+The variation board is only useful when playing with engines. +When logged on to an Internet Chess server, +there is an option to push observation of other games while you are playing 'to the background'. +That is, boards from those other games are not immediately displayed, overwriting your own position, +but XBoard will silently remember the most-recent such board. +You can then have a peek at it by right-clicking the board, for as long as you keep the mouse button down. +On release the board switches back to displaying your own game. +This can be useful in bughouse to see how your partner is doing. +
+When setting up a position ('Edit Position mode'), things work a bit differently, because you are not bound by any chess rules in that case. In a click-click move any second click would be a to-square, @@ -148,16 +158,16 @@ and an exclamation point there will warn you there were dots hiding behind it.
@@ -227,7 +237,7 @@ Right-clicking on a move (in WinBoard: left-double-clicking) will navigate you t
(i.e. display that position on the board, and allow you to step through the game from there).
@@ -245,7 +255,7 @@ distinguishable by their color.
Clicking in the graph navigates you to the position corrsponding to the point where you clicked.
@@ -288,7 +298,7 @@ It can be used to view or edit the PGN tags of the stored game.
To save any changes brought about by editing, you have to press a button at the bottom of the window.
+Most menus speak for themselves. +Many of them are for bringing up menu dialogs, (discussed below), where the real action will take place. +The Forward, Backward etc. items in the Edit menu do the same as the buttons above the board; +you can step through a game in progress, but only for viewing past positions; +Backward will not retract any moves. +The Retract Move item in the Engine menu is for that. +The Book item in the Engine menu queries the engine for its own book moves, +and has nothing to do with XBoards own opening book. +
++Items that deserve explanation are Revert and Annotate in the Edit menu. +These items become enabled as soon as you have shelved the main line of the loaded game, +by 'upgrading' a variation to new main line. +This can be done by right-clicking an already present vaiation in the Comment window, +or by entering a move (not at the end of the game) while keeping the Shift key pressed. +With Revert you would abandon such an upgraded variation, and restore the old main line. +Annotate does the same, but adds the abandoned variation as a (PGN variation) comment to the preceding move. +So you typically would use Revert to revert from variations that were already in the game, +and Annotate for a variation that you entered yourself, move by move. +Of course you could use Revert in that case as well, if you don't think the abandoned variation is worth saving +(e.g. after receiving a very poor analysis score). +
+The Mode menu might require some more clarification than others. +It is used to determine what XBoard will be doing. +E.g. Machine White and Machine Black will set XBoard to let the user play against the (first) engine, +while Two Machines will make first and second engine play against each other. +In both cases XBoard will revert to idle mode after the game finishes. +Machine Match starts playing the two engines against each other for a number of games (aternating the colors). +This match will stop when you click the menu item again (after the game in progress finishes!), +or when the number of games set in the Match Options dialog is reached. +Edit Game will allow the user to enter moves for both sides; +if a (first) engine is loaded, it will still check the moves for legality, though, +(so you cannot use XBoard to edit the game of a variant the engine does not play!), +but it will not think about them. +Edit Position allows you to set up a position. +
++Analysis mode is similar to Edit Game mode in that the user plays both sides, +but now the engine is thinking, and you can follow its thoughts about the current position in the engine-output window. +With Analyze Game, you will make XBoard step through the currently loaded game automatically, +while the engine is analyzing every position in it. +The results of this analysis are then added to the moves as comments +(i.e. score / depth as comments, as well as the PV indicated by the engine in PGN variation format). +
++ICS client is only available when you are already connected to an Internet Chess Server, +and allows you to continue interacting with it after you have been switching to another mode to do something locally. +(Such as loading a game from a file, in order to upload it to the ICS for examining, +or editing a game with comments in order to save it.) +
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+General Options++The General Options dialog contains mostly on/off options. +Most options speak for themselves, or have already been discussed in the section on the board window. +Animate dragging / moving control whether the pieces move to their destination +square in a continuous fashion, rather than instantly jumping there. +The latter is for click-click moves or moves from an external source (file, engine, ICS), +the other for drag-drop moving. +Blindfold suppresses display of all pieces, so the board will always look empty. +Auto-flag terminates the game when one of the players flags +(or at least sends a request to that end to the ICS). +Auto Flip View will put the side you are playing at the bottom of the display, +when playing against engine or on ICS. +(By default white is at the bottom, +but the Flip View men item or F2 key can change this manually). +Ponder Next Move will cause an engine to think also when its opponent's clock is running. +Periodic Updates is a feature only relevant for analysis with an engine, +and let the engine send a constant stream of updates on what it is doing, +rather than just new variations. +Absolute analysis score means that in analysis positive scores mean white has the advantage. +(Normally engines report scores from the point of view of the side to move.) +XBoard has the possibility to make pieces that move blink on and off a few times on their to-square (Flash Moves). +You can suppress popup of several popups (e.g. drop menu in favor of PV walking). + ++Test Legality will already make XBoard refuse entry of illegal moves; +when you switch it off, you can enter them, but an ICS or engine would still rfuse them, +and XBoard would then take the move back. +Switching it off can be useful, though, when you use XBoard for a chess variant it does not know the rules of. +In that case the engine will be the final authority on what moves the user can enter. +Some other options won't work when legality testing is off: +XBoard won't be able to adjudicate checkmates and stalemates, 'Show Target Squares' where a pickedup piece can move to, +or use 'One-click Moving' (see below). + ++Two options affect how you enter moves. +One-Click Moving automatically moves pieces you click to the only square they can move to when this option is on. +As an alternative, it allows you to click empty squares, and if you have only a single piece that can move there, +XBoard will make that move. +Finally, clicking on an already selected piece (in practice usually double-clicking an unselected one) will force it to make the only capture it can do. + +
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+Save Options++XBoard allows you to save games or positions manually, +but in the Save Options dialog you can make arrangements for this to happen automatically at the end of any game. +If you specify a file for this, all games will be appended to the file. +(XBoard never over-writes game or position files, but always appends.) +If not, it will prompt you for a file name every time it saves, +proposing a name derived from the players. +It is recommended to alays save as PGN. +Other thing you can set here are the text in the Event tag, +whether score & depth of engine moves will be saved as comment to the moves, +whether the score when the engine came out of book will be saved as a PGN tag, +and whether tourney games will get s Number tag with a sequence number. + + |
+Adjudication options++XBoard can recognize checkmates and stalmates, +and end games when they occur without waiting for the engine to claim it. +It can thus also check if engines claim these events unjustly, and forfeit them for that. +Positions without mating potential can be recognized in the more common variants, +and be declared draw instantly. +Some material combinations that would only allow helpmates (such as KBKN) can also be adjudicated draw after a short delay, +under contro of the 'Trivial Draws' option + ++You can also set the number of repeats and reversible moves after which a draw should be declared, +or cut short excessively long games by delaring draw. +Setting these values to 0 disables the corresponding adjudication. +You can let XBoard declare a win when both engines agree one is so much behind that further playing is pointless (Win / Loss Threshold). +For this to work, the engines must report the scores in the conventional way +(i.e. positive meaning they think themselves ahead, even when playing black). +Two options allow you to flip the black score of non-compliant engines. + + |
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+Common engine options++This dialog allows you to set some parameters valid for all engines, +such as their hash-table size, size of their tablebase buffer, the number of cores they can use, +and where you have installed the tablebases on your system. +Almost all UCI engines (run through the Polyglot adapter) need these parameters. +For native XBoard engines these settings often are ignored, +because they don't support the necessary commands to set them through the protocol. +'Polyglot directory' is where the Polyglot executable is to be found; +on Linux this can usually stay empty, becaue Polyglot is installed in a directory that is searched automatically +when you issue a simple 'polyglot' command. + ++Opening book - The remaining options are for controlling the opening book used by XBoard. +This book can be used to play openings for the engines, without the engines being consulted. +(The moves selected by XBoard from the book will be forced to the engine, +and the engine will be started to think for itself only when XBoard gets out of book.) +You can specify any opening book in Polyglot format as book file, +but to make it possible for XBoard to use it, 'Use GUI Book' should also be checked. +This still does not mean XBoard will use the book for all engines; +to use it for a specific engine, the 'Has Own Book' option for that engine should be switched off. +By default it would be switched on after loading an engine, +except when this engine was installed with the explicit request to use the book. +In tournaments you can overrule this default, though, and make all participants start from the GUI book +unless they explicitly request to not use it +(which they almost never do, unless you edited the engine list by hand). +Finally you can set for how many (full) moves the book should at most be used, +and specify the book variation by a number from 0 to 100: +100 would mean totally random selection of all moves the book has for the current position, +while 0 would mean it only plays the best move(s) listed in the books. +The value 50 here would play the moves in proportion to the probabilities the book suggests. + + |
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+ +To start using a different engine (or start using one when you so far were in game-viewer mode only) +you can select one with the aid of this dialog. +If the engine is already 'installed', i.e. present in the list maintained in XBoard's setting file, +you can simply select it from the drop-down list at the top of the dialog. +You then only have to select if you want to load it as first or second engine, +and can press OK. +The rest of the dialog is then not used. + ++Only to load an engine never used before the rest of the dialog becomes relevant. +You can specify the engine command there, which can be done by browsing to the executable for that engine. +Some engines might need other stuff on their start command than just their name, however, +like '-xboard', or a specification of the hash size. +You must tick a box if the engine is UCI. +By default it will be assumed you want to remember this new engine in the engine list, +so that next time you can select it directly from the drop-down list. +If you don't want this, you can untick the 'Add to list' chackbox. + ++You can also specify a 'nickname', whih is the name under which it will appear in the drop-down list, +if you are not satisfied with the name of the executable. +(Some engines have horribly cryptic names for their command, +and you might want to install versions of the same engine with different settings, +and use nicknames to keep them apart.) +Other checkboxes allow you to determine if this engine should request using XBoard's opening book, +if it is an obsolete engne using version 1 of the protocol +(whih would otherwise take many seconds to load), +and if the engine should be installed to always play the currently active variant +(this is only usful for engines that do not play normal chess). + + |
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+Board options++In the View menu there is the Board Options dialog to make you configure the look of the board. +There ae two modes for rendering board squares: through an externally given (pixmap) image file, or evenly colored. +In the latter case you can select the colors with the 'color pickers' at the top of the dialog. +In XBoard colors are indicated by hexadedecimal numbers for their Red, Green and Blue value. +This cryptic notation is displayed in a text-edit, and if you understand the coding system, +you could alter it to the color you want by typing a new code. +(Hint: the first two letters behind # are for red, the next two for green, and the last two for blue.) +Otherwise you can set the color experimentally, using the buttons behind the text edit +to make it a bit redder, greener, bluer or darker. +To see what you are doing the color is displayed behind the text edit. +This is also a button, though, and if you press it, it restores the color to the default. +You can set square color, piece color and highlight colors through this method. + ++To use image files for board squares, you must specify the pixmap files from which the light and dark squares are cut. +These files must contain an image at least as big as the square size, +The cutting algorithm is such that it tries to minimize the overlap between cut squares, +and that when you specify an image exactly the size of the entire board, +the squares tile to recover the complete image undamaged. +The width of the highlight lines can be hand-tuned with the 'Line Gap' option. + ++You can also specify external pieces, as bitmaps or pixmaps. +A complete set of pieces of the current board size would have to be contained in the specified diretories. +The other options speak for themselves. + + |
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+ +XBoard cannot generate sounds by itself, but can invoke an external sound player to play a number of predefined sounds. +These sounds can be coupled to certain events, like your opponent making a move, +the game ending in a win, loss or draw, etc. +Many of the events can only ocur when you aue XBoard to connect to an Internet Chess Server, +such as someone challeging you for a game, others sending you a 'tell' message, a 'shout' being broadasted on the server. +For each of the events there is a drop-down list from which you can selet the sound you want to hear when it occurs. +Apart from the predefined sounds that come with XBoard, +you can supply your own sound files: +yust select one in the text edit at the top, +and choose 'Above WAV File' from the drop-down list. +You can also select your preferred sound-player command, and the directory where the predefined sounds are stored. + +ICS Text Menu+
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+ICS options++This dialog can alter settings relevant for playing on an Internet Chess Server. +On the right you can specify colors to be given to various type of messages coming from the ICS. +They consist of a comma-separated triple for font color, background color and ???. +To activate this, the Colorize option has to be ticked. + ++You can also switch premoving (i.e. entering your move in advance, whil the opponent is still thinking) on or off, +and specify premoves for the first move of the game. +An Alarm can be set to sound when the time left on your clock drops below a certain value. +(Use the Sound Options dialog to pick the sound!) +Auto-raise board pulls the board window to the foreground whenever there is activity, +while Quiet Play suppresses all messages coming from the ICS while you are involved in a game. +Get Move List is important for not missing the initial part of games you start observing when they are in progress, +but can be very disruptive if you observe more games at the same time. + + |
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+The option Auto-Comment causes all text messages you receive from your opponent during game play +to be added as comments to the stored game, so they can be saved with the PGN. +Auto-Kibitz will cause the thinking output of an engine playing through XBoard on the ICS ('zippy mode') +to be sent through kibitz commands to opponent and observers. +At the same time it will cause such incoming kibitzed thinking output to be diverted to the engine-output window. +
++Seek graph controls if a left-click on the board while idle will bring up a graph of players seeking a game. +When this option is on, Auto-Refresh Seek Graph controls if it is automatically updated, +(works only on FIC and ICS, and consumes a lot of bandwidth), +or whether you have to right-click the graph (in an empty part) for that. +The color of the dots in the seek graph codes for rated / unrated / wild, +while the shape (circle / square) encodes for human / computer. +
++The option Background Observe suppresses display of any boards of observed games while you are playing. +The latest such received board can then be peeked at by right-clicking on the board, however. +In combination with this, you can use the experimental option Dual Board to see such background-observed games +on a separate board all the time. +Such observed games arenot recorded by XBoard though. +(I.e. you cannot save them on file afterwards, but you can of course always fetch them again from the ICS later, +and save them then.) +
+ ++The Load Options dialog controls loading and slection of games from the game list. +After loading a game XBoard will normally auto-play it, by stepping through all positions from the beginning. +The stepping rate can be set here in seconds. +(This is one of the few numeric options where fractions can be specified.) +Specifying a negative number will suppress the auto-play, and leave the opening position in the display after game load. +Specifying 0 will instantly move to the final position, and leave that in the display. +You can select if the Tags window will automaticall pop up to show you the PGN tags of the game, +or whether the Comment window will pop up on display of any move that had a comment to it. +
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+ +A text edit allows you to speify options XBoard that should take effect when XBoard is used as a game viewer +(i.e. with the -viewer option, as it is when invoked through clicking a PGN file). +By default this will be -ncp mode ('no chess program', i.e. without engine), +but you might prefer to start it with your favorite engine for analyzing games. + ++The other options are all for 'filtering' the game list, i.e. only display games that fit certain criteria. +You can specify Elo thresholds for only showing the games from a PGN file of players that are strong enough, +or restict the display to games played after a certain year. +This all works in combination with the 'Filter' field in the Game List itself, +where you can select based on a text occurring in the header lines. +You can also select games based on occurrence of certain positions in them. +The position you search should in that case be set up on the board. +To decide when a position is considered a 'match', six different, and progressively more liberal criteria can be used: + +
+In addition you can tick whether the first three comparison methods should also accept mirror images +(where vertical flipping will be accompanied by color flipping). +For the last three methods you can require that the imposed conditions are satisfied not for a single position, +but for a given number of consecutive positions. +Pressing the 'Find Position' button at the bottom of the Game List will apply the specified criteria. +Games loaded from a Game List filtered position will not auto-play, +but always load with the position search for as the currently displayed one. + + |
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+Here you can set the parameters for matches and tournaments. +For (old-style) two-player matches only the options in the bottom half of the dialog are relevant: +you can select the default number of match games +(i.e. that used when you click the Machine Match item in the Mode menu), +the game or position file from which the games in the match will be started +(i.e. the games, presumably short opening lines, or position will be loaded first, +and the engines will then start to play from there), +and which game or position from the file should be used. +By specifying -1 or -2 for the latter you can make XBoard automatically step through all positions in the file, +taking the next one every game (-1) or every two games (-2, so they are played with both colors). +You can specify that after a number of games / positions have been used, +XBoard 'should rewind' to the first in the file. ++The pause between matches is important for engines that do not support 'ping', +which have the nasty habit of sometimes producing a move for the previous game when the next game has already started, +(because the opponent unexpectedly resigned), +without XBoard being able to detect that. +Th only remedy is to wait long enough for such engines to finish their search and produce the move before the next game starts. +The file for saving the games can be set here, as well as from the Save Options dialog. +The other parameters, in the upper half of the dialog are only important for tourneys with more than two engines +(or at least, other than the two currently loaded engines), +see the page on XBoards built-in tournament manager. + + +
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