     [file version.texi not included]

     INFO-DIR-SECTION Games
     START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
     * xboard: (xboard).         An X Window System graphical chessboard.
     END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

Introduction
************

XBoard is a graphical chessboard that can serve as a user interface to chess engines (such as GNU Chess), the Internet Chess Servers, electronic mail correspondence chess, or your own collection of saved games.

This manual documents version VERSION of XBoard.

Major modes
***********

XBoard always runs in one of four major modes.  You select the major mode from the command line when you start up XBoard.

xboard [options]
     As an interface to GNU Chess or another chess engine running on your machine, XBoard lets you play a game against the machine, set up arbitrary positions, force variations, watch a game between two chess engines, interactively analyze your stored games or set up and analyze arbitrary positions.  (Note: Not all chess engines support analysis.)

xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
     As Internet Chess Server (ICS) interface, XBoard lets you play against other ICS users, observe games they are playing, or review games that have recently finished.  Most of the ICS "wild" chess variants are supported, including bughouse.

xboard -ncp [options]
     XBoard can also be used simply as an electronic chessboard to play through games. It will read and write game files and allow you to play through variations manually. You can use it to browse games off the net or review games you have saved.  These features are also available in the other modes.

|pxboard
     If you want to pipe games into XBoard, use the supplied shell script pxboard.  For example, from the news reader xrn, find a message with one or more games in it, click the Save button, and type |pxboard as the file name.

cmail [options]
     As an interface to electronic mail correspondence chess, XBoard works with the cmail program. See CMail below for instructions.

Menus, buttons, and keys
************************

To move a piece, you can drag it with the left mouse button, or you can click the left mouse button once on the piece, then once more on the destination square.  To drop a new piece on a square (when applicable), press the middle or the right mouse button over the square and select from the pop-up menu.  In cases where you can drop either a white or black piece, use the middle button (or shift+right) for white and the right button (or shift+middle) for black.  When you are playing a bughouse game on an Internet Chess Server, a list of the off-board pieces that each player has available is shown in the window title after the player's name; in addition, the piece menus show the number of pieces available of each type. From version 4.3.14 on, it is also possible in crazyhouse, bughouse or shogi to dag and drop pieces to the board from the holdings squares displayed next to the board.

All other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most frequently used commands also have shortcut keys or on-screen buttons.

When XBoard is iconized, its graphical icon is a white knight if it is White's turn to move, a black knight if it is Black's turn.  See Iconize in Keys below if you have problems getting this feature to work.

File Menu
=========

New Game
     Resets XBoard and the chess engine to the beginning of a new chess game. The r key is a keyboard equivalent. In Internet Chess Server mode, clears the current state of XBoard, then resynchronizes with the ICS by sending a refresh command. If you want to stop playing, observing, or examining an ICS game, use an appropriate command from the Action menu, not New Game. See Action Menu.

New Shuffle Game
     Similar to New Game, but allows you to specify a particular initial position (according to a standardized numbering system) in chess variants which use randomized opening positions (e.g. Chess960). The selected opening position will persistently be chosen on any following New Game command until you use this menu to select another. Selecting position number -1 will produce a newly randomized position on any new game. Using this menu item in variants that normally do not shuffle their opening position does cause these variants to become shuffle variants until you use the New Shuffle Game menu to explicitly switch the randomization off, or select a new variant.

New Variant
     Allows you to select a new chess variant in non-ICS mode. (In ICS play, the ICS is responsible for deciding which variant will be played, and XBoard adapts automatically.) If you play with an engine, the engine must be able to play the selected variant, or the command will be ignored. XBoard supports all major variants, such as xiangqi, shogi, chess, chess960, Capablanca Chess, shatranj, crazyhouse, bughouse. (But not every board size has built-in bitmaps for un-orthodox pieces!)

Load Game
     Plays a game from a record file. The g key is a keyboard equivalent. A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more than one game, a second pop-up dialog displays a list of games (with information drawn from their PGN tags, if any), and you can select the one you want. Alternatively, you can load the Nth game in the file directly, by typing the number N after the file name, separated by a space.

     The game file parser will accept PGN (portable game notation), or in fact almost any file that contains moves in algebraic notation. Notation of the form P@f7 is accepted for piece-drops in bughouse games; this is a nonstandard extension to PGN. If the file includes a PGN position (FEN tag), or an old-style XBoard position diagram bracketed by [-- and --] before the first move, the game starts from that position. Text enclosed in parentheses, square brackets, or curly braces is assumed to be commentary and is displayed in a pop-up window. Any other text in the file is ignored. PGN variations (enclosed in parentheses) are treated as comments; XBoard is not able to walk variation trees. The nonstandard PGN tag [Variant "varname"] functions similarly to the -variant command-line option (see below), allowing games in certain chess variants to be loaded.  There is also a heuristic to recognize chess variants from the Event tag, by looking for the strings that the Internet Chess Servers put there when saving variant ("wild") games.

Load Next Game
     Loads the next game from the last game record file you loaded. The shifted N key is a keyboard equivalent.

Load Previous Game
     Loads the previous game from the last game record file you loaded.  The shifted P key is a keyboard equivalent. Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.

Reload Same Game
     Reloads the last game you loaded. Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.

Save Game
     Appends a record of the current game to a file. A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. If the game did not begin with the standard starting position, the game file includes the starting position used. Games are saved in the PGN (portable game notation) format, unless the oldSaveStyle option is true, in which case they are saved in an older format that is specific to XBoard. Both formats are human-readable, and both can be read back by the Load Game command. Notation of the form P@f7 is accepted for piece-drops in bughouse games; this is a nonstandard extension to PGN.

Copy Game
     Copies a record of the current game to an internal clipboard in PGN format and sets the X selection to the game text.  The game can be pasted to another application (such as a text editor or another copy of XBoard) using that application's paste command.  In many X applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Game command.

Paste Game
     Interprets the current X selection as a game record and loads it, as with Load Game.

Load Position
     Sets up a position from a position file.  A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more than one saved position, and you want to load the Nth one, type the number N after the file name, separated by a space. Position files must be in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation), or in the format that the Save Position command writes when oldSaveStyle is turned on.

Load Next Position
     Loads the next position from the last position file you loaded.

Load Previous Position
     Loads the previous position from the last position file you loaded.  Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.

Reload Same Position
     Reloads the last position you loaded. Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.

Save Position
     Appends a diagram of the current position to a file. A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. Positions are saved in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation) format unless the oldSaveStyle option is true, in which case they are saved in an older, human-readable format that is specific to XBoard. Both formats can be read back by the Load Position command.

Copy Position
     Copies the current position to an internal clipboard in FEN format and sets the X selection to the position text.  The position can be pasted to another application (such as a text editor or another copy of XBoard) using that application's paste command.  In many X applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Position command.

Paste Position
     Interprets the current X selection as a FEN position and loads it, as with Load Position.

Mail Move
Reload CMail Message
     See CMail.

Exit
     Exits from XBoard. The shifted Q key is a keyboard equivalent.

Mode Menu
=========

Machine White
     Tells the chess engine to play White.

Machine Black
     Tells the chess engine to play Black.

Two Machines
     Plays a game between two chess engines.

Analysis Mode
     XBoard tells the chess engine to start analyzing the current game/position and shows you the analysis as you move pieces around. Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.

     To set up a position to analyze, you do the following:

     1. Select Edit Position from the Mode Menu

     2. Set up the position.  Use the middle and right buttons to bring up the white and black piece menus.

     3. When you are finished, click on either the Black or White clock to tell XBoard which side moves first.

     4. Select Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu to start the analysis.

     The analysis function can also be used when observing games on an ICS with an engine loaded (zippy mode); the engine then will analyse the positions as they occur in the observed game.

Analyze File
     This option lets you load a game from a file (PGN, XBoard format, etc.) and analyze it. When you select this menu item, a pop-up window appears and asks for a file name to load. If the file contains multiple games, another pop up appears that lets you select which game you wish to analyze. After a game is loaded, use the XBoard arrow buttons to step forwards/backwards through the game and watch the analysis. Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.

ICS Client
     This is the normal mode when XBoard is connected to a chess server.  If you have moved into Edit Game or Edit Position mode, you can select this option to get out.

     To use xboard in ICS mode, run it in the foreground with the -ics option, and use the terminal you started it from to type commands and receive text responses from the chess server.  See Chess Servers below for more information.

     XBoard activates some special position/game editing features when you use the examine or bsetup commands on ICS and you have ICS Client selected on the Mode menu.  First, you can issue the ICS position-editing commands with the mouse.  Move pieces by dragging with mouse button 1.  To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the square.  This brings up a menu of white pieces (button 2) or black pieces (button 3).  Additional menu choices let you empty the square or clear the board.  Click on the White or Black clock to set the side to play.  You cannot set the side to play or drag pieces to arbitrary squares while examining on ICC, but you can do so in bsetup mode on FICS.  In addition, the menu commands Forward, Backward, Pause, and Stop Examining have special functions in this mode; see below.

Edit Game
     Allows you to make moves for both Black and White, and to change moves after backing up with the Backward command. The clocks do not run.

     In chess engine mode, the chess engine continues to check moves for legality but does not participate in the game. You can bring the chess engine into the game by selecting Machine White, Machine Black, or Two Machines.

     In ICS mode, the moves are not sent to the ICS: Edit Game takes XBoard out of ICS Client mode and lets you edit games locally. If you want to edit games on ICS in a way that other ICS users can see, use the ICS examine command or start an ICS match against yourself.

Edit Position
     Lets you set up an arbitrary board position. Use mouse button 1 to drag pieces to new squares, or to delete a piece by dragging it off the board or dragging an empty square on top of it. To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the square. This brings up a menu of white pieces (button 2) or black pieces (button 3). Additional menu choices let you empty the square or clear the board. You can set the side to play next by clicking on the word White or Black at the top of the screen. Selecting Edit Position causes XBoard to discard all remembered moves in the current game.

     In ICS mode, changes made to the position by Edit Position are not sent to the ICS: Edit Position takes XBoard out of ICS Client mode and lets you edit positions locally. If you want to edit positions on ICS in a way that other ICS users can see, use the ICS examine command, or start an ICS match against yourself. (See also the ICS Client topic above.)

Training
     Training mode lets you interactively guess the moves of a game for one of the players. You guess the next move of the game by playing the move on the board. If the move played matches the next move of the game, the move is accepted and the opponent's response is auto-played. If the move played is incorrect, an error message is displayed.  You can select this mode only while loading a game (that is, after selecting Load Game from the File menu).  While XBoard is in Training mode, the navigation buttons are disabled.

Show Game List
     Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last Load Game command.

Show Move History
     Shows or hides a list of moves of the current game. This list allows you to move the display to any earlier position in the game by clicking on the corresponding move.

Show Engine Output
     Shows or hides a window in which the thinking output of any loaded engines is displayed.

Edit Tags
     Lets you edit the PGN (portable game notation) tags for the current game. After editing, the tags must still conform to the PGN tag syntax:

          <tag-section> ::= <tag-pair> <tag-section>
                                  <empty>
          <tag-pair> ::= [ <tag-name> <tag-value> ]
          <tag-name> ::= <identifier>
          <tag-value> ::= <string>

     See the PGN Standard for full details. Here is an example:

          [Event "Portoroz Interzonal"]
          [Site "Portoroz, Yugoslavia"]
          [Date "1958.08.16"]
          [Round "8"]
          [White "Robert J. Fischer"]
          [Black "Bent Larsen"]
          [Result "1-0"]

     Any characters that do not match this syntax are silently ignored. Note that the PGN standard requires all games to have at least the seven tags shown above. Any that you omit will be filled in by XBoard with ? (unknown value), or - (inapplicable value).

Edit Comment
     Adds or modifies a comment on the current position. Comments are saved by Save Game and are displayed by Load Game, Forward, and Backward.

ICS Input Box
     If this option is set in ICS mode, XBoard creates an extra window that you can use for typing in ICS commands. The input box is especially useful if you want to type in something long or do some editing on your input, because output from ICS doesn't get mixed in with your typing as it would in the main terminal window.

Pause
     Pauses updates to the board, and if you are playing against a chess engine, also pauses your clock. To continue, select Pause again, and the display will automatically update to the latest position. The P button and keyboard p key are equivalents.

     If you select Pause when you are playing against a chess engine and it is not your move, the chess engine's clock will continue to run and it will eventually make a move, at which point both clocks will stop. Since board updates are paused, however, you will not see the move until you exit from Pause mode (or select Forward). This behavior is meant to simulate adjournment with a sealed move.

     If you select Pause while you are observing or examining a game on a chess server, you can step backward and forward in the current history of the examined game without affecting the other observers and examiners, and without having your display jump forward to the latest position each time a move is made. Select Pause again to reconnect yourself to the current state of the game on ICS.

     If you select Pause while you are loading a game, the game stops loading. You can load more moves manually by selecting Forward, or resume automatic loading by selecting Pause again.

Action Menu
===========

Accept
     Accepts a pending match offer. If there is more than one offer pending, you will have to type in a more specific command instead of using this menu choice.

Decline
     Declines a pending offer (match, draw, adjourn, etc.). If there is more than one offer pending, you will have to type in a more specific command instead of using this menu choice.

Call Flag
     Calls your opponent's flag, claiming a win on time, or claiming a draw if you are both out of time. You can also call your opponent's flag by clicking on his clock or by pressing the keyboard t key.

Draw
     Offers a draw to your opponent, accepts a pending draw offer from your opponent, or claims a draw by repetition or the 50-move rule, as appropriate. The d key is a keyboard equivalent.

Adjourn
     Asks your opponent to agree to adjourning the current game, or agrees to a pending adjournment offer from your opponent.

Abort
     Asks your opponent to agree to aborting the current game, or agrees to a pending abort offer from your opponent. An aborted game ends immediately without affecting either player's rating.

Resign
     Resigns the game to your opponent. The shifted R key is a keyboard equivalent.

Stop Observing
     Ends your participation in observing a game, by issuing the ICS observe command with no arguments. ICS mode only.

Stop Examining
     Ends your participation in examining a game, by issuing the ICS unexamine command. ICS mode only.

Adjudicate to White
Adjudicate to Black
Adjudicate Draw
     Terminate an ongoing game in Two-Machines mode (including match mode), with as result a win for white, for black, or a draw, respectively. The PGN file of the game will accompany the result string by the comment "user adjudication".

Step Menu
=========

Backward
     Steps backward through a series of remembered moves. The [<] button and the b key are equivalents, as is turning the mouse wheel towards you. In addition, pressing the Control key steps back one move, and releasing it steps forward again.

     In most modes, Backward only lets you look back at old positions; it does not retract moves. This is the case if you are playing against a chess engine, playing or observing a game on an ICS, or loading a game. If you select Backward in any of these situations, you will not be allowed to make a different move. Use Retract Move or Edit Game if you want to change past moves.

     If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of Backward depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is off, Backward issues the ICS backward command, which backs up everyone's view of the game and allows you to make a different move. If Pause mode is on, Backward only backs up your local view.

Forward
     Steps forward through a series of remembered moves (undoing the effect of Backward) or forward through a game file. The [>] button and the f key are equivalents, as is turning the mouse wheel away from you.

     If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of Forward depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is off, Forward issues the ICS forward command, which moves everyone's view of the game forward along the current line. If Pause mode is on, Forward only moves your local view forward, and it will not go past the position that the game was in when you paused.

Back to Start
     Jumps backward to the first remembered position in the game. The [<<] button and the shifted B key are equivalents.

     In most modes, Back to Start only lets you look back at old positions; it does not retract moves. This is the case if you are playing against a local chess engine, playing or observing a game on a chess server, or loading a game. If you select Back to Start in any of these situations, you will not be allowed to make different moves. Use Retract Move or Edit Game if you want to change past moves; or use Reset to start a new game.

     If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of Back to Start depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is off, Back to Start issues the ICS backward 999999 command, which backs up everyone's view of the game to the start and allows you to make different moves. If Pause mode is on, Back to Start only backs up your local view.

Forward to End
     Jumps forward to the last remembered position in the game. The [>>] button and the shifted F key are equivalents.

     If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of Forward to End depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is off, Forward to End issues the ICS forward 999999 command, which moves everyone's view of the game forward to the end of the current line. If Pause mode is on, Forward to End only moves your local view forward, and it will not go past the position that the game was in when you paused.

Revert
     If you are examining an ICS game and Pause mode is off, issues the ICS command revert.

Truncate Game
     Discards all remembered moves of the game beyond the current position. Puts XBoard into Edit Game mode if it was not there already.

Move Now
     Forces the chess engine to move immediately. Chess engine mode only.

Retract Move
     Retracts your last move. In chess engine mode, you can do this only after the chess engine has replied to your move; if the chess engine is still thinking, use Move Now first. In ICS mode, Retract Move issues the command takeback 1 or takeback 2 depending on whether it is your opponent's move or yours.

Options Menu
============

Flip View
     Inverts your view of the chess board for the duration of the current game. Starting a new game returns the board to normal. The v key is a keyboard equivalent.

Adjudications
     Pops up a sub-menu where you can enable or disable various adjudications that XBoard can perform in engine-engine games. You can instruct XBoard to detect and terminate the game on checkmate or stalemate, even if the engines would not do so, to verify engine result claims (forfeiting engines that make false claims), rather than naively following the engine, to declare draw on positions which can never be won for lack of mating material, (e.g. KBK), or which are impossible to win unless the opponent seeks its own demise (e.g. KBKN). For these adjudications to work, Test Legality should be switched on. It is also possible to instruct XBoard to enforce a 50-move or 3-fold-repeat rule and automatically declare draw (after a user-adjustable number of moves or repeats) even if the engines are prepared to go on. It is also possible to have XBoard declare draw on games that seem to drag on forever, or adjudicate a loss if both engines agree (for 3 consecutive moves) that one of them is behind more than a user-adjustable score threshold. For the latter adjudication to work, XBoard should be able to properly understand the engine's scores. To facilitate the latter, you can inform xboard here if the engines report scores from the viewpoint of white, or from that of their own color.

Engine Settings
     Pops up a sub-menu where you can set some engine parameters common to most engines, such as hash-table size, tablebase cache size, maximum number of processors that SMP engines can use, and where to find the Polyglot adapter needed to run UCI engines under XBoard. The feature that allows setting of these parameters on engines is new since XBoard 4.3.15, so not many WinBoard engines respond to it yet, but UCI engines should. 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.

Time Control
     Pops up a sub-menu where you can set the time-control parameters interactively. Allows you to select classical or incremental time controls, set the moves per session, session duration, and time increment. Also allows specification of time-odds factors for one or both engines. If an engine is given a time-odds factor N, all time quota it gets, be it at the beginning of a session or through the time increment or fixed time per move, will be divided by N.

Always Queen
     If this option is off, XBoard brings up a dialog box whenever you move a pawn to the last rank, asking what piece you want to promote it to. If the option is true, your pawns are always promoted to queens. Your opponent can still under-promote.

Animate Dragging
     If Animate Dragging is on, while you are dragging a piece with the mouse, an image of the piece follows the mouse cursor. If Animate Dragging is off, there is no visual feedback while you are dragging a piece, but if Animate Moving is on, the move will be animated when it is complete.

Animate Moving
     If Animate Moving is on, all piece moves are animated.  An image of the piece is shown moving from the old square to the new square when the move is completed (unless the move was already animated by Animate Dragging). If Animate Moving is off, a moved piece instantly disappears from its old square and reappears on its new square when the move is complete.

Auto Comment
     If this option is on, any remarks made on ICS while you are observing or playing a game are recorded as a comment on the current move.  This includes remarks made with the ICS commands say, tell, whisper, and kibitz. Limitation: remarks that you type yourself are not recognized; XBoard scans only the output from ICS, not the input you type to it.

Auto Flag
     If this option is on and one player runs out of time before the other, XBoard will automatically call his flag, claiming a win on time. In ICS mode, Auto Flag will only call your opponent's flag, not yours, and the ICS may award you a draw instead of a win if you have insufficient mating material.  In local chess engine mode, XBoard may call either player's flag and will not take material into account.

Auto Flip View
     If the Auto Flip View option is on when you start a game, the board will be automatically oriented so that your pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the top.

Auto Observe
     If this option is on and you add a player to your 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.

Auto Raise Board
     If this option is on, whenever a new game begins, the chessboard window is deiconized (if necessary) and raised to the top of the stack of windows.

Auto Save
     If this option is true, at the end of every game XBoard prompts you for a file name and appends a record of the game to the file you specify. Disabled if the saveGameFile command-line option is set, as in that case all games are saved to the specified file. See Load and Save options.

Blindfold
     If this option is on, XBoard displays the board as usual but does not display pieces or move highlights.  You can still move in the usual way (with the mouse or by typing moves in ICS mode), even though the pieces are invisible.

Flash Moves
     If this option is on, whenever a move is completed, the moved piece flashes. The number of times to flash is set by the flashCount command-line option; it defaults to 3 if Flash Moves is first turned on from the menu.

     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.

Get Move List
     If this option is on, whenever XBoard receives the first board of a new ICS game (or a different game from the one it is currently displaying), it retrieves the list of past moves from the ICS. You can then review the moves with the Forward and Backward commands or save them with Save Game.  You might want to turn off this option if you are observing several blitz games at once, to keep from wasting time and network bandwidth fetching the move lists over and over. When you turn this option on from the menu, XBoard immediately fetches the move list of the current game (if any).

Highlight Last Move
     If Highlight Last Move is on, after a move is made, the starting and ending squares remain highlighted. In addition, after you use Backward or Back to Start, the starting and ending squares of the last move to be unmade are highlighted.

Move Sound
     If this option is on, XBoard alerts you by playing a sound after each of your opponent's moves (or after every move if you are observing a game on the Internet Chess Server). The sound is not played after moves you make or moves read from a saved game file. By default, the sound is the terminal bell, but on some systems you can change it to a sound file using the soundMove option; see below.

     If you turn on this option when using XBoard with the Internet Chess Server, you will probably want to give the set bell 0 command to the ICS, since otherwise the ICS will ring the terminal bell after every move (not just yours). (The .icsrc file is a good place for this; see ICS options.)

ICS Alarm
     When this option is on, an alarm sound is played when your clock counts down to the icsAlarmTime (by default, 5 seconds) in an ICS game.  For games with time controls that include an increment, the alarm will sound each time the clock counts down to the icsAlarmTime. By default, the alarm sound is the terminal bell, but on some systems you can change it to a sound file using the soundIcsAlarm option; see below.

Old Save Style
     If this option is off, XBoard saves games in PGN (portable game notation) and positions in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation).  If the option is on, a save style that is compatible with older versions of XBoard is used instead. The old position style is more human-readable than FEN; the old game style has no particular advantages.

Periodic Updates
     If this option is off (or if you are using a chess engine that does not support periodic updates), the analysis window will only be updated when the analysis changes. If this option is on, the Analysis Window will be updated every two seconds.

Ponder Next Move
     If this option is off, the chess engine will think only when it is on move.  If the option is on, the engine will also think while waiting for you to make your move.

Popup Exit Message
     If this option is on, when XBoard wants to display a message just before exiting, it brings up a modal dialog box and waits for you to click OK before exiting.  If the option is off, XBoard prints the message to standard error (the terminal) and exits immediately.

Popup Move Errors
     If this option is off, when you make an error in moving (such as attempting an illegal move or moving the wrong color piece), the error message is displayed in the message area.  If the option is on, move errors are displayed in small pop-up windows like other errors. You can dismiss an error pop-up either by clicking its OK button or by clicking anywhere on the board, including down-clicking to start a move.

Premove
     If this option is on while playing a game on an ICS, you can register your next planned move before it is your turn.  Move the piece with the mouse in the ordinary way, and the starting and ending squares will be highlighted with a special color (red by default).  When it is your turn, if your registered move is legal, XBoard will send it to ICS immediately; if not, it will be ignored and you can make a different move.  If you change your mind about your premove, either make a different move, or double-click on any piece to cancel the move entirely.

Quiet Play
     If this option is on, XBoard will automatically issue an ICS set shout 0 command whenever you start a game and a set shout 1 command whenever you finish one.  Thus, you will not be distracted by shouts from other ICS users while playing.

Show Coords
     If this option is on, XBoard displays algebraic coordinates along the board's left and bottom edges.

Hide Thinking
     If this option is off, the chess engine's notion of the score and best line of play from the current position is displayed as it is thinking. The score indicates how many pawns ahead (or if negative, behind) the chess engine thinks it is. In matches between two machines, the score is prefixed by W or B to indicate whether it is showing White's thinking or Black's, and only the thinking of the engine that is on move is shown.

Test Legality
     If this option is on, XBoard tests whether the moves you try to make with the mouse are legal and refuses to let you make an illegal move. Moves loaded from a file with Load Game are also checked.  If the option is off, all moves are accepted, but if a local chess engine or the ICS is active, they will still reject illegal moves.  Turning off this option is useful if you are playing a chess variant with rules that XBoard does not understand.  (Bughouse, suicide, and wild variants where the king may castle after starting on the d file are generally supported with Test Legality on.)

Help Menu
=========

Info XBoard
     Displays the XBoard documentation in info format.  For this feature to work, you must have the GNU info program installed on your system, and the file xboard.info must either be present in the current working directory, or have been installed by the make install command when you built XBoard.

Man XBoard
     Displays the XBoard documentation in man page format.  For this feature to work, the file xboard.6 must have been installed by the make install command when you built XBoard, and the directory it was placed in must be on the search path for your system's man command.

Hint
     Displays a move hint from the chess engine.

Book
     Displays a list of possible moves from the chess engine's opening book.  The exact format depends on what chess engine you are using. With GNU Chess 4, the first column gives moves, the second column gives one possible response for each move, and the third column shows the number of lines in the book that include the move from the first column. If you select this option and nothing happens, the chess engine is out of its book or does not support this feature.

About XBoard
     Shows the current XBoard version number.

Other Shortcut Keys
===================

Iconize
     Pressing the i or c key iconizes XBoard. The graphical icon displays a white knight if it is White's move, or a black knight if it is Black's move. If your X window manager displays only text icons, not graphical ones, check its documentation; there is probably a way to enable graphical icons.  If you get black and white reversed, we would like to hear about it; see Problems below for instructions on how to report this problem.

You can add or remove shortcut keys using the X resources form.translations. Here is an example of what would go in your .Xresources file:

     XBoard*form.translations: \
       Shift<Key>?: AboutGameProc() \n\
       <Key>y: AcceptProc() \n\
       <Key>n: DeclineProc() \n\
       <Key>i: NothingProc()

Binding a key to NothingProc makes it do nothing, thus removing it as a shortcut key. The XBoard commands that can be bound to keys are:

     AbortProc, AboutGameProc, AboutProc, AcceptProc, AdjournProc,
     AlwaysQueenProc, AnalysisModeProc, AnalyzeFileProc,
     AnimateDraggingProc, AnimateMovingProc, AutobsProc, AutoflagProc,
     AutoflipProc, AutoraiseProc, AutosaveProc, BackwardProc,
     BlindfoldProc, BookProc, CallFlagProc, CopyGameProc, CopyPositionProc,
     DebugProc, DeclineProc, DrawProc, EditCommentProc, EditGameProc,
     EditPositionProc, EditTagsProc, EnterKeyProc, FlashMovesProc,
     FlipViewProc, ForwardProc, GetMoveListProc, HighlightLastMoveProc,
     HintProc, Iconify, IcsAlarmProc, IcsClientProc, IcsInputBoxProc,
     InfoProc, LoadGameProc, LoadNextGameProc, LoadNextPositionProc,
     LoadPositionProc, LoadPrevGameProc, LoadPrevPositionProc,
     LoadSelectedProc, MachineBlackProc, MachineWhiteProc, MailMoveProc,
     ManProc, MoveNowProc, MoveSoundProc, NothingProc, OldSaveStyleProc,
     PasteGameProc, PastePositionProc, PauseProc, PeriodicUpdatesProc,
     PonderNextMoveProc, PopupExitMessageProc, PopupMoveErrorsProc,
     PremoveProc, QuietPlayProc, QuitProc, ReloadCmailMsgProc,
     ReloadGameProc, ReloadPositionProc, RematchProc, ResetProc,
     ResignProc, RetractMoveProc, RevertProc, SaveGameProc,
     SavePositionProc, ShowCoordsProc, ShowGameListProc, ShowThinkingProc,
     StopExaminingProc, StopObservingProc, TestLegalityProc, ToEndProc,
     ToStartProc, TrainingProc, TruncateGameProc, and TwoMachinesProc.

Options
*******

This section documents the command-line options to XBoard.  You can set these options in two ways: by typing them on the shell command line you use to start XBoard, or by setting them as X resources (typically in your .Xresources file).  Many of the options cannot be changed while XBoard is running; others set the initial state of items that can be changed with the Options menu.

Most of the options have both a long name and a short name. To turn a boolean option on or off from the command line, either give its long name followed by the value true or false (-longOptionName true), or give just the short name to turn the option on (-opt), or the short name preceded by x to turn the option off (-xopt). For options that take strings or numbers as values, you can use the long or short option names interchangeably.

Each option corresponds to an X resource with the same name, so if you like, you can set options in your .Xresources file or in a file named XBoard in your home directory. For options that have two names, the longer one is the name of the corresponding X resource; the short name is not recognized. To turn a boolean option on or off as an X resource, give its long name followed by the value true or false (XBoard*longOptionName: true).

Chess Engine Options
====================

-tc or -timeControl minutes[:seconds]
     Each player begins with his clock set to the timeControl period. Default: 5 minutes. The additional options movesPerSession and timeIncrement are mutually exclusive.

-mps or -movesPerSession moves
     When both players have made movesPerSession moves, a new timeControl period is added to both clocks.  Default: 40 moves.

-inc or -timeIncrement seconds
     If this option is specified, movesPerSession is ignored. Instead, after each player's move, timeIncrement seconds are added to his clock. Use -inc 0 if you want to require the entire game to be played in one timeControl period, with no increment. Default: -1, which specifies movesPerSession mode.

-clock/-xclock or -clockMode true/false
     Determines whether or not to display the chess clocks. If clockMode is false, the clocks are not shown, but the side that is to play next is still highlighted. Also, unless searchTime is set, the chess engine still keeps track of the clock time and uses it to determine how fast to make its moves.

-st or -searchTime minutes[:seconds]
     Tells the chess engine to spend at most the given amount of time searching for each of its moves. Without this option, the chess engine chooses its search time based on the number of moves and amount of time remaining until the next time control. Setting this option also sets clockMode to false.

-depth or -searchDepth number
     Tells the chess engine to look ahead at most the given number of moves when searching for a move to make. Without this option, the chess engine chooses its search depth based on the number of moves and amount of time remaining until the next time control.  With the option, the engine will cut off its search early if it reaches the specified depth.

-firstNPS number
-secondNPS number
     Tells the chess engine to use an internal time standard based on its node count, rather then wall-clock time, to make its timing decisions. The time in virtual seconds should be obtained by dividing the node count through the given number, like the number was a rate in nodes per second. Xboard will manage the clocks in accordance with this, relying on the number of nodes reported by the engine in its thinking output. If the given number equals zero, it can obviously not be used to convert nodes to seconds, and the time reported by the engine is used to decrement the XBoard clock in stead. The engine is supposed to report in CPU time it uses, rather than wall-clock time, in this mode. This option can provide fairer conditions for engine-engine matches on heavily loaded machines, or with very fast games (where the wall clock is too inaccurate). showThinking must be on for this option to work. Default: -1 (off). Not many engines might support this yet!

-firstTimeOdds factor
-secondTimeOdds factor
     Reduces the time given to the mentioned engine by the given factor. If pondering is off, the effect is indistinguishable from what would happen if the engine was running on an n-times slower machine. Default: 1.

-timeOddsMode mode
     This option determines how the case is handled where both engines have a time-odds handicap. If mode=1, the engine that gets the most time will always get the nominal time, as specified by the time-control options, and its opponent's time is renormalized accordingly. If mode=0, both play with reduced time. Default: 0.

-hideThinkingFromHuman true/false
     Controls the Hide Thinking option. See Options Menu. Default: true. (Replaces the Show-Thinking option of older xboard versions.)

-thinking/-xthinking or -showThinking true/false
     Forces the engine to send thinking output to xboard. Used to be the only way to control if thinking output was displayed in older xboard versions, but as the thinking output in xboard 4.3 is also used for several other purposes (adjudication, storing in PGN file) the display of it is now controlled by the new option Hide Thinking. See Options Menu. Default: false. (But if xboard needs the thinking output for some purpose, it makes the engine send it despite the setting of this option.)

-ponder/-xponder or -ponderNextMove true/false
     Sets the Ponder Next Move menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.

-smpCores number
     Specifies the maximum number of CPUs an SMP engine is allowed to use. Only works for engines that support the WinBoard-protocol cores feature.

-mg or -matchGames n
     Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines, with alternating colors. If the loadGameFile or loadPositionFile option is set, XBoard starts each game with the given opening moves or the given position; otherwise, the games start with the standard initial chess position. If the saveGameFile option is set, a move record for the match is appended to the specified file. If the savePositionFile option is set, the final position reached in each game of the match is appended to the specified file. When the match is over, XBoard displays the match score and exits. Default: 0 (do not run a match).

-mm/-xmm or -matchMode true/false
     Setting matchMode to true is equivalent to setting matchGames to 1.

-sameColorGames n
     Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines, without alternating colors. Otherwise the same applies as for the -matchGames option, over which it takes precedence if both are specified. (See there.) Default: 0 (do not run a match).

-fcp or -firstChessProgram program
     Name of first chess engine. Default: Fairy-Max.

-scp or -secondChessProgram program
     Name of second chess engine, if needed. A second chess engine is started only in Two Machines (match) mode. Default: Fairy-Max.

-fb/-xfb or -firstPlaysBlack true/false
     In games between two chess engines, firstChessProgram normally plays white.  If this option is true, firstChessProgram plays black.  In a multi-game match, this option affects the colors only for the first game; they still alternate in subsequent games.

-fh or -firstHost host
-sh or -secondHost host
     Hosts on which the chess engines are to run. The default for each is localhost. If you specify another host, XBoard uses rsh to run the chess engine there. (You can substitute a different remote shell program for rsh using the remoteShell option described below.)

-fd or -firstDirectory dir
-sd or -secondDirectory dir
     Working directories in which the chess engines are to be run. The default is "", which means to run the chess engine in the same working directory as XBoard itself.  (See the CHESSDIR environment variable.) This option is effective only when the chess engine is being run on the local host; it does not work if the engine is run remotely using the -fh or -sh option.

-initString string
-secondInitString string
     The string that is sent to initialize each chess engine for a new game. Default:

          new
          random

     Setting this option from the command line is tricky, because you must type in real newline characters, including one at the very end. In most shells you can do this by entering a \ character followed by a newline. It is easier to set the option from your .Xresources file; in that case you can include the character sequence \n in the string, and it will be converted to a newline.

     If you change this option, don't remove the new command; it is required by all chess engines to start a new game.

     You can remove the random command if you like; including it causes GNU Chess 4 to randomize its move selection slightly so that it doesn't play the same moves in every game.  Even without random, GNU Chess 4 randomizes its choice of moves from its opening book.  Many other chess engines ignore this command entirely and always (or never) randomize.

     You can also try adding other commands to the initString; see the documentation of the chess engine you are using for details.

-firstComputerString string
-secondComputerString string
     The string that is sent to the chess engine if its opponent is another computer chess engine.  The default is computer\n.  Probably the only useful alternative is the empty string, which keeps the engine from knowing that it is playing another computer.

-reuse/-xreuse or -reuseFirst true/false
-reuse2/-xreuse2 or -reuseSecond true/false
     If the option is false, XBoard kills off the chess engine after every game and starts it again for the next game. If the option is true (the default), XBoard starts the chess engine only once and uses it repeatedly to play multiple games. Some old chess engines may not work properly when reuse is turned on, but otherwise games will start faster if it is left on.

-firstProtocolVersion version-number
-secondProtocolVersion version-number
     This option specifies which version of the chess engine communication protocol to use.  By default, version-number is 2.  In version 1, the "protover" command is not sent to the engine; since version 1 is a subset of version 2, nothing else changes.  Other values for version-number are not supported.

-firstScoreAbs true/false
-secondScoreAbs true/false
     If this option is set, the score reported by the engine is taken to be that in favor of white, even when the engine plays black. Important when XBoard uses the score for adjudications, or in PGN reporting.

-niceEngines priority
     This option allows you to lower the priority of the engine processes, so that the generally insatiable hunger for CPU time of chess engines does not interfere so much with smooth operation of WinBoard (or the rest of your system). Negative values could increase the engine priority, which is not recommended.

-firstOptions string
-secondOptions string
     The given string is a comma-separated list of (option name=option value) pairs, like the following example: "style=Karpov,blunder rate=0". If the options announced by the engine at startup through the feature commands of WinBoard protocol matches one of the option names (i.e. "style" or "blunder rate"), it would be set to the given value (i.e. "Karpov" or 0) through a corresponding option command to the engine. This provided that the type of the value (text or numeric) matches as well.

-firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
-secondNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
     The castling rights and e.p. fields of the FEN sent to the mentioned engine with the setboard command will be replaced by the given string. This can for instance be used to run engines that do not understand Chess960 FENs in variant fischerandom, to make them at least understand the opening position, through setting the string to "KQkq -". (Note you also have to give the e.p. field!) Other possible applications are to provide work-arounds for engines that want to see castling and e.p. fields in variants that do not have castling or e.p. (shatranj, courier, xiangqi, shogi) so that WinBoard would normally omit them (string = "- -"), or to add variant-specific fields that are not yet supported by WinBoard (e.g. to indicate the number of checks in 3check).

UCI + WB Engine Settings
========================

-fUCI or -firstIsUCI true/false
-sUCI or -secondIsUCI true/false
     Indicates if the mentioned engine executable file is an UCI engine, and should be run with the aid of the Polyglot adapter rather than directly. Xboard will then pass the other UCI options and engine name to Polyglot through a .ini temporary file created for the purpose.

-PolyglotDir filename
     Gives the name of the directory in which the Polyglot adapter for UCI engines expects its files. Default: "/usr/local/share/polyglot".

-usePolyglotBook true/false
     Specifies if the Polyglot book should be used.

-PolyglotBook filename
     Gives the filename of the opening book that Polyglot should use. From XBoard 4.3.15 on, native WinBoard engines will also use the opening book specified here, provided the usePolyglotBook option is set to true, and the option firstHasOwnBookUCI or secondHasOwnBookUCI applying to the engine is set to false. The engine will be kept in force mode as long as the current position is in book, and XBoard will select the book moves for it. Default "".

-fNoOwnBookUCI or -firstXBook or -firstHasOwnBookUCI true/false
-sNoOwnBookUCI or -secondXBook or -secondHasOwnBookUCI true/false
     Indicates if the mentioned engine has its own opening book it should play from, rather than using the external book through XBoard. Default: false.

-defaultHashSize n
     Sets the size of the hash table to n MegaBytes. Together with the EGTB cache size this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of WinBoard engines, for those that support the memory feature of WinBoard protocol. Default: 64.

-defaultCacheSizeEGTB n
     Sets the size of the EGTB cache to n MegaBytes. Together with the hash-table size this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of WinBoard engines, for those that support the memory feature of WinBoard protocol. Default: 4.

-defaultPathEGTB filename
     Gives the name of the directory where the end-game tablebases are installed, for UCI engines. Default: "/usr/local/share/egtb".

-egtFormats string
     Specifies which end-game tables are installed on the computer, and where. The argument is a comma-separated list of format specifications, each specification consisting of a format name, a colon, and a directory path name, e.g. "nalimov:/usr/local/share/egtb". If the name part matches that of a format that the engine requests through a feature command, xboard will relay the path name for this format to the engine through an egtpath command. One egtpath command for each matching format will be sent. Popular formats are "nalimov" DTM tablebases and "scorpio" bitbases. Default: "".

ICS options
===========

-ics/-xics or -internetChessServerMode true/false
     Connect with an Internet Chess Server to play chess against its other users, observe games they are playing, or review games that have recently finished. Default: false.

-icshost or -internetChessServerHost host
     The Internet host name or address of the chess server to connect to when in ICS mode. Default: chessclub.com. Another popular chess server to try is freechess.org. If your site doesn't have a working Internet name server, try specifying the host address in numeric form. You may also need to specify the numeric address when using the icshelper option with timestamp or timeseal (see below).

-icsport or -internetChessServerPort port-number
     The port number to use when connecting to a chess server in ICS mode. Default: 5000.

-icshelper or -internetChessServerHelper prog-name
     An external helper program used to communicate with the chess server. You would set it to "timestamp" for ICC (chessclub.com) or "timeseal" for FICS (freechess.org), after obtaining the correct version of timestamp or timeseal for your computer.  See "help timestamp" on ICC and "help timeseal" on FICS. This option is shorthand for -useTelnet -telnetProgram program.

-telnet/-xtelnet or -useTelnet true/false
     This option is poorly named; it should be called useHelper. If set to true, it instructs XBoard to run an external program to communicate with the Internet Chess Server. The program to use is given by the telnetProgram option. If the option is false (the default), XBoard opens a TCP socket and uses its own internal implementation of the telnet protocol to communicate with the ICS. See Firewalls.

-telnetProgram prog-name
     This option is poorly named; it should be called helperProgram. It gives the name of the telnet program to be used with the gateway and useTelnet options.  The default is telnet. The telnet program is invoked with the value of internetChessServerHost as its first argument and the value of internetChessServerPort as its second argument. See Firewalls.

-gateway host-name
     If this option is set to a host name, XBoard communicates with the Internet Chess Server by using rsh to run the telnetProgram on the given host, instead of using its own internal implementation of the telnet protocol. You can substitute a different remote shell program for rsh using the remoteShell option described below. See Firewalls.

-internetChessServerCommPort or -icscomm dev-name
     If this option is set, XBoard communicates with the ICS through the given character I/O device instead of opening a TCP connection. Use this option if your system does not have any kind of Internet connection itself (not even a SLIP or PPP connection), but you do have dial-up access (or a hardwired terminal line) to an Internet service provider from which you can telnet to the ICS.

     The support for this option in XBoard is minimal. You need to set all communication parameters and tty modes before you enter XBoard.

     Use a script something like this:

          stty raw -echo 9600 > /dev/tty00
          xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/tty00

     Here replace /dev/tty00 with the name of the device that your modem is connected to. You might have to add several more options to these stty commands. See the man pages for stty and tty if you run into problems. Also, on many systems stty works on its standard input instead of standard output, so you have to use < instead of >.

     If you are using linux, try starting with the script below. Change it as necessary for your installation.

          #!/bin/sh -f
          # configure modem and fire up XBoard

          # configure modem
          (
            stty 2400 ; stty raw ; stty hupcl ; stty -clocal
            stty ignbrk ; stty ignpar ; stty ixon ; stty ixoff
            stty -iexten ; stty -echo
          ) < /dev/modem
          xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/modem

     After you start XBoard in this way, type whatever commands are necessary to dial out to your Internet provider and log in. Then telnet to ICS, using a command like telnet chessclub.com 5000. Important: See the paragraph below about extra echoes, in Limitations.

-icslogon or -internetChessServerLogonScript file-name
     Whenever XBoard connects to the Internet Chess Server, if it finds a file with the name given in this option, it feeds the file's contents to the ICS as commands. The default file name is .icsrc. Usually the first two lines of the file should be your ICS user name and password. The file can be either in $CHESSDIR, in XBoard's working directory if CHESSDIR is not set, or in your home directory.

-msLoginDelay delay
     If you experience trouble logging on to an ICS when using the -icslogon option, inserting some delay between characters of the logon script may help. This option adds delay milliseconds of delay between characters. Good values to try are 100 and 250.

-icsinput/-xicsinput or -internetChessServerInputBox true/false
     Sets the ICS Input Box menu option. See Mode Menu. Default: false.

-autocomm/-xautocomm or -autoComment true/false
     Sets the Auto Comment menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.

-autoflag/-xautoflag or -autoCallFlag true/false
     Sets the Auto Flag menu option.  See Options Menu. Default: false.

-autobs/-xautobs or -autoObserve true/false
     Sets the Auto Observe menu option.  See Options Menu. Default: false.

-autoKibitz
     Enables kibitzing of the engines last thinking output (depth, score, time, speed, PV) before it moved to the ICS, in zippy mode. The option showThinking must be switched on for this option to work. Also diverts similar kibitz information of an opponent engine that is playing you through the ICS to the engine-output window, as if the engine was playing locally.

-moves/-xmoves or -getMoveList true/false
     Sets the Get Move List menu option.  See Options Menu.  Default: true.

-alarm/-xalarm or -icsAlarm true/false
     Sets the ICS Alarm menu option.  See Options Menu. Default: true.

-icsAlarmTime ms
     Sets the time in milliseconds for the ICS Alarm menu option. See Options Menu. Default: 5000.

lowTimeWarning true/false
     Controls a color change of the board as a warning your time is running out. See Options Menu. Default: false.

-pre/-xpre \fRor\fB -premove true/false
     Sets the Premove menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.

-quiet/-xquiet or -quietPlay true/false
     Sets the Quiet Play menu option.  See Options Menu.  Default: false.

-colorizeMessages or -colorize
     Setting colorizeMessages to true tells XBoard to colorize the messages received from the ICS.  Colorization works only if your xterm supports ISO 6429 escape sequences for changing text colors.

-colorShout foreground,background,bold
-colorSShout foreground,background,bold
-colorChannel1 foreground,background,bold
-colorChannel foreground,background,bold
-colorKibitz foreground,background,bold
-colorTell foreground,background,bold
-colorChallege foreground,background,bold
-colorRequest foreground,background,bold
-colorSeek foreground,background,bold
-colorNormal foreground,background,bold
     These options set the colors used when colorizing ICS messages. All ICS messages are grouped into one of these categories: shout, sshout, channel 1, other channel, kibitz, tell, challenge, request (including abort, adjourn, draw, pause, and takeback), or normal (all other messages).

     Each foreground or background argument can be one of the following: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, or default. Here ``default'' means the default foreground or background color of your xterm.  Bold can be 1 or 0.  If background is omitted, ``default'' is assumed; if bold is omitted, 0 is assumed.

     Here is an example of how to set the colors in your .Xresources file. The colors shown here are the default values; you will get them if you turn -colorize on without specifying your own colors.

          xboard*colorizeMessages: true
          xboard*colorShout: green
          xboard*colorSShout: green, black, 1
          xboard*colorChannel1: cyan
          xboard*colorChannel: cyan, black, 1
          xboard*colorKibitz: magenta, black, 1
          xboard*colorTell: yellow, black, 1
          xboard*colorChallenge: red, black, 1
          xboard*colorRequest: red
          xboard*colorSeek: blue
          xboard*colorNormal: default

-soundProgram progname
     If this option is set to a sound-playing program that is installed and working on your system, XBoard can play sound files when certain events occur, listed below.  The default program name is "play".  If any of the sound options is set to "$", the event rings the terminal bell by sending a ^G character to standard output, instead of playing a sound file.  If an option is set to the empty string "", no sound is played for that event.

-soundShout filename
-soundSShout filename
-soundChannel filename
-soundKibitz filename
-soundTell filename
-soundChallenge filename
-soundRequest filename
-soundSeek filename
     These sounds are triggered in the same way as the colorization events described above.  They all default to "", no sound.  They are played only if the colorizeMessages is on.

-soundMove filename
     This sound is used by the Move Sound menu option.  Default: "$".

-soundIcsAlarm filename
     This sound is used by the ICS Alarm menu option.  Default: "$".

-soundIcsWin filename
     This sound is played when you win an ICS game.  Default: "" (no sound).

-soundIcsLoss filename
     This sound is played when you lose an ICS game.  Default: "" (no sound).

-soundIcsDraw filename
     This sound is played when you draw an ICS game.  Default: "" (no sound).

-soundIcsUnfinished filename
     This sound is played when an ICS game that you are participating in is aborted, adjourned, or otherwise ends inconclusively.  Default: "" (no sound).

     Here is an example of how to set the sounds in your .Xresources file:

          xboard*soundShout: shout.wav
          xboard*soundSShout: sshout.wav
          xboard*soundChannel1: channel1.wav
          xboard*soundChannel: channel.wav
          xboard*soundKibitz: kibitz.wav
          xboard*soundTell: tell.wav
          xboard*soundChallenge: challenge.wav
          xboard*soundRequest: request.wav
          xboard*soundSeek: seek.wav
          xboard*soundMove: move.wav
          xboard*soundIcsWin: win.wav
          xboard*soundIcsLoss: lose.wav
          xboard*soundIcsDraw: draw.wav
          xboard*soundIcsUnfinished: unfinished.wav
          xboard*soundIcsAlarm: alarm.wav

Load and Save options
=====================

-lgf or -loadGameFile file
-lgi or -loadGameIndex index
     If the loadGameFile option is set, XBoard loads the specified game file at startup. The file name - specifies the standard input. If there is more than one game in the file, XBoard pops up a menu of the available games, with entries based on their PGN (Portable Game Notation) tags. If the loadGameIndex option is set to N, the menu is suppressed and the N th game found in the file is loaded immediately. The menu is also suppressed if matchMode is enabled or if the game file is a pipe; in these cases the first game in the file is loaded immediately. Use the pxboard shell script provided with XBoard if you want to pipe in files containing multiple games and still see the menu. If the loadGameIndex specifies an index -1, this triggers auto-increment of the index in matchMode, which means that after every game the index is incremented by one, causing each game of the match to be played from the next game in the file. Similarly, specifying an index value of -2 causes the index to be incremented every two games, so that each game in the file is used twice (with reversed colors). The rewindIndex option causes the index to be reset to the first game of the file when it has reached a specified value.

-rewindIndex n
     Causes a position file or game file to be rewound to its beginning after n positions or games in auto-increment matchMode. See loadPositionIndex and loadGameIndex. default: 0 (no rewind).

-td or -timeDelay seconds
     Time delay between moves during Load Game. Fractional seconds are allowed; try -td 0.4. A time delay value of -1 tells XBoard not to step through game files automatically. Default: 1 second.

-sgf or -saveGameFile file
     If this option is set, XBoard appends a record of every game played to the specified file. The file name - specifies the standard output.

-autosave/-xautosave or -autoSaveGames true/false
     Sets the Auto Save menu option.  See Options Menu.  Default: false. Ignored if saveGameFile is set.

-lpf or -loadPositionFile file
-lpi or -loadPositionIndex index
     If the loadPositionFile option is set, XBoard loads the specified position file at startup. The file name - specifies the standard input. If the loadPositionIndex option is set to N, the Nth position found in the file is loaded; otherwise the first position is loaded. If the loadPositionIndex specifies an index -1, this triggers auto-increment of the index in matchMode, which means that after every game the index is incremented by one, causing each game of the match to be played from the next position in the file. Similarly, specifying an index value of -2 causes the index to be incremented every two games, so that each position in the file is used twice (with the engines playing opposite colors). The rewindIndex option causes the index to be reset to the first position of the file when it has reached a specified value.

-spf or -savePositionFile file
     If this option is set, XBoard appends the final position reached in every game played to the specified file. The file name - specifies the standard output.

-pgnExtendedInfo true/false
     If this option is set, WinBoard saves depth, score and time used for each move that the engine found as a comment in the PGN file. Default: false.

-pgnEventHeader string
     Sets the name used in the PGN event tag to string. Default: "Computer Chess Game".

-saveOutOfBookInfo true/false
     Include the information on how the engine(s) game out of its opening book in a special 'annotator' tag with the PGN file.

-oldsave/-xoldsave or -oldSaveStyle true/false
     Sets the Old Save Style menu option.  See Options Menu.  Default: false.

-gameListTags string
     The character string lists the PGN tags that should be printed in the Game List, and their order. The meaning of the codes is e=event, s=site, d=date, o=round, p=players, r=result, w=white Elo, b=black Elo, t=time control, v=variant, a=out-of-book info. Default: "eprd"

User interface options
======================

-display
-geometry
-iconic
     These and most other standard Xt options are accepted.

-noGUI
     Suppresses all GUI functions of XBoard (to speed up automated ultra-fast engine-engine games, which you don’t want to watch). There will be no board or clock updates, no printing of moves, and no update of the icon on the task bar in this mode.

-movesound/-xmovesound or -ringBellAfterMoves true/false
     Sets the Move Sound menu option.  See Options Menu.  Default: false. For compatibility with old XBoard versions, -bell/-xbell are also accepted as abbreviations for this option.

-exit/-xexit or -popupExitMessage true/false
     Sets the Popup Exit Message menu option.  See Options Menu. Default: true.

-popup/-xpopup or -popupMoveErrors true/false
     Sets the Popup Move Errors menu option.  See Options Menu. Default: false.

-queen/-xqueen or -alwaysPromoteToQueen true/false
     Sets the Always Queen menu option.  See Options Menu.  Default: false.

-legal/-xlegal or -testLegality true/false
     Sets the Test Legality menu option.  See Options Menu.  Default: true.

-size or -boardSize (sizeName | n1,n2,n3,n4,n5,n6,n7)
     Determines how large the board will be, by selecting the pixel size of the pieces and setting a few related parameters. The sizeName can be one of: Titanic, giving 129x129 pixel pieces, Colossal 116x116, Giant 108x108, Huge 95x95, Big 87x87, Large 80x80, Bulky 72x72, Medium 64x64, Moderate 58x58, Average 54x54, Middling 49x49, Mediocre 45x45, Small 40x40, Slim 37x37, Petite 33x33, Dinky 29x29, Teeny 25x25, or Tiny 21x21. Pieces of all these sizes are built into XBoard. Other sizes can be used if you have them; see the pixmapDirectory and bitmapDirectory options. The default depends on the size of your screen; it is approximately the largest size that will fit without clipping.

     You can select other sizes or vary other layout parameters by providing a list of comma-separated values (with no spaces) as the argument. You do not need to provide all the values; for any you omit from the end of the list, defaults are taken from the nearest built-in size. The value n1 gives the piece size, n2 the width of the black border between squares, n3 the desired size for the clockFont, n4 the desired size for the coordFont, n5 the desired size for the default font, n6 the smallLayout flag (0 or 1), and n7 the tinyLayout flag (0 or 1). All dimensions are in pixels. If the border between squares is eliminated (0 width), the various highlight options will not work, as there is nowhere to draw the highlight. If smallLayout is 1 and titleInWindow is true, the window layout is rearranged to make more room for the title. If tinyLayout is 1, the labels on the menu bar are abbreviated to one character each and the buttons in the button bar are made narrower.

-coords/-xcoords or -showCoords true/false
     Sets the Show Coords menu option.  See Options Menu.  Default: false. The coordFont option specifies what font to use.

-autoraise/-xautoraise or -autoRaiseBoard true/false
     Sets the Auto Raise Board menu option.  See Options Menu.  Default: true.

-autoflip/-xautoflip or -autoFlipView true/false
     Sets the Auto Flip View menu option.  See Options Menu.  Default: true.

-flip/-xflip or -flipView true/false
     If Auto Flip View is not set, or if you are observing but not participating in a game, then the positioning of the board at the start of each game depends on the flipView option.  If flipView is false (the default), the board is positioned so that the white pawns move from the bottom to the top; if true, the black pawns move from the bottom to the top. In any case, the Flip menu option (see Options Menu) can be used to flip the board after the game starts.

-title/-xtitle or -titleInWindow true/false
     If this option is true, XBoard displays player names (for ICS games) and game file names (for Load Game) inside its main window. If the option is false (the default), this information is displayed only in the window banner. You probably won't want to set this option unless the information is not showing up in the banner, as happens with a few X window managers.

-buttons/-xbuttons or -showButtonBar True/False
     If this option is False, xboard omits the [<<] [<] [P] [>] [>>] button bar from the window, allowing the message line to be wider.  You can still get the functions of these buttons using the menus or their keyboard shortcuts.  Default: true.

-mono/-xmono or -monoMode true/false
     Determines whether XBoard displays its pieces and squares with two colors (true) or four (false). You shouldn't have to specify monoMode; XBoard will determine if it is necessary.

-flashCount count
-flashRate rate
-flash/-xflash
     These options enable flashing of pieces when they land on their destination square. flashCount tells XBoard how many times to flash a piece after it lands on its destination square. flashRate controls the rate of flashing (flashes/sec). Abbreviations: flash sets flashCount to 3. xflash sets flashCount to 0. Defaults:  flashCount=0 (no flashing), flashRate=5.

-highlight/-xhighlight or -highlightLastMove true/false
     Sets the Highlight Last Move menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.

-blind/-xblind or -blindfold true/false
     Sets the Blindfold menu option.  See Options Menu.  Default: false.

-clockFont font
     The font used for the clocks. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size being used. Default: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.

-coordFont font
     The font used for rank and file coordinate labels if showCoords is true. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size being used. Default: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.

-font font
     The font used for popup dialogs, menus, comments, etc. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size being used. Default: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.

-fontSizeTolerance tol
     In the font selection algorithm, a nonscalable font will be preferred over a scalable font if the nonscalable font's size differs by tol pixels or less from the desired size.  A value of -1 will force a scalable font to always be used if available; a value of 0 will use a nonscalable font only if it is exactly the right size; a large value (say 1000) will force a nonscalable font to always be used if available.  Default: 4.

-bm or -bitmapDirectory dir
-pixmap or -pixmapDirectory dir
     These options control what piece images xboard uses.  The XBoard distribution includes one set of pixmap pieces in xpm format, in the directory pixmaps, and one set of bitmap pieces in xbm format, in the directory bitmaps.  Pixmap pieces give a better appearance on the screen: the white pieces have dark borders, and the black pieces have opaque internal details.  With bitmaps, neither piece color has a border, and the internal details are transparent; you see the square color or other background color through them.

     If XBoard is configured and compiled on a system that includes libXpm, the X pixmap library, the xpm pixmap pieces are compiled in as the default.  A different xpm piece set can be selected at runtime with the pixmapDirectory option, or a bitmap piece set can be selected with the bitmapDirectory option.

     If XBoard is configured and compiled on a system that does not include libXpm (or the --disable-xpm option is given to the configure program), the bitmap pieces are compiled in as the default.  It is not possible to use xpm pieces in this case, but pixmap pieces in another format called "xim" can be used by giving the pixmapDirectory option. Or again, a different bitmap piece set can be selected with the bitmapDirectory option.

     Files in the bitmapDirectory must be named as follows: The first character of a piece bitmap name gives the piece it represents (p, n, b, r, q, or k), the next characters give the size in pixels, the following character indicates whether the piece is solid or outline (s or o), and the extension is .bm. For example, a solid 80x80 knight would be named n80s.bm. The outline bitmaps are used only in monochrome mode. If bitmap pieces are compiled in and the bitmapDirectory is missing some files, the compiled in pieces are used instead.

     If the bitmapDirectory option is given, it is also possible to replace xboard's icons and menu checkmark, by supplying files named icon_white.bm, icon_black.bm, and checkmark.bm.

     For more information about pixmap pieces and how to get additional sets, see zic2xpm below.

-whitePieceColor color
-blackPieceColor color
-lightSquareColor color
-darkSquareColor color
-highlightSquareColor color
-lowTimeWarningColor color
     Colors to use for the pieces, squares, and square highlights. Defaults:

          -whitePieceColor       #FFFFCC
          -blackPieceColor       #202020
          -lightSquareColor      #C8C365
          -darkSquareColor       #77A26D
          -highlightSquareColor  #FFFF00
          -premoveHighlightColor #FF0000
          -lowTimeWarningColor   #FF0000

     On a grayscale monitor you might prefer:

          -whitePieceColor       gray100
          -blackPieceColor       gray0
          -lightSquareColor      gray80
          -darkSquareColor       gray60
          -highlightSquareColor  gray100
          -premoveHighlightColor gray70
          -lowTimeWarningColor   gray70

-drag/-xdrag or -animateDragging true/false
     Sets the Animate Dragging menu option. See Options Menu.  Default: true.

-animate/-xanimate or -animateMoving true/false
     Sets the Animate Moving menu option. See Options Menu.  Default: true.

-animateSpeed n
     Number of milliseconds delay between each animation frame when Animate Moves is on.

Adjudication Options
====================

-adjudicateLossThreshold n
     If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a loss if both engines agree for a duration of 6 consecutive ply that the score is below the given score threshold for that engine. Make sure the score is interpreted properly by XBoard, using -firstScoreAbs and -secondScoreAbs if needed. Default: 0 (no adjudication)

-adjudicateDrawMoves n
     If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a draw if after the given number of moves it was not yet decided. Default: 0 (no adjudication)

-checkMates true/false
     If this option is set, XBoard detects all checkmates and stalemates, and ends the game as soon as they occur. Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true

-testClaims true/false
     If this option is set, XBoard verifies all result claims made by engines, and those who send false claims will forfeit the game because of it. Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true

-materialDraws true/false
     If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws when there is no sufficient material left to inflict a checkmate. This applies to KBKB with like bishops (any number, actually), and to KBK, KNK and KK. Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true

-trivialDraws true/false
     If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws that cannot be usually won without opponent cooperation. This applies to KBKB with unlike bishops, and to KBKN, KNKN, KNNK, KRKR and KQKQ. The draw is called after 6 ply into these end-games, to allow quick mates that can occur in some exceptional positions to be found by the engines. KQKQ does not really belong in this category, and might be taken out in the future. (When bitbase-based adjudications are implemented.) Legality-testing must be on for this option to work. Default: false

-ruleMoves n
     If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a draw after the given number of consecutive reversible moves. Engine draw claims are always accepted after 50 moves, irrespective of the given value of n.

-repeatsToDraw n
     If the given value is non-zero, xboard adjudicates the game as a draw if a position is repeated the given number of times. Engines draw claims are always accepted after 3 repeats, (on the 3rd occurrence, actually), irrespective of the value of n. Beware that positions that have different castling or en-passant rights do not count as repeats, XBoard is fully e.p. and castling aware!

Other options
=============

-ncp/-xncp or -noChessProgram true/false
     If this option is true, XBoard acts as a passive chessboard; it does not start a chess engine at all. Turning on this option also turns off clockMode. Default: false.

-mode or -initialMode modename
     If this option is given, XBoard selects the given modename from the Mode menu after starting and (if applicable) processing the loadGameFile or loadPositionFile option. Default: "" (no selection). Other supported values are MachineWhite, MachineBlack, TwoMachines, Analysis, AnalyzeFile, EditGame, EditPosition, and Training.

-variant varname
     Activates preliminary, partial support for playing chess variants against a local engine or editing variant games.  This flag is not needed in ICS mode.  Recognized variant names are:

          normal        Normal chess
          wildcastle    Shuffle chess, king can castle from d file
          nocastle      Shuffle chess, no castling allowed
          fischerandom  Fischer Random shuffle chess
          bughouse      Bughouse, ICC/FICS rules
          crazyhouse    Crazyhouse, ICC/FICS rules
          losers        Lose all pieces or get mated (ICC wild 17)
          suicide       Lose all pieces including king (FICS)
          giveaway      Try to have no legal moves (ICC wild 26)
          twokings      Weird ICC wild 9
          kriegspiel    Opponent's pieces are invisible
          atomic        Capturing piece explodes (ICC wild 27)
          3check        Win by giving check 3 times (ICC wild 25)
          shatranj      An ancient precursor of chess (ICC wild 28)
          xiangqi       Chinese Chess (on a 9x10 board)
          shogi         Japanese Chess (on a 9x9 board & piece drops)
          capablanca    Capablanca Chess (10x8 board, with Archbishop
                        and Chancellor pieces)
          gothic        similar, with a better initial position
          caparandom    An FRC-like version of Capablanca Chess (10x8)
          janus         A game with two Archbishops (10x8 board)
          courier       Medieval intermediate between shatranj and
                        modern Chess (on 12x8 board)
          falcon        Patented 10x8 variant with two Falcon pieces
          berolina      Pawns capture straight ahead, and move diagonal
          cylinder      Pieces wrap around the board edge
          knightmate    King moves as Knight, and vice versa
          super         Superchess (shuffle variant with 4 exo-pieces)
          fairy         A catchall variant in which all piece types
                        known to XBoard can participate (8x8)
          unknown       Catchall for other unknown variants

     NOT ALL BOARDSIZES PROVIDE A COMPLETE SET OF BUILT-IN BITMAPS FOR ALL UN-ORTHODOX PIECES, though. Only in boardSize middling and bulky all 22 piece types are provided, while -boardSize petite has most of them. Archbishop, Chancellor and Amazon are supported in every size from petite to bulky. Kings or Amazons are substituted for missing bitmaps. You can still play variants needing un-orthodox pieces in other board sizes providing your own bitmaps through the bitmapDirectory or pixmapDirectory options.

     In the shuffle variants, XBoard now does shuffle the pieces, although you can still do it by hand using Edit Position.  Some variants are supported only in ICS mode, including bughouse, and kriegspiel.  The winning/drawing conditions in crazyhouse (off-board interposition on mate) are not fully understood, but losers, suicide, giveaway, atomic, and 3check should be OK. Berolina and cylinder chess can only be played with legality testing off. In crazyhouse, XBoard now does keep track of off-board pieces.  In shatranj it does implement the baring rule when mate detection is switched on.

-boardHeight N
     Allows you to set a non-standard number of board ranks in any variant. If the height is given as -1, the default height for the variant is used. Default: -1

-boardWidth N
     Allows you to set a non-standard number of board files in any variant. If the width is given as -1, the default width for the variant is used. With a non-standard width, the initial position will always be an empty board, as the usual opening array will not fit. Default: -1

-holdingsSize N
     Allows you to set a non-standard size for the holdings in any variant. If the size is given as -1, the default holdings size for the variant is used. The first N piece types will go into the holdings on capture, and you will be able to drop them on the board in stead of making a normal move. If size equals 0, there will be no holdings. Default: -1

-defaultFrcPosition N
     Specifies the number of the opening position in shuffle games like Chess960. A value of -1 means the position is randomly generated by XBoard at the beginning of every game. Default: -1

-pieceToSquareTable string
     The characters that are used to represent the piece types XBoard knows in FEN diagrams and SAN moves. The string argument has to have an even length (or it will be ignored), as white and black pieces have to be given separately (in that order). The last letter for each color will be the King. The letters before that will be PNBRQ and then a whole host of fairy pieces in an order that has not fully crystallized yet (currently FEACWMOHIJGDVSLU, F=Ferz, Elephant, A=Archbishop, C=Chancellor, W=Wazir, M=Commoner, O=Cannon, H=Nightrider). You should list at least all pieces that occur in the variant you are playing. If you have less than 44 characters in the string, the pieces not mentioned will get assigned a period, and you will not be able to distinguish them in FENs. You can also explicitly assign pieces a period, in which case they will not be counted in deciding which captured pieces can go into the holdings. A tilde '~' as a piece name does mean this piece is used to represent a promoted Pawn in crazyhouse-like games, i.e. on capture it turns back onto a Pawn. A '+' similarly indicates the piece is a shogi-style promoted piece, that should revert to its non-promoted version on capture (rather than to a Pawn). Note that promoted pieces are represented by pieces 11 further in the list. You should not have to use this option often: each variant has its own default setting for the piece representation in FEN, which should be sufficient in normal use. Default: ""

-debug/-xdebug or -debugMode true/false
     Turns on debugging printout.

-debugFile filename or -nameOfDebugFile filename
     Sets the name of the file to which WinBoard saves debug information (including all communication to and from the engines).

-engineDebugOutput number
     Specifies how WinBoard should handle unsolicited output from the engine, with respect to saving it in the debug file. The output is further (hopefully) ignored. If number=0, WinBoard refrains from writing such spurious output to the debug file. If number=1, all engine output is written faithfully to the debug file. If number=2, any protocol-violating line is prefixed with a '#' character, as the engine itself should have done if it wanted to submit info for inclusion in the debug file. This option is provided for the benefit of applications that use the debug file as a source of information, such as the broadcaster of live games TLCV / TLCS. Such applications can be protected from spurious engine output that might otherwise confuse them.

-rsh or -remoteShell shell-name
     Name of the command used to run programs remotely. The default is rsh or remsh, determined when XBoard is configured and compiled.

-ruser or -remoteUser user-name
     User name on the remote system when running programs with the remoteShell. The default is your local user name.

-userName username
     Name under which the Human player will be listed in the PGN file. Default is the login name on your local computer.

-delayBeforeQuit number
-delayAfterQuit number
     These options specify how long WinBoard has to wait before sending a termination signal to rogue engine processes, that do not want to react to the 'quit' command. The second one determines the pause after killing the engine, to make sure it dies.

Chess Servers
*************

An Internet Chess Server, or ICS, is a place on the Internet where people can get together to play chess, watch other people's games, or just chat.  You can use either telnet or a client program like XBoard to connect to the server.  There are thousands of registered users on the different ICS hosts, and it is not unusual to meet 200 on both chessclub.com and freechess.org.

Most people can just type xboard -ics to start XBoard as an ICS client.  Invoking XBoard in this way connects you to the Internet Chess Club (ICC), a commercial ICS.  You can log in there as a guest even if you do not have a paid account.  To connect to the largest Free ICS (FICS), use the command xboard -ics -icshost freechess.org instead, or substitute a different host name to connect to your favorite ICS. For a full description of command-line options that control the connection to ICS and change the default values of ICS options, see ICS options.

While you are running XBoard as an ICS client, you use the terminal window that you started XBoard from as a place to type in commands and read information that is not available on the chessboard.

The first time you need to use the terminal is to enter your login name and password, if you are a registered player. (You don't need to do this manually; the icsLogon option can do it for you. see ICS options.)  If you are not registered, enter g as your name, and the server will pick a unique guest name for you.

Some useful ICS commands include

help <topic>
     to get help on the given <topic>. To get a list of possible topics type help without topic.  Try the help command before you ask other people on the server for help.

     For example help register tells you how to become a registered ICS player.

who <flags>
     to see a list of people who are logged on.  Administrators (people you should talk to if you have a problem) are marked with the character *, an asterisk. The <flags> allow you to display only selected players: For example, who of shows a list of players who are interested in playing but do not have an opponent.

games
     to see what games are being played

match <player> [<mins>] [<inc>]
     to challenge another player to a game. Both opponents get <mins> minutes for the game, and <inc> seconds will be added after each move. If another player challenges you, the server asks if you want to accept the challenge; use the accept or decline commands to answer.

accept
decline
     to accept or decline another player's offer. The offer may be to start a new game, or to agree to a draw, adjourn or abort the current game. See Action Menu.

     If you have more than one pending offer (for example, if more than one player is challenging you, or if your opponent offers both a draw and to adjourn the game), you have to supply additional information, by typing something like accept <player>, accept draw, or draw.

draw
adjourn
abort
     asks your opponent to terminate a game by mutual agreement. Adjourned games can be continued later. Your opponent can either decline your offer or accept it (by typing the same command or typing accept).  In some cases these commands work immediately, without asking your opponent to agree.  For example, you can abort the game unilaterally if your opponent is out of time, and you can claim a draw by repetition or the 50-move rule if available simply by typing draw.

finger <player>
     to get information about the given <player>. (Default: yourself.)

vars
     to get a list of personal settings

set <var> <value>
     to modify these settings

observe <player>
     to observe an ongoing game of the given <player>.

examine
oldmoves
     to review a recently completed game

Some special XBoard features are activated when you are in examine mode on ICS.  See the descriptions of the menu commands Forward, Backward, Pause, ICS Client, and Stop Examining on the Step Menu, Mode Menu, and Options Menu.

Firewalls
*********

By default, XBoard communicates with an Internet Chess Server by opening a TCP socket directly from the machine it is running on to the ICS. If there is a firewall between your machine and the ICS, this won't work. Here are some recipes for getting around common kinds of firewalls using special options to XBoard. Important: See the paragraph in the below about extra echoes, in Limitations.

Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can telnet to a firewall host, log in, and then telnet from there to ICS. Let's say the firewall is called firewall.example.com. Set command-line options as follows:

     xboard -ics -icshost firewall.example.com -icsport 23

Or in your .Xresources file:

     XBoard*internetChessServerHost: firewall.example.com
     XBoard*internetChessServerPort: 23

Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, you will be prompted to log in to the firewall host. This works because port 23 is the standard telnet login service. Do so, then telnet to ICS, using a command like telnet chessclub.com 5000, or whatever command the firewall provides for telnetting to port 5000.

If your firewall lets you telnet (or rlogin) to remote hosts but doesn't let you telnet to port 5000, you may be able to connect to the chess server on port 23 instead, which is the port the telnet program uses by default.  Some chess servers support this (including chessclub.com and freechess.org), while some do not.

If your chess server does not allow connections on port 23 and your firewall does not allow you to connect to other ports, you may be able to connect by hopping through another host outside the firewall that you have an account on.  For instance, suppose you have a shell account at foo.edu. Follow the recipe above, but instead of typing telnet chessclub.com 5000 to the firewall, type telnet foo.edu (or rlogin foo.edu), log in there, and then type telnet chessclub.com 5000.

Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can use rsh to run programs on a firewall host, and that host can telnet to ICS. Let's say the firewall is called rsh.example.com. Set command-line options as follows:

     xboard -ics -gateway rsh.example.com -icshost chessclub.com

Or in your .Xresources file:

     XBoard*gateway: rsh.example.com
     XBoard*internetChessServerHost: chessclub.com

Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will connect to the ICS by using rsh to run the command telnet chessclub.com 5000 on host rsh.example.com.

Suppose that you can telnet anywhere you want, but you have to run a special program called ptelnet to do so.

First, we'll consider the easy case, in which ptelnet chessclub.com 5000 gets you to the chess server. In this case set command line options as follows:

     xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet

Or in your .Xresources file:

     XBoard*useTelnet: true
     XBoard*telnetProgram: ptelnet

Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the command ptelnet chessclub.com 5000 to connect to the ICS.

Next, suppose that ptelnet chessclub.com 5000 doesn't work; that is, your ptelnet program doesn't let you connect to alternative ports. As noted above, your chess server may allow you to connect on port 23 instead.  In that case, just add the option -icsport "" to the above command, or add XBoard*internetChessServerPort: to your .Xresources file. But if your chess server doesn't let you connect on port 23, you will have to find some other host outside the firewall and hop through it. For instance, suppose you have a shell account at foo.edu. Set command line options as follows:

     xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet -icshost foo.edu -icsport ""

Or in your .Xresources file:

     XBoard*useTelnet: true
     XBoard*telnetProgram: ptelnet
     XBoard*internetChessServerHost: foo.edu
     XBoard*internetChessServerPort:

Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the command ptelnet foo.edu to connect to your account at foo.edu. Log in there, then type telnet chessclub.com 5000.

ICC timestamp and FICS timeseal do not work through some firewalls.  You can use them only if your firewall gives a clean TCP connection with a full 8-bit wide path.  If your firewall allows you to get out only by running a special telnet program, you can't use timestamp or timeseal across it.  But if you have access to a computer just outside your firewall, and you have much lower netlag when talking to that computer than to the ICS, it might be worthwhile running timestamp there.  Follow the instructions above for hopping through a host outside the firewall (foo.edu in the example), but run timestamp or timeseal on that host instead of telnet.

Suppose that you have a SOCKS firewall that will give you a clean 8-bit wide TCP connection to the chess server, but only after you authenticate yourself via the SOCKS protocol.  In that case, you could make a socksified version of XBoard and run that.  If you are using timestamp or timeseal, you will to socksify it, not XBoard; this may be difficult seeing that ICC and FICS do not provide source code for these programs.  Socksification is beyond the scope of this document, but see the SOCKS Web site at http://www.socks.permeo.com/. If you are missing SOCKS, try http://www.funbureau.com/.

Environment variables
*********************

Game and position files are found in a directory named by the CHESSDIR environment variable. If this variable is not set, the current working directory is used. If CHESSDIR is set, XBoard actually changes its working directory to $CHESSDIR, so any files written by the chess engine will be placed there too.

Limitations and known bugs
**************************

There is no way for two people running copies of XBoard to play each other without going through an Internet Chess Server.

Under some circumstances, your ICS password may be echoed when you log on.

If you are connecting to the ICS by running telnet on an Internet provider or firewall host, you may find that each line you type is echoed back an extra time after you hit Enter. If your Internet provider is a Unix system, you can probably turn its echo off by typing stty -echo after you log in, and/or typing ^EEnter (Ctrl+E followed by the Enter key) to the telnet program after you have logged into ICS.  It is a good idea to do this if you can, because the extra echo can occasionally confuse XBoard's parsing routines.

The game parser recognizes only algebraic notation.

Many of the following points used to be limitations in XBoard 4.2.7 and earlier, but are now fixed: The internal move legality tester in XBoard 4.3.xx does look at the game history, and is fully aware of castling or en-passant-capture rights. It permits castling with the king on the d file because this is possible in some "wild 1" games on ICS. The piece-drop menu does not check piece drops in bughouse to see if you actually hold the piece you are trying to drop. But this way of dropping pieces should be considered an obsolete feature, now that pieces can be dropped by dragging them from the holdings to the board. Anyway, if you would attempt an illegal move when using a chess engine or the ICS, WinBoard will accept the error message that comes back, undo the move, and let you try another. FEN positions saved by XBoard do include correct information about whether castling or en passant are legal, and also handle the 50-move counter. The mate detector does not understand that non-contact mate is not really mate in bughouse. The only problem this causes while playing is minor: a "#" (mate indicator) character will show up after a non-contact mating move in the move list. XBoard will not assume the game is over at that point, not even when the option Detect Mates is on. Edit Game mode always uses the rules of the selected variant, which can be a variant that uses piece drops. You can load and edit games that contain piece drops. The (obsolete) piece menus are not active, but you can perform piece drops by dragging pieces from the holdings. Edit Position mode does not allow you to edit the crazyhouse holdings properly. You cannot drag pieces to the holding, and using the popup menu to put pieces there does not adapt the holding counts and leads to an inconsistent state. Set up crazyhouse positions by loading / pasting a bFEN, from there you can set the holdings. Fischer Random castling is fully understood. You can enter castlings by dragging the King on top of your Rook. You can probably also play Fischer Random successfully on ICS by typing castling moves into the ICS Interaction window.

The menus may not work if your keyboard is in Caps Lock or Num Lock mode. This seems to be a problem with the Athena menu widget, not an XBoard bug.

Also see the ToDo file included with the distribution for many other possible bugs, limitations, and ideas for improvement that have been suggested.

Reporting problems
******************

Report bugs and problems with XBoard to <bug-xboard@gnu.org>.

Please use the script program to start a typescript, run XBoard with the -debug option, and include the typescript output in your message. Also tell us what kind of machine and what operating system version you are using.  The command uname -a will often tell you this. Here is a sample of approximately what you should type:

     script
     uname -a
     ./configure
     make
     ./xboard -debug
     exit
     mail bug-xboard@gnu.org
     Subject: Your short description of the problem
     Your detailed description of the problem
     ~r typescript
     .

The WinBoard / XBoard 4.3 line is being developed by H.G. Muller independently of the GNU Savannah xboard project. Bug reports on this version, and suggestions for improvements and additions, are best posted in the WinBoard forum, WinBoard-development section (http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum).

If you improve XBoard, please send a message about your changes, and we will get in touch with you about merging them in to the main line of development. Also see our Web site at http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/.

Authors and contributors
************************

Tim Mann has been responsible for XBoard versions 1.3 and beyond, and for WinBoard, a port of XBoard to Microsoft Win32 (Windows NT and Windows 95). H.G.Muller is responsible for version 4.3.

Mark Williams contributed the initial (WinBoard-only) implementation of many new features added to both XBoard and WinBoard in version 4.1.0, including copy/paste, premove, icsAlarm, autoFlipView, training mode, auto raise, and blindfold.  Ben Nye contributed X copy/paste code for XBoard.

Hugh Fisher added animated piece movement to XBoard, and Henrik Gram (henrikg@funcom.com) added it to WinBoard.  Frank McIngvale added click/click moving, the Analysis modes, piece flashing, ZIICS import, and ICS text colorization to XBoard.  Jochen Wiedmann ported XBoard to the Amiga, creating AmyBoard, and converted the documentation to texinfo.  Elmar Bartel contributed the new piece bitmaps introduced in version 3.2.  John Chanak contributed the initial implementation of ICS mode.  The color scheme and the old 80x80 piece bitmaps were taken from Wayne Christopher's XChess program.

Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original XBoard.  They were responsible for versions 1.0 through 1.2.

Evan Welsh wrote CMail.  Patrick Surry helped in designing, testing, and documenting CMail.

Alessandro Scotti added many elements to the user interface of WinBoard, including the board textures and font-based rendering, the evaluation-graph, move-history and engine-output window. He was also responsible for adding the UCI support.

H.G. Muller made WinBoard castling- and e.p.-aware, added variant support with adjustable board sizes, the crazyhouse holdings, and the fairy pieces. In addition he added most of the adjudication options, made WinBoard more robust in dealing with buggy and crashing engines, and extended time control with a time-odds and node-count-based modes. Most of the options that initially were WinBoard only have now been back-ported to XBoard.

Michel van den Bergh provided the code for reading Polyglot opening books.

Arun Persaud worked with H.G. Muller to combine all the features of the never-released WinBoard 4.2.8 of the Savannah project (mainly by Daniel Mehrmann), and the never-released 4.3.16 into a unified WinBoard 4.4, which is now available both from the Savannah web site and the WinBoard forum.

CMail
*****

The cmail program can help you play chess by email with opponents of your choice using XBoard as an interface.

You will usually run cmail without giving any options.

CMail options
=============

-h
     Displays cmail usage information.

-c
     Shows the conditions of the GNU General Public License. See Copying.

-w
     Shows the warranty notice of the GNU General Public License. See Copying.

-v
-xv
     Provides or inhibits verbose output from cmail and XBoard, useful for debugging. The -xv form also inhibits the cmail introduction message.

-mail
-xmail
     Invokes or inhibits the sending of a mail message containing the move.

-xboard
-xxboard
     Invokes or inhibits the running of XBoard on the game file.

-reuse
-xreuse
     Invokes or inhibits the reuse of an existing XBoard to display the current game.

-remail
     Resends the last mail message for that game. This inhibits running XBoard.

-game <name>
     The name of the game to be processed.

-wgames <number>
-bgames <number>
-games <number>
     Number of games to start as White, as Black or in total. Default is 1 as white and none as black. If only one color is specified then none of the other color is assumed. If no color is specified then equal numbers of White and Black games are started, with the extra game being as White if an odd number of total games is specified.

-me <short name>
-opp <short name>
     A one-word alias for yourself or your opponent.

-wname <full name>
-bname <full name>
-name <full name>
-oppname <full name>
     The full name of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.

-wna <net address>
-bna <net address>
-na <net address>
-oppna <net address>
     The email address of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.

-dir <directory>
     The directory in which cmail keeps its files. This defaults to the environment variable $CMAIL_DIR or failing that, $CHESSDIR, $HOME/Chess or ~/Chess. It will be created if it does not exist.

-arcdir <directory>
     The directory in which cmail archives completed games. Defaults to the environment variable $CMAIL_ARCDIR or, in its absence, the same directory as cmail keeps its working files (above).

-mailprog <mail program>
     The program used by cmail to send email messages. This defaults to the environment variable $CMAIL_MAILPROG or failing that /usr/ucb/Mail, /usr/ucb/mail or Mail. You will need to set this variable if none of the above paths fit your system.

-logFile <file>
     A file in which to dump verbose debugging messages that are invoked with the -v option.

-event <event>
     The PGN Event tag (default Email correspondence game).

-site <site>
     The PGN Site tag (default NET).

-round <round>
     The PGN Round tag (default -, not applicable).

-mode <mode>
     The PGN Mode tag (default EM, Electronic Mail).

Other options
     Any option flags not listed above are passed through to XBoard. Invoking XBoard through CMail changes the default values of two XBoard options: The default value for -noChessProgram is changed to true; that is, by default no chess engine is started.  The default value for -timeDelay is changed to 0; that is, by default XBoard immediately goes to the end of the game as played so far, rather than stepping through the moves one by one.  You can still set these options to whatever values you prefer by supplying them on CMail's command line.  See Options.

Starting a CMail Game
=====================

Type cmail from a shell to start a game as white. After an opening message, you will be prompted for a game name, which is optional---if you simply press Enter, the game name will take the form you-VS-opponent. You will next be prompted for the short name of your opponent. If you haven't played this person before, you will also be prompted for his/her email address. cmail will then invoke XBoard in the background. Make your first move and select Mail Move from the File menu. See File Menu. If all is well, cmail will mail a copy of the move to your opponent. If you select Exit without having selected Mail Move then no move will be made.

Answering a Move
================

When you receive a message from an opponent containing a move in one of your games, simply pipe the message through cmail. In some mailers this is as simple as typing | cmail when viewing the message, while in others you may have to save the message to a file and do cmail < file at the command line. In either case cmail will display the game using XBoard. If you didn't exit XBoard when you made your first move then cmail will do its best to use the existing XBoard instead of starting a new one. As before, simply make a move and select Mail Move from the File menu. See File Menu. cmail will try to use the XBoard that was most recently used to display the current game. This means that many games can be in progress simultaneously, each with its own active XBoard.

If you want to look at the history or explore a variation, go ahead, but you must return to the current position before XBoard will allow you to mail a move. If you edit the game's history you must select Reload Same Game from the File menu to get back to the original position, then make the move you want and select Mail Move. As before, if you decide you aren't ready to make a move just yet you can either select Exit without sending a move or just leave XBoard running until you are ready.

Multi-Game Messages
===================

It is possible to have a cmail message carry more than one game. This feature was implemented to handle IECG (International Email Chess Group) matches, where a match consists of one game as white and one as black, with moves transmitted simultaneously. In case there are more general uses, cmail itself places no limit on the number of black/white games contained in a message; however, XBoard does.

Completing a Game
=================

Because XBoard can detect checkmate and stalemate, cmail handles game termination sensibly. As well as resignation, the Action menu allows draws to be offered and accepted for cmail games.

For multi-game messages, only unfinished and just-finished games will be included in email messages. When all the games are finished, they are archived in the user's archive directory, and similarly in the opponent's when he or she pipes the final message through cmail. The archive file name includes the date the game was started.

Known CMail Problems
====================

It's possible that a strange conjunction of conditions may occasionally mean that cmail has trouble reactivating an existing XBoard. If this should happen, simply trying it again should work. If not, remove the file that stores the XBoard's PID (game.pid) or use the -xreuse option to force cmail to start a new XBoard.

Versions of cmail after 2.16 no longer understand the old file format that XBoard used to use and so cannot be used to correspond with anyone using an older version.

Versions of cmail older than 2.11 do not handle multi-game messages, so multi-game correspondence is not possible with opponents using an older version.

Other programs you can use with XBoard
**************************************

Here are some other programs you can use with XBoard

GNU Chess
=========

The GNU Chess engine is available from:

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuchess/

You can use XBoard to play a game against GNU Chess, or to interface GNU Chess to an ICS.

Fairy-Max
=========

Fairy-Max is a derivative from the once World's smallest Chess program micro-Max, which measures only about 100 lines of source code. The main difference with micro-Max is that Fairy-Max loads its move-generator tables from a file, so that the rules for piece movement can be easily configured to implement unorthodox pieces. Fairy-Max can therefore play a large number of variants, normal Chess being one of those. In addition it plays Knightmate, Capablanca and Gothic Chess, Shatranj, Courier Chess, Cylinder chess, Berolina Chess, while the user can easily define new variants. It can be obtained from:

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.g.muller/dwnldpage.html

HoiChess
========

HoiChess is a not-so-very-strong Chess engine, which comes with a derivative HoiXiangqi, able to play Chinese Chess. It can be obtained from the standard Linux repositories through:

sudo apt-get install hoichess

Crafty
======

Crafty is a chess engine written by Bob Hyatt. You can use XBoard to play a game against Crafty, hook Crafty up to an ICS, or use Crafty to interactively analyze games and positions for you.

Crafty is a strong, rapidly evolving chess program. This rapid pace of development is good, because it means Crafty is always getting better.  This can sometimes cause problems with backwards compatibility, but usually the latest version of Crafty will work well with the latest version of XBoard. Crafty can be obtained from its author's FTP site: ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu/hyatt/.

To use Crafty with XBoard, give the -fcp and -fd options as follows, where <crafty's directory> is the directory in which you installed Crafty and placed its book and other support files.

zic2xpm
=======

The ``zic2xpm'' program is used to import chess sets from the ZIICS(*) program into XBoard. ``zic2xpm'' is part of the XBoard distribution. ZIICS is available from:

ftp://ftp.freechess.org/pub/chess/DOS/ziics131.exe

To import ZIICS pieces, do this:

1. Unzip ziics131.exe into a directory:

          unzip -L ziics131.exe -d ~/ziics

2. Use zic2xpm to convert a set of pieces to XBoard format.

     For example, let's say you want to use the FRITZ4 set. These files are named ``fritz4.*'' in the ZIICS distribution.

          mkdir ~/fritz4
          cd ~/fritz4
          zic2xpm ~/ziics/fritz4.*

3. Give XBoard the ``-pixmap'' option when starting up, e.g.:

          xboard -pixmap ~/fritz4

     Alternatively, you can add this line to your .Xresources file:

          xboard*pixmapDirectory: ~/fritz4

(*) ZIICS is a separate copyrighted work of Andy McFarland. The ``ZIICS pieces'' are copyrighted works of their respective creators. Files produced by ``zic2xpm'' are for PERSONAL USE ONLY and may NOT be redistributed without explicit permission from the original creator(s) of the pieces.

Copyright
*********

     [file copyright.texi not included]

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
**************************

     [file gpl.texinfo not included]