machine, XBoard lets you play a game against the machine,
set up arbitrary positions, force variations, watch a game between two
chess engines, interactively analyze your stored games or set up and
-analyze arbitrary positions. (Note: Not all chess engines support
-analysis.)
+analyze arbitrary positions.
+To run engines that use the UCI standard XBoard will draw upon
+the Polyglot adapter fully transparently, but you will need to have
+the polyglot package installed for this tio work.
@item xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
As Internet Chess Server (ICS) interface, XBoard
lets you play against other ICS users, observe games
To move a piece, you can drag it with the left mouse button, or you
can click the left mouse button once on the piece, then once more on
-the destination square. In crazyhouse, bughouse or shogi you can
+the destination square. To under-promote a Pawn you can drag it backwards
+until it morphs into the piece you want to promote to, after which you
+drag that forward to the promotion square.
+Or after selecting the pawn with a first click you can then click
+the promotion square and move the mouse while keeping the button down
+until the piece that you want appears in the promotion square.
+To castle you move the King to its destination or, in Chess960,
+on top of the Rook you want to castle with.
+In crazyhouse, bughouse or shogi you can
drag and drop pieces to the board from the holdings squares
displayed next to the board.
or PGN variations in the comment window can similarly
be played out on the board, by right-clicking on them.
Only in Analysis mode, when you walk along a PV,
-releasing the mouse button will forward the game upto that point,
+releasing the mouse button might forward the game upto that point,
like you entered all previous PV moves.
As the display of the PV in that case starts after the first move
a simple right-click will play the move the engine indicates.
In Analysis mode you can also make a move by grabbing the piece
with a double-click of the left mouse button
-(or while keeping the Ctrl key pressed).
+(or while keeping the @kbd{Ctrl} key pressed).
In this case the move you enter will not be played,
but will be excluded from the analysis of the current position.
(Or included if it was already excluded; it is a toggle.)
so they will still apply when you restart XBoard for another session.
The settings can be saved into this file automatically when XBoard exits,
or on explicit request of the user.
+Note that the board window can be sized by the user, but that this
+will not affect the size of the clocks above it, and won't be remembered
+in the settings file.
+To persistently change the size of the clocks, use the @code{size}
+command-line option when starting XBoard.
The default name for the settings file is /etc/xboard/xboard.conf,
but in a standard install this file is only used as a master settings
file that determines the system-wide default settings,
(In ICS play, the ICS is responsible for deciding which variant will be played,
and XBoard adapts automatically.) The shifted @kbd{Alt+V} key is a
keyboard equivalent. If you play with an engine, the engine must
-be able to play the selected variant, or the command will be ignored.
+be able to play the selected variant, or the corresponding choice will be disabled.
XBoard supports all major variants, such as xiangqi, shogi, chess, chess960,
-Capablanca Chess, shatranj, crazyhouse, bughouse.
+makruk, Capablanca Chess, shatranj, crazyhouse, bughouse.
But not every board size has built-in bitmaps for un-orthodox pieces!
Only sizes bulky (72) and middling (49) have all pieces,
while size petite (33) has most.
You can overrule the default board format of the selected variant,
(e.g. to play suicide chess on a 6 x 6 board),
in this dialog, but normally you would not do that,
-and leave them at '-1', which means 'default'.
+and leave them at '-1', which means 'default' for the chosen variant.
@item Load Game
@cindex Load Game, Menu Item
Plays a game from a record file. The @kbd{Ctrl-O} key is a keyboard equivalent.
Nth game in the file directly, by typing the number @kbd{N} after the
file name, separated by a space.
-The game file parser will accept PGN (portable game notation),
+The game-file parser will accept PGN (portable game notation),
or in fact almost any file that contains moves in algebraic
notation.
Notation of the form @samp{P@@f7}
The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
Use mouse button 1 to drag pieces to new squares, or to delete a piece
by dragging it off the board or dragging an empty square on top of it.
+When you do this keeping the @kbd{Ctrl} key pressed,
+or start dragging with a double-click,
+you will move a copy of the piece, leaving the piece itself where it was.
+In variants where pieces can promote (such as Shogi),
+left-clicking an already selected piece promotes or demotes it.
To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the
square.
This puts a white or black pawn in the square, respectively,
cycle through the available pieces
(including those of opposite color),
and can release the button when you see the piece you want.
+(Note you can swap the function of button 2 and 3 by pressing
+the shift key, and that there is an option @code{monoMouse}
+to combine al functions in one button, which then acts as
+button 3 over an empty square, and as button 1 over a piece.)
To alter the side to move, you can click the clock
(the words White and Black above the board)
of the side you want to give the move to.
To clear the board you can click the clock of the side that
-alread has the move (which is highlighted in black).
+already has the move (which is highlighted in black).
+If you repeat this the board will cycle from empty to a
+'pallette board' containing every piece once to the initial
+position to the one before clearing.
+The quickest way to set up a position is usually to start
+with the pallette board, and move the pieces to were you
+want them, duplicating them where necessary by using the
+@kbd{Ctrl} key, dragging those you don't want off board,
+and use static button 2 or 3 clicks to place the Pawns.
The old behavior with a piece menu can still be configured
with the aid of the @code{pieceMenu} option.
+Dragging empty squares off board can create boards with
+'holes' (inaccessible black squares) in them.
Selecting @samp{Edit Position} causes XBoard to discard
all remembered moves in the current game.
from the currently displayed position,
together with their weights and (optionally in braces) learn info.
You can then edit this list, and the new list will be stored
-back into the book when you press OK.
+back into the book when you press 'save changes'.
+When you press the button 'add next move', and play a move
+on the board, ithat move will be added to the list with weight 1.
Note that the listed percentages are neither used, nor updated when
you change the weights; they are just there as an optical aid.
+When you right-click a move in the list it will be played.
@item Revert
@itemx Annotate
@cindex Revert, Menu Item
Steps backward through a series of remembered moves.
The @samp{[<]} button and the @kbd{Alt+LeftArrow} key are equivalents,
as is turning the mouse wheel towards you.
-In addition, pressing the Control key steps back one move, and releasing
+In addition, pressing the ??? key steps back one move, and releasing
it steps forward again.
In most modes, @samp{Backward} only lets you look back at old positions;
The use of the board window as 'variation board' will normally end when
you release the right button,
or when the opponent plays a move.
-But beware: in Analysis mode, moves thus played out will be added to the game.
+But beware: in Analysis mode, moves thus played out might be added to the game,
+depending on the setting of the option 'Play moves of clicked PV',
+when you initiate the click left of the PV in the score area.
The Engine-Output pane for each engine will contain a header displaying the
multi-PV status and a list of excluded moves in Analysis mode,
-which are also responsive to right-clicking.
+which are also responsive to right-clicking:
+Clicking the words 'fewer' or 'more' will alter the number of variations
+shown at each depth, through the engine's MultiPV option,
+while clicking in between those and moving the mouse horizontally adjust
+the option 'Multi-PV Margin'. (In so far the engines support those.)
@item Show Move History
@cindex Show Move History, Menu Item
Shows or hides a list of moves of the current game.
Shows or hides a window which displays a graph of how the engine score(s)
evolved as a function of the move number.
The shifted @kbd{Alt+E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+The title bar shows the score (and search depth at which it was obtained)
+of the currently displayed position numerically.
Clicking on the graph will bring
the corresponding position in the board display.
+A button 3 click will toggle the display mode between plain and differential
+(showing the difference in score between successive half moves).
+Using the mouse wheel over the window will change the scale of the
+low-score region (from -1 to +1).
@item Show Game List
@cindex Show Game List, Menu Item
Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last @samp{Load Game}
command. The shifted @kbd{Alt+G} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+The line describing each game is built from a selection of the PGN tags.
+Which tags contribute, and in what order, can be changed by the @samp{Game list tags}
+menu dialog, which can be popped up through the 'Tags' button below the Game List.
+Display can be restricted to a sub-set of the games meeting certain criteria.
+A text entry below the game list allows you to type a text that the game lines
+must contain in order to be displayed.
+Games can also be selected based on their Elo PGN tag,
+as set in the @samp{Load Game Options} dialog, which can be popped up through the
+'Thresholds' button below the Game List.
+Finally they can be selected based on containing a position similar to the one
+currently displayed in the main window, by pressing the 'Position' button below
+the Game List, (which searches the entire list for the position), or the 'Narrow'
+button (which only searches the already-selected games).
+What counts as similar enough to be selected can also be set in the
+@samp{Load Game Options} dialog, and ranges from an exact match to just the
+same material.
@item Tags
@cindex Tags, Menu Item
Pops up a window which shows the PGN (portable game notation)
The input box is especially useful if you want to type in something long or do
some editing on your input, because output from ICS doesn't get mixed
in with your typing as it would in the main terminal window.
-@item Open Chat Window
-@cindex Open Chat Window, Menu Item
-This menu item opens a window in which you can conduct upto 5 chats
-with other ICS users (or channels).
+@item ICS Chat/Console
+@cindex ICS Chat/Console, Menu Item
+This menu item opens a window in which you can interact with the ICS,
+and conduct upto 5 chats with other ICS users (or channels),
+so you don't have to use the messy xterm from which you launched XBoard
+for that.
+The window has a text entry at the bottom where you can type your
+commands and messages unhindered by the stream of ICS output.
+The latter will be displayed in a large pane above the input field,
+the ICS Console.
+This pane can be vertically split into two, however, where half of it
+is then used to display selected ICS output, belonging to a chat with
+another user, or output from an ICS channel.
+Such output will then not appear in the Console pane.
+
To use the window, write the name of your chat partner, the channel number,
or the words 'shouts', 'whispers', 'cshouts' in the upper field
-(closing with <Enter>).
+(ending with <Enter>).
Everything you type in the lowest field will then automatically be sent to
the mentioned party, while everything that party sends to you will
appear in the central text box, rather than appear in the ICS console.
The row of buttons allow you to choose between chat;
to start a new chat, just select an empty button,
and complete the @samp{Chat partner} field.
+There are several keyboard accelerators to control this window:
+<Esc> will close the private chat, and assign the input field to the
@item Board
@cindex Board, Menu Item
Summons a dialog where you can customize the look of the chess board.
external images to be used for the board squares
(@code{liteBackTextureFile} and @code{darkBackTextureFile} options),
and square and piece colors for the default pieces.
+The current combination of these settings can be assigned a 'theme' name
+by typing one in the text entry in the lower-left of the dialog,
+and closing the latter with OK.
+It will then appear in the themes listbox next time you open the dialog,
+where you can recall the complete settings combination with a double-click.
@item Game List Tags
@cindex Game List Tags, Menu Item
a duplicate of the Game List dialog in the Options menu.
@item Analysis Mode
@cindex Analysis Mode, Menu Item
@cindex null move
+@cindex move exclusion
XBoard tells the chess engine to start analyzing the current game/position
and shows you the analysis as you move pieces around.
The @kbd{Ctrl-A} key is a keyboard equivalent.
The output of this engine will then be shown in the lower pane
of the Engine Output window.
The analysis function can also be used when observing games on an ICS
-with an engine loaded (zippy mode); the engine then will analyse
+with an engine loaded (zippy mode); the engine then will analyze
the positions as they occur in the observed game.
@item Analyze Game
@cindex Machine match, Menu Item
Starts a match between two chess programs,
with a number of games and other parameters set through
-the @samp{Match Options} menu dialog.
+the @samp{Tournament Options} menu dialog.
When a match is already running, selecting this item will make
XBoard drop out of match mode after the current game finishes.
@item Pause
@cindex Engine Menu
@cindex Menu, Engine
@table @asis
-@item Load Engine
+@item Edit Engine List
+@cindex Edit Engine List, Menu Item
+Opens a window that shows the list of engines registered for use
+by XBoard, together with the options that would be used with them
+when you would select them from the @samp{Load Engine} dialogs.
+You can then edit this list, e.g. for re-ordering the engines,
+or adding uncommon options needed by this engine
+(e.g. to cure non-compliant behavior).
+@item Load New 1st Engine
+@itemx Load New 2nd Engine
@cindex Load Engine, Menu Item
Pops up a dialog where you can select or specify an engine to be loaded.
-You will always have to indicate whether you want to load the engine
-as first or second engine, through the ‘Load menitioned engine as’
-drop-down list at the bottom of the dialog.
You can even replace engines during a game, without disturbing that game.
(Beware that after loading an engine, XBoard will always be in Edit Game mode,
so you will have to tell the new engine what to do before it does anything!)
When you select an already installed engine from the ‘Select Engine from List’
-drop-down list,
+listbox,
all other fields of the dialog will be ignored.
In other cases, you have to specify the engine executable,
possible arguments on the engine command line
If ‘Add this engine to the list’ is ticked (which it is by default),
the engine will be added to the list of installed engines in your settings file,
(provided you save the settings!),
-so that next time you can select it from the drop-down list.
+so that next time you can select it from the listbox.
You can also specify a ‘nickname’,
under which the engine will then appear in that drop-down list,
and even choose to use that nickname for it in PGN files for engine-engine games.
because XBoard is waiting for a response they will not give,
you can tick ‘WB protocol v1’ to speed up the loading process.
@item Engine #N Settings
-@cindex Engine Settings, Menu Item
-@cindex Engine #1 Settings, Menu Item
-@cindex Engine #2 Settings, Menu Item
+@cindex Engine #N Settings, Menu Item
Pop up a menu dialog to alter the settings specific to the applicable engine.
-(The second engine is only accessible once it has been used in Two-Machines mode.)
For each parameter the engine allows to be set,
a control element will appear in this dialog that can be used to alter the value.
Depending on the type of parameter (text string, number, multiple choice,
and in that case the dialog will be empty (except for the OK and cancel buttons).
UCI engines usually have many parameters. (But these are only visible with
a sufficiently modern version of the Polyglot adapter needed to run UCI engines,
-e.g. Polyglot 1.4.55b.) For native XBoard engines this is less common.
+e.g. Polyglot 2.0.1.) For native XBoard engines this is less common.
+
+@subsection Common Settings
+@cindex Common Settings, Menu Item
+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.
+The shifted @kbd{Alt+U} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+Older XBoard/WinBoard engines might not respond to these settings,
+but UCI engines always 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.
+The way book moves are chosen can be influenced through the settings of
+book depth and variety.
+After both sides have played more moves than the specified depth,
+the book will no longer be consulted.
+When the variety is set to 50, moves will be played with the probability
+specified in the book.
+When set to 0, only the move(s) with the highest probability will be played.
+When set to 100, all listed moves will be played with equal pobability.
+Other settings interpolate between that.
+
@item Hint
@cindex Hint, Menu Item
Displays a move hint from the chess engine.
@cindex Move Now, Menu Item
Forces the chess engine to move immediately. Chess engine mode only.
The @kbd{Ctrl-M} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+Many engines won't respond to this.
@item Retract Move
@cindex Retract Move, Menu Item
Retracts your last move. In chess engine mode, you can do this only
You can then recall the previous line through the @samp{Revert} menu item.
When off, playing a move will truncate the game and append the move
irreversibly.
+@item Headers in Engine Output Window
+@cindex Headers in Engine Output Window, Menu Item
+Controls the presence of column headers above the variations and
+associated information printed by the engine, on which you can issue
+button 3 clicks to open or close the columns.
+Available columns are search depth, score, node count, time used,
+tablebase hits, search speed and selective search depth.
@item Hide Thinking
@cindex Hide Thinking, Menu Item
If this option is off, the chess engine's notion of the score and best
@item Show Target Squares
@cindex Show Target Squares, Menu Item
If this option is on, all squares a piece that is 'picked up' with the mouse
-can legally move to are highighted with a fat colored dot in the
-highlightColor (non-captures) or premoveHighlightColor (captures).
+can legally move to are highighted with a fat colored dot in
+yellow (non-captures) or red (captures).
+Special moves might have other colors
+(e.g. magenta for promotion, cyan for a partial move).
Legality testing must be on for XBoard to know how the piece moves.
+@item Sticky Windows
+@cindex Sticky Windows, Menu Item
+Controls whether the auxiliary windows such as Engine Output, Move History
+and Evaluation Graph should keep touching XBoard's main window when
+you move the latter.
@item Test Legality
@cindex Test Legality, Menu Item
If this option is on, XBoard tests whether the moves you try to make
rules that XBoard does not understand. (Bughouse, suicide, and wild
variants where the king may castle after starting on the d file are
generally supported with Test Legality on.)
+@item Top-Level Dialogs
+@cindex Top-Level Dialogs, Menu Item
+Controls whether the auxiliary windows will appear as icons in the
+task bar and independently controllable, or whether they open and
+minimize all together with the main window.
@item Flash Moves
@itemx Flash Rate
@cindex Flash Moves, Menu Item
@subsection Time Control
@cindex Time Control, Menu Item
Pops up a sub-menu where you can set the time-control parameters interactively.
+The shifted @kbd{Alt+T} key is a keyboard equivalent.
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.
-The shifted @kbd{Alt+T} key is a keyboard equivalent.
-
-@subsection Common Engine
-@cindex Common Engine, Menu Item
-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 XBoard/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.
-The way book moves are chosen can be influenced through the settings of
-book depth and variety.
-After both sides have played more moves than the specified depth,
-the book will no longer be consulted.
-When the variety is set to 50, moves will be played with the probability
-specified in the book.
-When set to 0, only the move(s) with the highest probability will be played.
-When set to 100, all listed moves will be played with equal pobability.
-Other settings interpolate between that.
-The shifted @kbd{Alt+U} key is a keyboard equivalent.
@subsection Adjudications
@cindex Adjudications, Menu Item
will cause automatic update of the seek graph while it is up.
This only works on FICS and ICC,
and requires a lot of bandwidth on a busy server.
+@item Auto-InputBox PopUp
+@cindex Auto-InputBox PopUp, Menu Item
+Controls whether the ICS Input Box will pop up automatically when
+you type a printable character to the board window in ICS mode.
+@item Quit After Game
+@cindex Quit After Game, Menu Item
+Controls whether XBoard will automatically disconnect from the ICS
+and close when the game currently in progress finishes.
@item Premove
@itemx Premove White
@itemx Premove Black
through the accompanying text edits.
@end table
-@subsection Match Options
-@cindex Match Options, Menu Item
+@subsection Tournament Options
+@cindex Tournament Options, Menu Item
Summons a dialog where you can set options important for playing automatic
-matches between two chess programs
+matches between two or more chess programs
(e.g. by using the @samp{Machine Match} menu item in the @samp{Mode} menu).
@table @asis
@item Tournament file
you must not leave this field blank.
When you enter the name of an existing tournament file,
XBoard will ignore all other input specified in the dialog,
-and will take them from that tournament file.
+and will take the corresponding info from that tournament file.
This resumes an interrupted tournament, or adds another XBoard
agent playing games for it to those that are already doing so.
Specifying a not-yet-existing file will cause XBoard to create it,
(Note this leads to the same opening only if both engines use the GUI book!)
Default: No game or position file will be used. The default index if such a file is used is 1.
@item Disable own engine bools be default
-@cindex Disable own engine bools be default, Menu Item
+@cindex Disable own engine books be default, Menu Item
Setting this option reverses the default situation for use of the GUI opening book
in tournaments from what it normally is, namely not using it.
So unless the engine is installed with an option to explicitly specify it should
@code{autoDisplayTags} options, (which control popups when viewing loaded games),
and specify the rate at which loaded games are auto-played,
in seconds per move (which can be a fractional number, like 1.6).
+This rate is also used with the @code{Analyze Game} menu item.
You can also set search criteria for determining which games
will be displayed in the Game List for a multi-game file,
and thus be eligible for loading:
These numeric fields set thresholds (lower limits) on the Elo rating of the mentioned player,
or the date the game was played.
Defaults: 0
+@item Final nr of pieces
+@cindex Final nr of pieces, Menu Item
+Here you can enter a range (e.g. 8-10), and only games will be selected that
+has a number of men in this range on the board in their final position.
@item Search mode
@cindex Search mode, Menu Item
@cindex find position, Menu Item
Shufflings are symmetric for black and white, and exempt King and Rooks in variants
with normal castling.
Remains in force until a new variant is selected.
+@item -fischerCastling
+@cindex fischerCastling, option
+Specifies Fischer castling (as in Chess960) should be enabled in variants
+that normally would not have it.
+Remains in force until a new variant is selected.
@end table
@node UCI + WB Engine Settings
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 -positionDir directory
+@cindex positionDir, option
+Specifies the directory where file browsing should start when using
+the @samp{Load Position} menu item.
@item -pgnExtendedInfo true/false
@cindex pgnExtendedInfo, option
If this option is set, XBoard saves depth, score and time used for each
@cindex autoLogo, option
@cindex logoDir, option
When @code{autoLogo} is set, XBoard will search for a PNG image file
-with the name of the engine or ICS in the directory specified
+with the name of the engine or ICS in the directory specified.
+For a human player it will look for a file <username>.png in this
+directory, but only when ~/.logo.png does not provide one.
by @code{logoDir}.
@item -recentEngines number
@itemx -recentEngineList list
Double-clicking a piece (or clicking an already selected piece)
will instruct that piece to make the only capture it can legally do.
Default: false.
+@item -monoMouse true/false
+@cindex monoMouse, option
+When set button 1 clicks on empty squares in Edit Position mode
+will be interpreted as button 3 clicks, so they place a piece.
+Default: false.
@item -movesound/-xmovesound or -ringBellAfterMoves true/false
@cindex movesound, option
@cindex bell, option
or svg format for every piece type, with names like BlackQueen.svg,
WhiteKnight.svg etc.
When neither of these is found (or no valid directory is specified)
-XBoard will use the svg piece that was installed with it
+XBoard will first ty to use an image White/BlackTile.svg in that same
+directory, and if that is not present either
+use the svg piece that was installed with it
(from the source-tree directory @samp{svg}).
Both svg and png images will be scaled by XBoard to the required size,
but the png pieces lose much in quality when scaled too much.
+Default: "".
+@item -inscriptions utf8string
+@cindex inscriptions, option
+The positions in the utf8string correspond to XBoard's piece types,
+and for each type a glyph can be defined.
+This glyph will then be rendered on top of the image for the piece.
+This is useful in combination with the White/BlackTile.svg images,
+which could be the image of a blank Shogi tile, for writing the
+kanji piece name on top of it on the fly.
+Default: "".
@item -whitePieceColor color
@itemx -blackPieceColor color
Default: False.
@item -appendPV true|false
@cindex appendPV, option
-When this option is on, right-clicking a PV in the Engine Output window
-will play the first move of that PV in Analyze mode,
-or as many moves as you walk through by moving the mouse.
+When this option is on, a button 3 click left of a PV in the Engine
+Output window will play the first move of that PV in Analyze mode,
+or as many moves as you walk through it by moving the mouse.
Default: False.
@item -absoluteAnalysisScores true|false
@cindex absoluteAnalysisScores, option
@cindex memoHeaders, option
When true, column headers will be displayed in the Engine Output window
for the depth, score, time and nodes data.
-Right-clicking on these headers will hide or show the corresponding data.
+A button 3 click on these headers will hide or show the corresponding data.
(Not intended for dynamic use, as already printed data of the current search
will not be affected!)
Defaul: False.
AnalyzeFile, EditGame, EditPosition, and Training.
@item -variant varname
@cindex variant, option
-Activates preliminary, partial support for playing chess variants
+Activates (sometimes partial) support for playing chess variants
against a local engine or editing variant games. This flag is not
needed in ICS mode. Recognized variant names are:
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
+berolina Pawns capture straight ahead, and move diagonally
cylinder Pieces wrap around the board edge
knightmate King moves as Knight, and vice versa
super Superchess (shuffle variant with 4 exo-pieces)
makruk Thai Chess (shatranj-like, P promotes on 6th rank)
asean ASEAN Chess (a modernized version of Makruk)
spartan Spartan Chess (black has unorthodox pieces)
+great Great Shatranj, a 10x8 variant without sliders
+grand Grand Chess, on 10x10 with Capablanca pieces
+lion Mighty-Lion Chess, with a multi-capturing Lion
+elven Eleven Chess, with Lion and crowned sliders on 10x10
+chu Chu Shogi, historic 12x12 variant with 2x46 pieces
fairy A catchall variant in which all piece types
known to XBoard can participate (8x8)
unknown Catchall for other unknown variants
@end example
-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
+In the shuffle variants, XBoard 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.
+kriegspiel.
+Berolina and cylinder chess are only partially supported,
+and can only be played with legality testing off.
+
+Apart from these standard variants, engines can define variants
+of arbitrary names, briefing XBoard transparently on the rules
+for piece movement, board size and initial setup,
+so that they work nearly as well as fully-supported standard variants.
+(But obviously only while using that engine.)
+The user might have to alter the adjudication settings for some
+variants, however. E.g. it makes no sense to adjudicate a draw
+after 50 reversible moves in variants that have a 64-move rule,
+or no similar rule at all.
+
@item -boardHeight N
@cindex boardHeight, option
Allows you to set a non-standard number of board ranks in any variant.
@item -pieceToCharTable string
@cindex pieceToCharTable, 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
+diagrams and SAN moves. The string argument has to specify an even number of pieces
(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,
+in an order that has not fully crystallized yet (currently FEACWMOHIJGDVLSU,
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
+you are playing. If you have fewer characters in the string than XBoard has
+pieces, the pieces not mentioned will get assigned a period,
+and will not be usable in the variant.
+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.
+Pawn in crazyhouse-like games, i.e. on capture it turns back to 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.
+Note that promoted pieces are represented by pieces 11 further in the list
+(27 in variant chu).
+To get around the limitation of the alphabet,
+piece IDs can also be 'dressed letters', i.e. a single letter
+(upper case for white, lower case for black)
+followed by a single quote or an exclamation point.
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: ""
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