This manual documents version 4.4.3 of XBoard. +
This manual documents version 4.5.1 of XBoard.
All other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most -frequently used commands also have shortcut keys or on-screen buttons. +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 @@ -135,18 +171,20 @@ feature to work.
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.
-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.
-
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.
-
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
@@ -342,7 +333,8 @@ 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.
-
-variations command-line option is switched on,
+you can start a new variation by holding the Shift key down while
+entering a move not at the end of the game.
+Variations can also become the currently displayed line by
+clicking a PGN variation displayed in the Comment window.
+This can be applied recursively,
+so that you can analyze variations on variations;
+each time you create a new variation by entering an alternative move
+with Shift pressed, or select a new one from the Comment window,
+the current variation will be shelved.
+‘Revert’ allows you to return to the most recently shelved variation.
+The difference between ‘Revert’ and ‘Annotate’
+is that with the latter,
+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, ‘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.
+
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.
+
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.
+
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. +
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.
+
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.
+
If you select Pause when you are playing against a chess engine and
it is not your move, the chess engine's clock
@@ -434,48 +628,60 @@ resume automatic loading by selecting ‘Pause
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- You can add or remove shortcut keys using the X resources
@@ -877,7 +1083,7 @@ 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
@@ -923,36 +1129,36 @@ Up: Options
You can also try adding other commands to the initString; see the
documentation of the chess engine you are using for details.
- 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
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.
+and ‘Stop Examining’ on the Edit Menu, Mode Menu, and
+Action Menu.
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.
@@ -2089,10 +2379,6 @@ 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
@@ -2116,7 +2402,7 @@ 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.
@@ -2416,7 +2702,7 @@ Up: Top
Here are some other programs you can use with XBoard
Enhancements copyright © 1992-2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007,
-2008, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-Next: Step Menu,
+Next: Engine Menu,
Previous: Mode Menu,
Up: Menus
-2.3 Action Menu
+2.5 Action Menu
-
-
-2.4 Step Menu
+2.6 Engine Menu
-
-
-2.5 Options Menu
+2.7 Options Menu
-
-
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.
@@ -656,19 +829,19 @@ 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.
-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.
-2.6 Help Menu
+2.8 Help Menu
-
-
2.7 Other Shortcut Keys
+2.9 Other Shortcut Keys
-
-
3 Options
-3.1 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
@@ -996,35 +1202,35 @@ 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
@@ -1051,11 +1257,11 @@ and always (or never) randomize.
3.2 UCI + WB Engine Settings
-
-
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 "".
-3.3 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
@@ -1167,15 +1377,15 @@ 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.
xboard*colorSeek: blue
xboard*colorNormal: default
- 3.4 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
@@ -1378,16 +1637,16 @@ 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
@@ -1400,21 +1659,41 @@ 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.
-3.5 User interface options
-
-
@@ -1624,35 +1913,35 @@ Up: Options
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
@@ -1512,23 +1800,24 @@ 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
@@ -1536,7 +1825,7 @@ 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
@@ -1600,15 +1889,15 @@ Defaults:
-premoveHighlightColor gray70
-lowTimeWarningColor gray70
- 3.6 Adjudication Options
-
-
-firstScoreAbs and -secondScoreAbs if needed.
Default: 0 (no adjudication)
-3.7 Other options
-
-
@@ -1812,7 +2102,7 @@ Up: Top
remoteShell. The default is your local user name.
-4 Chess Servers
-telnet or a
client program like XBoard to connect to the server. There are
@@ -1845,25 +2135,25 @@ unique guest name for you.
-
6 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
@@ -2051,7 +2341,7 @@ Up: Top
7 Limitations and known bugs
-8 Reporting problems
-https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/
or by sending mail to <bug-xboard@gnu.org>. It can also
@@ -2145,7 +2431,7 @@ Up: Top
9 Authors and contributors
-XChess program.
@@ -2206,7 +2492,7 @@ Up: Top
10 CMail
-11 Other programs you can use with XBoard
-
@@ -2589,7 +2875,7 @@ 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
@@ -3331,413 +3617,448 @@ Up: Top
Index
-