This manual documents version 4.5.2 of XBoard. +
This manual documents version 4.6.0 of XBoard.
Old behavior, where right-clicking a square brings up a menu where you can select what piece to drop on it can still be -selected through a command-line option. -But only in Edit Position mode right clicking a square is still used to -pop up a menu, where you can select which piece to drop. +selected through the ‘Drop Menu’ option. +Only in Edit Position mode right and middle clicking a square is still used to +put a piece on it, and the piece to drop is selected by sweeping +the mouse vertically with the button held down.
The default function of the right mouse button in other modes is to display the position the chess program thinks it will end up in. @@ -130,7 +132,12 @@ XBoard will step through the principal variation to show how this position will be reached. Lines of play displayed in the engine-output window, or PGN variations in the comment window can similarly -be played out on the board, by right-clicking on them. +be played out on the board, by right-clicking on them. +Only in Analysis mode, when you walk along a PV, +releasing the mouse button will forward the game upto that point, +like you entered all previous PV moves. +As the display of the PV in that case starts after the first move +a simple right-click will play the move the engine indicates.
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, @@ -147,6 +154,14 @@ 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. +These shortcut keystrokes are mostly non-printable characters. +Typing a letter or digit while the board window has focus +will bring up a type-in box with the typed letter already in it. +You can use that to type a move in siuations where it is your +turn to enter a move, +type a move number to call up the position after that move +in the display, +or, in Edit Position mode, type a FEN. Some rarely used parameters can only be set through options on the command line used to invoke XBoard. @@ -162,9 +177,7 @@ 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. +it is White's turn to move, a black knight if it is Black's turn.
pieceMenu option.
Selecting ‘Edit Position’ causes XBoard to discard
all remembered moves in the current game.
@@ -370,7 +402,7 @@ not sent to the ICS: ‘Edit Position
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.)
--variations command-line option is switched on,
@@ -417,11 +457,11 @@ the variation you are now abandoning will be added as a comment
(in PGN variation syntax, i.e. between parentheses)
to the original move where you deviated, for later recalling.
The Home key is a keyboard equivalent to ‘Revert’.
-In most modes, Back to Start only lets you look back at old
@@ -469,7 +509,7 @@ is off, ‘Back to Start’ issue
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.
-
If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of ‘Forward to
@@ -492,12 +532,12 @@ Up: Menus
4. Select Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu to start the analysis.
+ You can now play legal moves to create follow-up positions for the
+engine to analyze, while the moves will be remembered as a stored game,
+and then step backward through this game to take the moves back.
+Note that you can also click on the clocks to set the opposite
+side to move (adding a so-called ‘null move’ to the game).
+
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.
- It is also possible to specify a GUI opening book here, i.e. an opening
-book that XBoard consults for any position a playing engine gets in.
-It then forces the engine to play the book move, rather than to think up its own,
-if that position is found in the book.
-The book can switched on and off independently for either engine.
-The way book moves are chosen can be influenced through the settings of
-book depth and variety.
-After both sides have played more moves than the specified depth,
-the book will no longer be consulted.
-When the variety is set to 50, moves will be played with the probability
-specified in the book.
-When set to 0, only the move(s) with the highest probability will be played.
-When set to 100, all listed moves will be played with equal pobability.
-Other settings interpolate between that.
-The shifted Alt+U key is a keyboard equivalent.
- It is also possible to specify a GUI opening book here, i.e. an opening
+book that XBoard consults for any position a playing engine gets in.
+It then forces the engine to play the book move, rather than to think up its own,
+if that position is found in the book.
+The book can switched on and off independently for either engine.
+The way book moves are chosen can be influenced through the settings of
+book depth and variety.
+After both sides have played more moves than the specified depth,
+the book will no longer be consulted.
+When the variety is set to 50, moves will be played with the probability
+specified in the book.
+When set to 0, only the move(s) with the highest probability will be played.
+When set to 100, all listed moves will be played with equal pobability.
+Other settings interpolate between that.
+The shifted Alt+U key is a keyboard equivalent.
+ You can also enter premoves for the first white and black moves
of the game.
- You can add or remove shortcut keys using the X resources
@@ -1191,7 +1396,7 @@ are:
DebugProc, DeclineProc, DrawProc, EditCommentProc, EditGameProc,
EditPositionProc, EditTagsProc, EnterKeyProc, FlashMovesProc,
FlipViewProc, ForwardProc, GetMoveListProc, HighlightLastMoveProc,
- HintProc, Iconify, IcsAlarmProc, IcsClientProc, IcsInputBoxProc,
+ HintProc, IcsAlarmProc, IcsClientProc, IcsInputBoxProc,
InfoProc, LoadGameProc, LoadNextGameProc, LoadNextPositionProc,
LoadPositionProc, LoadPrevGameProc, LoadPrevPositionProc,
LoadSelectedProc, MachineBlackProc, MachineWhiteProc, MailMoveProc,
@@ -1216,11 +1421,12 @@ Up: Top
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
+line you use to start XBoard, or by editing the settings file
+(usually ~/.xboardrc) to alter the value of the setting that was
+saved there. Some 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.
@@ -1233,23 +1439,15 @@ turn the option off (‘-xopt’)
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’).
-
You can also try adding other commands to the initString; see the
documentation of the chess engine you are using for details.
- The value of this option is gradually built as you load new engines
+through the ‘Load Engine’ menu dialog, with ‘Add to list’ ticked.
+To change it, edit your settings file with a plain text editor.
+ 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 For more information about pixmap pieces and how to get additional
sets, see zic2xpm below.
- An Internet Chess Server, or ICS, is a place on the
+ 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 Some useful ICS commands
include
For example help register tells you how to become a registered
ICS player.
- Some special XBoard features are activated when you are
@@ -2458,7 +2867,7 @@ Up: Top
Game and position files are found in a directory named by the
+ Game and position files are found in a directory named by the
There is no way for two people running copies of XBoard to play
+ 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.
@@ -2537,7 +2946,7 @@ Up: Top
You can report bugs and problems with XBoard using
the bug tracker at
Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original XBoard. They were
responsible for versions 1.0 through 1.2. The color scheme was taken
from Wayne Christopher's The cmail program can help you play chess by email with opponents of
+ 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.
@@ -2674,7 +3083,7 @@ 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.
Here are some other programs you can use with XBoard
Enhancements copyright © 1992-2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007,
-2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3.3 View Menu
-
-
pixmapDirectory and bitmapDirectory options),
an external pixmap to be used for the board squares
(liteBackTextureFile and darkBackTextureFile options),
and square and piece colors for the built-ins.
-3.4 Mode Menu
-
-
3.5 Action Menu
-
-
3.6 Engine Menu
-
-
recentEnginescommand-line option.
3.7 Options Menu
-
-
loadGameFile and loadPositionFile options),
-and the number of the game or position to use from these files.
-Values -1 and -2 of this 'index' convey a special meaning,
-namely that XBoard should automatically step through all lines or positions
-in these files.
-With -1 such stepping is done every game; with -2 every two games,
-so that each line or position is played with both colors before stepping
-to the next one.
-You can have XBoard automatically rewind to the first line or position
-in the file after the index reaches a certain vaue,
-which you can also specify here.
-autoDisplayComment and
-autoDisplayTags options, (which control popups when viewing loaded games),
-and specify the rate at which loaded games are auto-played,
-in seconds per move (which can be a fractional number, like 1.6).
-saveGameFile option),
-or the final position of such games (the savePositionfile option).
-You can also select 'auto-save' without a file name,
-in which case XBoard will prompt the user for a file name after each game.
-You can also set the default value for the PGN Event tag that will
-be used for each new game you start.
-Various options for the format of the game can be specified as well,
-such as whether scores and depths of engine games should be saved as comments,
-and if a tag with info about the score with which the engine came out of book
-should be included.
-For Chess, always set the format to PGN, rather than "old save stye"!
-alwaysPromoteToQueen,
+which would force promotion to Queen when true.
+Otherwise XBoard would bring 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.
-The shifted Ctrl-Q key is a keyboard equivalent.
-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.
-evalZoom option,
+indicating the factor by which the score interval (-1,1) should be
+blown up on the vertical axis of the Evaluation Graph.
+gnotify
+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.
@@ -1026,24 +1069,24 @@ your ICS
variable is set to 0, or if the ICS you are using does not
properly support observing from Black's point of view,
you will see the game from White's point of view.
-saveGameFile command-line
option is set, as in that case all games are saved to the specified file.
See Load and Save options.
-defaultTourneyName option.
+pairingEngine option.
+Each Swiss round will be considered a tourney cycle in that case.
+Default:0
+defaultMatchGames option.
+-firstHasOwnBookUCI true),
+it will be made to use the GUI book.
+autoDisplayComment and
+autoDisplayTags options, (which control popups when viewing loaded games),
+and specify the rate at which loaded games are auto-played,
+in seconds per move (which can be a fractional number, like 1.6).
+You can also set search criteria for determining which games
+will be displayed in the Game List for a multi-game file,
+and thus be eligible for loading:
+saveGameFile option),
+or the final position of such games (the savePositionfile option).
+You can also select 'auto-save' without a file name,
+in which case XBoard will prompt the user for a file name after each game.
+You can also set the default value for the PGN Event tag that will
+be used for each new game you start.
+Various options for the format of the game can be specified as well,
+such as whether scores and depths of engine games should be saved as comments,
+and if a tag with info about the score with which the engine came out of book
+should be included.
+For Chess, always set the format to PGN, rather than "old save stye"!
+
+ 3.8 Help Menu
-
-
3.9 Other Shortcut Keys
-
-
4 Options
-
4.1 Chess Engine Options
-
-
timeControl period.
+timeControl period.
Default: 5 minutes.
The additional options movesPerSession and timeIncrement
are mutually exclusive.
-movesPerSession moves, a
+movesPerSession moves, a
new timeControl period is added to both clocks. Default: 40 moves.
-movesPerSession is ignored.
+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.
-searchTime
is set, the chess engine still keeps track of the clock time and uses it to
determine how fast to make its moves.
-showThinking must be on for this option to work. Default: -1 (off).
Not many engines might support this yet!
-loadGameFile or loadPositionFile option is set,
XBoard
@@ -1335,35 +1533,35 @@ 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).
-matchMode to true is equivalent to setting
+matchMode to true is equivalent to setting
matchGames to 1.
-remoteShell
option described below.)
- new
@@ -1390,11 +1588,11 @@ and always (or never) randomize.
-Next: ICS options,
+Next: Tournament options,
Previous: Chess engine options,
Up: Options
@@ -1449,33 +1647,65 @@ Up: Options
4.2 UCI + WB Engine Settings
-
-
+
+
+
+adapterCommand.
+fUCI and sUCI, except that they
+use the indicated engine with the protocol adapter specified in
+the ‘uxiAdapter’ option.
+This can then be configured for running an UCCI or USI adapter,
+as the need arises.
+fUCI option.
+Any identifier following a percent sign in the command (e.g. %fcp)
+will be considered the name of an XBoard option, and be replaced
+by the value of that option at the time the engine is started.
+For starting the second engine, any leading "f" or "first" in
+the option name will first be replaced by "s" or "second",
+before finding its value.
+Default: 'polyglot -noini -ec "%fcp" -ed "%fd"'
+adapterCommand, but used for engines accompanied
+by the fUCCI or fUSI option, so you can configure
+XBoard to be ready to handle more than one flavor of non-native protocols.
+Default: ""
+usePolyglotBook option is set to true,
-and the option firstHasOwnBookUCI or secondHasOwnBookUCI applying to the engine
-is set to false.
+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: "".
-discourageOwnBooks.
+firstXBook).
+Default: false.
+4.3 Tournament options
+
+
+
firstChesProgramNames list
+in the settings file by their (implied or explicitly given) nicknames,
+one engine per line.
+The mentioned engines will play in the tourney.
+Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
+
Next: Load and Save options,
-Previous: UCI + WB Engine Settings,
+Previous: Tournament options,
Up: Options
4.3 ICS options
+4.4 ICS options
-
-
+ chessclub.com.
Another popular chess server to try is freechess.org.
If your site doesn't have a working Internet name server, try
@@ -1510,15 +1825,15 @@ 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).
--useTelnet -telnetProgram program.
-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.
-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.
--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.
-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.
--colorize on without specifying your own colors.
+them if you turn -colorize on without specifying your own colors.
+CShout is synonymous with SShout.
xboard*colorizeMessages: true
xboard*colorShout: green
@@ -1687,24 +2003,25 @@ them if you turn
- -colorize on without specifying your own colors.
xboard*colorSeek: blue
xboard*colorNormal: default
4.4 Load and Save options
+4.5 Load and Save options
-
-
loadGameFile option is set, XBoard loads the specified
+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
@@ -1772,16 +2081,16 @@ first game of the file when it has reached a specified value.
positions or games in auto-increment matchMode.
See loadPositionIndex and loadGameIndex.
default: 0 (no rewind).
-saveGameFile is set.
-loadPositionFile option is set, XBoard loads 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
@@ -1794,23 +2103,27 @@ 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.
-4.5 User interface options
+4.6 User interface options
-
-
recentEngineList, by their nicknames,
+and the most recently used one will always be sorted to the top.
+If the list after that is longer than the specified number,
+the last one is discarded.
+Changes in the list will only become visible the next session,
+provided you saved the settings.
+Default: 6.
+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,
+n5 the desired size for the messageFont,
n6 the smallLayout flag (0 or 1),
and n7 the tinyLayout flag (0 or 1).
All dimensions are in pixels.
@@ -1893,11 +2226,16 @@ 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.
-coordFont option specifies what font to use.
-monoMode; XBoard will determine if it is necessary.
-flashCount
tells XBoard how many times to flash a piece after it
@@ -1935,24 +2277,33 @@ sets flashCount to 3.
xflash
sets flashCount to 0.
Defaults: flashCount=0 (no flashing), flashRate=5.
-showCoords
+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–*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
-tol pixels
or less from the desired size. A value of -1 will force
@@ -1960,7 +2311,7 @@ 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.
- -whitePieceColor #FFFFCC
@@ -2024,17 +2375,52 @@ Defaults:
-premoveHighlightColor gray70
-lowTimeWarningColor gray70
- 4.6 Adjudication Options
+4.7 Adjudication Options
-
-
-firstScoreAbs and -secondScoreAbs if needed.
Default: 0 (no adjudication)
-4.7 Other options
+4.8 Other options
-
-
@@ -2237,7 +2646,7 @@ Up: Top
pieceToCharTable option. But on input, piece-ID letters are
+first looked up in the nicknames, and only if not defined there,
+in the normal pieceToCharTable. This allows you to have two letters
+designate the same piece, (e.g. N as an alternative to H for Horse
+in Xiangqi), to make reading of non-compliant notations easier.
+Default: ""
+remoteShell. The default is your local user name.
-5 Chess Servers
-telnet or a
client program like XBoard to connect to the server. There are
@@ -2270,25 +2679,25 @@ unique guest name for you.
-
7 Environment variables
-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
@@ -2476,7 +2885,7 @@ Up: Top
8 Limitations and known bugs
-9 Reporting problems
-https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/
or by sending mail to <bug-xboard@gnu.org>. It can also
@@ -2566,7 +2975,7 @@ Up: Top
10 Authors and contributors
-XChess program.
@@ -2627,7 +3036,7 @@ Up: Top
11 CMail
-$CMAIL_DIR or failing that, $CHESSDIR,
@@ -2837,7 +3246,7 @@ Up: Top
12 Other programs you can use with XBoard
-
@@ -3010,7 +3419,7 @@ arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this
software.
Published by the Free Software Foundation
59 Temple Place - Suite 330
@@ -3752,473 +4161,580 @@ Up: Top
Index
-
Table of Contents
@@ -4242,11 +4758,12 @@ Up: Top