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-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 drag and drop pieces -to the board from the holdings squares displayed next to the board. -This latter method for dropping pieces during a game is preferred, -and the piece-drop menu is now deprecated (except for editing a position). -Although the old behavior can still be selected through a command-line -option, the default function of the right mouse button is to display -the position the chess program thinks it will end up in, -while moving the mouse vertically with this button pressed will step -through the principal variation to show how this position will be -reached. -Lines of play displayed in the engine-output window an similarly -be played out on the board, by right-clicking on them. - -
When connected to an ICS, it is possible to call up a graphical -representation of players seeking a game in stead of the chess board, -when the latter is not in use -(i.e. when you are not playing or observing). -Left-clicking the display area will switch between this 'seek graph' -and the chess board. -Hovering the mouse pointer over a dot will show the details of the -seek ad in the message field above the board. -Left-clicking the dot will challenge that player. -Right-clicking a dot will 'push it to the back', -to reveal any dots that were hidden behind it. -Right-clicking off dots will refresh the graph. - -
Most other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most -frequently used commands also have shortcut keys or on-screen buttons. -Some rarely used parameters can only be set through options on the -command line used to invoke XBoard. - -
XBoard uses a settings file, in which it can remember any changes to -the settings that are made through menus or command-line options, -so they will still apply when you restart XBoard for another session. -The settings can be saved into this file automatically when XBoard exits, -or on explicit request of the user. -The default name for the settings file is /etc/xboard/xboard.conf, -but in a standard install this file is only used as a master settings -file that determines the system-wide default settings, -and defers reading and writing of user settings to a user-specific -file like ~/.xboardrc in the user's home directory. - -
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. +