From d72fb1d92b059f8969bd81c7d4551a7a9fa4d60a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Arun Persaud Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2010 05:18:09 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] rename what's new file --- whats_new.html | 2 +- whats_new/4.5.0/index.html | 886 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 887 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-) create mode 100644 whats_new/4.5.0/index.html diff --git a/whats_new.html b/whats_new.html index 0590bc3..4711c3b 100644 --- a/whats_new.html +++ b/whats_new.html @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@

Upcoming

diff --git a/whats_new/4.5.0/index.html b/whats_new/4.5.0/index.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c958721 --- /dev/null +++ b/whats_new/4.5.0/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,886 @@ + +XBoard - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation - NEWS + +

What is new in WinBoard / XBoard 4.5.0?

+
+

General New Features

+ +		 +

XBoard -> WinBoard Convergence

+ +

ICS-client Enhancements

+ +		 + +
+

Fixed thinking time per move

+

+The clocks are now displayed counting down in fixed-time-per-move time controls. +This mode of time control can still be selected through the command-line +option -st (-searchTime), but in WinBoard it is now also possible +to select it interactively from the Options -> Time-Control menu dialog. +As soon as a player's turn comes up, his clock will be reset to the +selected time per move, and start counting down. +If he does not move before the clock reaches zero, +a time loss can result. +

+

+

Exploring variations

+

+XBoard and WinBoard now allow you to explore variations on a given game, +much like you can do on an Internet Chess Server in "examine" mode. +You can do this in Edit Game mode, +for the purpose of annotating the game with alternative variations, +or in Analyze mode, where an engine evaluates the various branches. +

+It works like this: you can use the < and > buttons +(or equivalently, the Left and Right arrow keys, +or the Step -> Forward and Step -> Backward menu items), +to step through a game or variation. +When you are not at the end of the game, and start playing moves, +XBoard would normally truncate the game at that point, +and append the new move. +However, you can now indicate that the entered move starts a new variation +by keeping the Shift key pressed while entering it. +XBoard then stores the tail of the game in memory, rather than discarding it. +You can then continue the game along a new line of play, +and the arrow keys will step you through that new line +(the "current variation"), +

+When you have studied the variation to your satisfaction, +you can then use the Step -> Revert menu to recall the previous variation, +i.e. the one that XBoard stored last because you altered a move in it. +This brings you back to the position where you played the alternative move, +and puts back the original tail of the game, +so that the arrow keys now step you through that. +The later variation you now abandoned will be irretrievably lost, +but as an alternative to 'Revert' there is a new 'Annotate' menu item, +which would add that variation as a comment +(in PGN variation format, i.e. between parentheses) +to the next move. +So you will see the alternative to the played move +displayed in the comment window as soon as you play that move. +This can be repeated any number of times, +so you can make variations on variations +(leading to nested variation comments in the PGN). +

+

Playing through variations from PGN

+

+PGN files can contain (nested) variations between parentheses. +WinBoard and XBoard have always treated such variations like comments, +adding them to the move after which they occurred, +and displaying them in the comment popup. +In WinBoard as well as XBoard it is now possible to right-click +such a variation in the comment popup, +in Edit Game or Analyze mode, +on which the current line will be shelved, +and the clicked variation will take over its place. +(See Exploring Variations above.) +

+The user can then play through the variation on the board in the +way he would normally play through the main line of the game. +When he is done, he can use Revert in the Step menu +to resume the main line. +

+
+

Editing a crazyhouse position

+

+Previous versions of XBoard and WinBoard did not allow you to edit the holdings +in Edit Positon mode, which made this mode useless for setting up +crazyhouse or bughouse positions. +(You could still paste a bughouse FEN containing the holdings in brackets +between the board and side-to-move fields.) +The new version does allow such editing. +When you drag a piece into the holdings file, +it automatically puts it on the square designated for it, +and adapts the piece counts consistently. +When you drag it out of the holdings, the piece counts are decreased, +and if non-zero the other copies of the piece will stay in the holding +while you take one to the board. +

+It is even possible to add pieces in the holdings using the piece menu. +Setting an empty square on top of a stack of pieces, +will delete all these pieces. +

+		 + +
+

Walking the PV of an engine

+

+XBoard and WinBoard now allow you to see the position the engine thinks +it will end up in (i.e. the positon at the end of the Principal Variation), +by right-clicking the board. +When you then move the mouse vertically, keeping the right button pressed, +it will step through all the positions of the PV that ly between this +end position and the current game position on which the engine is thinking +or analyzing. +This 'PV walk' will continue until you either release the right button, +or the engine moves, +after which the board display will revert to the current game position. +

+On right-clicking the board, +you will always get to see the last PV the engine produced as thinking output. +(Show Thinking must be on for this feature to work.) +This can be a PV from before the engine made the move, +but if the engine is pondering, +it will in general be a PV from its ponder search. +In Two-Machines mode, you will get to see the PV of the +engine that is currently thinking. +

+You can also call up a PV in the board display by right-clicking +the Engine-Output window. +In this case you will get to see the PV that you clicked on. +So you can select from which engine you will see the PV, +but also walk through PVs of lower depth than the most recent one. +If the engine is in multi-PV mode, +you can select one of the alternative variations. +This also works for PVs received through an ICS from the opponent, +captured by the -autoKibitz option to the Engine-Output window. +

+Also in this case, the selected PV will remain displayed as long +as you keep the right mouse button down, +even when the engine in the mean time produces new lines +of thinking output. +(But not if it actualy moves; then you revert to the game.) +The line you selected will be highlighted in the Engine-Output window. +If a selected PV from before the engine moved starts with +a different move than was actually played, +the retraction of the played move is inserted before the PV. +

+This new feature interferes with the historic usage of the right mouse button, +namely the summoning up of the (now deprecated) piece-drop menu +in crazyhouse and bughouse. +For people that still want the old behavior, +an option -dropMenu true|false is provided. +The default value of this option is false, +but by setting it, the old behavior is restored, +and the PV display on right-clicking the board disabled. +

+
+

Where your pieces can move to

+

+Experienced Chess players will not need it, or even dislike this option, +but it might be useful to a beginner. +And even an experienced Chess player might appreciate it +when he plays a variant he is not so familiar with: +XBoard and WinBoard can now indicate the possible locations a piece can move to. +When you switch this option on, +as soon as you 'pick up' a piece with the mouse, +(i.e. left-click it, for as long as you keep the left mouse button down), +XBoard will indicate all the squares that piece can move to with a fat dot. +For captures, it will use another color (the -premoveHighlightColor, normally red) +than for non-captures (where it uses the -highlightColor, normally yellow). +

+This feature is only active with the option -showMoveTargets true +(stored in the settings file), +but can then still be controlled with the option -highlightDragging, +which also has an item in the Options menu, +so you can quickly switch it on and off. +Furthermore, legality testing must be on for XBoard to know how the piece moves. +

+In variants with mandatory capture (suicide, losers, giveaway) +it works a bit different: +if the piece you pick up has a capture it is still indicated in red, +but as non-captures with this piece are then automatically illegal, +the yellow dots are used to indicate captures by other pieces. +This can be handy to quickly alert you when you overlooked a capture: +when you pick up another piece than the one who must capture, +you will not see the expected non-capture moves of that piece light up, +but in stead see some yellow dots on enemy pieces appear. +

+One other peculiarity in variants is that XBoard implements some pieces +occurring in variants as 'wildcard pieces', that are allowed to do any +move even when legality testing is on. +(To facilitate playing exotic variants without switching legality +checking off completely.) +For such a piece, a red dot on the starting square of the piece itself +will appear. +Drop moves (e.g in crazyhouse) will not be indicated. +

+		 + +
+

Improved Muti-PV support

+

+Normally an engine produces only a single PV for each move it plays. +Some engines can operate in multi-PV mode, however, +where they produce mutiple lines with an exact score. +This is more a matter of the engine than the GUI, +but the new XBoard and WinBoard have a tiny improvement to help +interpretation of multi-PV engine output. +

+In stead of displaying the Thinking-Output lines in the +Engine-Output window strictly in the order that they came in, +XBoard now sorts lines of the same depth by score, +so that the line of the highest score (the true PV) +is always displayed on top. +In practice this requires new lines to be inserted not at the top, +(as always happened in earlier versions), +but can be inserted somewhat lower down if their score was lower. +Not a big deal, but it helps to get a more quiet display. +The original order, which usually is of less importance, +can aways be deduced from the time or number of nodes displayed with the line. +

+
+ + +

Evaluation Graph

+

+XBoard now has a new auxilliary window (which WinBoard already had for years), +for displaying the engine score(s) as a function of move number as a graph. +Clicking a point on this graph will bring you to the corresponding +position in this game. +(I.e. it will display the position on the board like you moved there +with the arrow keys.) +

+Like the other windows, the Evaluation Graph can be sized and moved with the mouse, +and its size and psition can be determined by command-line options, +which are saved in the settings file. +By compiled-in default XBoard starts with this window open, +but closing it once and saving the settings is enough to change that for future sessions. +

+
+

Settings-file redirection

+

+There is one novelty in the way WinBoard and XBoard handle their settings files. +It has always been possible to have one settings file specify another. +The contents of that settings file would simply be substituted at the place where you refer to it +with the -settinngsFile option (-ini, for short). +But the saving of settings then used to still go to the original settings file. +This should be considered a bug, really, and has now been fixed. +The settings file to which you save now will be the last one that was encountered in an -ini option +(and did actually exist). +This change makes new, very versatile use of the settings files possible, +for instance to give every user its own, private settings file. +

+So "-settingsFile FILENAME" is a way to redirect saving of settings to an existing settings file. +The option "-saveSettingsFile FILENAME" has been added as a way to specify where to save settings +without any options being read, and without the need for a file of that name to already exist. +

+The settings file name specification can now contain symbolic references to user-dependent file names, +such as '%HOMEPATH%' for WinBoard and '~' for XBoard. +For WinBoard, any environment variables at the beginning of the path names will be recognized and expanded. +You could, for instance, also use %HOMEDRIVE%\%HOMEPATH%\winboard.ini, +so that people will get their private settings files in (say) +C:\Documents and Settings\<USER NAME>\winboard.ini. +The pre-configured winboard.ini in the binary install now will redirect the +reading and saving of settings to %APPDATA%\winboard.ini, which on most Windows systems would +translate to C:\Documents and Settings\<USER NAME>\Application Data\winboard.ini. +So people used to editing their winboard.ini file, beware: +you now have to look for that in a completely different place! +

+Note that this mechanism of redirection an be nested, +and even on a system where a user has no access to the master settings file, +and is not comfortable with the location of his private settings file, +he could use the -settingsFile option in the latter +to order a second redirection to a location where he would like it. +There are in fact novel configuration tricks one can play using such redirection. +If you are not happy with the defaults of somem volatile options, +(i.e. options that are not sved with the settings, so that they reset to their defaults the next session), +you can change them by editing the required volatile options into your primary user settings file. +Because this primary users settings file will never be overwritten when you redirect the settings file away from it, +the volatile options in there will stick. +And when you write settings for persistent options in that primary file +after the -settingsFile option that redirects reading to the settings file where you save, +these will overrule the saved options, +so that effectively you turn those persistent options in volatile ones with a default chosen by yourself! +

+

Settings file

+

+XBoard now can save its settings on a file, +like WinBoard already does for years. +The format in which the settings are stored is the same as that of the command line, +except that all options are on separate lines. +The settings can be saved on user command (from the Options menu), +as well as automatically on exit, under control of an option -saveSettingsOnExit, +which is itself saved in the file. +Its value can be changed from the Option menu. +

+The contents of the default settings file +(/etc/xboard/xboard.conf for XBoard) +will be prefixed to the command line, +so that the latter overrules any settings in the file. +Furthermore, both the settings file and the command line +can contain options that refer to other settings files: +-settingsFile filename (or its shorthand -ini filename) +and @filename both cause the contents of the mentioned file to be inserted in that place. +In the case of -settingsFile the filename is also remembered as the place +to save the settings. +

+The standard install of XBoard uses a -saveSettingsFile and a -settingsFile option +in the default settings file to divert loading and saving to a user-specific file +~/.xboardrc in the user's home directory. +The system adminitrator can the use the default settings file /etc/xboard/xboard.conf +to specify default settings for xboard that he wants to deviate from the compiled-in defaults. +As the -settingsFile option that includes the user settings is at the end of the +default settings file, the user settings will overrule such system-wide defaults. +

+The settings include the open/closed status of the auxiliary windows +(Engine Output, Move History, Evaluation Graph), +and their position and size. +So XBoard will open in the same window configuration and layout +as the previous time you left it, +when you have Save Settings on Exit on. +

+Not all options are saved in the settings file. +Some options that are considered unlikely to need the same values next time, are 'volatile'. +This applies or instance to the engine names (-fcp, -scp) and accompanying info +(-fd, -firstXBook, -fUCI), or the selected variant. +These options will thus revert to the compiled-in or system-wide defaults +in the next session. +

+
+ + +

Thai chess

+Makruk is a form of Chess played in Thailand, +by about 2 million people, which makes it one of the World's major +Chess variants. +WinBoard / Xboard now supports Makruk: +it knows how the pieces moves, that Pawns promote on the 6th rank, +and how to set up the initial position (with Pawns on the 3rd rank). +Just start XBoard with the option "-variant makruk", +or select it from the "File -> New Variant" menu. +The letters used in SAN and PGN are M for the Queen replacement +(for the Thai name "Med"), +which moves one step dagonal, as in Shatranj, +and S for the Bishop replacement +(which moves like the Silver General from Shogi). +

+The latest version of Fairy-Max (4.8o) supports Makruk as a +pre-programmed variant. +So it can be used as an engine to play this game against the computer. +

+

Seirawan chess

+

+Another variant that has been added is Seirawan Chess. +In this variants the players start with two un-orthodox pieces in hand, +which can be 'gated' onto the board when a piece is developed +from the back rank (appearing on the square that piece evacuated). +In XBoard such moves can now be entered by first selecting the +piece you want to gate from the holdings, +and then perform your move on the board. +When you drag a back-rank piece, you will immediately see +the gated piece appearing from under it. +Gating moves use SAN (orlong algebraic) promotion notation. +

+
+

Filtering the Game List

+

+The XBoard Game-List window now includes a "Filter" field +(like WinBoard has), +where you can type any text string. +The display of the Game List will then be limited to those lines +containing the given string. So if you want to see only drawn games, +like the screenshot example shown here, +you can put "1/2-1/2" in the filter, an press the "Apply" button +(or type <Enter>). +Of course you have to make sure that the game result is actually +amongst the items that are displayed in the Game List lines. +(This can be controlled with the -gameListTags option.) +

+
+ + +

+This feature is very convenient when you are dealing with large game lists. +As the 'result comment' is one of the items you can select for +display in the game list, +it is for instance very easy to find time losses, false claims or +illegal moves in your tournaments. +Just filter on the phrases "on time", "False" or "Illegal", +and only the games appear in the list that ended that way. +You can also use it to easily pick out the games of your own engine from the +PGN file of a large tournament like ChessWar. +

+Selecting the game to load from the list can now also be done +in XBoard using the arrow keys (and <Home>, <End>), +which have been given key bindings to the "prev" and "next" buttons +in the Game List dialog. +

+
+

Maintaining a healthy ICS connection

+

+The -keepAlive option in WinBoard and XBoard now not only serves +to prevent you from being automaticaly logged out by the ICS, +(be careful not to abuse that!), +but now is also checking if the ICS is still responding. +If there is no message from the ICS at all in reaction to the 'date' +command that WinBoard sends to 'ping' it by the time the next 'date' +command is sent, WinBoard will conclude the connection has been +broken without the proper notification by the system, +and performs a fatal error exit. +You can the use a script to have WinBoard automatically +establish a new connection, and login again. +

+

+
+

Game-List options dialog

+

+XBoard now has a dialog in its Options menu to select the PGN tags +that will be displayed in the Game List, +similar to that of WinBoard. +The tags can be selected and ordered in a user-friendy way, +by selecting them with the mouse, and moving them auround +with the up and down buttons. +

+The newly selected layout wil become effective +the next time a new Game List is made. +This can be because you open a new file with multiple games in it, +or because you re-open the Game-List window. +

+		 + +
+

Claiming a draw in ICS play

+

+To claim a draw that will only become claimable after your move, +different ICS have different mechanisms. +On FICS you have to write "draw MOVE" on the same line. +ICC does not understand this, but will count a draw offer made through +a plain "draw" command before your move count as a draw claim +after that move when this move creates a third repetition or +a 50-move draw. +

+The ICC mechanism did not need special support, +but WinBoard and XBoard now also support the FICS mechanism. +You will have to trigger it the same way as doing things on ICC: +first offer the draw, then do the move. +XBoard will check now for any move (by user or engine) if it will create +a claimable draw. +And if it does, while the user or engine have just offered a draw, +it will first send the move to the ICS 'FICS fashion', +and after that it sends the plain move +(to accomodate ICS that do not understand this). +This should provide a secure way to claim the draw. +

+In connection with this patch, the adjudications +were made to work in any non-ICS game, not only in Two Machines mode. +(For ICS play the ICS of course decides.) +

+
+ + +

Answering seek ads on an ICS

+

+WinBoard and XBoard now support a seek graph. +This graph can appear in place of the board when you are +logged on to an ICS, and not playing or observing a game. +When you click the board in this situation, +a 'sought' command will be sent to the ICS to fetch the list of +seek ads (without you seeing it). +This list will then be represented as a 2-dimensional graph, +with time-control on the horizontal axis, and opponent rating on the vertical. +

+Clicking one of the dots will send a 'play' command to the ICS +to challenge that opponent (which will usually start the game immediately). +You can also click a dot to interrogate it, +i.e. see the details of the corresponding seek ad displayed +in the message field above the board. +

+Which click will do what is not yet fully decided; +the current trial version (in the 'seekgraph' branch of the repository here) +can do everything with only the left mouse button, +the down-click for showing the ad details, +the up-click (if it is still on the dot) to start the game. +The right button can make life a bit easier, though; +the press here also shows the ad text, +but the release is always ignored, +so that you don't have to worry where to do the up-click +in case you don't want to make the challenge after reading the ad. +

+To activate this functionality, you will have to use the option +"-seekGraph true" (shorthand "-sg"). +The automatic refreshing of the graph currently is supported only for +FICS and ICC (and compatible servers), +and must be swiched on with the option "-autoRefresh true". +Both these options are persistent, i.e. saved to the settings file, +but their default setting is "false", so you have to enable them +at least once. +WinBoard has checkboxes in the Options -> ICS menu dialog for setting these options. +

+
+

One-click moving

+

+When the option "-oneClickMove" is set to "true", +clicking a square to or from which only a single legal move is possible +causes that move to be made immediately. +I.e. you can click your own piece to make it move, +or you can click an empty squareto move there, +or an enemy piece to capture it. +This works when playing on ICS or against an engine. +Currently left-click is used, +but it is still under study if it would be better +(e.g. less accident prone) +to use another type of click for this. +(E.g. double clicking, or right-clicking.) +

+Another type of'smart move' enabled by this option is an only-capture: +when a piece has only a single captur move, a double left-click +on that piece makes the capture. +WinBoard has a checkbox in the Options -> ICS menu dialog for switching this option. +

+

Observing an ICS game while playing

+It is now possible to observe a game 'in the background', +while playing on an ICS. +When the (persistent) option "-backgroundObserve true" is used, +XBoard / WinBoard will not let incoming boards from observed games disturb the +display of a game you are currently playing. +It will merely store the board in memory for safe keeping, +and will display a summary line in the message field above the board, +listing the remaining times of white and black player, +their strength, and which side is to move. +Pressing the right mouse button will summon up the last such received board +on the display, in stead of the position in your own game, +until you release that button again. +

+This way you can have a quick peek at the game you are observing, +which might be useful when playing bughouse on an ICS that +does not allow guest logins to follow the game of your partner +on another instance of XBoard. +WinBoard has a checkbox in the Options -> ICS menu dialog for switching this option. +

+

Recalling old input lines in ICS play

+

+XBoard now allows the use op the and arrow keys +to call up and walk through previously given input lines, +(WinBoard already had this.) +so you can reset them (possibly after correcting the typo that made +the ICS not understand them in the first place. +For this you must use the ICS input box, +like with any other form of local line editing; +what you type directly in the X-terminal console window will +not be remembered, and the arrows will not work there. +

Making it easier to start a chat

+

+The user interface for the chat windows of WinBoard has been improved. +Next to dedicating a Chat Box to a single handle, channel or whispers, +it is now also possible to dedicate it to shouts. +(Just type 'shouts' in the chat-partner field.) +In addition, it is now possible to open a Chat Box pre-intialized +for talking to a given handle from the ICS context menu: +right-clicking a player name in the ICS text field of the console +will pop up the ICS context menu. +You will now find an item "Open Chat Box (name)" in this menu. +Selecting that will pop up a fresh Chat Box, +(provided that you have not yet reached your maximum quota of chat boxes, +which has been increased to 5), +with the name that +you clicked already in the Chat Partner field, +so that you can immediately start typing your first message +to that person. +(And receive his answers in that Chat Box, as usual.) +

+The Chat Boxes now aso contain buttons to directly navigate to other +Chat Windows, making a stacked set of Chat Windows behave +like it was a single tabbed window. +The buttons turn grey if there was activity in the corresponding +box (if it is not the top-most). +A new command-line option -chatBoxes can be used to already have some +boxes opened at startup. +E.g. -chatBoxes "shouts;50" would open Chat Boxes for handling shouts +and channel-50 traffic. +WinBoard has a textedit in the Options -> ICS menu dialog for +defining the startup Chat Boxes. +

+The ICS text menu now already appears on the down-click of the right +mouse button, so that the release of the same click can already be used +to select an item from the menu. +The menu now also pops up in such a way that the upper-right item +is already under the mouse pointer as soon as it appears. +As the menu is user-configurable through the -icsMenu option, +the user could put a default action there. +This action will then be triggered by a simple (stationary) right-click +in the ICS text field. +In the default setting, the "Open Chat Box (name)" item is in this +position, so a right-click on a handle will open a Chat Box to that handle. +But all other actions can also still be selected, by moving the pointer there +before you up-click. +

+It is now possible to define commands in the ICS text menu that use the +clicked player name not at the end, but somewhere in the middle. +A "%s" contained in the defined command string will be replaced by the player name +(or selected text), and only if the command does not contain %s it is appended at the end. +

+Yet another improvement is that the Chat Boxes now recognize URLs, +and open a browser to display the corresponding web page when you click one. +

+
+

Uploading a game to an ICS

+

+It is now possible to let XBoard and WinBoard upload a game to the ICS +for examining. +When you are logged on to an ICS, +there is an item "Upload to Examine" available in the "Action" menu. +Selecting this will start an examined game on the ICS, +and send all moves of the game currently in XBoard. +This could be a game you just played or observed, +but it could also be a game loaded from a game file, +or pasted into XBoard from the clipboard. +If there is no current game in XBoard, +an new examined game will be started in the opening position +

+You can only use this command at times you are not doing anything else +on the ICS (like playing or observing). +When the currently loaded game is a variant, +XBoard tries to figure out the wild number to start an examined +game in that variant. +This is experimental, and might not always work, +especially in variants that not every ICS supports +(e.g. Shatranj, Xiangqi, Shogi or Makruk). +Castling rights in FRC might still be problematic. +

+		 + +
+
+ + +

Displaying two boards at once

+

+This is a _very_ experimental patch (more a hack really). +When the option -backgroundObserve is in force, +so that you can observe an ICS game while playing one, +using the (persistent) option -dualBoard true, +the board of the observed game is displayed right of the +board of your own game, +in the same window. +This way you can keep it in view all the time, +rather than having to press a mouse button for it. +

+This works in both WinBoard and XBoard, +although in the latter it messes up positioning of the clocks +for your own game. +(No clocks are displayed for the partner game yet.) +When the observed game has a different board format than +the one you are playing, the result is undefined. +Many other things, such as highlighting, might not work correctly yet. +WinBoard has a checkbox in the Options -> ICS menu dialog for switching this option. +

+
+

National versions

+

+WinBoard is now able to display all texts in its menus, +dialogs and displayed messages, in a foreign language, under direction of a language file. +This file must contain a list of substitutions to be made, +of the form "original English text" === "replacement text". +A new persistent option /language=FILENAME will cause WinBoard +to use the mentioned file to translate itself. +If the FILENAME does not contain a period, the extention ".LNG" will be automatically appended. +

+All available translations should appear in the Help menu, and by clicking one +WinBoard should switch to that language. +(This is still an experimental feature, +and not all text might change when you apply it a second time.) +

+A Spanish translation is already available in a file español.lng. +We hope other translations will follow soon. +

+

Local PGN and FEN standards

+

+Sometimes one encounters FENs or SAN moves that use piece indicators that are not standard. +E.g. because they are in another language, or for a variant that has no unambiguous standard. +The (volatile) options -pieceNickNames and -colorNickNames can be used to make XBoard / WinBoard aware of these alternative names, +so it can read FEN ans PGN files using them, next to the standard names. +If standard names and nick names conflict, the nick names will prevail. +On output, and for communicating with engines, the standard names will always be used. +

+

Xiangqi adjudications

+

+The recognition of mating potential in Xiangqi has been made 100% accurate, +so that this variant can now be played with the option -materialDraws on. +The option -trivialDraws now also has special Xiangqi knowledge, +and catches most cases where both sides have not enough material to overcome the opponent defenders. +The Xiangqi 50-move rule has been changed to not count checks and check evasions. +

+

Starting an engine-engine match

+

+WinBoard now has a menu item (in the Mode menu) to start a match between two engines. +The number of games will be taken from the value of the (persistent) option /defaultMatchGames, +which can now be set from the Options -> Common Engine dialog. +WinBoard will not automatically exit after a match that was started this way finishes, +as it does with matches started with the -mg or -mm option. +

+

Book-move selection

+

+The selection of moves from the GUI book can now be controlled through two new (persistent) options: +-bookDepth and -bookVariation. +The value of these options can be set in the Options -> COmmon Engine menu dialog. +With -bookDepth N you can limit use of the book to the first N full moves of each game. +The value of -bookVariation N can be used to tune the randomness of the move choice. +It can be varied from totally random picking of one of the listed moves, +ignoring the book weights (N=100), to playng the move(s) with the highest weights only (N=0). +The default setting, N=50, would play the moves with a frequency proportional to the book weight. +

+

Adjusting the clocks in OTB tournaments

+

+The clocks can no be adjusted in any mode using them, by Shift left-click to subtract a minute, +and Shift right-click to add one. +Before this was only possible by (unshifted) clicking in Edit-Game mode. +Plain clicking still counts as claiming the flag in other modes. +

+

Editing Comments

+

+The editing of comments has been slightly changed. +Previous versions of WinBoard / XBoard considered anything enclosed in (), [], or {} as comment, +and when you edited it, automatically put braces {} around it before saving the result. +This would mess up (sub-)variations, which should be in parentheses (). +The editing of comments now has been changed to explicitly show you the enclosing delimiters. +This way the correct type of bracketing will be preserved on editing. +The downside of this is that the user will remain responsible for preserving correctness +of the nesting and concatenation of different types of comments. +E.g. the comment box could contain a true comment, starting with '{', +and be followed by a variation, ending with ')', +and changing the latter into '}' before saving the new comment would thoroughly mess things up. +

+There is one exception: when enclosing bracketing is obviously missing, +enclosing braces {} are still added. +So when adding a comment in places where there was nothing, +if you type a plain text, +the old behavior still applies, and you will get a regular comment in your PGN. +

+

Reorganization of the menus

+

+The menus of XBoard and WinBoard have been re-organized. +You will still find most of the familiar items, +but they have been re-grouped into different main menus now. +New are the 'Edit' and 'View' main menus, +created to make the menu structure more standard. +Another new main item is the 'Engine' menu, while the 'Step' menu is gone. +

+The 'File' menu has been slimmed down a bit. +The Copy and Paste items have been relocated to 'Edit', +where they belong. +The items to load next,previous or the same games or positions +have been removed. +(The shortcut keys will still work, though.) +The Game List should provide a more convenient way +to select games from multi-game files. +

+All items for popping up auxiliary windows have been removed +from the 'Mode' menu, and now are in the new 'View' menu. +The latter also contains the items for Board and Font options +(which do not yet exist in XBoard). +Flip View and Swap Clocks (WB) have also been moved there. +

+The 'Step' menu is gone; +its items are mostly moved to the new 'Edit' menu, +as some (like 'Truncate Game') were clearly edit functions, +and also stepping through the game is mostly used for editing. +(And I cannot imagine anyone using menus for that anyway, +as the button bar and keyboard arrows perform amuch less +clumsy way to do that...) +For completeness also all other editing functions +(games, positions, tags, comments) +have been added to the 'Edit' menu as duplicats. +

+The new 'Engine' main menu contains the items for setting +Engine options. +(And the second engine now automatically starts when +you want to see or alter its options!) +It also contains the items that directly interact with the engine, +such as Move Now, Retract Move, Book and Hint. +

+

Annotating a game with analysis results

+

+The mode 'Analyze File' has been given a new function. +In stead of switching to plain analysis mode after loading the file, +(which you could have done by loading the file, +and then switching on 'Analysis Mode'), +it now auto-plays the game in analysis mode. +As the auto-play steps through all positions, +these are analyzed by the engine, +and the game is annotated with the results from this analysis. +In particular the score and depth of the engine's +final PV line are stored, +(so later appear in the PGN as comments, when you save the game), +and the PV itself is added as a comment in PGN variation format. +

+
+ + +

Using arbitrary graphics for the board

+

+In XBoard the graphics for the squares used to come +together with those for the pieces. +This made all squares of the same color look exactly the same. +The human eye is very sensitive to such spatial repetition. +It is now possible to use an arbitrary image as texture for the board squares. +The options -liteBackTextureFile and -darkBackTextureFile, +which were already working in WinBoard, can now also be used in XBoard +to accomplish this. +They must specify a pixmap file that is at least as large as a board square. +If the pixmap is larger, XBoard will cut the squares from it with +as little overlap as possible, to prevent repetitive patterns. +If you supply a pixmap larger than the entire board, +the squares cut from them are not overlapping at all, +and are cut in a way that centers them on the largest squares +that could be cut from the pixmap without overlapping. +This is useful when you want to supply a pixmap of a complete +Xiangqi board, and then want to use it at a different square size. +

+

Highlight moves with arrow

+

+XBoard now also allows highlighting of the last move with an arrow. +This allows you to set the width of the grid lines to zero, +for a nicer look of the board when you use textures, +and still highlight the move. +(Not for pre-move yet, sorry.) +A menu item in the Option menu controls this feature. +

Variant engines can setup the opening position

+

+General support for variants has been enhanced by extending +WinBoard protocol with a command that an engine can use to set up +the opening position of a variant that XBoard does not know. +When XBoard at the beginning of the game, when legality testing is off, +receives a 'setup' command from the first engine, +it takes the setting of the pieceToCharTable and FEN for the +initial position from this command. +In all other cases the command is ignored. +The second engine will receive the start position from XBoard, +and the game counts as having been started from a setup position. +Fairy-Max uses this feature to play, (amongst others), +Spartan Chess, (picture on the left), which requires two Kings, +and thus cannot be mapped on the standard opening position +for variants where white and black have different pieces +(as is used in variant fairy). +

+ + -- 1.7.0.4