1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename xboard.info
11 INFO-DIR-SECTION Games
13 * xboard: (xboard). An X Window System graphical chessboard.
22 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
23 @include copyright.texi
27 .TH xboard 6 "$Date: " "GNU"
30 xboard @- X graphical user interface for chess
35 .B xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
37 .B xboard -ncp [options]
52 XBoard is a graphical chessboard that can serve as a
53 user interface to chess engines (such as GNU Chess), the
54 Internet Chess Servers,
55 electronic mail correspondence chess, or your own collection of saved games.
57 This manual documents version @value{VERSION} of XBoard.
60 * Major modes:: The main things XBoard can do.
61 * Basic operation:: Mouse and keyboard functions.
62 * Menus:: Menus, buttons, and keys.
63 * Options:: Command options supported by XBoard.
64 * Chess Servers:: Using XBoard with an Internet Chess Server (ICS).
65 * Firewalls:: Connecting to a chess server through a firewall.
66 * Environment:: Environment variables.
67 * Limitations:: Known limitations and/or bugs.
68 * Problems:: How and where to report any problems you run into.
69 * Contributors:: People who have helped developing XBoard.
70 * CMail:: Using XBoard for electronic correspondence chess.
71 * Other programs:: Other programs you can use with XBoard.
73 * Copyright:: Copyright notice for this manual.
75 * Copying:: The GNU General Public License.
77 * Index:: Index of concepts and symbol names.
84 XBoard always runs in one of four major modes. You select the
85 major mode from the command line when you start up XBoard.
88 @item xboard [options]
89 As an interface to GNU Chess or another chess engine running on your
90 machine, XBoard lets you play a game against the machine,
91 set up arbitrary positions, force variations, watch a game between two
92 chess engines, interactively analyze your stored games or set up and
93 analyze arbitrary positions. (Note: Not all chess engines support
95 @item xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
96 As Internet Chess Server (ICS) interface, XBoard
97 lets you play against other ICS users, observe games
98 they are playing, or review games that have recently finished. Most
99 of the ICS "wild" chess variants are supported, including bughouse.
100 @item xboard -ncp [options]
101 XBoard can also be used simply
102 as an electronic chessboard to play through games. It will read and
103 write game files and allow you to play through variations
104 manually. You can use it to browse games off the net or review games
105 you have saved. These features are also available in the other modes.
107 If you want to pipe games into XBoard, use the supplied shell
108 script @file{pxboard}. For example, from the news reader @file{xrn},
109 find a message with one or more games in it, click the Save button,
110 and type @samp{|pxboard} as the file name.
111 @item cmail [options]
112 As an interface to electronic mail correspondence chess, XBoard
113 works with the cmail program. See @ref{CMail} below for
117 @node Basic operation
118 @chapter Basic operation
119 @cindex Basic operation
121 To move a piece, you can drag it with the left mouse button, or you
122 can click the left mouse button once on the piece, then once more on
123 the destination square. In crazyhouse, bughouse or shogi you can
124 drag and drop pieces to the board from the holdings squares
125 displayed next to the board.
127 Old behavior, where right-clicking a square brings up a menu
128 where you can select what piece to drop on it can still be
129 selected through the @samp{Drop Menu} option.
130 But only in Edit Position mode right clicking a square is still used to
131 put a piece on it, and the piece to drop is selected by sweeping
132 the mouse vertically with the button held down.
134 The default function of the right mouse button in other modes is
135 to display the position the chess program thinks it will end up in.
136 While moving the mouse vertically with this button pressed
137 XBoard will step through the principal variation to show how
138 this position will be reached.
139 Lines of play displayed in the engine-output window,
140 or PGN variations in the comment window can similarly
141 be played out on the board, by right-clicking on them.
142 Only in Analysis mode, when you walk along a PV,
143 releasing the mouse button will forward the game upto that point,
144 like you entered all previous PV moves.
145 As the display of the PV in that case starts after the first move
146 a simple right-click will play the move the engine indicates.
148 When connected to an ICS, it is possible to call up a graphical
149 representation of players seeking a game in stead of the chess board,
150 when the latter is not in use
151 (i.e. when you are not playing or observing).
152 Left-clicking the display area will switch between this 'seek graph'
154 Hovering the mouse pointer over a dot will show the details of the
155 seek ad in the message field above the board.
156 Left-clicking the dot will challenge that player.
157 Right-clicking a dot will 'push it to the back',
158 to reveal any dots that were hidden behind it.
159 Right-clicking off dots will refresh the graph.
161 Most other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most
162 frequently used commands also have shortcut keys or on-screen buttons.
163 These shortcut keystrokes are mostly non-printable characters.
164 Typing a letter or digit while the board window has focus
165 will bring up a type-in box with the typed letter already in it.
166 You can use that to type a move in siuations where it is your
167 turn to enter a move,
168 type a move number to call up the position after that move
170 or, in Edit Position mode, type a FEN.
171 Some rarely used parameters can only be set through options on the
172 command line used to invoke XBoard.
174 XBoard uses a settings file, in which it can remember any changes to
175 the settings that are made through menus or command-line options,
176 so they will still apply when you restart XBoard for another session.
177 The settings can be saved into this file automatically when XBoard exits,
178 or on explicit request of the user.
179 The default name for the settings file is /etc/xboard/xboard.conf,
180 but in a standard install this file is only used as a master settings
181 file that determines the system-wide default settings,
182 and defers reading and writing of user settings to a user-specific
183 file like ~/.xboardrc in the user's home directory.
185 When XBoard is iconized, its graphical icon is a white knight if
186 it is White's turn to move, a black knight if it is Black's turn.
189 @chapter Menus, buttons, and keys
193 * File Menu:: Accessing external games and positions.
194 * Edit Menu:: Altering games, positions, PGN tags or comments.
195 * View Menu:: Controlling XBoard's shape and looks.
196 * Mode Menu:: Selecting XBoard's mode.
197 * Action Menu:: Talking to the chess engine or ICS opponents.
198 * Engine Menu:: Controlling settings and actions of the engine(s).
199 * Options Menu:: User preferences.
200 * Help Menu:: Getting help.
201 * Keys:: Other shortcut keys.
210 @cindex New Game, Menu Item
211 Resets XBoard and the chess engine to the beginning of a new chess
212 game. The @kbd{Ctrl-N} key is a keyboard equivalent. In Internet Chess
213 Server mode, clears the current state of XBoard, then
214 resynchronizes with the ICS by sending a refresh command. If you want to
215 stop playing, observing, or examining an ICS game, use an
216 appropriate command from the Action menu, not @samp{New Game}.
218 @item New Shuffle Game
219 @cindex New Shuffle Game, Menu Item
220 Similar to @samp{New Game}, but allows you to specify a particular initial position
221 (according to a standardized numbering system)
222 in chess variants which use randomized opening positions (e.g. Chess960).
223 The selected opening position will persistently be chosen on any following
224 New Game command until you use this menu to select another. Selecting
225 position number -1 will produce a newly randomized position on any new game.
226 Using this menu item in variants that normally do not shuffle their opening position
227 does cause these variants to become shuffle variants until you use the
228 @samp{New Shuffle Game} menu to explicitly switch the randomization off,
229 or select a new variant.
231 @cindex New variant, Menu Item
232 Allows you to select a new chess variant in non-ICS mode.
233 (In ICS play, the ICS is responsible for deciding which variant will be played,
234 and XBoard adapts automatically.) The shifted @kbd{Alt+V} key is a
235 keyboard equivalent. If you play with an engine, the engine must
236 be able to play the selected variant, or the command will be ignored.
237 XBoard supports all major variants, such as xiangqi, shogi, chess, chess960,
238 Capablanca Chess, shatranj, crazyhouse, bughouse.
239 But not every board size has built-in bitmaps for un-orthodox pieces!
240 Only sizes bulky (72) and middling (49) have all pieces,
241 while size petite (33) has most.
242 These sizes would have to be set at startup through the @code{size}
243 command-line option when you start up XBoard for such variants to be playable.
245 You can overrule the default board format of the selected variant,
246 (e.g. to play suicide chess on a 6 x 6 board),
247 in this dialog, but normally you would not do that,
248 and leave them at '-1', which means 'default'.
250 @cindex Load Game, Menu Item
251 Plays a game from a record file. The @kbd{Ctrl-O} key is a keyboard equivalent.
252 A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more
253 than one game, a second pop-up dialog
254 displays a list of games (with information drawn from their PGN tags, if
255 any), and you can select the one you want. Alternatively, you can load the
256 Nth game in the file directly, by typing the number @kbd{N} after the
257 file name, separated by a space.
259 The game file parser will accept PGN (portable game notation),
260 or in fact almost any file that contains moves in algebraic
262 Notation of the form @samp{P@@f7}
263 is accepted for piece-drops in bughouse games;
264 this is a nonstandard extension to PGN.
265 If the file includes a PGN position (FEN tag), or an old-style
266 XBoard position diagram bracketed by @samp{[--} and @samp{--]}
267 before the first move, the game starts from that position. Text
268 enclosed in parentheses, square brackets, or curly braces is assumed to
269 be commentary and is displayed in a pop-up window. Any other
270 text in the file is ignored. PGN variations (enclosed in
271 parentheses) also are treated as comments;
272 however, if you rights-click them in the comment window,
273 XBoard will shelve the current line, and load the the selected variation,
274 so you can step through it.
275 You can later revert to the previous line with the @samp{Revert} command.
276 This way you can walk quite complex varation trees with XBoard.
277 The nonstandard PGN tag [Variant "varname"] functions similarly to
278 the -variant command-line option (see below), allowing games in certain chess
279 variants to be loaded.
280 Note that it must appear before any FEN tag for XBoard to recognize
281 variant FENs appropriately.
282 There is also a heuristic to
283 recognize chess variants from the Event tag, by looking for the strings
284 that the Internet Chess Servers put there when saving variant ("wild") games.
286 @cindex Load Position, Menu Item
287 Sets up a position from a position file. A pop-up dialog prompts
288 you for the file name. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-O} key is a keyboard
289 equivalent. If the file contains more than one saved
290 position, and you want to load the Nth one, type the number N
291 after the file name, separated by a space. Position files must
292 be in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation), or in the format that the
293 Save Position command writes when oldSaveStyle is turned on.
294 @item Load Next Position
295 @cindex Load Next Position, Menu Item
296 Loads the next position from the last position file you loaded.
297 The shifted @kbd{PgDn} key is a keyboard equivalent.
298 @item Load Previous Position
299 @cindex Load Previous Position, Menu Item
300 Loads the previous position from the last position file you
301 loaded. The shifted @kbd{PgUp} key is a keyboard equivalent.
302 Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
304 @cindex Save Game, Menu Item
305 Appends a record of the current game to a file.
306 The @kbd{Ctrl-S} key is a keyboard equivalent.
308 prompts you for the file name. If the game did not begin with
309 the standard starting position, the game file includes the
310 starting position used. Games are saved in the PGN (portable
311 game notation) format, unless the oldSaveStyle option is true,
312 in which case they are saved in an older format that is specific
313 to XBoard. Both formats are human-readable, and both can be
314 read back by the @samp{Load Game} command.
315 Notation of the form @samp{P@@f7}
316 is accepted for piece-drops in bughouse games;
317 this is a nonstandard extension to PGN.
319 @cindex Save Position, Menu Item
320 Appends a diagram of the current position to a file.
321 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl+S} key is a keyboard equivalent.
322 A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. Positions are saved in
323 FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation) format unless the @code{oldSaveStyle}
324 option is true, in which case they are saved in an older,
325 human-readable format that is specific to XBoard. Both formats
326 can be read back by the @samp{Load Position} command.
328 @itemx Reload CMail Message
329 @cindex Mail Move, Menu Item
330 @cindex Reload CMail Message, Menu Item
333 @cindex Exit, Menu Item
334 Exits from XBoard. The @kbd{Ctrl-Q} key is a keyboard equivalent.
343 @cindex Copy Game, Menu Item
344 Copies a record of the current game to an internal clipboard in PGN
345 format and sets the X selection to the game text. The @kbd{Ctrl-C}
346 key is a keyboard equivalent. The game can be
347 pasted to another application (such as a text editor or another copy
348 of XBoard) using that application's paste command. In many X
349 applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be
350 used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Game command.
352 @cindex Copy Position, Menu Item
353 Copies the current position to an internal clipboard in FEN format and
354 sets the X selection to the position text. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-C} key
355 is a keyboard equivalent. The position can be pasted
356 to another application (such as a text editor or another copy of
357 XBoard) using that application's paste command. In many X
358 applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be
359 used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Position command.
361 @cindex Copy Game List, Menu Item
362 Copies the current game list to the clipboard,
363 and sets the X selection to this text.
364 A format of comma-separated double-quoted strings is used,
366 so it can be easily imported into spread-sheet programs.
368 @cindex Paste Game, Menu Item
369 Interprets the current X selection as a game record and loads it, as
370 with Load Game. The @kbd{Ctrl-V} key is a keyboard equivalent.
372 @cindex Paste Position, Menu Item
373 Interprets the current X selection as a FEN position and loads it, as
374 with Load Position. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-V} key is a keyboard equivalent.
376 @cindex Edit Game, Menu Item
377 Allows you to make moves for both Black and White, and to change
378 moves after backing up with the @samp{Backward} command. The clocks do
379 not run. The @kbd{Ctrl-E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
381 In chess engine mode, the chess engine continues to check moves for legality
382 but does not participate in the game. You can bring the chess engine
383 into the game by selecting @samp{Machine White}, @samp{Machine Black},
384 or @samp{Two Machines}.
386 In ICS mode, the moves are not sent to the ICS: @samp{Edit Game} takes
387 XBoard out of ICS Client mode and lets you edit games locally.
388 If you want to edit games on ICS in a way that other ICS users
389 can see, use the ICS @kbd{examine} command or start an ICS match
392 @cindex Edit Position, Menu Item
393 Lets you set up an arbitrary board position.
394 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
395 Use mouse button 1 to drag pieces to new squares, or to delete a piece
396 by dragging it off the board or dragging an empty square on top of it.
397 To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the
399 This puts a white or black pawn in the square, respectively,
400 but you can change that to any other piece type by dragging the
401 mouse down before you release the button.
402 You will then see the piece on the originally clicked square
403 cycle through the available pieces
404 (including those of opposite color),
405 and can release the button when you see the piece you want.
406 To alter the side to move, you can click the clock
407 (the words White and Black above the board)
408 of the side you want to give the move to.
409 To clear the board you can click the clock of the side that
410 alread has the move (which is highlighted in black).
411 The old behavior with a piece menu can still be configured
412 with the aid of the @code{pieceMenu} option.
413 Selecting @samp{Edit Position} causes XBoard to discard
414 all remembered moves in the current game.
416 In ICS mode, changes made to the position by @samp{Edit Position} are
417 not sent to the ICS: @samp{Edit Position} takes XBoard out of
418 @samp{ICS Client} mode and lets you edit positions locally. If you want to
419 edit positions on ICS in a way that other ICS users can see, use
420 the ICS @kbd{examine} command, or start an ICS match against yourself.
421 (See also the ICS Client topic above.)
423 @cindex Edit Tags, Menu Item
424 Lets you edit the PGN (portable game notation)
425 tags for the current game. After editing, the tags must still conform to
429 <tag-section> ::= <tag-pair> <tag-section>
431 <tag-pair> ::= [ <tag-name> <tag-value> ]
432 <tag-name> ::= <identifier>
433 <tag-value> ::= <string>
436 See the PGN Standard for full details. Here is an example:
439 [Event "Portoroz Interzonal"]
440 [Site "Portoroz, Yugoslavia"]
443 [White "Robert J. Fischer"]
444 [Black "Bent Larsen"]
448 Any characters that do not match this syntax are silently ignored. Note that
449 the PGN standard requires all games to have at least the seven tags shown
450 above. Any that you omit will be filled in by XBoard
451 with @samp{?} (unknown value), or @samp{-} (inapplicable value).
453 @cindex Edit Comment, Menu Item
454 Adds or modifies a comment on the current position. Comments are
455 saved by @samp{Save Game} and are displayed by @samp{Load Game},
456 @samp{Forward}, and @samp{Backward}.
458 @cindex Edit Book, Menu Item
459 Pops up a window listing the moves available in the GUI book
460 (specified in the @samp{Common Engine Settings} dialog)
461 from the currently displayed position,
462 together with their weights and (optionally in braces) learn info.
463 You can then edit this list, and the new list will be stored
464 back into the book when you press OK.
465 Note that the listed percentages are neither used, nor updated when
466 you change the weights; they are just there as an optical aid.
469 @cindex Revert, Menu Item
470 @cindex Annotate, Menu Item
471 If you are examining an ICS game and Pause mode is off,
472 Revert issues the ICS command @samp{revert}.
473 In local mode, when you were editing or analyzing a game,
474 and the @code{-variations} command-line option is switched on,
475 you can start a new variation by holding the Shift key down while
476 entering a move not at the end of the game.
477 Variations can also become the currently displayed line by
478 clicking a PGN variation displayed in the Comment window.
479 This can be applied recursively,
480 so that you can analyze variations on variations;
481 each time you create a new variation by entering an alternative move
482 with Shift pressed, or select a new one from the Comment window,
483 the current variation will be shelved.
484 @samp{Revert} allows you to return to the most recently shelved variation.
485 The difference between @samp{Revert} and @samp{Annotate}
486 is that with the latter,
487 the variation you are now abandoning will be added as a comment
488 (in PGN variation syntax, i.e. between parentheses)
489 to the original move where you deviated, for later recalling.
490 The @kbd{Home} key is a keyboard equivalent to @samp{Revert}.
492 @cindex Truncate Game, Menu Item
493 Discards all remembered moves of the game beyond the current
494 position. Puts XBoard into @samp{Edit Game} mode if it was not there
496 The @kbd{End} key is a keyboard equivalent.
498 @cindex Backward, Menu Item
500 Steps backward through a series of remembered moves.
501 The @samp{[<]} button and the @kbd{Alt+LeftArrow} key are equivalents,
502 as is turning the mouse wheel towards you.
503 In addition, pressing the Control key steps back one move, and releasing
504 it steps forward again.
506 In most modes, @samp{Backward} only lets you look back at old positions;
507 it does not retract moves. This is the case if you are playing against
508 a chess engine, playing or observing a game on an ICS, or loading a game.
509 If you select @samp{Backward} in any of these situations, you will not
510 be allowed to make a different move. Use @samp{Retract Move} or
511 @samp{Edit Game} if you want to change past moves.
513 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Backward}
514 depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
515 off, @samp{Backward} issues the ICS backward command, which backs up
516 everyone's view of the game and allows you to make a different
517 move. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Backward} only backs up your local
520 @cindex Forward, Menu Item
522 Steps forward through a series of remembered moves (undoing the
523 effect of @samp{Backward}) or forward through a game file. The
524 @samp{[>]} button and the @kbd{Alt+RightArrow} key are equivalents,
525 as is turning the mouse wheel away from you.
527 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of Forward
528 depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
529 off, @samp{Forward} issues the ICS forward command, which moves
530 everyone's view of the game forward along the current line. If
531 Pause mode is on, @samp{Forward} only moves your local view forward,
532 and it will not go past the position that the game was in when
535 @cindex Back to Start, Menu Item
537 Jumps backward to the first remembered position in the game.
538 The @samp{[<<]} button and the @kbd{Alt+Home} key are equivalents.
540 In most modes, Back to Start only lets you look back at old
541 positions; it does not retract moves. This is the case if you
542 are playing against a local chess engine, playing or observing a game on
543 a chess server, or loading a game. If you select @samp{Back to Start} in any
544 of these situations, you will not be allowed to make different
545 moves. Use @samp{Retract Move} or @samp{Edit Game} if you want to change past
546 moves; or use Reset to start a new game.
548 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Back to
549 Start} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode
550 is off, @samp{Back to Start} issues the ICS @samp{backward 999999}
551 command, which backs up everyone's view of the game to the start and
552 allows you to make different moves. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Back
553 to Start} only backs up your local view.
555 @cindex Forward to End, Menu Item
557 Jumps forward to the last remembered position in the game. The
558 @samp{[>>]} button and the @kbd{Alt+End} key are equivalents.
560 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Forward to
561 End} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode
562 is off, @samp{Forward to End} issues the ICS @samp{forward 999999}
563 command, which moves everyone's view of the game forward to the end of
564 the current line. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Forward to End} only moves
565 your local view forward, and it will not go past the position
566 that the game was in when you paused.
575 @cindex Flip View, Menu Item
576 Inverts your view of the chess board for the duration of the
577 current game. Starting a new game returns the board to normal.
578 The @kbd{F2} key is a keyboard equivalent.
579 @item Show Engine Output
580 @cindex Show Engine Output, Menu Item
581 Shows or hides a window in which the thinking output of any loaded engines
582 is displayed. The shifted @kbd{Alt+O} key is a keyboard equivalent.
583 XBoard will display lines of thinking output of the same depth ordered by score,
584 (highest score on top), rather than in the order the engine produced them.
585 Usually this amounts to the same, as a normal engine search will only find new PV
586 (and emit it as thinking output)
587 when it searches a move with a higher score than the previous variation.
588 But when the engine is in multi-variation mode this needs not always be true,
589 and it is more convenient for someone analyzing games to see the moves sorted by score.
590 The order in which the engine found them is only of interest to the engine author,
591 and can still be deduced from the time or node count printed with the line.
592 @item Show Move History
593 @cindex Show Move History, Menu Item
594 Shows or hides a list of moves of the current game.
595 The shifted @kbd{Alt+H} key is a keyboard equivalent.
596 This list allows you to move the display to any earlier position in the game
597 by clicking on the corresponding move.
598 @item Show Evaluation Graph
599 @cindex Show Evaluation Graph, Menu Item
600 Shows or hides a window which displays a graph of how the engine score(s)
601 evolved as a function of the move number.
602 The shifted @kbd{Alt+E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
603 Clicking on the graph will bring
604 the corresponding position in the board display.
606 @cindex Show Game List, Menu Item
607 Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last @samp{Load Game}
608 command. The shifted @kbd{Alt+G} key is a keyboard equivalent.
610 @cindex Tags, Menu Item
611 Pops up a window which shows the PGN (portable game notation)
612 tags for the current game.
613 For now this is a duplicate of the @samp{Edit Tags} item in the @samp{Edit} menu.
615 @cindex Comments, Menu Item
616 Pops up a window which shows any comments to or variations on the current move.
617 For now this is a duplicate of the @samp{Edit Comment} item in the @samp{Edit} menu.
619 @cindex ICS Input Box, Menu Item
620 If this option is set in ICS mode,
622 creates an extra window that you can use for typing in ICS commands.
623 The input box is especially useful if you want to type in something long or do
624 some editing on your input, because output from ICS doesn't get mixed
625 in with your typing as it would in the main terminal window.
627 @cindex Board, Menu Item
628 Summons a dialog where you can customaize the look of the chess board.
629 Here you can specify the directory from which piece images should be taken,
630 when you don't want to use the built-in piece images
631 (see @code{pixmapDirectory} and @code{bitmapDirectory} options),
632 an external pixmap to be used for the board squares
633 (@code{liteBackTextureFile} and @code{darkBackTextureFile} options),
634 and square and piece colors for the built-ins.
636 @cindex Game List Tags, Menu Item
637 a duplicate of the Game List dialog in the Options menu.
646 @cindex Machine White, Menu Item
647 Tells the chess engine to play White.
648 The @kbd{Ctrl-W} key is a keyboard equivalent.
650 @cindex Machine Black, Menu Item
651 Tells the chess engine to play Black.
652 The @kbd{Ctrl-B} key is a keyboard equivalent.
654 @cindex Two Machines, Menu Item
655 Plays a game between two chess engines.
656 The @kbd{Ctrl-T} key is a keyboard equivalent.
658 @cindex Analysis Mode, Menu Item
660 XBoard tells the chess engine to start analyzing the current game/position
661 and shows you the analysis as you move pieces around.
662 The @kbd{Ctrl-A} key is a keyboard equivalent.
663 Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
665 To set up a position to analyze, you do the following:
667 1. Select Edit Position from the Mode Menu
669 2. Set up the position. Use the middle and right buttons to
670 bring up the white and black piece menus.
672 3. When you are finished, click on either the Black or White
673 clock to tell XBoard which side moves first.
675 4. Select Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu to start the analysis.
677 You can now play legal moves to create follow-up positions for the
678 engine to analyze, while the moves will be remembered as a stored game,
679 and then step backward through this game to take the moves back.
680 Note that you can also click on the clocks to set the opposite
681 side to move (adding a so-called @samp{null move} to the game).
683 The analysis function can also be used when observing games on an ICS
684 with an engine loaded (zippy mode); the engine then will analyse
685 the positions as they occur in the observed game.
687 @cindex Analyze Game, Menu Item
688 This option subjects the currently loaded game to aoutomatic
689 analysis by the loaded engine.
690 The @kbd{Ctrl-G} key is a keyboard equivalent.
691 XBoard will start auto-playing the game from the currently displayed position,
692 while the engine is analyzing the current position.
693 The game will be annotated with the results of these analyses.
694 In particlar, the score and depth will be added as a comment,
695 and the PV will be added as a variation.
696 The time the engine spends on analyzing each move can be controlled
697 through the command-line option @samp{-timeDelay}.
698 Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
700 Duplicate of the item in the Edit menu.
701 Note that @samp{Edit Game} is the idle mode of XBoard, and can be used
702 to get you out of other modes. E.g. to stop analyzing, stop a game
703 between two engines or stop editing a position.
705 Duplicate of the item in the Edit menu.
707 @cindex Training, Menu Item
708 Training mode lets you interactively guess the moves of a game for one
709 of the players. You guess the next move of the game by playing the
710 move on the board. If the move played matches the next move of the
711 game, the move is accepted and the opponent's response is auto-played.
712 If the move played is incorrect, an error message is displayed. You
713 can select this mode only while loading a game (that is, after
714 selecting @samp{Load Game} from the File menu). While XBoard is in
715 @samp{Training} mode, the navigation buttons are disabled.
717 @cindex ICS Client, Menu Item
718 This is the normal mode when XBoard
719 is connected to a chess server. If you have moved into
720 Edit Game or Edit Position mode, you can select this option to get out.
722 To use xboard in ICS mode, run it in the foreground with the -ics
723 option, and use the terminal you started it from to type commands and
724 receive text responses from the chess server. See
725 @ref{Chess Servers} below for more information.
727 XBoard activates some special position/game editing features when you
728 use the @kbd{examine} or @kbd{bsetup} commands on ICS and you have
729 @samp{ICS Client} selected on the Mode menu. First, you can issue the
730 ICS position-editing commands with the mouse. Move pieces by dragging
731 with mouse button 1. To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse
732 button 2 or 3 over the square. This brings up a menu of white pieces
733 (button 2) or black pieces (button 3). Additional menu choices let
734 you empty the square or clear the board. Click on the White or Black
735 clock to set the side to play. You cannot set the side to play or
736 drag pieces to arbitrary squares while examining on ICC, but you can
737 do so in @kbd{bsetup} mode on FICS. In addition, the menu commands
738 @samp{Forward}, @samp{Backward}, @samp{Pause}, and @samp{Stop Examining}
739 have special functions in this mode; see below.
741 @cindex Machine match, Menu Item
742 Starts a match between two chess programs,
743 with a number of games and other parameters set through
744 the @samp{Match Options} menu dialog.
745 When a match is already running, selecting this item will make
746 XBoard drop out of match mode after the current game finishes.
748 @cindex Pause, Menu Item
749 Pauses updates to the board, and if you are playing against a chess engine,
750 also pauses your clock. To continue, select @samp{Pause} again, and the
751 display will automatically update to the latest position.
752 The @samp{P} button and keyboard @kbd{Pause} key are equivalents.
754 If you select Pause when you are playing against a chess engine and
755 it is not your move, the chess engine's clock
756 will continue to run and it will eventually make a move, at which point
757 both clocks will stop. Since board updates are paused, however,
758 you will not see the move until you exit from Pause mode (or select Forward).
759 This behavior is meant to simulate adjournment with a sealed move.
761 If you select Pause while you are observing or examining a game on a
762 chess server, you can step backward and forward in the current history
763 of the examined game without affecting the other observers and
764 examiners, and without having your display jump forward to the latest
765 position each time a move is made. Select Pause again to reconnect
766 yourself to the current state of the game on ICS.
768 If you select @samp{Pause} while you are loading a game, the game stops
769 loading. You can load more moves manually by selecting @samp{Forward}, or
770 resume automatic loading by selecting @samp{Pause} again.
779 @cindex Accept, Menu Item
780 Accepts a pending match offer.
781 The @kbd{F3} key is a keyboard equivalent.
782 If there is more than one offer
783 pending, you will have to type in a more specific command
784 instead of using this menu choice.
786 @cindex Decline, Menu Item
787 Declines a pending offer (match, draw, adjourn, etc.).
788 The @kbd{F4} key is a keyboard equivalent. If there
789 is more than one offer pending, you will have to type in a more
790 specific command instead of using this menu choice.
792 @cindex Call Flag, Menu Item
793 Calls your opponent's flag, claiming a win on time, or claiming
794 a draw if you are both out of time.
795 The @kbd{F5} key is a keyboard equivalent.
796 You can also call your
797 opponent's flag by clicking on his clock.
799 @cindex Draw, Menu Item
800 Offers a draw to your opponent, accepts a pending draw offer
801 from your opponent, or claims a draw by repetition or the 50-move
802 rule, as appropriate. The @kbd{F6} key is a keyboard equivalent.
804 @cindex Adjourn, Menu Item
805 Asks your opponent to agree to adjourning the current game, or
806 agrees to a pending adjournment offer from your opponent.
807 The @kbd{F7} key is a keyboard equivalent.
809 @cindex Abort, Menu Item
810 Asks your opponent to agree to aborting the current game, or
811 agrees to a pending abort offer from your opponent.
812 The @kbd{F8} key is a keyboard equivalent. An aborted
813 game ends immediately without affecting either player's rating.
815 @cindex Resign, Menu Item
816 Resigns the game to your opponent. The @kbd{F9} key is a
819 @cindex Stop Observing, Menu Item
820 Ends your participation in observing a game, by issuing the ICS
821 observe command with no arguments. ICS mode only.
822 The @kbd{F10} key is a keyboard equivalent.
824 @cindex Stop Examining, Menu Item
825 Ends your participation in examining a game, by issuing the ICS
826 unexamine command. ICS mode only.
827 The @kbd{F11} key is a keyboard equivalent.
828 @item Upload to Examine
829 @cindex Upload to Examine, Menu Item
830 Create an examined game of the proper variant on the ICS,
831 and send the game there that is currenty loaded in XBoard
832 (e.g. through pasting or loading from file).
833 You must be connected to an ICS for this to work.
834 @item Adjudicate to White
835 @itemx Adjudicate to Black
836 @itemx Adjudicate Draw
837 @cindex Adjudicate to White, Menu Item
838 @cindex Adjudicate to Black, Menu Item
839 @cindex Adjudicate Draw, Menu Item
840 Terminate an ongoing game in Two-Machines mode (including match mode),
841 with as result a win for white, for black, or a draw, respectively.
842 The PGN file of the game will accompany the result string
843 by the comment "user adjudication".
852 @cindex Load Engine, Menu Item
853 Pops up a dialog where you can select or specify an engine to be loaded.
854 You will always have to indicate whether you want to load the engine
855 as first or second engine, through the ‘Load menitioned engine as’
856 drop-down list at the bottom of the dialog.
857 You can even replace engines during a game, without disturbing that game.
858 (Beware that after loading an engine, XBoard will always be in Edit Game mode,
859 so you will have to tell the new engine what to do before it does anything!)
860 When you select an already installed engine from the ‘Select Engine from List’
862 all other fields of the dialog will be ignored.
863 In other cases, you have to specify the engine executable,
864 possible arguments on the engine command line
865 (if the engine docs say the engine needs any),
866 and the directory where the engine should look for its files
867 (if this cannot be deduced automatically from the specification of the engine executable).
868 You will also have to specify (with the aid of checkboxes) if the engine is UCI.
869 If ‘Add this engine to the list’ is ticked (which it is by default),
870 the engine will be added to the list of installed engines in your settings file,
871 (provided you save the settings!),
872 so that next time you can select it from the drop-down list.
873 You can also specify a ‘nickname’,
874 under which the engine will then appear in that drop-down list,
875 and even choose to use that nickname for it in PGN files for engine-engine games.
876 The info you supply with the checkboxes whether the engine should use GUI book,
877 or (for variant engines) automatically switch to the current variant when loaded,
878 will also be included in the list.
879 For obsolete XBoard engines, which would normally take a long delay to load
880 because XBoard is waiting for a response they will not give,
881 you can tick ‘WB protocol v1’ to speed up the loading process.
882 @item Engine #N Settings
883 @cindex Engine Settings, Menu Item
884 @cindex Engine #1 Settings, Menu Item
885 @cindex Engine #2 Settings, Menu Item
886 Pop up a menu dialog to alter the settings specific to the applicable engine.
887 (The second engine is only accessible once it has been used in Two-Machines mode.)
888 For each parameter the engine allows to be set,
889 a control element will appear in this dialog that can be used to alter the value.
890 Depending on the type of parameter (text string, number, multiple choice,
891 on/off switch, instantaneous signal) the appropriate control will appear,
892 with a description next to it.
893 XBoard has no idea what these values mean; it just passes them on to the engine.
894 How this dialog looks is completely determined by the engine,
895 and XBoard just passes it on to the user.
896 Many engines do not have any parameters that can be set by the user,
897 and in that case the dialog will be empty (except for the OK and cancel buttons).
898 UCI engines usually have many parameters. (But these are only visible with
899 a sufficiently modern version of the Polyglot adapter needed to run UCI engines,
900 e.g. Polyglot 1.4.55b.) For native XBoard engines this is less common.
902 @cindex Hint, Menu Item
903 Displays a move hint from the chess engine.
905 @cindex Book, Menu Item
906 Displays a list of possible moves from the chess engine's opening
907 book. The exact format depends on what chess engine you are using.
908 With GNU Chess 4, the first column gives moves, the second column
909 gives one possible response for each move, and the third column shows
910 the number of lines in the book that include the move from the first
911 column. If you select this option and nothing happens, the chess
912 engine is out of its book or does not support this feature.
914 @cindex Move Now, Menu Item
915 Forces the chess engine to move immediately. Chess engine mode only.
916 The @kbd{Ctrl-M} key is a keyboard equivalent.
918 @cindex Retract Move, Menu Item
919 Retracts your last move. In chess engine mode, you can do this only
920 after the chess engine has replied to your move; if the chess engine is still
921 thinking, use @samp{Move Now} first. In ICS mode, @samp{Retract Move}
922 issues the command @samp{takeback 1} or @samp{takeback 2}
923 depending on whether it is your opponent's move or yours.
924 The @kbd{Ctrl-X} key is a keyboard equivalent.
928 @section Options Menu
929 @cindex Menu, Options
932 @item General Options
933 @cindex General Options, Menu Item
934 The following items to set option values appear in the dialog
935 summoned by the general Options menu item.
936 @itemx Absolute Analysis Scores
937 @cindex Absolute Analysis Scores, Menu Item
938 Controls if scores on the Engine Output window during analysis
939 will be printed from the white or the side-to-move point-of-view.
940 @itemx Almost Always Queen
941 @cindex Almost Always Queen, Menu Item
942 If this option is on, 7th-rank pawns automatically change into
943 Queens when you pick them up,
944 and when you drag them to the promotion square and release them there,
945 they will promote to that.
946 But when you drag such a pawn backwards first,
947 its identity will start to cycle through the other available pieces.
948 This will continue until you start to move it forward;
949 at which point the identity of the piece will be fixed,
950 so that you can safely put it down on the promotion square.
951 If this option is off, what happens depends on the
952 option @code{alwaysPromoteToQueen},
953 which would force promotion to Queen when true.
954 Otherwise XBoard would bring up a dialog
955 box whenever you move a pawn to the last rank, asking what piece
956 you want to promote to.
957 @itemx Animate Dragging
958 @cindex Animate Dragging, Menu Item
959 If Animate Dragging is on, while you are dragging a piece with the
960 mouse, an image of the piece follows the mouse cursor.
961 If Animate Dragging is off, there is no visual feedback while you are
962 dragging a piece, but if Animate Moving is on, the move will be
963 animated when it is complete.
964 @itemx Animate Moving
965 @cindex Animate Moving, Menu Item
966 If Animate Moving is on, all piece moves are animated. An image of the
967 piece is shown moving from the old square to the new square when the
968 move is completed (unless the move was already animated by Animate Dragging).
969 If Animate Moving is off, a moved piece instantly disappears from its
970 old square and reappears on its new square when the move is complete.
971 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-A} key is a keyboard equivalent.
973 @cindex Auto Flag, Menu Item
974 If this option is on and one player runs out of time
977 will automatically call his flag, claiming a win on time.
978 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-F} key is a keyboard equivalent.
979 In ICS mode, Auto Flag will only call your opponent's flag, not yours,
980 and the ICS may award you a draw instead of a win if you have
981 insufficient mating material. In local chess engine mode,
983 may call either player's flag and will not take material into account (?).
984 @itemx Auto Flip View
985 @cindex Auto Flip View, Menu Item
986 If the Auto Flip View option is on when you start a game, the board
987 will be automatically oriented so that your pawns move from the bottom
988 of the window towards the top.
990 If you are playing a game on an ICS, the board is always
991 oriented at the start of the game so that your pawns move from
992 the bottom of the window towards the top. Otherwise, the starting
993 orientation is determined by the @code{flipView} command line option;
994 if it is false (the default), White's pawns move from bottom to top
995 at the start of each game; if it is true, Black's pawns move from
996 bottom to top. @xref{User interface options}.
998 @cindex Blindfold, Menu Item
999 If this option is on, XBoard displays the board as usual but does
1000 not display pieces or move highlights. You can still move in the
1001 usual way (with the mouse or by typing moves in ICS mode), even though
1002 the pieces are invisible.
1004 @cindex Drop Menu, Menu Item
1005 Controls if right-clicking the board in crazyhouse / bughouse
1006 will pop up a menu to drop a piece on the clicked square
1007 (old, deprecated behavior)
1008 or allow you to step through an engine PV
1009 (new, recommended behavior).
1010 @itemx Hide Thinking
1011 @cindex Hide Thinking, Menu Item
1012 If this option is off, the chess engine's notion of the score and best
1013 line of play from the current position is displayed as it is
1014 thinking. The score indicates how many pawns ahead (or if negative,
1015 behind) the chess engine thinks it is. In matches between two
1016 machines, the score is prefixed by @samp{W} or @samp{B} to indicate
1017 whether it is showing White's thinking or Black's, and only the thinking
1018 of the engine that is on move is shown.
1019 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-H} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1020 @itemx Highlight Dragging
1021 @cindex Highlight Dragging, Menu Item
1022 If Highlight Dragging is on, and the option -showTargetSquares is also on
1023 in the settings file, all squares a piece that is 'picked up' with the mouse
1024 can legally move to are highighted with a fat colored dot in the
1025 highlightColor (non-captures) or premoveHighlightColor (captures).
1026 Legality testing must be on for XBoard to know how the piece moves.
1027 @itemx Highlight Last Move
1028 @cindex Highlight Last Move, Menu Item
1029 If Highlight Last Move is on, after a move is made, the starting and
1030 ending squares remain highlighted. In addition, after you use Backward
1031 or Back to Start, the starting and ending squares of the last move to
1032 be unmade are highlighted.
1033 @itemx Highlight with Arrow
1034 @cindex Highlight with Arrow, Menu Item
1035 Causes the highlighting described in Highlight Last Move to be done
1036 by drawing an arrow between the highlighted squares,
1037 so that it is visible even when the width of the grid lines is set to zero.
1039 @cindex Move Sound, Menu Item
1040 Enables the sounding of an audible signal when the computer performs a move.
1041 For the selection of the sound, see @samp{Sound Options}.
1042 If you turn on this option when using XBoard with the Internet
1043 Chess Server, you will probably want to give the
1045 command to the ICS, since otherwise the ICS will ring the terminal bell
1046 after every move (not just yours). (The @file{.icsrc} file
1047 is a good place for this; see @ref{ICS options}.)
1048 @itemx One-Click Moving
1049 @cindex One-Click Moving, Menu Item
1050 If this option is on, XBoard does not wait for you to click both the
1051 from- and the to-square, or drag the piece, but performs a move as soon
1052 as it is uniqely specified.
1053 This applies to clicking an own piece that only has a single legal move,
1054 clicking an empty square or opponent piece where only one of your pieces
1055 can move (or capture) to.
1056 Furthermore, a double-click on a piece that can only make a single capture
1057 will cause that capture to be made.
1058 Promoting a Pawn by clicking its to-square will suppress the promotion
1059 popup or other methods for selecting an under-promotion,
1060 and make it promote to Queen.
1061 @itemx Periodic Updates
1062 @cindex Periodic Updates, Menu Item
1063 If this option is off (or if
1064 you are using a chess engine that does not support periodic updates),
1066 will only be updated when the analysis changes. If this option is
1067 on, the Analysis Window will be updated every two seconds.
1068 @itemx Ponder Next Move
1069 @cindex Ponder Next Move, Menu Item
1070 If this option is off, the chess engine will think only when it is on
1071 move. If the option is on, the engine will also think while waiting
1072 for you to make your move.
1073 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-P} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1074 @itemx Popup Exit Message
1075 @cindex Popup Exit Message, Menu Item
1076 If this option is on, when XBoard wants to display a message just
1077 before exiting, it brings up a modal dialog box and waits for you to
1078 click OK before exiting. If the option is off, XBoard prints the
1079 message to standard error (the terminal) and exits immediately.
1080 @itemx Popup Move Errors
1081 @cindex Popup Move Errors, Menu Item
1082 If this option is off, when you make an error in moving (such as
1083 attempting an illegal move or moving the wrong color piece), the
1084 error message is displayed in the message area. If the option is
1085 on, move errors are displayed in small pop-up windows like other errors.
1086 You can dismiss an error pop-up either by clicking its OK button or by
1087 clicking anywhere on the board, including down-clicking to start a move.
1088 @itemx Scores in Move List
1089 @cindex Scores in Move List, Menu Item
1090 If this option is on, XBoard will display the depth and score
1091 of engine moves in the Move List, in the format of a PGN comment.
1093 @cindex Show Coords, Menu Item
1094 If this option is on, XBoard displays algebraic coordinates
1095 along the board's left and bottom edges.
1096 @itemx Show Target Squares
1097 @cindex Show Target Squares, Menu Item
1098 This option must be on for the @samp{Highlight Dragging} described
1100 @itemx Test Legality
1101 @cindex Test Legality, Menu Item
1102 If this option is on, XBoard tests whether the moves you try to make
1103 with the mouse are legal and refuses to let you make an illegal move.
1104 The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-L} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1105 Moves loaded from a file with @samp{Load Game} are also checked. If
1106 the option is off, all moves are accepted, but if a local chess engine
1107 or the ICS is active, they will still reject illegal moves. Turning
1108 off this option is useful if you are playing a chess variant with
1109 rules that XBoard does not understand. (Bughouse, suicide, and wild
1110 variants where the king may castle after starting on the d file are
1111 generally supported with Test Legality on.)
1114 @cindex Flash Moves, Menu Item
1115 @cindex Flash Rate, Menu Item
1116 If this option is non-zero, whenever a move is completed,
1117 the moved piece flashes the specified number of times.
1118 The flash-rate setting determines how rapidly this flashing occurs.
1119 @itemx Animation Speed
1120 @cindex Animation Speed, Menu Item
1121 Determines the duration (in msec) of an animation step,
1122 when @samp{Animate Moving} is swiched on.
1123 @itemx Zoom factor in Evaluation Graph
1124 @cindex Zoom factor in Evaluation Graph, Menu Item
1125 Sets the valueof the @code{evalZoom} option,
1126 indicating the factor by which the score interval (-1,1) should be
1127 blown up on the vertical axis of the Evaluation Graph.
1129 @cindex Time Control, Menu Item
1130 Pops up a sub-menu where you can set the time-control parameters interactively.
1131 Allows you to select classical or incremental time controls,
1132 set the moves per session, session duration, and time increment.
1133 Also allows specification of time-odds factors for one or both engines.
1134 If an engine is given a time-odds factor N, all time quota it gets,
1135 be it at the beginning of a session or through the time increment or
1136 fixed time per move, will be divided by N.
1137 The shifted @kbd{Alt+T} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1139 @cindex Common Engine, Menu Item
1140 Pops up a sub-menu where you can set some engine parameters common to most engines,
1141 such as hash-table size, tablebase cache size, maximum number of processors
1142 that SMP engines can use, and where to find the Polyglot adapter needed
1143 to run UCI engines under XBoard. The feature that allows setting of these parameters on
1144 engines is new since XBoard 4.3.15, so not many XBoard/WinBoard engines respond
1145 to it yet, but UCI engines should.
1147 It is also possible to specify a GUI opening book here, i.e. an opening
1148 book that XBoard consults for any position a playing engine gets in.
1149 It then forces the engine to play the book move, rather than to think up its own,
1150 if that position is found in the book.
1151 The book can switched on and off independently for either engine.
1152 The way book moves are chosen can be influenced through the settings of
1153 book depth and variety.
1154 After both sides have played more moves than the specified depth,
1155 the book will no longer be consulted.
1156 When the variety is set to 50, moves will be played with the probability
1157 specified in the book.
1158 When set to 0, only the move(s) with the highest probability will be played.
1159 When set to 100, all listed moves will be played with equal pobability.
1160 Other settings interpolate between that.
1161 The shifted @kbd{Alt+U} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1163 @cindex Adjudications, Menu Item
1164 Pops up a sub-menu where you can enable or disable various adjudications
1165 that XBoard can perform in engine-engine games.
1166 The shifted @kbd{Alt+J} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1167 You can instruct XBoard to detect and terminate the game on checkmate
1168 or stalemate, even if the engines would not do so, to verify engine
1169 result claims (forfeiting engines that make false claims), rather than
1170 naively following the engine, to declare draw on positions
1171 which can never be won for lack of mating material, (e.g. KBK),
1172 or which are impossible to win unless the opponent seeks its own demise
1174 For these adjudications to work, @samp{Test Legality} should be switched on.
1175 It is also possible to instruct XBoard to enforce a 50-move or 3-fold-repeat
1176 rule and automatically declare draw (after a user-adjustable number of moves
1177 or repeats) even if the engines are prepared to go on.
1178 It is also possible to have XBoard declare draw on games that seem to drag on
1179 forever, or adjudicate a loss if both engines agree (for 3 consecutive moves) that one
1180 of them is behind more than a user-adjustable score threshold.
1181 For the latter adjudication to work, XBoard should be able to properly understand
1182 the engine's scores. To facilitate the latter, you can inform xboard here if
1183 the engines report scores from the viewpoint of white, or from that of their own color.
1186 @cindex ICS Options, Menu Item
1187 The following options occur in a dialog summoned by the
1188 ICS Options menu item.
1190 @cindex Auto Kibitz, Menu Item
1191 Setting this option when playingwith or aginst a chess program on an ICS
1192 will cause the last line of thinking output of the engine before its move
1193 to be sent to the ICS in a kibitz command.
1194 In addition, any kibitz message received through the ICS from
1195 an opponent chess program will be diverted to the engine-output window,
1196 (and suppressed in the console),
1197 where you can play through its PV by right-clicking it.
1199 @cindex Auto Comment, Menu Item
1200 If this option is on, any remarks made on ICS while you are observing or
1201 playing a game are recorded as a comment on the current move. This includes
1202 remarks made with the ICS commands @kbd{say}, @kbd{tell}, @kbd{whisper},
1204 Limitation: remarks that you type yourself are not recognized;
1205 XBoard scans only the output from ICS, not the input you type to it.
1207 @cindex Auto Observe, Menu Item
1208 If this option is on and you add a player to your @code{gnotify}
1209 list on ICS, XBoard will automatically observe all of that
1210 player's games, unless you are doing something else (such as
1211 observing or playing a game of your own) when one starts.
1212 The games are displayed
1213 from the point of view of the player on your gnotify list; that is, his
1214 pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the top.
1215 Exceptions: If both players in a game are on your gnotify list, if
1218 variable is set to 0, or if the ICS you are using does not
1219 properly support observing from Black's point of view,
1220 you will see the game from White's point of view.
1221 @itemx Auto Raise Board
1222 @cindex Auto Raise Board, Menu Item
1223 If this option is on, whenever a new game begins, the chessboard window
1224 is deiconized (if necessary) and raised to the top of the stack of windows.
1226 @cindex Auto Save, Menu Item
1227 If this option is true, at the end of every game XBoard prompts
1228 you for a file name and appends a record of the game to the file
1230 Disabled if the @code{saveGameFile} command-line
1231 option is set, as in that case all games are saved to the specified file.
1232 @xref{Load and Save options}.
1233 @itemx Background Observe
1234 @cindex Background Observe, Menu Item
1235 Setting this option will make XBoard suppress display of any boards
1236 from observed games while you are playing.
1237 In stead the last such board will be remembered,
1238 and shown to you when you right-click the board.
1239 This allows you to peek at your bughouse partner's game when you want,
1240 without disturbing your own game too much.
1242 @cindex Dual Board, Menu Item
1243 Setting this option in combination with @samp{Background Observe}
1244 will display boards of observed games while you are playing
1245 on a second board next to that of your own game.
1246 @itemx Get Move List
1247 @cindex Get Move List, Menu Item
1248 If this option is on, whenever XBoard
1249 receives the first board of a new ICS game (or a different game from
1250 the one it is currently displaying), it
1251 retrieves the list of past moves from the ICS.
1252 You can then review the moves with the @samp{Forward} and @samp{Backward}
1254 or save them with @samp{Save Game}. You might want to
1255 turn off this option if you are observing several blitz games at once,
1256 to keep from wasting time and network bandwidth fetching the move lists over
1258 When you turn this option on from the menu, XBoard
1259 immediately fetches the move list of the current game (if any).
1261 @cindex Quiet Play, Menu Item
1262 If this option is on, XBoard will automatically issue an ICS
1264 command whenever you start a game and a
1266 command whenever you finish one. Thus, you will not be distracted
1267 by shouts from other ICS users while playing.
1269 @cindex Seek Graph, Menu Item
1270 Setting this option will cause XBoard to display an graph of
1271 currently active seek ads when you left-click the board
1272 while idle and logged on to an ICS.
1273 @itemx Auto-Refresh Seek Graph
1274 @cindex Auto-Refresh Seek Graph, Menu Item
1275 In combination with the @samp{Seek Graph} option this
1276 will cause automatic update of the seek graph while it is up.
1277 This only works on FICS and ICS,
1278 and requires a lot of bandwidth on a busy server.
1280 @itemx Premove White
1281 @itemx Premove Black
1282 @itemx First White Move
1283 @itemx First Black Move
1284 @cindex Premove, Menu Item
1285 @cindex Premove White, Menu Item
1286 @cindex Premove Black, Menu Item
1287 @cindex First White Move, Menu Item
1288 @cindex First Black Move, Menu Item
1289 If this option is on while playing a game on an ICS, you can register
1290 your next planned move before it is your turn. Move the piece with
1291 the mouse in the ordinary way, and the starting and ending squares
1292 will be highlighted with a special color (red by default). When it is
1293 your turn, if your registered move is legal, XBoard will send it to
1294 ICS immediately; if not, it will be ignored and you can make a
1295 different move. If you change your mind about your premove, either
1296 make a different move, or double-click on any piece to cancel the move
1299 You can also enter premoves for the first white and black moves
1302 @itemx ICS Alarm Time
1303 @cindex ICS Alarm, Menu Item
1304 @cindex ICS Alarm Time, Menu Item
1305 When this option is on, an alarm sound is played when your clock
1306 counts down to the icsAlarmTime in an ICS game.
1307 (By default, the time is 5 seconds, but you can pecify other values
1308 with the Alarm Time spin control.)
1309 For games with time controls that include an increment, the
1310 alarm will sound each time the clock counts down to the icsAlarmTime.
1311 By default, the alarm sound is the terminal bell, but on some systems
1312 you can change it to a sound file using the soundIcsAlarm option; see
1314 @itemx Colorize Messages
1315 @cindex Colorize Messages, Menu Item
1316 Ticking this options causes various types of ICS messages do be
1317 displayed with different foreground or background colors in the console.
1318 The colors can be individually selected for each type,
1319 through the accompanying text edits.
1322 @cindex Match Options, Menu Item
1323 Summons a dialog where you can set options important for playing automatic
1324 matches between two chess programs
1325 (e.g. by using the @samp{Machine Match} menu item in the @samp{Mode} menu).
1326 @itemx Tournament file
1327 @cindex Tournament file, Menu item
1328 To run a tournament, XBoard needs a file to record its progress,
1329 so it can resume the tourney when it is interrupted.
1330 When you want to conduct anything more complex than a simple
1331 two-player match with the currently loaded engines,
1332 (i.e. when you select a list of participants),
1333 you must not leave this field blank.
1334 When you enter the name of an existing tournament file,
1335 XBoard will ignore all other input specified in the dialog,
1336 and will take them from that tournament file.
1337 This resumes an interrupted tournament, or adds another XBoard
1338 agent playing games for it to those that are already doing so.
1339 Specifying a not-yet-existing file will cause XBoard to create it,
1340 according to the tournament parameters specified in the rest of the dialog,
1341 before it starts the tournament on ‘OK’.
1342 Provided that you specify participants;
1343 without participants no tournament file will be made, but other entered values
1344 (e.g. for the file with opening positions) will take effect.
1345 Default: configured by the @code{defaultTourneyName} option.
1346 @itemx Sync after round
1347 @itemx Sync after cycle
1348 @cindex Sync after round, Menu Item
1349 @cindex Sync after cycle, Menu Item
1350 The sync options, when on, will cause WinBoard to refrain from starting games
1351 of the next round or cycle before all games of the previous round or cycle are finished.
1352 This guarantees correct ordering in the games file,
1353 even when multiple XBoard instances are concurrently playing games for the same tourney.
1354 Default: sync after cycle, but not after round.
1355 @itemx Select Engine
1356 @itemx Tourney participants
1357 @cindex Select Engine, Menu Item
1358 @cindex Tourney participants, Menu Item
1359 With the Select Engine drop-down list you can pick an engine from your list
1360 of installed engines in the settings file, to be added to the tournament.
1361 The engines selected so far will be listed in the ‘Tourney participants’ memo.
1362 The latter is a normal text edit, so you can use normal text-editing functions
1363 to delete engines you selected by accident, or change their order.
1364 Do not type names yourself there, because names that do not exactly match
1365 one of the names from the drop-down list will lead to undefined behavior.
1367 @cindex Tourney type, Menu Item
1368 Here you can specify the type of tournament you want.
1369 XBoard’s intrinsic tournament manager support round-robins (type = 0),
1370 where each participant plays every other participant, and (multi-)gauntlets,
1371 where one (or a few) so-called ‘gauntlet engines’ play an independent set of opponents.
1372 In the latter case, you specify the number of gauntlet engines.
1373 E.g. if you specified 10 engine, and tourney type = 2,
1374 the first 2 engines each play the remaining 8.
1375 A value of -1 instructs XBoard to play Swiss; for this to work an external
1376 pairing engine must be specified through the @code{pairingEngine} option.
1377 Each Swiss round will be considered a tourney cycle in that case.
1379 @itemx Number of tourney cycles
1380 @itemx Default number of Games
1381 @cindex Number of tourney cycles, Menu Item
1382 @cindex Default number of Games, Menu Item
1383 You can specify tourneys where every two opponents play each other multiple times.
1384 Such multiple games can be played in a row,
1385 as specified by the ‘number of games per pairing’,
1386 or by repeating the entire tournament schedule a number of times
1387 (specified by the ‘number of tourney cycles’).
1388 The total number of times two engine meet will be the product of these two.
1390 the number of games per pairing is the same as the default number of match games,
1391 stored in your settings file through the @code{defaultMatchGames} option.
1392 @itemx Save Tourney Games
1393 @cindex Save Tourney Games, Menu Item
1394 File where the tournament games are saved
1395 (duplicate of the item in the @samp{Save Game Options}).
1396 @itemx Game File with Opening Lines
1397 @itemx File with Start Positions
1399 @itemx Position Number
1400 @itemx Rewind Index after
1401 @cindex Game File with Opening Lines, Menu Item
1402 @cindex File with Start Positions, Menu Item
1403 @itemx Game Number, Menu Item
1404 @itemx Position Number, Menu Item
1405 @itemx Rewind Index after, Menu Item
1406 These items optionally specify the file with move sequences or board positions the tourney
1407 games should start from.
1408 The corresponding numbers specify the number of the game or position in the file.
1409 Here a value -1 means automatic stepping through all games on the file,
1410 -2 automatic stepping every two games.
1411 The Rewind-Index parameter causes a stepping index to reset to one after reaching
1413 A setting of -2 for the game number will also be effective in a tournament without
1414 specifying a game file, but playing from the GUI book instead.
1415 In this case the first (odd) games will randomly select from the book,
1416 but the second (even) games will select the same moves from the book as the previous game.
1417 (Note this leads to the same opening only if both engines use the GUI book!)
1418 Default: No game or position file will be used. The default index if such a file is used is 1.
1419 @itemx Replace Engine
1420 @itemx Upgrade Engine
1421 @cindex Replace Engine, Menu Item
1422 @cindex Upgrade Engine, Menu Item
1423 With these two buttons you can alter the participants of an already running tournament.
1424 After opening the Match Options dialog on an XBoard that iw playing fo the tourney,
1425 you will see all the tourney parameters in the dialog fields.
1426 You can then replace the name of one engine by that of another
1427 by editing the @samp{participants} field.
1428 (But preserve the order of the others!)
1429 Pressing the button after that will cause the substitution.
1430 With the @samp{Upgrade Engine} button the substitution will only affect future games.
1431 With @samp{Replace Engine} all games the substituted engine has already played will
1432 be invalidated, and they will be replayed with the substitute engine.
1433 In this latter case the engine must not be playing when you do this,
1434 but otherwise there is no need to pause the tournament play
1435 for making a substitution.
1437 @item Load Game Options
1438 @cindex Load Game Options, Menu Item
1439 Summons a dialog where you can set the @code{autoDisplayComment} and
1440 @code{autoDisplayTags} options, (which control popups when viewing loaded games),
1441 and specify the rate at which loaded games are auto-played,
1442 in seconds per move (which can be a fractional number, like 1.6).
1443 You can also set search criteria for determining which games
1444 will be displayed in the Game List for a multi-game file,
1445 and thus be eligible for loading:
1446 @itemx Elo of strongest player
1447 @itemx Elo of weakest player
1449 @cindex Elo of strongest player, Menu Item
1450 @cindex Elo of weakest player, Menu Item
1451 @cindex year, Menu Item
1452 These numeric fields set thresholds (lower limits) on the Elo rating of the mentioned player,
1453 or the date the game was played.
1456 @cindex Search mode, Menu Item
1457 @cindex find position, Menu Item
1458 This setting determines which positions in a game will be considered a match
1459 to the position currently displayed in the board window
1460 when you press the @samp{find position} button in the Game List.
1461 You can search for an exact match,
1462 a position that has all shown material in the same place,
1463 but might contain additional material,
1464 a position that has all Pawns in the same place,
1465 but can have the shown material anywhere,
1466 a position that can have all shown material anywhere,
1467 or a position that has material between certain limits anywhere.
1468 For the latter you have to place the material that must be present
1469 in the four lowest ranks of the board,
1470 and optional additional material in the four highest ranks of the board.
1471 You can request the optional material to be balanced.
1472 @itemx number of consecutive positions
1473 @cindex number of consecutive positions, Menu Item
1474 When you are searching by material, rather than for an exact match,
1475 this parameter indicates forhowmany consecutive game positions
1476 the same amount of material must be on the board before it is
1478 @itemx Also match reversed colors
1479 @itemx Also match left-right flipped position
1480 @cindex Also match reversed colors, Menu Item
1481 @cindex Also match left-right flipped position, Menu Item
1482 When looking for matching positions rather than by material,
1483 these settings determine whether mirror images
1484 (in case of a vertical flip in combination with color reversal)
1485 will be also considered a match.
1486 The left-right flipping is only useful after all castling rights
1487 have expired (or in Xiangqi).
1489 @item Save Game Options
1490 @cindex Save Game Options, Menu Item
1491 Summons a dialog where you can specify the files on which XBoard should
1492 automtically save any played or entered games,
1493 (the @code{saveGameFile} option),
1494 or the final position of such games (the @code{savePositionfile} option).
1495 You can also select 'auto-save' without a file name,
1496 in which case XBoard will prompt the user for a file name after each game.
1497 You can also set the default value for the PGN Event tag that will
1498 be used for each new game you start.
1499 Various options for the format of the game can be specified as well,
1500 such as whether scores and depths of engine games should be saved as comments,
1501 and if a tag with info about the score with which the engine came out of book
1503 For Chess, always set the format to PGN, rather than "old save stye"!
1506 @cindex Game List Tags, Menu Item
1507 Pops up a dialog where you can select the PGN tags that should appear
1508 on the lines in the game list, and their order.
1511 @cindex Sound Options, Menu Item
1512 Summons a dialog where you can specify the sounds that should accompany
1513 various events that can occur XBoard.
1514 Most events are only relevant to ICS play,
1515 but the move sound is an important exception.
1516 For each event listed in the dialog,
1517 you can select a standard sound from a menu.
1518 You can also select a user-supplied sound file,
1519 by typing its name into the designated text-edit field first,
1520 and then selecting "Above WAV File" from the menu for the event.
1521 A dummy event has been provided for trying out the sounds with the
1522 "play" button next to it.
1523 The directory with standard sounds, and the external program for playing
1524 the sounds can be specified too, but normally you would not touch these
1525 once XBoard is properly installed.
1526 When a move sound other than 'None' is selected,
1527 XBoard alerts you by playing that sound
1528 after each of your opponent's moves (or after every
1529 move if you are observing a game on the Internet Chess Server).
1530 The sound is not played after moves you make or moves read from a
1533 @item Save Settings Now
1534 @cindex Save Settings Now, Menu Item
1535 Selecting this menu item causes the current XBoard settings to be
1536 written to the settings file, so they will also apply in future sessions.
1537 Note that some settings are 'volatile', and are not saved,
1538 because XBoard considers it too unlikely that you want those to apply
1540 In particular this applies to the Chess program names, and all options
1541 giving information on those Chess programs (such as their directory,
1542 if they have their own opening book, if they are UCI or native XBoard),
1543 or the variant you are playing.
1544 Such options would still be understood when they appear in the settings
1545 file in case they were put there with the aid of a text editor, but they
1546 would disappear from the file as soon as you save the settings.
1547 @item Save Settings on Exit
1548 @cindex Save Settings on Exit, Menu Item
1549 Setting this option has no immediate effect, but causes the settings
1550 to be saved when you quit XBoard. What happens then is otherwise
1551 identical to what happens when you use select "Save Settings Now",
1561 @cindex Info XBoard, Menu Item
1562 Displays the XBoard documentation in info format. For this feature to
1563 work, you must have the GNU info program installed on your system, and
1564 the file @file{xboard.info} must either be present in the current
1565 working directory, or have been installed by the @samp{make install}
1566 command when you built XBoard.
1568 @cindex Man XBoard, Menu Item
1569 Displays the XBoard documentation in man page format.
1570 The @kbd{F1} key is a keyboard equivalent. For this
1571 feature to work, the file @file{xboard.6} must have been installed by
1572 the @samp{make install} command when you built XBoard, and the
1573 directory it was placed in must be on the search path for your
1574 system's @samp{man} command.
1576 @cindex About XBoard, Menu Item
1577 Shows the current XBoard version number.
1581 @section Other Shortcut Keys
1583 @cindex Shortcut keys
1585 @item Show last move
1586 By hitting @kbd{Enter} the last move will be re-animated.
1587 @item Load Next Game
1588 @cindex Load Next Game, Menu Item
1589 Loads the next game from the last game record file you loaded.
1590 The @kbd{Alt+PgDn} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1591 @item Load Previous Game
1592 @cindex Load Previous Game, Menu Item
1593 Loads the previous game from the last game record file you
1594 loaded. The @kbd{Alt+PgUp} key is a keyboard equivalent.
1595 Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
1596 @item Reload Same Game
1597 @cindex Reload Same Game, Menu Item
1598 Reloads the last game you loaded.
1599 Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
1600 @item Reload Same Position
1601 @cindex Reload Same Position, Menu Item
1602 Reloads the last position you loaded.
1603 Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
1606 You can add or remove shortcut keys using the X resources
1607 @code{form.translations}. Here is an example of what would go in your
1608 @file{.Xresources} file:
1611 XBoard*form.translations: \
1612 Shift<Key>?: AboutGameProc() \n\
1613 <Key>y: AcceptProc() \n\
1614 <Key>n: DeclineProc() \n\
1615 <Key>i: NothingProc()
1618 Binding a key to @code{NothingProc} makes it do nothing, thus removing
1619 it as a shortcut key. The XBoard commands that can be bound to keys
1623 AbortProc, AboutGameProc, AboutProc, AcceptProc, AdjournProc,
1624 AlwaysQueenProc, AnalysisModeProc, AnalyzeFileProc,
1625 AnimateDraggingProc, AnimateMovingProc, AutobsProc, AutoflagProc,
1626 AutoflipProc, AutoraiseProc, AutosaveProc, BackwardProc,
1627 BlindfoldProc, BookProc, CallFlagProc, CopyGameProc, CopyPositionProc,
1628 DebugProc, DeclineProc, DrawProc, EditCommentProc, EditGameProc,
1629 EditPositionProc, EditTagsProc, EnterKeyProc, FlashMovesProc,
1630 FlipViewProc, ForwardProc, GetMoveListProc, HighlightLastMoveProc,
1631 HintProc, IcsAlarmProc, IcsClientProc, IcsInputBoxProc,
1632 InfoProc, LoadGameProc, LoadNextGameProc, LoadNextPositionProc,
1633 LoadPositionProc, LoadPrevGameProc, LoadPrevPositionProc,
1634 LoadSelectedProc, MachineBlackProc, MachineWhiteProc, MailMoveProc,
1635 ManProc, MoveNowProc, MoveSoundProc, NothingProc, OldSaveStyleProc,
1636 PasteGameProc, PastePositionProc, PauseProc, PeriodicUpdatesProc,
1637 PonderNextMoveProc, PopupExitMessageProc, PopupMoveErrorsProc,
1638 PremoveProc, QuietPlayProc, QuitProc, ReloadCmailMsgProc,
1639 ReloadGameProc, ReloadPositionProc, RematchProc, ResetProc,
1640 ResignProc, RetractMoveProc, RevertProc, SaveGameProc,
1641 SavePositionProc, ShowCoordsProc, ShowGameListProc, ShowThinkingProc,
1642 StopExaminingProc, StopObservingProc, TestLegalityProc, ToEndProc,
1643 ToStartProc, TrainingProc, TruncateGameProc, and TwoMachinesProc.
1651 This section documents the command-line options to XBoard. You can
1652 set these options in two ways: by typing them on the shell command
1653 line you use to start XBoard, or by editing the settings file
1654 (usually ~/.xboardrc) to alter the value of the setting that was
1655 saved there. Some of the options
1656 cannot be changed while XBoard is running; others set the initial
1657 state of items that can be changed with the @ref{Options} menu.
1659 Most of the options have both a long name and a short name. To turn a
1660 boolean option on or off from the command line, either give its long
1661 name followed by the value true or false
1662 (@samp{-longOptionName true}), or give just the short name to turn the
1663 option on (@samp{-opt}), or the short name preceded by @samp{x} to
1664 turn the option off (@samp{-xopt}). For options that take strings or
1665 numbers as values, you can use the long or short option names
1669 * Chess engine options:: Controlling the chess engine.
1670 * UCI + WB Engine Settings:: Setting some very common engine parameters
1671 * Tournament options:: Running tournaments and matches between engines.
1672 * ICS options:: Connecting to and using ICS.
1673 * Load and Save options:: Input/output options.
1674 * User interface options:: Look and feel options.
1675 * Adjudication Options:: Control adjudication of engine-engine games.
1676 * Other options:: Miscellaneous.
1679 @node Chess engine options
1680 @section Chess Engine Options
1681 @cindex options, Chess engine
1682 @cindex Chess engine options
1684 @item -tc or -timeControl minutes[:seconds]
1686 @cindex timeControl, option
1687 Each player begins with his clock set to the @code{timeControl} period.
1689 The additional options @code{movesPerSession} and @code{timeIncrement}
1690 are mutually exclusive.
1691 @item -mps or -movesPerSession moves
1693 @cindex movesPerSession, option
1694 When both players have made @code{movesPerSession} moves, a
1695 new @code{timeControl} period is added to both clocks. Default: 40 moves.
1696 @item -inc or -timeIncrement seconds
1698 @cindex timeIncrement, option
1699 If this option is specified, @code{movesPerSession} is ignored.
1700 Instead, after each player's move, @code{timeIncrement} seconds are
1702 Use @samp{-inc 0} if you want to require the entire
1703 game to be played in one @code{timeControl} period, with no increment.
1704 Default: -1, which specifies @code{movesPerSession} mode.
1705 @item -clock/-xclock or -clockMode true/false
1706 @cindex clock, option
1707 @cindex clockMode, option
1708 Determines whether or not to display the chess clocks. If clockMode is
1709 false, the clocks are not shown, but the side that is to play next
1710 is still highlighted. Also, unless @code{searchTime}
1711 is set, the chess engine still keeps track of the clock time and uses it to
1712 determine how fast to make its moves.
1713 @item -st or -searchTime minutes[:seconds]
1715 @cindex searchTime, option
1716 Tells the chess engine to spend at most the given amount of time
1717 searching for each of its moves. Without this option, the chess engine
1718 chooses its search time based on the number of moves and amount
1719 of time remaining until the next time control.
1720 Setting this option also sets clockMode to false.
1721 @item -depth or -searchDepth number
1723 @cindex searchDepth, option
1724 Tells the chess engine to look ahead at most the given number of moves
1725 when searching for a move to make. Without this option, the chess
1726 engine chooses its search depth based on the number of moves and
1727 amount of time remaining until the next time control. With the option,
1728 the engine will cut off its search early if it reaches the specified depth.
1729 @item -firstNPS number
1730 @itemx -secondNPS number
1731 @cindex firstNPS, option
1732 @cindex secondNPS, option
1733 Tells the chess engine to use an internal time standard based on its node count,
1734 rather then wall-clock time, to make its timing decisions.
1735 The time in virtual seconds should be obtained by dividing the node count
1736 through the given number, like the number was a rate in nodes per second.
1737 Xboard will manage the clocks in accordance with this, relying on the number
1738 of nodes reported by the engine in its thinking output. If the given number equals zero,
1739 it can obviously not be used to convert nodes to seconds, and the time reported
1740 by the engine is used to decrement the XBoard clock in stead. The engine is supposed to
1741 report in CPU time it uses, rather than wall-clock time, in this mode. This option
1742 can provide fairer conditions for engine-engine matches on heavily loaded machines,
1743 or with very fast games (where the wall clock is too inaccurate).
1744 @code{showThinking} must be on for this option to work. Default: -1 (off).
1745 Not many engines might support this yet!
1746 @item -firstTimeOdds factor
1747 @itemx -secondTimeOdds factor
1748 @cindex firstTimeOdds, option
1749 @cindex secondTimeOdds, option
1750 Reduces the time given to the mentioned engine by the given factor.
1751 If pondering is off, the effect is indistinguishable from what would happen
1752 if the engine was running on an n-times slower machine. Default: 1.
1753 @item -timeOddsMode mode
1754 @cindex timeOddsMode, option
1755 This option determines how the case is handled where both engines have a time-odds handicap.
1756 If mode=1, the engine that gets the most time will always get the nominal time,
1757 as specified by the time-control options, and its opponent's time is renormalized accordingly.
1758 If mode=0, both play with reduced time. Default: 0.
1759 @item -hideThinkingFromHuman true/false
1760 Controls the Hide Thinking option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
1761 (Replaces the Show-Thinking option of older xboard versions.)
1762 @item -thinking/-xthinking or -showThinking true/false
1763 @cindex thinking, option
1764 @cindex showThinking, option
1765 Forces the engine to send thinking output to xboard.
1766 Used to be the only way to control if thinking output was displayed
1767 in older xboard versions,
1768 but as the thinking output in xboard 4.3 is also used for several other
1769 purposes (adjudication, storing in PGN file) the display of it is now controlled
1770 by the new option Hide Thinking. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
1771 (But if xboard needs the thinking output for some purpose,
1772 it makes the engine send it despite the setting of this option.)
1773 @item -ponder/-xponder or -ponderNextMove true/false
1774 @cindex ponder, option
1775 @cindex ponderNextMove, option
1776 Sets the Ponder Next Move menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
1777 @item -smpCores number
1778 Specifies the maximum number of CPUs an SMP engine is allowed to use.
1779 Only works for engines that support the XBoard/WinBoard-protocol cores feature.
1780 @item -mg or -matchGames n
1782 @cindex matchGames, option
1783 Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines,
1784 with alternating colors.
1785 If the @code{loadGameFile} or @code{loadPositionFile} option is set,
1787 starts each game with the given opening moves or the given position;
1788 otherwise, the games start with the standard initial chess position.
1789 If the @code{saveGameFile} option is set, a move record for the
1790 match is appended to the specified file. If the @code{savePositionFile}
1791 option is set, the final position reached in each game of the match is appended
1792 to the specified file. When the match is over, XBoard
1793 displays the match score and exits. Default: 0 (do not run a match).
1794 @item -mm/-xmm or -matchMode true/false
1796 @cindex matchMode, option
1797 Setting @code{matchMode} to true is equivalent to setting
1798 @code{matchGames} to 1.
1799 @item -sameColorGames n
1800 @cindex sameColorGames, option
1801 Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines,
1802 without alternating colors.
1803 Otherwise the same applies as for the @samp{-matchGames} option,
1804 over which it takes precedence if both are specified. (See there.)
1805 Default: 0 (do not run a match).
1806 @item -fcp or -firstChessProgram program
1808 @cindex firstChessProgram, option
1809 Name of first chess engine.
1810 Default: @file{Fairy-Max}.
1811 @item -scp or -secondChessProgram program
1813 @cindex secondChessProgram, option
1814 Name of second chess engine, if needed.
1815 A second chess engine is started only in Two Machines (match) mode.
1816 Default: @file{Fairy-Max}.
1817 @item -fb/-xfb or -firstPlaysBlack true/false
1819 @cindex firstPlaysBlack, option
1820 In games between two chess engines, firstChessProgram normally plays
1821 white. If this option is true, firstChessProgram plays black. In a
1822 multi-game match, this option affects the colors only for the first
1823 game; they still alternate in subsequent games.
1824 @item -fh or -firstHost host
1825 @itemx -sh or -secondHost host
1827 @cindex firstHost, option
1829 @cindex secondHost, option
1830 Hosts on which the chess engines are to run. The default for
1831 each is @file{localhost}. If you specify another host, XBoard
1832 uses @file{rsh} to run the chess engine there. (You can substitute a
1833 different remote shell program for rsh using the @code{remoteShell}
1834 option described below.)
1835 @item -fd or -firstDirectory dir
1836 @itemx -sd or -secondDirectory dir
1838 @cindex firstDirectory, option
1840 @cindex secondDirectory, option
1841 Working directories in which the chess engines are to be run.
1842 The default is "", which means to run the chess engine
1843 in the same working directory as XBoard
1844 itself. (See the CHESSDIR environment variable.)
1845 This option is effective only when the chess engine is being run
1846 on the local host; it does not work if the engine is run remotely
1847 using the -fh or -sh option.
1848 @item -initString string
1849 @itemx -secondInitString string
1850 @cindex initString, option
1851 @cindex secondInitString, option
1852 The string that is sent to initialize each chess engine for a new game.
1860 Setting this option from the command line is tricky, because you must
1861 type in real newline characters, including one at the very end.
1862 In most shells you can do this by
1863 entering a @samp{\} character followed by a newline. It is easier to set
1864 the option from your @file{.Xresources} file; in that case you can
1865 include the character sequence @samp{\n} in the string, and it will
1866 be converted to a newline.
1868 If you change this option, don't remove the @samp{new}
1869 command; it is required by all chess engines to
1872 You can remove the @samp{random} command if you like; including it
1873 causes GNU Chess 4 to randomize its move selection slightly so that it
1874 doesn't play the same moves in every game. Even without
1875 @samp{random}, GNU Chess 4 randomizes its choice of moves from its
1876 opening book. Many other chess engines ignore this command entirely
1877 and always (or never) randomize.
1879 You can also try adding other commands to the initString; see the
1880 documentation of the chess engine you are using for details.
1881 @item -firstComputerString string
1882 @itemx -secondComputerString string
1883 @cindex firstComputerString, option
1884 @cindex secondComputerString, option
1885 The string that is sent to the chess engine if its opponent is another
1886 computer chess engine. The default is @samp{computer\n}. Probably the
1887 only useful alternative is the empty string (@samp{}), which keeps the
1888 engine from knowing that it is playing another computer.
1889 @item -reuse/-xreuse or -reuseFirst true/false
1890 @itemx -reuse2/-xreuse2 or -reuseSecond true/false
1891 @cindex reuse, option
1892 @cindex reuseFirst, option
1893 @cindex reuse2, option
1894 @cindex reuseSecond, option
1895 If the option is false,
1896 XBoard kills off the chess engine after every game and starts
1897 it again for the next game.
1898 If the option is true (the default),
1899 XBoard starts the chess engine only once
1900 and uses it repeatedly to play multiple games.
1901 Some old chess engines may not work properly when
1902 reuse is turned on, but otherwise games will start faster if it is left on.
1903 @item -firstProtocolVersion version-number
1904 @itemx -secondProtocolVersion version-number
1905 @cindex firstProtocolVersion, option
1906 @cindex secondProtocolVersion, option
1907 This option specifies which version of the chess engine communication
1908 protocol to use. By default, version-number is 2. In version 1, the
1909 "protover" command is not sent to the engine; since version 1 is a
1910 subset of version 2, nothing else changes. Other values for
1911 version-number are not supported.
1912 @item -firstScoreAbs true/false
1913 @itemx -secondScoreAbs true/false
1914 @cindex firstScoreAbs, option
1915 @cindex secondScoreAbs, option
1916 If this option is set, the score reported by the engine is taken to be
1917 that in favor of white, even when the engine plays black.
1918 Important when XBoard uses the score for adjudications, or in PGN reporting.
1919 @item -niceEngines priority
1920 @cindex niceEngines, option
1921 This option allows you to lower the priority of the engine processes,
1922 so that the generally insatiable hunger for CPU time of chess engines does not interfere so much
1923 with smooth operation of XBoard (or the rest of your system).
1924 Negative values could increase the engine priority, which is not recommended.
1925 @item -firstOptions string
1926 @itemx -secondOptions string
1927 @cindex firstOptions, option
1928 @cindex secondOptions, option
1929 The given string is a comma-separated list of (option name=option value) pairs,
1930 like the following example: "style=Karpov,blunder rate=0".
1931 If an option announced by the engine at startup through the feature commands of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol
1932 matches one of the option names (i.e. "style" or "blunder rate"),
1933 it would be set to the given value (i.e. "Karpov" or 0)
1934 through a corresponding option command to the engine.
1935 This provided that the type of the value (text or numeric) matches as well.
1936 @item -firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
1937 @itemx -secondNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
1938 @cindex firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN, option
1939 @cindex secondNeedsNoncompliantFEN, option
1940 The castling rights and e.p. fields of the FEN sent to the mentioned engine
1941 with the setboard command will be replaced by the given string. This can for
1942 instance be used to run engines that do not understand Chess960 FENs in
1943 variant fischerandom, to make them at least understand the opening position,
1944 through setting the string to "KQkq -". (Note you also have to give the e.p. field!)
1945 Other possible applications are to provide work-arounds for engines that want to see
1946 castling and e.p. fields in variants that do not have castling or e.p.
1947 (shatranj, courier, xiangqi, shogi) so that XBoard would normally omit them
1948 (string = "- -"), or to add variant-specific fields that are not yet supported by XBoard
1949 (e.g. to indicate the number of checks in 3check).
1950 @item -shuffleOpenings
1951 @cindex shuffleOpenings, option
1952 Forces shuffling of the opening setup in variants that normally have a fixed initial position.
1953 Shufflings are symmetric for black and white, and exempt King and Rooks in variants
1954 with normal castling.
1955 Remains in force until a new variant is selected.
1958 @node UCI + WB Engine Settings
1959 @section UCI + WB Engine Settings
1960 @cindex Engine Settings
1961 @cindex Settings, Engine
1963 @item -fUCI or -firstIsUCI true/false
1964 @itemx -sUCI or -secondIsUCI true/false
1965 @cindex fUCI, option
1966 @cindex sUCI, option
1967 @cindex firstIsUCI, option
1968 @cindex secondIsUCI, option
1969 Indicates if the mentioned engine executable file is an UCI engine,
1970 and should be run with the aid of the Polyglot adapter rather than directly.
1971 Xboard will then pass the other UCI options and engine name to Polyglot
1972 on its command line, according to the option @code{adapterCommand}.
1977 @cindex fUCCI, option
1978 @cindex sUCCI, option
1979 @cindex fUSI, option
1980 @cindex sUSI, option
1981 Options similar to @code{fUCI} and @code{sUCI}, except that they
1982 use the indicated engine with the protocol adapter specified in
1983 the @samp{uxiAdapter} option.
1984 This can then be configured for running an UCCI or USI adapter,
1986 @item -adapterCommand string
1987 @cindex adapterCommand, option
1988 The string conatins the command that should be issued by XBoard
1989 to start an engine that is accompanied by the @code{fUCI} option.
1990 Any identifier following a percent sign in the command (e.g. %fcp)
1991 will be considered the name of an XBoard option, and be replaced
1992 by the value of that option at the time the engine is started.
1993 For starting the second engine, any leading "f" or "first" in
1994 the option name will first be replaced by "s" or "second",
1995 before finding its value.
1996 Default: 'polyglot -noini -ec "%fcp" -ed "%fd"'
1997 @item -uxiAdapter string
1998 @cindex uxiAdapter, option
1999 Similar to @code{adapterCommand}, but used for engines accompanied
2000 by the @code{fUCCI} or @code{fUSI} option, so you can configure
2001 XBoard to be ready to handle more than one flavor of non-native protocols.
2003 @item -polyglotDir filename
2004 @cindex polyglotDir, option
2005 Gives the name of the directory in which the Polyglot adapter for UCI engines resides.
2007 @item -usePolyglotBook true/false
2008 @cindex usePolyglotBook, option
2009 Specifies if the Polyglot book should be used as GUI book.
2010 @item -polyglotBook filename
2011 @cindex polyglotBook, option
2012 Gives the filename of the opening book.
2013 The book is only used when the @code{usePolyglotBook} option is set to true,
2014 and the option @code{firstHasOwnBookUCI} or @code{secondHasOwnBookUCI}
2015 applying to the engine is set to false.
2016 The engine will be kept in force mode as long as the current position is in book,
2017 and XBoard will select the book moves for it. Default: "".
2018 @item -fNoOwnBookUCI or -firstXBook or -firstHasOwnBookUCI true/false
2019 @itemx -sNoOwnBookUCI or -secondXBook or -secondHasOwnBookUCI true/false
2020 @cindex fNoOwnBookUCI, option
2021 @cindex sNoOwnBookUCI, option
2022 @cindex firstHasOwnBookUCI, option
2023 @cindex secondHasOwnBookUCI, option
2024 @cindex firstXBook, option
2025 @cindex secondXBook, option
2026 Indicates if the mentioned engine has its own opening book it should play from,
2027 rather than using the external book through XBoard. Default: false.
2028 @item -fn string or -firstPgnName string
2029 @itemx -sn string or -secondPgnName string
2030 @cindex firstPgnName, option
2031 @cindex secondPgnName, option
2034 Indicates the name that should be used for the engine in PGN tags of
2035 engine-engine games.
2036 Intended to allow you to install verions of the same engine with different settings,
2037 and still distinguish them.
2039 @item -defaultHashSize n
2040 @cindex defaultHashSize, option
2041 Sets the size of the hash table to n MegaBytes. Together with the EGTB cache size
2042 this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines,
2043 for those that support the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 64.
2044 @item -defaultCacheSizeEGTB n
2045 @cindex defaultCacheSizeEGTB, option
2046 Sets the size of the EGTB cache to n MegaBytes. Together with the hash-table size
2047 this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines,
2048 for those that support the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 4.
2049 @item -defaultPathEGTB filename
2050 @cindex defaultPathEGTB, option
2051 Gives the name of the directory where the end-game tablebases are installed, for UCI engines.
2052 Default: "/usr/local/share/egtb".
2053 @item -egtFormats string
2054 @cindex egtFormats, option
2055 Specifies which end-game tables are installed on the computer, and where.
2056 The argument is a comma-separated list of format specifications,
2057 each specification consisting of a format name, a colon, and a directory path name,
2058 e.g. "nalimov:/usr/local/share/egtb".
2059 If the name part matches that of a format that the engine requests through a feature command,
2060 xboard will relay the path name for this format to the engine through an egtpath command.
2061 One egtpath command for each matching format will be sent.
2062 Popular formats are "nalimov" DTM tablebases and "scorpio" bitbases.
2064 @item -firstChessProgramNames=@{names@}
2065 This option lets you customize the drop-down list of chess engine names
2066 that appears in the @samp{Load Engine} and @samp{Match Options} dialog.
2067 It consists of a list of strings, one per line.
2068 When an engine is loaded, the corresponding line is prefixed with "-fcp ",
2069 and processed like it appeared on the command line.
2070 That means that apart from the engine command,
2071 it can contain any list of XBoard options you want to use with this engine.
2072 (Commonly used options here are -fd, -firstXBook, -fUCI, -variant.)
2074 The value of this option is gradually built as you load new engines
2075 through the @samp{Load Engine} menu dialog, with @samp{Add to list} ticked.
2076 To change it, edit your settings file with a plain text editor.
2079 @node Tournament options
2080 @section Tournament options
2081 @cindex Tournament Options
2082 @cindex Options, Tournament
2084 @item -tf filename or -tourneyFile filename
2086 @cindex tourneyFile, option
2087 Specifies the name of the tournament file used in match mode
2088 to conduct a multi-player tournament.
2089 This file is a special settings file,
2090 which stores the description of the tournament (including progress info),
2091 through normal options (e.g. for time control, load and save files),
2092 and through some special-purpose options listed below.
2093 @item -tt number or -tourneyType number
2095 @cindex tourneyType, option
2096 Specifies the type of tourney: 0 = round-robin,
2097 N>0 = (multi-)gauntlet with N gauntlet engines,
2098 -1 = Swiss through external pairing engine.
2099 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2100 @item -cy number or -tourneyCycles number
2102 @cindex tourneyCycles, option
2103 Specifies the number of cycles in a tourney.
2104 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2105 @item -participants list
2106 @cindex participants, option
2107 The list is a multi-line text string that specifies engines
2108 occurring in the @code{firstChesProgramNames} list
2109 in the settings file by their (implied or explicitly given) nicknames,
2110 one engine per line.
2111 The mentioned engines will play in the tourney.
2112 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2113 @item -results string
2114 @cindex results, option
2115 The string of +=- characters lists the result of all played games in a toruney.
2116 Games currently playing are listed as *,
2117 while a space indicates a game that is not yet played or playing .
2118 Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
2119 @item -defaultTourneyName string
2120 @cindex defaultTourneyName, option
2121 Specifies the name of the tournament file XBoard should propose
2122 when the @samp{Match Options} dialog is opened.
2123 Any %y, %M, %d, %h, %m, %s in the string are replaced by the current
2124 year, month, day of the month, hours, minutes, seconds of the current time,
2125 respectively, as two-digit number.
2126 A %Y would be replaced by the year as 4-digit number. Default: empty string.
2127 @item -pairingEngine filename
2128 @cindex pairingEngine, option
2129 Specifies the external program to be used to pair the participants in Swiss tourneys.
2130 XBoard communicates with this engine in the same way as it communicates with Chess engines.
2131 The only commands sent to the pairing engine are “results N string”,
2132 (where N is the number of participants,
2133 and string the results so far in the format of the results option),
2134 and “pairing N”, (where N is the number of the tourney game).
2135 To the latter the pairing engine should answer with “A-B”,
2136 where A and B are participant numbers (in the range 1-N).
2137 (There should be no reply to the results command.) Default: empty string.
2138 @item -afterGame string
2139 @cindex afterGame, option
2140 When non-empty, the given string will be executed as a system command
2141 after each tournament game.
2142 This can be used, for example, to autmatically run a cross-table generator
2143 on the PGN file where games are saved, to update the tourney standings.
2145 @item -seedBase number
2146 @cindex seedBase, option
2147 Used to store the seed of the pseudo-random-number generator in the
2148 tourneyFile, so that separate instances of XBoard working on the same
2149 tourney can take coherent 'random' decisions, such as picking an
2150 opening for a given game number.
2154 @section ICS options
2156 @cindex Options, ICS
2158 @item -ics/-xics or -internetChessServerMode true/false
2160 @cindex internetChessServerMode, option
2161 Connect with an Internet Chess Server to play chess against its
2162 other users, observe games they are playing, or review games
2163 that have recently finished. Default: false.
2164 @item -icshost or -internetChessServerHost host
2165 @cindex icshost, option
2166 @cindex internetChessServerHost, option
2167 The Internet host name or address of the chess server to connect
2168 to when in ICS mode. Default: @code{chessclub.com}.
2169 Another popular chess server to try is @code{freechess.org}.
2170 If your site doesn't have a working Internet name server, try
2171 specifying the host address in numeric form.
2173 to specify the numeric address when using the icshelper option
2174 with timestamp or timeseal (see below).
2175 @item -icsport or -internetChessServerPort port-number
2176 @cindex icsport, option
2177 @cindex internetChessServerPort, option
2178 The port number to use when connecting to a chess server in ICS
2179 mode. Default: 5000.
2180 @item -icshelper or -internetChessServerHelper prog-name
2181 @cindex icshelper, option
2182 @cindex internetChessServerHelper, option
2183 An external helper program used to communicate with the chess server.
2184 You would set it to "timestamp" for ICC (chessclub.com) or
2185 "timeseal" for FICS (freechess.org), after
2186 obtaining the correct version of timestamp or timeseal for your
2187 computer. See "help timestamp" on ICC and "help timeseal" on FICS.
2188 This option is shorthand for @code{-useTelnet -telnetProgram program}.
2189 @item -telnet/-xtelnet or -useTelnet true/false
2190 @cindex telnet, option
2191 @cindex useTelnet, option
2192 This option is poorly named; it should be called useHelper.
2193 If set to true, it instructs XBoard to run an external
2194 program to communicate with the Internet Chess Server.
2195 The program to use is given by the telnetProgram option.
2197 false (the default), XBoard opens a TCP socket and uses its own
2198 internal implementation of the telnet protocol to communicate with the
2199 ICS. @xref{Firewalls}.
2200 @item -telnetProgram prog-name
2201 @cindex telnetProgram, option
2202 This option is poorly named; it should be called helperProgram.
2203 It gives the name of the telnet program to be used with
2204 the @code{gateway} and @code{useTelnet} options. The default is
2205 @file{telnet}. The telnet program is invoked with the value of
2206 @code{internetChessServerHost} as its first argument and the value
2207 of @code{internetChessServerPort} as its second argument.
2209 @item -gateway host-name
2210 @cindex gateway, option
2211 If this option is set to a host name, XBoard communicates with the
2212 Internet Chess Server by using @file{rsh} to run
2213 the @code{telnetProgram} on the given host,
2214 instead of using its own internal implementation
2215 of the telnet protocol. You can substitute a different remote shell
2216 program for @file{rsh} using the @code{remoteShell} option described below.
2218 @item -internetChessServerCommPort or -icscomm dev-name
2219 @cindex internetChessServerCommPort, option
2220 @cindex icscomm, option
2221 If this option is set, XBoard communicates with the ICS through
2222 the given character I/O device instead of opening a TCP connection.
2223 Use this option if your system does not have any kind of
2224 Internet connection itself (not even a SLIP or PPP connection),
2225 but you do have dial-up access (or a hardwired terminal line) to
2226 an Internet service provider from which you can telnet to the ICS.
2228 The support for this option in XBoard is minimal. You need to
2229 set all communication parameters and tty modes before you enter
2232 Use a script something like this:
2235 stty raw -echo 9600 > /dev/tty00
2236 xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/tty00
2239 Here replace @samp{/dev/tty00} with the name of the device that your
2240 modem is connected to. You might have to add several more
2241 options to these stty commands. See the man pages for @file{stty}
2242 and @code{tty} if you run into problems. Also, on many systems stty
2243 works on its standard input instead of standard output, so you
2244 have to use @samp{<} instead of @samp{>}.
2246 If you are using linux, try starting with the script below.
2247 Change it as necessary for your installation.
2251 # configure modem and fire up XBoard
2255 stty 2400 ; stty raw ; stty hupcl ; stty -clocal
2256 stty ignbrk ; stty ignpar ; stty ixon ; stty ixoff
2257 stty -iexten ; stty -echo
2259 xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/modem
2262 After you start XBoard in this way, type whatever commands are
2263 necessary to dial out to your Internet provider and log in.
2264 Then telnet to ICS, using a command like
2265 @kbd{telnet chessclub.com 5000}.
2266 Important: See the paragraph below about extra echoes,
2267 in @ref{Limitations}.
2268 @item -icslogon or -internetChessServerLogonScript file-name
2269 @cindex icslogon, option
2270 @cindex internetChessServerLogonScript, option
2272 Whenever XBoard connects to the Internet Chess Server,
2273 if it finds a file with the name given in this option, it feeds the
2274 file's contents to the ICS as commands. The default file name
2276 Usually the first two lines of the file should be
2277 your ICS user name and password.
2278 The file can be either in $CHESSDIR, in XBoard's working
2279 directory if CHESSDIR is not set, or in your home directory.
2280 @item -msLoginDelay delay
2281 @cindex msLoginDelay, option
2282 If you experience trouble logging on to an ICS when using the
2283 @code{-icslogon} option, inserting some delay between characters
2284 of the logon script may help. This option adds @code{delay}
2285 milliseconds of delay between characters. Good values to try
2287 @item -icsinput/-xicsinput or -internetChessServerInputBox true/false
2288 @cindex icsinput, option
2289 @cindex internetChessServerInputBox, option
2290 Sets the ICS Input Box menu option. @xref{Mode Menu}. Default: false.
2291 @item -autocomm/-xautocomm or -autoComment true/false
2292 @cindex autocomm, option
2293 @cindex autoComment, option
2294 Sets the Auto Comment menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2295 @item -autoflag/-xautoflag or -autoCallFlag true/false
2296 @cindex autoflag, option
2297 @cindex autoCallFlag, option
2298 Sets the Auto Flag menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2299 @item -autobs/-xautobs or -autoObserve true/false
2300 @cindex autobs, option
2301 @cindex autoObserve, option
2302 Sets the Auto Observe menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2304 @cindex autoKibitz, option
2305 Enables kibitzing of the engines last thinking output (depth, score, time, speed, PV)
2307 to the ICS, in zippy mode. The option @code{showThinking} must be switched on for
2308 this option to work.
2309 Also diverts similar kibitz information of an opponent engine that is playing you
2310 through the ICS to the engine-output window, as if the engine was playing locally.
2311 @item -seekGraph true/false or -sg
2312 @cindex seekGraph, option
2314 Enables displaying of the seek graph by left-clicking the board when
2315 you are logged on to an ICS and currently idle.
2316 The seek graph show all players currently seeking games on the ICS,
2317 plotted according to their rating and the time control of the game they seek,
2318 in three different colors (for rated, unrated and wild games).
2319 Computer ads are displayed as squares, human ads are dots.
2321 @item -autoRefresh true/false
2322 @cindex autoRefresh, option
2323 Enables automatic updating of the seek graph,
2324 by having the ICS send a running update of all newly placed
2325 and removed seek ads.
2326 This consumes a substantial amount of communication bandwidth,
2327 and is only supported for FICS and ICC.
2329 @item -backgroundObserve true/false
2330 @cindex backgroundObserve, option
2331 When true, boards sent to you by the ICS from other games while you are playing
2332 (e.g. because you are observing them)
2333 will not be automatically displayed.
2334 Only a summary of time left and material of both players will appear
2335 in the message field above the board.
2336 XBoard will remember the last board it has received this way,
2337 and will display it in stead of the position in your own game
2338 when you press the right mouse button.
2339 No other information is stored on such games observed in the background;
2340 you cannot save such a game later, or step through its moves.
2341 This feature is provided solely for the benefit of bughouse players,
2342 to enable them to peek at their partner's game without the need
2345 @item -dualBoard true/false
2346 @cindex dualBoard, option
2347 In combination with -backgroundObserve true, this option will display
2348 the board of the background game side by side with that of your own game,
2349 so you can have it in view permanently.
2350 Any board or holdings info coming in will be displayed on the secondary
2352 This feature is still experimental and largely unfinished.
2353 There is no animation or highlighting of moves on the secondary board.
2355 @item -oneClickMove true/false
2356 @cindex oneClickMove, option
2357 When set, this option allows you to enter moves by only clicking the to-
2358 or from-square, when only a single legal move to or from that square
2360 Double-clicking a piece (or clicking an already selected piece)
2361 will instruct that piece to make the only capture it can legally do.
2363 @item -moves/-xmoves or -getMoveList true/false
2364 @cindex moves, option
2365 @cindex getMoveList, option
2366 Sets the Get Move List menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2367 @item -alarm/-xalarm or -icsAlarm true/false
2368 @cindex alarm, option
2369 @cindex icsAlarm, option
2370 Sets the ICS Alarm menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2371 @item -icsAlarmTime ms
2372 @cindex icsAlarmTime, option
2373 Sets the time in milliseconds for the ICS Alarm menu option.
2374 @xref{Options Menu}. Default: 5000.
2375 @item lowTimeWarning true/false
2376 @cindex lowTimeWarning, option
2377 Controls a color change of the board as a warning your time is running out.
2378 @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2379 @item -pre/-xpre \fRor\fB -premove true/false
2381 @cindex premove, option
2382 Sets the Premove menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2383 @item -quiet/-xquiet or -quietPlay true/false
2384 @cindex quiet, option
2385 @cindex quietPlay, option
2386 Sets the Quiet Play menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2387 @item -colorizeMessages or -colorize
2389 @cindex colorize, option
2390 Setting colorizeMessages
2391 to true tells XBoard to colorize the messages received from
2392 the ICS. Colorization works only if your xterm
2393 supports ISO 6429 escape sequences for changing text colors.
2394 @item -colorShout foreground,background,bold
2395 @itemx -colorSShout foreground,background,bold
2396 @itemx -colorChannel1 foreground,background,bold
2397 @itemx -colorChannel foreground,background,bold
2398 @itemx -colorKibitz foreground,background,bold
2399 @itemx -colorTell foreground,background,bold
2400 @itemx -colorChallege foreground,background,bold
2401 @itemx -colorRequest foreground,background,bold
2402 @itemx -colorSeek foreground,background,bold
2403 @itemx -colorNormal foreground,background,bold
2405 @cindex colorShout, option
2406 @cindex colorSShout, option
2407 @cindex colorChannel1, option
2408 @cindex colorChannel, option
2409 @cindex colorKibitz, option
2410 @cindex colorTell, option
2411 @cindex colorChallenge, option
2412 @cindex colorRequest, option
2413 @cindex colorSeek, option
2414 @cindex colorNormal, option
2415 These options set the colors used when colorizing ICS messages.
2416 All ICS messages are grouped into one of these categories:
2417 shout, sshout, channel 1, other channel, kibitz, tell, challenge,
2418 request (including abort, adjourn, draw, pause, and takeback), or
2419 normal (all other messages).
2421 Each foreground or background argument can be one of the following:
2422 black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, or default.
2423 Here ``default'' means the default foreground or background color of
2424 your xterm. Bold can be 1 or 0. If background is omitted, ``default''
2425 is assumed; if bold is omitted, 0 is assumed.
2427 Here is an example of how to set the colors in your @file{.Xresources} file.
2428 The colors shown here are the default values; you will get
2429 them if you turn @code{-colorize} on without specifying your own colors.
2432 xboard*colorizeMessages: true
2433 xboard*colorShout: green
2434 xboard*colorSShout: green, black, 1
2435 xboard*colorChannel1: cyan
2436 xboard*colorChannel: cyan, black, 1
2437 xboard*colorKibitz: magenta, black, 1
2438 xboard*colorTell: yellow, black, 1
2439 xboard*colorChallenge: red, black, 1
2440 xboard*colorRequest: red
2441 xboard*colorSeek: blue
2442 xboard*colorNormal: default
2444 @item -soundProgram progname
2445 @cindex soundProgram, option
2447 If this option is set to a sound-playing program that is installed and
2448 working on your system, XBoard can play sound files when certain
2449 events occur, listed below. The default program name is "play". If
2450 any of the sound options is set to "$", the event rings the terminal
2451 bell by sending a ^G character to standard output, instead of playing
2452 a sound file. If an option is set to the empty string "", no sound is
2453 played for that event.
2454 @item -soundDirectory directoryname
2455 @cindex soundDirectory, option
2457 This option specifies where XBoard will look for sound files,
2458 when these are not given as an absolute path name.
2459 @item -soundShout filename
2460 @itemx -soundSShout filename
2461 @itemx -soundChannel filename
2462 @itemx -soundKibitz filename
2463 @itemx -soundTell filename
2464 @itemx -soundChallenge filename
2465 @itemx -soundRequest filename
2466 @itemx -soundSeek filename
2467 @cindex soundShout, option
2468 @cindex soundSShout, option
2469 @cindex soundChannel, option
2470 @cindex soundKibitz, option
2471 @cindex soundTell, option
2472 @cindex soundChallenge, option
2473 @cindex soundRequest, option
2474 @cindex soundSeek, option
2475 These sounds are triggered in the same way as the colorization events
2476 described above. They all default to "", no sound. They are played
2477 only if the colorizeMessages is on.
2478 @item -soundMove filename
2479 @cindex soundMove, option
2480 This sound is used by the Move Sound menu option. Default: "$".
2481 @item -soundIcsAlarm filename
2482 @cindex soundIcsAlarm, option
2483 This sound is used by the ICS Alarm menu option. Default: "$".
2484 @item -soundIcsWin filename
2485 @cindex soundIcsWin, option
2486 This sound is played when you win an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
2487 @item -soundIcsLoss filename
2488 @cindex soundIcsLoss, option
2489 This sound is played when you lose an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
2490 @item -soundIcsDraw filename
2491 @cindex soundIcsDraw, option
2492 This sound is played when you draw an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
2493 @item -soundIcsUnfinished filename
2494 @cindex soundIcsUnfinished, option
2495 This sound is played when an ICS game that you are participating in is
2496 aborted, adjourned, or otherwise ends inconclusively. Default: "" (no
2499 Here is an example of how to set the sounds in your @file{.Xresources} file:
2502 xboard*soundShout: shout.wav
2503 xboard*soundSShout: sshout.wav
2504 xboard*soundChannel1: channel1.wav
2505 xboard*soundChannel: channel.wav
2506 xboard*soundKibitz: kibitz.wav
2507 xboard*soundTell: tell.wav
2508 xboard*soundChallenge: challenge.wav
2509 xboard*soundRequest: request.wav
2510 xboard*soundSeek: seek.wav
2511 xboard*soundMove: move.wav
2512 xboard*soundIcsWin: win.wav
2513 xboard*soundIcsLoss: lose.wav
2514 xboard*soundIcsDraw: draw.wav
2515 xboard*soundIcsUnfinished: unfinished.wav
2516 xboard*soundIcsAlarm: alarm.wav
2520 @node Load and Save options
2521 @section Load and Save options
2522 @cindex Options, Load and Save
2523 @cindex Load and Save options
2525 @item -lgf or -loadGameFile file
2526 @itemx -lgi or -loadGameIndex index
2528 @cindex loadGameFile, option
2530 @cindex loadGameIndex, option
2531 If the @code{loadGameFile} option is set, XBoard loads the specified
2532 game file at startup. The file name @file{-} specifies the standard
2533 input. If there is more than one game in the file, XBoard
2534 pops up a menu of the available games, with entries based on their PGN
2535 (Portable Game Notation) tags.
2536 If the @code{loadGameIndex} option is set to @samp{N}, the menu is suppressed
2537 and the N th game found in the file is loaded immediately.
2538 The menu is also suppressed if @code{matchMode} is enabled or if the game file
2539 is a pipe; in these cases the first game in the file is loaded immediately.
2540 Use the @file{pxboard} shell script provided with XBoard if you
2541 want to pipe in files containing multiple games and still see the menu.
2542 If the loadGameIndex specifies an index -1, this triggers auto-increment
2543 of the index in @code{matchMode}, which means that after every game the
2544 index is incremented by one, causing each game of the match to be played
2545 from the next game in the file. Similarly, specifying an index value of -2
2546 causes the index to be incremented every two games, so that each game
2547 in the file is used twice (with reversed colors).
2548 The @code{rewindIndex} option causes the index to be reset to the
2549 first game of the file when it has reached a specified value.
2550 @item -rewindIndex n
2551 Causes a position file or game file to be rewound to its beginning after n
2552 positions or games in auto-increment @code{matchMode}.
2553 See @code{loadPositionIndex} and @code{loadGameIndex}.
2554 default: 0 (no rewind).
2555 @item -td or -timeDelay seconds
2557 @cindex timeDelay, option
2558 Time delay between moves during @samp{Load Game} or @samp{Analyze File}.
2559 Fractional seconds are allowed; try @samp{-td 0.4}.
2560 A time delay value of -1 tells
2561 XBoard not to step through game files automatically. Default: 1 second.
2562 @item -sgf or -saveGameFile file
2564 @cindex saveGameFile, option
2565 If this option is set, XBoard appends a record of every game
2566 played to the specified file. The file name @file{-} specifies the
2568 @item -autosave/-xautosave or -autoSaveGames true/false
2569 @cindex autosave, option
2570 @cindex autoSaveGames, option
2571 Sets the Auto Save menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2572 Ignored if @code{saveGameFile} is set.
2573 @item -lpf or -loadPositionFile file
2574 @itemx -lpi or -loadPositionIndex index
2576 @cindex loadPositionFile, option
2578 @cindex loadPositionIndex, option
2579 If the @code{loadPositionFile} option is set, XBoard loads the
2580 specified position file at startup. The file name @file{-} specifies the
2581 standard input. If the @code{loadPositionIndex} option is set to N,
2582 the Nth position found in the file is loaded; otherwise the
2583 first position is loaded.
2584 If the loadPositionIndex specifies an index -1, this triggers auto-increment
2585 of the index in @code{matchMode}, which means that after every game the
2586 index is incremented by one, causing each game of the match to be played
2587 from the next position in the file. Similarly, specifying an index value of -2
2588 causes the index to be incremented every two games, so that each position
2589 in the file is used twice (with the engines playing opposite colors).
2590 The @code{rewindIndex} option causes the index to be reset to the
2591 first position of the file when it has reached a specified value.
2592 @item -spf or -savePositionFile file
2594 @cindex savePositionFile, option
2595 If this option is set, XBoard appends the final position reached
2596 in every game played to the specified file. The file name @file{-}
2597 specifies the standard output.
2598 @item -pgnExtendedInfo true/false
2599 @cindex pgnExtendedInfo, option`
2600 If this option is set, XBoard saves depth, score and time used for each
2601 move that the engine found as a comment in the PGN file.
2603 @item -pgnEventHeader string
2604 @cindex pgnEventHeader, option`
2605 Sets the name used in the PGN event tag to string.
2606 Default: "Computer Chess Game".
2607 @item -saveOutOfBookInfo true/false
2608 @cindex saveOutOfBookInfo, option`
2609 Include the information on how the engine(s) game out of its opening book
2610 in a special 'annotator' tag with the PGN file.
2611 @item -oldsave/-xoldsave or -oldSaveStyle true/false
2612 @cindex oldsave, option
2613 @cindex oldSaveStyle, option
2614 Sets the Old Save Style menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2615 @item -gameListTags string
2616 @cindex gameListTags, option
2617 The character string lists the PGN tags that should be printed in the
2618 Game List, and their order. The meaning of the codes is e=event,
2619 s=site, d=date, o=round, p=players, r=result, w=white Elo, b=black Elo,
2620 t=time control, v=variant, a=out-of-book info, c=result comment.
2622 @item -ini or -settingsFile filename
2623 @itemx -saveSettingsFile filename
2625 @cindex saveSettingsFile, option
2626 @cindex SettingsFile, option
2627 @cindex init, option
2628 @cindex at sign, option
2629 When XBoard encounters an option -settingsFile (or -ini for short),
2630 or @@filename, it tries to read the mentioned file,
2631 and substitutes the contents of it (presumaby more command-line options)
2632 in place of the option.
2633 In the case of -ini or -settingsFile, the name of a successfully read
2634 settings file is also remembered as the file to use for saving settings
2635 (automatically on exit, or on user command).
2636 An option of the form @@filename does not affect saving.
2637 The option -saveSettingsFile does specify a name of the file to use
2638 for saving, without reading any options from it, and is thus also effective
2639 when the file did not exist yet.
2640 So the settings will be saved to the file specified in the last
2641 -saveSettingsFile or succesfull -settingsFile / -ini command,
2642 if any, and in /etc/xboard/xboard.conf otherwise.
2643 Usualy the latter is only accessible for the system administrator, though,
2644 and will be used to contain system-wide default setings, amongst which
2645 a -saveSettingsFile and -settingsFile options to specify a settings file
2646 accessible to the individual user, such as ~/.xboardrc in the user's
2650 @node User interface options
2651 @section User interface options
2652 @cindex User interface options
2653 @cindex Options, User interface
2659 @cindex display, option
2660 @cindex geometry, option
2661 @cindex iconic, option
2662 @cindex resource name, option
2663 These and most other standard Xt options are accepted.
2665 @cindex noGUI, option
2666 Suppresses all GUI functions of XBoard
2667 (to speed up automated ultra-fast engine-engine games, which you don't want to watch).
2668 There will be no board or clock updates, no printing of moves,
2669 and no update of the icon on the task bar in this mode.
2670 @item -movesound/-xmovesound or -ringBellAfterMoves true/false
2671 @cindex movesound, option
2672 @cindex bell, option
2673 @cindex ringBellAfterMoves, option
2674 Sets the Move Sound menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2675 For compatibility with old XBoard versions, -bell/-xbell are also
2676 accepted as abbreviations for this option.
2677 @item -exit/-xexit or -popupExitMessage true/false
2678 @cindex exit, option
2679 @cindex popupExitMessage, option
2680 Sets the Popup Exit Message menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2681 @item -popup/-xpopup or -popupMoveErrors true/false
2682 @cindex popup, option
2683 @cindex popupMoveErrors, option
2684 Sets the Popup Move Errors menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2685 @item -queen/-xqueen or -alwaysPromoteToQueen true/false
2686 @cindex queen, option
2687 @cindex alwaysPromoteToQueen, option
2688 Sets the Always Queen menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2689 @item -sweepPromotions true/false
2690 @cindex sweepPromotion, option
2691 Sets the @samp{Almost Always Promote to Queen} menu option.
2692 @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2693 @item -legal/-xlegal or -testLegality true/false
2694 @cindex legal, option
2695 @cindex testLegality, option
2696 Sets the Test Legality menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2697 @item -size or -boardSize (sizeName | n1,n2,n3,n4,n5,n6,n7)
2698 @cindex size, option
2699 @cindex boardSize, option
2701 Determines how large the board will be, by selecting the pixel size
2702 of the pieces and setting a few related parameters.
2703 The sizeName can be one of: Titanic, giving 129x129 pixel pieces,
2704 Colossal 116x116, Giant 108x108, Huge 95x95, Big 87x87, Large 80x80, Bulky 72x72,
2705 Medium 64x64, Moderate 58x58, Average 54x54, Middling 49x49, Mediocre
2706 45x45, Small 40x40, Slim 37x37, Petite 33x33, Dinky 29x29, Teeny 25x25,
2708 Orthodox pieces of all these sizes are built into XBoard.
2710 be used if you have them; see the pixmapDirectory and bitmapDirectory
2712 Complete sets of un-orthodox pieces are only provided in sizes
2713 Bulky, Middling and (to a lesser extent) Petite;
2714 Archbishop, Marshall and Amazon are also available in all sizes between
2716 When no bitmap is available, the piece will be displayed as Amazon or King.
2717 The default depends on the size of your screen; it is approximately the
2718 largest size that will fit without clipping.
2720 You can select other sizes or vary other layout parameters by providing
2721 a list of comma-separated values (with no spaces) as the argument.
2722 You do not need to provide all the values; for any you omit from the
2723 end of the list, defaults are taken from the nearest built-in size.
2724 The value @code{n1} gives the piece size, @code{n2} the width of the
2726 between squares, @code{n3} the desired size for the
2727 clockFont, @code{n4} the desired size for the coordFont,
2728 @code{n5} the desired size for the messageFont,
2729 @code{n6} the smallLayout flag (0 or 1),
2730 and @code{n7} the tinyLayout flag (0 or 1).
2731 All dimensions are in pixels.
2732 If the border between squares is eliminated (0 width), the various
2733 highlight options will not work, as there is nowhere to draw the highlight.
2734 If smallLayout is 1 and @code{titleInWindow} is true,
2735 the window layout is rearranged to make more room for the title.
2736 If tinyLayout is 1, the labels on the menu bar are abbreviated
2737 to one character each and the buttons in the button bar are made narrower.
2738 @item -overrideLineGap n
2739 @cindex overrideLineGap, option
2740 When n >= 0, this forces the width of the black border between squares
2741 to n pixels for any board size. Mostly used to suppress the grid
2742 entirely by setting n = 0, e.g. in xiangqi or just getting a prettier
2743 picture. When n < 0 this the size-dependent width of the grid lines
2744 is used. Default: -1.
2745 @item -coords/-xcoords or -showCoords true/false
2746 @cindex coords, option
2747 @cindex showCoords, option
2748 Sets the Show Coords menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2749 The @code{coordFont} option specifies what font to use.
2750 @item -autoraise/-xautoraise or -autoRaiseBoard true/false
2751 @cindex autoraise, option
2752 @cindex autoRaiseBoard, option
2753 Sets the Auto Raise Board menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2754 @item -autoflip/-xautoflip or -autoFlipView true/false
2755 @cindex autoflip, option
2756 @cindex autoFlipView, option
2757 Sets the Auto Flip View menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2758 @item -flip/-xflip or -flipView true/false
2759 @cindex flip, option
2760 @cindex flipView, option
2761 If Auto Flip View is not set, or if you are observing but not participating
2762 in a game, then the positioning of the board at the start of each game
2763 depends on the flipView option. If flipView is false (the default),
2764 the board is positioned so that the white pawns move from the bottom to the
2765 top; if true, the black pawns move from the bottom to the top.
2766 In any case, the Flip menu option (see @ref{Options Menu})
2767 can be used to flip the board after
2769 @item -title/-xtitle or -titleInWindow true/false
2770 @cindex title, option
2771 @cindex titleInWindow, option
2772 If this option is true, XBoard displays player names (for ICS
2773 games) and game file names (for @samp{Load Game}) inside its main
2774 window. If the option is false (the default), this information is
2775 displayed only in the window banner. You probably won't want to
2776 set this option unless the information is not showing up in the
2777 banner, as happens with a few X window managers.
2778 @item -buttons/-xbuttons or -showButtonBar True/False
2779 @cindex buttons, option
2780 @cindex showButtonBar, option
2781 If this option is False, xboard omits the [<<] [<] [P] [>] [>>] button
2782 bar from the window, allowing the message line to be wider. You can
2783 still get the functions of these buttons using the menus or their keyboard
2784 shortcuts. Default: true.
2785 @item -evalZoom factor
2786 @cindex evalZoom, option
2787 The score interval (-1,1) is blown up on the vertical axis of
2788 the Evaluation Graph by the given factor.
2790 @item -evalThreshold n
2791 @cindex evalThreshold, option
2792 Score below n (centiPawn) are plotted as 0 in the Evaluation Graph.
2794 @item -mono/-xmono or -monoMode true/false
2795 @cindex mono, option
2796 @cindex monoMode, option
2797 Determines whether XBoard displays its pieces and squares with
2798 two colors (true) or four (false). You shouldn't have to
2799 specify @code{monoMode}; XBoard will determine if it is necessary.
2800 @item -showTargetSquares true/false
2801 @cindex showTargetSquares, option
2802 Determines whether XBoard can highlight the squares a piece has
2803 legal moves to, when you grab that piece with the mouse.
2804 If this option is set, this feature can be controlled through
2805 the Highlight Dragging menu item.
2806 @item -flashCount count
2807 @itemx -flashRate rate
2808 @itemx -flash/-xflash
2809 @cindex flashCount, option
2810 @cindex flashRate, option
2811 @cindex flash, option
2812 @cindex xflash, option
2813 These options enable flashing of pieces when they
2814 land on their destination square.
2816 tells XBoard how many times to flash a piece after it
2817 lands on its destination square.
2819 controls the rate of flashing (flashes/sec).
2822 sets flashCount to 3.
2824 sets flashCount to 0.
2825 Defaults: flashCount=0 (no flashing), flashRate=5.
2826 @item -highlight/-xhighlight or -highlightLastMove true/false
2827 @cindex highlight, option
2828 @cindex highlightLastMove, option
2829 Sets the Highlight Last Move menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2830 @item -highlightMoveWithArrow true/false
2831 @cindex highlight Arrow, option
2832 @cindex highlightMoveWithArrow, option
2833 Sets the Highlight with Arrow menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2834 @item -blind/-xblind or -blindfold true/false
2835 @cindex blind, option
2836 @cindex blindfold, option
2837 Sets the Blindfold menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
2840 @cindex fSAN, option
2841 @cindex sSAN, option
2842 Causes the PV in thinking output of the mentioned engine to be converted
2843 to SAN before it is further processed.
2844 Warning: this might lose engine output not understood by the parser,
2845 and uses a lot of CPU power.
2846 Default: the PV is displayed exactly as the engine produced it.
2847 @item -clockFont font
2848 @cindex clockFont, option
2850 The font used for the clocks. If the option value is a pattern
2851 that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an
2852 appropriate font for the board size being used.
2853 Default: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
2854 @item -coordFont font
2855 @cindex coordFont, option
2856 @cindex Font, coordinates
2857 The font used for rank and file coordinate labels if @code{showCoords}
2858 is true. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify
2859 the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for
2860 the board size being used.
2861 Default: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
2862 @item -messageFont font
2863 @cindex messageFont, option
2864 @cindex Font, message
2865 The font used for popup dialogs, menus, comments, etc.
2866 If the option value is a pattern that does not specify
2867 the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for
2868 the board size being used.
2869 Default: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
2870 @item -fontSizeTolerance tol
2871 @cindex fontSizeTolerance, option
2872 In the font selection algorithm, a nonscalable font will be preferred
2873 over a scalable font if the nonscalable font's size differs
2874 by @code{tol} pixels
2875 or less from the desired size. A value of -1 will force
2876 a scalable font to always be used if available; a value of 0 will
2877 use a nonscalable font only if it is exactly the right size;
2878 a large value (say 1000) will force a nonscalable font to always be
2879 used if available. Default: 4.
2880 @item -bm or -bitmapDirectory dir
2881 @itemx -pixmap or -pixmapDirectory dir
2883 @cindex bitmapDirectory, option
2884 @cindex pixmap, option
2885 @cindex pixmapDirectory, option
2886 These options control what piece images xboard uses. The XBoard
2887 distribution includes one set of pixmap pieces in xpm format, in the
2888 directory @file{pixmaps}, and one set of bitmap pieces in xbm format,
2889 in the directory @file{bitmaps}. Pixmap
2890 pieces give a better appearance on the screen: the white pieces have
2891 dark borders, and the black pieces have opaque internal details. With
2892 bitmaps, neither piece color has a border, and the internal details
2893 are transparent; you see the square color or other background color
2896 If XBoard is configured and compiled on a system that includes libXpm,
2897 the X pixmap library, the xpm pixmap pieces are compiled in as the
2898 default. A different xpm piece set can be selected at runtime with
2899 the @code{pixmapDirectory} option, or a bitmap piece set can be selected
2900 with the @code{bitmapDirectory} option.
2902 If XBoard is configured and compiled on a system that does not include
2903 libXpm (or the @code{--disable-xpm} option is given to the configure
2904 program), the bitmap pieces are compiled in as the default. It is not
2905 possible to use xpm pieces in this case, but pixmap pieces in another
2906 format called "xim" can be used by giving the @code{pixmapDirectory} option.
2907 Or again, a different bitmap piece set can be selected with the
2908 @code{bitmapDirectory} option.
2910 Files in the @code{bitmapDirectory} must be named as follows:
2911 The first character of a piece bitmap name gives the piece it
2912 represents (@samp{p}, @samp{n}, @samp{b}, @samp{r}, @samp{q}, or @samp{k}),
2913 the next characters give the size in pixels, the
2914 following character indicates whether the piece is
2915 solid or outline (@samp{s} or @samp{o}),
2916 and the extension is @samp{.bm}.
2917 For example, a solid 80x80 knight would be named @file{n80s.bm}.
2918 The outline bitmaps are used only in monochrome mode.
2919 If bitmap pieces are compiled in and the bitmapDirectory is missing
2920 some files, the compiled in pieces are used instead.
2922 If the bitmapDirectory option is given,
2923 it is also possible to replace xboard's icons and menu checkmark,
2924 by supplying files named @file{icon_white.bm}, @file{icon_black.bm}, and
2925 @file{checkmark.bm}.
2927 For more information about pixmap pieces and how to get additional
2928 sets, see @ref{zic2xpm} below.
2929 @item -whitePieceColor color
2930 @itemx -blackPieceColor color
2931 @itemx -lightSquareColor color
2932 @itemx -darkSquareColor color
2933 @itemx -highlightSquareColor color
2934 @itemx -lowTimeWarningColor color
2936 @cindex whitePieceColor, option
2937 @cindex blackPieceColor, option
2938 @cindex lightSquareColor, option
2939 @cindex darkSquareColor, option
2940 @cindex highlightSquareColor, option
2941 @cindex lowTimeWarningColor, option
2942 Colors to use for the pieces, squares, and square highlights.
2946 -whitePieceColor #FFFFCC
2947 -blackPieceColor #202020
2948 -lightSquareColor #C8C365
2949 -darkSquareColor #77A26D
2950 -highlightSquareColor #FFFF00
2951 -premoveHighlightColor #FF0000
2952 -lowTimeWarningColor #FF0000
2955 On a grayscale monitor you might prefer:
2958 -whitePieceColor gray100
2959 -blackPieceColor gray0
2960 -lightSquareColor gray80
2961 -darkSquareColor gray60
2962 -highlightSquareColor gray100
2963 -premoveHighlightColor gray70
2964 -lowTimeWarningColor gray70
2966 @item -useBoardTexture true/false
2967 @itemx -liteBackTextureFile filename
2968 @itemx -darkBackTextureFile filename
2969 @cindex useBoardTexture, option
2970 @cindex liteBackTextureFile, option
2971 @cindex darkBackTextureFile, option
2972 Indicate the pixmap files to be used for drawing the board squares,
2973 and if they should be used rather than using simple colors.
2974 The algorithm for cutting squares out of a given bitmap is such that
2975 the picture is perfectly reproduced when a bitmap the size of
2976 the complete board is given.
2977 Default: false and ""
2978 @item -drag/-xdrag or -animateDragging true/false
2979 @cindex drag, option
2980 @cindex animateDragging, option
2981 Sets the Animate Dragging menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2982 @item -animate/-xanimate or -animateMoving true/false
2983 @cindex animate, option
2984 @cindex animateMoving, option
2985 Sets the Animate Moving menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
2986 @item -animateSpeed n
2987 @cindex -animateSpeed, option
2988 Number of milliseconds delay between each animation frame when Animate
2990 @item -autoDisplayComment true/false
2991 @itemx -autoDisplayTags true/false
2992 @cindex -autoDisplayComment, option
2993 @cindex -autoDisplayTags, option
2994 If set to true, these options cause the window with the move comments,
2995 and the window with PGN tags, respectively, to pop up automatically when
2996 such tags or comments are encountered during the replaying a stored or
2997 loaded game. Default: true.
2998 @item -pasteSelection true/false
2999 @cindex -pasteSelection, option
3000 If this option is set to true, the Paste Position and Paste Game
3001 options paste from the currently selected text. If false, they paste
3002 from the clipboard. Default: false.
3003 @item -dropMenu true|false
3004 @cindex dropMenu, option
3005 This option allows you to emulate old behavior,
3006 where the right mouse button brings up the (now deprecated) drop menu
3007 rather than displaying the position at the end of the principal variation.
3009 @item -pieceMenu true|false
3010 @cindex pieceMenu, option
3011 This option allows you to emulate old behavior,
3012 where the right mouse button brings up the (now deprecated) piece menu
3013 in Edit Position mode.
3014 From this menu you can select the piece to put on the square you
3015 clicked to bring up the menu,
3016 or select items such as @kbd{clear board}.
3017 You can also @kbd{promote} or @kbd{demote} a clicked piece to convert
3018 it into an unorthodox piece that is not directly in the menu,
3019 or give the move to @kbd{black} or @kbd{white}.
3020 @item -variations true|false
3021 @cindex variations, option
3022 When this option is on, you can start new variations in Edit Game or
3023 Analyze mode by holding the Shift key down while entering a move.
3024 When it is off, the Shift key will be ignored.
3026 @item -absoluteAnalysisScores true|false
3027 @cindex absoluteAnalysisScores, option
3028 When true, scores on the Engine Output window during analysis
3029 will be printed from the white point-of-view, rather than the
3030 side-to-move point-of-view.
3032 @item -scoreWhite true|false
3033 @cindex scoreWhite, option
3034 When true, scores will always be printed from the white point-of-view,
3035 rather than the side-to-move point-of-view.
3039 @node Adjudication Options
3040 @section Adjudication Options
3041 @cindex Options, adjudication
3043 @item -adjudicateLossThreshold n
3044 @cindex adjudicateLossThreshold, option
3045 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a loss
3046 if both engines agree for a duration of 6 consecutive ply that the score
3047 is below the given score threshold for that engine. Make sure the score
3048 is interpreted properly by XBoard,
3049 using @code{-firstScoreAbs} and @code{-secondScoreAbs} if needed.
3050 Default: 0 (no adjudication)
3051 @item -adjudicateDrawMoves n
3052 @cindex adjudicateDrawMoves, option
3053 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a draw
3054 if after the given number of moves it was not yet decided. Default: 0 (no adjudication)
3055 @item -checkMates true/false
3056 @cindex checkMates, option
3057 If this option is set, XBoard detects all checkmates and stalemates,
3058 and ends the game as soon as they occur.
3059 Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work.
3061 @item -testClaims true/false
3062 @cindex testClaims, option
3063 If this option is set, XBoard verifies all result claims made by engines,
3064 and those who send false claims will forfeit the game because of it.
3065 Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true
3066 @item -materialDraws true/false
3067 @cindex materialDraws, option
3068 If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws when there is
3069 no sufficient material left to inflict a checkmate.
3070 This applies to KBKB with like bishops (any number, actually), and to KBK, KNK and KK.
3071 Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true
3072 @item -trivialDraws true/false
3073 @cindex trivialDraws, option
3074 If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws that cannot be
3075 usually won without opponent cooperation. This applies to KBKB with unlike bishops,
3076 and to KBKN, KNKN, KNNK, KRKR and KQKQ. The draw is called after 6 ply into these end-games,
3077 to allow quick mates that can occur in some exceptional positions to be found by the engines.
3078 KQKQ does not really belong in this category, and might be taken out in the future.
3079 (When bitbase-based adjudications are implemented.)
3080 Legality-testing must be on for this option to work. Default: false
3082 @cindex ruleMoves, option
3083 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a draw after the given
3084 number of consecutive reversible moves. Engine draw claims are always accepted after 50 moves,
3085 irrespective of the given value of n.
3086 @item -repeatsToDraw n
3087 If the given value is non-zero, xboard adjudicates the game as a draw if a position
3088 is repeated the given number of times. Engines draw claims are always accepted after 3 repeats,
3089 (on the 3rd occurrence, actually), irrespective of the value of n.
3090 Beware that positions that have different castling or en-passant rights do not count
3091 as repeats, XBoard is fully e.p. and castling aware!
3095 @section Other options
3096 @cindex Options, miscellaneous
3098 @item -ncp/-xncp or -noChessProgram true/false
3100 @cindex noChessProgram, option
3101 If this option is true, XBoard acts as a passive chessboard; it
3102 does not start a chess engine at all. Turning on this option
3103 also turns off clockMode. Default: false.
3104 @item -mode or -initialMode modename
3105 @cindex mode, option
3106 @cindex initalMode, option
3107 If this option is given, XBoard selects the given modename
3108 from the Mode menu after starting and (if applicable) processing the
3109 loadGameFile or loadPositionFile option. Default: "" (no selection).
3110 Other supported values are
3111 MachineWhite, MachineBlack, TwoMachines, Analysis,
3112 AnalyzeFile, EditGame, EditPosition, and Training.
3113 @item -variant varname
3114 @cindex variant, option
3115 Activates preliminary, partial support for playing chess variants
3116 against a local engine or editing variant games. This flag is not
3117 needed in ICS mode. Recognized variant names are:
3121 wildcastle Shuffle chess, king can castle from d file
3122 nocastle Shuffle chess, no castling allowed
3123 fischerandom Fischer Random shuffle chess
3124 bughouse Bughouse, ICC/FICS rules
3125 crazyhouse Crazyhouse, ICC/FICS rules
3126 losers Lose all pieces or get mated (ICC wild 17)
3127 suicide Lose all pieces including king (FICS)
3128 giveaway Try to have no legal moves (ICC wild 26)
3129 twokings Weird ICC wild 9
3130 kriegspiel Opponent's pieces are invisible
3131 atomic Capturing piece explodes (ICC wild 27)
3132 3check Win by giving check 3 times (ICC wild 25)
3133 shatranj An ancient precursor of chess (ICC wild 28)
3134 xiangqi Chinese Chess (on a 9x10 board)
3135 shogi Japanese Chess (on a 9x9 board & piece drops)
3136 capablanca Capablanca Chess (10x8 board, with Archbishop
3137 and Chancellor pieces)
3138 gothic similar, with a better initial position
3139 caparandom An FRC-like version of Capablanca Chess (10x8)
3140 janus A game with two Archbishops (10x8 board)
3141 courier Medieval intermediate between shatranj and
3142 modern Chess (on 12x8 board)
3143 falcon Patented 10x8 variant with two Falcon pieces
3144 berolina Pawns capture straight ahead, and move diagonal
3145 cylinder Pieces wrap around the board edge
3146 knightmate King moves as Knight, and vice versa
3147 super Superchess (shuffle variant with 4 exo-pieces)
3148 makruk Thai Chess (shatranj-like, P promotes on 6th rank)
3149 spartan Spartan Chess (black has unorthodox pieces)
3150 fairy A catchall variant in which all piece types
3151 known to XBoard can participate (8x8)
3152 unknown Catchall for other unknown variants
3155 NOT ALL BOARDSIZES PROVIDE A COMPLETE SET OF BUILT-IN BITMAPS FOR ALL
3156 UN-ORTHODOX PIECES, though. Only in @code{boardSize} middling and bulky
3157 all 22 piece types are provided, while -boardSize petite has most
3158 of them. Archbishop, Chancellor and Amazon are supported in every
3159 size from petite to bulky. Kings or Amazons are substituted for
3160 missing bitmaps. You can still play variants needing un-orthodox
3161 pieces in other board sizes providing your own bitmaps through the
3162 @code{bitmapDirectory} or @code{pixmapDirectory} options.
3164 In the shuffle variants, XBoard now does shuffle the pieces, although
3165 you can still do it by hand using Edit Position. Some variants are
3166 supported only in ICS mode, including bughouse, and
3167 kriegspiel. The winning/drawing conditions in crazyhouse (off-board
3168 interposition on mate) are not fully understood, but losers, suicide,
3169 giveaway, atomic, and 3check should be OK.
3170 Berolina and cylinder chess can only be played with legality testing off.
3171 In crazyhouse, XBoard now does keep
3172 track of off-board pieces. In shatranj it does implement the baring
3173 rule when mate detection is switched on.
3174 @item -boardHeight N
3175 @cindex boardHeight, option
3176 Allows you to set a non-standard number of board ranks in any variant.
3177 If the height is given as -1, the default height for the variant is used.
3180 @cindex boardWidth, option
3181 Allows you to set a non-standard number of board files in any variant.
3182 If the width is given as -1, the default width for the variant is used.
3183 With a non-standard width, the initial position will always be an empty board,
3184 as the usual opening array will not fit.
3186 @item -holdingsSize N
3187 @cindex holdingsSize, option
3188 Allows you to set a non-standard size for the holdings in any variant.
3189 If the size is given as -1, the default holdings size for the variant is used.
3190 The first N piece types will go into the holdings on capture, and you will be
3191 able to drop them on the board in stead of making a normal move. If size equals 0,
3192 there will be no holdings.
3194 @item -defaultFrcPosition N
3195 @cindex defaultFrcPosition, option
3196 Specifies the number of the opening position in shuffle games like Chess960.
3197 A value of -1 means the position is randomly generated by XBoard
3198 at the beginning of every game.
3200 @item -pieceToSquareTable string
3201 @cindex pieceToSquareTable, option
3202 The characters that are used to represent the piece types XBoard knows in FEN
3203 diagrams and SAN moves. The string argument has to have an even length
3204 (or it will be ignored), as white and black pieces have to be given separately
3205 (in that order). The last letter for each color will be the King.
3206 The letters before that will be PNBRQ and then a whole host of fairy pieces
3207 in an order that has not fully crystallized yet (currently FEACWMOHIJGDVSLU,
3208 F=Ferz, Elephant, A=Archbishop, C=Chancellor, W=Wazir, M=Commoner, O=Cannon,
3209 H=Nightrider). You should list at least all pieces that occur in the variant
3210 you are playing. If you have less than 44 characters in the string, the pieces
3211 not mentioned will get assigned a period, and you will not be able to distinguish
3212 them in FENs. You can also explicitly assign pieces a period, in which case they
3213 will not be counted in deciding which captured pieces can go into the holdings.
3214 A tilde '~' as a piece name does mean this piece is used to represent a promoted
3215 Pawn in crazyhouse-like games, i.e. on capture it turns back onto a Pawn.
3216 A '+' similarly indicates the piece is a shogi-style promoted piece, that should
3217 revert to its non-promoted version on capture (rather than to a Pawn).
3218 Note that promoted pieces are represented by pieces 11 further in the list.
3219 You should not have to use this option often: each variant has its own default
3220 setting for the piece representation in FEN, which should be sufficient in normal use.
3222 @item -debug/-xdebug or -debugMode true/false
3223 @cindex debug, option
3224 @cindex debugMode, option
3225 Turns on debugging printout.
3226 @item -debugFile filename or -nameOfDebugFile filename
3227 @cindex debugFile, option
3228 @cindex nameOfDebugFile, option
3229 Sets the name of the file to which XBoard saves debug information
3230 (including all communication to and from the engines).
3231 @item -engineDebugOutput number
3232 @cindex engineDebugOutput, option
3233 Specifies how XBoard should handle unsolicited output from the engine,
3234 with respect to saving it in the debug file.
3235 The output is further (hopefully) ignored.
3236 If number=0, XBoard refrains from writing such spurious output to the debug file.
3237 If number=1, all engine output is written faithfully to the debug file.
3238 If number=2, any protocol-violating line is prefixed with a '#' character,
3239 as the engine itself should have done if it wanted to submit info for inclusion in the debug file.
3240 This option is provided for the benefit of applications that use the debug file
3241 as a source of information, such as the broadcaster of live games TLCV / TLCS.
3242 Such applications can be protected from spurious engine output that might otherwise confuse them.
3243 @item -rsh or -remoteShell shell-name
3245 @cindex remoteShell, option
3246 Name of the command used to run programs remotely. The default
3247 is @file{rsh} or @file{remsh}, determined when XBoard is
3248 configured and compiled.
3249 @item -ruser or -remoteUser user-name
3250 @cindex ruser, option
3251 @cindex remoteUser, option
3252 User name on the remote system when running programs with the
3253 @code{remoteShell}. The default is your local user name.
3254 @item -userName username
3255 @cindex userName, option
3256 Name under which the Human player will be listed in the PGN file.
3257 Default is the login name on your local computer.
3258 @item -delayBeforeQuit number
3259 @itemx -delayAfterQuit number
3260 @cindex delayBeforeQuit, option
3261 @cindex delayAfterQuit, option
3262 These options specify how long XBoard has to wait before sending a termination signal to rogue engine processes, that do not want to react to the 'quit' command. The second one determines the pause after killing the engine, to make sure it dies.
3264 @cindex searchMode, option
3265 The integer n encodes the mode for the @samp{find position} function.
3266 Default: 1 (= Exact position match)
3267 @item -eloThresholdBoth elo
3268 @itemx -eloThresholdAny elo
3269 @cindex eloThresholdBoth, option
3270 @cindex eloThresholdAny, option
3271 Defines a lower limit for the Elo rating, which has to be surpassed
3272 before a game will be considered when searching for a board position.
3274 @item -dateThreshold year
3275 @cindex dateThreshold, option
3276 Only games not played before the given year will be considered when
3277 searching for a board position
3283 @chapter Chess Servers
3285 @cindex ICS, addresses
3286 @cindex Internet Chess Server
3287 An @dfn{Internet Chess Server}, or @dfn{ICS}, is a place on the
3288 Internet where people can get together to play chess, watch other
3289 people's games, or just chat. You can use either @code{telnet} or a
3290 client program like XBoard to connect to the server. There are
3291 thousands of registered users on the different ICS hosts, and it is
3292 not unusual to meet 200 on both chessclub.com and freechess.org.
3294 Most people can just type @kbd{xboard -ics} to start XBoard as an ICS
3295 client. Invoking XBoard in this way connects you to the Internet
3296 Chess Club (ICC), a commercial ICS. You can log in there as a guest
3297 even if you do not have a paid account. To connect to the largest
3298 Free ICS (FICS), use the command @kbd{xboard -ics -icshost freechess.org}
3299 instead, or substitute a different host name to connect to your
3301 For a full description of command-line options that control
3302 the connection to ICS and change the default values of ICS options, see
3305 While you are running XBoard as an ICS client,
3306 you use the terminal window that you started XBoard from
3307 as a place to type in commands and read information that is
3308 not available on the chessboard.
3310 The first time you need to use the terminal is to enter your login name
3311 and password, if you are a registered player. (You don't need to do
3312 this manually; the @code{icsLogon} option can do it for you.
3313 @pxref{ICS options}.) If you are not registered,
3314 enter @kbd{g} as your name, and the server will pick a
3315 unique guest name for you.
3317 Some useful ICS commands
3321 @cindex help, ICS command
3322 to get help on the given <topic>. To get a list of possible topics type
3323 @dfn{help} without topic. Try the help command before you ask other
3324 people on the server for help.
3326 For example @kbd{help register} tells you how to become a registered
3329 @cindex who, ICS command
3330 to see a list of people who are logged on. Administrators
3331 (people you should talk to if you have a problem) are marked
3332 with the character @samp{*}, an asterisk. The <flags> allow you to
3333 display only selected players: For example, @kbd{who of} shows a
3334 list of players who are interested in playing but do not have
3337 @cindex games, ICS command
3338 to see what games are being played
3339 @item match <player> [<mins>] [<inc>]
3340 to challenge another player to a game. Both opponents get <mins> minutes
3341 for the game, and <inc> seconds will be added after each move.
3342 If another player challenges you, the server asks if you want to
3343 accept the challenge; use the @kbd{accept} or @kbd{decline} commands
3347 @cindex accept, ICS command
3348 @cindex decline, ICS command
3349 to accept or decline another player's offer.
3350 The offer may be to start a new game, or to agree to a
3351 @kbd{draw}, @kbd{adjourn} or @kbd{abort} the current game. @xref{Action Menu}.
3353 If you have more than one pending offer (for example, if more than one player
3354 is challenging you, or if your opponent offers both a draw and to adjourn the
3355 game), you have to supply additional information, by typing something
3356 like @kbd{accept <player>}, @kbd{accept draw}, or @kbd{draw}.
3360 @cindex draw, ICS command
3361 @cindex adjourn, ICS command
3362 @cindex abort, ICS command
3363 asks your opponent to terminate a game by mutual agreement. Adjourned
3364 games can be continued later.
3365 Your opponent can either @kbd{decline} your offer or accept it (by typing the
3366 same command or typing @kbd{accept}). In some cases these commands work
3367 immediately, without asking your opponent to agree. For example, you can
3368 abort the game unilaterally if your opponent is out of time, and you can claim
3369 a draw by repetition or the 50-move rule if available simply by typing
3371 @item finger <player>
3372 @cindex finger, ICS command
3373 to get information about the given <player>. (Default: yourself.)
3375 @cindex vars, ICS command
3376 to get a list of personal settings
3377 @item set <var> <value>
3378 @cindex set, ICS command
3379 to modify these settings
3380 @item observe <player>
3381 @cindex observe, ICS command
3382 to observe an ongoing game of the given <player>.
3385 @cindex examine, ICS command
3386 @cindex oldmoves, ICS command
3387 to review a recently completed game
3390 Some special XBoard features are activated when you are
3391 in examine mode on ICS. See the descriptions of the menu commands
3392 @samp{Forward}, @samp{Backward}, @samp{Pause}, @samp{ICS Client},
3393 and @samp{Stop Examining} on the @ref{Edit Menu}, @ref{Mode Menu}, and
3398 By default, XBoard communicates with an Internet Chess Server
3399 by opening a TCP socket directly from the machine it is running on
3400 to the ICS. If there is a firewall between your machine and the ICS,
3401 this won't work. Here are some recipes for getting around common
3402 kinds of firewalls using special options to XBoard.
3403 Important: See the paragraph in the below about extra echoes, in
3406 Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can telnet
3407 to a firewall host, log in, and then telnet from there to ICS.
3408 Let's say the firewall is called @samp{firewall.example.com}. Set
3409 command-line options as follows:
3412 xboard -ics -icshost firewall.example.com -icsport 23
3415 Or in your @file{.Xresources} file:
3418 XBoard*internetChessServerHost: firewall.example.com
3419 XBoard*internetChessServerPort: 23
3422 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, you will be prompted
3423 to log in to the firewall host. This works because port 23 is the
3424 standard telnet login service. Do so, then telnet to ICS, using a
3425 command like @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000}, or whatever command
3426 the firewall provides for telnetting to port 5000.
3428 If your firewall lets you telnet (or rlogin) to remote hosts but
3429 doesn't let you telnet to port 5000, you may be able to connect to the
3430 chess server on port 23 instead, which is the port the telnet program
3431 uses by default. Some chess servers support this (including
3432 chessclub.com and freechess.org), while some do not.
3434 If your chess server does not allow connections on port 23 and your
3435 firewall does not allow you to connect to other ports, you may be able
3436 to connect by hopping through another host outside the firewall that
3437 you have an account on. For instance, suppose you have a shell
3438 account at @samp{foo.edu}. Follow the recipe above, but instead of
3439 typing @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000} to the firewall, type
3440 @samp{telnet foo.edu} (or @samp{rlogin foo.edu}), log in there, and
3441 then type @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000}.
3443 Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can use rsh
3444 to run programs on a firewall host, and that host can telnet to ICS.
3445 Let's say the firewall is called @samp{rsh.example.com}. Set
3446 command-line options as follows:
3449 xboard -ics -gateway rsh.example.com -icshost chessclub.com
3453 Or in your @file{.Xresources} file:
3456 XBoard*gateway: rsh.example.com
3457 XBoard*internetChessServerHost: chessclub.com
3460 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will connect to
3461 the ICS by using @file{rsh} to run the command
3462 @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000} on host @samp{rsh.example.com}.
3464 Suppose that you can telnet anywhere you want, but you have to
3465 run a special program called @file{ptelnet} to do so.
3467 First, we'll consider the easy case, in which
3468 @samp{ptelnet chessclub.com 5000} gets you to the chess server.
3469 In this case set command line options as follows:
3472 xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet
3476 Or in your @file{.Xresources} file:
3479 XBoard*useTelnet: true
3480 XBoard*telnetProgram: ptelnet
3484 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the
3485 command @samp{ptelnet chessclub.com 5000} to connect to the ICS.
3487 Next, suppose that @samp{ptelnet chessclub.com 5000} doesn't work;
3488 that is, your @file{ptelnet} program doesn't let you connect to
3489 alternative ports. As noted above, your chess server may allow you to
3490 connect on port 23 instead. In that case, just add the option
3491 @samp{-icsport ""} to the above command, or add
3492 @samp{XBoard*internetChessServerPort:} to your @file{.Xresources} file.
3493 But if your chess server doesn't let you connect on port 23, you will have
3494 to find some other host outside the firewall and hop through it. For
3495 instance, suppose you have a shell account at @samp{foo.edu}. Set
3496 command line options as follows:
3499 xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet -icshost foo.edu -icsport ""
3503 Or in your @file{.Xresources} file:
3506 XBoard*useTelnet: true
3507 XBoard*telnetProgram: ptelnet
3508 XBoard*internetChessServerHost: foo.edu
3509 XBoard*internetChessServerPort:
3513 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the
3514 command @samp{ptelnet foo.edu} to connect to your account at
3515 @samp{foo.edu}. Log in there, then type @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000}.
3517 ICC timestamp and FICS timeseal do not work through some
3518 firewalls. You can use them only if your firewall gives a clean TCP
3519 connection with a full 8-bit wide path. If your firewall allows you
3520 to get out only by running a special telnet program, you can't use
3521 timestamp or timeseal across it. But if you have access to a
3522 computer just outside your firewall, and you have much lower netlag
3523 when talking to that computer than to the ICS, it might be worthwhile
3524 running timestamp there. Follow the instructions above for hopping
3525 through a host outside the firewall (foo.edu in the example),
3526 but run timestamp or timeseal on that host instead of telnet.
3528 Suppose that you have a SOCKS firewall that will give you a clean
3529 8-bit wide TCP connection to the chess server, but only after you
3530 authenticate yourself via the SOCKS protocol. In that case, you could
3531 make a socksified version of XBoard and run that. If you are using
3532 timestamp or timeseal, you will to socksify it, not XBoard; this may
3533 be difficult seeing that ICC and FICS do not provide source code for
3534 these programs. Socksification is beyond the scope of this document,
3535 but see the SOCKS Web site at http://www.socks.permeo.com/.
3536 If you are missing SOCKS, try http://www.funbureau.com/.
3539 @chapter Environment variables
3540 @cindex Environment variables
3542 Game and position files are found in a directory named by the
3543 @code{CHESSDIR} environment variable. If this variable is not set, the
3544 current working directory is used. If @code{CHESSDIR} is set,
3545 XBoard actually changes its working directory to
3546 @code{$CHESSDIR}, so any files written by the chess engine
3547 will be placed there too.
3550 @chapter Limitations and known bugs
3553 There is no way for two people running copies of XBoard to play
3554 each other without going through an Internet Chess Server.
3556 Under some circumstances, your ICS password may be echoed when you log on.
3558 If you are connecting to the ICS by running telnet on an Internet
3559 provider or firewall host, you may find that each line you type is
3560 echoed back an extra time after you hit @key{Enter}. If your Internet
3561 provider is a Unix system, you can probably turn its echo off by
3562 typing @kbd{stty -echo} after you log in, and/or typing
3563 @key{^E}@key{Enter} (Ctrl+E followed by the Enter key) to the telnet
3564 program after you have logged into ICS. It is a good idea to do this
3565 if you can, because the extra echo can occasionally confuse XBoard's
3568 The game parser recognizes only algebraic notation.
3570 Many of the following points used to be limitations in XBoard 4.2.7 and earlier,
3572 The internal move legality tester in XBoard 4.3.xx does look at the game history,
3573 and is fully aware of castling or en-passant-capture rights. It permits castling with
3574 the king on the d file because this is possible in some "wild 1" games on ICS.
3575 The piece-drop menu does not check piece drops in bughouse to see if you actually hold
3576 the piece you are trying to drop. But this way of dropping pieces should be considered
3577 an obsolete feature, now that pieces can be dropped by dragging them from the holdings
3578 to the board. Anyway, if you would attempt an illegal move when using a chess engine or the ICS,
3579 XBoard will accept the error message that comes back, undo the move, and let you try another.
3580 FEN positions saved by XBoard do include correct information about whether castling or
3581 en passant are legal, and also handle the 50-move counter.
3582 The mate detector does not understand that non-contact mate is not really mate in bughouse.
3583 The only problem this causes while playing is minor: a "#" (mate indicator) character will
3584 show up after a non-contact mating move in the move list. XBoard will not assume the game
3585 is over at that point, not even when the option Detect Mates is on.
3586 Edit Game mode always uses the rules of the selected variant,
3587 which can be a variant that uses piece drops.
3588 You can load and edit games that contain piece drops.
3589 The (obsolete) piece menus are not active,
3590 but you can perform piece drops by dragging pieces from the holdings.
3591 Fischer Random castling is fully understood.
3592 You can enter castlings by dragging the King on top of your Rook.
3593 You can probably also play Fischer Random successfully on ICS by typing
3594 castling moves into the ICS Interaction window.
3596 The menus may not work if your keyboard is in Caps Lock or Num Lock mode.
3597 This seems to be a problem with the Athena menu widget,
3600 Also see the ToDo file included with the distribution for many other
3601 possible bugs, limitations, and ideas for improvement that have been
3604 @chapter Reporting problems
3607 @cindex Reporting bugs
3609 @cindex Reporting problems
3611 You can report bugs and problems with XBoard using
3612 the bug tracker at @code{https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/}
3613 or by sending mail to @code{<bug-xboard@@gnu.org>}. It can also
3614 be useful to report or discuss bugs in the WinBoard Forum at
3615 @code{http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/},
3616 WinBoard development section.
3618 Please use the @file{script} program to start a typescript, run
3619 XBoard with the @samp{-debug} option, and include the typescript
3620 output in your message.
3621 Also tell us what kind of machine and what operating system version
3622 you are using. The command @samp{uname -a} will often tell you this.
3624 If you improve XBoard, please send a message about your changes,
3625 and we will get in touch with you about merging them in
3626 to the main line of development.
3629 @chapter Authors and contributors
3631 @cindex Contributors
3633 Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original XBoard. They were
3634 responsible for versions 1.0 through 1.2. The color scheme was taken
3635 from Wayne Christopher's @code{XChess} program.
3637 Tim Mann was primarily responsible for XBoard versions 1.3 through
3638 4.2.7, and for WinBoard (a port of XBoard to Microsoft Win32) from its
3639 inception through version 4.2.7.
3641 John Chanak contributed the initial implementation of ICS mode. Evan
3642 Welsh wrote @code{CMail}, and Patrick Surry helped in designing,
3643 testing, and documenting it. Elmar Bartel contributed the new piece
3644 bitmaps introduced in version 3.2. Jochen Wiedmann converted the
3645 documentation to texinfo. Frank McIngvale added click/click moving,
3646 the Analysis modes, piece flashing, ZIICS import, and ICS text
3647 colorization to XBoard. Hugh Fisher added animated piece movement to
3648 XBoard, and Henrik Gram added it to WinBoard. Mark Williams
3649 contributed the initial (WinBoard-only) implementation of many new
3650 features added to both XBoard and WinBoard in version 4.1.0, including
3651 copy/paste, premove, icsAlarm, autoFlipView, training mode, auto
3652 raise, and blindfold. Ben Nye contributed X copy/paste code for
3655 In a fork from version 4.2.7, Alessandro Scotti added many elements to
3656 the user interface of WinBoard, including the board textures and
3657 font-based rendering, the evaluation-graph, move-history and
3658 engine-output window. He was also responsible for adding the UCI
3661 H. G. Muller continued this fork of the project, producing version
3662 4.3. He made WinBoard castling- and e.p.-aware, added variant support
3663 with adjustable board sizes, the crazyhouse holdings, and the fairy
3664 pieces. In addition he added most of the adjudication options, made
3665 WinBoard more robust in dealing with buggy and crashing engines, and
3666 extended time control with a time-odds and node-count-based modes.
3667 Most of the options that initially were WinBoard only have now been
3668 back-ported to XBoard.
3670 Michel van den Bergh provided the code for reading Polyglot opening books.
3672 Meanwhile, some work continued on the GNU XBoard project maintained at
3673 savannah.gnu.org, but version 4.2.8 was never released. Daniel
3674 Mehrmann was responsible for much of this work.
3676 Most recently, Arun Persaud worked with H. G. Muller to merge all
3677 the features of the never-released XBoard/WinBoard 4.2.8 of the GNU
3678 XBoard project and the never-released 4.3.16 from H. G.'s fork into a
3679 unified XBoard/WinBoard 4.4, which is now available both from the
3680 savannah.gnu.org web site and the WinBoard forum.
3685 The @file{cmail} program can help you play chess by email with opponents of
3686 your choice using XBoard as an interface.
3688 You will usually run @file{cmail} without giving any options.
3691 * CMail options:: Invoking CMail.
3692 * CMail game:: Starting a CMail game.
3693 * CMail answer:: Answering a move.
3694 * CMail multi:: Multiple games in one message.
3695 * CMail completion:: Completing a game.
3696 * CMail trouble:: Known CMail problems.
3700 @section CMail options
3703 Displays @file{cmail} usage information.
3705 Shows the conditions of the GNU General Public License.
3708 Shows the warranty notice of the GNU General Public License.
3712 Provides or inhibits verbose output from @file{cmail} and XBoard,
3713 useful for debugging. The
3715 form also inhibits the cmail introduction message.
3718 Invokes or inhibits the sending of a mail message containing the move.
3721 Invokes or inhibits the running of XBoard on the game file.
3724 Invokes or inhibits the reuse of an existing XBoard to display the
3727 Resends the last mail message for that game. This inhibits running
3730 The name of the game to be processed.
3731 @item -wgames <number>
3732 @itemx -bgames <number>
3733 @itemx -games <number>
3734 Number of games to start as White, as Black or in total. Default is 1 as
3735 white and none as black. If only one color is specified then none of the
3736 other color is assumed. If no color is specified then equal numbers of
3737 White and Black games are started, with the extra game being as White if an
3738 odd number of total games is specified.
3739 @item -me <short name>
3740 @itemx -opp <short name>
3741 A one-word alias for yourself or your opponent.
3742 @item -wname <full name>
3743 @itemx -bname <full name>
3744 @itemx -myname <full name>
3745 @itemx -oppname <full name>
3746 The full name of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.
3747 @item -wna <net address>
3748 @itemx -bna <net address>
3749 @itemx -na <net address>
3750 @itemx -oppna <net address>
3751 The email address of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.
3752 @item -dir <directory>
3753 The directory in which @file{cmail} keeps its files. This defaults to the
3754 environment variable @code{$CMAIL_DIR} or failing that, @code{$CHESSDIR},
3755 @file{$HOME/Chess} or @file{~/Chess}. It will be created if it does not exist.
3756 @item -arcdir <directory>
3757 The directory in which @file{cmail} archives completed games. Defaults to
3758 the environment variable @code{$CMAIL_ARCDIR} or, in its absence, the same
3759 directory as cmail keeps its working files (above).
3760 @item -mailprog <mail program>
3761 The program used by cmail to send email messages. This defaults to the
3762 environment variable @code{$CMAIL_MAILPROG} or failing that
3763 @file{/usr/ucb/Mail}, @file{/usr/ucb/mail} or @file{Mail}. You will need
3764 to set this variable if none of the above paths fit your system.
3765 @item -logFile <file>
3766 A file in which to dump verbose debugging messages that are invoked with
3769 @item -event <event>
3770 The PGN Event tag (default @samp{Email correspondence game}).
3772 The PGN Site tag (default @samp{NET}).
3773 @item -round <round>
3774 The PGN Round tag (default @samp{-}, not applicable).
3776 The PGN Mode tag (default @samp{EM}, Electronic Mail).
3778 Any option flags not listed above are passed through to XBoard.
3779 Invoking XBoard through CMail changes the default values of two XBoard
3780 options: The default value for @samp{-noChessProgram} is changed to
3781 true; that is, by default no chess engine is started. The default
3782 value for @samp{-timeDelay} is changed to 0; that is, by default
3783 XBoard immediately goes to the end of the game as played so far,
3784 rather than stepping through the moves one by one. You can still set
3785 these options to whatever values you prefer by supplying them on
3786 CMail's command line. @xref{Options}.
3790 @section Starting a CMail Game
3791 Type @file{cmail} from a shell to start a game as white. After an opening
3792 message, you will be prompted for a game name, which is optional---if you
3793 simply press @key{Enter}, the game name will take the form
3794 @samp{you-VS-opponent}. You will next be prompted for the short name
3795 of your opponent. If you haven't played this person before, you will also
3796 be prompted for his/her email address. @file{cmail} will then invoke
3797 XBoard in the background. Make your first move and select
3798 @samp{Mail Move} from the @samp{File} menu. @xref{File Menu}. If all is well,
3799 @file{cmail} will mail a copy of the move to your opponent. If you select
3800 @samp{Exit} without having selected @samp{Mail Move} then no move will be
3804 @section Answering a Move
3805 When you receive a message from an opponent containing a move in one of
3806 your games, simply pipe the message through @file{cmail}. In some mailers
3807 this is as simple as typing @kbd{| cmail} when viewing the message, while in
3808 others you may have to save the message to a file and do @kbd{cmail < file}
3809 at the command line. In either case @file{cmail} will display the game using
3810 XBoard. If you didn't exit XBoard when you made your first move
3811 then @file{cmail} will do its best to use the existing XBoard instead
3812 of starting a new one. As before, simply make a move and select
3813 @samp{Mail Move} from the @samp{File} menu. @xref{File Menu}. @file{cmail}
3815 XBoard that was most recently used to display the current game. This
3816 means that many games can be in progress simultaneously, each with its own
3819 If you want to look at the history or explore a variation, go ahead, but
3820 you must return to the current position before XBoard will allow you
3821 to mail a move. If you edit the game's history you must select
3822 @samp{Reload Same Game} from the @samp{File} menu to get back to the original
3823 position, then make the move you want and select @samp{Mail Move}.
3824 As before, if you decide you aren't ready to make a move just yet you can
3825 either select @samp{Exit} without sending a move or just leave
3826 XBoard running until you are ready.
3829 @section Multi-Game Messages
3831 It is possible to have a @file{cmail} message carry more than one game.
3832 This feature was implemented to handle IECG (International Email Chess
3833 Group) matches, where a match consists of one game as white and one as black,
3834 with moves transmitted simultaneously. In case there are more general uses,
3835 @file{cmail} itself places no limit on the number of black/white games
3836 contained in a message; however, XBoard does.
3838 @node CMail completion
3839 @section Completing a Game
3840 Because XBoard can detect checkmate and stalemate, @file{cmail}
3841 handles game termination sensibly. As well as resignation, the
3842 @samp{Action} menu allows draws to be offered and accepted for
3845 For multi-game messages, only unfinished and just-finished games will be
3846 included in email messages. When all the games are finished, they are
3847 archived in the user's archive directory, and similarly in the opponent's
3848 when he or she pipes the final message through @file{cmail}. The archive
3849 file name includes the date the game was started.
3852 @section Known CMail Problems
3853 It's possible that a strange conjunction of conditions may occasionally
3854 mean that @file{cmail} has trouble reactivating an existing
3855 XBoard. If this should happen, simply trying it again should work.
3856 If not, remove the file that stores the XBoard's PID
3857 (@file{game.pid}) or use the @samp{-xreuse} option to force
3858 @file{cmail} to start a new XBoard.
3860 Versions of @file{cmail} after 2.16 no longer understand the old file format
3861 that XBoard used to use and so cannot be used to correspond with
3862 anyone using an older version.
3864 Versions of @file{cmail} older than 2.11 do not handle multi-game messages,
3865 so multi-game correspondence is not possible with opponents using an older
3868 @node Other programs
3869 @chapter Other programs you can use with XBoard
3870 @cindex Other programs
3872 Here are some other programs you can use with XBoard
3875 * GNU Chess:: The GNU Chess engine.
3876 * Fairy-Max:: The Fairy-Max chess engine.
3877 * HoiChess:: The HoiChess chess engine.
3878 * Crafty:: The Crafty chess engine.
3879 * zic2xpm:: The program used to import chess sets from ZIICS.
3885 The GNU Chess engine is available from:
3887 ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuchess/
3889 You can use XBoard to play a game against GNU Chess, or to
3890 interface GNU Chess to an ICS.
3895 Fairy-Max is a derivative from the once World's smallest Chess program micro-Max,
3896 which measures only about 100 lines of source code.
3897 The main difference with micro-Max is that Fairy-Max loads its move-generator
3898 tables from a file, so that the rules for piece movement can be easily configured
3899 to implement unorthodox pieces.
3900 Fairy-Max can therefore play a large number of variants, normal Chess being one of those.
3901 In addition it plays Knightmate, Capablanca and Gothic Chess, Shatranj, Courier Chess,
3902 Cylinder chess, Berolina Chess, while the user can easily define new variants.
3903 It can be obtained from:
3905 http://home.hccnet.nl/h.g.muller/dwnldpage.html
3910 HoiChess is a not-so-very-strong Chess engine, which comes with a derivative HoiXiangqi,
3911 able to play Chinese Chess. It can be obtained from the standard Linux repositories
3914 sudo apt-get install hoichess
3919 Crafty is a chess engine written by Bob Hyatt.
3920 You can use XBoard to play a game against Crafty, hook Crafty up
3921 to an ICS, or use Crafty to interactively analyze games and positions
3924 Crafty is a strong, rapidly evolving chess program. This rapid
3925 pace of development is good, because it means Crafty is always
3926 getting better. This can sometimes cause problems with
3927 backwards compatibility, but usually the latest version of Crafty
3928 will work well with the latest version of XBoard.
3929 Crafty can be obtained from its author's FTP site:
3930 ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu/hyatt/.
3932 To use Crafty with XBoard, give the -fcp and -fd options as follows, where
3933 <crafty's directory> is the directory in which you installed Crafty
3934 and placed its book and other support files.
3939 The ``zic2xpm'' program is used to import chess sets from the ZIICS(*)
3940 program into XBoard. ``zic2xpm'' is part of the XBoard distribution.
3941 ZIICS is available from:
3943 ftp://ftp.freechess.org/pub/chess/DOS/ziics131.exe
3945 To import ZIICS pieces, do this:
3947 @item 1. Unzip ziics131.exe into a directory:
3950 unzip -L ziics131.exe -d ~/ziics
3952 @item 2. Use zic2xpm to convert a set of pieces to XBoard format.
3954 For example, let's say you want to use the
3955 FRITZ4 set. These files are named ``fritz4.*'' in the ZIICS distribution.
3960 zic2xpm ~/ziics/fritz4.*
3962 @item 3. Give XBoard the ``-pixmap'' option when starting up, e.g.:
3965 xboard -pixmap ~/fritz4
3968 Alternatively, you can add this line to your @file{.Xresources} file:
3971 xboard*pixmapDirectory: ~/fritz4
3975 (*) ZIICS is a separate copyrighted work of Andy McFarland.
3976 The ``ZIICS pieces'' are copyrighted works of their respective
3977 creators. Files produced by ``zic2xpm'' are for PERSONAL USE ONLY
3978 and may NOT be redistributed without explicit permission from
3979 the original creator(s) of the pieces.
3983 @unnumbered Copyright
3984 @include copyright.texi
3988 @unnumbered GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
3989 @include gpl.texinfo