Provided by: xboard_4.8.0-2_amd64 
NAME
xboard - X graphical user interface for chess
SYNOPSIS
xboard [options]
xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
xboard -ncp [options]
|pxboard
cmail [options]
DESCRIPTION
XBoard is a graphical chessboard that can serve as a user interface to chess engines (such as GNU Chess),
the Internet Chess Servers, electronic mail correspondence chess, or your own collection of saved games.
This manual documents version 4.8.0 of XBoard.
MAJOR MODES
XBoard always runs in one of four major modes. You select the major mode from the command line when you
start up XBoard.
xboard [options]
As an interface to GNU Chess or another chess engine running on your 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.)
xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
As Internet Chess Server (ICS) interface, XBoard lets you play against other ICS users, observe
games they are playing, or review games that have recently finished. Most of the ICS "wild" chess
variants are supported, including bughouse.
xboard -ncp [options]
XBoard can also be used simply as an electronic chessboard to play through games. It will read and
write game files and allow you to play through variations manually. You can use it to browse games
off the net or review games you have saved. These features are also available in the other modes.
|pxboard
If you want to pipe games into XBoard, use the supplied shell script `pxboard'. For example, from
the news reader `xrn', find a message with one or more games in it, click the Save button, and
type `|pxboard' as the file name.
cmail [options]
As an interface to electronic mail correspondence chess, XBoard works with the cmail program. See
CMail below for instructions.
BASIC OPERATION
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 drag and
drop pieces to the board from the holdings squares displayed next to the board.
Old behavior, where right-clicking a square brings up a menu where you can select what piece to drop on
it can still be selected through the `Drop Menu' option. Only in Edit Position mode right and middle
clicking a square is still used to put a piece on it, and the piece to drop is selected by sweeping the
mouse vertically with the button held down.
The default function of the right mouse button in other modes is to display the position the chess
program thinks it will end up in. While moving the mouse vertically with this button pressed XBoard will
step through the principal variation to show how this position will be reached. Lines of play displayed
in the engine-output window, 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, 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). 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.) This only works for engines that support this feature.
When connected to an ICS, it is possible to call up a graphical representation of players seeking a game
in stead of the chess board, when the latter is not in use (i.e. when you are not playing or observing).
Left-clicking the display area will switch between this 'seek graph' and the chess board. Hovering the
mouse pointer over a dot will show the details of the seek ad in the message field above the board.
Left-clicking the dot will challenge that player. Right-clicking a dot will 'push it to the back', to
reveal any dots that were hidden behind it. Right-clicking off dots will refresh the graph.
Most other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most frequently used commands also have
shortcut keys or on-screen buttons. These shortcut keystrokes are mostly non-printable characters.
Typing a letter or digit while the board window has focus will bring up a type-in box with the typed
letter already in it. You can use that to type a move in siuations where it is your turn to enter a
move, type a move number to call up the position after that move in the display, or, in Edit Position
mode, type a FEN. Some rarely used parameters can only be set through options on the command line used
to invoke XBoard.
XBoard uses a settings file, in which it can remember any changes to the settings that are made through
menus or command-line options, 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.
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, and defers reading
and writing of user settings to a user-specific file like ~/.xboardrc in the user's home directory.
When XBoard is iconized, its graphical icon is a white knight if it is White's turn to move, a black
knight if it is Black's turn.
MENUS, BUTTONS, AND KEYS
File Menu
New Game
Resets XBoard and the chess engine to the beginning of a new chess game. The `Ctrl-N' 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 `New Game'. See
Action Menu.
New Shuffle Game
Similar to `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). You can also press the `Pick Fixed' button to let XBoard generate a random number for
you. The thus selected opening position will then persistently be chosen on any following New
Game command until you use this menu to select another. Selecting position number -1 (or pushing
the `Randomize' button) 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 `New Shuffle Game' menu to explicitly switch the
randomization off, or select a new variant.
New Variant
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.) The shifted `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. 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! Only sizes bulky (72) and middling (49)
have all pieces, while size petite (33) has most. These sizes would have to be set at startup
through the `size' command-line option when you start up XBoard for such variants to be playable.
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'.
Load Game
Plays a game from a record file. The `Ctrl-O' key is a keyboard equivalent. 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 `N' after the file name, separated by a space.
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 `P@f7' is accepted for piece-drops in
bughouse games; this is a nonstandard extension to PGN. If the file includes a PGN position (FEN
tag), or an old-style XBoard position diagram bracketed by `[--' and `--]' before the first move,
the game starts from that position. Text enclosed in parentheses, square brackets, or curly braces
is assumed to be commentary and is displayed in a pop-up window. Any other text in the file is
ignored. PGN variations (enclosed in parentheses) also are treated as comments; however, if you
rights-click them in the comment window, XBoard will shelve the current line, and load the the
selected variation, so you can step through it. You can later revert to the previous line with
the `Revert' command. This way you can walk quite complex varation trees with XBoard. The
nonstandard PGN tag [Variant "varname"] functions similarly to the -variant command-line option
(see below), allowing games in certain chess variants to be loaded. Note that it must appear
before any FEN tag for XBoard to recognize variant FENs appropriately. There is also a heuristic
to recognize chess variants from the Event tag, by looking for the strings that the Internet Chess
Servers put there when saving variant ("wild") games.
Load Position
Sets up a position from a position file. A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. The
shifted `Ctrl-O' key is a keyboard equivalent. 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 be in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation), or in the format that the Save Position
command writes when oldSaveStyle is turned on.
Load Next Position
Loads the next position from the last position file you loaded. The shifted `PgDn' key is a
keyboard equivalent.
Load Previous Position
Loads the previous position from the last position file you loaded. The shifted `PgUp' key is a
keyboard equivalent. Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
Save Game
Appends a record of the current game to a file. The `Ctrl-S' key is a keyboard equivalent. 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
game notation) format, unless the oldSaveStyle option is true, in which case they are saved in an
older format that is specific to XBoard. Both formats are human-readable, and both can be read
back by the `Load Game' command. Notation of the form `P@f7' is accepted for piece-drops in
bughouse games; this is a nonstandard extension to PGN.
Save Position
Appends a diagram of the current position to a file. The shifted `Ctrl+S' key is a keyboard
equivalent. A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. Positions are saved in FEN (Forsythe-
Edwards notation) format unless the `oldSaveStyle' option is true, in which case they are saved in
an older, human-readable format that is specific to XBoard. Both formats can be read back by the
`Load Position' command.
Save Selected Games
Will cause all games selected for display in the current Game List to be appended to a file of the
user's choice.
Save Games as Book
Creates an opening book from the currently loaded game file, incorporating only the games
currently selected in the Game List. The book will be saved on the file specified in the `Common
Engine' options dialog. The value of `Book Depth' specified in that same dialog will be used to
determine how many moves of each game will be added to the internal book buffer. This command can
take a long time to process, and the size of the buffer is currently limited. At the end the
buffer will be saved as a Polyglot book, but the buffer will not be cleared, so that you can
continue adding games from other game files.
Mail Move
Reload CMail Message
See CMail.
Exit Exits from XBoard. The `Ctrl-Q' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Edit Menu
Copy Game
Copies a record of the current game to an internal clipboard in PGN format and sets the X
selection to the game text. The `Ctrl-C' key is a keyboard equivalent. The game can be pasted to
another application (such as a text editor or another copy of XBoard) using that application's
paste command. In many X applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be
used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Game command.
Copy Position
Copies the current position to an internal clipboard in FEN format and sets the X selection to the
position text. The shifted `Ctrl-C' key is a keyboard equivalent. The position can be pasted to
another application (such as a text editor or another copy of XBoard) using that application's
paste command. In many X applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be
used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Position command.
Copy Game List
Copies the current game list to the clipboard, and sets the X selection to this text. A format of
comma-separated double-quoted strings is used, including all tags, so it can be easily imported
into spread-sheet programs.
Paste Game
Interprets the current X selection as a game record and loads it, as with Load Game. The `Ctrl-V'
key is a keyboard equivalent.
Paste Position
Interprets the current X selection as a FEN position and loads it, as with Load Position. The
shifted `Ctrl-V' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Edit Game
Allows you to make moves for both Black and White, and to change moves after backing up with the
`Backward' command. The clocks do not run. The `Ctrl-E' key is a keyboard equivalent.
In chess engine mode, the chess engine continues to check moves for legality but does not
participate in the game. You can bring the chess engine into the game by selecting `Machine
White', `Machine Black', or `Two Machines'.
In ICS mode, the moves are not sent to the ICS: `Edit Game' takes XBoard out of ICS Client mode
and lets you edit games locally. If you want to edit games on ICS in a way that other ICS users
can see, use the ICS `examine' command or start an ICS match against yourself.
Edit Position
Lets you set up an arbitrary board position. The shifted `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. 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, but
you can change that to any other piece type by dragging the mouse down before you release the
button. You will then see the piece on the originally clicked square cycle through the available
pieces (including those of opposite color), and can release the button when you see the piece you
want. 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). The old behavior with a piece
menu can still be configured with the aid of the `pieceMenu' option. Selecting `Edit Position'
causes XBoard to discard all remembered moves in the current game.
In ICS mode, changes made to the position by `Edit Position' are not sent to the ICS: `Edit
Position' takes XBoard out of `ICS Client' mode and lets you edit positions locally. If you want
to edit positions on ICS in a way that other ICS users can see, use the ICS `examine' command, or
start an ICS match against yourself. (See also the ICS Client topic above.)
Edit Tags
Lets you edit the PGN (portable game notation) tags for the current game. After editing, the tags
must still conform to the PGN tag syntax:
<tag-section> ::= <tag-pair> <tag-section>
<empty>
<tag-pair> ::= [ <tag-name> <tag-value> ]
<tag-name> ::= <identifier>
<tag-value> ::= <string>
See the PGN Standard for full details. Here is an example:
[Event "Portoroz Interzonal"]
[Site "Portoroz, Yugoslavia"]
[Date "1958.08.16"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Robert J. Fischer"]
[Black "Bent Larsen"]
[Result "1-0"]
Any characters that do not match this syntax are silently ignored. Note that the PGN standard
requires all games to have at least the seven tags shown above. Any that you omit will be filled
in by XBoard with `?' (unknown value), or `-' (inapplicable value).
Edit Comment
Adds or modifies a comment on the current position. Comments are saved by `Save Game' and are
displayed by `Load Game', PGN variations will also be printed in this window, and can be promoted
to main line by right-clicking them. `Forward', and `Backward'.
Edit Book
Pops up a window listing the moves available in the GUI book (specified in the `Common Engine
Settings' dialog) 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. Note that the listed percentages are neither used, nor
updated when you change the weights; they are just there as an optical aid.
Revert
Annotate
If you are examining an ICS game and Pause mode is off, Revert issues the ICS command `revert'.
In local mode, when you were editing or analyzing a game, and the `-variations' command-line
option is switched on, you can start a new variation by holding the Shift key down while entering
a move not at the end of the game. Variations can also become the currently displayed line by
clicking a PGN variation displayed in the Comment window. This can be applied recursively, so
that you can analyze variations on variations; each time you create a new variation by entering an
alternative move with Shift pressed, or select a new one from the Comment window, the current
variation will be shelved. `Revert' allows you to return to the most recently shelved variation.
The difference between `Revert' and `Annotate' is that with the latter, the variation you are now
abandoning will be added as a comment (in PGN variation syntax, i.e. between parentheses) to the
original move where you deviated, for later recalling. The `Home' key is a keyboard equivalent to
`Revert'.
Truncate Game
Discards all remembered moves of the game beyond the current position. Puts XBoard into `Edit
Game' mode if it was not there already. The `End' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Backward
Steps backward through a series of remembered moves. The `[<]' button and the `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 it steps forward again.
In most modes, `Backward' only lets you look back at old positions; it does not retract moves.
This is the case if you are playing against a chess engine, playing or observing a game on an ICS,
or loading a game. If you select `Backward' in any of these situations, you will not be allowed
to make a different move. Use `Retract Move' or `Edit Game' if you want to change past moves.
If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of `Backward' depends on whether XBoard is in Pause
mode. If Pause mode is off, `Backward' issues the ICS backward command, which backs up everyone's
view of the game and allows you to make a different move. If Pause mode is on, `Backward' only
backs up your local view.
Forward
Steps forward through a series of remembered moves (undoing the effect of `Backward') or forward
through a game file. The `[>]' button and the `Alt+RightArrow' 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 off, `Forward' issues the ICS forward command, which moves everyone's view
of the game forward along the current line. If Pause mode is on, `Forward' only moves your local
view forward, and it will not go past the position that the game was in when you paused.
Back to Start
Jumps backward to the first remembered position in the game. The `[<<]' button and the `Alt+Home'
key are equivalents.
In most modes, Back to Start only lets you look back at old positions; it does not retract moves.
This is the case if you are playing against a local chess engine, playing or observing a game on a
chess server, or loading a game. If you select `Back to Start' in any of these situations, you
will not be allowed to make different moves. Use `Retract Move' or `Edit Game' if you want to
change past moves; or use Reset to start a new game.
If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Back to Start} depends on whether XBoard
is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is off, `Back to Start' issues the ICS `backward 999999' command,
which backs up everyone's view of the game to the start and allows you to make different moves. If
Pause mode is on, @samp{Back to Start} only backs up your local view.
Forward to End
Jumps forward to the last remembered position in the game. The `[>>]' button and the `Alt+End' key
are equivalents.
If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Forward to End} depends on whether XBoard
is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is off, `Forward to End' issues the ICS `forward 999999' command,
which moves everyone's view of the game forward to the end of the current line. If Pause mode is
on, `Forward to End' only moves your local view forward, and it will not go past the position that
the game was in when you paused.
View Menu
Flip View
Inverts your view of the chess board for the duration of the current game. Starting a new game
returns the board to normal. The `F2' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Show Engine Output
Shows or hides a window in which the thinking output of any loaded engines is displayed. The
shifted `Alt+O' key is a keyboard equivalent. XBoard will display lines of thinking output of the
same depth ordered by score, (highest score on top), rather than in the order the engine produced
them. Usually this amounts to the same, as a normal engine search will only find new PV (and emit
it as thinking output) when it searches a move with a higher score than the previous variation.
But when the engine is in multi-variation mode this needs not always be true, and it is more
convenient for someone analyzing games to see the moves sorted by score. The order in which the
engine found them is only of interest to the engine author, and can still be deduced from the time
or node count printed with the line. Right-clicking a line in this window, and then moving the
mouse vertically with the right button kept down, will make XBoard play through the PV listed
there. 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. 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.
Show Move History
Shows or hides a list of moves of the current game. The shifted `Alt+H' key is a keyboard
equivalent. This list allows you to move the display to any earlier position in the game by
clicking on the corresponding move.
Show Evaluation Graph
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 `Alt+E' key is a keyboard equivalent. Clicking on the graph will
bring the corresponding position in the board display.
Show Game List
Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last `Load Game' command. The shifted `Alt+G'
key is a keyboard equivalent.
Tags Pops up a window which shows the PGN (portable game notation) tags for the current game. For now
this is a duplicate of the `Edit Tags' item in the `Edit' menu.
Comments
Pops up a window which shows any comments to or variations on the current move. For now this is a
duplicate of the `Edit Comment' item in the `Edit' menu.
ICS Input Box
If this option is set in ICS mode, XBoard creates an extra window that you can use for typing in
ICS commands. 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.
Open Chat Window
This menu item opens a window in which you can conduct upto 5 chats with other ICS users (or
channels). 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>). 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 `Chat partner' field.
Board Summons a dialog where you can customize the look of the chess board. Here you can specify the
directory from which piece images should be taken, when you don't want to use the built-in piece
images (see `pieceImageDirectory' option), external images to be used for the board squares
(`liteBackTextureFile' and `darkBackTextureFile' options), and square and piece colors for the
default pieces.
Game List Tags
a duplicate of the Game List dialog in the Options menu.
Mode Menu
Machine White
Tells the chess engine to play White. The `Ctrl-W' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Machine Black
Tells the chess engine to play Black. The `Ctrl-B' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Two Machines
Plays a game between two chess engines. The `Ctrl-T' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Analysis Mode
XBoard tells the chess engine to start analyzing the current game/position and shows you the
analysis as you move pieces around. The `Ctrl-A' key is a keyboard equivalent. Note: Some chess
engines do not support Analysis mode.
To set up a position to analyze, you do the following:
1. Select Edit Position from the Mode Menu
2. Set up the position. Use the middle and right buttons to bring up the white and black piece
menus.
3. When you are finished, click on either the Black or White clock to tell XBoard which side moves
first.
4. Select Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu to start the analysis.
You can now play legal moves to create follow-up positions for the engine to analyze, while the
moves will be remembered as a stored game, and then step backward through this game to take the
moves back. Note that you can also click on the clocks to set the opposite side to move (adding a
so-called `null move' to the game).
You can also tell the engine to exclude some moves from analysis. (Engines that do not support
the exclude-moves feature will ignore this, however.) The general way to do this is to play the
move you want to exclude starting with a double click on the piece. When you use drag-drop
moving, the piece you grab with a double click will also remain on its square, to show you that
you are not really making the move, but just forbid it from the current position. Playing a thus
excluded move a second time will include it again. Excluded moves will be listed as text in a
header line in the Engine Output window, and you can also re-include them by right-clicking them
there. This header line will also contain the words 'best' and 'tail'; right-clicking those will
exclude the currently best move, or all moves not explicitly listed in the header line. Once you
leave the current position all memory of excluded moves will be lost when you return there.
Selecting this menu item while already in `Analysis Mode' will toggle the participation of the
second engine in the analysis. 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 the positions as they occur in
the observed game.
Analyze Game
This option subjects the currently loaded game to automatic analysis by the loaded engine. The
`Ctrl-G' key is a keyboard equivalent. XBoard will start auto-playing the game from the currently
displayed position, while the engine is analyzing the current position. The game will be
annotated with the results of these analyses. In particlar, the score and depth will be added as
a comment, and the PV will be added as a variation.
Normally the analysis would stop after reaching the end of the game. But when a game is loaded
from a multi-game file while `Analyze Game' was already switched on, the analysis will continue
with the next game in the file until the end of the file is reached (or you switch to another
mode).
The time the engine spends on analyzing each move can be controlled through the command-line
option `-timeDelay', which can also be set from the `Load Game Options' menu dialog. Note: Some
chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
Edit Game
Duplicate of the item in the Edit menu. Note that `Edit Game' is the idle mode of XBoard, and can
be used to get you out of other modes. E.g. to stop analyzing, stop a game between two engines or
stop editing a position.
Edit Position
Duplicate of the item in the Edit menu.
Training
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 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 `Load Game' from the File menu). While XBoard is in `Training'
mode, the navigation buttons are disabled.
ICS Client
This is the normal mode when XBoard is connected to a chess server. If you have moved into Edit
Game or Edit Position mode, you can select this option to get out.
To use xboard in ICS mode, run it in the foreground with the -ics option, and use the terminal you
started it from to type commands and receive text responses from the chess server. See Chess
Servers below for more information.
XBoard activates some special position/game editing features when you use the `examine' or
`bsetup' commands on ICS and you have `ICS Client' selected on the Mode menu. First, you can
issue the ICS position-editing commands with the mouse. Move pieces by dragging with mouse button
1. To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the square. This brings up a
menu of white pieces (button 2) or black pieces (button 3). Additional menu choices let you empty
the square or clear the board. Click on the White or Black clock to set the side to play. You
cannot set the side to play or drag pieces to arbitrary squares while examining on ICC, but you
can do so in `bsetup' mode on FICS. In addition, the menu commands `Forward', `Backward',
`Pause', and `Stop Examining' have special functions in this mode; see below.
Machine Match
Starts a match between two chess programs, with a number of games and other parameters set through
the `Match 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.
Pause Pauses updates to the board, and if you are playing against a chess engine, also pauses your
clock. To continue, select `Pause' again, and the display will automatically update to the latest
position. The `P' button and keyboard `Pause' key are equivalents.
If you select Pause when you are playing against a chess engine and it is not your move, the chess
engine's clock will continue to run and it will eventually make a move, at which point both clocks
will stop. Since board updates are paused, however, you will not see the move until you exit from
Pause mode (or select Forward). This behavior is meant to simulate adjournment with a sealed
move.
If you select Pause while you are observing or examining a game on a chess server, you can step
backward and forward in the current history of the examined game without affecting the other
observers and examiners, and without having your display jump forward to the latest position each
time a move is made. Select Pause again to reconnect yourself to the current state of the game on
ICS.
If you select `Pause' while you are loading a game, the game stops loading. You can load more
moves manually by selecting `Forward', or resume automatic loading by selecting `Pause' again.
Action Menu
Accept Accepts a pending match offer. The `F3' key is a keyboard equivalent. If there is more than one
offer pending, you will have to type in a more specific command instead of using this menu choice.
Decline
Declines a pending offer (match, draw, adjourn, etc.). The `F4' key is a keyboard equivalent. If
there is more than one offer pending, you will have to type in a more specific command instead of
using this menu choice.
Call Flag
Calls your opponent's flag, claiming a win on time, or claiming a draw if you are both out of
time. The `F5' key is a keyboard equivalent. You can also call your opponent's flag by clicking
on his clock.
Draw Offers a draw to your opponent, accepts a pending draw offer from your opponent, or claims a draw
by repetition or the 50-move rule, as appropriate. The `F6' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Adjourn
Asks your opponent to agree to adjourning the current game, or agrees to a pending adjournment
offer from your opponent. The `F7' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Abort Asks your opponent to agree to aborting the current game, or agrees to a pending abort offer from
your opponent. The `F8' key is a keyboard equivalent. An aborted game ends immediately without
affecting either player's rating.
Resign Resigns the game to your opponent. The `F9' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Stop Observing
Ends your participation in observing a game, by issuing the ICS observe command with no arguments.
ICS mode only. The `F10' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Stop Examining
Ends your participation in examining a game, by issuing the ICS unexamine command. ICS mode only.
The `F11' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Upload to Examine
Create an examined game of the proper variant on the ICS, and send the game there that is currenty
loaded in XBoard (e.g. through pasting or loading from file). You must be connected to an ICS for
this to work.
Adjudicate to White
Adjudicate to Black
Adjudicate Draw
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".
Engine Menu
Load Engine
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, 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 the engine docs say the
engine needs any), and the directory where the engine should look for its files (if this cannot be
deduced automatically from the specification of the engine executable). You will also have to
specify (with the aid of checkboxes) if the engine is UCI. 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. 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. The info you supply with the checkboxes whether the engine should use GUI book, or (for
variant engines) automatically switch to the current variant when loaded, will also be included in
the list. For obsolete XBoard engines, which would normally take a long delay to load because
XBoard is waiting for a response they will not give, you can tick ‘WB protocol v1’ to speed up the
loading process.
Engine #N Settings
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, on/off switch,
instantaneous signal) the appropriate control will appear, with a description next to it. XBoard
has no idea what these values mean; it just passes them on to the engine. How this dialog looks
is completely determined by the engine, and XBoard just passes it on to the user. Many engines do
not have any parameters that can be set by the user, 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.
Hint Displays a move hint from the chess engine.
Book Displays a list of possible moves from the chess engine's opening book. The exact format depends
on what chess engine you are using. With GNU Chess 4, the first column gives moves, the second
column gives one possible response for each move, and the third column shows the number of lines
in the book that include the move from the first column. If you select this option and nothing
happens, the chess engine is out of its book or does not support this feature.
Move Now
Forces the chess engine to move immediately. Chess engine mode only. The `Ctrl-M' key is a
keyboard equivalent.
Retract Move
Retracts your last move. In chess engine mode, you can do this only after the chess engine has
replied to your move; if the chess engine is still thinking, use `Move Now' first. In ICS mode,
`Retract Move' issues the command `takeback 1' or `takeback 2' depending on whether it is your
opponent's move or yours. The `Ctrl-X' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Recently Used Engines
At the bottom of the engine menu there can be a list of names of engines that you recently loaded
through the Load Engine menu dialog in previous sessions. Clicking on such a name will load that
engine as first engine, so you won't have to search for it in your list of installed engines, if
that is very long. The maximum number of displayed engine names is set by the
`recentEngines'command-line option.
Options Menu
The following items to set option values appear in the dialog summoned by the general Options menu item.
Absolute Analysis Scores
Controls if scores on the Engine Output window during analysis will be printed from the white or
the side-to-move point-of-view.
Almost Always Queen
If this option is on, 7th-rank pawns automatically change into Queens when you pick them up, and
when you drag them to the promotion square and release them there, they will promote to that. But
when you drag such a pawn backwards first, its identity will start to cycle through the other
available pieces. This will continue until you start to move it forward; at which point the
identity of the piece will be fixed, so that you can safely put it down on the promotion square.
If this option is off, what happens depends on the option `alwaysPromoteToQueen', which would
force promotion to Queen when true. Otherwise XBoard would bring up a dialog box whenever you
move a pawn to the last rank, asking what piece you want to promote to.
Animate Dragging
If Animate Dragging is on, while you are dragging a piece with the mouse, an image of the piece
follows the mouse cursor. If Animate Dragging is off, there is no visual feedback while you are
dragging a piece, but if Animate Moving is on, the move will be animated when it is complete.
Animate Moving
If Animate Moving is on, all piece moves are animated. An image of the piece is shown moving from
the old square to the new square when the move is completed (unless the move was already animated
by Animate Dragging). If Animate Moving is off, a moved piece instantly disappears from its old
square and reappears on its new square when the move is complete. The shifted `Ctrl-A' key is a
keyboard equivalent.
Auto Flag
If this option is on and one player runs out of time before the other, XBoard will automatically
call his flag, claiming a win on time. The shifted `Ctrl-F' key is a keyboard equivalent. In ICS
mode, Auto Flag will only call your opponent's flag, not yours, and the ICS may award you a draw
instead of a win if you have insufficient mating material. In local chess engine mode, XBoard may
call either player's flag and will not take material into account (?).
Auto Flip View
If the Auto Flip View option is on when you start a game, the board will be automatically oriented
so that your pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the top.
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 the bottom of the window towards the top. Otherwise, the starting orientation
is determined by the `flipView' command line option; if it is false (the default), White's pawns
move from bottom to top at the start of each game; if it is true, Black's pawns move from bottom
to top. See User interface options.
Blindfold
If this option is on, XBoard displays the board as usual but does not display pieces or move
highlights. You can still move in the usual way (with the mouse or by typing moves in ICS mode),
even though the pieces are invisible.
Drop Menu
Controls if right-clicking the board in crazyhouse / bughouse will pop up a menu to drop a piece
on the clicked square (old, deprecated behavior) or allow you to step through an engine PV (new,
recommended behavior).
Enable Variation Trees
If this option is on, playing a move in Edit Game or Analyze mode while keeping the Shift key
pressed will start a new variation. You can then recall the previous line through the `Revert'
menu item. When off, playing a move will truncate the game and append the move irreversibly.
Hide Thinking
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 machines, the score is
prefixed by `W' or `B' to indicate whether it is showing White's thinking or Black's, and only the
thinking of the engine that is on move is shown. The shifted `Ctrl-H' key is a keyboard
equivalent.
Highlight Last Move
If Highlight Last Move is on, after a move is made, the starting and ending squares remain
highlighted. In addition, after you use Backward or Back to Start, the starting and ending squares
of the last move to be unmade are highlighted.
Highlight with Arrow
Causes the highlighting described in Highlight Last Move to be done by drawing an arrow between
the highlighted squares, so that it is visible even when the width of the grid lines is set to
zero.
Move Sound
Enables the sounding of an audible signal when the computer performs a move. For the selection of
the sound, see `Sound Options'. If you turn on this option when using XBoard with the Internet
Chess Server, you will probably want to give the `set bell 0' command to the ICS, since otherwise
the ICS will ring the terminal bell after every move (not just yours). (The `.icsrc' file is a
good place for this; see ICS options.)
One-Click Moving
If this option is on, XBoard does not wait for you to click both the from- and the to-square, or
drag the piece, but performs a move as soon as it is uniqely specified. This applies to clicking
an own piece that only has a single legal move, clicking an empty square or opponent piece where
only one of your pieces can move (or capture) to. Furthermore, a double-click on a piece that can
only make a single capture will cause that capture to be made. Promoting a Pawn by clicking its
to-square will suppress the promotion popup or other methods for selecting an under-promotion, and
make it promote to Queen.
Periodic Updates
If this option is off (or if you are using a chess engine that does not support periodic updates),
the analysis window will only be updated when the analysis changes. If this option is on, the
Analysis Window will be updated every two seconds.
Play Move(s) of Clicked PV
If this option is on, right-clicking a PV in the Engine Output window during Analyze mode will
cause the first move of that PV to be played. You could also play more than one (or no) PV move
by moving the mouse to engage in the PV walk such a right-click will start, to seek out another
position along the PV where you want to continue the analysis, before releasing the mouse button.
Ponder Next Move
If this option is off, the chess engine will think only when it is on move. If the option is on,
the engine will also think while waiting for you to make your move. The shifted `Ctrl-P' key is a
keyboard equivalent.
Popup Exit Message
If this option is on, when XBoard wants to display a message just before exiting, it brings up a
modal dialog box and waits for you to click OK before exiting. If the option is off, XBoard
prints the message to standard error (the terminal) and exits immediately.
Popup Move Errors
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 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.
Scores in Move List
If this option is on, XBoard will display the depth and score of engine moves in the Move List, in
the format of a PGN comment.
Show Coords
If this option is on, XBoard displays algebraic coordinates along the board's left and bottom
edges.
Show Target Squares
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). Legality testing must be on for XBoard to know how the piece
moves.
Test Legality
If this option is on, XBoard tests whether the moves you try to make with the mouse are legal and
refuses to let you make an illegal move. The shifted `Ctrl-L' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Moves loaded from a file with `Load Game' are also checked. If the option is off, all moves are
accepted, but if a local chess engine or the ICS is active, they will still reject illegal moves.
Turning off this option is useful if you are playing a chess variant with 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.)
Flash Moves
Flash Rate
If this option is non-zero, whenever a move is completed, the moved piece flashes the specified
number of times. The flash-rate setting determines how rapidly this flashing occurs.
Animation Speed
Determines the duration (in msec) of an animation step, when `Animate Moving' is swiched on.
Zoom factor in Evaluation Graph
Sets the valueof the `evalZoom' option, indicating the factor by which the score interval (-1,1)
should be blown up on the vertical axis of the Evaluation Graph.
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. The shifted `Alt+T' key is a keyboard equivalent.
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
`Alt+U' key is a keyboard equivalent.
Pops up a sub-menu where you can enable or disable various adjudications that XBoard can perform in
engine-engine games. The shifted `Alt+J' key is a keyboard equivalent. 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, `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.
The following options occur in a dialog summoned by the ICS Options menu item.
Auto Kibitz
Setting this option when playing with or aginst a chess program on an ICS will cause the last line
of thinking output of the engine before its move to be sent to the ICS in a kibitz command. In
addition, any kibitz message received through the ICS from an opponent chess program will be
diverted to the engine-output window, (and suppressed in the console), where you can play through
its PV by right-clicking it.
Auto Comment
If this option is on, any remarks made on ICS while you are observing or playing a game are
recorded as a comment on the current move. This includes remarks made with the ICS commands
`say', `tell', `whisper', and `kibitz'. Limitation: remarks that you type yourself are not
recognized; XBoard scans only the output from ICS, not the input you type to it.
Auto Observe
If this option is on and you add a player to your `gnotify' list on ICS, XBoard will automatically
observe all of that player's games, unless you are doing something else (such as observing or
playing a game of your own) when one starts. The games are displayed from the point of view of
the player on your gnotify list; that is, his pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the
top. Exceptions: If both players in a game are on your gnotify list, if your ICS `highlight'
variable is set to 0, or if the ICS you are using does not properly support observing from Black's
point of view, you will see the game from White's point of view.
Auto Raise Board
If this option is on, whenever a new game begins, the chessboard window is deiconized (if
necessary) and raised to the top of the stack of windows.
Auto Save
If this option is true, at the end of every game XBoard prompts you for a file name and appends a
record of the game to the file you specify. Disabled if the `saveGameFile' command-line option is
set, as in that case all games are saved to the specified file. See Load and Save options.
Background Observe
Setting this option will make XBoard suppress display of any boards from observed games while you
are playing. In stead the last such board will be remembered, and shown to you when you right-
click the board. This allows you to peek at your bughouse partner's game when you want, without
disturbing your own game too much.
Dual Board
Setting this option in combination with `Background Observe' will display boards of observed games
while you are playing on a second board next to that of your own game.
Get Move List
If this option is on, whenever XBoard receives the first board of a new ICS game (or a different
game from the one it is currently displaying), it retrieves the list of past moves from the ICS.
You can then review the moves with the `Forward' and `Backward' commands or save them with `Save
Game'. You might want to turn off this option if you are observing several blitz games at once,
to keep from wasting time and network bandwidth fetching the move lists over and over. When you
turn this option on from the menu, XBoard immediately fetches the move list of the current game
(if any).
Quiet Play
If this option is on, XBoard will automatically issue an ICS `set shout 0' command whenever you
start a game and a `set shout 1' command whenever you finish one. Thus, you will not be
distracted by shouts from other ICS users while playing.
Seek Graph
Setting this option will cause XBoard to display an graph of currently active seek ads when you
left-click the board while idle and logged on to an ICS.
Auto-Refresh Seek Graph
In combination with the `Seek Graph' option this 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.
Premove
Premove White
Premove Black
First White Move
First Black Move
If this option is on while playing a game on an ICS, you can register your next planned move
before it is your turn. Move the piece with the mouse in the ordinary way, and the starting and
ending squares will be highlighted with a special color (red by default). When it is your turn,
if your registered move is legal, XBoard will send it to ICS immediately; if not, it will be
ignored and you can make a different move. If you change your mind about your premove, either
make a different move, or double-click on any piece to cancel the move entirely.
You can also enter premoves for the first white and black moves of the game.
ICS Alarm
ICS Alarm Time
When this option is on, an alarm sound is played when your clock counts down to the icsAlarmTime
in an ICS game. (By default, the time is 5 seconds, but you can pecify other values with the
Alarm Time spin control.) For games with time controls that include an increment, the alarm will
sound each time the clock counts down to the icsAlarmTime. By default, the alarm sound is the
terminal bell, but on some systems you can change it to a sound file using the soundIcsAlarm
option; see below.
Colorize Messages
Ticking this options causes various types of ICS messages do be displayed with different
foreground or background colors in the console. The colors can be individually selected for each
type, through the accompanying text edits.
Summons a dialog where you can set options important for playing automatic matches between two chess
programs (e.g. by using the `Machine Match' menu item in the `Mode' menu).
Tournament file
To run a tournament, XBoard needs a file to record its progress, so it can resume the tourney when
it is interrupted. When you want to conduct anything more complex than a simple two-player match
with the currently loaded engines, (i.e. when you select a list of participants), 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.
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,
according to the tournament parameters specified in the rest of the dialog, before it starts the
tournament on ‘OK’. Provided that you specify participants; without participants no tournament
file will be made, but other entered values (e.g. for the file with opening positions) will take
effect. Default: configured by the `defaultTourneyName' option.
Sync after round
Sync after cycle
The sync options, when on, will cause WinBoard to refrain from starting games of the next round or
cycle before all games of the previous round or cycle are finished. This guarantees correct
ordering in the games file, even when multiple XBoard instances are concurrently playing games for
the same tourney. Default: sync after cycle, but not after round.
Select Engine
Tourney participants
With the Select Engine drop-down list you can pick an engine from your list of installed engines
in the settings file, to be added to the tournament. The engines selected so far will be listed
in the ‘Tourney participants’ memo. The latter is a normal text edit, so you can use normal text-
editing functions to delete engines you selected by accident, or change their order. Do not type
names yourself there, because names that do not exactly match one of the names from the drop-down
list will lead to undefined behavior.
Tourney type
Here you can specify the type of tournament you want. XBoard’s intrinsic tournament manager
support round-robins (type = 0), where each participant plays every other participant, and
(multi-)gauntlets, where one (or a few) so-called ‘gauntlet engines’ play an independent set of
opponents. In the latter case, you specify the number of gauntlet engines. E.g. if you specified
10 engines, and tourney type = 2, the first 2 engines each play the remaining 8. A value of -1
instructs XBoard to play Swiss; for this to work an external pairing engine must be specified
through the `pairingEngine' option. Each Swiss round will be considered a tourney cycle in that
case. Default:0
Number of tourney cycles
Default number of Games
You can specify tourneys where every two opponents play each other multiple times. Such multiple
games can be played in a row, as specified by the ‘number of games per pairing’, or by repeating
the entire tournament schedule a number of times (specified by the ‘number of tourney cycles’).
The total number of times two engine meet will be the product of these two. Default is 1 cycle;
the number of games per pairing is the same as the default number of match games, stored in your
settings file through the `defaultMatchGames' option.
Save Tourney Games
File where the tournament games are saved (duplicate of the item in the `Save Game Options').
Game File with Opening Lines
File with Start Positions
Game Number
Position Number
Rewind Index after
These items optionally specify the file with move sequences or board positions the tourney games
should start from. The corresponding numbers specify the number of the game or position in the
file. Here a value -1 means automatic stepping through all games on the file, -2 automatic
stepping every two games. The Rewind-Index parameter causes a stepping index to reset to one
after reaching a specified value. A setting of -2 for the game number will also be effective in a
tournament without specifying a game file, but playing from the GUI book instead. In this case
the first (odd) games will randomly select from the book, but the second (even) games will select
the same moves from the book as the previous game. (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.
Disable own engine bools be default
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 not use the GUI book (i.e. `-firstHasOwnBookUCI true'), it will be
made to use the GUI book.
Replace Engine
Upgrade Engine
With these two buttons you can alter the participants of an already running tournament. After
opening the Match Options dialog on an XBoard that is playing for the tourney, you will see all
the tourney parameters in the dialog fields. You can then replace the name of one engine by that
of another by editing the `participants' field. (But preserve the order of the others!) Pressing
the button after that will cause the substitution. With the `Upgrade Engine' button the
substitution will only affect future games. With `Replace Engine' all games the substituted
engine has already played will be invalidated, and they will be replayed with the substitute
engine. In this latter case the engine must not be playing when you do this, but otherwise there
is no need to pause the tournament play for making a substitution.
Clone Tourney
Pressing this button after you have specified an existing tournament file will copy the contents
of the latter to the dialog, and then puts the originally proposed name for the tourney file back.
You can then run a tourney with the same parameters (possibly after changing the proposed name of
the tourney file for the new tourney) by pressing 'OK'.
Summons a dialog where you can set the `autoDisplayComment' and `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). 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:
Elo of strongest player
Elo of weakest player
year These numeric fields set thresholds (lower limits) on the Elo rating of the mentioned player, or
the date the game was played. Defaults: 0
Search mode
This setting determines which positions in a game will be considered a match to the position
currently displayed in the board window when you press the `find position' button in the Game
List. You can search for an exact match, a position that has all shown material in the same
place, but might contain additional material, a position that has all Pawns in the same place, but
can have the shown material anywhere, a position that can have all shown material anywhere, or
a position that has material between certain limits anywhere. For the latter you have to place
the material that must be present in the four lowest ranks of the board, and optional additional
material in the four highest ranks of the board. You can request the optional material to be
balanced. The `narrow' button is similar in function to the `find position' button, but only
searches in the already selected games, rather than the complete game file, and can thus be used
to refine a search based on multiple criteria.
number of consecutive positions
When you are searching by material, rather than for an exact match, this parameter indicates
forhowmany consecutive game positions the same amount of material must be on the board before it
is considered a match.
Also match reversed colors
Also match left-right flipped position
When looking for matching positions rather than by material, these settings determine whether
mirror images (in case of a vertical flip in combination with color reversal) will be also
considered a match. The left-right flipping is only useful after all castling rights have expired
(or in Xiangqi).
Summons a dialog where you can specify the files on which XBoard should automatically save any played or
entered games, (the `saveGameFile' option), or the final position of such games (the `savePositionfile'
option). You can also select 'auto-save' without a file name, in which case XBoard will prompt the user
for a file name after each game. In ICS mode you can limit the auto-saving to your own games (i.e.
suppress saving of observed games). You can also set the default value for the PGN Event tag that will
be used for each new game you start. Various options for the format of the game can be specified as
well, such as whether scores and depths of engine games should be saved as comments, and if a tag with
info about the score with which the engine came out of book should be included. For Chess, always set
the format to PGN, rather than "old save stye"!
Pops up a dialog where you can select the PGN tags that should appear on the lines in the game list, and
their order.
Summons a dialog where you can specify the sounds that should accompany various events that can occur
XBoard. Most events are only relevant to ICS play, but the move sound is an important exception. For
each event listed in the dialog, you can select a standard sound from a menu. You can also select a
user-supplied sound file, by typing its name into the designated text-edit field first, and then
selecting "Above WAV File" from the menu for the event. A dummy event has been provided for trying out
the sounds with the "play" button next to it. The directory with standard sounds, and the external
program for playing the sounds can be specified too, but normally you would not touch these once XBoard
is properly installed. When a move sound other than 'None' is selected, XBoard alerts you by playing
that sound after each of your opponent's moves (or after every move if you are observing a game on the
Internet Chess Server). The sound is not played after moves you make or moves read from a saved game
file.
Selecting this menu item causes the current XBoard settings to be written to the settings file, so they
will also apply in future sessions. Note that some settings are 'volatile', and are not saved, because
XBoard considers it too unlikely that you want those to apply next time. In particular this applies to
the Chess program names, and all options giving information on those Chess programs (such as their
directory, if they have their own opening book, if they are UCI or native XBoard), or the variant you are
playing. Such options would still be understood when they appear in the settings file in case they were
put there with the aid of a text editor, but they would disappear from the file as soon as you save the
settings.
Note that XBoard no longer pays attention to options values specified in the .Xresources file.
(Specifying key bindings there will still work, though.) To alter the default of volatile options, you
can use the following method: Rename your ~/.xboardrc settings file (to ~/.yboardrc, say), and create a
new file ~/.xboardrc, which only contains the options
-settingsFile ~/.yboardrc
-saveSettingsFile ~/.yboardrc
This will cause your settings to be saved on ~/.yboardrc in the future, so that ~/.xboardrc is no longer
overwritten. You can then safely specify volatile options in ~/.xboardrc, either before or after the
settingsFile options. Note that when you specify persistent options after the settingsFile options in
~/.xboardrc, you will essentially turn them into volatile options with the specified value as default,
because that value will overrule the value loaded from the settings file (being read later).
Setting this option has no immediate effect, but causes the settings to be saved when you quit XBoard.
What happens then is otherwise identical to what happens when you use select "Save Settings Now", see
there.
Help Menu
Info XBoard
Displays the XBoard documentation in info format. For this feature to work, you must have the GNU
info program installed on your system, and the file `xboard.info' must either be present in the
current working directory, or have been installed by the `make install' command when you built
XBoard.
Man XBoard
Displays the XBoard documentation in man page format. The `F1' key is a keyboard equivalent. For
this feature to work, the file `xboard.6' must have been installed by the `make install' command
when you built XBoard, and the directory it was placed in must be on the search path for your
system's `man' command.
About XBoard
Shows the current XBoard version number.
Other Shortcut Keys
Show Last Move
By hitting `Enter' the last move will be re-animated.
Load Next Game
Loads the next game from the last game record file you loaded. The `Alt+PgDn' key triggers this
action.
Load Previous Game
Loads the previous game from the last game record file you loaded. The `Alt+PgUp' key triggers
this action. Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
Reload Same Game
Reloads the last game you loaded. Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
Currently no keystroke is assigned to this ReloadGameProc.
Reload Same Position
Reloads the last position you loaded. Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
Currently no keystroke is assigned to this ReloadPositionProc.
In the Xaw build of XBoard you can add or remove shortcut keys using the X resources
`paneA.translations'. Here is an example of what could go into your `.Xdefaults' file:
XBoard*paneA.translations: \
Shift<Key>?: MenuItem(Help.About) \n\
Ctrl<Key>y: MenuItem(Action.Accept) \n\
Ctrl<Key>n: MenuItem(Action.Decline) \n\
Ctrl<Key>i: MenuItem(Nothing)
So the key should always be bound to the action 'MenuItem', with the (hierarchical) name of the menu item
as argument. There are a few actions available for which no menu item exists: Binding a key to `Nothing'
makes it do nothing, thus removing it as a shortcut key. Other such functions that can be bound to keys
are:
AboutGame, DebugProc (switches the -debug option on or off),
LoadNextGame, LoadPrevGame, ReloadGame, ReloadPosition.
OPTIONS
This section documents the command-line options to XBoard. You can set these options in two ways: by
typing them on the shell command line you use to start XBoard, or by editing the settings file (usually
~/.xboardrc) to alter the value of the setting that was saved there. Some of the options cannot be
changed while XBoard is running; others set the initial state of items that can be changed with the
Options menu.
Most of the options have both a long name and a short name. To turn a boolean option on or off from the
command line, either give its long name followed by the value true or false (`-longOptionName true'), or
give just the short name to turn the option on (`-opt'), or the short name preceded by `x' to turn the
option off (`-xopt'). For options that take strings or numbers as values, you can use the long or short
option names interchangeably.
Chess Engine Options
-tc or -timeControl minutes[:seconds]
Each player begins with his clock set to the `timeControl' period. Default: 5 minutes. The
additional options `movesPerSession' and `timeIncrement' are mutually exclusive.
-mps or -movesPerSession moves
When both players have made `movesPerSession' moves, a new `timeControl' period is added to both
clocks. Default: 40 moves.
-inc or -timeIncrement seconds
If this option is specified, `movesPerSession' is ignored. Instead, after each player's move,
`timeIncrement' seconds are added to his clock. Use `-inc 0' if you want to require the entire
game to be played in one `timeControl' period, with no increment. Default: -1, which specifies
`movesPerSession' mode.
-clock/-xclock or -clockMode true/false
Determines whether or not to display the chess clocks. If clockMode is false, the clocks are not
shown, but the side that is to play next is still highlighted. Also, unless `searchTime' is set,
the chess engine still keeps track of the clock time and uses it to determine how fast to make its
moves.
-st or -searchTime minutes[:seconds]
Tells the chess engine to spend at most the given amount of time searching for each of its moves.
Without this option, the chess engine chooses its search time based on the number of moves and
amount of time remaining until the next time control. Setting this option also sets clockMode to
false.
-depth or -searchDepth number
Tells the chess engine to look ahead at most the given number of moves when searching for a move
to make. Without this option, the chess 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.
-firstNPS number
-secondNPS number
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). `showThinking'
must be on for this option to work. Default: -1 (off). Not many engines might support this yet!
-firstTimeOdds factor
-secondTimeOdds factor
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.
-timeOddsMode mode
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.
-hideThinkingFromHuman true/false
Controls the Hide Thinking option. See Options Menu. Default: true. (Replaces the Show-Thinking
option of older xboard versions.)
-thinking/-xthinking or -showThinking true/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. See 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.)
-ponder/-xponder or -ponderNextMove true/false
Sets the Ponder Next Move menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-smpCores number
Specifies the maximum number of CPUs an SMP engine is allowed to use. Only works for engines that
support the XBoard/WinBoard-protocol cores feature.
-mg or -matchGames n
Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines, with alternating colors. If the
`loadGameFile' or `loadPositionFile' option is set, XBoard starts each game with the given opening
moves or the given position; otherwise, the games start with the standard initial chess position.
If the `saveGameFile' option is set, a move record for the match is appended to the specified
file. If the `savePositionFile' option is set, the final position reached in each game of the
match is appended to the specified file. When the match is over, XBoard displays the match score
and exits. Default: 0 (do not run a match).
-mm/-xmm or -matchMode true/false
Setting `matchMode' to true is equivalent to setting `matchGames' to 1.
-sameColorGames n
Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines, without alternating colors.
Otherwise the same applies as for the `-matchGames' option, over which it takes precedence if both
are specified. (See there.) Default: 0 (do not run a match).
-fcp or -firstChessProgram program
Name of first chess engine. Default: `Fairy-Max'.
-scp or -secondChessProgram program
Name of second chess engine, if needed. A second chess engine is started only in Two Machines
(match) mode. Default: `Fairy-Max'.
-fe or -firstEngine nickname
This is an alternative to the `fcp' option for specifying the first engine, for engines that were
already configured (using the `Load Engine' dialog) in XBoard's settings file. It will not only
retrieve the real name of the engine, but also all options configured with it. (E.g. if it is
UCI, whether it should use book.)
-se or -secondEngine nickname
As `fe', but for the second engine.
-fb/-xfb or -firstPlaysBlack true/false
In games between two chess engines, firstChessProgram normally plays white. If this option is
true, firstChessProgram plays black. In a multi-game match, this option affects the colors only
for the first game; they still alternate in subsequent games.
-fh or -firstHost host
-sh or -secondHost host
Hosts on which the chess engines are to run. The default for each is `localhost'. If you specify
another host, XBoard uses `rsh' to run the chess engine there. (You can substitute a different
remote shell program for rsh using the `remoteShell' option described below.)
-fd or -firstDirectory dir
-sd or -secondDirectory dir
Working directories in which the chess engines are to be run. The default is "", which means to
run the chess engine in the same working directory as XBoard itself. (See the CHESSDIR
environment variable.) This option is effective only when the chess engine is being run on the
local host; it does not work if the engine is run remotely using the -fh or -sh option.
-initString string or -firstInitString
-secondInitString string
The string that is sent to initialize each chess engine for a new game. Default:
new
random
Setting this option from the command line is tricky, because you must type in real newline
characters, including one at the very end. In most shells you can do this by entering a `\'
character followed by a newline. Using the character sequence `\n' in the string should work too,
though.
If you change this option, don't remove the `new' command; it is required by all chess engines to
start a new game.
You can remove the `random' command if you like; including it causes GNU Chess 4 to randomize its
move selection slightly so that it doesn't play the same moves in every game. Even without
`random', GNU Chess 4 randomizes its choice of moves from its opening book. Many other chess
engines ignore this command entirely and always (or never) randomize.
You can also try adding other commands to the initString; see the documentation of the chess
engine you are using for details.
-firstComputerString string
-secondComputerString string
The string that is sent to the chess engine if its opponent is another computer chess engine. The
default is `computer\n'. Probably the only useful alternative is the empty string (`'), which
keeps the engine from knowing that it is playing another computer.
-reuse/-xreuse or -reuseFirst true/false
-reuse2/-xreuse2 or -reuseSecond true/false
If the option is false, XBoard kills off the chess engine after every game and starts it again for
the next game. If the option is true (the default), XBoard starts the chess engine only once and
uses it repeatedly to play multiple games. Some old chess engines may not work properly when
reuse is turned on, but otherwise games will start faster if it is left on.
-firstProtocolVersion version-number
-secondProtocolVersion version-number
This option specifies which version of the chess engine communication protocol to use. By
default, version-number is 2. In version 1, the "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.
-firstScoreAbs true/false
-secondScoreAbs true/false
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.
-niceEngines priority
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 XBoard (or the rest of your system). Negative values could increase the engine priority, which
is not recommended.
-firstOptions string
-secondOptions string
The given string is a comma-separated list of (option name=option value) pairs, like the following
example: "style=Karpov,blunder rate=0". If an option announced by the engine at startup through
the feature commands of the XBoard/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.
-firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
-secondNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
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 XBoard would normally omit them (string = "- -"), or to add variant-specific fields that are
not yet supported by XBoard (e.g. to indicate the number of checks in 3check).
-shuffleOpenings
Forces shuffling of the opening setup in variants that normally have a fixed initial position.
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.
UCI + WB Engine Settings
-fUCI or -firstIsUCI true/false
-sUCI or -secondIsUCI true/false
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 on its command line, according to the option `adapterCommand'.
-fUCCI
-sUCCI
-fUSI
-sUSI Options similar to `fUCI' and `sUCI', except that they use the indicated engine with the protocol
adapter specified in the `uxiAdapter' option. This can then be configured for running an UCCI or
USI adapter, as the need arises.
-adapterCommand string
The string conatins the command that should be issued by XBoard to start an engine that is
accompanied by the `fUCI' option. Any identifier following a percent sign in the command (e.g.
%fcp) will be considered the name of an XBoard option, and be replaced by the value of that option
at the time the engine is started. For starting the second engine, any leading "f" or "first" in
the option name will first be replaced by "s" or "second", before finding its value. Default:
'polyglot -noini -ec "%fcp" -ed "%fd"'
-uxiAdapter string
Similar to `adapterCommand', but used for engines accompanied by the `fUCCI' or `fUSI' option, so
you can configure XBoard to be ready to handle more than one flavor of non-native protocols.
Default: ""
-polyglotDir filename
Gives the name of the directory in which the Polyglot adapter for UCI engines resides. Default:
"".
-usePolyglotBook true/false
Specifies if the Polyglot book should be used as GUI book.
-polyglotBook filename
Gives the filename of the opening book. The book is only used when the `usePolyglotBook' option
is set to true, and the option `firstHasOwnBookUCI' or `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: "".
-fNoOwnBookUCI or -firstXBook or -firstHasOwnBookUCI true/false
-sNoOwnBookUCI or -secondXBook or -secondHasOwnBookUCI true/false
Indicates if the mentioned engine has its own opening book it should play from, rather than using
the external book through XBoard. Default: depends on setting of the option `discourageOwnBooks'.
-discourageOwnBooks true/false
When set, newly loaded engines will be assumed to use the GUI book, unless they explicitly specify
differently. Otherwise they will be assumed to not use the GUI book, unless the specify
differently (e.g. with `firstXBook'). Default: false.
-bookDepth n
Limits the use of the GUI book to the first n moves of each side. Default: 12.
-bookVariation n
A value n from 0 to 100 tunes the choice of moves from the GUI books from totally random to best-
only. Default: 50
-mcBookMode
When this volatile option is specified, the probing algorithm of the GUI book is altered to always
select the move that is most under-represented based on its performance. When all moves are
played in approximately the right proportion, a book miss will be reported, to give the engine
opportunity to explore a new move. In addition score of the moves will be kept track of during
the session in a book buffer. By playing an match in this mode, a book will be built from
scratch. The only output are the saved games, which can be converted to an actual book later,
with the `Save Games as Book' command. This command can also be used to pre-fill the book buffer
before adding new games based on the probing algorithm.
-fn string or -firstPgnName string
-sn string or -secondPgnName string
Indicates the name that should be used for the engine in PGN tags of engine-engine games.
Intended to allow you to install verions of the same engine with different settings, and still
distinguish them. Default: "".
-defaultHashSize n
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 XBoard/WinBoard engines, for those that support the
memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 64.
-defaultCacheSizeEGTB n
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 XBoard/WinBoard engines, for those that support the
memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 4.
-defaultPathEGTB filename
Gives the name of the directory where the end-game tablebases are installed, for UCI engines.
Default: "/usr/local/share/egtb".
-egtFormats string
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: "".
-firstChessProgramNames={names}
This option lets you customize the drop-down list of chess engine names that appears in the `Load
Engine' and `Match Options' dialog. It consists of a list of strings, one per line. When an
engine is loaded, the corresponding line is prefixed with "-fcp ", and processed like it appeared
on the command line. That means that apart from the engine command, it can contain any list of
XBoard options you want to use with this engine. (Commonly used options here are -fd,
-firstXBook, -fUCI, -variant.)
The value of this option is gradually built as you load new engines through the `Load Engine' menu
dialog, with `Add to list' ticked. To change it, edit your settings file with a plain text
editor.
Tournament options
-defaultMatchGames n
Sets the number of games that will be used for a match between two engines started from the menu
to n. Also used as games per pairing in other tournament formats. Default: 10.
-matchPause n
Specifies the duration of the pause between two games of a match or tournament between engines as
n milliseconds. Especially engines that do not support ping need this option, to prevent that the
move they are thinking on when an opponent unexpectedly resigns will be counted for the next game,
(leading to illegal moves there). Default: 10000.
-tf filename or -tourneyFile filename
Specifies the name of the tournament file used in match mode to conduct a multi-player tournament.
This file is a special settings file, which stores the description of the tournament (including
progress info), through normal options (e.g. for time control, load and save files), and through
some special-purpose options listed below.
-tt number or -tourneyType number
Specifies the type of tourney: 0 = round-robin, N>0 = (multi-)gauntlet with N gauntlet engines, -1
= Swiss through external pairing engine. Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
-cy number or -tourneyCycles number
Specifies the number of cycles in a tourney. Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
-participants list
The list is a multi-line text string that specifies engines occurring in the
`firstChesProgramNames' list in the settings file by their (implied or explicitly given)
nicknames, one engine per line. The mentioned engines will play in the tourney. Volatile option,
but stored in tourney file.
-results string
The string of +=- characters lists the result of all played games in a toruney. Games currently
playing are listed as *, while a space indicates a game that is not yet played or playing .
Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
-defaultTourneyName string
Specifies the name of the tournament file XBoard should propose when the `Match Options' dialog is
opened. Any %y, %M, %d, %h, %m, %s in the string are replaced by the current year, month, day of
the month, hours, minutes, seconds of the current time, respectively, as two-digit number. A %Y
would be replaced by the year as 4-digit number. Default: empty string.
-pairingEngine filename
Specifies the external program to be used to pair the participants in Swiss tourneys. XBoard
communicates with this engine in the same way as it communicates with Chess engines. The only
commands sent to the pairing engine are “results N string”, (where N is the number of
participants, and string the results so far in the format of the results option), and “pairing N”,
(where N is the number of the tourney game). To the latter the pairing engine should answer with
“A-B”, where A and B are participant numbers (in the range 1-N). (There should be no reply to the
results command.) Default: empty string.
-afterGame string
-afterTourney string
When non-empty, the given string will be executed as a system command after each tournament game,
orafterthe tourney completes, respectively. This can be used, for example, to autmatically run a
cross-table generator on the PGN file where games are saved, to update the tourney standings.
Default: ""
-syncAfterRound true/false
-syncAfterCycle true/false
Controls whether different instances of XBoard concurrently running the same tournament will wait
for each other. Defaults: sync after cycle, but not after round.
-seedBase number
Used to store the seed of the pseudo-random-number generator in the tourneyFile, so that separate
instances of XBoard working on the same tourney can take coherent 'random' decisions, such as
picking an opening for a given game number.
ICS options
-ics/-xics or -internetChessServerMode true/false
Connect with an Internet Chess Server to play chess against its other users, observe games they
are playing, or review games that have recently finished. Default: false.
-icshost or -internetChessServerHost host
The Internet host name or address of the chess server to connect to when in ICS mode. Default:
`chessclub.com'. Another popular chess server to try is `freechess.org'. If your site doesn't
have a working Internet name server, try specifying the host address in numeric form. You may
also need to specify the numeric address when using the icshelper option with timestamp or
timeseal (see below).
-icsport or -internetChessServerPort port-number
The port number to use when connecting to a chess server in ICS mode. Default: 5000.
-icshelper or -internetChessServerHelper prog-name
An external helper program used to communicate with the chess server. You would set it to
"timestamp" for ICC (chessclub.com) or "timeseal" for FICS (freechess.org), after obtaining the
correct version of timestamp or timeseal for your computer. See "help timestamp" on ICC and "help
timeseal" on FICS. This option is shorthand for `-useTelnet -telnetProgram program'.
-telnet/-xtelnet or -useTelnet true/false
This option is poorly named; it should be called useHelper. If set to true, it instructs XBoard
to run an external program to communicate with the Internet Chess Server. The program to use is
given by the telnetProgram option. If the option is false (the default), XBoard opens a TCP
socket and uses its own internal implementation of the telnet protocol to communicate with the
ICS. See Firewalls.
-telnetProgram prog-name
This option is poorly named; it should be called helperProgram. It gives the name of the telnet
program to be used with the `gateway' and `useTelnet' options. The default is `telnet'. The
telnet program is invoked with the value of `internetChessServerHost' as its first argument and
the value of `internetChessServerPort' as its second argument. See Firewalls.
-gateway host-name
If this option is set to a host name, XBoard communicates with the Internet Chess Server by using
`rsh' to run the `telnetProgram' on the given host, instead of using its own internal
implementation of the telnet protocol. You can substitute a different remote shell program for
`rsh' using the `remoteShell' option described below. See Firewalls.
-internetChessServerCommPort or -icscomm dev-name
If this option is set, XBoard communicates with the ICS through 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 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 set all communication parameters and
tty modes before you enter XBoard.
Use a script something like this:
stty raw -echo 9600 > /dev/tty00
xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/tty00
Here replace `/dev/tty00' with the name of the device that your modem is connected to. You might
have to add several more options to these stty commands. See the man pages for `stty' and `tty' if
you run into problems. Also, on many systems stty works on its standard input instead of standard
output, so you have to use `<' instead of `>'.
If you are using linux, try starting with the script below. Change it as necessary for your
installation.
#!/bin/sh -f
# configure modem and fire up XBoard
# configure modem
(
stty 2400 ; stty raw ; stty hupcl ; stty -clocal
stty ignbrk ; stty ignpar ; stty ixon ; stty ixoff
stty -iexten ; stty -echo
) < /dev/modem
xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/modem
After you start XBoard in this way, type whatever commands are necessary to dial out to your
Internet provider and log in. Then telnet to ICS, using a command like `telnet chessclub.com
5000'. Important: See the paragraph below about extra echoes, in Limitations.
-icslogon or -internetChessServerLogonScript file-name
Whenever XBoard connects to the Internet Chess Server, if it finds a file with the name given in
this option, it feeds the file's contents to the ICS as commands. The default file name is
`.icsrc'. Usually the first two lines of the file should be your ICS user name and password. The
file can be either in $CHESSDIR, in XBoard's working directory if CHESSDIR is not set, or in your
home directory.
-msLoginDelay delay
If you experience trouble logging on to an ICS when using the `-icslogon' option, inserting some
delay between characters of the logon script may help. This option adds `delay' milliseconds of
delay between characters. Good values to try are 100 and 250.
-icsinput/-xicsinput or -internetChessServerInputBox true/false
Sets the ICS Input Box menu option. See Mode Menu. Default: false.
-autocomm/-xautocomm or -autoComment true/false
Sets the Auto Comment menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-autoflag/-xautoflag or -autoCallFlag true/false
Sets the Auto Flag menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-autobs/-xautobs or -autoObserve true/false
Sets the Auto Observe menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-autoKibitz
Enables kibitzing of the engines last thinking output (depth, score, time, speed, PV) before it
moved to the ICS, in zippy mode. The option `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.
-seekGraph true/false or -sg
Enables displaying of the seek graph by left-clicking the board when you are logged on to an ICS
and currently idle. The seek graph show all players currently seeking games on the ICS, plotted
according to their rating and the time control of the game they seek, in three different colors
(for rated, unrated and wild games). Computer ads are displayed as squares, human ads are dots.
Default: false.
-autoRefresh true/false
Enables automatic updating of the seek graph, by having the ICS send a running update of all newly
placed and removed seek ads. This consumes a substantial amount of communication bandwidth, and
is only supported for FICS and ICC. Default: false.
-backgroundObserve true/false
When true, boards sent to you by the ICS from other games while you are playing (e.g. because you
are observing them) will not be automatically displayed. Only a summary of time left and material
of both players will appear in the message field above the board. XBoard will remember the last
board it has received this way, and will display it in stead of the position in your own game when
you press the right mouse button. No other information is stored on such games observed in the
background; you cannot save such a game later, or step through its moves. This feature is
provided solely for the benefit of bughouse players, to enable them to peek at their partner's
game without the need to logon twice. Default: false.
-dualBoard true/false
In combination with -backgroundObserve true, this option will display the board of the background
game side by side with that of your own game, so you can have it in view permanently. Any board
or holdings info coming in will be displayed on the secondary board immediately. This feature is
still experimental and largely unfinished. There is no animation or highlighting of moves on the
secondary board. Default: false.
-disguisePromotedPieces true/false
When set promoted Pawns in crazyhouse/bughouse are displayed identical to primordial pieces of the
same type, rather than distinguishable. Default: true.
-moves/-xmoves or -getMoveList true/false
Sets the Get Move List menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-alarm/-xalarm or -icsAlarm true/false
Sets the ICS Alarm menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-icsAlarmTime ms
Sets the time in milliseconds for the ICS Alarm menu option. See Options Menu. Default: 5000.
lowTimeWarning true/false
Controls a color change of the board as a warning your time is running out. See Options Menu.
Default: false.
-pre/-xpre or -premove true/false
Sets the Premove menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-prewhite/-xprewhite or -premoveWhite
-preblack/-xpreblack or -premoveBlack
-premoveWhiteText string
-premoveBlackText string
Set the menu options for specifying the first move for either color. See Options Menu. Defaults:
false and empty strings, so no pre-moves.
-quiet/-xquiet or -quietPlay true/false
Sets the Quiet Play menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-colorizeMessages or -colorize/-xcolorize
Setting colorizeMessages to true tells XBoard to colorize the messages received from the ICS.
Colorization works only if your xterm supports ISO 6429 escape sequences for changing text colors.
Default: true.
-colorShout foreground,background,bold
-colorSShout foreground,background,bold
-colorCShout foreground,background,bold
-colorChannel1 foreground,background,bold
-colorChannel foreground,background,bold
-colorKibitz foreground,background,bold
-colorTell foreground,background,bold
-colorChallege foreground,background,bold
-colorRequest foreground,background,bold
-colorSeek foreground,background,bold
-colorNormal foreground,background,bold
These options set the colors used when colorizing ICS messages. All ICS messages are grouped into
one of these categories: shout, sshout, channel 1, other channel, kibitz, tell, challenge, request
(including abort, adjourn, draw, pause, and takeback), or normal (all other messages).
Each foreground or background argument can be one of the following: black, red, green, yellow,
blue, magenta, cyan, white, or default. Here ``default'' means the default foreground or
background color of your xterm. Bold can be 1 or 0. If background is omitted, ``default'' is
assumed; if bold is omitted, 0 is assumed.
-soundProgram progname
If this option is set to a sound-playing program that is installed and working on your system,
XBoard can play sound files when certain events occur, listed below. The default program name is
"play". If any of the sound options is set to "$", the event rings the terminal bell by sending a
^G character to standard output, instead of playing a sound file. If an option is set to the
empty string "", no sound is played for that event.
-soundDirectory directoryname
This option specifies where XBoard will look for sound files, when these are not given as an
absolute path name.
-soundShout filename
-soundSShout filename
-soundCShout filename
-soundChannel filename
-soundChannel1 filename
-soundKibitz filename
-soundTell filename
-soundChallenge filename
-soundRequest filename
-soundSeek filename
These sounds are triggered in the same way as the colorization events described above. They all
default to "", no sound. They are played only if the colorizeMessages is on. CShout is
synonymous with SShout.
-soundMove filename
This sound is used by the Move Sound menu option. Default: "$".
-soundIcsAlarm filename
This sound is used by the ICS Alarm menu option. Default: "$".
-soundIcsWin filename
This sound is played when you win an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
-soundIcsLoss filename
This sound is played when you lose an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
-soundIcsDraw filename
This sound is played when you draw an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
-soundIcsUnfinished filename
This sound is played when an ICS game that you are participating in is aborted, adjourned, or
otherwise ends inconclusively. Default: "" (no sound).
Load and Save options
-lgf or -loadGameFile file
-lgi or -loadGameIndex index
If the `loadGameFile' option is set, XBoard loads the specified game file at startup. The file
name `-' specifies the standard input. If there is more than one game in the file, XBoard pops up
a menu of the available games, with entries based on their PGN (Portable Game Notation) tags. If
the `loadGameIndex' option is set to `N', the menu is suppressed and the N th game found in the
file is loaded immediately. The menu is also suppressed if `matchMode' is enabled or if the game
file is a pipe; in these cases the first game in the file is loaded immediately. Use the
`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 `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 `rewindIndex' option causes the index to be reset
to the first game of the file when it has reached a specified value.
-rewindIndex n
Causes a position file or game file to be rewound to its beginning after n positions or games in
auto-increment `matchMode'. See `loadPositionIndex' and `loadGameIndex'. default: 0 (no rewind).
-td or -timeDelay seconds
Time delay between moves during `Load Game' or `Analyze File'. Fractional seconds are allowed;
try `-td 0.4'. A time delay value of -1 tells XBoard not to step through game files
automatically. Default: 1 second.
-sgf or -saveGameFile file
If this option is set, XBoard appends a record of every game played to the specified file. The
file name `-' specifies the standard output.
-autosave/-xautosave or -autoSaveGames true/false
Sets the Auto Save menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false. Ignored if `saveGameFile' is
set.
-onlyOwnGames true/false
Suppresses auto-saving of ICS observed games. Default: false.
-lpf or -loadPositionFile file
-lpi or -loadPositionIndex index
If the `loadPositionFile' option is set, XBoard loads the specified position file at startup. The
file name `-' specifies the standard input. If the `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 `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 `rewindIndex' option causes the index to be reset to
the first position of the file when it has reached a specified value.
-spf or -savePositionFile file
If this option is set, XBoard appends the final position reached in every game played to the
specified file. The file name `-' specifies the standard output.
-pgnExtendedInfo true/false
If this option is set, XBoard saves depth, score and time used for each move that the engine found
as a comment in the PGN file. Default: false.
-pgnEventHeader string
Sets the name used in the PGN event tag to string. Default: "Computer Chess Game".
-pgnNumberTag true/false
Include the (unique) sequence number of a tournament game into the saved PGN file as a 'number'
tag. Default: false.
-saveOutOfBookInfo true/false
Include the information on how the engine(s) game out of its opening book in a special 'annotator'
tag with the PGN file. Default: true.
-oldsave/-xoldsave or -oldSaveStyle true/false
Sets the Old Save Style menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-gameListTags string
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, c=result comment. Default: "eprd"
-ini or -settingsFile filename
-saveSettingsFile filename
@filename
When XBoard encounters an option -settingsFile (or -ini for short), or @filename, it tries to read
the mentioned file, and substitutes the contents of it (presumaby more command-line options) in
place of the option. In the case of -ini or -settingsFile, the name of a successfully read
settings file is also remembered as the file to use for saving settings (automatically on exit, or
on user command). An option of the form @filename does not affect saving. The option
-saveSettingsFile does specify a name of the file to use for saving, without reading any options
from it, and is thus also effective when the file did not exist yet. So the settings will be
saved to the file specified in the last -saveSettingsFile or succesfull -settingsFile / -ini
command, if any, and in /etc/xboard/xboard.conf otherwise. Usually the latter is only accessible
for the system administrator, though, and will be used to contain system-wide default setings,
amongst which a -saveSettingsFile and -settingsFile options to specify a settings file accessible
to the individual user, such as ~/.xboardrc in the user's home directory.
-saveSettingsOnExit true/false
Controls saving of options on the settings file. See Options Menu. Default: true.
User interface options
-display
-geometry
-iconic
-name These and most other standard Xt options are accepted.
-noGUI Suppresses all GUI functions of XBoard (to speed up automated ultra-fast engine-engine games,
which you don't 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.
-logoSize N
This option controls the drawing of player logos next to the clocks. The integer N specifies the
width of the logo in pixels; the logo height will always be half the width. When N = 0, no logos
will be diplayed. Default: 0.
-firstLogo imagefile
-secondLogo imagefile
Specify the images to be used as player logos when `logoSize' is non-zero, next to the white and
black clocks, respectively.
-autoLogo true/false
-logoDir filename
When `autoLogo' is set, XBoard will search for a PNG image file with the name of the engine or ICS
in the directory specified by `logoDir'.
-recentEngines number
-recentEngineList list
When the number is larger than zero, it determines how many recently used engines will be appended
at the bottom of the `Engines' menu. The engines will be saved in your settings file as the
option `recentEngineList', by their nicknames, and the most recently used one will always be
sorted to the top. If the list after that is longer than the specified number, the last one is
discarded. Changes in the list will only become visible the next session, provided you saved the
settings. Default: 6.
-autoInstall list
When the list is set to a non-empty string, XBoard will scan the operating system's plugin
directory for engines supporting UCI and XBoard protocol at startup. When it finds an engine that
was installed after it last saved its settings, a line to launch that engine (as per specs in the
plugin file) is appended to the -firstChessProgramNames list of installed engines. In the future
it will be possible to use the list to limit this automatic adding of engines to a certain types
of variants.
-oneClickMove true/false
When set, this option allows you to enter moves by only clicking the to- or from-square, when only
a single legal move to or from that square is possible. 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.
-movesound/-xmovesound or -ringBellAfterMoves true/false
Sets the Move Sound menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false. For compatibility with old
XBoard versions, -bell/-xbell are also accepted as abbreviations for this option.
-exit/-xexit or -popupExitMessage true/false
Sets the Popup Exit Message menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-popup/-xpopup or -popupMoveErrors true/false
Sets the Popup Move Errors menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-queen/-xqueen or -alwaysPromoteToQueen true/false
Sets the Always Queen menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-sweepPromotions true/false
Sets the `Almost Always Promote to Queen' menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-legal/-xlegal or -testLegality true/false
Sets the Test Legality menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-size or -boardSize (sizeName | n1,n2,n3,n4,n5,n6,n7)
Determines how large the board will be, by selecting the pixel size of the pieces and setting a
few related parameters. The sizeName can be one of: Titanic, giving 129x129 pixel pieces,
Colossal 116x116, Giant 108x108, Huge 95x95, Big 87x87, Large 80x80, Bulky 72x72, Medium 64x64,
Moderate 58x58, Average 54x54, Middling 49x49, Mediocre 45x45, Small 40x40, Slim 37x37, Petite
33x33, Dinky 29x29, Teeny 25x25, or Tiny 21x21. Xboard installs with a set of scalable (svg)
piece images, which it scales to any of the requested sizes. The square size can further be
continuously scaled by sizing the board window, but this only adapts the size of the pieces, and
has no effect on the width of the grid lines or the font choice (both of which would depend on he
selected boardSize). The default depends on the size of your screen; it is approximately the
largest size that will fit without clipping.
You can select other sizes or vary other layout parameters by providing a list of comma-separated
values (with no spaces) as the argument. You do not need to provide all the values; for any you
omit from the end of the list, defaults are taken from the nearest built-in size. The value `n1'
gives the piece size, `n2' the width of the black border between squares, `n3' the desired size
for the clockFont, `n4' the desired size for the coordFont, `n5' the desired size for the
messageFont, `n6' the smallLayout flag (0 or 1), and `n7' the tinyLayout flag (0 or 1). All
dimensions are in pixels. If the border between squares is eliminated (0 width), the various
highlight options will not work, as there is nowhere to draw the highlight. If smallLayout is 1
and `titleInWindow' is true, the window layout is rearranged to make more room for the title. If
tinyLayout is 1, the labels on the menu bar are abbreviated to one character each and the buttons
in the button bar are made narrower.
-overrideLineGap n
When n >= 0, this forces the width of the black border between squares to n pixels for any board
size. Mostly used to suppress the grid entirely by setting n = 0, e.g. in xiangqi or just getting
a prettier picture. When n < 0 this the size-dependent width of the grid lines is used. Default:
-1.
-coords/-xcoords or -showCoords true/false
Sets the Show Coords menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false. The `coordFont' option
specifies what font to use.
-autoraise/-xautoraise or -autoRaiseBoard true/false
Sets the Auto Raise Board menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-autoflip/-xautoflip or -autoFlipView true/false
Sets the Auto Flip View menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-flip/-xflip or -flipView true/false
If Auto Flip View is not set, or if you are observing but not participating in a game, then the
positioning of the board at the start of each game depends on the flipView option. If flipView is
false (the default), the board is positioned so that the white pawns move from the bottom to the
top; if true, the black pawns move from the bottom to the top. In any case, the Flip menu option
(see Options Menu) can be used to flip the board after the game starts.
-title/-xtitle or -titleInWindow true/false
If this option is true, XBoard displays player names (for ICS games) and game file names (for
`Load Game') inside its main window. If the option is false (the default), this information is
displayed only in the window banner. You probably won't want to set this option unless the
information is not showing up in the banner, as happens with a few X window managers.
-buttons/-xbuttons or -showButtonBar True/False
If this option is False, xboard omits the [<<] [<] [P] [>] [>>] button bar from the window,
allowing the message line to be wider. You can still get the functions of these buttons using the
menus or their keyboard shortcuts. Default: true.
-evalZoom factor
The score interval (-1,1) is blown up on the vertical axis of the Evaluation Graph by the given
factor. Default: 1
-evalThreshold n
Score below n (centiPawn) are plotted as 0 in the Evaluation Graph. Default: 25
-mono/-xmono or -monoMode true/false
Determines whether XBoard displays its pieces and squares with two colors (true) or four (false).
You shouldn't have to specify `monoMode'; XBoard will determine if it is necessary.
-showTargetSquares true/false
Determines whether XBoard can highlight the squares a piece has legal moves to, when you grab that
piece with the mouse. Default: false.
-flashCount count
-flashRate rate
-flash/-xflash
These options enable flashing of pieces when they land on their destination square. `flashCount'
tells XBoard how many times to flash a piece after it lands on its destination square.
`flashRate' controls the rate of flashing (flashes/sec). Abbreviations: `flash' sets flashCount
to 3. `xflash' sets flashCount to 0. Defaults: flashCount=0 (no flashing), flashRate=5.
-highlight/-xhighlight or -highlightLastMove true/false
Sets the Highlight Last Move menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-highlightMoveWithArrow true/false
Sets the Highlight with Arrow menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-blind/-xblind or -blindfold true/false
Sets the Blindfold menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-periodic/-xperiodic or -periodicUpdates true/false
Controls updating of current move andnode counts in analysis mode. Default: true.
-fSAN
-sSAN Causes the PV in thinking output of the mentioned engine to be converted to SAN before it is
further processed. Warning: this might lose engine output not understood by the parser, and uses
a lot of CPU power. Default: the PV is displayed exactly as the engine produced it.
-showEvalInMoveHistory true/false
Controls whether the evaluation scores and search depth of engine moves are displayed with the
move in the move-history window. Default: true.
-clockFont font
The font used for the clocks. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify the font
size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size being used. Default Xaw:
-*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*. Default GTK: Sans Bold %d.
-coordFont font
The font used for rank and file coordinate labels if `showCoords' is true. If the option value is
a pattern that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for the
board size being used. Default Xaw: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*. Default GTK:
Sans Bold %d.
-messageFont font
The font used for popup dialogs, menus, etc. If the option value is a pattern that does not
specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size being used.
Default Xaw: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*. Default GTK: Sans Bold %d. The font
used in the Edit Tags dialog. If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by an
appropriate font for the board size being used. (Only used in GTK build.) Default: Sans Normal
%d. The font used in the Edit Comment dialog. If the option value contains %d, XBoard will
replace it by an appropriate font for the board size being used. (Only used in GTK build.)
Default: Sans Normal %d. The font used to display ICS output in the ICS Chat window. As ICS
output often contains tables aligned by spaces, a mono-space font is recommended here. If the
option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by an appropriate font for the board size being
used. (Only used in GTK build.) Default: Monospace Normal %d. The font used in Move History and
Engine Output windows. As these windows display mainly moves, one could use a figurine font here.
If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by an appropriate font for the board size
being used. (Only used in GTK build.) Default: Sans Normal %d. The font used in the listbox of
the Game List window. If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by an appropriate
font for the board size being used. (Only used in GTK build.) Default: Sans Bold %d.
-fontSizeTolerance tol
In the font selection algorithm, a nonscalable font will be preferred over a scalable font if the
nonscalable font's size differs by `tol' pixels or less from the desired size. A value of -1 will
force a scalable font to always be used if available; a value of 0 will use a nonscalable font
only if it is exactly the right size; a large value (say 1000) will force a nonscalable font to
always be used if available. Default: 4.
-pid or -pieceImageDirectory dir
This options control what piece images xboard uses. XBoard will look in the specified directory
for an image in png 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 (from the source-tree directory `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.
-whitePieceColor color
-blackPieceColor color
-lightSquareColor color
-darkSquareColor color
-highlightSquareColor color
-preoveHighlightColor color
-lowTimeWarningColor color
Colors to use for the pieces, squares, and square highlights. Defaults:
-whitePieceColor #FFFFCC
-blackPieceColor #202020
-lightSquareColor #C8C365
-darkSquareColor #77A26D
-highlightSquareColor #FFFF00
-premoveHighlightColor #FF0000
-lowTimeWarningColor #FF0000
On a grayscale monitor you might prefer:
-whitePieceColor gray100
-blackPieceColor gray0
-lightSquareColor gray80
-darkSquareColor gray60
-highlightSquareColor gray100
-premoveHighlightColor gray70
-lowTimeWarningColor gray70
The PieceColor options only work properly if the image files defining the pieces were pure black &
white (possibly anti-aliased to produce gray scales and semi-transparancy), like the pieces images
that come with the install. Their effect on colored pieces is undefined. The SquareColor option
only have an effect when no board textures are used.
-trueColors true/false
When set, this option suppresses the effect of the PieceColor options mentioned above. This is
recommended for images that are already colored.
-useBoardTexture true/false
-liteBackTextureFile filename
-darkBackTextureFile filename
Indicate the png image files to be used for drawing the board squares, and if they should be used
rather than using simple colors. The algorithm for cutting squares out of a given bitmap is such
that the picture is perfectly reproduced when a bitmap the size of the complete board is given.
If the filename ends in "-NxM.png", with integer N and M, it is assumed to contain a bitmap of a
complete board of N files and M ranks, and XBoard will scale it to exactly match the current
square size. If N=M=0 it scales the entire bitmap to the size of the board, irrespective of the
number of files and ranks of the latter. Without any -NxM suffix textures are only blown up by an
integer factor when they are smaller than the square size, or, when the name starts with "xq", too
small to cover the complete Xiangqi board. Default: false and ""
-drag/-xdrag or -animateDragging true/false
Sets the Animate Dragging menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-animate/-xanimate or -animateMoving true/false
Sets the Animate Moving menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-animateSpeed n
Number of milliseconds delay between each animation frame when Animate Moves is on.
-autoDisplayComment true/false
-autoDisplayTags true/false
If set to true, these options cause the window with the move comments, and the window with PGN
tags, respectively, to pop up automatically when such tags or comments are encountered during the
replaying a stored or loaded game. Default: true.
-pasteSelection true/false
If this option is set to true, the Paste Position and Paste Game options paste from the currently
selected text. If false, they paste from the clipboard. Default: false.
-autoCopyPV true|false
When this option is set, the position displayed on the board when you terminate a PV walk
(initiated by a right-click on board or engine-output window) will be automatically put on the
clipboard as FEN. Default: false.
-dropMenu true|false
This option allows you to emulate old behavior, where the right mouse button brings up the (now
deprecated) drop menu rather than displaying the position at the end of the principal variation.
Default: False.
-pieceMenu true|false
This option allows you to emulate old behavior, where the right mouse button brings up the (now
deprecated) piece menu in Edit Position mode. From this menu you can select the piece to put on
the square you clicked to bring up the menu, or select items such as `clear board'. You can also
`promote' or `demote' a clicked piece to convert it into an unorthodox piece that is not directly
in the menu, or give the move to `black' or `white'.
-variations true|false
When this option is on, you can start new variations in Edit Game or Analyze mode by holding the
Shift key down while entering a move. When it is off, the Shift key will be ignored. Default:
False.
-appendPV true|false
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. Default:
False.
-absoluteAnalysisScores true|false
When true, scores on the Engine Output window during analysis will be printed from the white
point-of-view, rather than the side-to-move point-of-view. Default: False.
-scoreWhite true|false
When true, scores will always be printed from the white point-of-view, rather than the side-to-
move point-of-view. Default: False.
-memoHeaders true|false
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. (Not
intended for dynamic use, as already printed data of the current search will not be affected!)
Defaul: False.
Adjudication Options
-adjudicateLossThreshold n
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 `-firstScoreAbs' and
`-secondScoreAbs' if needed. Default: 0 (no adjudication)
-adjudicateDrawMoves n
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)
-checkMates true/false
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
-testClaims true/false
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
-materialDraws true/false
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
-trivialDraws true/false
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
-ruleMoves n
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.
-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!
Other options
-ncp/-xncp or -noChessProgram true/false
If this option is true, XBoard acts as a passive chessboard; it does not start a chess engine at
all. Turning on this option also turns off clockMode. Default: false.
-viewer
-viewerOptions string
Presence of the volatile option `viewer' on the command line will cause the value of the
persistent option `viewerOptions' as stored in the settings file to be appended to the command
line. The `view' option will be used by desktop associations with game or position file types, so
that `viewerOptions' can be used to configure the exact mode XBoard will start in when it should
act on such a file (e.g. in -ncp mode, or analyzing with your favorite engine). The options are
also automatically appended when Board is invoked with a single argument not being an option name,
which is then assumed to be the name of a `loadGameFile' or (when the name ends in .fen) a
`loadPositionFile'. Default: "-ncp -engineOutputUp false -saveSettingsOnExit false".
-tourneyOptions string
When XBoard is invoked with a single argument that is a file with .trn extension, it will assume
this argument to be the value of a `tourneyFile' option, and apped the value of the persistent
option `tourneyOptions' as stored in the settings file to the command line. Thus the value of
`tourneyOptions' can be used to configure XBoard to automatically start running a tournament when
it should act on such a file. Default: "-ncp -mm -saveSettingsOnExit false".
-mode or -initialMode modename
If this option is given, XBoard selects the given modename from the Mode menu after starting and
(if applicable) processing the loadGameFile or loadPositionFile option. Default: "" (no
selection). Other supported values are MachineWhite, MachineBlack, TwoMachines, Analysis,
AnalyzeFile, EditGame, EditPosition, and Training.
-variant varname
Activates preliminary, 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:
normal Normal chess
wildcastle Shuffle chess, king can castle from d file
nocastle Shuffle chess, no castling allowed
fischerandom Fischer Random shuffle chess
bughouse Bughouse, ICC/FICS rules
crazyhouse Crazyhouse, ICC/FICS rules
losers Lose all pieces or get mated (ICC wild 17)
suicide Lose all pieces including king (FICS)
giveaway Try to have no legal moves (ICC wild 26)
twokings Weird ICC wild 9
kriegspiel Opponent's pieces are invisible
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)
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)
fairy A catchall variant in which all piece types
known to XBoard can participate (8x8)
unknown Catchall for other unknown variants
NOT ALL BOARDSIZES PROVIDE A COMPLETE SET OF BUILT-IN BITMAPS FOR ALL UN-ORTHODOX PIECES, though.
Only in `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 `bitmapDirectory'
or `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.
-boardHeight N
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
-boardWidth N
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
-holdingsSize N
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
-defaultFrcPosition N
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
-pieceToCharTable string
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: ""
-pieceNickNames string
The characters in the string are interpreted the same way as in the `pieceToCharTable' option. But
on input, piece-ID letters are first looked up in the nicknames, and only if not defined there, in
the normal pieceToCharTable. This allows you to have two letters designate the same piece, (e.g. N
as an alternative to H for Horse in Xiangqi), to make reading of non-compliant notations easier.
Default: ""
-colorNickNames string
The side-to-move field in a FEN will be first matched against the letters in the string (first
character for white, second for black), before it is matched to the regular 'w' and 'b'. This
makes it easier to read non-compliant FENs, which, say, use 'r' for white. Default: ""
-debug/-xdebug or -debugMode true/false
Turns on debugging printout.
-debugFile filename or -nameOfDebugFile filename
Sets the name of the file to which XBoard saves debug information (including all communication to
and from the engines). A `%d' in the given file name (e.g. game%d.debug) will be replaced by the
unique sequence number of a tournament game, so that the debug output of each game will be written
on a separate file.
-engineDebugOutput number
Specifies how XBoard 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, XBoard 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.
-rsh or -remoteShell shell-name
Name of the command used to run programs remotely. The default is `rsh' or `remsh', determined
when XBoard is configured and compiled.
-ruser or -remoteUser user-name
User name on the remote system when running programs with the `remoteShell'. The default is your
local user name.
-userName username
Name under which the Human player will be listed in the PGN file. Default is the login name on
your local computer.
-delayBeforeQuit number
-delayAfterQuit number
These options order pauses before and after sending the "quit" command to an engine that must be
terminated. The pause between quit and the previous command is specified in milliseconds. The
pause after quit is used to schedule a kill signal to be sent to the engine process after the
number of specified seconds plus one. This signal is a different one as the terminiation signal
described in the protocol specs which engines can suppress or ignore, and which is sent directly
after the "quit" command. Setting `delayAfterQuit' to -1 will suppress sending of the kill
signal. Default: 0
-searchMode n
The integer n encodes the mode for the `find position' function. Default: 1 (= Exact position
match)
-eloThresholdBoth elo
-eloThresholdAny elo
Defines a lower limit for the Elo rating, which has to be surpassed before a game will be
considered when searching for a board position. Default: 0
-dateThreshold year
Only games not played before the given year will be considered when searching for a board position
CHESS SERVERS
An "Internet Chess Server", or "ICS", is a place on the Internet where people can get together to play
chess, watch other people's games, or just chat. You can use either `telnet' or a client program like
XBoard to connect to the server. There are thousands of registered users on the different ICS hosts, and
it is not unusual to meet 200 on both chessclub.com and freechess.org.
Most people can just type `xboard -ics' to start XBoard as an ICS client. Invoking XBoard in this way
connects you to the Internet Chess Club (ICC), a commercial ICS. You can log in there as a guest even if
you do not have a paid account. To connect to the largest Free ICS (FICS), use the command `xboard -ics
-icshost freechess.org' instead, or substitute a different host name to connect to your favorite ICS.
For a full description of command-line options that control the connection to ICS and change the default
values of ICS options, see ICS options.
While you are running XBoard as an ICS client, you use the terminal window that you started XBoard from
as a place to type in commands and read information that is not available on the chessboard.
The first time you need to use the terminal is to enter your login name and password, if you are a
registered player. (You don't need to do this manually; the `icsLogon' option can do it for you. See ICS
options.) If you are not registered, enter `g' as your name, and the server will pick a unique guest
name for you.
Some useful ICS commands include
help <topic>
to get help on the given <topic>. To get a list of possible topics type "help" without topic. Try
the help command before you ask other people on the server for help.
For example `help register' tells you how to become a registered ICS player.
who <flags>
to see a list of people who are logged on. Administrators (people you should talk to if you have
a problem) are marked with the character `*', an asterisk. The <flags> allow you to display only
selected players: For example, `who of' shows a list of players who are interested in playing but
do not have an opponent.
games to see what games are being played
match <player> [<mins>] [<inc>]
to challenge another player to a game. Both opponents get <mins> minutes for the game, and <inc>
seconds will be added after each move. If another player challenges you, the server asks if you
want to accept the challenge; use the `accept' or `decline' commands to answer.
accept
decline
to accept or decline another player's offer. The offer may be to start a new game, or to agree to
a `draw', `adjourn' or `abort' the current game. See Action Menu.
If you have more than one pending offer (for example, if more than one player is challenging you,
or if your opponent offers both a draw and to adjourn the game), you have to supply additional
information, by typing something like `accept <player>', `accept draw', or `draw'.
draw
adjourn
abort asks your opponent to terminate a game by mutual agreement. Adjourned games can be continued
later. Your opponent can either `decline' your offer or accept it (by typing the same command or
typing `accept'). In some cases these commands work immediately, without asking your opponent to
agree. For example, you can abort the game unilaterally if your opponent is out of time, and you
can claim a draw by repetition or the 50-move rule if available simply by typing `draw'.
finger <player>
to get information about the given <player>. (Default: yourself.)
vars to get a list of personal settings
set <var> <value>
to modify these settings
observe <player>
to observe an ongoing game of the given <player>.
examine
oldmoves
to review a recently completed game
Some special XBoard features are activated when you are in examine mode on ICS. See the descriptions of
the menu commands `Forward', `Backward', `Pause', `ICS Client', and `Stop Examining' on the Edit Menu,
Mode Menu, and Action Menu.
FIREWALLS
By default, XBoard communicates with an Internet Chess Server by opening a TCP socket directly from the
machine it is running on to the ICS. If there is a firewall between your machine and the ICS, this won't
work. Here are some recipes for getting around common kinds of firewalls using special options to XBoard.
Important: See the paragraph in the below about extra echoes, in Limitations.
Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can telnet to a firewall host, log in, and then
telnet from there to ICS. Let's say the firewall is called `firewall.example.com'. Set command-line
options as follows:
xboard -ics -icshost firewall.example.com -icsport 23
Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, you will be prompted to log in to the firewall host. This works
because port 23 is the standard telnet login service. Do so, then telnet to ICS, using a command like
`telnet chessclub.com 5000', or whatever command the firewall provides for telnetting to port 5000.
If your firewall lets you telnet (or rlogin) to remote hosts but doesn't let you telnet to port 5000, you
may be able to connect to the chess server on port 23 instead, which is the port the telnet program uses
by default. Some chess servers support this (including chessclub.com and freechess.org), while some do
not.
If your chess server does not allow connections on port 23 and your firewall does not allow you to
connect to other ports, you may be able to connect by hopping through another host outside the firewall
that you have an account on. For instance, suppose you have a shell account at `foo.edu'. Follow the
recipe above, but instead of typing `telnet chessclub.com 5000' to the firewall, type `telnet foo.edu'
(or `rlogin foo.edu'), log in there, and then type `telnet chessclub.com 5000'.
Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can use rsh to run programs on a firewall host,
and that host can telnet to ICS. Let's say the firewall is called `rsh.example.com'. Set command-line
options as follows:
xboard -ics -gateway rsh.example.com -icshost chessclub.com
Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will connect to the ICS by using `rsh' to run the command
`telnet chessclub.com 5000' on host `rsh.example.com'.
Suppose that you can telnet anywhere you want, but you have to run a special program called `ptelnet' to
do so.
First, we'll consider the easy case, in which `ptelnet chessclub.com 5000' gets you to the chess server.
In this case set command line options as follows:
xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet
Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the command `ptelnet chessclub.com 5000' to connect
to the ICS.
Next, suppose that `ptelnet chessclub.com 5000' doesn't work; that is, your `ptelnet' program doesn't let
you connect to alternative ports. As noted above, your chess server may allow you to connect on port 23
instead. In that case, just add the option `-icsport ""' to the above command. But if your chess server
doesn't let you connect on port 23, you will have to find some other host outside the firewall and hop
through it. For instance, suppose you have a shell account at `foo.edu'. Set command line options as
follows:
xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet -icshost foo.edu -icsport ""
Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the command `ptelnet foo.edu' to connect to your
account at `foo.edu'. Log in there, then type `telnet chessclub.com 5000'.
ICC timestamp and FICS timeseal do not work through some firewalls. You can use them only if your
firewall gives a clean TCP connection with a full 8-bit wide path. If your firewall allows you to get
out only by running a special telnet program, you can't use timestamp or timeseal across it. But if you
have access to a computer just outside your firewall, and you have much lower netlag when talking to that
computer than to the ICS, it might be worthwhile running timestamp there. Follow the instructions above
for hopping through a host outside the firewall (foo.edu in the example), but run timestamp or timeseal
on that host instead of telnet.
Suppose that you have a SOCKS firewall that will give you a clean 8-bit wide TCP connection to the chess
server, but only after you authenticate yourself via the SOCKS protocol. In that case, you could make a
socksified version of XBoard and run that. If you are using timestamp or timeseal, you will to socksify
it, not XBoard; this may be difficult seeing that ICC and FICS do not provide source code for these
programs. Socksification is beyond the scope of this document, but see the SOCKS Web site at
http://www.socks.permeo.com/. If you are missing SOCKS, try http://www.funbureau.com/.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
Game and position files are found in a directory named by the `CHESSDIR' environment variable. If this
variable is not set, the current working directory is used. If `CHESSDIR' is set, XBoard actually changes
its working directory to `$CHESSDIR', so any files written by the chess engine will be placed there too.
LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN BUGS
There is no way for two people running copies of XBoard to play each other without going through an
Internet Chess Server.
Under some circumstances, your ICS password may be echoed when you log on.
If you are connecting to the ICS by running telnet on an Internet provider or firewall host, you may find
that each line you type is echoed back an extra time after you hit <Enter>. If your Internet provider is
a Unix system, you can probably turn its echo off by typing `stty -echo' after you log in, and/or typing
<^E><Enter> (Ctrl+E followed by the Enter key) to the telnet program after you have logged into ICS. It
is a good idea to do this if you can, because the extra echo can occasionally confuse XBoard's parsing
routines.
The game parser recognizes only algebraic notation.
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, XBoard 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. 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, not an XBoard bug.
Also see the ToDo file included with the distribution for many other possible bugs, limitations, and
ideas for improvement that have been suggested.
REPORTING PROBLEMS
You can report bugs and problems with XBoard using the bug tracker at
`https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/' or by sending mail to `<bug-xboard@gnu.org>'. It can also be
useful to report or discuss bugs in the WinBoard Forum at `http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/', WinBoard
development section.
Please use the `script' program to start a typescript, run XBoard with the `-debug' option, and include
the typescript output in your message. Also tell us what kind of machine and what operating system
version you are using. The command `uname -a' will often tell you this.
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.
AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS
Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original XBoard. They were responsible for versions 1.0 through 1.2.
The color scheme was taken from Wayne Christopher's `XChess' program.
Tim Mann was primarily responsible for XBoard versions 1.3 through 4.2.7, and for WinBoard (a port of
XBoard to Microsoft Win32) from its inception through version 4.2.7.
John Chanak contributed the initial implementation of ICS mode. Evan Welsh wrote `CMail', and Patrick
Surry helped in designing, testing, and documenting it. Elmar Bartel contributed the new piece bitmaps
introduced in version 3.2. Jochen Wiedmann converted the documentation to texinfo. Frank McIngvale
added click/click moving, the Analysis modes, piece flashing, ZIICS import, and ICS text colorization to
XBoard. Hugh Fisher added animated piece movement to XBoard, and Henrik Gram added it to WinBoard. Mark
Williams contributed the initial (WinBoard-only) implementation of many new features added to both XBoard
and WinBoard in version 4.1.0, including copy/paste, premove, icsAlarm, autoFlipView, training mode, auto
raise, and blindfold. Ben Nye contributed X copy/paste code for XBoard.
In a fork from version 4.2.7, 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 continued this fork of the project, producing version 4.3. He 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.
Meanwhile, some work continued on the GNU XBoard project maintained at savannah.gnu.org, but version
4.2.8 was never released. Daniel Mehrmann was responsible for much of this work.
Most recently, Arun Persaud worked with H. G. Muller to merge all the features of the never-released
XBoard/WinBoard 4.2.8 of the GNU XBoard project and the never-released 4.3.16 from H. G.'s fork into a
unified XBoard/WinBoard 4.4, which is now available both from the savannah.gnu.org web site and the
WinBoard forum.
CMAIL
The `cmail' program can help you play chess by email with opponents of your choice using XBoard as an
interface.
You will usually run `cmail' without giving any options.
CMail options
-h Displays `cmail' usage information.
-c Shows the conditions of the GNU General Public License. See Copying.
-w Shows the warranty notice of the GNU General Public License. See Copying.
-v
-xv Provides or inhibits verbose output from `cmail' and XBoard, useful for debugging. The `-xv' form
also inhibits the cmail introduction message.
-mail
-xmail Invokes or inhibits the sending of a mail message containing the move.
-xboard
-xxboard
Invokes or inhibits the running of XBoard on the game file.
-reuse
-xreuse
Invokes or inhibits the reuse of an existing XBoard to display the current game.
-remail
Resends the last mail message for that game. This inhibits running XBoard.
-game <name>
The name of the game to be processed.
-wgames <number>
-bgames <number>
-games <number>
Number of games to start as White, as Black or in total. Default is 1 as white and none as black.
If only one color is specified then none of the other color is assumed. If no color is specified
then equal numbers of White and Black games are started, with the extra game being as White if an
odd number of total games is specified.
-me <short name>
-opp <short name>
A one-word alias for yourself or your opponent.
-wname <full name>
-bname <full name>
-myname <full name>
-oppname <full name>
The full name of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.
-wna <net address>
-bna <net address>
-na <net address>
-oppna <net address>
The email address of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.
-dir <directory>
The directory in which `cmail' keeps its files. This defaults to the environment variable
`$CMAIL_DIR' or failing that, `$CHESSDIR', `$HOME/Chess' or `~/Chess'. It will be created if it
does not exist.
-arcdir <directory>
The directory in which `cmail' archives completed games. Defaults to the environment variable
`$CMAIL_ARCDIR' or, in its absence, the same directory as cmail keeps its working files (above).
-mailprog <mail program>
The program used by cmail to send email messages. This defaults to the environment variable
`$CMAIL_MAILPROG' or failing that `/usr/ucb/Mail', `/usr/ucb/mail' or `Mail'. You will need to set
this variable if none of the above paths fit your system.
-logFile <file>
A file in which to dump verbose debugging messages that are invoked with the `-v' option.
-event <event>
The PGN Event tag (default `Email correspondence game').
-site <site>
The PGN Site tag (default `NET').
-round <round>
The PGN Round tag (default `-', not applicable).
-mode <mode>
The PGN Mode tag (default `EM', Electronic Mail).
Other options
Any option flags not listed above are passed through to XBoard. Invoking XBoard through CMail
changes the default values of two XBoard options: The default value for `-noChessProgram' is
changed to true; that is, by default no chess engine is started. The default value for
`-timeDelay' is changed to 0; that is, by default XBoard immediately goes to the end of the game
as played so far, rather than stepping through the moves one by one. You can still set these
options to whatever values you prefer by supplying them on CMail's command line. See Options.
Starting a CMail Game
Type `cmail' from a shell to start a game as white. After an opening message, you will be prompted for a
game name, which is optional -- if you simply press <Enter>, the game name will take the form `you-VS-
opponent'. You will next be prompted for the short name of your opponent. If you haven't played this
person before, you will also be prompted for his/her email address. `cmail' will then invoke XBoard in
the background. Make your first move and select `Mail Move' from the `File' menu. See File Menu. If all
is well, `cmail' will mail a copy of the move to your opponent. If you select `Exit' without having
selected `Mail Move' then no move will be made.
Answering a Move
When you receive a message from an opponent containing a move in one of your games, simply pipe the
message through `cmail'. In some mailers this is as simple as typing `| cmail' when viewing the message,
while in others you may have to save the message to a file and do `cmail < file' at the command line. In
either case `cmail' will display the game using XBoard. If you didn't exit XBoard when you made your
first move then `cmail' will do its best to use the existing XBoard instead of starting a new one. As
before, simply make a move and select `Mail Move' from the `File' menu. See File Menu. `cmail' will try
to use the XBoard that was most recently used to display the current game. This means that many games can
be in progress simultaneously, each with its own active XBoard.
If you want to look at the history or explore a variation, go ahead, but you must return to the current
position before XBoard will allow you to mail a move. If you edit the game's history you must select
`Reload Same Game' from the `File' menu to get back to the original position, then make the move you want
and select `Mail Move'. As before, if you decide you aren't ready to make a move just yet you can either
select `Exit' without sending a move or just leave XBoard running until you are ready.
Multi-Game Messages
It is possible to have a `cmail' message carry more than one game. This feature was implemented to
handle IECG (International Email Chess Group) matches, where a match consists of one game as white and
one as black, with moves transmitted simultaneously. In case there are more general uses, `cmail' itself
places no limit on the number of black/white games contained in a message; however, XBoard does.
Completing a Game
Because XBoard can detect checkmate and stalemate, `cmail' handles game termination sensibly. As well as
resignation, the `Action' menu allows draws to be offered and accepted for `cmail' games.
For multi-game messages, only unfinished and just-finished games will be included in email messages. When
all the games are finished, they are archived in the user's archive directory, and similarly in the
opponent's when he or she pipes the final message through `cmail'. The archive file name includes the
date the game was started.
Known CMail Problems
It's possible that a strange conjunction of conditions may occasionally mean that `cmail' has trouble
reactivating an existing XBoard. If this should happen, simply trying it again should work. If not,
remove the file that stores the XBoard's PID (`game.pid') or use the `-xreuse' option to force `cmail' to
start a new XBoard.
Versions of `cmail' after 2.16 no longer understand the old file format that XBoard used to use and so
cannot be used to correspond with anyone using an older version.
Versions of `cmail' older than 2.11 do not handle multi-game messages, so multi-game correspondence is
not possible with opponents using an older version.
OTHER PROGRAMS YOU CAN USE WITH XBOARD
Here are some other programs you can use with XBoard
GNU Chess
The GNU Chess engine is available from:
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuchess/
You can use XBoard to play a game against GNU Chess, or to interface GNU Chess to an ICS.
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
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
Crafty
Crafty is a chess engine written by Bob Hyatt. You can use XBoard to play a game against Crafty, hook
Crafty up to an ICS, or use Crafty to interactively analyze games and positions for you.
Crafty is a strong, rapidly evolving chess program. This rapid pace of development is good, because it
means Crafty is always getting better. This can sometimes cause problems with backwards compatibility,
but usually the latest version of Crafty will work well with the latest version of XBoard. Crafty can be
obtained from its author's FTP site: ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu/hyatt/.
To use Crafty with XBoard, give the -fcp and -fd options as follows, where <crafty's directory> is the
directory in which you installed Crafty and placed its book and other support files.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1991 Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, Massachusetts.
All Rights Reserved.
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GNU $Date: xboard(6)