It is also possible to specify a GUI opening book here, i.e. an opening
book that XBoard consults for any position a playing engine gets in.
It then forces the engine to play the book move, rather than to think up its own,
if that position is found in the book.
The book can switched on and off independently for either engine.
The way book moves are chosen can be influenced through the settings of
book depth and variety.
After both sides have played more moves than the specified depth,
the book will no longer be consulted.
When the variety is set to 50, moves will be played with the probability
specified in the book.
When set to 0, only the move(s) with the highest probability will be played.
When set to 100, all listed moves will be played with equal pobability.
Other settings interpolate between that.
The shifted Alt+U key is a keyboard equivalent.
loadGameFile
and loadPositionFile
options),
and the number of the game or position to use from these files.
Values -1 and -2 of this 'index' convey a special meaning,
namely that XBoard should automatically step through all lines or positions
in these files.
With -1 such stepping is done every game; with -2 every two games,
so that each line or position is played with both colors before stepping
to the next one.
You can have XBoard automatically rewind to the first line or position
in the file after the index reaches a certain vaue,
which you can also specify here.
autoDisplayComment
and
autoDisplayTags
options, (which control popups when viewing loaded games),
and specify the rate at which loaded games are auto-played,
in seconds per move (which can be a fractional number, like 1.6).
saveGameFile
option),
or the final position of such games (the savePositionfile
option).
You can also select 'auto-save' without a file name,
in which case XBoard will prompt the user for a file name after each game.
You can also set the default value for the PGN Event tag that will
be used for each new game you start.
Various options for the format of the game can be specified as well,
such as whether scores and depths of engine games should be saved as comments,
and if a tag with info about the score with which the engine came out of book
should be included.
For Chess, always set the format to PGN, rather than "old save stye"!
If you are playing a game on an ICS, the board is always
oriented at the start of the game so that your pawns move from
the bottom of the window towards the top. Otherwise, the starting
orientation is determined by the flipView
command line option;
if it is false (the default), White's pawns move from bottom to top
at the start of each game; if it is true, Black's pawns move from
bottom to top. See User interface options.
gnotify
list on ICS, XBoard will automatically observe all of that
player's games, unless you are doing something else (such as
observing or playing a game of your own) when one starts.
The games are displayed
from the point of view of the player on your gnotify list; that is, his
pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the top.
Exceptions: If both players in a game are on your gnotify list, if
your ICS
highlight
variable is set to 0, or if the ICS you are using does not
properly support observing from Black's point of view,
you will see the game from White's point of view.
saveGameFile
command-line
option is set, as in that case all games are saved to the specified file.
See Load and Save options.
You can also enter premoves for the first white and black moves of the game.