number of pieces
4309 (or it will be ignored), as white and black pieces have to be given separately
4310 (in that order). The last letter for each color will be the King.
4311 The letters before that will be PNBRQ and then a whole host of fairy pieces
4312 in an order that has not fully crystallized yet (currently FEACWMOHIJGDVLSU,
4313 F=Ferz, Elephant, A=Archbishop, C=Chancellor, W=Wazir, M=Commoner, O=Cannon,
4314 H=Nightrider). You should list at least all pieces that occur in the variant
4315 you are playing. If you have fewer characters in the string than XBoard has
4316 pieces, the pieces not mentioned will get assigned a period,
4317 and will not be usable in the variant.
4318 You can also explicitly assign pieces a period, in which case they
4319 will not be counted in deciding which captured pieces can go into the holdings.
4320 A tilde '~' as a piece name does mean this piece is used to represent a promoted
4321 Pawn in crazyhouse-like games, i.e. on capture it turns back to a Pawn.
4322 A '+' similarly indicates the piece is a shogi-style promoted piece, that should
4323 revert to its non-promoted version on capture (rather than to a Pawn).
4324 By default the second 11 pieces known to XBoard are the promoted forms of the first 11.
4325 A piece specified by the character combination ^ plus letter will be assumed
4326 to be the promoted form of the piece indicated by that letter,
4327 and get a '+' assigned.
4328 To get around the limitation of the alphabet,
4329 piece IDs can also be 'dressed letters', i.e. a single letter
4330 (upper case for white, lower case for black)
4331 followed by a single quote or an exclamation point.
4332 Default: "" (meaning the default for the variant is used).
4333 @item -pieceNickNames string
4334 @cindex pieceNickNames, option
4335 The characters in the string are interpreted the same way as in the
4336 @code{pieceToCharTable} option. But on input, piece-ID letters are
4337 first looked up in the nicknames, and only if not defined there,
4338 in the normal pieceToCharTable. This allows you to have two letters
4339 designate the same piece, (e.g. N as an alternative to H for Horse
4340 in Xiangqi), to make reading of non-compliant notations easier.
4342 @item -colorNickNames string
4343 @cindex colorNickNames, option
4344 The side-to-move field in a FEN will be first matched against the letters
4345 in the string (first character for white, second for black),
4346 before it is matched to the regular 'w' and 'b'.
4347 This makes it easier to read non-compliant FENs,
4348 which, say, use 'r' for white.
4350 @item -debug/-xdebug or -debugMode true/false
4351 @cindex debug, option
4352 @cindex debugMode, option
4353 Turns on debugging printout.
4354 @item -debugFile filename or -nameOfDebugFile filename
4355 @cindex debugFile, option
4356 @cindex nameOfDebugFile, option
4357 Sets the name of the file to which XBoard saves debug information
4358 (including all communication to and from the engines).
4359 A @kbd{%d} in the given file name (e.g. game%d.debug) will be replaced
4360 by the unique sequence number of a tournament game,
4361 so that the debug output of each game will be written on a separate file.
4362 @item -engineDebugOutput number
4363 @cindex engineDebugOutput, option
4364 Specifies how XBoard should handle unsolicited output from the engine,
4365 with respect to saving it in the debug file.
4366 The output is further (hopefully) ignored.
4367 If number=0, XBoard refrains from writing such spurious output to the debug file.
4368 If number=1, all engine output is written faithfully to the debug file.
4369 If number=2, any protocol-violating line is prefixed with a '#' character,
4370 as the engine itself should have done if it wanted to submit info for inclusion in the debug file.
4371 This option is provided for the benefit of applications that use the debug file
4372 as a source of information, such as the broadcaster of live games TLCV / TLCS.
4373 Such applications can be protected from spurious engine output that might otherwise confuse them.
4374 @item -rsh or -remoteShell shell-name
4376 @cindex remoteShell, option
4377 Name of the command used to run programs remotely. The default
4378 is @file{rsh} or @file{remsh}, determined when XBoard is
4379 configured and compiled.
4380 @item -ruser or -remoteUser user-name
4381 @cindex ruser, option
4382 @cindex remoteUser, option
4383 User name on the remote system when running programs with the
4384 @code{remoteShell}. The default is your local user name.
4385 @item -userName username
4386 @cindex userName, option
4387 Name under which the Human player will be listed in the PGN file.
4388 Default is the login name on your local computer.
4389 @item -delayBeforeQuit number
4390 @itemx -delayAfterQuit number
4391 @cindex delayBeforeQuit, option
4392 @cindex delayAfterQuit, option
4393 These options order pauses before and after sending the "quit" command to an engine that must be terminated.
4394 The pause between quit and the previous command is specified in milliseconds.
4395 The pause after quit is used to schedule a kill signal to be sent to the engine process after the
4396 number of specified seconds plus one.
4397 This signal is a different one as the terminiation signal described in the protocol specs
4398 which engines can suppress or ignore, and which is sent directly after the "quit" command.
4399 Setting @code{delayAfterQuit} to -1 will suppress sending of the kill signal.
4402 @cindex searchMode, option
4403 The integer n encodes the mode for the @samp{find position} function.
4404 Default: 1 (= Exact position match)
4405 @item -eloThresholdBoth elo
4406 @itemx -eloThresholdAny elo
4407 @cindex eloThresholdBoth, option
4408 @cindex eloThresholdAny, option
4409 Defines a lower limit for the Elo rating, which has to be surpassed
4410 before a game will be considered when searching for a board position.
4412 @item -dateThreshold year
4413 @cindex dateThreshold, option
4414 Only games not played before the given year will be considered when
4415 searching for a board position
4421 @chapter Chess Servers
4423 @cindex ICS, addresses
4424 @cindex Internet Chess Server
4425 An @dfn{Internet Chess Server}, or @dfn{ICS}, is a place on the
4426 Internet where people can get together to play chess, watch other
4427 people's games, or just chat. You can use either @code{telnet} or a
4428 client program like XBoard to connect to the server. There are
4429 thousands of registered users on the different ICS hosts, and it is
4430 not unusual to meet 200 on both chessclub.com and freechess.org.
4432 Most people can just type @kbd{xboard -ics} to start XBoard as an ICS
4433 client. Invoking XBoard in this way connects you to the Internet
4434 Chess Club (ICC), a commercial ICS. You can log in there as a guest
4435 even if you do not have a paid account. To connect to the largest
4436 Free ICS (FICS), use the command @kbd{xboard -ics -icshost freechess.org}
4437 instead, or substitute a different host name to connect to your
4439 For a full description of command-line options that control
4440 the connection to ICS and change the default values of ICS options, see
4443 While you are running XBoard as an ICS client,
4444 you use the terminal window that you started XBoard from
4445 as a place to type in commands and read information that is
4446 not available on the chessboard.
4448 The first time you need to use the terminal is to enter your login name
4449 and password, if you are a registered player. (You don't need to do
4450 this manually; the @code{icsLogon} option can do it for you.
4451 @pxref{ICS options}.) If you are not registered,
4452 enter @kbd{g} as your name, and the server will pick a
4453 unique guest name for you.
4455 Some useful ICS commands
4459 @cindex help, ICS command
4460 to get help on the given <topic>. To get a list of possible topics type
4461 @dfn{help} without topic. Try the help command before you ask other
4462 people on the server for help.
4464 For example @kbd{help register} tells you how to become a registered
4467 @cindex who, ICS command
4468 to see a list of people who are logged on. Administrators
4469 (people you should talk to if you have a problem) are marked
4470 with the character @samp{*}, an asterisk. The <flags> allow you to
4471 display only selected players: For example, @kbd{who of} shows a
4472 list of players who are interested in playing but do not have
4475 @cindex games, ICS command
4476 to see what games are being played
4477 @item match <player> [<mins>] [<inc>]
4478 to challenge another player to a game. Both opponents get <mins> minutes
4479 for the game, and <inc> seconds will be added after each move.
4480 If another player challenges you, the server asks if you want to
4481 accept the challenge; use the @kbd{accept} or @kbd{decline} commands
4485 @cindex accept, ICS command
4486 @cindex decline, ICS command
4487 to accept or decline another player's offer.
4488 The offer may be to start a new game, or to agree to a
4489 @kbd{draw}, @kbd{adjourn} or @kbd{abort} the current game. @xref{Action Menu}.
4491 If you have more than one pending offer (for example, if more than one player
4492 is challenging you, or if your opponent offers both a draw and to adjourn the
4493 game), you have to supply additional information, by typing something
4494 like @kbd{accept <player>}, @kbd{accept draw}, or @kbd{draw}.
4498 @cindex draw, ICS command
4499 @cindex adjourn, ICS command
4500 @cindex abort, ICS command
4501 asks your opponent to terminate a game by mutual agreement. Adjourned
4502 games can be continued later.
4503 Your opponent can either @kbd{decline} your offer or accept it (by typing the
4504 same command or typing @kbd{accept}). In some cases these commands work
4505 immediately, without asking your opponent to agree. For example, you can
4506 abort the game unilaterally if your opponent is out of time, and you can claim
4507 a draw by repetition or the 50-move rule if available simply by typing
4509 @item finger <player>
4510 @cindex finger, ICS command
4511 to get information about the given <player>. (Default: yourself.)
4513 @cindex vars, ICS command
4514 to get a list of personal settings
4515 @item set <var> <value>
4516 @cindex set, ICS command
4517 to modify these settings
4518 @item observe <player>
4519 @cindex observe, ICS command
4520 to observe an ongoing game of the given <player>.
4523 @cindex examine, ICS command
4524 @cindex oldmoves, ICS command
4525 to review a recently completed game
4528 Some special XBoard features are activated when you are
4529 in examine mode on ICS. See the descriptions of the menu commands
4530 @samp{Forward}, @samp{Backward}, @samp{Pause}, @samp{ICS Client},
4531 and @samp{Stop Examining} on the @ref{Edit Menu}, @ref{Mode Menu}, and
4536 By default, XBoard communicates with an Internet Chess Server
4537 by opening a TCP socket directly from the machine it is running on
4538 to the ICS. If there is a firewall between your machine and the ICS,
4539 this won't work. Here are some recipes for getting around common
4540 kinds of firewalls using special options to XBoard.
4541 Important: See the paragraph in the below about extra echoes, in
4544 Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can telnet
4545 to a firewall host, log in, and then telnet from there to ICS.
4546 Let's say the firewall is called @samp{firewall.example.com}. Set
4547 command-line options as follows:
4550 xboard -ics -icshost firewall.example.com -icsport 23
4553 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, you will be prompted
4554 to log in to the firewall host. This works because port 23 is the
4555 standard telnet login service. Do so, then telnet to ICS, using a
4556 command like @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000}, or whatever command
4557 the firewall provides for telnetting to port 5000.
4559 If your firewall lets you telnet (or rlogin) to remote hosts but
4560 doesn't let you telnet to port 5000, you may be able to connect to the
4561 chess server on port 23 instead, which is the port the telnet program
4562 uses by default. Some chess servers support this (including
4563 chessclub.com and freechess.org), while some do not.
4565 If your chess server does not allow connections on port 23 and your
4566 firewall does not allow you to connect to other ports, you may be able
4567 to connect by hopping through another host outside the firewall that
4568 you have an account on. For instance, suppose you have a shell
4569 account at @samp{foo.edu}. Follow the recipe above, but instead of
4570 typing @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000} to the firewall, type
4571 @samp{telnet foo.edu} (or @samp{rlogin foo.edu}), log in there, and
4572 then type @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000}.
4574 Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can use rsh
4575 to run programs on a firewall host, and that host can telnet to ICS.
4576 Let's say the firewall is called @samp{rsh.example.com}. Set
4577 command-line options as follows:
4580 xboard -ics -gateway rsh.example.com -icshost chessclub.com
4584 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will connect to
4585 the ICS by using @file{rsh} to run the command
4586 @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000} on host @samp{rsh.example.com}.
4588 Suppose that you can telnet anywhere you want, but you have to
4589 run a special program called @file{ptelnet} to do so.
4591 First, we'll consider the easy case, in which
4592 @samp{ptelnet chessclub.com 5000} gets you to the chess server.
4593 In this case set command line options as follows:
4596 xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet
4600 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the
4601 command @samp{ptelnet chessclub.com 5000} to connect to the ICS.
4603 Next, suppose that @samp{ptelnet chessclub.com 5000} doesn't work;
4604 that is, your @file{ptelnet} program doesn't let you connect to
4605 alternative ports. As noted above, your chess server may allow you to
4606 connect on port 23 instead. In that case, just add the option
4607 @samp{-icsport ""} to the above command.
4608 But if your chess server doesn't let you connect on port 23, you will have
4609 to find some other host outside the firewall and hop through it. For
4610 instance, suppose you have a shell account at @samp{foo.edu}. Set
4611 command line options as follows:
4614 xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet -icshost foo.edu -icsport ""
4618 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the
4619 command @samp{ptelnet foo.edu} to connect to your account at
4620 @samp{foo.edu}. Log in there, then type @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000}.
4622 ICC timestamp and FICS timeseal do not work through some
4623 firewalls. You can use them only if your firewall gives a clean TCP
4624 connection with a full 8-bit wide path. If your firewall allows you
4625 to get out only by running a special telnet program, you can't use
4626 timestamp or timeseal across it. But if you have access to a
4627 computer just outside your firewall, and you have much lower netlag
4628 when talking to that computer than to the ICS, it might be worthwhile
4629 running timestamp there. Follow the instructions above for hopping
4630 through a host outside the firewall (foo.edu in the example),
4631 but run timestamp or timeseal on that host instead of telnet.
4633 Suppose that you have a SOCKS firewall that will give you a clean
4634 8-bit wide TCP connection to the chess server, but only after you
4635 authenticate yourself via the SOCKS protocol. In that case, you could
4636 make a socksified version of XBoard and run that. If you are using
4637 timestamp or timeseal, you will to socksify it, not XBoard; this may
4638 be difficult seeing that ICC and FICS do not provide source code for
4639 these programs. Socksification is beyond the scope of this document,
4640 but see the SOCKS Web site at http://www.socks.permeo.com/.
4641 If you are missing SOCKS, try http://www.funbureau.com/.
4644 @chapter Environment variables
4645 @cindex Environment variables
4647 Game and position files are found in a directory named by the
4648 @code{CHESSDIR} environment variable. If this variable is not set, the
4649 current working directory is used. If @code{CHESSDIR} is set,
4650 XBoard actually changes its working directory to
4651 @code{$CHESSDIR}, so any files written by the chess engine
4652 will be placed there too.
4655 @chapter Limitations and known bugs
4658 There is no way for two people running copies of XBoard to play
4659 each other without going through an Internet Chess Server.
4661 Under some circumstances, your ICS password may be echoed when you log on.
4663 If you are connecting to the ICS by running telnet on an Internet
4664 provider or firewall host, you may find that each line you type is
4665 echoed back an extra time after you hit @key{Enter}. If your Internet
4666 provider is a Unix system, you can probably turn its echo off by
4667 typing @kbd{stty -echo} after you log in, and/or typing
4668 @key{^E}@key{Enter} (Ctrl+E followed by the Enter key) to the telnet
4669 program after you have logged into ICS. It is a good idea to do this
4670 if you can, because the extra echo can occasionally confuse XBoard's
4673 The game parser recognizes only algebraic notation.
4675 Many of the following points used to be limitations in XBoard 4.2.7 and earlier,
4677 The internal move legality tester in XBoard 4.3.xx does look at the game history,
4678 and is fully aware of castling or en-passant-capture rights. It permits castling with
4679 the king on the d file because this is possible in some "wild 1" games on ICS.
4680 The piece-drop menu does not check piece drops in bughouse to see if you actually hold
4681 the piece you are trying to drop. But this way of dropping pieces should be considered
4682 an obsolete feature, now that pieces can be dropped by dragging them from the holdings
4683 to the board. Anyway, if you would attempt an illegal move when using a chess engine or the ICS,
4684 XBoard will accept the error message that comes back, undo the move, and let you try another.
4685 FEN positions saved by XBoard do include correct information about whether castling or
4686 en passant are legal, and also handle the 50-move counter.
4687 The mate detector does not understand that non-contact mate is not really mate in bughouse.
4688 The only problem this causes while playing is minor: a "#" (mate indicator) character will
4689 show up after a non-contact mating move in the move list. XBoard will not assume the game
4690 is over at that point, not even when the option Detect Mates is on.
4691 Edit Game mode always uses the rules of the selected variant,
4692 which can be a variant that uses piece drops.
4693 You can load and edit games that contain piece drops.
4694 The (obsolete) piece menus are not active,
4695 but you can perform piece drops by dragging pieces from the holdings.
4696 Fischer Random castling is fully understood.
4697 You can enter castlings by dragging the King on top of your Rook.
4698 You can probably also play Fischer Random successfully on ICS by typing
4699 castling moves into the ICS Interaction window.
4701 The menus may not work if your keyboard is in Caps Lock or Num Lock mode.
4702 This seems to be a problem with the Athena menu widget,
4705 Also see the ToDo file included with the distribution for many other
4706 possible bugs, limitations, and ideas for improvement that have been
4709 @chapter Reporting problems
4712 @cindex Reporting bugs
4714 @cindex Reporting problems
4716 You can report bugs and problems with XBoard using
4717 the bug tracker at @code{https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/}
4718 or by sending mail to @code{<bug-xboard@@gnu.org>}. It can also
4719 be useful to report or discuss bugs in the WinBoard Forum at
4720 @code{http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/},
4721 WinBoard development section.
4723 Please use the @file{script} program to start a typescript, run
4724 XBoard with the @samp{-debug} option, and include the typescript
4725 output in your message.
4726 Also tell us what kind of machine and what operating system version
4727 you are using. The command @samp{uname -a} will often tell you this.
4729 If you improve XBoard, please send a message about your changes,
4730 and we will get in touch with you about merging them in
4731 to the main line of development.
4734 @chapter Authors and contributors
4736 @cindex Contributors
4738 Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original XBoard. They were
4739 responsible for versions 1.0 through 1.2. The color scheme was taken
4740 from Wayne Christopher's @code{XChess} program.
4742 Tim Mann was primarily responsible for XBoard versions 1.3 through
4743 4.2.7, and for WinBoard (a port of XBoard to Microsoft Win32) from its
4744 inception through version 4.2.7.
4746 John Chanak contributed the initial implementation of ICS mode. Evan
4747 Welsh wrote @code{CMail}, and Patrick Surry helped in designing,
4748 testing, and documenting it. Elmar Bartel contributed the new piece
4749 bitmaps introduced in version 3.2. Jochen Wiedmann converted the
4750 documentation to texinfo. Frank McIngvale added click/click moving,
4751 the Analysis modes, piece flashing, ZIICS import, and ICS text
4752 colorization to XBoard. Hugh Fisher added animated piece movement to
4753 XBoard, and Henrik Gram added it to WinBoard. Mark Williams
4754 contributed the initial (WinBoard-only) implementation of many new
4755 features added to both XBoard and WinBoard in version 4.1.0, including
4756 copy/paste, premove, icsAlarm, autoFlipView, training mode, auto
4757 raise, and blindfold. Ben Nye contributed X copy/paste code for
4760 In a fork from version 4.2.7, Alessandro Scotti added many elements to
4761 the user interface of WinBoard, including the board textures and
4762 font-based rendering, the evaluation-graph, move-history and
4763 engine-output window. He was also responsible for adding the UCI
4766 H. G. Muller continued this fork of the project, producing version
4767 4.3. He made WinBoard castling- and e.p.-aware, added variant support
4768 with adjustable board sizes, the crazyhouse holdings, and the fairy
4769 pieces. In addition he added most of the adjudication options, made
4770 WinBoard more robust in dealing with buggy and crashing engines, and
4771 extended time control with a time-odds and node-count-based modes.
4772 Most of the options that initially were WinBoard only have now been
4773 back-ported to XBoard.
4775 Michel van den Bergh provided the code for reading Polyglot opening books.
4777 Meanwhile, some work continued on the GNU XBoard project maintained at
4778 savannah.gnu.org, but version 4.2.8 was never released. Daniel
4779 Mehrmann was responsible for much of this work.
4781 Most recently, Arun Persaud worked with H. G. Muller to merge all
4782 the features of the never-released XBoard/WinBoard 4.2.8 of the GNU
4783 XBoard project and the never-released 4.3.16 from H. G.'s fork into a
4784 unified XBoard/WinBoard 4.4, which is now available both from the
4785 savannah.gnu.org web site and the WinBoard forum.
4790 The @file{cmail} program can help you play chess by email with opponents of
4791 your choice using XBoard as an interface.
4793 You will usually run @file{cmail} without giving any options.
4796 * CMail options:: Invoking CMail.
4797 * CMail game:: Starting a CMail game.
4798 * CMail answer:: Answering a move.
4799 * CMail multi:: Multiple games in one message.
4800 * CMail completion:: Completing a game.
4801 * CMail trouble:: Known CMail problems.
4805 @section CMail options
4808 Displays @file{cmail} usage information.
4810 Shows the conditions of the GNU General Public License.
4813 Shows the warranty notice of the GNU General Public License.
4817 Provides or inhibits verbose output from @file{cmail} and XBoard,
4818 useful for debugging. The
4820 form also inhibits the cmail introduction message.
4823 Invokes or inhibits the sending of a mail message containing the move.
4826 Invokes or inhibits the running of XBoard on the game file.
4829 Invokes or inhibits the reuse of an existing XBoard to display the
4832 Resends the last mail message for that game. This inhibits running
4835 The name of the game to be processed.
4836 @item -wgames <number>
4837 @itemx -bgames <number>
4838 @itemx -games <number>
4839 Number of games to start as White, as Black or in total. Default is 1 as
4840 white and none as black. If only one color is specified then none of the
4841 other color is assumed. If no color is specified then equal numbers of
4842 White and Black games are started, with the extra game being as White if an
4843 odd number of total games is specified.
4844 @item -me <short name>
4845 @itemx -opp <short name>
4846 A one-word alias for yourself or your opponent.
4847 @item -wname <full name>
4848 @itemx -bname <full name>
4849 @itemx -myname <full name>
4850 @itemx -oppname <full name>
4851 The full name of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.
4852 @item -wna <net address>
4853 @itemx -bna <net address>
4854 @itemx -na <net address>
4855 @itemx -oppna <net address>
4856 The email address of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.
4857 @item -dir <directory>
4858 The directory in which @file{cmail} keeps its files. This defaults to the
4859 environment variable @code{$CMAIL_DIR} or failing that, @code{$CHESSDIR},
4860 @file{$HOME/Chess} or @file{~/Chess}. It will be created if it does not exist.
4861 @item -arcdir <directory>
4862 The directory in which @file{cmail} archives completed games. Defaults to
4863 the environment variable @code{$CMAIL_ARCDIR} or, in its absence, the same
4864 directory as cmail keeps its working files (above).
4865 @item -mailprog <mail program>
4866 The program used by cmail to send email messages. This defaults to the
4867 environment variable @code{$CMAIL_MAILPROG} or failing that
4868 @file{/usr/ucb/Mail}, @file{/usr/ucb/mail} or @file{Mail}. You will need
4869 to set this variable if none of the above paths fit your system.
4870 @item -logFile <file>
4871 A file in which to dump verbose debugging messages that are invoked with
4874 @item -event <event>
4875 The PGN Event tag (default @samp{Email correspondence game}).
4877 The PGN Site tag (default @samp{NET}).
4878 @item -round <round>
4879 The PGN Round tag (default @samp{-}, not applicable).
4881 The PGN Mode tag (default @samp{EM}, Electronic Mail).
4883 Any option flags not listed above are passed through to XBoard.
4884 Invoking XBoard through CMail changes the default values of two XBoard
4885 options: The default value for @samp{-noChessProgram} is changed to
4886 true; that is, by default no chess engine is started. The default
4887 value for @samp{-timeDelay} is changed to 0; that is, by default
4888 XBoard immediately goes to the end of the game as played so far,
4889 rather than stepping through the moves one by one. You can still set
4890 these options to whatever values you prefer by supplying them on
4891 CMail's command line. @xref{Options}.
4895 @section Starting a CMail Game
4896 Type @file{cmail} from a shell to start a game as white. After an opening
4897 message, you will be prompted for a game name, which is optional---if you
4898 simply press @key{Enter}, the game name will take the form
4899 @samp{you-VS-opponent}. You will next be prompted for the short name
4900 of your opponent. If you haven't played this person before, you will also
4901 be prompted for his/her email address. @file{cmail} will then invoke
4902 XBoard in the background. Make your first move and select
4903 @samp{Mail Move} from the @samp{File} menu. @xref{File Menu}. If all is well,
4904 @file{cmail} will mail a copy of the move to your opponent. If you select
4905 @samp{Exit} without having selected @samp{Mail Move} then no move will be
4909 @section Answering a Move
4910 When you receive a message from an opponent containing a move in one of
4911 your games, simply pipe the message through @file{cmail}. In some mailers
4912 this is as simple as typing @kbd{| cmail} when viewing the message, while in
4913 others you may have to save the message to a file and do @kbd{cmail < file}
4914 at the command line. In either case @file{cmail} will display the game using
4915 XBoard. If you didn't exit XBoard when you made your first move
4916 then @file{cmail} will do its best to use the existing XBoard instead
4917 of starting a new one. As before, simply make a move and select
4918 @samp{Mail Move} from the @samp{File} menu. @xref{File Menu}. @file{cmail}
4920 XBoard that was most recently used to display the current game. This
4921 means that many games can be in progress simultaneously, each with its own
4924 If you want to look at the history or explore a variation, go ahead, but
4925 you must return to the current position before XBoard will allow you
4926 to mail a move. If you edit the game's history you must select
4927 @samp{Reload Same Game} from the @samp{File} menu to get back to the original
4928 position, then make the move you want and select @samp{Mail Move}.
4929 As before, if you decide you aren't ready to make a move just yet you can
4930 either select @samp{Exit} without sending a move or just leave
4931 XBoard running until you are ready.
4934 @section Multi-Game Messages
4936 It is possible to have a @file{cmail} message carry more than one game.
4937 This feature was implemented to handle IECG (International Email Chess
4938 Group) matches, where a match consists of one game as white and one as black,
4939 with moves transmitted simultaneously. In case there are more general uses,
4940 @file{cmail} itself places no limit on the number of black/white games
4941 contained in a message; however, XBoard does.
4943 @node CMail completion
4944 @section Completing a Game
4945 Because XBoard can detect checkmate and stalemate, @file{cmail}
4946 handles game termination sensibly. As well as resignation, the
4947 @samp{Action} menu allows draws to be offered and accepted for
4950 For multi-game messages, only unfinished and just-finished games will be
4951 included in email messages. When all the games are finished, they are
4952 archived in the user's archive directory, and similarly in the opponent's
4953 when he or she pipes the final message through @file{cmail}. The archive
4954 file name includes the date the game was started.
4957 @section Known CMail Problems
4958 It's possible that a strange conjunction of conditions may occasionally
4959 mean that @file{cmail} has trouble reactivating an existing
4960 XBoard. If this should happen, simply trying it again should work.
4961 If not, remove the file that stores the XBoard's PID
4962 (@file{game.pid}) or use the @samp{-xreuse} option to force
4963 @file{cmail} to start a new XBoard.
4965 Versions of @file{cmail} after 2.16 no longer understand the old file format
4966 that XBoard used to use and so cannot be used to correspond with
4967 anyone using an older version.
4969 Versions of @file{cmail} older than 2.11 do not handle multi-game messages,
4970 so multi-game correspondence is not possible with opponents using an older
4973 @node Other programs
4974 @chapter Other programs you can use with XBoard
4975 @cindex Other programs
4977 Here are some other programs you can use with XBoard
4980 * GNU Chess:: The GNU Chess engine.
4981 * Fairy-Max:: The Fairy-Max chess engine.
4982 * HoiChess:: The HoiChess chess engine.
4983 * Crafty:: The Crafty chess engine.
4989 The GNU Chess engine is available from:
4991 ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuchess/
4993 You can use XBoard to play a game against GNU Chess, or to
4994 interface GNU Chess to an ICS.
4999 Fairy-Max is a derivative from the once World's smallest Chess program micro-Max,
5000 which measures only about 100 lines of source code.
5001 The main difference with micro-Max is that Fairy-Max loads its move-generator
5002 tables from a file, so that the rules for piece movement can be easily configured
5003 to implement unorthodox pieces.
5004 Fairy-Max can therefore play a large number of variants, normal Chess being one of those.
5005 In addition it plays Knightmate, Capablanca and Gothic Chess, Shatranj, Courier Chess,
5006 Cylinder chess, Berolina Chess, while the user can easily define new variants.
5007 It can be obtained from:
5009 http://home.hccnet.nl/h.g.muller/dwnldpage.html
5014 HoiChess is a not-so-very-strong Chess engine, which comes with a derivative HoiXiangqi,
5015 able to play Chinese Chess. It can be obtained from the standard Linux repositories
5018 sudo apt-get install hoichess
5023 Crafty is a chess engine written by Bob Hyatt.
5024 You can use XBoard to play a game against Crafty, hook Crafty up
5025 to an ICS, or use Crafty to interactively analyze games and positions
5028 Crafty is a strong, rapidly evolving chess program. This rapid
5029 pace of development is good, because it means Crafty is always
5030 getting better. This can sometimes cause problems with
5031 backwards compatibility, but usually the latest version of Crafty
5032 will work well with the latest version of XBoard.
5033 Crafty can be obtained from its author's FTP site:
5034 ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu/hyatt/.
5036 To use Crafty with XBoard, give the -fcp and -fd options as follows, where
5037 <crafty's directory> is the directory in which you installed Crafty
5038 and placed its book and other support files.
5042 @unnumbered Copyright
5043 @include copyright.texi
5047 @unnumbered GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
5048 @include gpl.texinfo