bsetup Usage: bsetup [argument] Summary: Bsetup mode is a special form of the "examine" mode that allows you to set up any position you want and then use examine mode to analyze it. The standard alias for "bsetup" is "setup". ENTERING BSETUP MODE ------------------- There are two ways to enter bsetup mode: from scratch and from "examine" mode. The difference in the two procedures concerns the start position of the board in bsetup mode: empty board versus a board position. (a) FROM SCRATCH -- When nothing else is active (that is, you are not playing or examining another game), type either "bsetup" or "examine setup". The board will be totally empty when you enter bsetup mode; you will have to place all of the pieces where you want to have them. (b) FROM WITHIN EXAMINE MODE -- Typing "bsetup" during examine mode (namely while you are examining a game) places you in "examine bsetup" mode. The move list is cleared and a new move list will be established. However, the current board position will be used as the starting board position; you can then modify that position and arrange the pieces to be where you want them to be. USING BSETUP MODE ---------------- There are several commands you can use in order to create a board position and designate which side is going to move next. BSETUP CLEAR -- Typing the command "bsetup clear" will give you a new, blank, empty board. BSETUP START -- Typing the command "bsetup start" will give you the regular starting position for a game of chess. BSETUP board_category board -- You can load a non-standard board position if you want. The chess server has several non-standard boards. They can be listed by using the "board" command. For example, "boards openings" will list the various openings you can start a game from and "boards wild" will list "wild" opening positions. Note: you must first be in bsetup mode in order to create a given board position. To create a suicide game, type "bsetup suicide". BESETUP FEN position -- You can also set up complete board positions by supplying a FEN position. For example: bsetup fen rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/3P4/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR You have to indicate the pieces and blank squares on each rank of the chess board, starting with rank 8 (Black's back rank) and going from the a-file to the h-file. The '/' mark divides one rank of pieces from another. Letters in CAPS mean a White piece (such as 'K' for White King); small letters mean a Black piece (such as 'k' for Black King). The numbers (such as 1, 3, 4 and 8) refer to the number of *consecutive* blank squares. For example, the fen position given above is the one that occurs when White opens the game with Pd3. NOTE: You just give the board position, not which side is to move; use "tomove" to modify whose move it is. Placing pieces -- There are two formats for placing pieces: case sensitive and designate color. Either one works. Here is a table of the formats. For the "square" portion, enter a square in algebraic notation, such as e4 or h5. You can use either "@" or "*" as the special symbol. CASE SENSITIVE DESIGNATE COLOR Piece White Black White Black ----- -------- -------- --------- --------- king K@square k@square wk@square bk@square queen Q@square q@square wq@square bq@square rook R@square r@square wr@square br@square bishop B@square b@square wb@square bb@square knight N@square n@square wn@square bn@square pawn P@square p@square wp@square bp@square Clearing a square -- There are two ways you can clear a square and make it empty: either place an 'x' (meaning empty piece) or "clear" the square. x@square clrsquare square bsetup clearsquare square For example, "x@e4", "clrsquare e4" and "bsetup clearsquare e4" would all have the same effect: making e4 an open square. NOTE: you do not have to clear a square before placing a piece. For example, if there is a Black Queen on e5, placing a Black Pawn on e5 will automatically remove the Black Queen. BSETUP TOMOVE white|black -- Typing "bsetup tomove white" will have White be the player to move next. Typing "bsetup tomove black" will have Black be the player to move next. NOTE: You do not need to include the "bsetup" part of the command; the "tomove" command works alone once you are in bsetup mode. BSETUP wcastle |bcastle -- You may also set the castling rights for the game. Use "bsetup wcastle " and "bsetup bcastle " to set the castling rights for White and Black respectively. The possible 'rights' are: none (no castling) kside (kingside only) qside (queenside only) both (both sides) When you load a board using bsetup the rights are set up automatically. On a cleared board both player's rights are set to 'none'. Therefore if you use a ready made board and move the rooks and kings around, you will need to set the appropriate castling rights. Castling rights are validated when you exit bsetup; if the rights are invalid, you will receive an error message. BSETUP EPPOS -- You can indicate whether an "en passant" capture is possible, as if a pawn had just been advanced two squares. In this case, you need to specify the file of the pawn (a - h). For example, "bsetup eppos c" would mean that a pawn on the c-file has just been moved from c7-c5 or from c2-c4, depending on the "tomove" setting. NOTE: You need to have a pawn on the right square and have the correct player "tomove" in order for the eppos command to work; otherwise, you will get an error message. RULES -- Lastly! You can also change the rules for the chess game. There are different rules for suicide chess, of course ("help suicide_chess"); but there are also different castling rules for Fischer Random chess ("help fr") and for certain kinds of wild chess ("help wild"). In order to use the correct rules, you need to use bsetup to change them. bsetup fischer [for Fischer Random chess] bsetup standard [for normal chess -- this is the default] bsetup suicide [for suicide chess] bsetup wild [for wild chess] EXITING BSETUP MODE ------------------ BSETUP DONE -- Typing "bsetup done" will exit bsetup mode and start examine mode. However, the position will be validated first. For example, the player who is not about to move cannot be in check, pawns cannot be on the 1st or 8th ranks, each side must have a king, neither side can have more than one king. If the position is valid, you will enter examine mode next. If the position is invalid, a message will be sent to you and you will remain in bsetup mode. UNEXAMINE -- Typing "unexamine" at any point will immediate cancel both bsetup and examine modes. SPECIAL NOTES: (a) Games in bsetup mode will be listed in the "games" display. (b) Users in bsetup mode will have comments to that effect in their finger displays and will have the symbol "#" next to their handles in "who" displays. "Tells" to users in bsetup mode will give the feedback that the user is in bsetup mode. (c) You cannot create a position and then play a match with an opponent. However, you can examine a game with another user, use "mexamine" to allow the other user to move the pieces, and you can alternate moves back and forth as if you were playing a game. You will be in examine mode the whole time, of course, and the game will not appear in "history" displays. (d) At present, you cannot use "jsave" in order to save an examined or bsetup game to your "journal". This capability is being developed. (e) A standard alias for "bsetup" is "setup". (f) You can change the names of the players of the game by using the "wname" and "bname" commands. See also: alias bname board clrsquare examine finger fr games handle history journal jsave mexamine suicide_chess tell unexamine who wild wname [Last modified -- October 30, 1997 -- Friar]