3 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.7.1/ )
5 bugfix release for 4.7.0
8 * fixed texinfo 5.0 problems
9 * Work-around for Xt selection bug
10 * Add -backupSettingsFile option
11 * Make skipping of unknown option smarter
12 * Let popping up of WinBoard chatbox for channel open it
13 * Fix vertical sizing of GTK board
14 * Fix buffer overflow in feature parsing
15 * Accept setup command for non-standard board size
16 * Fix fatal error on unsupported board size
18 * Let XBoard -autoBox option also affect move type-in
19 * Fix spurious popup after batch-mode Analyze Game
20 * Fix saving of analyzed game
21 * Provide compatibility with Alien Edition setup command
22 * Fix quoting of book name in tourney file
23 * Fix disappearence of pieces that were moved illegally
24 * Fix horrible bug in reading scores from PGN
25 * Print score of final position in Analyze Game
26 * Fix GTK SetInsertPos
27 * Fix scrolling of Chat Box
28 * Make Chat Box window obey -topLevel option
29 * Fix Xaw file browser
35 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.7.0/ )
37 * Code refactoring of XBoard
38 * The old X11 front-end has been largely rewritten,
39 so that all windows are now created by a single
41 * XBoard now uses the Cairo library for all drawing
42 * Pixmaps and bitmaps no longer supported;
43 XBoard now uses PNG and SVG images instead.
44 * An alternative (as yet experimental) front-end
45 using GTK has been added
47 * Interactive Analysis
48 * Excluding moves from analysis by playing them
49 * Excluded-moves header in Engine Output window
50 * Analyzing with two engines simultaneously
51 * Annotating an entire muti-game file
52 * Analysing positions by Monte-Carlo play
54 * Other New Functionality
55 * Displaying player logos (XB)
56 * Player logo on ICS can be based on player handle
57 * Chat boxes for XBoard
58 * Narrowing down of position searches
59 * Copying pieces when editing a position
60 * Starting WinBoard through drag & drop
61 * Recalling fully configured engines and ICS
62 * Creating an opening book from a game file
64 * Automatically observing partner games with dual-board
66 * Interface Improvements
67 * Recognizes file type of lone argument by extension
68 * Default startup settings configurable per mode
69 * Separate menu items for loading 1st and 2nd engine
70 * Engines can be selected from listboxes
71 * Grouping of engines in the installed-engines list
72 * Stay in Analyze or Game Start mode after engine loading
73 * 'Continue Later' button in WB tournament dialog
74 * A new --help option (XB)
75 * A second board window for observing ICS games (XB)
76 * Smoother graphics and a resizable board (XB)
77 * A rejuvenated file browser (XB Xaw)
78 * Scrolling listboxes with mouse wheel (XB Xaw)
79 * Tabbing through dialog etry fields (XB Xaw)
80 * Adapt width of auxilliary windows on board resize (WB)
81 * External piece bitmaps (WB)
82 * Border around the board (WB)
83 * Saving settings as themes (WB)
86 * Grayout of Analysis menu item in zippy mode
87 * Crash on flagging in -st mode
88 * Keep track of virginity in variant seirawan FENs
89 * Immunity to capitalized promo pieces
90 * Avoid board sizes with unavailabile variant pieces
91 * Work-around for FICS violation of SAN
92 * Check validity of tourney participants
93 * Loop-Chess promotions with legality testing on
94 * Fix -fSAN option in Analyze File mode
95 * Scrolling of Engine Output after PV walk (XB)
96 * Start browsing in currently-selected folder (WB)
97 * Allow entry of fractional timeIncrement (WB)
98 * Resolve conflict between -mps and -inc options
99 * Size of mini-Shogi promotion zone
100 * Adjudication of stalemate and perpetuals in Shogi
101 * Rep-draw detection in drop games
102 * Insufficient-material draws in Knightmate
103 * Replacing of engine in non-last game position
104 * Sweep selection of promo-piece in click-click move
105 * Don't save aborted games in tourney PGN
106 * Remember ponder, book and other settings in tourney file
107 * Do not erase PGN tags on engine loading
108 * Solved feature problems with engine loading in match mode
109 * Re-send option settings to -xreuse engine
110 * Allow use of 'shadow' promotion pieces in any variant
111 * WinBoard did not always start in its installation folder
112 * Initialization of 'Twice' checkbox in Tournament dialog (WB)
113 * Clearing of marker dots after mode or settings change
114 * some smaller bugfixes
117 (for a more detailed list with screenshots see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.6.2/ )
118 bugfix relase for 4.6.1
119 * Suppress clear-board message after pasting FEN
120 * Fix faking of castling rights after editing position with holdings
121 * Fix second-engine variant test
124 (for a more detailed list with screenshots see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.6.1/ )
126 bugfix release for 4.6.0
128 * Fix memory corruption bug on second-engine loading (through menu or in tournament),
129 which could destroy -firstInitString
130 * Fix bug loading a new engine through the menu (not loading it with the full game,
131 but just upto the current move)
132 * Prefix engine command with "./" when a pathname is split up during install, so the engine actually runs (XB)
133 * Fix fall-back to -ncp mode when engine does not start (cutting short the feature timeout)
134 * Fix bug in position search for FRC castlings (where a King could 'fall off' the board)
135 * Add a message to inform the user how to clear the board, in sweep-select edit-position mode
136 * Fix a bug that could stop the clock when the board window was dragged (XB)
137 * Fix switching off highlighting during game (so last highlights do not remain for the rest of the game)
138 * Allow user to enter the name of a non-existing file when browsing for a save file (WB)
139 * Make sure rarely used engine-related options (such as -firstNPS) are also correctly loaded during session
140 * Correctly handle parsing of Crazyhouse promotions with legality-testing off
141 * Fix click-click detour under-promotions, which were not working for non-captures
142 * Don't strip path from engine command if directory is explicitly given in Load Engine dialog
143 * Consistently make auxiliary windows top level-shells or not, with new -topLevel option (XB)
144 * No longer fatal if second engine does not support current variant (just refuse Two Machines mode)
145 * Scroll XBoard game list to keep selected item in view (XB)
146 * Suppress spurious error popup when starting observing of bughouse games
147 * Fix vertical axis ticks in eval graph with drop games
148 * Put title on same line as menu bar only for -size 72 and larger (with -titleInWindow, XB)
149 * Properly open and close debug file when switching debug mode through key binding Ctrl-D (XB)
153 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.6.0/ )
156 * Loading and installing engines through the menu
157 * Running tournaments with more than two partipants
158 * Stopping a match between two engines
159 * Replacing a tourney participant
160 * Playing openings in color-reversed pairs
161 * Perpetual chasing in Xiangqi
163 * Interface Improvements
164 * Auto-Queen, and still under-promote?
165 * Piece fonts and figurine fonts
166 * Displaying PVs as SAN
167 * Small scores in the Eval Graph
168 * How close is the 50-move draw?
169 * Sign of the engine scores
171 * Interactive Analysis
172 * Playing moves from the PV
173 * Rapidly changing the number of PVs
174 * Setting the other side to move in analysis
175 * Annotating a game with an engine
177 * Other New Functionality
178 * Searching a position in a PGN file
179 * Editing the opening book
181 * XBoard -> WinBoard Convergence
182 * Exporting the game list (XB)
183 * A move type-in box (XB)
184 * New-style Move History window (XB)
188 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.3a/ )
190 * only changes to Winboard : build non JAW by default, fix compile errors
194 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.3/ )
196 * fixes of major bugs:
197 * In the file-browse dialog . and .. no longer mask other files if they are non-first in the directory
198 * Fix XBoard crash on showing an empty Engine Settings dialog, printing a message in stead
199 * The XBoard Game List can now handle files with more than 1900 games, by paging through them
200 * The state of the Move-History window is now remembered by XBoard even when the Engine-Output window is up
201 * Fix crash on switching sounds in WinBoard under Windows Vista
202 * Fix empty-string option values on XBoard command line (which were ignored)
203 * Fix spurious vertical scrolling in XBoard Engine-Output window on clicking in it
204 * Obey an engine's san feature when sending book moves to it
205 * Fix XBoard crash when 'filtering' made Game List empty
206 * Suppress clearing of Engine-Output window on automatic updates in analyze mode
207 * Force Move-History refresh after loading/reverting variation
208 * Fix closing brace, when joining two comments to same move
210 * fixes of minor bugs:
211 * Suppress playing sounds when no -soundProgram is set
212 * Fix display of last move of last match game
213 * Update window title after last game of match
214 * Never one-click move when legality testing is off
215 * Suppress playing book move when total weigth of all moves is zero
216 * Restore echo after ^C killed XBoard during ICS password
217 * Fix default of -remoteUser, which could cause crash when playing remote engines
218 * Fix recognition of separators between options in -adapterCommand command line
219 * Fix button sizing in generic popup
220 * Fix translatability of 'Spartan Chess' menu item WB
221 * Remove some duplicats from WB language template file
222 * Fix spurious 'Unfinished' sounds during ICS examining
223 * Fix bug in handling of partner command in zippy-mode bughouse games
224 * Create more space in some WB dialogs to accomodate translations
226 * Improvements benefitting the speaking version for the visually impaired (WB):
227 * Implement NVDA support in JAWS version
228 * Fix translation of spoken composite messages
229 * Fix JAWS reading of Engine-Settings dialog by removing group-boxes
230 * Add tab stops in WB generic popup
231 * Reorder controls in Engine-Setings dialog WB, so they are tabbed through in logical order
233 * fixed compiler warnings/errors and portability:
234 * Fix use of random function in XBoard shuffle dialog callback
235 * Fix inconsistent type of the variable 'shuffleOpenings'
236 * Silence warnings during rpm build
237 * Fix warnings XBoard file browser
238 * Fix some warnings and header-file improvement
241 * Add -at and -opt options as alternative for @, as work-around for Windows shortcut bug
242 * Make occurrence of unknown option in settings file non-fatal
243 * Stale output no longer lingers in the engine-output window when a new game starts
244 * Popdown (stale) Comment window on new game
246 ** Version 4.5.2a (Winboard only)**
248 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.2/ )
250 * Fix Engine Settings button options in WinBoard
254 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.2/ )
257 * Added many option dialogs and reworked some of the old ones
259 * bugfixes, packaging and install:
261 * Fix flipBlack option XBoard with board texture
262 * Fix two bugs in reading position diagram
263 * Fix parsing bug of FRC castling
264 * Fix bugs in FRC castling rights
265 * Fix display of promotion piece in ICS superchess
266 * Fix path browsing in WinBoard
267 * Fix use of game/position file in first match game
268 * Fix build on Mac OS X
269 * install bitmaps and sounds during "make install"
270 * some minor bug fixes
271 * code cleanup (e.g. 64 bit warnings, removed malloc.h)
275 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.1/ )
278 * Revert "Implement -reset option feature in WinBoard"
279 * Fix deselection of greyed-out variant button (WB)
280 * Put warning in HTML help
281 * Fix unmarked translation
283 * Fix variant janus size prefix
284 * Fix Xiangqi King facing
285 * Fix showing of user move after adjudication
286 * Make language choice from menu persistent
288 * Fix some resource leaks
290 * fixed packaging issues:
291 * add DIFFSTAT and SHORTLOG to tar-ball
292 * added history.c to the tar-ball. Needed for Winboard
294 * fixed compiler warnings/errors:
295 * added missing header file for sprintf
296 * added missing #includes and missing prototypes to filebrowser
297 * Fix MSVC compilability
298 * Fix 64-bit Windows compilability
299 * Fix MSVC snprintf problem
301 * fixed configure problems:
302 * fixed configure script to correctly detect Xaw3d library
303 * updated configure.ac to check for Xaw header files
306 * Fix two typos in option names in texi file
311 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.0/ for more details)
315 * User specific settings files
316 * More logical (and standard) menu structure
317 * Translation into other languages (WB)
318 * Walking the PV of an engine
319 * Exploring variations
320 * Playing through PGN variations
321 * Annotating a game with analysis results
323 * Controlling move choice of the GUI book
324 * Keeping the clock in sync in tournaments
325 * Starting an engine match from the menu
326 * Fixed thinking time per move
327 * Improved multi-PV support
328 * Where your pieces can move to
329 * Editing crazyhouse holdings
330 * Thai Chess (Makruk) and Seirawan Chess
331 * Non-compliant FEN and SAN input
332 * Improved Xiangqi adjudications
333 * Allowing engines to setup a position
335 Merging XBoard & WinBoard
336 ------------------------------
337 * Evaluation graph (XB)
339 * Filtering the game list (XB)
340 * Game-List options dialog (XB)
341 * Recalling the ICS input history (XB)
342 * Aribtrary board textures (XB)
343 * Highlight arrow (XB)
345 ICS-client Enhancements
346 -----------------------
347 * Maintaining a healty ICS connection
348 * Claiming a draw after your move
351 * Observing your bughouse partner
352 * Improved Chat-Box interface (WB)
353 * Uploading games to an ICS
354 * Side-by-side boards
359 * Repair exit-popup deadlock patch
360 * Fix bug in sending "usermove" when forcing book moves
361 * Let move parser return ImpossibleMove for off-board moves
362 * Prevent engine stall on perpetual-chase evasion
363 * Pop down old tags on loadng new game in WinBoard
364 * Fix game end during dragging
365 * Repair animate dragging
366 * Fix bug in sending cores command to engine
367 * Fix parsing of SAN shogi promotions
368 * Fix variant switch on PGN loading
369 * Allow -flipBlack to work with font-based piece rendering
370 * Allow font-based piece rendering in board sizes below petite
371 * Fix WinBoard game-list title
372 * Fix deadlock in match-result display
373 * Fix regression in colorization of zippy-matched commands
374 * Fix zippy handling of draw offers from ICS
375 * Make some more zippy code obey the --disable-zippy flag
376 * Remove unnecessary double equals from configure.ac.
377 * Cut board squares out of texture bitmap more cleverly
382 * Implement castling for variant CRC
383 * Extensive bugfix of -autoKibitz
384 * Accept <Enter> for changing chat partner
385 * Change opening array -variant fairy
386 * Send continuation lines to chat box they belong to
387 * Use -keepAlive option to determine connection health
388 * Fix of ancient WinBoard bug: check value of int options
389 * Fix bug for incommensurate time odds
390 * Fix piece-to-char table -variant fairy
391 * Fix TwoKings ICS castling-rights bug
392 * Fix reading castling rights FEN in knightmate and twokings
393 * Fix OO-castling in FRC after pasting FEN
394 * Fix bug in display of logos
395 * Fix highlighting bug in XBoard
396 * Match handles with multiple titles for channel Chat Boxes
397 * Make WinBoard makefiles use parser.c in XBoard directory
398 * Added missing sounds files to be able to compile on windows
399 * Added logo files for xboard
400 * Bugfix stale first-click
401 * Fix copying of WB Chat Window contents
402 * Fix XB crash on giving keyboard focus to non-text widget
403 * Bugfix copying from Chat Box, own lines
404 * Fix 'mamer bug' in Chat Boxes
405 * Fix copying of kibitzed lines from WB Engine-Output window
406 * Do not recognize non-ICS variants from PGN event tag
407 * Remake programVersion string after receiving engine features
408 * Set keyboard focus at startup to board window
409 * Fix window-position upset on failing engine start in WinBoard
410 * Allow lower-case promochar in moves of type h8=Q
411 * Small bugfixed for JAWS version
416 * add Winboard source files into tar-ball
417 * remove trailing \r in xboard output
418 * double buffer size to prevent overflow
419 * fix problem with empty string in -firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN
420 * updates makefiles to include dependency on config.h
421 * correctly apply some check boxes from the option menu
422 * score sign in analysis mode
423 * fix for bug #28077: xboard needs to link against x11
424 * fix castling rights when copying FEN to clipboard (again)
425 * fixed some outstanding pixmaps
426 * fix the irritating wandering off of the MoveHistory window in XBoard on opening/closing.
427 * use xtell for talking to handles, but tell for talking into a channel.
428 * fix bug in bughouse drop menu
429 * removing some rather verbose debug messages that seem no longer needed.
430 * fix engine-sync on move-number type-in bug
431 * fix declaration of engineOutputDialogUp
432 * fix double start of zippy engine after switch to gothic
433 * the last move before the time control now gets its time listed in the PGN
434 * fix casting rights after FEN pasting
435 * fix crash on engine crash
436 * fixed build on openbsd
437 * cleaned up some debug messages and typos
438 * removed files that should only be in the windboard directory
439 * added missing library for build on OS X
443 * added chat windows to keep track of multiple conversations (WinBoard only)
444 * allow the result comment as a display item in the game list
445 * added a "Mute All Sounds" item in the WinBoard Options menu
446 * new -forceIllegalMoves option
447 * new -keepAlive option (for ICS play)
448 * ported -autoDisplayComment and -autoDisplayTags to xboard, controling popups
449 * replaces analysispopup with engineoutputpopup in xboard
450 * allow copy/paste position and game to use clipboard (xboard)
451 * updated several bitmaps (xboard)
452 * Made the beep sounds for JAWS board navigation configurable
453 through command-line options
454 * added the result comment to the game-list tags when the game
455 list is exported to the clipboard
457 * fixed premove problem
458 * fixed engine did not start playing when out of GUI book on second
460 * fix bug using opening books (file were not closed)
461 * fixed crash when opening Engine #1 Settings when there were no
462 text-edit options in the dialog
463 * fixed loading of games from command lines, fixes cmail bug
464 * fix joining lines split by ICS and resizing terminal window when using ICS
465 (new option -keepLineBreaksICS, -wrapContinuationSequence, -useInternalWrap)
466 * fixed -autoDisplayComment
467 * fixed wrong default value for engineDebugOutput in xboard
468 * swapped 'tell' and 'message' parsing order for correct colorization.
469 * fixed parse bug for pgn files
470 * fix for edit-position "moves" being sent by XBoard to the engine
471 * bugfix for protocol extensions: egtbpath -> egtpath
473 * further bugfixes: #8847, #10990, #27427, #27642,
474 #27666, #27667, #27668, #27715, #27751, #27760,
475 #27772, #27799, #27826 and several small ones
476 * use "make distcheck" to generate tar-balls
477 * prepared a system to internationalize winboard menus
478 * improved mouse handler
479 * rewrote wevalgraph for better frontend/backend separation
484 A new release of both XBoard and WinBoard is now available. Version
485 4.4.0 includes many changes. It is the first major release of
486 xboard/winboard after a fork of the project after version 4.2.7. It
487 includes small changes made in the main line and changes made by a
488 fork of Alessandro Scotti and lots of changes made afterwards by
489 H.G. Muller (released as versions 4.3.x). This release represents a
490 unified version of all changes made after the fork. It includes many
491 new features and bugfixes.
493 You can get both XBoard and WinBoard from the Savannah
496 https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/
498 If you find a bug, please report it in the bug tracker at
499 https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/ or by email to bug-xboard
505 New command-line options
506 /niceEngines=N for adjusting the priority of engine processes so they don't soak up all your system resources
507 /firstOptions="..." Allows the setting of options that engines define through the feature option="..." commands
509 /firstLogo=filename.bmp Displays the mentioned bitmap next to the clock (with H:W =1:2 aspect ratio) (WB only)
510 /secondLogo=filename.bmp
511 /autoLogo=false get logo files automatically from engineDirectory\logo.bmp
513 General enhancements:
514 * New WB-protocol command: 'feature option="NAME -TYPE VALUE OTHER"', which engines can use to define options
515 * New WB-protocol command: 'option NAME VALUE' used to set value of engine-defned options.
516 * implements /delayAfterQuit and /delayBeforeQuit in XBoard, and uses SIGKILL to terminate rogue engine processes
521 New command-line options
522 /rewindIndex=N (for the new auto-increment mode of the loadGameIndex or loadPositionIndex in match mode)
523 /sameColorGames=N (for playing a match where the same player has white all the time)
524 /egtFormats="..." (for specifying where various end-game tables are installed on the computer)
527 + Time-odds factors can be set in the time-control dialog
528 + Nr of CPUs for SMP engines can be set in the Options -> UCI dialog
529 + Own-Book options can be switched from the Options -> UCI dialog
530 + The ScoreIsAbs options can be set from the Options -> Engine dialog
531 + New-Variant menu adds Superchess
533 General Enhancements:
534 * WinBoard engines can now also use the Polyglot opening book (implemented as general GUI book)
535 * New WB-protocol commands memory, cores and egtpath make interactive setting of these parameters
536 possible on WB engines
537 * New Polyglot is available that relays the interactive setting of these parameters to UCI engines
538 * Match mode suports an auto-increment mode, so that all games or positions from a file can be played
539 * Draw claims with Kings and an arbitrary number of like Bishops (e.g. KBBKB) are accepted
541 The source tree in original xboard 4.2.7 format can now be compiled under Cygwin with the aid
542 of the cygwin.mak file in the ~/winboard/ subdirectory of the source releasy, after you put
543 the hep-file from an executabl distribution there. Maefiles for other compilers are not updated
544 since 4.2.7, as I do not have those compilers.
549 This relaese was not made by the GNU xboard team, but by H.G.Muller.
550 It mainly contains developments on WinBoard. Nevertheless, an attempt
551 has been started to back-port the enormous number of improvements that
552 have been made to WinBoard since the Linux and Windows developments branched
553 to xboard. This is reflected by the source tree now having the same format
554 as that of xboard 4.2.7, including all the xboard sources.
556 An enormous amount of work still has to be done to make the xboard version
557 fully equivalent to WinBoard, especially on user-interface side. As a modest
558 beginning, the xboard source files have been patched to allow their compilation
559 with the newer back-end files from WinBoard. To this end, the number of piece
560 types in xboard has been increased from 6 to 22, and the WinBoard bitmaps
561 have been converted to xboard source format (.bm) and are included in the
562 xboard bitmaps directory. Other quick patches include the coloring of the
563 board squares (for xiangqi and holdings), and some code in the user-move
564 handling to suppress all moves into or out of the area between board and
565 holdings in crazyhouse, and the treatment of king-captures-own-piece
566 as a possibly valid move (for FRC castling). This should make it possible
567 to run xboard with the new back-end files without too much inconvenience.
569 New xboard command-line options have been added to make the added back-end
570 features available. The include the new variants (as argument of the old
571 -variant option), -boardWidth, -boardHeight and -holdingsSize. Be sure
572 to call xboard with "-boardSize middling" or "-boardSize bulky" if you
573 want to play with fairy pieces, or xboard might crash due to unavailability
574 of bitmaps. Other added xboard options are:
576 ADJUDICATION OPTIONS:
583 -adjudicateLossThreshold
600 -hideThinkingFromHuman
602 This is all completely untested, but as the options merely switch on well-tested
603 code in the back-end, there should not be too many problems with them.
604 Bugs can be reported in the WinBoard forum.
607 ** Version 4.3.14k **
609 Compared to version 4.3.13 described below, this version features
611 New command-line options:
612 /autoKibitz (for relaying the PV info of the engine to the ICS)
613 /userName="..." (for setting the name of the Human player, also as menu)
614 /engineDebugOutput=N (controlling the writing of engine output to debug file)
615 /firstNPS=N (for time management by node count or CPU time)
616 /secondNPS=N (likewise for the other engine)
619 + Enter Username (same as /userName command-line option)
620 + Save Diagram (for saving the Chessboard display as bitmap file)
621 + Machine Both (not implemented yet, but menu item already provided)
622 + New-Variant menu adds CRC, Janus and Berolina (the latter only with legality testing off!)
623 + Any variant can be played from a shuffled opening setup
626 * Problems with switching the variant in ICS zippy mode solved
627 * In ICS observing mode game history is now fully accessible
628 * Moves are not fed to engine in zippy mode, when observing a game from a variant unknown to the engine
629 * a problem with loading PGN of FRC games with move disambiguation and initial castling rights was fixed.
630 * A bug in the clock display that made previous versions of WinBoard crash for tiny displays is fixed
632 General enhancements:
633 * variant name displayed in title bar in ICS mode, when not 'normal'
634 * when receiving a challenge in ICS zippy mode, it is checked if the engine supports the variant (/zippyVariants="..." can still be used to limit the allowed variants, and for protocol-1 engines is still the only thing to go on)
635 * when loading a game from a PGN file, WB automatically switches to the variant specified in the PGN tags
636 * when starting from a loaded position (using /loadPositionFile), this position will be used on subsequent 'New Game' commands as well (until we switch variant)
638 New is also that the source tree is now brought back in the original WinBoard 4.2.7 format, including
639 xboard source files. Note, however, that the xboard sources are from an older date, and I did not test
640 if they still compile together with the much newer backend sources. I did add code in xboard.c to recognize
641 the new command-line options I added since then, and in so far they are back-end options that should be enough
642 to make them work. This is completely untested, though; I did not even try to compile it. Last time anyone
643 built a working xboard.exe from this was at a stage where WinBoard did have adjustable board size, allowing
644 it to play Xiangqi. But no crazyhouse holdings yet.
647 ** Version 4.3.13a **
649 This version of WinBoard_F fixes several bugs in 4.3.12, and also addse a few new features.
650 The new features include:
651 - some more fairy pieces, so that each side now has 22 piece types in stead of 17,
652 making most fairy pieces available in board size "petite" (next to "bulky" and "middling"),
653 making the ArchBishop and Chancellor, as well as one wildcard piece (the Lance) available in all
654 sizes from "petite" to "bulky".
655 - The FRC support is fully fixed, both in local and ICS mode.
656 - A mechanism is provided for safe draw claiming in cases where a 3-fold repetition woud occur only
657 after your own move. In this case a draw will be awarded by WinBoard if the engine sends "offer draw"
658 before making its move.
659 - Genuine draw offers are not passed on immediately to the opponent but held up to when the offerer announces
661 - Variants FRC, Cylinder and Falcon are added to the "New Variant..." menu.
662 - Support for playing time-odds games is added. (Options /firstTimeOdds, /secondTimeOdds, /timeOddsMode)
663 - A mechanism is provided for attaching WinBoard options to the engine command, to create options that
664 follow the engine (e.g. time odds) in a tournament run under a tournament manager.
666 - Shatranj in ICS mode (did not work at all before)
667 - Some draw adjudications (QRKR was mistaken for KRKR, and KBKB with like Bishops is now recognized)
668 - time info in the PGN is now correct
670 ** Winboard_F.4.3.12 release notes
672 This WinBoard (beta-)version is derived from Allessandro Scotti's
673 Winboard_x, and supports the following new options, mainly in the area
674 of adjudication of engine-engine games, improved Crazyhouse support,
675 and allowing variants with non-conventional pieces and or board
676 sizes. (All option are shown here with their default values):
679 This (already existing) option has been expanded with
680 several new variants, involving non-conventional pieces and deviating
681 board sizes. The board size is automatically adapted to the selected
682 variant, unless explicitly overruled (see below). The new variants are
683 (with default board size, files x ranks, in parentheses):
685 variant name Game board description
686 knightmate Knightmate (8x8) Variant where the King moves as a Knight, and vice versa
687 capablanca Capablanca Chess (10x8) Variant featuring Archbishop and Chancellor as new pieces
688 gothic Gothic Chess (10x8) Same as Capablanca, with a more interesting opening position
689 courier Courier Chess (12x8) a Medieval form that combines elements of Shatranj and modern Chess
690 shogi Shogi (9x9) Japanese Chess
691 xiangqi Xiangqi (9x10) Chinese Chess
692 fairy Fairy Chess (8x8) Variant were you can use all pieces of other variants together
694 The variant can be set from the newly added "File -> New Variant..."
695 sub-menu. Extra board files are indicated by the letters i, j, k, l,
696 ... For boards with more than 9 ranks, the counting starts at zero!
697 More than 10 ranks is not tested and unlikely to work in the area of
698 PGN saving / reading. Non-FIDE pieces will be referred to in FENs and
699 PGN by letters that depend on the variant, and might collide with
700 piece designators in other variants. E.g. in Xiangqi 'C' is a Cannon,
701 in Capablanca Chess it is a Chancellor. Pieces that do not belong in a
702 variant cannot be addressed in FEN and PGN either, for as long as that
703 variant is selected, unless the letter assignment is overruled with
704 the aid of the /pieceToCharTable option. The variant is not saved in
705 the winboard.ini file; on start-up we always get variant "normal"
706 unless we use the command-line option, or have added the option to the
707 winboard.ini file manually (in which case it will disappear when this
708 file is overwritten by WinBoard saving its options). WinBoard_F knows
709 the movement of all pieces occurring in Capablanca Chess (of which
710 FIDE Chess is a subset), Shatranj, Courier, Xiangqi and 9x9 Shogi, so
711 that these games can be played with legality testing enabled.
713 /pieceToCharTable="PNBRQFWEMOUHACGSKpnbrqfwemouhacgsk"
714 Each piece that WinBoard knows (in its legality test) has a letter
715 associated with it, by which it will be referred to in FEN or PGN. The
716 default assignment can be overruled with this option. The value has to
717 be a string of even length, with at least 12 characters. The first
718 half of the string designates the white pieces, the second half the
719 black. The last letter for each color will be assigned to the
720 King. (This is the piece that moves as an orthodox King; note that
721 Nightmate and Xiangqi have a different royal piece.) All letters
722 before it will be assigned to the other pieces in the order:
724 P Pawn (move often depends on variant)
725 N Knight (move subtly different in Xiangqi (where it is written as H) or Shogi)
728 Q Queen (Lance L in Shogi)
729 F Ferz/General (The Shatranj 'Queen' and Xiangqi 'Adviser', used for Silver General S in Shogi.)
730 W Wazir/GrandVizer (Gold General G in Shogi, in Xiangqi it is royal and denoted by K)
731 E Alfil/Elephant (Moves subtly different in Xiangqi vs Shatranj/Courier)
734 U Unicorn (representation of Royal Knight in Knightmate, used as promoted Pawn in Shogi)
735 H Nightrider (Promoted Knight in Shogi and CrazyHouse)
736 A Archbishop/Cardinal (Promoted Bishop in Shogi and CrazyHouse)
737 C Chancellor/Marshall (Promoted Rook in Shogi and CrazyHouse)
738 G Grasshopper (Promoted Queen in Crazyhouse, promoted Lance in Shogi)
739 S (Promoted Silver in Shogi)
742 Pieces that are not mentioned (because the argument has less than 34
743 characters) will remain disabled. Mentioned pieces can be disabled by
744 assigning them a '.' (period). They are then not recognized in FEN or
745 PGN input. Non-FIDE pieces that are not assigned a letter will also
746 not appear on the promotion menu. It is not advisable to disable a
747 piece that is present in the opening position of the selected variant,
749 Promoted pieces that need to be distinguished from original pieces of
750 the same type (because of demotion on capture and transfer to the
751 holdings) will be indicated by the letter for the unpromoted piece
752 with a '+' in front of it (Shogi), or by the letter of the promoted
753 piece with a '~' after it (Crazyhouse, Bughouse, in general everything
754 with holdings that is not Shogi). To achieve this, they should be
755 assigned the characters '+' or '~', respectively.
756 All the new pieces have a native bitmap representation in the board
757 sizes 'bulky' and 'middling'. For all window sizes that do not support
758 such fairy bitmaps, promoted NBRQ are represented as a 2-sizes-smaller
759 normal piece symbol, so that Crazyhouse can be played at any
760 size. People disliking the fairy representations might even prefer
762 There is an enhanced 'Edit Position' menu popup (right-clicking on the
763 squares after selecting this mode in the main menu), featuring some
764 common non-FIDE pieces, and 'promote' and 'demote' options to make
765 those not directly in the menu. The promotion popup shows ArchBishop
766 and Chancellor in Capablanca and Gothic, (or in fact in any game where
767 this piece is not disabled or a promoted version of a normal piece),
768 and leaves only the options YES / NO in Shogi. In Xiangqi there are no
771 /fontPieceToCharTable="PNBRQFWEMOUHACGSKpnbrqfwemouhacgsk"
772 This option is similar to /pieceToCharTable, but sets the font
773 character that is used to display the piece on the screen (when
774 font-based rendering is in use), rather than in the FEN or PGN. The
775 default setting should work with George Tsavdaris' WinboardF font,
776 which uses the 'intuitive' mapping of font characters to symbols. With
777 font-based rendering the fairy pieces can be used at any board size.
778 Note that UHACGS are also used to represent the promoted versions of
779 PNBRQF, in games like Crazyhouse and Shogi, where the promotion has to
780 be undone on capture. In such games you are likely to prefer a
781 different representation of those pieces then when they represent true
785 Traditional Shogi bitmaps are only included for size "moderate". For
786 other sizes you must depend on font-based rendering.
794 The option /materialDraws=TRUE causes games with insufficient mating
795 material to be adjudicated immediately as draws, in case the engines
796 would not claim these draws. This applies to KK, KNK and KBK. The
797 option /trivialDraws adjudicates KNNK, KBKB, KNKN, KBKN, KRKR and KQKQ
798 to draws after 3 moves (to allow for a quick tactical win). Note that
799 in KQKQ this might not be sound, but that problem would disappear once
800 bitbase probing is implemented.
803 The flag-fell condition is now indicated as '(!)' behind the displayed
804 time, to eliminate the necessity for overwriting the message in the
805 title bar (which might contain indispensible information in match
808 Other improvements / changes
809 Castling rights and e.p. rights are now fully maintained, and
810 considered in legality testing. They are imported from and written to
811 FEN, as is the 50-move counter. (When reading an incomplete FEN they
812 are still guessed, though.) The time (in sec, or min:sec) is now
813 always stored together with the PV information to the PGN, if storing
814 the latter was requested (through ticking "extended PGN info" in
815 "Options -> General..."). The saved time is the WinBoard clock time
816 (as opposed to the time reported by the engine).
818 ** Winboard_F.4.3.8 release notes
820 This Winboard supports the following new options (shown here with their default values):
823 This (already existing) option has been expanded with several new
824 variants, involving non-conventional pieces and deviating board
825 sizes. The board size is automatically adapted to the selected
826 variant, unless explicitly overruled (see below). The new variants are
827 (with default board size, files x ranks, in parentheses):
829 variant name Game board description
830 knightmate Knightmate (8x8) Variant where the King moves as a Knight, and vice versa
831 capablanca Capablanca Chess (10x8) Variant featuring Archbishop and Chancellor as new pieces
832 gothic Gothic Chess (10x8) Same as Capablanca, with a more interesting opening position
833 courier Courier Chess (12x8) a Medieval form that combines elements of Shatranj and modern Chess
834 shogi Shogi (9x9) Japanese Chess
835 xiangqi Xiangqi (9x10) Chinese Chess
836 fairy Fairy Chess (8x8) Variant were you can use all pieces of other variants together
838 The variant can be set from the newly added "File -> New Variant..." sub-menu.
839 Extra board files are indicated by the letters i, j, k, l, ... For
840 boards with more than 9 ranks, the counting starts at zero! Non-FIDE
841 pieces will be referred to in FENs and PGN by letters that depend on
842 the variant, and might collide with piece designators in other
843 variants. E.g. in Xiangqi 'C' is a Cannon, in Capablanca Chess it is a
844 Chancellor. Pieces that do not belong in a variant cannot be addressed
845 in FEN and PGN either as long as that variant is selected, unless the
846 letter assignment is overruled by the /pieceToCharTable option. The
847 variant is not saved in the winboard.ini file; on start-up we always
848 get variant "normal" unless we use the command-line opton, or have
849 added the option to the winboard.ini file manually (in which case it
850 will disappear when this file is overwritten). WinBoard_F knows the
851 movement of all pieces occurring in Capablanca Chess (of which FIDE
852 Chess is a subset), Shatranj, Courier, Xiangqi and 9x9 Shogi, so that
853 these games can be played with legality testing enabled.
855 /pieceToCharTable="PNBRQFWEMOUHACGSKpnbrqfwemouhacgsk"
856 Each piece that WinBoard knows (in its legality test) has a letter
857 associated with it, by which it will be referred to in FEN or PGN. The
858 default assignment can be overruled with this option. The value has to
859 be a string of even length, with at least 12 characters. The first
860 half of the string designates the white pieces, the second half the
861 black. The last letter for each color will be assigned to the
862 King. (This is the piece that moves as an orthodox King; note that
863 Nightmate and Xiangqi have a different royal piece.) All letters
864 before it will be assigned to the other pieces in the order:
866 P Pawn (move often depends on variant)
867 N Knight (move subtly different in Xiangqi (where it is written as H) or Shogi)
870 Q Queen (Lance L in Shogi)
871 F Ferz/General (Silver General S in Shogi)
872 W Wazir/GrandVizer (Gold General G in Shogi, in Xiangqi it is royal and denoted by K)
873 E Alfil/Elephant (Moves subtly different in Xiangqi vs Shatranj/Courier)
876 U Unicorn (representation of Royal Knight in Knightmate, used as promoted Pawn in Shogi)
877 H Nightrider (Promoted Knight in Shogi and CrazyHouse)
878 A Archbishop/Cardinal (Promoted Bishop in Shogi and CrazyHouse)
879 C Chancellor/Marshall (Promoted Rook in Shogi and CrazyHouse)
880 G Grasshopper (Promoted Queen in Crazyhouse, promoted Lance in Shogi)
881 S (Promoted Silver in Shogi)
884 Pieces that are not mentioned (because the argument has less than 34
885 characters) will remain disabled. Mentioned pieces can be disabled by
886 assigning them a '.' (period). They are then not recognized in FEN or
887 PGN input. It is not advisable to disable a piece that is present in
888 the opening position of the selected variant, though.
889 Promoted pieces that need to be distinguished from original pieces of
890 the same type (because of demotion on capture and transfer to the
891 holdings) will be indicated by the letter for the unpromoted piece
892 with a '+' in front of it (Shogi), or by the letter of the promoted
893 piece with a '~' after it (Crazyhouse, Bughouse, in general everything
894 with holdings that is not Shogi).
895 All the new pieces have a native biytmap representation in the board
896 sizes 'bulky' and 'middling'. For all window sizes that do not support
897 such fairy bitmaps, promoted NBRQ are represented as a 2-sizes-smaller
898 normal piece symbol, so that Crazyhouse can be played at any
899 size. People disliking the fairy representations might even prefer
901 There is an enhanced 'Edit Position' menu popup (right-clicking on the
902 squares after selecting this mode in the main menu), featuring some
903 common non-FIDE pieces, and 'promote' and 'demote' options to make
904 those not directly in the menu. The promotion popup shows ArchBishop
905 and Chancellor in Capablanca and Gothic, (or in fact in any game where
906 this piece is not disabled), and leaves only the options YES / NO in
907 Shogi. In Xiangqi there are no promotions.
910 This option does not seem to work for reading PGN files. Saving works
911 fine. For now, using it is not recommended. In the future it might be
912 redefined as only affecting engine-engine communication, .
915 Setting this option will cause upside-down display of the native piece
916 bitmaps used to represent the pieces of the side that plays black, as
917 would be needed for a traditional representation of Shogi pieces. It
918 can be set from the "Options -> Board..." sub-menu, and it is saved in
919 the winboard.ini file. For now, traditional Shogi bitmaps are not
922 Other improvements / changes
923 Castling rights and e.p. rights are now fully maintained, and
924 considered in legality testing. They are imported from and written to
925 FEN, as is the 50-move counter. The time (in sec, or min:sec) is now
926 always stored together with the PV information to the PGN, if storing
927 the latter was requested (through ticking 'extended PGN info' in
928 "Options -> General..."). The saved time is the Winboard clock time
929 (as opposed to the time reported by the engine).
931 ** Winboard_F.4.3.7 release notes
933 This Winboard supports the following new options (shown here with
934 their default values):
937 This (already existing) option has been expanded with several new
938 variants, involving non-conventional pieces and deviating board
939 sizes. The board size is automatically adapted to the selected
940 variant, unless explicitly overruled (see below). The new variants are
941 (with default board size, files x ranks, in parentheses):
943 variant name Game board description
944 knightmate Knightmate (8x8) Variant where the King moves as a Knight, and vice versa
945 capablanca Capablanca Chess (10x8) Variant featuring Archbishop and Chancellor as new pieces
946 gothic Gothic Chess (10x8) Same as Capablanca, with a more interesting opening position
947 courier Courier Chess (12x8) a Medieval form that combines elements of Shatranj and modern Chess
948 shogi Shogi (9x9) Japanese Chess
949 xiangqi Xiangqi (9x10) Chinese Chess
950 fairy Fairy Chess (8x8) Variant were you can use all pieces of other variants together
952 The variant can be set from the newly added "File -> New Variant..." sub-menu.
953 Extra board files are indicated by the letters i, j, k, l, ... For
954 boards with more than 9 ranks, the counting starts at zero! Non-FIDE
955 pieces will be referred to in FENs and PGN by letters that depend on
956 the variant, and might collide with piece designators in other
957 variants. E.g. in Xiangqi 'C' is a Cannon, in Capablanca Chess it is a
958 Chancellor. Pieces that do not belong in a variant cannot be addressed
959 in FEN and PGN either as long as that variant is selected, unless the
960 letter assignment is overruled by the /pieceToCharTable option. The
961 variant is not saved in the winboard.ini file; on start-up we always
962 get variant "normal" unless we use the command-line opton, or have
963 added the option to the winboard.ini file manually (in which case it
964 will disappear when this file is overwritten). WinBoard_F knows the
965 movement of all pieces occurring in Capablanca Chess (of which FIDE
966 Chess is a subset), Shatranj, Courier, Xiangqi and 9x9 Shogi, so that
967 these games can be played with legality testing enabled.
969 /pieceToCharTable="PNBRQFWEMOUHACGSKpnbrqfwemouhacgsk"
970 Each piece that WinBoard knows (in its legality test) has a letter
971 associated with it, by which it will be referred to in FEN or PGN. The
972 default assignment can be overruled with this option. The value has to
973 be a string of even length, with at least 12 characters. The first
974 half of the string designates the white pieces, the second half the
975 black. The last letter for each color will be assigned to the
976 King. (This is the piece that moves as an orthodox King; note that
977 Nightmate and Xiangqi have a different royal piece.) All letters
978 before it will be assigned to the other pieces in the order:
980 P Pawn (move often depends on variant)
981 N Knight (move subtly different in Xiangqi (where it is written as H) or Shogi)
984 Q Queen (Lance L in Shogi)
985 F Ferz/General (Silver General S in Shogi)
986 W Wazir/GrandVizer (Gold General G in Shogi, in Xiangqi it is royal and denoted by K)
987 E Alfil/Elephant (Moves subtly different in Xiangqi vs Shatranj/Courier)
990 U Unicorn (representation of Royal Knight in Knightmate, used as promoted Pawn in Shogi)
991 H Nightrider (Promoted Knight in Shogi and CrazyHouse)
992 A Archbishop/Cardinal (Promoted Bishop in Shogi and CrazyHouse)
993 C Chancellor/Marshall (Promoted Rook in Shogi and CrazyHouse)
994 G Grasshopper (Promoted Queen in Crazyhouse, promoted Lance in Shogi)
995 S (Promoted Silver in Shogi)
998 Pieces that are not mentioned (because the argument has less than 34
999 characters) will remain disabled. Mentioned pieces can be disabled by
1000 assigning them a '.' (period). They are then not recognized in FEN or
1001 PGN input. It is not advisable to disable a piece that is present in
1002 the opening position of the selected variant, though.
1003 Promoted pieces that need to be distinguished from original pieces of
1004 the same type (because of demotion on capture and transfer to the
1005 holdings) will be indicated by the letter for the unpromoted piece
1006 with a '+' in front of it (Shogi), or by the letter of the promoted
1007 piece with a '~' after it (Crazyhouse, Bughouse, in general everything
1008 with holdings that is not Shogi).
1009 All the new pieces have a native biytmap representation in the board
1010 sizes 'bulky' and 'middling'. For all window sizes that do not support
1011 such fairy bitmaps, promoted NBRQ are represented as a 2-sizes-smaller
1012 normal piece symbol, so that Crazyhouse can be played at any
1013 size. People disliking the fairy representations might even prefer
1015 There is an enhanced 'Edit Position' menu popup (right-clicking on the
1016 squares after selecting this mode in the main menu), featuring some
1017 common non-FIDE pieces, and 'promote' and 'demote' options to make
1018 those not directly in the menu. The promotion popup shows ArchBishop
1019 and Chancellor in Capablanca and Gothic, (or in fact in any game where
1020 this piece is not disabled), and leaves only the options YES / NO in
1021 Shogi. In Xiangqi there are no promotions.
1023 /fontPieceToCharTable="PNBRQFWEMOUHACGSKpnbrqfwemouhacgsk"
1024 This option is similar to /pieceToCharTable, but sets the font
1025 character that is used to display the piece on the screen (when
1026 font-based rendering is in use), rather than in the FEN or PGN. The
1027 default setting should work with the WinboardF font, which uses the
1028 'intuitive' mapping of font characters to symbols. Note that UHACGS
1029 are also used to represent the promoted versions of PNBRQF, in games
1030 like Crazyhouse and Shogi, where the promotion has to be undone on
1033 /boardWidth=-1 /boardHeight=-1
1034 Set a number of files and ranks of the playing board to a value that
1035 will override the defaults for the variant that is selected. A value
1036 of -1 means the variant default board size will be used for the
1037 corresponding parameter (and is itself the default value of these
1038 options). These parameters can be set in the "Files -> New Variant..."
1039 sub-menu, where they are reset to the default -1 is you OK the chosen
1040 variant without typing something to overrule it. These parameters are
1041 saved in the winboard.ini file. (But unless you saved while a variant
1042 with board-size override was selected, they will always be saved as
1044 A variant with a non-standard board size will be communicated to the
1045 engine(s) with the board size prefixed to the variant name,
1046 e.g. "variant 12x8_capablanca". In protocol 2 the engine must first
1047 enable this feature by sending "boardsizeFxR" amongst the accepted
1048 variants, where F is the maximum number of files, and R the maximum
1049 number of ranks, as decimal numbers.
1052 Set the size of the holdings for dropable pieces to a value that will
1053 override the default for the variant that is selected. A value of -1
1054 means the variant default holdings size will be used for that
1055 parameter (and is itself the default value of this options). This
1056 parameter can be set in the Files -> New Variant... sub-menu, where it
1057 is reset to the default -1 is you OK the chosen variant without typing
1058 something to overrule it. This parameters is saved in the winboard.ini
1059 file. To disable holdings, set their size to 0. They will then not be
1060 displayed. For non-zero holding size N, the holdings are displayed
1061 left and right of the board, and piece drops can be effected by
1062 dragging pieces from the holdings to the drop square. In bughouse, the
1063 holdings will be filled by the ICS. In all other variants, captured
1064 pieces will go into the holdings (after reversing their color). Only
1065 the first N pieces of the /pieceToCharTable argument will go into the
1066 holdings. All other pieces will be converted to Pawns. (In Shogi,
1067 however they will be demoted in the regular way before determining if
1068 they fit.) Pieces that are disabled (per default and per
1069 /pieceToCharTable option) might not be counted when determining what
1070 are the first N pieces. Non-standard holdingsize will be communicated
1071 to the engine by prefixing it (together with the board size, even if
1072 this is standard) to the variant name, e.g. "variant 7x7+5_shogi". In
1073 protocol 2 the engine should enable this feature by sending
1074 "holdingsH" amongst the variant names, where H is the maximum
1075 acceptable holdings size as a decimal number.
1078 When this parameter is true, a-h are converted to 1-9, and vice versa,
1079 in all move output and input (to PGN files or SAN move display as well
1080 as in communication with the engine). This might be useful for Shogi,
1081 where conventionally one uses letters to designate ranks, and digits
1082 to designate files. Engines that want to use this option must make
1083 sure pieces are never represented by lower case! This option can be
1084 set from the Files -> New Variant... menu, where it defaults to FALSE
1085 unless you explicitly set it. It is not saved in the winboard.ini
1086 file. Note that the PGN format in Shogi also leaves out the trailing
1087 '+' as check indicator: In Shogi such a trailing '+' means promotion,
1088 while a trailing '=' means defer promotion. Prefix '+' signs are used
1089 on moves with promoted pieces, disambiguation is done western SAN
1093 Causes the outline of the 'white' pieces to be superimposed onto the
1094 'black' piece symbols as well (as a black outline) when native bitmaps
1095 are used (as opposed to font-based rendering). This is useful if we
1096 choose a very light color to represent the 'black' pieces. It might be
1097 particularly useful in Shogi, where the conventional representation of
1098 the 'black' pieces is as upside-down white pieces, so that both colors
1099 would be white. This option is saved in the winboard.ini file, and can
1100 be set in the "Options -> Board..." sub-menu.
1103 This option is reserved for future use. It will cause upside-down
1104 display of the 'black' native piece bitmaps, as would be needed for
1105 Shogi. For now it can be set from the "Options -> Board..." sub-menu,
1106 and it is saved in the winboard.ini file, but it is ignored.
1114 These are all options that only affect engine-engine play, and can be
1115 set from the "Options -> Engine..." sub-menu. They are all related to
1116 adjudication of games by the GUI. Legality checking must be switched
1117 on for them to work. If /detectMate is TRUE, the GUI recognizes
1118 checkmate and stalemate (but not in games with holdings!), and ends
1119 the game accordingly before the engines can claim. This is convenient
1120 for play with engines that fail to claim, and just exit. With
1121 /testClaim set, all result and illegal-move claims by engines that
1122 claim more than their own loss are scrutinized for validity, and false
1123 claims result in forfeit of the game. Useful with buggy engines. The
1124 option /materialDraws=TRUE causes games with insufficient mating
1125 material to be adjudicated immediately as draws, in case the engines
1126 would not claim them. The option /trivialDraws adjudicates KNNK,
1127 KBKB, KNKN, KBKN, KRKR and KQKQ to draws after 3 moves (to allow for a
1128 quick tactical win. Note that in KQKQ this might not be sound, but
1129 that problem would disappear once bitbase probing is added). The
1130 /ruleMoves determine after how many reversible moves the game is
1131 adjudicated as a draw. Setting this to 0 turns this option off. Draw
1132 claims by the engine are still accepted (by /testClaim) after 50
1133 reversible moves, even if /ruleMoves species a larger number. Note
1134 that it is perfectly legal according to FIDE rules to play on after 50
1135 reversible moves, but in tournaments having two engines that want to
1136 play on forever is a nuisance in endings like KBNKR, where one of the
1137 engines thinks it is ahead and can avoids repeats virtually forever.
1138 The option /repeatsToDraw makes the GUI adjudicate a game as draw
1139 after the same position has occurred the specified number of times. If
1140 it is set to a value > 3, engines can still claim the draw after
1141 3-fold repeat. All these options are saved in the winboard.ini file.
1144 There is an "Options -> flip Clocks" command, that swaps the position
1145 of white and black clocks (convenient in over-the-board matches, where
1146 the screen is next to the board, and you want your own time to be
1147 displayed on your side of the screen). The clocks can be adjusted in
1148 "edit game" mode: right-clicking them adds one minute, left-clicking
1149 subtracts one minute. (Also for OTB matches, to keep them synchronized
1150 with the official match clock.) The flag-fell condition is now
1151 indicated as (!) behind the time.
1154 Castling rights and e.p. rights are now fully maintained, and
1155 considered in legality testing. They are imported from and written to
1156 FEN, as is the 50-move counter.
1160 These are the release notes of Winboard_F 4.3.2, which is released
1161 under the GPL. This version was derived from Allessandro Scotti's
1162 Winboard_x 4.2.7 source files. It only includes the files that were
1178 and some bitmaps for piece symbols
1180 I made modifications in the following areas:
1182 1) Adjudication and claim verification
1183 2) Fairy pieces and board sizes other than 8x8
1189 is an option to set the length of the pause between two games of a
1190 match. The value is in msec, default value is 10000 (I will present
1191 all newly implemented options with their default value as example). Be
1192 aware that some engines might not be stopped yet if you make the pause
1193 too small, but might still be puking output, which then will interfere
1194 with the next game. But the fixed value of 10 sec of the old Winboard
1195 seemed like overdoing it.
1198 When you ask for the PV-info to be stored in the PGN (a Winboard_x
1199 option), it now also stores the time spent on the move with it.
1202 In engine-engine games the messge "white/black/both" flag(s) fell" no
1203 longer appears in the window caption, but as an exclamation point
1204 behind the clock time. (To prevent the annoying overwriting of the
1205 normal header line).
1207 Adjudications and Claim verification.
1209 These functions are only present in engine-engine games, and only if
1210 legality-testing is switched on. (The latter will be typically
1211 switched off in games with bizarre rules, which the GUI doesn't know,
1212 and in that case the GUI can never have an opinion on the outcome of a
1215 Illegal-move forfeit
1216 As soon as one of the engines plays an illegal move, it forfeits the
1217 game. This feature was already present, but it should be 100% reliable
1218 now, as it also takes e.p. and castling rights into account, rather
1219 than erring on the safe side.
1222 From the above, it follows that any illegal-move claims by an engine
1223 must be false, and will result in forfeiting the game. (In Winboard_x
1224 this message is ignored, causing the game or match to hang.)
1226 Checkmate adjudication
1227 As soon as one of the engines does a move that results in checkmate,
1228 the GUI declares the game won, without waiting for the engine to claim
1231 Insufficient mating material
1232 As soon as the material on the board has shrunk to KK, KNK or KBK, the
1233 game is declared draw.
1235 /adjudicateLossThreshold=0
1236 This option was already present in Winboard_x, (to declare a game lost
1237 for which both engines agree for 3 moves that the score is below the
1238 given threshold), but a non-zero value is now also used to enable the
1239 following adjudications. If you only want the latter, just make the
1240 threshold impossibly low (-40000 will usually do the trick).
1243 If we are 3 moves into a KQKQ, KRKR, KBKB KBKN or KNKN end-game, the
1244 game is adjudicated as draw.
1247 When the specified number of repeats occurs, the game is adjudicated
1248 draw. Should keep track of e.p. and castling rights. This does not
1249 require legality-testing to be switched on. The engines retain the
1250 legal right to claim after a 3-fold repetition, though. If you set
1251 this parameter to 3 or less, they will never get the chance. Better
1252 not set it to 1 or less.
1255 After the given number of full moves without capture or Pawn move, the
1256 game is adjudicated draw. Even without legality testing. The engines
1257 retain the legal right to claim after 50 moves.
1260 When enabled, this option verifies all result claims made by the
1261 engines, and overrules the claim if it is false (forfeiting the game
1262 for the claimer). An engine can still safely claim a win for its
1263 opponent on a nonsense reason, though; this is taken to be the
1264 equivalent of 'resign'. Draw claims (made before a draw adjudication)
1265 are checked against the 50-move, 3-fold-repetition or
1266 insufficient-material rules. Win claims are always considered false,
1267 as the GUI adjudicates checkmates (and stalemates) before any engine
1273 Sets the number of files on the board. The additional files are named
1274 i, j, k, l... in PGN, and should be indicated this way in
1275 communicating moves to and from the engine. Currently works upto
1276 12. No guarantees on how the rest of the display (clocks, etc.) looks
1277 if you make this number < 8.
1280 Sets the number of ranks. Extra ranks are numbered 9, 10, 11... in
1281 PGN. This is so far largely untested, and unlikely to work for
1282 double-digit ranks. Displaying boards with upto 12 ranks seems to
1283 work, though, but double-digit ranks might cause all kind of unforseen
1284 problems in PGN file and move parser, or in communication with the
1285 engine. To avoid such problems as much as possible, in boards with
1286 more than 9 ranks the counting of ranks will start at zero rather than
1289 /fontPieceToCharTable="......."
1290 This paramater, controlling the mapping of font symbols to piece
1291 types, was already present in Winboard_x. The default is dependent on
1292 the font selected with the /renderPiecesWithFont option. It can now
1293 accept upto 32 pieces, but the length should always be even. The first
1294 half designates the white pieces, the second half the black, both in
1295 the order PNBRACHFEWDOGMQK. (The letters mentioned here are the
1296 letters by which the pieces will be indicated in PGN and FEN notation,
1297 what you have to give as argument depends on the font you use. A black
1298 king might be 'l', for instance). If you give fewer then 32 pieces,
1299 this will go at the expense of what is just before Queen. So the last
1300 two symbols you give for each color are always Queen and King, the
1301 others are assigned in the order Pawn, Knight, ... Pieces that do not
1302 get a symbol assigned will remain invisible.
1305 The letters ACDEFGHMOW are accepted in FENs in addition to the regular
1306 PNBRQK,(and of course the lower case versions for black), and are
1307 passed to the engine in a setboard or edit menu. Double-digit skips
1308 are acceptable in FENs. 'x' is interpreted as a skip of 10. Castling
1309 rights should no longer be ignored. (Doesn't work for FRC yet,
1310 though.) The 50-move-plies field should also be meaningful now.
1312 Legality testing for Fairy pieces
1313 There is a build in notion of what some of the new pieces can do, according to
1314 A = Archbishop (aka Cardinal) = N+B
1315 C = Chancellor (aka Marshall) = N+R
1316 F = Ferz (aka General), moves 1 step diagonal
1317 W = Wazir (aka Grand Vizer), moves 1 step orthogonal
1318 E = Elephant (aka Alfil), jumps 2 steps diagonal
1319 D = Dabbabah (aka War Machine), jumps 2 steps orthogonal
1320 M = Man (aka Commoner), moves as King, but is not a royal piece
1321 O = Cannon, moves along Rook lines, but cannot capture unless it jumps over
1322 exactly one piece (friend or foe), and captures the first piece
1323 it encounters thereafter. It can only jump if it captures something.
1324 The piece jumped over (the 'platform') is not affected.
1325 The other pieces have not yet any moves implemented:
1328 In games that use the mentioned pieces as described (Shatranj,
1329 Courier, Capablanca Chess) you can leave legality testing on. If you
1330 use them to represent pieces that move differently, you should switch
1331 legality testing off.
1334 Pawn motion is made dependent on the variant played: in Shatranj and
1335 Courier the double move is forbidden. In those games promotions are
1336 always to Ferz. In Capablanca Chess the ArchBishop and Chancellor also
1337 appear as choices in the promotion popup box.
1341 Several new variants names are added (replacing "variant31" upto
1342 "variant36"). They affect the initial position. (Board size has to be
1343 set separately.) They are: courier (a Medieval predecessor of modern
1344 Chess, played on a 12x8 board) capablanca (on a 10x8 board, featuring
1345 Archbishop and Chancellor) gothic (as Capablanca, but with a more
1346 exciting initial setup) xiangqi (Chinese Chess) shogi (Japanese Chess,
1347 no support yet) fairy (This variant plays on 8x8 with HEW in stead of
1348 NBR on the Queen side, so that all back-rank pieces are (potentially)
1349 different) Make sure the selected board size matches the variant; this
1352 Xiangqi and Shogi support (or lack thereof)
1353 Xiangqi is only partially supported. The board display is
1354 western-style (the pieces play on squares, rather than grid
1355 intersections). The legality testing uses the Shatranj Knight and
1356 Elephant, that cannot be blocked, and thus allows some moves that
1357 should be illegal in Xiangqi. The Palace region is indicated on the
1358 board, but there is no testing if the King or Mandarins (implemented
1359 as ordinary Ferzes) leave the Palace. SAN might be non-standard, as it
1360 uses O to indicate Cannon. Most of this will be fixed in a future
1361 version. Shogi is not yet supported at all, first the shaky
1362 implementation of Crazyhouse will have to be beefed up.
projects / xboard.git / blob