+\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
+@c %**start of header
+@setfilename xboard.info
+@settitle XBoard
+@c %**end of header
+
+@include version.texi
+
@ifinfo
@format
INFO-DIR-SECTION Games
can click the left mouse button once on the piece, then once more on
the destination square. To drop a new piece on a square (when
applicable), press the middle or the right mouse button over the
-square and select from the popup menu. In cases where you can drop
+square and select from the pop-up menu. In cases where you can drop
either a white or black piece, use the middle button (or shift+right)
for white and the right button (or shift+middle) for black. When you
are playing a bughouse game on an Internet Chess Server, a list of the
-offboard pieces that each player has available is shown in the window
+off-board pieces that each player has available is shown in the window
title after the player's name; in addition, the piece menus show the
-number of pieces available of each type.
+number of pieces available of each type. From version 4.3.14 on, it is
+also possible in crazyhouse, bughouse or shogi to dag and drop pieces
+to the board from the holdings squares displayed next to the board.
All other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most
frequently used commands also have shortcut keys or on-screen buttons.
@cindex File Menu
@cindex Menu, File
@table @asis
-@item Reset
-@cindex Reset, Menu Item
+@item New Game
+@cindex New Game, Menu Item
Resets XBoard and the chess engine to the beginning of a new chess
game. The @kbd{r} key is a keyboard equivalent. In Internet Chess
Server mode, clears the current state of XBoard, then
resynchronizes with the ICS by sending a refresh command. If you want to
stop playing, observing, or examining an ICS game, use an
-appropriate command from the Action menu, not @samp{Reset}.
+appropriate command from the Action menu, not @samp{New Game}.
@xref{Action Menu}.
+@item New Shuffle Game
+@cindex New Shuffle Game, Menu Item
+Similar to @samp{New Game}, but allows you to specify a particular initial position
+(according to a standardized numbering system)
+in chess variants which use randomized opening positions (e.g. Chess960).
+The selected opening position will persistently be chosen on any following
+New Game command until you use this menu to select another. Selecting
+position number -1 will produce a newly randomized position on any new game.
+Using this menu item in variants that normally do not shuffle their opening position
+does cause these variants to become shuffle variants until you use the
+@samp{New Shuffle Game} menu to explicitly switch the randomization off,
+or select a new variant.
+@item New Variant
+@cindex New variant, Menu Item
+Allows you to select a new chess variant in non-ICS mode.
+(In ICS play, the ICS is responsible for deciding which variant will be played,
+and XBoard adapts automatically.) If you play with an engine, the engine must
+be able to play the selected variant, or the command will be ignored.
+XBoard supports all major variants, such as xiangqi, shogi, chess, chess960,
+Capablanca Chess, shatranj, crazyhouse, bughouse.
+(But not every board size has built-in bitmaps for un-orthodox pieces!)
@item Load Game
@cindex Load Game, Menu Item
Plays a game from a record file. The @kbd{g} key is a keyboard equivalent.
-A popup dialog prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more
-than one game, a second popup dialog
+A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more
+than one game, a second pop-up dialog
displays a list of games (with information drawn from their PGN tags, if
any), and you can select the one you want. Alternatively, you can load the
Nth game in the file directly, by typing the number @kbd{N} after the
@item Save Game
@cindex Save Game, Menu Item
Appends a record of the current game to a file.
-A popup dialog
+A pop-up dialog
prompts you for the file name. If the game did not begin with
the standard starting position, the game file includes the
starting position used. Games are saved in the PGN (portable
with Load Game.
@item Load Position
@cindex Load Position, Menu Item
-Sets up a position from a position file. A popup dialog prompts
+Sets up a position from a position file. A pop-up dialog prompts
you for the file name. If the file contains more than one saved
position, and you want to load the Nth one, type the number N
after the file name, separated by a space. Position files must
@item Save Position
@cindex Save Game, Menu Item
Appends a diagram of the current position to a file.
-A popup dialog
+A pop-up dialog
prompts you for the file name. Positions are saved in
FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation) format unless the @code{oldSaveStyle}
option is true, in which case they are saved in an older,
clock to tell XBoard which side moves first.
4. Select Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu to start the analysis.
+
+The analysis function can also be used when observing games on an ICS
+with an engine loaded (zippy mode); the engine then will analyse
+the positions as they occur in the observed game.
@item Analyze File
@cindex Analyze File, Menu Item
This option lets you load a game from a file (PGN, XBoard format, etc.)
-and analyze it. When you select this menu item, a popup window appears
-and asks for a filename to load.
-If the file contains multiple games, another popup appears that lets
+and analyze it. When you select this menu item, a pop-up window appears
+and asks for a file name to load.
+If the file contains multiple games, another pop up appears that lets
you select which game you wish to analyze.
After a game is loaded, use the XBoard arrow buttons to step
forwards/backwards through the game and watch the analysis.
Training mode lets you interactively guess the moves of a game for one
of the players. You guess the next move of the game by playing the
move on the board. If the move played matches the next move of the
-game, the move is accepted and the opponent's response is autoplayed.
+game, the move is accepted and the opponent's response is auto-played.
If the move played is incorrect, an error message is displayed. You
can select this mode only while loading a game (that is, after
selecting @samp{Load Game} from the File menu). While XBoard is in
@cindex Show Game List, Menu Item
Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last @samp{Load Game}
command.
+@item Show Move History
+@cindex Show Move History, Menu Item
+Shows or hides a list of moves of the current game.
+This list allows you to move the display to any earlier position in the game
+by clicking on the corresponding move.
+@item Show Engine Output
+@cindex Show Engine Output, Menu Item
+Shows or hides a window in which the thinking output of any loaded engines
+is displayed.
@item Edit Tags
@cindex Edit Tags, Menu Item
Lets you edit the PGN (portable game notation)
@cindex Stop Examining, Menu Item
Ends your participation in examining a game, by issuing the ICS
unexamine command. ICS mode only.
+@item Adjudicate to White
+@itemx Adjudicate to Black
+@itemx Adjudicate Draw
+@cindex Adjudicate to White, Menu Item
+@cindex Adjudicate to Black, Menu Item
+@cindex Adjudicate Draw, Menu Item
+Terminate an ongoing game in Two-Machines mode (including match mode),
+with as result a win for white, for black, or a draw, respectively.
+The PGN file of the game will accompany the result string
+by the comment "user adjudication".
@end table
@node Step Menu
@cindex Backward, Menu Item
@cindex <, Button
Steps backward through a series of remembered moves.
-The @samp{[<]} button and the @kbd{b} key are equivalents.
+The @samp{[<]} button and the @kbd{b} key are equivalents,
+as is turning the mouse wheel towards you.
In addition, pressing the Control key steps back one move, and releasing
it steps forward again.
@cindex >, Button
Steps forward through a series of remembered moves (undoing the
effect of @samp{Backward}) or forward through a game file. The
-@samp{[>]} button and the @kbd{f} key are equivalents.
+@samp{[>]} button and the @kbd{f} key are equivalents,
+as is turning the mouse wheel away from you.
If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of Forward
depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
@cindex Menu, Options
@cindex Options Menu
@table @asis
+@item Flip View
+@cindex Flip View, Menu Item
+Inverts your view of the chess board for the duration of the
+current game. Starting a new game returns the board to normal.
+The @kbd{v} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+@item Adjudications
+@cindex Adjudications, Menu Item
+Pops up a sub-menu where you can enable or disable various adjudications
+that XBoard can perform in engine-engine games.
+You can instruct XBoard to detect and terminate the game on checkmate
+or stalemate, even if the engines would not do so, to verify engine
+result claims (forfeiting engines that make false claims), rather than
+naively following the engine, to declare draw on positions
+which can never be won for lack of mating material, (e.g. KBK),
+or which are impossible to win unless the opponent seeks its own demise
+(e.g. KBKN).
+For these adjudications to work, @samp{Test Legality} should be switched on.
+It is also possible to instruct XBoard to enforce a 50-move or 3-fold-repeat
+rule and automatically declare draw (after a user-adjustable number of moves
+or repeats) even if the engines are prepared to go on.
+It is also possible to have XBoard declare draw on games that seem to drag on
+forever, or adjudicate a loss if both engines agree (for 3 consecutive moves) that one
+of them is behind more than a user-adjustable score threshold.
+For the latter adjudication to work, XBoard should be able to properly understand
+the engine's scores. To facilitate the latter, you can inform xboard here if
+the engines report scores from the viewpoint of white, or from that of their own color.
+@item Engine Settings
+Pops up a sub-menu where you can set some engine parameters common to most engines,
+such as hash-table size, tablebase cache size, maximum number of processors
+that SMP engines can use, and where to find the Polyglot adapter needed
+to run UCI engines under XBoard. The feature that allows setting of these parameters on
+engines is new since XBoard 4.3.15, so not many WinBoard engines respond
+to it yet, but UCI engines should.
+It is also possible to specify a GUI opening book here, i.e. an opening
+book that XBoard consults for any position a playing engine gets in.
+It then forces the engine to play the book move, rather than to think up its own,
+if that position is found in the book.
+The book can switched on and off independently for either engine.
+@item Time Control
+@cindex Time Control, Menu Item
+Pops up a sub-menu where you can set the time-control parameters interactively.
+Allows you to select classical or incremental time controls,
+set the moves per session, session duration, and time increment.
+Also allows specification of time-odds factors for one or both engines.
+If an engine is given a time-odds factor N, all time quota it gets,
+be it at the beginning of a session or through the time increment or
+fixed time per move, will be divided by N.
@item Always Queen
@cindex Always Queen, Menu Item
If this option is off, XBoard brings up a dialog
box whenever you move a pawn to the last rank, asking what piece
you want to promote it to. If the option is true, your pawns are
-always promoted to queens. Your opponent can still underpromote.
+always promoted to queens. Your opponent can still under-promote.
@item Animate Dragging
@cindex Animate Dragging, Menu Item
If Animate Dragging is on, while you are dragging a piece with the
If this option is on, whenever a move is completed, the moved piece flashes.
The number of times to flash is set by the flashCount command-line
option; it defaults to 3 if Flash Moves is first turned on from the menu.
-@item Flip View
-@cindex Flip View, Menu Item
-Inverts your view of the chess board for the duration of the
-current game. Starting a new game returns the board to normal.
-The @kbd{v} key is a keyboard equivalent.
If you are playing a game on an ICS, the board is always
oriented at the start of the game so that your pawns move from
If this option is off, when you make an error in moving (such as
attempting an illegal move or moving the wrong color piece), the
error message is displayed in the message area. If the option is
-on, move errors are displayed in small popup windows like other errors.
-You can dismiss an error popup either by clicking its OK button or by
-clicking anywhere on the board, including downclicking to start a move.
+on, move errors are displayed in small pop-up windows like other errors.
+You can dismiss an error pop-up either by clicking its OK button or by
+clicking anywhere on the board, including down-clicking to start a move.
@item Premove
@cindex Premove, Menu Item
If this option is on while playing a game on an ICS, you can register
@cindex Show Coords, Menu Item
If this option is on, XBoard displays algebraic coordinates
along the board's left and bottom edges.
-@item Show Thinking
-@cindex Show Thinking, Menu Item
-If this option is set, the chess engine's notion of the score and best
+@item Hide Thinking
+@cindex Hide Thinking, Menu Item
+If this option is off, the chess engine's notion of the score and best
line of play from the current position is displayed as it is
thinking. The score indicates how many pawns ahead (or if negative,
behind) the chess engine thinks it is. In matches between two
@menu
* Chess engine options:: Controlling the chess engine.
+* UCI + WB Engine Settings:: Setting some very common engine parameters
* ICS options:: Connecting to and using ICS.
* Load and Save options:: Input/output options.
* User interface options:: Look and feel options.
+* Adjudication Options:: Control adjudication of engine-engine games.
* Other options:: Miscellaneous.
@end menu
engine chooses its search depth based on the number of moves and
amount of time remaining until the next time control. With the option,
the engine will cut off its search early if it reaches the specified depth.
+@item -firstNPS number
+@itemx -secondNPS number
+@cindex firstNPS, option
+@cindex secondNPS, option
+Tells the chess engine to use an internal time standard based on its node count,
+rather then wall-clock time, to make its timing decisions.
+The time in virtual seconds should be obtained by dividing the node count
+through the given number, like the number was a rate in nodes per second.
+Xboard will manage the clocks in accordance with this, relying on the number
+of nodes reported by the engine in its thinking output. If the given number equals zero,
+it can obviously not be used to convert nodes to seconds, and the time reported
+by the engine is used to decrement the XBoard clock in stead. The engine is supposed to
+report in CPU time it uses, rather than wall-clock time, in this mode. This option
+can provide fairer conditions for engine-engine matches on heavily loaded machines,
+or with very fast games (where the wall clock is too inaccurate).
+@code{showThinking} must be on for this option to work. Default: -1 (off).
+Not many engines might support this yet!
+@item -firstTimeOdds factor
+@itemx -secondTimeOdds factor
+@cindex firstTimeOdds, option
+@cindex secondTimeOdds, option
+Reduces the time given to the mentioned engine by the given factor.
+If pondering is off, the effect is indistinguishable from what would happen
+if the engine was running on an n-times slower machine. Default: 1.
+@item -timeOddsMode mode
+@cindex timeOddsMode, option
+This option determines how the case is handled where both engines have a time-odds handicap.
+If mode=1, the engine that gets the most time will always get the nominal time,
+as specified by the time-control options, and its opponent's time is renormalized accordingly.
+If mode=0, both play with reduced time. Default: 0.
+@item -hideThinkingFromHuman true/false
+Controls the Hide Thinking option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
+(Replaces the Show-Thinking option of older xboard versions.)
@item -thinking/-xthinking or -showThinking true/false
@cindex thinking, option
@cindex showThinking, option
-Sets the Show Thinking option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
+Forces the engine to send thinking output to xboard.
+Used to be the only way to control if thinking output was displayed
+in older xboard versions,
+but as the thinking output in xboard 4.3 is also used for several other
+purposes (adjudication, storing in PGN file) the display of it is now controlled
+by the new option Hide Thinking. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
+(But if xboard needs the thinking output for some purpose,
+it makes the engine send it despite the setting of this option.)
@item -ponder/-xponder or -ponderNextMove true/false
@cindex ponder, option
@cindex ponderNextMove, option
Sets the Ponder Next Move menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
+@item -smpCores number
+Specifies the maximum number of CPUs an SMP engine is allowed to use.
+Only works for engines that support the WinBoard-protocol cores feature.
@item -mg or -matchGames n
@cindex mg, option
@cindex matchGames, option
@cindex matchMode, option
Setting @code{matchMode} to true is equivalent to setting
@code{matchGames} to 1.
+@item -sameColorGames n
+@cindex sameColorGames, option
+Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines,
+without alternating colors.
+Otherwise the same applies as for the @samp{-matchGames} option,
+over which it takes precedence if both are specified. (See there.)
+Default: 0 (do not run a match).
@item -fcp or -firstChessProgram program
@cindex fcp, option
@cindex firstChessProgram, option
Name of first chess engine.
-Default: @file{gnuchessx}.
+Default: @file{Fairy-Max}.
@item -scp or -secondChessProgram program
@cindex scp, option
@cindex secondChessProgram, option
Name of second chess engine, if needed.
A second chess engine is started only in Two Machines (match) mode.
-Default: @file{gnuchessx}.
+Default: @file{Fairy-Max}.
@item -fb/-xfb or -firstPlaysBlack true/false
@cindex fb, option
@cindex firstPlaysBlack, option
"protover" command is not sent to the engine; since version 1 is a
subset of version 2, nothing else changes. Other values for
version-number are not supported.
+@item -firstScoreAbs true/false
+@itemx -secondScoreAbs true/false
+@cindex firstScoreAbs, option
+@cindex secondScoreAbs, option
+If this option is set, the score reported by the engine is taken to be
+that in favor of white, even when the engine plays black.
+Important when XBoard uses the score for adjudications, or in PGN reporting.
+@item -niceEngines priority
+@cindex niceEngines, option
+This option allows you to lower the priority of the engine processes,
+so that the generally insatiable hunger for CPU time of chess engines does not interfere so much
+with smooth operation of WinBoard (or the rest of your system).
+Negative values could increase the engine priority, which is not recommended.
+@item -firstOptions string
+@itemx -secondOptions string
+@cindex firstOptions, option
+@cindex secondOptions, option
+The given string is a comma-separated list of (option name=option value) pairs,
+like the following example: "style=Karpov,blunder rate=0".
+If the options announced by the engine at startup through the feature commands of WinBoard protocol
+matches one of the option names (i.e. "style" or "blunder rate"),
+it would be set to the given value (i.e. "Karpov" or 0)
+through a corresponding option command to the engine.
+This provided that the type of the value (text or numeric) matches as well.
+@item -firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
+@itemx -secondNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
+@cindex firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN, option
+@cindex secondNeedsNoncompliantFEN, option
+The castling rights and e.p. fields of the FEN sent to the mentioned engine
+with the setboard command will be replaced by the given string. This can for
+instance be used to run engines that do not understand Chess960 FENs in
+variant fischerandom, to make them at least understand the opening position,
+through setting the string to "KQkq -". (Note you also have to give the e.p. field!)
+Other possible applications are to provide work-arounds for engines that want to see
+castling and e.p. fields in variants that do not have castling or e.p.
+(shatranj, courier, xiangqi, shogi) so that WinBoard would normally omit them
+(string = "- -"), or to add variant-specific fields that are not yet supported by WinBoard
+(e.g. to indicate the number of checks in 3check).
+@end table
+
+@node UCI + WB Engine Settings
+@section UCI + WB Engine Settings
+@cindex Engine Settings
+@cindex Settings, Engine
+@table @asis
+@item -fUCI or -firstIsUCI true/false
+@itemx -sUCI or -secondIsUCI true/false
+@cindex fUCI, option
+@cindex sUCI, option
+@cindex firstIsUCI, option
+@cindex secondIsUCI, option
+Indicates if the mentioned engine executable file is an UCI engine,
+and should be run with the aid of the Polyglot adapter rather than directly.
+Xboard will then pass the other UCI options and engine name to Polyglot
+through a .ini temporary file created for the purpose.
+@item -PolyglotDir filename
+@cindex PolyglotDir, option
+Gives the name of the directory in which the Polyglot adapter for UCI engines expects its files.
+Default: "/usr/local/share/polyglot".
+@item -usePolyglotBook true/false
+@cindex usePolyglotBook, option
+Specifies if the Polyglot book should be used.
+@item -PolyglotBook filename
+@cindex PolyglotBook, option
+Gives the filename of the opening book that Polyglot should use.
+From XBoard 4.3.15 on, native WinBoard engines will also use the opening book specified here,
+provided the @code{usePolyglotBook} option is set to true,
+and the option @code{firstHasOwnBookUCI} or @code{secondHasOwnBookUCI} applying to the engine
+is set to false.
+The engine will be kept in force mode as long as the current position is in book,
+and XBoard will select the book moves for it. Default "".
+@item -fNoOwnBookUCI or -firstXBook or -firstHasOwnBookUCI true/false
+@itemx -sNoOwnBookUCI or -secondXBook or -secondHasOwnBookUCI true/false
+@cindex fNoOwnBookUCI, option
+@cindex sNoOwnBookUCI, option
+@cindex firstHasOwnBookUCI, option
+@cindex secondHasOwnBookUCI, option
+@cindex firstXBook, option
+@cindex secondXBook, option
+Indicates if the mentioned engine has its own opening book it should play from,
+rather than using the external book through XBoard. Default: false.
+@item -defaultHashSize n
+@cindex defaultHashSize, option
+Sets the size of the hash table to n MegaBytes. Together with the EGTB cache size
+this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of WinBoard engines,
+for those that support the memory feature of WinBoard protocol. Default: 64.
+@item -defaultCacheSizeEGTB n
+@cindex defaultCacheSizeEGTB, option
+Sets the size of the EGTB cache to n MegaBytes. Together with the hash-table size
+this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of WinBoard engines,
+for those that support the memory feature of WinBoard protocol. Default: 4.
+@item -defaultPathEGTB filename
+@cindex defaultPathEGTB, option
+Gives the name of the directory where the end-game tablebases are installed, for UCI engines.
+Default: "/usr/local/share/egtb".
+@item -egtFormats string
+@cindex egtFormats, option
+Specifies which end-game tables are installed on the computer, and where.
+The argument is a comma-separated list of format specifications,
+each specification consisting of a format name, a colon, and a directory path name,
+e.g. "nalimov:/usr/local/share/egtb".
+If the name part matches that of a format that the engine requests through a feature command,
+xboard will relay the path name for this format to the engine through an egtpath command.
+One egtpath command for each matching format will be sent.
+Popular formats are "nalimov" DTM tablebases and "scorpio" bitbases.
+Default: "".
@end table
@node ICS options
-@section Internet Chess Server Options
+@section ICS options
@cindex ICS options
@cindex Options, ICS
@table @asis
the given character I/O device instead of opening a TCP connection.
Use this option if your system does not have any kind of
Internet connection itself (not even a SLIP or PPP connection),
-but you do have dialup access (or a hardwired terminal line) to
+but you do have dial-up access (or a hardwired terminal line) to
an Internet service provider from which you can telnet to the ICS.
The support for this option in XBoard is minimal. You need to
@cindex autobs, option
@cindex autoObserve, option
Sets the Auto Observe menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
+@item -autoKibitz
+@cindex autoKibitz, option
+Enables kibitzing of the engines last thinking output (depth, score, time, speed, PV)
+before it moved
+to the ICS, in zippy mode. The option @code{showThinking} must be switched on for
+this option to work.
+Also diverts similar kibitz information of an opponent engine that is playing you
+through the ICS to the engine-output window, as if the engine was playing locally.
@item -moves/-xmoves or -getMoveList true/false
@cindex moves, option
@cindex getMoveList, option
Sets the ICS Alarm menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
@item -icsAlarmTime ms
@cindex icsAlarmTime, option
-Sets the time in milliseconds for the ICS Alarm menu option.
+Sets the time in milliseconds for the ICS Alarm menu option.
@xref{Options Menu}. Default: 5000.
+@item lowTimeWarning true/false
+@cindex lowTimeWarning, option
+Controls a color change of the board as a warning your time is running out.
+@xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
@item -pre/-xpre \fRor\fB -premove true/false
@cindex pre, option
@cindex premove, option
@end table
@node Load and Save options
-@section Load and Save Options
+@section Load and Save options
@cindex Options, Load and Save
@cindex Load and Save options
@table @asis
is a pipe; in these cases the first game in the file is loaded immediately.
Use the @file{pxboard} shell script provided with XBoard if you
want to pipe in files containing multiple games and still see the menu.
+If the loadGameIndex specifies an index -1, this triggers auto-increment
+of the index in @code{matchMode}, which means that after every game the
+index is incremented by one, causing each game of the match to be played
+from the next game in the file. Similarly, specifying an index value of -2
+causes the index to be incremented every two games, so that each game
+in the file is used twice (with reversed colors).
+The @code{rewindIndex} option causes the index to be reset to the
+first game of the file when it has reached a specified value.
+@item -rewindIndex n
+Causes a position file or game file to be rewound to its beginning after n
+positions or games in auto-increment @code{matchMode}.
+See @code{loadPositionIndex} and @code{loadGameIndex}.
+default: 0 (no rewind).
@item -td or -timeDelay seconds
@cindex td, option
@cindex timeDelay, option
standard input. If the @code{loadPositionIndex} option is set to N,
the Nth position found in the file is loaded; otherwise the
first position is loaded.
+If the loadPositionIndex specifies an index -1, this triggers auto-increment
+of the index in @code{matchMode}, which means that after every game the
+index is incremented by one, causing each game of the match to be played
+from the next position in the file. Similarly, specifying an index value of -2
+causes the index to be incremented every two games, so that each position
+in the file is used twice (with the engines playing opposite colors).
+The @code{rewindIndex} option causes the index to be reset to the
+first position of the file when it has reached a specified value.
@item -spf or -savePositionFile file
@cindex spf, option
@cindex savePositionFile, option
If this option is set, XBoard appends the final position reached
in every game played to the specified file. The file name @file{-}
specifies the standard output.
+@item -pgnExtendedInfo true/false
+@cindex pgnExtendedInfo, option`
+If this option is set, WinBoard saves depth, score and time used for each
+move that the engine found as a comment in the PGN file.
+Default: false.
+@item -pgnEventHeader string
+@cindex pgnEventHeader, option`
+Sets the name used in the PGN event tag to string.
+Default: "Computer Chess Game".
+@item -saveOutOfBookInfo true/false
+@cindex saveOutOfBookInfo, option`
+Include the information on how the engine(s) game out of its opening book in a special 'annotator' tag with the PGN file.
@item -oldsave/-xoldsave or -oldSaveStyle true/false
@cindex oldsave, option
@cindex oldSaveStyle, option
Sets the Old Save Style menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
+@item -gameListTags string
+@cindex gameListTags, option
+The character string lists the PGN tags that should be printed in the
+Game List, and their order. The meaning of the codes is e=event,
+s=site, d=date, o=round, p=players, r=result, w=white Elo, b=black Elo,
+t=time control, v=variant, a=out-of-book info.
+Default: "eprd"
@end table
@node User interface options
-@section User Interface Options
+@section User interface options
@cindex User interface options
@cindex Options, User interface
@table @asis
@cindex geometry, option
@cindex iconic, option
These and most other standard Xt options are accepted.
+@item -noGUI
+@cindex noGUI, option
+Suppresses all GUI functions of XBoard
+(to speed up automated ultra-fast engine-engine games, which you dont want to watch).
+There will be no board or clock updates, no printing of moves,
+and no update of the icon on the task bar in this mode.
@item -movesound/-xmovesound or -ringBellAfterMoves true/false
@cindex movesound, option
@cindex bell, option
@itemx -lightSquareColor color
@itemx -darkSquareColor color
@itemx -highlightSquareColor color
+@itemx -lowTimeWarningColor color
@cindex Colors
@cindex whitePieceColor, option
@cindex blackPieceColor, option
@cindex lightSquareColor, option
@cindex darkSquareColor, option
@cindex highlightSquareColor, option
+@cindex lowTimeWarningColor, option
Colors to use for the pieces, squares, and square highlights.
Defaults:
-darkSquareColor #77A26D
-highlightSquareColor #FFFF00
-premoveHighlightColor #FF0000
+-lowTimeWarningColor #FF0000
@end example
On a grayscale monitor you might prefer:
-darkSquareColor gray60
-highlightSquareColor gray100
-premoveHighlightColor gray70
+-lowTimeWarningColor gray70
@end example
@item -drag/-xdrag or -animateDragging true/false
@cindex drag, option
Moves is on.
@end table
+@node Adjudication Options
+@section Adjudication Options
+@cindex Options, adjudication
+@table @asis
+@item -adjudicateLossThreshold n
+@cindex adjudicateLossThreshold, option
+If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a loss
+if both engines agree for a duration of 6 consecutive ply that the score
+is below the given score threshold for that engine. Make sure the score
+is interpreted properly by XBoard,
+using @code{-firstScoreAbs} and @code{-secondScoreAbs} if needed.
+Default: 0 (no adjudication)
+@item -adjudicateDrawMoves n
+@cindex adjudicateDrawMoves, option
+If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a draw
+if after the given number of moves it was not yet decided. Default: 0 (no adjudication)
+@item -checkMates true/false
+@cindex checkMates, option
+If this option is set, XBoard detects all checkmates and stalemates,
+and ends the game as soon as they occur.
+Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work.
+Default: true
+@item -testClaims true/false
+@cindex testClaims, option
+If this option is set, XBoard verifies all result claims made by engines,
+and those who send false claims will forfeit the game because of it.
+Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true
+@item -materialDraws true/false
+@cindex materialDraws, option
+If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws when there is
+no sufficient material left to inflict a checkmate.
+This applies to KBKB with like bishops (any number, actually), and to KBK, KNK and KK.
+Legality-testing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true
+@item -trivialDraws true/false
+@cindex trivialDraws, option
+If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws that cannot be
+usually won without opponent cooperation. This applies to KBKB with unlike bishops,
+and to KBKN, KNKN, KNNK, KRKR and KQKQ. The draw is called after 6 ply into these end-games,
+to allow quick mates that can occur in some exceptional positions to be found by the engines.
+KQKQ does not really belong in this category, and might be taken out in the future.
+(When bitbase-based adjudications are implemented.)
+Legality-testing must be on for this option to work. Default: false
+@item -ruleMoves n
+@cindex ruleMoves, option
+If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a draw after the given
+number of consecutive reversible moves. Engine draw claims are always accepted after 50 moves,
+irrespective of the given value of n.
+@item -repeatsToDraw n
+If the given value is non-zero, xboard adjudicates the game as a draw if a position
+is repeated the given number of times. Engines draw claims are always accepted after 3 repeats,
+(on the 3rd occurrence, actually), irrespective of the value of n.
+Beware that positions that have different castling or en-passant rights do not count
+as repeats, XBoard is fully e.p. and castling aware!
+@end table
+
@node Other options
-@section Other Options
+@section Other options
@cindex Options, miscellaneous
@table @asis
@item -ncp/-xncp or -noChessProgram true/false
atomic Capturing piece explodes (ICC wild 27)
3check Win by giving check 3 times (ICC wild 25)
shatranj An ancient precursor of chess (ICC wild 28)
+xiangqi Chinese Chess (on a 9x10 board)
+shogi Japanese Chess (on a 9x9 board & piece drops)
+capablanca Capablanca Chess (10x8 board, with Archbishop
+ and Chancellor pieces)
+gothic similar, with a better initial position
+caparandom An FRC-like version of Capablanca Chess (10x8)
+janus A game with two Archbishops (10x8 board)
+courier Medieval intermediate between shatranj and
+ modern Chess (on 12x8 board)
+falcon Patented 10x8 variant with two Falcon pieces
+berolina Pawns capture straight ahead, and move diagonal
+cylinder Pieces wrap around the board edge
+knightmate King moves as Knight, and vice versa
+super Superchess (shuffle variant with 4 exo-pieces)
+fairy A catchall variant in which all piece types
+ known to XBoard can participate (8x8)
unknown Catchall for other unknown variants
@end example
-In the shuffle variants, xboard does not shuffle the pieces, but
-you can do it by hand using Edit Position. Some variants are
-supported only in ICS mode, including fischerandom, bughouse, and
-kriegspiel. The winning/drawing conditions in crazyhouse (offboard
-interposition on mate), losers, suicide, giveaway, atomic, and 3check
-are not fully understood. In crazyhouse, xboard does not yet keep
-track of offboard pieces. Shatranj is unsupported, but it may be
-usable if you turn off Test Legality.
+NOT ALL BOARDSIZES PROVIDE A COMPLETE SET OF BUILT-IN BITMAPS FOR ALL
+UN-ORTHODOX PIECES, though. Only in @code{boardSize} middling and bulky
+all 22 piece types are provided, while -boardSize petite has most
+of them. Archbishop, Chancellor and Amazon are supported in every
+size from petite to bulky. Kings or Amazons are substituted for
+missing bitmaps. You can still play variants needing un-orthodox
+pieces in other board sizes providing your own bitmaps through the
+@code{bitmapDirectory} or @code{pixmapDirectory} options.
+
+In the shuffle variants, XBoard now does shuffle the pieces, although
+you can still do it by hand using Edit Position. Some variants are
+supported only in ICS mode, including bughouse, and
+kriegspiel. The winning/drawing conditions in crazyhouse (off-board
+interposition on mate) are not fully understood, but losers, suicide,
+giveaway, atomic, and 3check should be OK.
+Berolina and cylinder chess can only be played with legality testing off.
+In crazyhouse, XBoard now does keep
+track of off-board pieces. In shatranj it does implement the baring
+rule when mate detection is switched on.
+@item -boardHeight N
+@cindex boardHeight, option
+Allows you to set a non-standard number of board ranks in any variant.
+If the height is given as -1, the default height for the variant is used.
+Default: -1
+@item -boardWidth N
+@cindex boardWidth, option
+Allows you to set a non-standard number of board files in any variant.
+If the width is given as -1, the default width for the variant is used.
+With a non-standard width, the initial position will always be an empty board,
+as the usual opening array will not fit.
+Default: -1
+@item -holdingsSize N
+@cindex holdingsSize, option
+Allows you to set a non-standard size for the holdings in any variant.
+If the size is given as -1, the default holdings size for the variant is used.
+The first N piece types will go into the holdings on capture, and you will be
+able to drop them on the board in stead of making a normal move. If size equals 0,
+there will be no holdings.
+Default: -1
+@item -defaultFrcPosition N
+@cindex defaultFrcPosition, option
+Specifies the number of the opening position in shuffle games like Chess960.
+A value of -1 means the position is randomly generated by XBoard
+at the beginning of every game.
+Default: -1
+@item -pieceToSquareTable string
+@cindex pieceToSquareTable, option
+The characters that are used to represent the piece types XBoard knows in FEN
+diagrams and SAN moves. The string argument has to have an even length
+(or it will be ignored), as white and black pieces have to be given separately
+(in that order). The last letter for each color will be the King.
+The letters before that will be PNBRQ and then a whole host of fairy pieces
+in an order that has not fully crystallized yet (currently FEACWMOHIJGDVSLU,
+F=Ferz, Elephant, A=Archbishop, C=Chancellor, W=Wazir, M=Commoner, O=Cannon,
+H=Nightrider). You should list at least all pieces that occur in the variant
+you are playing. If you have less than 44 characters in the string, the pieces
+not mentioned will get assigned a period, and you will not be able to distinguish
+them in FENs. You can also explicitly assign pieces a period, in which case they
+will not be counted in deciding which captured pieces can go into the holdings.
+A tilde '~' as a piece name does mean this piece is used to represent a promoted
+Pawn in crazyhouse-like games, i.e. on capture it turns back onto a Pawn.
+A '+' similarly indicates the piece is a shogi-style promoted piece, that should
+revert to its non-promoted version on capture (rather than to a Pawn).
+Note that promoted pieces are represented by pieces 11 further in the list.
+You should not have to use this option often: each variant has its own default
+setting for the piece representation in FEN, which should be sufficient in normal use.
+Default: ""
@item -debug/-xdebug or -debugMode true/false
@cindex debug, option
@cindex debugMode, option
Turns on debugging printout.
+@item -debugFile filename or -nameOfDebugFile filename
+@cindex debugFile, option
+@cindex nameOfDebugFile, option
+Sets the name of the file to which WinBoard saves debug information
+(including all communication to and from the engines).
+@item -engineDebugOutput number
+@cindex engineDebugOutput, option
+Specifies how WinBoard should handle unsolicited output from the engine,
+with respect to saving it in the debug file.
+The output is further (hopefully) ignored.
+If number=0, WinBoard refrains from writing such spurious output to the debug file.
+If number=1, all engine output is written faithfully to the debug file.
+If number=2, any protocol-violating line is prefixed with a '#' character,
+as the engine itself should have done if it wanted to submit info for inclusion in the debug file.
+This option is provided for the benefit of applications that use the debug file
+as a source of information, such as the broadcaster of live games TLCV / TLCS.
+Such applications can be protected from spurious engine output that might otherwise confuse them.
@item -rsh or -remoteShell shell-name
@cindex rsh, option
@cindex remoteShell, option
@cindex remoteUser, option
User name on the remote system when running programs with the
@code{remoteShell}. The default is your local user name.
+@item -userName username
+@cindex userName, option
+Name under which the Human player will be listed in the PGN file.
+Default is the login name on your local computer.
+@item -delayBeforeQuit number
+@itemx -delayAfterQuit number
+@cindex delayBeforeQuit, option
+@cindex delayAfterQuit, option
+These options specify how long WinBoard 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.
+
@end table
@node Chess Servers
The game parser recognizes only algebraic notation.
-The internal move legality tester does not look at the game history,
-so in some cases it misses illegal castling or en passant captures.
-It permits castling with the king on the d file because this is possible in
-some "wild 1" games on ICS. It does not check
-piece drops in bughouse and crazyhouse to see if you actually
-hold the piece you are trying to drop.
-However, if you attempt an illegal move when using
-a chess engine or chess server, XBoard will accept the error message
-that comes back, undo the move, and let you try another.
-
-Fischer Random castling is not understood. You can probably play
-Fischer Random successfully on ICS by typing castling moves into the ICS
-Interaction window, but they will not be animated correctly, and saved
-games will not be loaded correctly if castling occurs.
-
-FEN positions saved by XBoard
-never include correct information about whether castling is legal or
-how many half-moves have been made since the last irreversible move,
-and sometimes may not correctly indicate when en passant capture is available.
-
-The mate detector does not understand that non-contact mate is not
-really mate in bughouse and crazyhouse. The only problem this causes
-while playing is minor: a @samp{#} (mate indicator) character will show
-up after a non-contact mating move in the move list; XBoard will
-not assume the game is over at that point. However, if you are editing
-a game, Edit Game mode will be terminated by a non-contact mate.
+Many of the following points used to be limitations in XBoard 4.2.7 and earlier,
+but are now fixed:
+The internal move legality tester in XBoard 4.3.xx does look at the game history,
+and is fully aware of castling or en-passant-capture rights. It permits castling with
+the king on the d file because this is possible in some "wild 1" games on ICS.
+The piece-drop menu does not check piece drops in bughouse to see if you actually hold
+the piece you are trying to drop. But this way of dropping pieces should be considered
+an obsolete feature, now that pieces can be dropped by dragging them from the holdings
+to the board. Anyway, if you would attempt an illegal move when using a chess engine or the ICS,
+WinBoard will accept the error message that comes back, undo the move, and let you try another.
+FEN positions saved by XBoard do include correct information about whether castling or
+en passant are legal, and also handle the 50-move counter.
+The mate detector does not understand that non-contact mate is not really mate in bughouse.
+The only problem this causes while playing is minor: a "#" (mate indicator) character will
+show up after a non-contact mating move in the move list. XBoard will not assume the game
+is over at that point, not even when the option Detect Mates is on.
+Edit Game mode always uses the rules of the selected variant,
+which can be a variant that uses piece drops.
+You can load and edit games that contain piece drops.
+The (obsolete) piece menus are not active,
+but you can perform piece drops by dragging pieces from the holdings.
+Edit Position mode does not allow you to edit the crazyhouse holdings properly.
+You cannot drag pieces to the holding, and using the popup menu to put pieces
+there does not adapt the holding counts and leads to an inconsistent state.
+Set up crazyhouse positions by loading / pasting a bFEN, from there you can set the holdings.
+Fischer Random castling is fully understood.
+You can enter castlings by dragging the King on top of your Rook.
+You can probably also play Fischer Random successfully on ICS by typing
+castling moves into the ICS Interaction window.
The menus may not work if your keyboard is in Caps Lock or Num Lock mode.
This seems to be a problem with the Athena menu widget,
.
@end example
+The WinBoard / XBoard 4.3 line is being developed by H.G. Muller
+independently of the GNU Savannah xboard project.
+Bug reports on this version, and suggestions for improvements and additions,
+are best posted in the WinBoard forum,
+WinBoard-development section (http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum).
+
If you improve XBoard, please send a message about your changes,
and we will get in touch with you about merging them in
to the main line of development.
Tim Mann has been responsible for XBoard versions 1.3 and beyond, and
for WinBoard, a port of XBoard to Microsoft Win32 (Windows NT and
-Windows 95).
+Windows 95). H.G.Muller is responsible for version 4.3.
Mark Williams contributed the initial (WinBoard-only) implementation
of many new features added to both XBoard and WinBoard in version
Evan Welsh wrote @code{CMail}. Patrick Surry helped in designing,
testing, and documenting CMail.
+Alessandro Scotti added many elements to the user interface of WinBoard,
+including the board textures and font-based rendering, the evaluation-graph,
+move-history and engine-output window.
+He was also responsible for adding the UCI support.
+
+H.G. Muller made WinBoard castling- and e.p.-aware,
+added variant support with adjustable board sizes,
+the crazyhouse holdings, and the fairy pieces.
+In addition he added most of the adjudication options,
+made WinBoard more robust in dealing with buggy and crashing engines,
+and extended time control with a time-odds and node-count-based modes.
+Most of the options that initially were WinBoard only have now been back-ported to XBoard.
+
+Michel van den Bergh provided the code for reading Polyglot opening books.
+
+Arun Persaud worked with H.G. Muller to combine all the features of the never-released WinBoard 4.2.8
+of the Savannah project (mainly by Daniel Mehrmann),
+and the never-released 4.3.16 into a unified WinBoard 4.4,
+which is now available both from the Savannah web site and the WinBoard forum.
@node CMail
@chapter CMail
@cindex cmail
@menu
* GNU Chess:: The GNU Chess engine.
+* Fairy-Max:: The Fairy-Max chess engine.
+* HoiChess:: The HoiChess chess engine.
* Crafty:: The Crafty chess engine.
* zic2xpm:: The program used to import chess sets from ZIICS.
@end menu
You can use XBoard to play a game against GNU Chess, or to
interface GNU Chess to an ICS.
+@node Fairy-Max
+@section Fairy-Max
+
+Fairy-Max is a derivative from the once World's smallest Chess program micro-Max,
+which measures only about 100 lines of source code.
+The main difference with micro-Max is that Fairy-Max loads its move-generator
+tables from a file, so that the rules for piece movement can be easily configured
+to implement unorthodox pieces.
+Fairy-Max can therefore play a large number of variants, normal Chess being one of those.
+In addition it plays Knightmate, Capablanca and Gothic Chess, Shatranj, Courier Chess,
+Cylinder chess, Berolina Chess, while the user can easily define new variants.
+It can be obtained from:
+
+http://home.hccnet.nl/h.g.muller/dwnldpage.html
+
+@node HoiChess
+@section HoiChess
+
+HoiChess is a not-so-very-strong Chess engine, which comes with a derivative HoiXiangqi,
+able to play Chinese Chess. It can be obtained from the standard Linux repositories
+through:
+
+sudo apt-get install hoichess
+
@node Crafty
@section Crafty
@printindex cp
@contents
@c end noman
+
+@bye
projects / xboard.git / blobdiff