1GNUGO(6) User Contributed Perl Documentation GNUGO(6)
2
6 gnugo - The GNU program to play the game of Go
7
9 gnugo [--boardsize <num>] [--color <color>] [--handicap <num>] [--komi
10 <num>] [--quiet] [-v, --version] [-h, --help] [--help debug] [--copy‐
11 right] [--mode <mode>] [--replay <color>] [-l, --infile <filename>]
12 [-L, --until <move>] [-o, --outfile <filename>] [--printsgf <filename>]
13 [-D, --depth <num>] [-B, --backfill_depth <num>] [--score [esti‐
14 mate⎪finish⎪aftermath] ] [-a, --allpats] [-T, --printboard] [-d,
15 --debug <level>] [-w, --worms] [-m, --moyo <level>] [-b, --benchmark
16 num] [-t, --trace] [-r, --seed num]
17
19 GNU Go plays a game of Go against the user. It has many other features:
20 it can play against itself or another program, analyse and score a
21 recorded game. GNU Go is compliant with Go modem protocol, load and
22 save game in the Smart Game format.
23 GNU Go default is a simple alpha-numeric board display, but you can use
25 a client such as CGoban.
26 The game of Go
28 Go is a game of strategy between two players usually played on a 19x19
30 grid called goban. The two players put black and white stones on the
31 goban to enclose territory. Go was invented about 4000 years ago in
32 ancient China. Other names for this game are (Chinese) Wei Chi,
33 (Korean) Baduk and (Ing) Goe.
34 Playing a game in ASCII mode
36 To start a game with default options, just invoke "gnugo". The board
38 will be drawn at your terminal using ASCII letters. In this mode, you
39 can get help on available commands by the h key. To play as Black with
40 4 stones handicap, with a 0.5 komi, recording the game in the file
41 record.sgf:
42 gnugo --color black --handicap 4 --komi 0.5 -o record.sgf
44 Playing a game with CGoban
46 CGoban is a general purpose client program by Bill Shubert for playing
48 Go. It runs under X-Windows with a beautiful resizeable graphic dis‐
49 play. To use GNU Go under X-windows, obtain the most recent version of
50 CGoban from Bill Shubert's web site
51 http://www.igoweb.org/~wms/comp/cgoban/index.html
53 Start CGoban. When the CGoban Control panel comes up, select `Go
55 Modem.' You will get the Go Modem Protocol Setup. Choose one (or both)
56 of the players to be ``Program,'' and fill out the box to the path to
57 gnugo. After clicking OK, you get the Game Setup window. Choose ``Rules
58 Set'' to be Japanese (otherwise handicaps won't work). Set the board
59 size and handicap if you want. Click OK and you are ready to go.
60 In the Go Modem Protocol Setup window, when you specify the path to GNU
62 Go, you can give it command line options, such as --quiet to suppress
63 most messages. Since the Go Modem Protocol preempts standard I/O, other
64 messages are sent to stderr, even if they are not error messages. These
65 will appear in the terminal from which you started CGoban.
66 Scoring system
68 The game stops when both players pass. GNU Go will attempt to compute
70 and report the score to you. It may occasionally make mistakes due to
71 wrong evaluation of the status of a group. You can check the score as
72 follows. In ASCII mode, at the end of the game, stones believed dead
73 are marked in lower case letters, and you have the option of toggling
74 their status before counting. Using CGoban, you may use CGoban's
75 counting facility to count the game using either Japanese or Chinese
76 rules.
77 Viewing a stored game
79 gnugo -l filename.sgf --mode ascii
81 loads filename.sgf and lets you navigate through the game by using the
83 commands forward, back, goto and last. It is not possible to navigate
84 through variations in ascii mode. You may also use CGoban to view
85 stored games. CGoban can navigate variations.
86 Documentation
88 The files in the doc directory contain detailed documentation about
90 debugging options and internal program structure. Other documentation
91 may be found in comments throughout the source code.
92 Go Modem Protocol
94 The Go Modem Protocol is a standard interface between Go programs and
96 graphical display.
97 The Go Modem Protocol was developed by Bruce Wilcox with input from
99 David Fotland, Anders Kierulf and others. Any Go program *should* use
100 this protocol since it is standard. Since CGoban supports this proto‐
101 col, the user interface for any Go program can be done entirely through
102 CGoban. Using the Go Modem Protocol, you can play with another computer
103 running a different program (even on a different operating system)
104 using a modem, a serial cable or over the internet if the other program
105 also supports the protocol. You can also communicate with the Go
106 servers using CGoban.
107 Smart Game Format
109 Games (with comments, variations and other features) can be stored in
111 the Smart Game Format (SGF). This format originated in Anders Kierulf's
112 program Smart Go. Martin Muller and Arno Hollosi developed the current
113 standard, which may be found at
114 http://www.red-bean.com/sgf/
116 GNU Go supports the Smart Game Format.
118
120 Main options
121 --mode mode
123 force the playing mode (ascii', gtp or gmp). Default is ASCII. If no
125 terminal is detected GMP (Go Modem Protocol) will be assumed.
126 --replay color
128 replay the game generating moves for color, where color is white,
130 black, or both. (requires -l)
131 --quiet
133 Don't print copyright and other informational messages.
135 -l, --infile file
137 Load the SGF file (to score or analyze a recorded game).
139 -L, --until move
141 Stop loading just before move is played (e.g. 154 or L10).
143 -o, --outfile file
145 Save the played game to file in SGF format.
147 Game Options:
149 --boardsize num
151 Set the board size to use (5-21). Default is 19, other common formats
153 are 13 and 9.
154 --color color
156 Choose your color (black or white). Black plays first, White gets the
158 komi compensation.
159 --handicap num
161 Set the number of handicap stones.
163 --komi num
165 Set the komi (points given to white player to compensate advantage of
167 the first move, usually 5.5 or 0.5). Default is 5.5.
168 Informative Output:
170 -v, --version
172 Display the version of GNU Go.
174 -h, --help
176 Display help message.
178 --help debug
180 Display help about debugging options.
182 --copyright
184 Display copyright notice.
186 Debugging and advanced options:
188 -T, --printboard
190 Show board each move.
192 --level num
194 Level of play. (default 10; smaller=faster, weaker).
196 -b, --benchmark num
198 Benchmarking mode - can be used with -l.
200 -t, --trace
202 Verbose tracing (use twice or more to trace reading).
204 -r, --seed num
206 Set random number seed.
208 --score [estimate⎪finish⎪aftermath]
210 Count or estimate territory of the input file. Usage:
212 gnugo --score estimate -l filename
214 Loads the SGF file and estimates the score by measuring the influence.
216 Use with -L if you want the estimate somewhere else than at the end of
217 the file.
218 gnugo --score finish -l filename
220 Loads the SGF file and gnugo continues to play by itself up to the very
222 end. Then the winner is determined by counting the territory.
223 gnugo --score aftermath -l filename
225 Similar to --score finish except that a more accurate but slower algo‐
227 rithm is used to determine the final status of the groups.
228 If the option -o outputfilename is provided, the results will also be
230 written as comment at the end of the output file.
231 --printsgf outfile
233 Load SGF file, output final position (requires -l).
235
237 If you find a bug, please send the SGF output file to gnugo@gnu.org
238 together with a description of the bug.
2393.5.7 2004-05-29 GNUGO(6)