1xboard(6) Games Manual xboard(6)
2
6 xboard - X graphical user interface for chess
7
9 xboard [options]
10 xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
11 xboard -ncp [options]
12 |pxboard
13 cmail [options]
14
17 XBoard is a graphical chessboard that can serve as a user interface to
18 chess engines (such as GNU Chess), the Internet Chess Servers, elec‐
19 tronic mail correspondence chess, or your own collection of saved
20 games.
21 This manual documents version 4.4.2 of XBoard.
23
26 XBoard always runs in one of four major modes. You select the major
27 mode from the command line when you start up XBoard.
28 xboard [options]
31 As an interface to GNU Chess or another chess engine running on
32 your machine, XBoard lets you play a game against the machine,
33 set up arbitrary positions, force variations, watch a game
34 between two chess engines, interactively analyze your stored
35 games or set up and analyze arbitrary positions. (Note: Not all
36 chess engines support analysis.)
37 xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
39 As Internet Chess Server (ICS) interface, XBoard lets you play
40 against other ICS users, observe games they are playing, or
41 review games that have recently finished. Most of the ICS
42 "wild" chess variants are supported, including bughouse.
43 xboard -ncp [options]
45 XBoard can also be used simply as an electronic chessboard to
46 play through games. It will read and write game files and allow
47 you to play through variations manually. You can use it to
48 browse games off the net or review games you have saved. These
49 features are also available in the other modes.
50 |pxboard
52 If you want to pipe games into XBoard, use the supplied shell
53 script `pxboard'. For example, from the news reader `xrn', find
54 a message with one or more games in it, click the Save button,
55 and type `|pxboard' as the file name.
56 cmail [options]
58 As an interface to electronic mail correspondence chess, XBoard
59 works with the cmail program. See CMail below for instructions.
60
62 To move a piece, you can drag it with the left mouse button, or you can
63 click the left mouse button once on the piece, then once more on the
64 destination square. To drop a new piece on a square (when applicable),
65 press the middle or the right mouse button over the square and select
66 from the pop-up menu. In cases where you can drop either a white or
67 black piece, use the middle button (or shift+right) for white and the
68 right button (or shift+middle) for black. When you are playing a bug‐
69 house game on an Internet Chess Server, a list of the off-board pieces
70 that each player has available is shown in the window title after the
71 player's name; in addition, the piece menus show the number of pieces
72 available of each type. From version 4.3.14 on, it is also possible in
73 crazyhouse, bughouse or shogi to dag and drop pieces to the board from
74 the holdings squares displayed next to the board.
75 All other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most
77 frequently used commands also have shortcut keys or on-screen buttons.
78 When XBoard is iconized, its graphical icon is a white knight if it is
80 White's turn to move, a black knight if it is Black's turn. See
81 Iconize in Keys below if you have problems getting this feature to
82 work.
83 File Menu
86 New Game
87 Resets XBoard and the chess engine to the beginning of a new
88 chess game. The `r' key is a keyboard equivalent. In Internet
89 Chess Server mode, clears the current state of XBoard, then
90 resynchronizes with the ICS by sending a refresh command. If you
91 want to stop playing, observing, or examining an ICS game, use
92 an appropriate command from the Action menu, not `New Game'.
93 See Action Menu.
94 New Shuffle Game
96 Similar to `New Game', but allows you to specify a particular
97 initial position (according to a standardized numbering system)
98 in chess variants which use randomized opening positions (e.g.
99 Chess960). The selected opening position will persistently be
100 chosen on any following New Game command until you use this menu
101 to select another. Selecting position number -1 will produce a
102 newly randomized position on any new game. Using this menu item
103 in variants that normally do not shuffle their opening position
104 does cause these variants to become shuffle variants until you
105 use the `New Shuffle Game' menu to explicitly switch the random‐
106 ization off, or select a new variant.
107 New Variant
109 Allows you to select a new chess variant in non-ICS mode. (In
110 ICS play, the ICS is responsible for deciding which variant will
111 be played, and XBoard adapts automatically.) If you play with an
112 engine, the engine must be able to play the selected variant, or
113 the command will be ignored. XBoard supports all major vari‐
114 ants, such as xiangqi, shogi, chess, chess960, Capablanca Chess,
115 shatranj, crazyhouse, bughouse. (But not every board size has
116 built-in bitmaps for un-orthodox pieces!)
117 Load Game
119 Plays a game from a record file. The `g' key is a keyboard
120 equivalent. A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. If
121 the file contains more than one game, a second pop-up dialog
122 displays a list of games (with information drawn from their PGN
123 tags, if any), and you can select the one you want. Alterna‐
124 tively, you can load the Nth game in the file directly, by typ‐
125 ing the number `N' after the file name, separated by a space.
126 The game file parser will accept PGN (portable game notation),
128 or in fact almost any file that contains moves in algebraic
129 notation. Notation of the form `P@f7' is accepted for piece-
130 drops in bughouse games; this is a nonstandard extension to PGN.
131 If the file includes a PGN position (FEN tag), or an old-style
132 XBoard position diagram bracketed by `[--' and `--]' before the
133 first move, the game starts from that position. Text enclosed in
134 parentheses, square brackets, or curly braces is assumed to be
135 commentary and is displayed in a pop-up window. Any other text
136 in the file is ignored. PGN variations (enclosed in parentheses)
137 are treated as comments; XBoard is not able to walk variation
138 trees. The nonstandard PGN tag [Variant "varname"] functions
139 similarly to the -variant command-line option (see below),
140 allowing games in certain chess variants to be loaded. There is
141 also a heuristic to recognize chess variants from the Event tag,
142 by looking for the strings that the Internet Chess Servers put
143 there when saving variant ("wild") games.
144 Load Next Game
146 Loads the next game from the last game record file you loaded.
147 The shifted `N' key is a keyboard equivalent.
148 Load Previous Game
150 Loads the previous game from the last game record file you
151 loaded. The shifted `P' key is a keyboard equivalent. Not
152 available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
153 Reload Same Game
155 Reloads the last game you loaded. Not available if the last
156 game was loaded from a pipe.
157 Save Game
159 Appends a record of the current game to a file. A pop-up dialog
160 prompts you for the file name. If the game did not begin with
161 the standard starting position, the game file includes the
162 starting position used. Games are saved in the PGN (portable
163 game notation) format, unless the oldSaveStyle option is true,
164 in which case they are saved in an older format that is specific
165 to XBoard. Both formats are human-readable, and both can be read
166 back by the `Load Game' command. Notation of the form `P@f7' is
167 accepted for piece-drops in bughouse games; this is a nonstan‐
168 dard extension to PGN.
169 Copy Game
171 Copies a record of the current game to an internal clipboard in
172 PGN format and sets the X selection to the game text. The game
173 can be pasted to another application (such as a text editor or
174 another copy of XBoard) using that application's paste command.
175 In many X applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle
176 mouse button can be used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use
177 the Paste Game command.
178 Paste Game
180 Interprets the current X selection as a game record and loads
181 it, as with Load Game.
182 Load Position
184 Sets up a position from a position file. A pop-up dialog
185 prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more than
186 one saved position, and you want to load the Nth one, type the
187 number N after the file name, separated by a space. Position
188 files must be in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation), or in the for‐
189 mat that the Save Position command writes when oldSaveStyle is
190 turned on.
191 Load Next Position
193 Loads the next position from the last position file you loaded.
194 Load Previous Position
196 Loads the previous position from the last position file you
197 loaded. Not available if the last position was loaded from a
198 pipe.
199 Reload Same Position
201 Reloads the last position you loaded. Not available if the last
202 position was loaded from a pipe.
203 Save Position
205 Appends a diagram of the current position to a file. A pop-up
206 dialog prompts you for the file name. Positions are saved in FEN
207 (Forsythe-Edwards notation) format unless the `oldSaveStyle'
208 option is true, in which case they are saved in an older, human-
209 readable format that is specific to XBoard. Both formats can be
210 read back by the `Load Position' command.
211 Copy Position
213 Copies the current position to an internal clipboard in FEN for‐
214 mat and sets the X selection to the position text. The position
215 can be pasted to another application (such as a text editor or
216 another copy of XBoard) using that application's paste command.
217 In many X applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle
218 mouse button can be used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use
219 the Paste Position command.
220 Paste Position
222 Interprets the current X selection as a FEN position and loads
223 it, as with Load Position.
224 Mail Move
226 Reload CMail Message
227 See CMail.
228 Exit Exits from XBoard. The shifted `Q' key is a keyboard equivalent.
230 Mode Menu
232 Machine White
233 Tells the chess engine to play White.
234 Machine Black
236 Tells the chess engine to play Black.
237 Two Machines
239 Plays a game between two chess engines.
240 Analysis Mode
242 XBoard tells the chess engine to start analyzing the current
243 game/position and shows you the analysis as you move pieces
244 around. Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
245 To set up a position to analyze, you do the following:
247 1. Select Edit Position from the Mode Menu
249 2. Set up the position. Use the middle and right buttons to
251 bring up the white and black piece menus.
252 3. When you are finished, click on either the Black or White
254 clock to tell XBoard which side moves first.
255 4. Select Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu to start the analy‐
257 sis.
258 The analysis function can also be used when observing games on
260 an ICS with an engine loaded (zippy mode); the engine then will
261 analyse the positions as they occur in the observed game.
262 Analyze File
264 This option lets you load a game from a file (PGN, XBoard for‐
265 mat, etc.) and analyze it. When you select this menu item, a
266 pop-up window appears and asks for a file name to load. If the
267 file contains multiple games, another pop up appears that lets
268 you select which game you wish to analyze. After a game is
269 loaded, use the XBoard arrow buttons to step forwards/backwards
270 through the game and watch the analysis. Note: Some chess
271 engines do not support Analysis mode.
272 ICS Client
274 This is the normal mode when XBoard is connected to a chess
275 server. If you have moved into Edit Game or Edit Position mode,
276 you can select this option to get out.
277 To use xboard in ICS mode, run it in the foreground with the
279 -ics option, and use the terminal you started it from to type
280 commands and receive text responses from the chess server. See
281 Chess Servers below for more information.
282 XBoard activates some special position/game editing features
284 when you use the `examine' or `bsetup' commands on ICS and you
285 have `ICS Client' selected on the Mode menu. First, you can
286 issue the ICS position-editing commands with the mouse. Move
287 pieces by dragging with mouse button 1. To drop a new piece on
288 a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the square. This
289 brings up a menu of white pieces (button 2) or black pieces
290 (button 3). Additional menu choices let you empty the square or
291 clear the board. Click on the White or Black clock to set the
292 side to play. You cannot set the side to play or drag pieces to
293 arbitrary squares while examining on ICC, but you can do so in
294 `bsetup' mode on FICS. In addition, the menu commands `For‐
295 ward', `Backward', `Pause', and `Stop Examining' have special
296 functions in this mode; see below.
297 Edit Game
299 Allows you to make moves for both Black and White, and to change
300 moves after backing up with the `Backward' command. The clocks
301 do not run.
302 In chess engine mode, the chess engine continues to check moves
304 for legality but does not participate in the game. You can bring
305 the chess engine into the game by selecting `Machine White',
306 `Machine Black', or `Two Machines'.
307 In ICS mode, the moves are not sent to the ICS: `Edit Game'
309 takes XBoard out of ICS Client mode and lets you edit games
310 locally. If you want to edit games on ICS in a way that other
311 ICS users can see, use the ICS `examine' command or start an ICS
312 match against yourself.
313 Edit Position
315 Lets you set up an arbitrary board position. Use mouse button 1
316 to drag pieces to new squares, or to delete a piece by dragging
317 it off the board or dragging an empty square on top of it. To
318 drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the
319 square. This brings up a menu of white pieces (button 2) or
320 black pieces (button 3). Additional menu choices let you empty
321 the square or clear the board. You can set the side to play next
322 by clicking on the word White or Black at the top of the screen.
323 Selecting `Edit Position' causes XBoard to discard all remem‐
324 bered moves in the current game.
325 In ICS mode, changes made to the position by `Edit Position' are
327 not sent to the ICS: `Edit Position' takes XBoard out of `ICS
328 Client' mode and lets you edit positions locally. If you want to
329 edit positions on ICS in a way that other ICS users can see, use
330 the ICS `examine' command, or start an ICS match against your‐
331 self. (See also the ICS Client topic above.)
332 Training
334 Training mode lets you interactively guess the moves of a game
335 for one of the players. You guess the next move of the game by
336 playing the move on the board. If the move played matches the
337 next move of the game, the move is accepted and the opponent's
338 response is auto-played. If the move played is incorrect, an
339 error message is displayed. You can select this mode only while
340 loading a game (that is, after selecting `Load Game' from the
341 File menu). While XBoard is in `Training' mode, the navigation
342 buttons are disabled.
343 Show Game List
345 Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last `Load
346 Game' command.
347 Show Move History
349 Shows or hides a list of moves of the current game. This list
350 allows you to move the display to any earlier position in the
351 game by clicking on the corresponding move.
352 Show Engine Output
354 Shows or hides a window in which the thinking output of any
355 loaded engines is displayed.
356 Edit Tags
358 Lets you edit the PGN (portable game notation) tags for the cur‐
359 rent game. After editing, the tags must still conform to the PGN
360 tag syntax:
361 <tag-section> ::= <tag-pair> <tag-section>
363 <empty>
364 <tag-pair> ::= [ <tag-name> <tag-value> ]
365 <tag-name> ::= <identifier>
366 <tag-value> ::= <string>
367 See the PGN Standard for full details. Here is an example:
369 [Event "Portoroz Interzonal"]
371 [Site "Portoroz, Yugoslavia"]
372 [Date "1958.08.16"]
373 [Round "8"]
374 [White "Robert J. Fischer"]
375 [Black "Bent Larsen"]
376 [Result "1-0"]
377 Any characters that do not match this syntax are silently
379 ignored. Note that the PGN standard requires all games to have
380 at least the seven tags shown above. Any that you omit will be
381 filled in by XBoard with `?' (unknown value), or `-' (inapplica‐
382 ble value).
383 Edit Comment
385 Adds or modifies a comment on the current position. Comments are
386 saved by `Save Game' and are displayed by `Load Game', `For‐
387 ward', and `Backward'.
388 ICS Input Box
390 If this option is set in ICS mode, XBoard creates an extra win‐
391 dow that you can use for typing in ICS commands. The input box
392 is especially useful if you want to type in something long or do
393 some editing on your input, because output from ICS doesn't get
394 mixed in with your typing as it would in the main terminal win‐
395 dow.
396 Pause Pauses updates to the board, and if you are playing against a
398 chess engine, also pauses your clock. To continue, select
399 `Pause' again, and the display will automatically update to the
400 latest position. The `P' button and keyboard `p' key are equiv‐
401 alents.
402 If you select Pause when you are playing against a chess engine
404 and it is not your move, the chess engine's clock will continue
405 to run and it will eventually make a move, at which point both
406 clocks will stop. Since board updates are paused, however, you
407 will not see the move until you exit from Pause mode (or select
408 Forward). This behavior is meant to simulate adjournment with a
409 sealed move.
410 If you select Pause while you are observing or examining a game
412 on a chess server, you can step backward and forward in the cur‐
413 rent history of the examined game without affecting the other
414 observers and examiners, and without having your display jump
415 forward to the latest position each time a move is made. Select
416 Pause again to reconnect yourself to the current state of the
417 game on ICS.
418 If you select `Pause' while you are loading a game, the game
420 stops loading. You can load more moves manually by selecting
421 `Forward', or resume automatic loading by selecting `Pause'
422 again.
423 Action Menu
425 Accept Accepts a pending match offer. If there is more than one offer
426 pending, you will have to type in a more specific command
427 instead of using this menu choice.
428 Decline
430 Declines a pending offer (match, draw, adjourn, etc.). If there
431 is more than one offer pending, you will have to type in a more
432 specific command instead of using this menu choice.
433 Call Flag
435 Calls your opponent's flag, claiming a win on time, or claiming
436 a draw if you are both out of time. You can also call your oppo‐
437 nent's flag by clicking on his clock or by pressing the keyboard
438 `t' key.
439 Draw Offers a draw to your opponent, accepts a pending draw offer
441 from your opponent, or claims a draw by repetition or the
442 50-move rule, as appropriate. The `d' key is a keyboard equiva‐
443 lent.
444 Adjourn
446 Asks your opponent to agree to adjourning the current game, or
447 agrees to a pending adjournment offer from your opponent.
448 Abort Asks your opponent to agree to aborting the current game, or
450 agrees to a pending abort offer from your opponent. An aborted
451 game ends immediately without affecting either player's rating.
452 Resign Resigns the game to your opponent. The shifted `R' key is a key‐
454 board equivalent.
455 Stop Observing
457 Ends your participation in observing a game, by issuing the ICS
458 observe command with no arguments. ICS mode only.
459 Stop Examining
461 Ends your participation in examining a game, by issuing the ICS
462 unexamine command. ICS mode only.
463 Adjudicate to White
465 Adjudicate to Black
466 Adjudicate Draw
467 Terminate an ongoing game in Two-Machines mode (including match
468 mode), with as result a win for white, for black, or a draw,
469 respectively. The PGN file of the game will accompany the
470 result string by the comment "user adjudication".
471 Step Menu
473 Backward
474 Steps backward through a series of remembered moves. The `[<]'
475 button and the `b' key are equivalents, as is turning the mouse
476 wheel towards you. In addition, pressing the Control key steps
477 back one move, and releasing it steps forward again.
478 In most modes, `Backward' only lets you look back at old posi‐
480 tions; it does not retract moves. This is the case if you are
481 playing against a chess engine, playing or observing a game on
482 an ICS, or loading a game. If you select `Backward' in any of
483 these situations, you will not be allowed to make a different
484 move. Use `Retract Move' or `Edit Game' if you want to change
485 past moves.
486 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of `Backward'
488 depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
489 off, `Backward' issues the ICS backward command, which backs up
490 everyone's view of the game and allows you to make a different
491 move. If Pause mode is on, `Backward' only backs up your local
492 view.
493 Forward
495 Steps forward through a series of remembered moves (undoing the
496 effect of `Backward') or forward through a game file. The `[>]'
497 button and the `f' key are equivalents, as is turning the mouse
498 wheel away from you.
499 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of Forward
501 depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
502 off, `Forward' issues the ICS forward command, which moves
503 everyone's view of the game forward along the current line. If
504 Pause mode is on, `Forward' only moves your local view forward,
505 and it will not go past the position that the game was in when
506 you paused.
507 Back to Start
509 Jumps backward to the first remembered position in the game.
510 The `[<<]' button and the shifted `B' key are equivalents.
511 In most modes, Back to Start only lets you look back at old
513 positions; it does not retract moves. This is the case if you
514 are playing against a local chess engine, playing or observing a
515 game on a chess server, or loading a game. If you select `Back
516 to Start' in any of these situations, you will not be allowed to
517 make different moves. Use `Retract Move' or `Edit Game' if you
518 want to change past moves; or use Reset to start a new game.
519 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Back to
521 Start} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode
522 is off, `Back to Start' issues the ICS `backward 999999' com‐
523 mand, which backs up everyone's view of the game to the start
524 and allows you to make different moves. If Pause mode is on,
525 @samp{Back to Start} only backs up your local view.
526 Forward to End
528 Jumps forward to the last remembered position in the game. The
529 `[>>]' button and the shifted `F' key are equivalents.
530 If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Forward
532 to End} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause
533 mode is off, `Forward to End' issues the ICS `forward 999999'
534 command, which moves everyone's view of the game forward to the
535 end of the current line. If Pause mode is on, `Forward to End'
536 only moves your local view forward, and it will not go past the
537 position that the game was in when you paused.
538 Revert If you are examining an ICS game and Pause mode is off, issues
540 the ICS command `revert'.
541 Truncate Game
543 Discards all remembered moves of the game beyond the current
544 position. Puts XBoard into `Edit Game' mode if it was not there
545 already.
546 Move Now
548 Forces the chess engine to move immediately. Chess engine mode
549 only.
550 Retract Move
552 Retracts your last move. In chess engine mode, you can do this
553 only after the chess engine has replied to your move; if the
554 chess engine is still thinking, use `Move Now' first. In ICS
555 mode, `Retract Move' issues the command `takeback 1' or `take‐
556 back 2' depending on whether it is your opponent's move or
557 yours.
558 Options Menu
560 Flip View
561 Inverts your view of the chess board for the duration of the
562 current game. Starting a new game returns the board to normal.
563 The `v' key is a keyboard equivalent.
564 Adjudications
566 Pops up a sub-menu where you can enable or disable various adju‐
567 dications that XBoard can perform in engine-engine games. You
568 can instruct XBoard to detect and terminate the game on check‐
569 mate or stalemate, even if the engines would not do so, to ver‐
570 ify engine result claims (forfeiting engines that make false
571 claims), rather than naively following the engine, to declare
572 draw on positions which can never be won for lack of mating
573 material, (e.g. KBK), or which are impossible to win unless the
574 opponent seeks its own demise (e.g. KBKN). For these adjudica‐
575 tions to work, `Test Legality' should be switched on. It is
576 also possible to instruct XBoard to enforce a 50-move or 3-fold-
577 repeat rule and automatically declare draw (after a user-
578 adjustable number of moves or repeats) even if the engines are
579 prepared to go on. It is also possible to have XBoard declare
580 draw on games that seem to drag on forever, or adjudicate a loss
581 if both engines agree (for 3 consecutive moves) that one of them
582 is behind more than a user-adjustable score threshold. For the
583 latter adjudication to work, XBoard should be able to properly
584 understand the engine's scores. To facilitate the latter, you
585 can inform xboard here if the engines report scores from the
586 viewpoint of white, or from that of their own color.
587 Engine Settings
589 Pops up a sub-menu where you can set some engine parameters com‐
590 mon to most engines, such as hash-table size, tablebase cache
591 size, maximum number of processors that SMP engines can use, and
592 where to find the Polyglot adapter needed to run UCI engines
593 under XBoard. The feature that allows setting of these parame‐
594 ters on engines is new since XBoard 4.3.15, so not many
595 XBoard/WinBoard engines respond to it yet, but UCI engines
596 should. It is also possible to specify a GUI opening book here,
597 i.e. an opening book that XBoard consults for any position a
598 playing engine gets in. It then forces the engine to play the
599 book move, rather than to think up its own, if that position is
600 found in the book. The book can switched on and off indepen‐
601 dently for either engine.
602 Time Control
604 Pops up a sub-menu where you can set the time-control parameters
605 interactively. Allows you to select classical or incremental
606 time controls, set the moves per session, session duration, and
607 time increment. Also allows specification of time-odds factors
608 for one or both engines. If an engine is given a time-odds fac‐
609 tor N, all time quota it gets, be it at the beginning of a ses‐
610 sion or through the time increment or fixed time per move, will
611 be divided by N.
612 Always Queen
614 If this option is off, XBoard brings up a dialog box whenever
615 you move a pawn to the last rank, asking what piece you want to
616 promote it to. If the option is true, your pawns are always pro‐
617 moted to queens. Your opponent can still under-promote.
618 Animate Dragging
620 If Animate Dragging is on, while you are dragging a piece with
621 the mouse, an image of the piece follows the mouse cursor. If
622 Animate Dragging is off, there is no visual feedback while you
623 are dragging a piece, but if Animate Moving is on, the move will
624 be animated when it is complete.
625 Animate Moving
627 If Animate Moving is on, all piece moves are animated. An image
628 of the piece is shown moving from the old square to the new
629 square when the move is completed (unless the move was already
630 animated by Animate Dragging). If Animate Moving is off, a
631 moved piece instantly disappears from its old square and reap‐
632 pears on its new square when the move is complete.
633 Auto Comment
635 If this option is on, any remarks made on ICS while you are
636 observing or playing a game are recorded as a comment on the
637 current move. This includes remarks made with the ICS commands
638 `say', `tell', `whisper', and `kibitz'. Limitation: remarks
639 that you type yourself are not recognized; XBoard scans only the
640 output from ICS, not the input you type to it.
641 Auto Flag
643 If this option is on and one player runs out of time before the
644 other, XBoard will automatically call his flag, claiming a win
645 on time. In ICS mode, Auto Flag will only call your opponent's
646 flag, not yours, and the ICS may award you a draw instead of a
647 win if you have insufficient mating material. In local chess
648 engine mode, XBoard may call either player's flag and will not
649 take material into account.
650 Auto Flip View
652 If the Auto Flip View option is on when you start a game, the
653 board will be automatically oriented so that your pawns move
654 from the bottom of the window towards the top.
655 Auto Observe
657 If this option is on and you add a player to your `gnotify' list
658 on ICS, XBoard will automatically observe all of that player's
659 games, unless you are doing something else (such as observing or
660 playing a game of your own) when one starts. The games are dis‐
661 played from the point of view of the player on your gnotify
662 list; that is, his pawns move from the bottom of the window
663 towards the top. Exceptions: If both players in a game are on
664 your gnotify list, if your ICS `highlight' variable is set to 0,
665 or if the ICS you are using does not properly support observing
666 from Black's point of view, you will see the game from White's
667 point of view.
668 Auto Raise Board
670 If this option is on, whenever a new game begins, the chessboard
671 window is deiconized (if necessary) and raised to the top of the
672 stack of windows.
673 Auto Save
675 If this option is true, at the end of every game XBoard prompts
676 you for a file name and appends a record of the game to the file
677 you specify. Disabled if the `saveGameFile' command-line option
678 is set, as in that case all games are saved to the specified
679 file. See Load and Save options.
680 Blindfold
682 If this option is on, XBoard displays the board as usual but
683 does not display pieces or move highlights. You can still move
684 in the usual way (with the mouse or by typing moves in ICS
685 mode), even though the pieces are invisible.
686 Flash Moves
688 If this option is on, whenever a move is completed, the moved
689 piece flashes. The number of times to flash is set by the
690 flashCount command-line option; it defaults to 3 if Flash Moves
691 is first turned on from the menu.
692 If you are playing a game on an ICS, the board is always ori‐
694 ented at the start of the game so that your pawns move from the
695 bottom of the window towards the top. Otherwise, the starting
696 orientation is determined by the `flipView' command line option;
697 if it is false (the default), White's pawns move from bottom to
698 top at the start of each game; if it is true, Black's pawns move
699 from bottom to top. See User interface options.
700 Get Move List
702 If this option is on, whenever XBoard receives the first board
703 of a new ICS game (or a different game from the one it is cur‐
704 rently displaying), it retrieves the list of past moves from the
705 ICS. You can then review the moves with the `Forward' and
706 `Backward' commands or save them with `Save Game'. You might
707 want to turn off this option if you are observing several blitz
708 games at once, to keep from wasting time and network bandwidth
709 fetching the move lists over and over. When you turn this
710 option on from the menu, XBoard immediately fetches the move
711 list of the current game (if any).
712 Highlight Last Move
714 If Highlight Last Move is on, after a move is made, the starting
715 and ending squares remain highlighted. In addition, after you
716 use Backward or Back to Start, the starting and ending squares
717 of the last move to be unmade are highlighted.
718 Move Sound
720 If this option is on, XBoard alerts you by playing a sound after
721 each of your opponent's moves (or after every move if you are
722 observing a game on the Internet Chess Server). The sound is
723 not played after moves you make or moves read from a saved game
724 file. By default, the sound is the terminal bell, but on some
725 systems you can change it to a sound file using the soundMove
726 option; see below.
727 If you turn on this option when using XBoard with the Internet
729 Chess Server, you will probably want to give the `set bell 0'
730 command to the ICS, since otherwise the ICS will ring the termi‐
731 nal bell after every move (not just yours). (The `.icsrc' file
732 is a good place for this; see ICS options.)
733 ICS Alarm
735 When this option is on, an alarm sound is played when your clock
736 counts down to the icsAlarmTime (by default, 5 seconds) in an
737 ICS game. For games with time controls that include an incre‐
738 ment, the alarm will sound each time the clock counts down to
739 the icsAlarmTime. By default, the alarm sound is the terminal
740 bell, but on some systems you can change it to a sound file
741 using the soundIcsAlarm option; see below.
742 Old Save Style
744 If this option is off, XBoard saves games in PGN (portable game
745 notation) and positions in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation). If
746 the option is on, a save style that is compatible with older
747 versions of XBoard is used instead. The old position style is
748 more human-readable than FEN; the old game style has no particu‐
749 lar advantages.
750 Periodic Updates
752 If this option is off (or if you are using a chess engine that
753 does not support periodic updates), the analysis window will
754 only be updated when the analysis changes. If this option is on,
755 the Analysis Window will be updated every two seconds.
756 Ponder Next Move
758 If this option is off, the chess engine will think only when it
759 is on move. If the option is on, the engine will also think
760 while waiting for you to make your move.
761 Popup Exit Message
763 If this option is on, when XBoard wants to display a message
764 just before exiting, it brings up a modal dialog box and waits
765 for you to click OK before exiting. If the option is off,
766 XBoard prints the message to standard error (the terminal) and
767 exits immediately.
768 Popup Move Errors
770 If this option is off, when you make an error in moving (such as
771 attempting an illegal move or moving the wrong color piece), the
772 error message is displayed in the message area. If the option
773 is on, move errors are displayed in small pop-up windows like
774 other errors. You can dismiss an error pop-up either by click‐
775 ing its OK button or by clicking anywhere on the board, includ‐
776 ing down-clicking to start a move.
777 Premove
779 If this option is on while playing a game on an ICS, you can
780 register your next planned move before it is your turn. Move
781 the piece with the mouse in the ordinary way, and the starting
782 and ending squares will be highlighted with a special color (red
783 by default). When it is your turn, if your registered move is
784 legal, XBoard will send it to ICS immediately; if not, it will
785 be ignored and you can make a different move. If you change
786 your mind about your premove, either make a different move, or
787 double-click on any piece to cancel the move entirely.
788 Quiet Play
790 If this option is on, XBoard will automatically issue an ICS
791 `set shout 0' command whenever you start a game and a `set shout
792 1' command whenever you finish one. Thus, you will not be dis‐
793 tracted by shouts from other ICS users while playing.
794 Show Coords
796 If this option is on, XBoard displays algebraic coordinates
797 along the board's left and bottom edges.
798 Hide Thinking
800 If this option is off, the chess engine's notion of the score
801 and best line of play from the current position is displayed as
802 it is thinking. The score indicates how many pawns ahead (or if
803 negative, behind) the chess engine thinks it is. In matches
804 between two machines, the score is prefixed by `W' or `B' to
805 indicate whether it is showing White's thinking or Black's, and
806 only the thinking of the engine that is on move is shown.
807 Test Legality
809 If this option is on, XBoard tests whether the moves you try to
810 make with the mouse are legal and refuses to let you make an
811 illegal move. Moves loaded from a file with `Load Game' are
812 also checked. If the option is off, all moves are accepted, but
813 if a local chess engine or the ICS is active, they will still
814 reject illegal moves. Turning off this option is useful if you
815 are playing a chess variant with rules that XBoard does not
816 understand. (Bughouse, suicide, and wild variants where the
817 king may castle after starting on the d file are generally sup‐
818 ported with Test Legality on.)
819 Help Menu
821 Info XBoard
822 Displays the XBoard documentation in info format. For this fea‐
823 ture to work, you must have the GNU info program installed on
824 your system, and the file `xboard.info' must either be present
825 in the current working directory, or have been installed by the
826 `make install' command when you built XBoard.
827 Man XBoard
829 Displays the XBoard documentation in man page format. For this
830 feature to work, the file `xboard.6' must have been installed by
831 the `make install' command when you built XBoard, and the direc‐
832 tory it was placed in must be on the search path for your sys‐
833 tem's `man' command.
834 Hint Displays a move hint from the chess engine.
836 Book Displays a list of possible moves from the chess engine's open‐
838 ing book. The exact format depends on what chess engine you are
839 using. With GNU Chess 4, the first column gives moves, the sec‐
840 ond column gives one possible response for each move, and the
841 third column shows the number of lines in the book that include
842 the move from the first column. If you select this option and
843 nothing happens, the chess engine is out of its book or does not
844 support this feature.
845 About XBoard
847 Shows the current XBoard version number.
848 Other Shortcut Keys
850 Iconize
851 Pressing the `i' or `c' key iconizes XBoard. The graphical icon
852 displays a white knight if it is White's move, or a black knight
853 if it is Black's move. If your X window manager displays only
854 text icons, not graphical ones, check its documentation; there
855 is probably a way to enable graphical icons. If you get black
856 and white reversed, we would like to hear about it; see Problems
857 below for instructions on how to report this problem.
858 You can add or remove shortcut keys using the X resources `form.trans‐
860 lations'. Here is an example of what would go in your `.Xresources'
861 file:
862 XBoard*form.translations: \
864 Shift<Key>?: AboutGameProc() \n\
865 <Key>y: AcceptProc() \n\
866 <Key>n: DeclineProc() \n\
867 <Key>i: NothingProc()
868 Binding a key to `NothingProc' makes it do nothing, thus removing it as
870 a shortcut key. The XBoard commands that can be bound to keys are:
871 AbortProc, AboutGameProc, AboutProc, AcceptProc, AdjournProc,
873 AlwaysQueenProc, AnalysisModeProc, AnalyzeFileProc,
874 AnimateDraggingProc, AnimateMovingProc, AutobsProc, AutoflagProc,
875 AutoflipProc, AutoraiseProc, AutosaveProc, BackwardProc,
876 BlindfoldProc, BookProc, CallFlagProc, CopyGameProc, CopyPositionProc,
877 DebugProc, DeclineProc, DrawProc, EditCommentProc, EditGameProc,
878 EditPositionProc, EditTagsProc, EnterKeyProc, FlashMovesProc,
879 FlipViewProc, ForwardProc, GetMoveListProc, HighlightLastMoveProc,
880 HintProc, Iconify, IcsAlarmProc, IcsClientProc, IcsInputBoxProc,
881 InfoProc, LoadGameProc, LoadNextGameProc, LoadNextPositionProc,
882 LoadPositionProc, LoadPrevGameProc, LoadPrevPositionProc,
883 LoadSelectedProc, MachineBlackProc, MachineWhiteProc, MailMoveProc,
884 ManProc, MoveNowProc, MoveSoundProc, NothingProc, OldSaveStyleProc,
885 PasteGameProc, PastePositionProc, PauseProc, PeriodicUpdatesProc,
886 PonderNextMoveProc, PopupExitMessageProc, PopupMoveErrorsProc,
887 PremoveProc, QuietPlayProc, QuitProc, ReloadCmailMsgProc,
888 ReloadGameProc, ReloadPositionProc, RematchProc, ResetProc,
889 ResignProc, RetractMoveProc, RevertProc, SaveGameProc,
890 SavePositionProc, ShowCoordsProc, ShowGameListProc, ShowThinkingProc,
891 StopExaminingProc, StopObservingProc, TestLegalityProc, ToEndProc,
892 ToStartProc, TrainingProc, TruncateGameProc, and TwoMachinesProc.
893
896 This section documents the command-line options to XBoard. You can set
897 these options in two ways: by typing them on the shell command line you
898 use to start XBoard, or by setting them as X resources (typically in
899 your `.Xresources' file). Many of the options cannot be changed while
900 XBoard is running; others set the initial state of items that can be
901 changed with the Options menu.
902 Most of the options have both a long name and a short name. To turn a
904 boolean option on or off from the command line, either give its long
905 name followed by the value true or false (`-longOptionName true'), or
906 give just the short name to turn the option on (`-opt'), or the short
907 name preceded by `x' to turn the option off (`-xopt'). For options that
908 take strings or numbers as values, you can use the long or short option
909 names interchangeably.
910 Each option corresponds to an X resource with the same name, so if you
912 like, you can set options in your `.Xresources' file or in a file named
913 `XBoard' in your home directory. For options that have two names, the
914 longer one is the name of the corresponding X resource; the short name
915 is not recognized. To turn a boolean option on or off as an X
916 resource, give its long name followed by the value true or false
917 (`XBoard*longOptionName: true').
918 Chess Engine Options
921 -tc or -timeControl minutes[:seconds]
922 Each player begins with his clock set to the `timeControl'
923 period. Default: 5 minutes. The additional options `movesPerS‐
924 ession' and `timeIncrement' are mutually exclusive.
925 -mps or -movesPerSession moves
927 When both players have made `movesPerSession' moves, a new
928 `timeControl' period is added to both clocks. Default: 40
929 moves.
930 -inc or -timeIncrement seconds
932 If this option is specified, `movesPerSession' is ignored.
933 Instead, after each player's move, `timeIncrement' seconds are
934 added to his clock. Use `-inc 0' if you want to require the
935 entire game to be played in one `timeControl' period, with no
936 increment. Default: -1, which specifies `movesPerSession' mode.
937 -clock/-xclock or -clockMode true/false
939 Determines whether or not to display the chess clocks. If clock‐
940 Mode is false, the clocks are not shown, but the side that is to
941 play next is still highlighted. Also, unless `searchTime' is
942 set, the chess engine still keeps track of the clock time and
943 uses it to determine how fast to make its moves.
944 -st or -searchTime minutes[:seconds]
946 Tells the chess engine to spend at most the given amount of time
947 searching for each of its moves. Without this option, the chess
948 engine chooses its search time based on the number of moves and
949 amount of time remaining until the next time control. Setting
950 this option also sets clockMode to false.
951 -depth or -searchDepth number
953 Tells the chess engine to look ahead at most the given number of
954 moves when searching for a move to make. Without this option,
955 the chess engine chooses its search depth based on the number of
956 moves and amount of time remaining until the next time control.
957 With the option, the engine will cut off its search early if it
958 reaches the specified depth.
959 -firstNPS number
961 -secondNPS number
962 Tells the chess engine to use an internal time standard based on
963 its node count, rather then wall-clock time, to make its timing
964 decisions. The time in virtual seconds should be obtained by
965 dividing the node count through the given number, like the num‐
966 ber was a rate in nodes per second. Xboard will manage the
967 clocks in accordance with this, relying on the number of nodes
968 reported by the engine in its thinking output. If the given num‐
969 ber equals zero, it can obviously not be used to convert nodes
970 to seconds, and the time reported by the engine is used to
971 decrement the XBoard clock in stead. The engine is supposed to
972 report in CPU time it uses, rather than wall-clock time, in this
973 mode. This option can provide fairer conditions for engine-
974 engine matches on heavily loaded machines, or with very fast
975 games (where the wall clock is too inaccurate). `showThinking'
976 must be on for this option to work. Default: -1 (off). Not many
977 engines might support this yet!
978 -firstTimeOdds factor
980 -secondTimeOdds factor
981 Reduces the time given to the mentioned engine by the given fac‐
982 tor. If pondering is off, the effect is indistinguishable from
983 what would happen if the engine was running on an n-times slower
984 machine. Default: 1.
985 -timeOddsMode mode
987 This option determines how the case is handled where both
988 engines have a time-odds handicap. If mode=1, the engine that
989 gets the most time will always get the nominal time, as speci‐
990 fied by the time-control options, and its opponent's time is
991 renormalized accordingly. If mode=0, both play with reduced
992 time. Default: 0.
993 -hideThinkingFromHuman true/false
995 Controls the Hide Thinking option. See Options Menu. Default:
996 true. (Replaces the Show-Thinking option of older xboard ver‐
997 sions.)
998 -thinking/-xthinking or -showThinking true/false
1000 Forces the engine to send thinking output to xboard. Used to be
1001 the only way to control if thinking output was displayed in
1002 older xboard versions, but as the thinking output in xboard 4.3
1003 is also used for several other purposes (adjudication, storing
1004 in PGN file) the display of it is now controlled by the new
1005 option Hide Thinking. See Options Menu. Default: false. (But if
1006 xboard needs the thinking output for some purpose, it makes the
1007 engine send it despite the setting of this option.)
1008 -ponder/-xponder or -ponderNextMove true/false
1010 Sets the Ponder Next Move menu option. See Options Menu.
1011 Default: true.
1012 -smpCores number
1014 Specifies the maximum number of CPUs an SMP engine is allowed to
1015 use. Only works for engines that support the XBoard/WinBoard-
1016 protocol cores feature.
1017 -mg or -matchGames n
1019 Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines,
1020 with alternating colors. If the `loadGameFile' or `loadPosi‐
1021 tionFile' option is set, XBoard starts each game with the given
1022 opening moves or the given position; otherwise, the games start
1023 with the standard initial chess position. If the `saveGameFile'
1024 option is set, a move record for the match is appended to the
1025 specified file. If the `savePositionFile' option is set, the
1026 final position reached in each game of the match is appended to
1027 the specified file. When the match is over, XBoard displays the
1028 match score and exits. Default: 0 (do not run a match).
1029 -mm/-xmm or -matchMode true/false
1031 Setting `matchMode' to true is equivalent to setting
1032 `matchGames' to 1.
1033 -sameColorGames n
1035 Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines,
1036 without alternating colors. Otherwise the same applies as for
1037 the `-matchGames' option, over which it takes precedence if both
1038 are specified. (See there.) Default: 0 (do not run a match).
1039 -fcp or -firstChessProgram program
1041 Name of first chess engine. Default: `Fairy-Max'.
1042 -scp or -secondChessProgram program
1044 Name of second chess engine, if needed. A second chess engine
1045 is started only in Two Machines (match) mode. Default: `Fairy-
1046 Max'.
1047 -fb/-xfb or -firstPlaysBlack true/false
1049 In games between two chess engines, firstChessProgram normally
1050 plays white. If this option is true, firstChessProgram plays
1051 black. In a multi-game match, this option affects the colors
1052 only for the first game; they still alternate in subsequent
1053 games.
1054 -fh or -firstHost host
1056 -sh or -secondHost host
1057 Hosts on which the chess engines are to run. The default for
1058 each is `localhost'. If you specify another host, XBoard uses
1059 `rsh' to run the chess engine there. (You can substitute a dif‐
1060 ferent remote shell program for rsh using the `remoteShell'
1061 option described below.)
1062 -fd or -firstDirectory dir
1064 -sd or -secondDirectory dir
1065 Working directories in which the chess engines are to be run.
1066 The default is "", which means to run the chess engine in the
1067 same working directory as XBoard itself. (See the CHESSDIR
1068 environment variable.) This option is effective only when the
1069 chess engine is being run on the local host; it does not work if
1070 the engine is run remotely using the -fh or -sh option.
1071 -initString string
1073 -secondInitString string
1074 The string that is sent to initialize each chess engine for a
1075 new game. Default:
1076 new
1078 random
1079 Setting this option from the command line is tricky, because you
1081 must type in real newline characters, including one at the very
1082 end. In most shells you can do this by entering a `\' character
1083 followed by a newline. It is easier to set the option from your
1084 `.Xresources' file; in that case you can include the character
1085 sequence `\n' in the string, and it will be converted to a new‐
1086 line.
1087 If you change this option, don't remove the `new' command; it is
1089 required by all chess engines to start a new game.
1090 You can remove the `random' command if you like; including it
1092 causes GNU Chess 4 to randomize its move selection slightly so
1093 that it doesn't play the same moves in every game. Even without
1094 `random', GNU Chess 4 randomizes its choice of moves from its
1095 opening book. Many other chess engines ignore this command
1096 entirely and always (or never) randomize.
1097 You can also try adding other commands to the initString; see
1099 the documentation of the chess engine you are using for details.
1100 -firstComputerString string
1102 -secondComputerString string
1103 The string that is sent to the chess engine if its opponent is
1104 another computer chess engine. The default is `computer\n'.
1105 Probably the only useful alternative is the empty string (`'),
1106 which keeps the engine from knowing that it is playing another
1107 computer.
1108 -reuse/-xreuse or -reuseFirst true/false
1110 -reuse2/-xreuse2 or -reuseSecond true/false
1111 If the option is false, XBoard kills off the chess engine after
1112 every game and starts it again for the next game. If the option
1113 is true (the default), XBoard starts the chess engine only once
1114 and uses it repeatedly to play multiple games. Some old chess
1115 engines may not work properly when reuse is turned on, but oth‐
1116 erwise games will start faster if it is left on.
1117 -firstProtocolVersion version-number
1119 -secondProtocolVersion version-number
1120 This option specifies which version of the chess engine communi‐
1121 cation protocol to use. By default, version-number is 2. In
1122 version 1, the "protover" command is not sent to the engine;
1123 since version 1 is a subset of version 2, nothing else changes.
1124 Other values for version-number are not supported.
1125 -firstScoreAbs true/false
1127 -secondScoreAbs true/false
1128 If this option is set, the score reported by the engine is taken
1129 to be that in favor of white, even when the engine plays black.
1130 Important when XBoard uses the score for adjudications, or in
1131 PGN reporting.
1132 -niceEngines priority
1134 This option allows you to lower the priority of the engine pro‐
1135 cesses, so that the generally insatiable hunger for CPU time of
1136 chess engines does not interfere so much with smooth operation
1137 of XBoard (or the rest of your system). Negative values could
1138 increase the engine priority, which is not recommended.
1139 -firstOptions string
1141 -secondOptions string
1142 The given string is a comma-separated list of (option
1143 name=option value) pairs, like the following example:
1144 "style=Karpov,blunder rate=0". If an option announced by the
1145 engine at startup through the feature commands of the
1146 XBoard/WinBoard protocol matches one of the option names (i.e.
1147 "style" or "blunder rate"), it would be set to the given value
1148 (i.e. "Karpov" or 0) through a corresponding option command to
1149 the engine. This provided that the type of the value (text or
1150 numeric) matches as well.
1151 -firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
1153 -secondNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
1154 The castling rights and e.p. fields of the FEN sent to the men‐
1155 tioned engine with the setboard command will be replaced by the
1156 given string. This can for instance be used to run engines that
1157 do not understand Chess960 FENs in variant fischerandom, to make
1158 them at least understand the opening position, through setting
1159 the string to "KQkq -". (Note you also have to give the e.p.
1160 field!) Other possible applications are to provide work-arounds
1161 for engines that want to see castling and e.p. fields in vari‐
1162 ants that do not have castling or e.p. (shatranj, courier,
1163 xiangqi, shogi) so that XBoard would normally omit them (string
1164 = "- -"), or to add variant-specific fields that are not yet
1165 supported by XBoard (e.g. to indicate the number of checks in
1166 3check).
1167 UCI + WB Engine Settings
1169 -fUCI or -firstIsUCI true/false
1170 -sUCI or -secondIsUCI true/false
1171 Indicates if the mentioned engine executable file is an UCI
1172 engine, and should be run with the aid of the Polyglot adapter
1173 rather than directly. Xboard will then pass the other UCI
1174 options and engine name to Polyglot through a .ini temporary
1175 file created for the purpose.
1176 -PolyglotDir filename
1178 Gives the name of the directory in which the Polyglot adapter
1179 for UCI engines expects its files. Default:
1180 "/usr/local/share/polyglot".
1181 -usePolyglotBook true/false
1183 Specifies if the Polyglot book should be used.
1184 -PolyglotBook filename
1186 Gives the filename of the opening book that Polyglot should use.
1187 From XBoard 4.3.15 on, native XBoard/WinBoard engines will also
1188 use the opening book specified here, provided the `usePolyglot‐
1189 Book' option is set to true, and the option `firstHasOwnBookUCI'
1190 or `secondHasOwnBookUCI' applying to the engine is set to false.
1191 The engine will be kept in force mode as long as the current
1192 position is in book, and XBoard will select the book moves for
1193 it. Default "".
1194 -fNoOwnBookUCI or -firstXBook or -firstHasOwnBookUCI true/false
1196 -sNoOwnBookUCI or -secondXBook or -secondHasOwnBookUCI true/false
1197 Indicates if the mentioned engine has its own opening book it
1198 should play from, rather than using the external book through
1199 XBoard. Default: false.
1200 -defaultHashSize n
1202 Sets the size of the hash table to n MegaBytes. Together with
1203 the EGTB cache size this number is also used to calculate the
1204 memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines, for those that sup‐
1205 port the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol.
1206 Default: 64.
1207 -defaultCacheSizeEGTB n
1209 Sets the size of the EGTB cache to n MegaBytes. Together with
1210 the hash-table size this number is also used to calculate the
1211 memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines, for those that sup‐
1212 port the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol.
1213 Default: 4.
1214 -defaultPathEGTB filename
1216 Gives the name of the directory where the end-game tablebases
1217 are installed, for UCI engines. Default:
1218 "/usr/local/share/egtb".
1219 -egtFormats string
1221 Specifies which end-game tables are installed on the computer,
1222 and where. The argument is a comma-separated list of format
1223 specifications, each specification consisting of a format name,
1224 a colon, and a directory path name, e.g. "nal‐
1225 imov:/usr/local/share/egtb". If the name part matches that of a
1226 format that the engine requests through a feature command,
1227 xboard will relay the path name for this format to the engine
1228 through an egtpath command. One egtpath command for each match‐
1229 ing format will be sent. Popular formats are "nalimov" DTM
1230 tablebases and "scorpio" bitbases. Default: "".
1231 ICS options
1233 -ics/-xics or -internetChessServerMode true/false
1234 Connect with an Internet Chess Server to play chess against its
1235 other users, observe games they are playing, or review games
1236 that have recently finished. Default: false.
1237 -icshost or -internetChessServerHost host
1239 The Internet host name or address of the chess server to connect
1240 to when in ICS mode. Default: `chessclub.com'. Another popular
1241 chess server to try is `freechess.org'. If your site doesn't
1242 have a working Internet name server, try specifying the host
1243 address in numeric form. You may also need to specify the
1244 numeric address when using the icshelper option with timestamp
1245 or timeseal (see below).
1246 -icsport or -internetChessServerPort port-number
1248 The port number to use when connecting to a chess server in ICS
1249 mode. Default: 5000.
1250 -icshelper or -internetChessServerHelper prog-name
1252 An external helper program used to communicate with the chess
1253 server. You would set it to "timestamp" for ICC (chessclub.com)
1254 or "timeseal" for FICS (freechess.org), after obtaining the cor‐
1255 rect version of timestamp or timeseal for your computer. See
1256 "help timestamp" on ICC and "help timeseal" on FICS. This
1257 option is shorthand for `-useTelnet -telnetProgram program'.
1258 -telnet/-xtelnet or -useTelnet true/false
1260 This option is poorly named; it should be called useHelper. If
1261 set to true, it instructs XBoard to run an external program to
1262 communicate with the Internet Chess Server. The program to use
1263 is given by the telnetProgram option. If the option is false
1264 (the default), XBoard opens a TCP socket and uses its own inter‐
1265 nal implementation of the telnet protocol to communicate with
1266 the ICS. See Firewalls.
1267 -telnetProgram prog-name
1269 This option is poorly named; it should be called helperProgram.
1270 It gives the name of the telnet program to be used with the
1271 `gateway' and `useTelnet' options. The default is `telnet'. The
1272 telnet program is invoked with the value of `inter‐
1273 netChessServerHost' as its first argument and the value of
1274 `internetChessServerPort' as its second argument. See Fire‐
1275 walls.
1276 -gateway host-name
1278 If this option is set to a host name, XBoard communicates with
1279 the Internet Chess Server by using `rsh' to run the `telnetPro‐
1280 gram' on the given host, instead of using its own internal
1281 implementation of the telnet protocol. You can substitute a dif‐
1282 ferent remote shell program for `rsh' using the `remoteShell'
1283 option described below. See Firewalls.
1284 -internetChessServerCommPort or -icscomm dev-name
1286 If this option is set, XBoard communicates with the ICS through
1287 the given character I/O device instead of opening a TCP connec‐
1288 tion. Use this option if your system does not have any kind of
1289 Internet connection itself (not even a SLIP or PPP connection),
1290 but you do have dial-up access (or a hardwired terminal line) to
1291 an Internet service provider from which you can telnet to the
1292 ICS.
1293 The support for this option in XBoard is minimal. You need to
1295 set all communication parameters and tty modes before you enter
1296 XBoard.
1297 Use a script something like this:
1299 stty raw -echo 9600 > /dev/tty00
1301 xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/tty00
1302 Here replace `/dev/tty00' with the name of the device that your
1304 modem is connected to. You might have to add several more
1305 options to these stty commands. See the man pages for `stty' and
1306 `tty' if you run into problems. Also, on many systems stty works
1307 on its standard input instead of standard output, so you have to
1308 use `<' instead of `>'.
1309 If you are using linux, try starting with the script below.
1311 Change it as necessary for your installation.
1312 #!/bin/sh -f
1314 # configure modem and fire up XBoard
1315 # configure modem
1317 (
1318 stty 2400 ; stty raw ; stty hupcl ; stty -clocal
1319 stty ignbrk ; stty ignpar ; stty ixon ; stty ixoff
1320 stty -iexten ; stty -echo
1321 ) < /dev/modem
1322 xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/modem
1323 After you start XBoard in this way, type whatever commands are
1325 necessary to dial out to your Internet provider and log in.
1326 Then telnet to ICS, using a command like `telnet chessclub.com
1327 5000'. Important: See the paragraph below about extra echoes,
1328 in Limitations.
1329 -icslogon or -internetChessServerLogonScript file-name
1331 Whenever XBoard connects to the Internet Chess Server, if it
1332 finds a file with the name given in this option, it feeds the
1333 file's contents to the ICS as commands. The default file name is
1334 `.icsrc'. Usually the first two lines of the file should be
1335 your ICS user name and password. The file can be either in
1336 $CHESSDIR, in XBoard's working directory if CHESSDIR is not set,
1337 or in your home directory.
1338 -msLoginDelay delay
1340 If you experience trouble logging on to an ICS when using the
1341 `-icslogon' option, inserting some delay between characters of
1342 the logon script may help. This option adds `delay' milliseconds
1343 of delay between characters. Good values to try are 100 and 250.
1344 -icsinput/-xicsinput or -internetChessServerInputBox true/false
1346 Sets the ICS Input Box menu option. See Mode Menu. Default:
1347 false.
1348 -autocomm/-xautocomm or -autoComment true/false
1350 Sets the Auto Comment menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1351 false.
1352 -autoflag/-xautoflag or -autoCallFlag true/false
1354 Sets the Auto Flag menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1355 false.
1356 -autobs/-xautobs or -autoObserve true/false
1358 Sets the Auto Observe menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1359 false.
1360 -autoKibitz
1362 Enables kibitzing of the engines last thinking output (depth,
1363 score, time, speed, PV) before it moved to the ICS, in zippy
1364 mode. The option `showThinking' must be switched on for this
1365 option to work. Also diverts similar kibitz information of an
1366 opponent engine that is playing you through the ICS to the
1367 engine-output window, as if the engine was playing locally.
1368 -moves/-xmoves or -getMoveList true/false
1370 Sets the Get Move List menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1371 true.
1372 -alarm/-xalarm or -icsAlarm true/false
1374 Sets the ICS Alarm menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1375 true.
1376 -icsAlarmTime ms
1378 Sets the time in milliseconds for the ICS Alarm menu option.
1379 See Options Menu. Default: 5000.
1380 lowTimeWarning true/false
1382 Controls a color change of the board as a warning your time is
1383 running out. See Options Menu. Default: false.
1384 -pre/-xpre or -premove true/false
1386 Sets the Premove menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
1387 -quiet/-xquiet or -quietPlay true/false
1389 Sets the Quiet Play menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1390 false.
1391 -colorizeMessages or -colorize
1393 Setting colorizeMessages to true tells XBoard to colorize the
1394 messages received from the ICS. Colorization works only if your
1395 xterm supports ISO 6429 escape sequences for changing text col‐
1396 ors.
1397 -colorShout foreground,background,bold
1399 -colorSShout foreground,background,bold
1400 -colorChannel1 foreground,background,bold
1401 -colorChannel foreground,background,bold
1402 -colorKibitz foreground,background,bold
1403 -colorTell foreground,background,bold
1404 -colorChallege foreground,background,bold
1405 -colorRequest foreground,background,bold
1406 -colorSeek foreground,background,bold
1407 -colorNormal foreground,background,bold
1408 These options set the colors used when colorizing ICS messages.
1409 All ICS messages are grouped into one of these categories:
1410 shout, sshout, channel 1, other channel, kibitz, tell, chal‐
1411 lenge, request (including abort, adjourn, draw, pause, and take‐
1412 back), or normal (all other messages).
1413 Each foreground or background argument can be one of the follow‐
1415 ing: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, or
1416 default. Here ``default'' means the default foreground or back‐
1417 ground color of your xterm. Bold can be 1 or 0. If background
1418 is omitted, ``default'' is assumed; if bold is omitted, 0 is
1419 assumed.
1420 Here is an example of how to set the colors in your `.Xre‐
1422 sources' file. The colors shown here are the default values;
1423 you will get them if you turn `-colorize' on without specifying
1424 your own colors.
1425 xboard*colorizeMessages: true
1427 xboard*colorShout: green
1428 xboard*colorSShout: green, black, 1
1429 xboard*colorChannel1: cyan
1430 xboard*colorChannel: cyan, black, 1
1431 xboard*colorKibitz: magenta, black, 1
1432 xboard*colorTell: yellow, black, 1
1433 xboard*colorChallenge: red, black, 1
1434 xboard*colorRequest: red
1435 xboard*colorSeek: blue
1436 xboard*colorNormal: default
1437 -soundProgram progname
1439 If this option is set to a sound-playing program that is
1440 installed and working on your system, XBoard can play sound
1441 files when certain events occur, listed below. The default pro‐
1442 gram name is "play". If any of the sound options is set to "$",
1443 the event rings the terminal bell by sending a ^G character to
1444 standard output, instead of playing a sound file. If an option
1445 is set to the empty string "", no sound is played for that
1446 event.
1447 -soundShout filename
1449 -soundSShout filename
1450 -soundChannel filename
1451 -soundKibitz filename
1452 -soundTell filename
1453 -soundChallenge filename
1454 -soundRequest filename
1455 -soundSeek filename
1456 These sounds are triggered in the same way as the colorization
1457 events described above. They all default to "", no sound. They
1458 are played only if the colorizeMessages is on.
1459 -soundMove filename
1461 This sound is used by the Move Sound menu option. Default: "$".
1462 -soundIcsAlarm filename
1464 This sound is used by the ICS Alarm menu option. Default: "$".
1465 -soundIcsWin filename
1467 This sound is played when you win an ICS game. Default: "" (no
1468 sound).
1469 -soundIcsLoss filename
1471 This sound is played when you lose an ICS game. Default: "" (no
1472 sound).
1473 -soundIcsDraw filename
1475 This sound is played when you draw an ICS game. Default: "" (no
1476 sound).
1477 -soundIcsUnfinished filename
1479 This sound is played when an ICS game that you are participating
1480 in is aborted, adjourned, or otherwise ends inconclusively.
1481 Default: "" (no sound).
1482 Here is an example of how to set the sounds in your `.Xre‐
1484 sources' file:
1485 xboard*soundShout: shout.wav
1487 xboard*soundSShout: sshout.wav
1488 xboard*soundChannel1: channel1.wav
1489 xboard*soundChannel: channel.wav
1490 xboard*soundKibitz: kibitz.wav
1491 xboard*soundTell: tell.wav
1492 xboard*soundChallenge: challenge.wav
1493 xboard*soundRequest: request.wav
1494 xboard*soundSeek: seek.wav
1495 xboard*soundMove: move.wav
1496 xboard*soundIcsWin: win.wav
1497 xboard*soundIcsLoss: lose.wav
1498 xboard*soundIcsDraw: draw.wav
1499 xboard*soundIcsUnfinished: unfinished.wav
1500 xboard*soundIcsAlarm: alarm.wav
1501 Load and Save options
1503 -lgf or -loadGameFile file
1504 -lgi or -loadGameIndex index
1505 If the `loadGameFile' option is set, XBoard loads the specified
1506 game file at startup. The file name `-' specifies the standard
1507 input. If there is more than one game in the file, XBoard pops
1508 up a menu of the available games, with entries based on their
1509 PGN (Portable Game Notation) tags. If the `loadGameIndex'
1510 option is set to `N', the menu is suppressed and the N th game
1511 found in the file is loaded immediately. The menu is also sup‐
1512 pressed if `matchMode' is enabled or if the game file is a pipe;
1513 in these cases the first game in the file is loaded immediately.
1514 Use the `pxboard' shell script provided with XBoard if you want
1515 to pipe in files containing multiple games and still see the
1516 menu. If the loadGameIndex specifies an index -1, this triggers
1517 auto-increment of the index in `matchMode', which means that
1518 after every game the index is incremented by one, causing each
1519 game of the match to be played from the next game in the file.
1520 Similarly, specifying an index value of -2 causes the index to
1521 be incremented every two games, so that each game in the file is
1522 used twice (with reversed colors). The `rewindIndex' option
1523 causes the index to be reset to the first game of the file when
1524 it has reached a specified value.
1525 -rewindIndex n
1527 Causes a position file or game file to be rewound to its begin‐
1528 ning after n positions or games in auto-increment `matchMode'.
1529 See `loadPositionIndex' and `loadGameIndex'. default: 0 (no
1530 rewind).
1531 -td or -timeDelay seconds
1533 Time delay between moves during `Load Game'. Fractional seconds
1534 are allowed; try `-td 0.4'. A time delay value of -1 tells
1535 XBoard not to step through game files automatically. Default: 1
1536 second.
1537 -sgf or -saveGameFile file
1539 If this option is set, XBoard appends a record of every game
1540 played to the specified file. The file name `-' specifies the
1541 standard output.
1542 -autosave/-xautosave or -autoSaveGames true/false
1544 Sets the Auto Save menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1545 false. Ignored if `saveGameFile' is set.
1546 -lpf or -loadPositionFile file
1548 -lpi or -loadPositionIndex index
1549 If the `loadPositionFile' option is set, XBoard loads the speci‐
1550 fied position file at startup. The file name `-' specifies the
1551 standard input. If the `loadPositionIndex' option is set to N,
1552 the Nth position found in the file is loaded; otherwise the
1553 first position is loaded. If the loadPositionIndex specifies an
1554 index -1, this triggers auto-increment of the index in `match‐
1555 Mode', which means that after every game the index is incre‐
1556 mented by one, causing each game of the match to be played from
1557 the next position in the file. Similarly, specifying an index
1558 value of -2 causes the index to be incremented every two games,
1559 so that each position in the file is used twice (with the
1560 engines playing opposite colors). The `rewindIndex' option
1561 causes the index to be reset to the first position of the file
1562 when it has reached a specified value.
1563 -spf or -savePositionFile file
1565 If this option is set, XBoard appends the final position reached
1566 in every game played to the specified file. The file name `-'
1567 specifies the standard output.
1568 -pgnExtendedInfo true/false
1570 If this option is set, XBoard saves depth, score and time used
1571 for each move that the engine found as a comment in the PGN
1572 file. Default: false.
1573 -pgnEventHeader string
1575 Sets the name used in the PGN event tag to string. Default:
1576 "Computer Chess Game".
1577 -saveOutOfBookInfo true/false
1579 Include the information on how the engine(s) game out of its
1580 opening book in a special 'annotator' tag with the PGN file.
1581 -oldsave/-xoldsave or -oldSaveStyle true/false
1583 Sets the Old Save Style menu option. See Options Menu.
1584 Default: false.
1585 -gameListTags string
1587 The character string lists the PGN tags that should be printed
1588 in the Game List, and their order. The meaning of the codes is
1589 e=event, s=site, d=date, o=round, p=players, r=result, w=white
1590 Elo, b=black Elo, t=time control, v=variant, a=out-of-book info.
1591 Default: "eprd"
1592 User interface options
1594 -display
1595 -geometry
1596 -iconic
1597 These and most other standard Xt options are accepted.
1598 -noGUI Suppresses all GUI functions of XBoard (to speed up automated
1600 ultra-fast engine-engine games, which you dont want to watch).
1601 There will be no board or clock updates, no printing of moves,
1602 and no update of the icon on the task bar in this mode.
1603 -movesound/-xmovesound or -ringBellAfterMoves true/false
1605 Sets the Move Sound menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1606 false. For compatibility with old XBoard versions, -bell/-xbell
1607 are also accepted as abbreviations for this option.
1608 -exit/-xexit or -popupExitMessage true/false
1610 Sets the Popup Exit Message menu option. See Options Menu.
1611 Default: true.
1612 -popup/-xpopup or -popupMoveErrors true/false
1614 Sets the Popup Move Errors menu option. See Options Menu.
1615 Default: false.
1616 -queen/-xqueen or -alwaysPromoteToQueen true/false
1618 Sets the Always Queen menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1619 false.
1620 -legal/-xlegal or -testLegality true/false
1622 Sets the Test Legality menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1623 true.
1624 -size or -boardSize (sizeName | n1,n2,n3,n4,n5,n6,n7)
1626 Determines how large the board will be, by selecting the pixel
1627 size of the pieces and setting a few related parameters. The
1628 sizeName can be one of: Titanic, giving 129x129 pixel pieces,
1629 Colossal 116x116, Giant 108x108, Huge 95x95, Big 87x87, Large
1630 80x80, Bulky 72x72, Medium 64x64, Moderate 58x58, Average 54x54,
1631 Middling 49x49, Mediocre 45x45, Small 40x40, Slim 37x37, Petite
1632 33x33, Dinky 29x29, Teeny 25x25, or Tiny 21x21. Pieces of all
1633 these sizes are built into XBoard. Other sizes can be used if
1634 you have them; see the pixmapDirectory and bitmapDirectory
1635 options. The default depends on the size of your screen; it is
1636 approximately the largest size that will fit without clipping.
1637 You can select other sizes or vary other layout parameters by
1639 providing a list of comma-separated values (with no spaces) as
1640 the argument. You do not need to provide all the values; for
1641 any you omit from the end of the list, defaults are taken from
1642 the nearest built-in size. The value `n1' gives the piece size,
1643 `n2' the width of the black border between squares, `n3' the
1644 desired size for the clockFont, `n4' the desired size for the
1645 coordFont, `n5' the desired size for the default font, `n6' the
1646 smallLayout flag (0 or 1), and `n7' the tinyLayout flag (0 or
1647 1). All dimensions are in pixels. If the border between
1648 squares is eliminated (0 width), the various highlight options
1649 will not work, as there is nowhere to draw the highlight. If
1650 smallLayout is 1 and `titleInWindow' is true, the window layout
1651 is rearranged to make more room for the title. If tinyLayout is
1652 1, the labels on the menu bar are abbreviated to one character
1653 each and the buttons in the button bar are made narrower.
1654 -coords/-xcoords or -showCoords true/false
1656 Sets the Show Coords menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1657 false. The `coordFont' option specifies what font to use.
1658 -autoraise/-xautoraise or -autoRaiseBoard true/false
1660 Sets the Auto Raise Board menu option. See Options Menu.
1661 Default: true.
1662 -autoflip/-xautoflip or -autoFlipView true/false
1664 Sets the Auto Flip View menu option. See Options Menu.
1665 Default: true.
1666 -flip/-xflip or -flipView true/false
1668 If Auto Flip View is not set, or if you are observing but not
1669 participating in a game, then the positioning of the board at
1670 the start of each game depends on the flipView option. If
1671 flipView is false (the default), the board is positioned so that
1672 the white pawns move from the bottom to the top; if true, the
1673 black pawns move from the bottom to the top. In any case, the
1674 Flip menu option (see Options Menu) can be used to flip the
1675 board after the game starts.
1676 -title/-xtitle or -titleInWindow true/false
1678 If this option is true, XBoard displays player names (for ICS
1679 games) and game file names (for `Load Game') inside its main
1680 window. If the option is false (the default), this information
1681 is displayed only in the window banner. You probably won't want
1682 to set this option unless the information is not showing up in
1683 the banner, as happens with a few X window managers.
1684 -buttons/-xbuttons or -showButtonBar True/False
1686 If this option is False, xboard omits the [<<] [<] [P] [>] [>>]
1687 button bar from the window, allowing the message line to be
1688 wider. You can still get the functions of these buttons using
1689 the menus or their keyboard shortcuts. Default: true.
1690 -mono/-xmono or -monoMode true/false
1692 Determines whether XBoard displays its pieces and squares with
1693 two colors (true) or four (false). You shouldn't have to specify
1694 `monoMode'; XBoard will determine if it is necessary.
1695 -flashCount count
1697 -flashRate rate
1698 -flash/-xflash
1699 These options enable flashing of pieces when they land on their
1700 destination square. `flashCount' tells XBoard how many times to
1701 flash a piece after it lands on its destination square.
1702 `flashRate' controls the rate of flashing (flashes/sec). Abbre‐
1703 viations: `flash' sets flashCount to 3. `xflash' sets flash‐
1704 Count to 0. Defaults: flashCount=0 (no flashing), flashRate=5.
1705 -highlight/-xhighlight or -highlightLastMove true/false
1707 Sets the Highlight Last Move menu option. See Options Menu.
1708 Default: false.
1709 -blind/-xblind or -blindfold true/false
1711 Sets the Blindfold menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1712 false.
1713 -clockFont font
1715 The font used for the clocks. If the option value is a pattern
1716 that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an
1717 appropriate font for the board size being used. Default:
1718 -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
1719 -coordFont font
1721 The font used for rank and file coordinate labels if `showCo‐
1722 ords' is true. If the option value is a pattern that does not
1723 specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate
1724 font for the board size being used. Default: -*-helvetica-bold-
1725 r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
1726 -font font
1728 The font used for popup dialogs, menus, comments, etc. If the
1729 option value is a pattern that does not specify the font size,
1730 XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size
1731 being used. Default: -*-helvetica-medium-r-nor‐
1732 mal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
1733 -fontSizeTolerance tol
1735 In the font selection algorithm, a nonscalable font will be pre‐
1736 ferred over a scalable font if the nonscalable font's size dif‐
1737 fers by `tol' pixels or less from the desired size. A value of
1738 -1 will force a scalable font to always be used if available; a
1739 value of 0 will use a nonscalable font only if it is exactly the
1740 right size; a large value (say 1000) will force a nonscalable
1741 font to always be used if available. Default: 4.
1742 -bm or -bitmapDirectory dir
1744 -pixmap or -pixmapDirectory dir
1745 These options control what piece images xboard uses. The XBoard
1746 distribution includes one set of pixmap pieces in xpm format, in
1747 the directory `pixmaps', and one set of bitmap pieces in xbm
1748 format, in the directory `bitmaps'. Pixmap pieces give a better
1749 appearance on the screen: the white pieces have dark borders,
1750 and the black pieces have opaque internal details. With bit‐
1751 maps, neither piece color has a border, and the internal details
1752 are transparent; you see the square color or other background
1753 color through them.
1754 If XBoard is configured and compiled on a system that includes
1756 libXpm, the X pixmap library, the xpm pixmap pieces are compiled
1757 in as the default. A different xpm piece set can be selected at
1758 runtime with the `pixmapDirectory' option, or a bitmap piece set
1759 can be selected with the `bitmapDirectory' option.
1760 If XBoard is configured and compiled on a system that does not
1762 include libXpm (or the `--disable-xpm' option is given to the
1763 configure program), the bitmap pieces are compiled in as the
1764 default. It is not possible to use xpm pieces in this case, but
1765 pixmap pieces in another format called "xim" can be used by giv‐
1766 ing the `pixmapDirectory' option. Or again, a different bitmap
1767 piece set can be selected with the `bitmapDirectory' option.
1768 Files in the `bitmapDirectory' must be named as follows: The
1770 first character of a piece bitmap name gives the piece it repre‐
1771 sents (`p', `n', `b', `r', `q', or `k'), the next characters
1772 give the size in pixels, the following character indicates
1773 whether the piece is solid or outline (`s' or `o'), and the
1774 extension is `.bm'. For example, a solid 80x80 knight would be
1775 named `n80s.bm'. The outline bitmaps are used only in mono‐
1776 chrome mode. If bitmap pieces are compiled in and the bitmapDi‐
1777 rectory is missing some files, the compiled in pieces are used
1778 instead.
1779 If the bitmapDirectory option is given, it is also possible to
1781 replace xboard's icons and menu checkmark, by supplying files
1782 named `icon_white.bm', `icon_black.bm', and `checkmark.bm'.
1783 For more information about pixmap pieces and how to get addi‐
1785 tional sets, see zic2xpm below.
1786 -whitePieceColor color
1788 -blackPieceColor color
1789 -lightSquareColor color
1790 -darkSquareColor color
1791 -highlightSquareColor color
1792 -lowTimeWarningColor color
1793 Colors to use for the pieces, squares, and square highlights.
1794 Defaults:
1795 -whitePieceColor #FFFFCC
1797 -blackPieceColor #202020
1798 -lightSquareColor #C8C365
1799 -darkSquareColor #77A26D
1800 -highlightSquareColor #FFFF00
1801 -premoveHighlightColor #FF0000
1802 -lowTimeWarningColor #FF0000
1803 On a grayscale monitor you might prefer:
1805 -whitePieceColor gray100
1807 -blackPieceColor gray0
1808 -lightSquareColor gray80
1809 -darkSquareColor gray60
1810 -highlightSquareColor gray100
1811 -premoveHighlightColor gray70
1812 -lowTimeWarningColor gray70
1813 -drag/-xdrag or -animateDragging true/false
1815 Sets the Animate Dragging menu option. See Options Menu.
1816 Default: true.
1817 -animate/-xanimate or -animateMoving true/false
1819 Sets the Animate Moving menu option. See Options Menu. Default:
1820 true.
1821 -animateSpeed n
1823 Number of milliseconds delay between each animation frame when
1824 Animate Moves is on.
1825 -autoDisplayComment true/false
1827 -autoDisplayTags true/false
1828 If set to true, these options cause the window with the move
1829 comments, and the window with PGN tags, respectively, to pop up
1830 automatically when such tags or comments are encountered during
1831 the replaying a stored or loaded game. Default: true.
1832 -pasteSelection true/false
1834 If this option is set to true, the Paste Position and Paste Game
1835 options paste from the currently selected text. If false, they
1836 paste from the clipboard. Default: false.
1837 Adjudication Options
1839 -adjudicateLossThreshold n
1840 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a
1841 loss if both engines agree for a duration of 6 consecutive ply
1842 that the score is below the given score threshold for that
1843 engine. Make sure the score is interpreted properly by XBoard,
1844 using `-firstScoreAbs' and `-secondScoreAbs' if needed.
1845 Default: 0 (no adjudication)
1846 -adjudicateDrawMoves n
1848 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a
1849 draw if after the given number of moves it was not yet decided.
1850 Default: 0 (no adjudication)
1851 -checkMates true/false
1853 If this option is set, XBoard detects all checkmates and stale‐
1854 mates, and ends the game as soon as they occur. Legality-test‐
1855 ing must be switched on for this option to work. Default: true
1856 -testClaims true/false
1858 If this option is set, XBoard verifies all result claims made by
1859 engines, and those who send false claims will forfeit the game
1860 because of it. Legality-testing must be switched on for this
1861 option to work. Default: true
1862 -materialDraws true/false
1864 If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws when
1865 there is no sufficient material left to inflict a checkmate.
1866 This applies to KBKB with like bishops (any number, actually),
1867 and to KBK, KNK and KK. Legality-testing must be switched on
1868 for this option to work. Default: true
1869 -trivialDraws true/false
1871 If this option is set, XBoard adjudicates games as draws that
1872 cannot be usually won without opponent cooperation. This applies
1873 to KBKB with unlike bishops, and to KBKN, KNKN, KNNK, KRKR and
1874 KQKQ. The draw is called after 6 ply into these end-games, to
1875 allow quick mates that can occur in some exceptional positions
1876 to be found by the engines. KQKQ does not really belong in this
1877 category, and might be taken out in the future. (When bitbase-
1878 based adjudications are implemented.) Legality-testing must be
1879 on for this option to work. Default: false
1880 -ruleMoves n
1882 If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a
1883 draw after the given number of consecutive reversible moves.
1884 Engine draw claims are always accepted after 50 moves, irrespec‐
1885 tive of the given value of n.
1886 -repeatsToDraw n
1888 If the given value is non-zero, xboard adjudicates the game as a
1889 draw if a position is repeated the given number of times.
1890 Engines draw claims are always accepted after 3 repeats, (on the
1891 3rd occurrence, actually), irrespective of the value of n.
1892 Beware that positions that have different castling or en-passant
1893 rights do not count as repeats, XBoard is fully e.p. and
1894 castling aware!
1895 Other options
1897 -ncp/-xncp or -noChessProgram true/false
1898 If this option is true, XBoard acts as a passive chessboard; it
1899 does not start a chess engine at all. Turning on this option
1900 also turns off clockMode. Default: false.
1901 -mode or -initialMode modename
1903 If this option is given, XBoard selects the given modename from
1904 the Mode menu after starting and (if applicable) processing the
1905 loadGameFile or loadPositionFile option. Default: "" (no selec‐
1906 tion). Other supported values are MachineWhite, MachineBlack,
1907 TwoMachines, Analysis, AnalyzeFile, EditGame, EditPosition, and
1908 Training.
1909 -variant varname
1911 Activates preliminary, partial support for playing chess vari‐
1912 ants against a local engine or editing variant games. This flag
1913 is not needed in ICS mode. Recognized variant names are:
1914 normal Normal chess
1916 wildcastle Shuffle chess, king can castle from d file
1917 nocastle Shuffle chess, no castling allowed
1918 fischerandom Fischer Random shuffle chess
1919 bughouse Bughouse, ICC/FICS rules
1920 crazyhouse Crazyhouse, ICC/FICS rules
1921 losers Lose all pieces or get mated (ICC wild 17)
1922 suicide Lose all pieces including king (FICS)
1923 giveaway Try to have no legal moves (ICC wild 26)
1924 twokings Weird ICC wild 9
1925 kriegspiel Opponent's pieces are invisible
1926 atomic Capturing piece explodes (ICC wild 27)
1927 3check Win by giving check 3 times (ICC wild 25)
1928 shatranj An ancient precursor of chess (ICC wild 28)
1929 xiangqi Chinese Chess (on a 9x10 board)
1930 shogi Japanese Chess (on a 9x9 board & piece drops)
1931 capablanca Capablanca Chess (10x8 board, with Archbishop
1932 and Chancellor pieces)
1933 gothic similar, with a better initial position
1934 caparandom An FRC-like version of Capablanca Chess (10x8)
1935 janus A game with two Archbishops (10x8 board)
1936 courier Medieval intermediate between shatranj and
1937 modern Chess (on 12x8 board)
1938 falcon Patented 10x8 variant with two Falcon pieces
1939 berolina Pawns capture straight ahead, and move diagonal
1940 cylinder Pieces wrap around the board edge
1941 knightmate King moves as Knight, and vice versa
1942 super Superchess (shuffle variant with 4 exo-pieces)
1943 fairy A catchall variant in which all piece types
1944 known to XBoard can participate (8x8)
1945 unknown Catchall for other unknown variants
1946 NOT ALL BOARDSIZES PROVIDE A COMPLETE SET OF BUILT-IN BITMAPS
1948 FOR ALL UN-ORTHODOX PIECES, though. Only in `boardSize' middling
1949 and bulky all 22 piece types are provided, while -boardSize
1950 petite has most of them. Archbishop, Chancellor and Amazon are
1951 supported in every size from petite to bulky. Kings or Amazons
1952 are substituted for missing bitmaps. You can still play variants
1953 needing un-orthodox pieces in other board sizes providing your
1954 own bitmaps through the `bitmapDirectory' or `pixmapDirectory'
1955 options.
1956 In the shuffle variants, XBoard now does shuffle the pieces,
1958 although you can still do it by hand using Edit Position. Some
1959 variants are supported only in ICS mode, including bughouse, and
1960 kriegspiel. The winning/drawing conditions in crazyhouse (off-
1961 board interposition on mate) are not fully understood, but
1962 losers, suicide, giveaway, atomic, and 3check should be OK.
1963 Berolina and cylinder chess can only be played with legality
1964 testing off. In crazyhouse, XBoard now does keep track of off-
1965 board pieces. In shatranj it does implement the baring rule
1966 when mate detection is switched on.
1967 -boardHeight N
1969 Allows you to set a non-standard number of board ranks in any
1970 variant. If the height is given as -1, the default height for
1971 the variant is used. Default: -1
1972 -boardWidth N
1974 Allows you to set a non-standard number of board files in any
1975 variant. If the width is given as -1, the default width for the
1976 variant is used. With a non-standard width, the initial posi‐
1977 tion will always be an empty board, as the usual opening array
1978 will not fit. Default: -1
1979 -holdingsSize N
1981 Allows you to set a non-standard size for the holdings in any
1982 variant. If the size is given as -1, the default holdings size
1983 for the variant is used. The first N piece types will go into
1984 the holdings on capture, and you will be able to drop them on
1985 the board in stead of making a normal move. If size equals 0,
1986 there will be no holdings. Default: -1
1987 -defaultFrcPosition N
1989 Specifies the number of the opening position in shuffle games
1990 like Chess960. A value of -1 means the position is randomly
1991 generated by XBoard at the beginning of every game. Default: -1
1992 -pieceToSquareTable string
1994 The characters that are used to represent the piece types XBoard
1995 knows in FEN diagrams and SAN moves. The string argument has to
1996 have an even length (or it will be ignored), as white and black
1997 pieces have to be given separately (in that order). The last
1998 letter for each color will be the King. The letters before that
1999 will be PNBRQ and then a whole host of fairy pieces in an order
2000 that has not fully crystallized yet (currently FEACWMOHIJGDVSLU,
2001 F=Ferz, Elephant, A=Archbishop, C=Chancellor, W=Wazir, M=Com‐
2002 moner, O=Cannon, H=Nightrider). You should list at least all
2003 pieces that occur in the variant you are playing. If you have
2004 less than 44 characters in the string, the pieces not mentioned
2005 will get assigned a period, and you will not be able to distin‐
2006 guish them in FENs. You can also explicitly assign pieces a
2007 period, in which case they will not be counted in deciding which
2008 captured pieces can go into the holdings. A tilde '~' as a
2009 piece name does mean this piece is used to represent a promoted
2010 Pawn in crazyhouse-like games, i.e. on capture it turns back
2011 onto a Pawn. A '+' similarly indicates the piece is a shogi-
2012 style promoted piece, that should revert to its non-promoted
2013 version on capture (rather than to a Pawn). Note that promoted
2014 pieces are represented by pieces 11 further in the list. You
2015 should not have to use this option often: each variant has its
2016 own default setting for the piece representation in FEN, which
2017 should be sufficient in normal use. Default: ""
2018 -debug/-xdebug or -debugMode true/false
2020 Turns on debugging printout.
2021 -debugFile filename or -nameOfDebugFile filename
2023 Sets the name of the file to which XBoard saves debug informa‐
2024 tion (including all communication to and from the engines).
2025 -engineDebugOutput number
2027 Specifies how XBoard should handle unsolicited output from the
2028 engine, with respect to saving it in the debug file. The output
2029 is further (hopefully) ignored. If number=0, XBoard refrains
2030 from writing such spurious output to the debug file. If num‐
2031 ber=1, all engine output is written faithfully to the debug
2032 file. If number=2, any protocol-violating line is prefixed with
2033 a '#' character, as the engine itself should have done if it
2034 wanted to submit info for inclusion in the debug file. This
2035 option is provided for the benefit of applications that use the
2036 debug file as a source of information, such as the broadcaster
2037 of live games TLCV / TLCS. Such applications can be protected
2038 from spurious engine output that might otherwise confuse them.
2039 -rsh or -remoteShell shell-name
2041 Name of the command used to run programs remotely. The default
2042 is `rsh' or `remsh', determined when XBoard is configured and
2043 compiled.
2044 -ruser or -remoteUser user-name
2046 User name on the remote system when running programs with the
2047 `remoteShell'. The default is your local user name.
2048 -userName username
2050 Name under which the Human player will be listed in the PGN
2051 file. Default is the login name on your local computer.
2052 -delayBeforeQuit number
2054 -delayAfterQuit number
2055 These options specify how long XBoard has to wait before sending
2056 a termination signal to rogue engine processes, that do not want
2057 to react to the 'quit' command. The second one determines the
2058 pause after killing the engine, to make sure it dies.
2059
2062 An "Internet Chess Server", or "ICS", is a place on the Internet where
2063 people can get together to play chess, watch other people's games, or
2064 just chat. You can use either `telnet' or a client program like XBoard
2065 to connect to the server. There are thousands of registered users on
2066 the different ICS hosts, and it is not unusual to meet 200 on both
2067 chessclub.com and freechess.org.
2068 Most people can just type `xboard -ics' to start XBoard as an ICS
2070 client. Invoking XBoard in this way connects you to the Internet Chess
2071 Club (ICC), a commercial ICS. You can log in there as a guest even if
2072 you do not have a paid account. To connect to the largest Free ICS
2073 (FICS), use the command `xboard -ics -icshost freechess.org' instead,
2074 or substitute a different host name to connect to your favorite ICS.
2075 For a full description of command-line options that control the connec‐
2076 tion to ICS and change the default values of ICS options, see ICS
2077 options.
2078 While you are running XBoard as an ICS client, you use the terminal
2080 window that you started XBoard from as a place to type in commands and
2081 read information that is not available on the chessboard.
2082 The first time you need to use the terminal is to enter your login name
2084 and password, if you are a registered player. (You don't need to do
2085 this manually; the `icsLogon' option can do it for you. See ICS
2086 options.) If you are not registered, enter `g' as your name, and the
2087 server will pick a unique guest name for you.
2088 Some useful ICS commands include
2090 help <topic>
2092 to get help on the given <topic>. To get a list of possible top‐
2093 ics type "help" without topic. Try the help command before you
2094 ask other people on the server for help.
2095 For example `help register' tells you how to become a registered
2097 ICS player.
2098 who <flags>
2100 to see a list of people who are logged on. Administrators (peo‐
2101 ple you should talk to if you have a problem) are marked with
2102 the character `*', an asterisk. The <flags> allow you to display
2103 only selected players: For example, `who of' shows a list of
2104 players who are interested in playing but do not have an oppo‐
2105 nent.
2106 games to see what games are being played
2108 match <player> [<mins>] [<inc>]
2110 to challenge another player to a game. Both opponents get <mins>
2111 minutes for the game, and <inc> seconds will be added after each
2112 move. If another player challenges you, the server asks if you
2113 want to accept the challenge; use the `accept' or `decline' com‐
2114 mands to answer.
2115 accept
2117 decline
2118 to accept or decline another player's offer. The offer may be
2119 to start a new game, or to agree to a `draw', `adjourn' or
2120 `abort' the current game. See Action Menu.
2121 If you have more than one pending offer (for example, if more
2123 than one player is challenging you, or if your opponent offers
2124 both a draw and to adjourn the game), you have to supply addi‐
2125 tional information, by typing something like `accept <player>',
2126 `accept draw', or `draw'.
2127 draw
2129 adjourn
2130 abort asks your opponent to terminate a game by mutual agreement.
2131 Adjourned games can be continued later. Your opponent can
2132 either `decline' your offer or accept it (by typing the same
2133 command or typing `accept'). In some cases these commands work
2134 immediately, without asking your opponent to agree. For exam‐
2135 ple, you can abort the game unilaterally if your opponent is out
2136 of time, and you can claim a draw by repetition or the 50-move
2137 rule if available simply by typing `draw'.
2138 finger <player>
2140 to get information about the given <player>. (Default: your‐
2141 self.)
2142 vars to get a list of personal settings
2144 set <var> <value>
2146 to modify these settings
2147 observe <player>
2149 to observe an ongoing game of the given <player>.
2150 examine
2152 oldmoves
2153 to review a recently completed game
2154 Some special XBoard features are activated when you are in examine mode
2156 on ICS. See the descriptions of the menu commands `Forward', `Back‐
2157 ward', `Pause', `ICS Client', and `Stop Examining' on the Step Menu,
2158 Mode Menu, and Options Menu.
2159
2162 By default, XBoard communicates with an Internet Chess Server by open‐
2163 ing a TCP socket directly from the machine it is running on to the ICS.
2164 If there is a firewall between your machine and the ICS, this won't
2165 work. Here are some recipes for getting around common kinds of fire‐
2166 walls using special options to XBoard. Important: See the paragraph in
2167 the below about extra echoes, in Limitations.
2168 Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can telnet to a
2170 firewall host, log in, and then telnet from there to ICS. Let's say
2171 the firewall is called `firewall.example.com'. Set command-line options
2172 as follows:
2173 xboard -ics -icshost firewall.example.com -icsport 23
2175 Or in your `.Xresources' file:
2177 XBoard*internetChessServerHost: firewall.example.com
2179 XBoard*internetChessServerPort: 23
2180 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, you will be prompted to log in to
2182 the firewall host. This works because port 23 is the standard telnet
2183 login service. Do so, then telnet to ICS, using a command like `telnet
2184 chessclub.com 5000', or whatever command the firewall provides for tel‐
2185 netting to port 5000.
2186 If your firewall lets you telnet (or rlogin) to remote hosts but
2188 doesn't let you telnet to port 5000, you may be able to connect to the
2189 chess server on port 23 instead, which is the port the telnet program
2190 uses by default. Some chess servers support this (including chess‐
2191 club.com and freechess.org), while some do not.
2192 If your chess server does not allow connections on port 23 and your
2194 firewall does not allow you to connect to other ports, you may be able
2195 to connect by hopping through another host outside the firewall that
2196 you have an account on. For instance, suppose you have a shell account
2197 at `foo.edu'. Follow the recipe above, but instead of typing `telnet
2198 chessclub.com 5000' to the firewall, type `telnet foo.edu' (or `rlogin
2199 foo.edu'), log in there, and then type `telnet chessclub.com 5000'.
2200 Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can use rsh to
2202 run programs on a firewall host, and that host can telnet to ICS.
2203 Let's say the firewall is called `rsh.example.com'. Set command-line
2204 options as follows:
2205 xboard -ics -gateway rsh.example.com -icshost chessclub.com
2207 Or in your `.Xresources' file:
2209 XBoard*gateway: rsh.example.com
2211 XBoard*internetChessServerHost: chessclub.com
2212 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will connect to the ICS by
2214 using `rsh' to run the command `telnet chessclub.com 5000' on host
2215 `rsh.example.com'.
2216 Suppose that you can telnet anywhere you want, but you have to run a
2218 special program called `ptelnet' to do so.
2219 First, we'll consider the easy case, in which `ptelnet chessclub.com
2221 5000' gets you to the chess server. In this case set command line
2222 options as follows:
2223 xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet
2225 Or in your `.Xresources' file:
2227 XBoard*useTelnet: true
2229 XBoard*telnetProgram: ptelnet
2230 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the command `ptel‐
2232 net chessclub.com 5000' to connect to the ICS.
2233 Next, suppose that `ptelnet chessclub.com 5000' doesn't work; that is,
2235 your `ptelnet' program doesn't let you connect to alternative ports. As
2236 noted above, your chess server may allow you to connect on port 23
2237 instead. In that case, just add the option `-icsport ""' to the above
2238 command, or add `XBoard*internetChessServerPort:' to your `.Xresources'
2239 file. But if your chess server doesn't let you connect on port 23, you
2240 will have to find some other host outside the firewall and hop through
2241 it. For instance, suppose you have a shell account at `foo.edu'. Set
2242 command line options as follows:
2243 xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet -icshost foo.edu -icsport ""
2245 Or in your `.Xresources' file:
2247 XBoard*useTelnet: true
2249 XBoard*telnetProgram: ptelnet
2250 XBoard*internetChessServerHost: foo.edu
2251 XBoard*internetChessServerPort:
2252 Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the command `ptel‐
2254 net foo.edu' to connect to your account at `foo.edu'. Log in there,
2255 then type `telnet chessclub.com 5000'.
2256 ICC timestamp and FICS timeseal do not work through some firewalls.
2258 You can use them only if your firewall gives a clean TCP connection
2259 with a full 8-bit wide path. If your firewall allows you to get out
2260 only by running a special telnet program, you can't use timestamp or
2261 timeseal across it. But if you have access to a computer just outside
2262 your firewall, and you have much lower netlag when talking to that com‐
2263 puter than to the ICS, it might be worthwhile running timestamp there.
2264 Follow the instructions above for hopping through a host outside the
2265 firewall (foo.edu in the example), but run timestamp or timeseal on
2266 that host instead of telnet.
2267 Suppose that you have a SOCKS firewall that will give you a clean 8-bit
2269 wide TCP connection to the chess server, but only after you authenti‐
2270 cate yourself via the SOCKS protocol. In that case, you could make a
2271 socksified version of XBoard and run that. If you are using timestamp
2272 or timeseal, you will to socksify it, not XBoard; this may be difficult
2273 seeing that ICC and FICS do not provide source code for these programs.
2274 Socksification is beyond the scope of this document, but see the SOCKS
2275 Web site at http://www.socks.permeo.com/. If you are missing SOCKS,
2276 try http://www.funbureau.com/.
2277
2280 Game and position files are found in a directory named by the `CHESS‐
2281 DIR' environment variable. If this variable is not set, the current
2282 working directory is used. If `CHESSDIR' is set, XBoard actually
2283 changes its working directory to `$CHESSDIR', so any files written by
2284 the chess engine will be placed there too.
2285
2288 There is no way for two people running copies of XBoard to play each
2289 other without going through an Internet Chess Server.
2290 Under some circumstances, your ICS password may be echoed when you log
2292 on.
2293 If you are connecting to the ICS by running telnet on an Internet
2295 provider or firewall host, you may find that each line you type is
2296 echoed back an extra time after you hit <Enter>. If your Internet
2297 provider is a Unix system, you can probably turn its echo off by typing
2298 `stty -echo' after you log in, and/or typing <^E><Enter> (Ctrl+E fol‐
2299 lowed by the Enter key) to the telnet program after you have logged
2300 into ICS. It is a good idea to do this if you can, because the extra
2301 echo can occasionally confuse XBoard's parsing routines.
2302 The game parser recognizes only algebraic notation.
2304 Many of the following points used to be limitations in XBoard 4.2.7 and
2306 earlier, but are now fixed: The internal move legality tester in XBoard
2307 4.3.xx does look at the game history, and is fully aware of castling or
2308 en-passant-capture rights. It permits castling with the king on the d
2309 file because this is possible in some "wild 1" games on ICS. The
2310 piece-drop menu does not check piece drops in bughouse to see if you
2311 actually hold the piece you are trying to drop. But this way of drop‐
2312 ping pieces should be considered an obsolete feature, now that pieces
2313 can be dropped by dragging them from the holdings to the board. Anyway,
2314 if you would attempt an illegal move when using a chess engine or the
2315 ICS, XBoard will accept the error message that comes back, undo the
2316 move, and let you try another. FEN positions saved by XBoard do
2317 include correct information about whether castling or en passant are
2318 legal, and also handle the 50-move counter. The mate detector does not
2319 understand that non-contact mate is not really mate in bughouse. The
2320 only problem this causes while playing is minor: a "#" (mate indicator)
2321 character will show up after a non-contact mating move in the move
2322 list. XBoard will not assume the game is over at that point, not even
2323 when the option Detect Mates is on. Edit Game mode always uses the
2324 rules of the selected variant, which can be a variant that uses piece
2325 drops. You can load and edit games that contain piece drops. The
2326 (obsolete) piece menus are not active, but you can perform piece drops
2327 by dragging pieces from the holdings. Edit Position mode does not
2328 allow you to edit the crazyhouse holdings properly. You cannot drag
2329 pieces to the holding, and using the popup menu to put pieces there
2330 does not adapt the holding counts and leads to an inconsistent state.
2331 Set up crazyhouse positions by loading / pasting a bFEN, from there you
2332 can set the holdings. Fischer Random castling is fully understood.
2333 You can enter castlings by dragging the King on top of your Rook. You
2334 can probably also play Fischer Random successfully on ICS by typing
2335 castling moves into the ICS Interaction window.
2336 The menus may not work if your keyboard is in Caps Lock or Num Lock
2338 mode. This seems to be a problem with the Athena menu widget, not an
2339 XBoard bug.
2340 Also see the ToDo file included with the distribution for many other
2342 possible bugs, limitations, and ideas for improvement that have been
2343 suggested.
2344
2346 You can report bugs and problems with XBoard using the bug tracker at
2347 `https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/' or by sending mail to
2348 `<bug-xboard@gnu.org>'. It can also be useful to report or discuss
2349 bugs in the WinBoard Forum at `http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/',
2350 WinBoard development section.
2351 Please use the `script' program to start a typescript, run XBoard with
2353 the `-debug' option, and include the typescript output in your message.
2354 Also tell us what kind of machine and what operating system version you
2355 are using. The command `uname -a' will often tell you this.
2356 If you improve XBoard, please send a message about your changes, and we
2358 will get in touch with you about merging them in to the main line of
2359 development.
2360
2363 Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original XBoard. They were respon‐
2364 sible for versions 1.0 through 1.2. The color scheme was taken from
2365 Wayne Christopher's `XChess' program.
2366 Tim Mann was primarily responsible for XBoard versions 1.3 through
2368 4.2.7, and for WinBoard (a port of XBoard to Microsoft Win32) from its
2369 inception through version 4.2.7.
2370 John Chanak contributed the initial implementation of ICS mode. Evan
2372 Welsh wrote `CMail', and Patrick Surry helped in designing, testing,
2373 and documenting it. Elmar Bartel contributed the new piece bitmaps
2374 introduced in version 3.2. Jochen Wiedmann converted the documentation
2375 to texinfo. Frank McIngvale added click/click moving, the Analysis
2376 modes, piece flashing, ZIICS import, and ICS text colorization to
2377 XBoard. Hugh Fisher added animated piece movement to XBoard, and Hen‐
2378 rik Gram added it to WinBoard. Mark Williams contributed the initial
2379 (WinBoard-only) implementation of many new features added to both
2380 XBoard and WinBoard in version 4.1.0, including copy/paste, premove,
2381 icsAlarm, autoFlipView, training mode, auto raise, and blindfold. Ben
2382 Nye contributed X copy/paste code for XBoard.
2383 In a fork from version 4.2.7, Alessandro Scotti added many elements to
2385 the user interface of WinBoard, including the board textures and font-
2386 based rendering, the evaluation-graph, move-history and engine-output
2387 window. He was also responsible for adding the UCI support.
2388 H. G. Muller continued this fork of the project, producing version 4.3.
2390 He made WinBoard castling- and e.p.-aware, added variant support with
2391 adjustable board sizes, the crazyhouse holdings, and the fairy pieces.
2392 In addition he added most of the adjudication options, made WinBoard
2393 more robust in dealing with buggy and crashing engines, and extended
2394 time control with a time-odds and node-count-based modes. Most of the
2395 options that initially were WinBoard only have now been back-ported to
2396 XBoard.
2397 Michel van den Bergh provided the code for reading Polyglot opening
2399 books.
2400 Meanwhile, some work continued on the GNU XBoard project maintained at
2402 savannah.gnu.org, but version 4.2.8 was never released. Daniel
2403 Mehrmann was responsible for much of this work.
2404 Most recently, Arun Persaud worked with H. G. Muller to merge all the
2406 features of the never-released XBoard/WinBoard 4.2.8 of the GNU XBoard
2407 project and the never-released 4.3.16 from H. G.'s fork into a unified
2408 XBoard/WinBoard 4.4, which is now available both from the savan‐
2409 nah.gnu.org web site and the WinBoard forum.
2410
2413 The `cmail' program can help you play chess by email with opponents of
2414 your choice using XBoard as an interface.
2415 You will usually run `cmail' without giving any options.
2417 CMail options
2420 -h Displays `cmail' usage information.
2421 -c Shows the conditions of the GNU General Public License. See
2423 Copying.
2424 -w Shows the warranty notice of the GNU General Public License.
2426 See Copying.
2427 -v
2429 -xv Provides or inhibits verbose output from `cmail' and XBoard,
2430 useful for debugging. The `-xv' form also inhibits the cmail
2431 introduction message.
2432 -mail
2434 -xmail Invokes or inhibits the sending of a mail message containing the
2435 move.
2436 -xboard
2438 -xxboard
2439 Invokes or inhibits the running of XBoard on the game file.
2440 -reuse
2442 -xreuse
2443 Invokes or inhibits the reuse of an existing XBoard to display
2444 the current game.
2445 -remail
2447 Resends the last mail message for that game. This inhibits run‐
2448 ning XBoard.
2449 -game <name>
2451 The name of the game to be processed.
2452 -wgames <number>
2454 -bgames <number>
2455 -games <number>
2456 Number of games to start as White, as Black or in total. Default
2457 is 1 as white and none as black. If only one color is specified
2458 then none of the other color is assumed. If no color is speci‐
2459 fied then equal numbers of White and Black games are started,
2460 with the extra game being as White if an odd number of total
2461 games is specified.
2462 -me <short name>
2464 -opp <short name>
2465 A one-word alias for yourself or your opponent.
2466 -wname <full name>
2468 -bname <full name>
2469 -name <full name>
2470 -oppname <full name>
2471 The full name of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.
2472 -wna <net address>
2474 -bna <net address>
2475 -na <net address>
2476 -oppna <net address>
2477 The email address of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.
2478 -dir <directory>
2480 The directory in which `cmail' keeps its files. This defaults to
2481 the environment variable `$CMAIL_DIR' or failing that, `$CHESS‐
2482 DIR', `$HOME/Chess' or `~/Chess'. It will be created if it does
2483 not exist.
2484 -arcdir <directory>
2486 The directory in which `cmail' archives completed games.
2487 Defaults to the environment variable `$CMAIL_ARCDIR' or, in its
2488 absence, the same directory as cmail keeps its working files
2489 (above).
2490 -mailprog <mail program>
2492 The program used by cmail to send email messages. This defaults
2493 to the environment variable `$CMAIL_MAILPROG' or failing that
2494 `/usr/ucb/Mail', `/usr/ucb/mail' or `Mail'. You will need to set
2495 this variable if none of the above paths fit your system.
2496 -logFile <file>
2498 A file in which to dump verbose debugging messages that are
2499 invoked with the `-v' option.
2500 -event <event>
2502 The PGN Event tag (default `Email correspondence game').
2503 -site <site>
2505 The PGN Site tag (default `NET').
2506 -round <round>
2508 The PGN Round tag (default `-', not applicable).
2509 -mode <mode>
2511 The PGN Mode tag (default `EM', Electronic Mail).
2512 Other options
2514 Any option flags not listed above are passed through to XBoard.
2515 Invoking XBoard through CMail changes the default values of two
2516 XBoard options: The default value for `-noChessProgram' is
2517 changed to true; that is, by default no chess engine is started.
2518 The default value for `-timeDelay' is changed to 0; that is, by
2519 default XBoard immediately goes to the end of the game as played
2520 so far, rather than stepping through the moves one by one. You
2521 can still set these options to whatever values you prefer by
2522 supplying them on CMail's command line. See Options.
2523 Starting a CMail Game
2525 Type `cmail' from a shell to start a game as white. After an opening
2526 message, you will be prompted for a game name, which is optional -- if
2527 you simply press <Enter>, the game name will take the form `you-VS-
2528 opponent'. You will next be prompted for the short name of your oppo‐
2529 nent. If you haven't played this person before, you will also be
2530 prompted for his/her email address. `cmail' will then invoke XBoard in
2531 the background. Make your first move and select `Mail Move' from the
2532 `File' menu. See File Menu. If all is well, `cmail' will mail a copy of
2533 the move to your opponent. If you select `Exit' without having selected
2534 `Mail Move' then no move will be made.
2535 Answering a Move
2538 When you receive a message from an opponent containing a move in one of
2539 your games, simply pipe the message through `cmail'. In some mailers
2540 this is as simple as typing `| cmail' when viewing the message, while
2541 in others you may have to save the message to a file and do `cmail <
2542 file' at the command line. In either case `cmail' will display the game
2543 using XBoard. If you didn't exit XBoard when you made your first move
2544 then `cmail' will do its best to use the existing XBoard instead of
2545 starting a new one. As before, simply make a move and select `Mail
2546 Move' from the `File' menu. See File Menu. `cmail' will try to use the
2547 XBoard that was most recently used to display the current game. This
2548 means that many games can be in progress simultaneously, each with its
2549 own active XBoard.
2550 If you want to look at the history or explore a variation, go ahead,
2552 but you must return to the current position before XBoard will allow
2553 you to mail a move. If you edit the game's history you must select
2554 `Reload Same Game' from the `File' menu to get back to the original
2555 position, then make the move you want and select `Mail Move'. As
2556 before, if you decide you aren't ready to make a move just yet you can
2557 either select `Exit' without sending a move or just leave XBoard run‐
2558 ning until you are ready.
2559 Multi-Game Messages
2562 It is possible to have a `cmail' message carry more than one game.
2563 This feature was implemented to handle IECG (International Email Chess
2564 Group) matches, where a match consists of one game as white and one as
2565 black, with moves transmitted simultaneously. In case there are more
2566 general uses, `cmail' itself places no limit on the number of
2567 black/white games contained in a message; however, XBoard does.
2568 Completing a Game
2571 Because XBoard can detect checkmate and stalemate, `cmail' handles game
2572 termination sensibly. As well as resignation, the `Action' menu allows
2573 draws to be offered and accepted for `cmail' games.
2574 For multi-game messages, only unfinished and just-finished games will
2576 be included in email messages. When all the games are finished, they
2577 are archived in the user's archive directory, and similarly in the
2578 opponent's when he or she pipes the final message through `cmail'. The
2579 archive file name includes the date the game was started.
2580 Known CMail Problems
2583 It's possible that a strange conjunction of conditions may occasionally
2584 mean that `cmail' has trouble reactivating an existing XBoard. If this
2585 should happen, simply trying it again should work. If not, remove the
2586 file that stores the XBoard's PID (`game.pid') or use the `-xreuse'
2587 option to force `cmail' to start a new XBoard.
2588 Versions of `cmail' after 2.16 no longer understand the old file format
2590 that XBoard used to use and so cannot be used to correspond with anyone
2591 using an older version.
2592 Versions of `cmail' older than 2.11 do not handle multi-game messages,
2594 so multi-game correspondence is not possible with opponents using an
2595 older version.
2596
2599 Here are some other programs you can use with XBoard
2600 GNU Chess
2603 The GNU Chess engine is available from:
2604 ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuchess/
2606 You can use XBoard to play a game against GNU Chess, or to interface
2608 GNU Chess to an ICS.
2609 Fairy-Max
2612 Fairy-Max is a derivative from the once World's smallest Chess program
2613 micro-Max, which measures only about 100 lines of source code. The
2614 main difference with micro-Max is that Fairy-Max loads its move-genera‐
2615 tor tables from a file, so that the rules for piece movement can be
2616 easily configured to implement unorthodox pieces. Fairy-Max can there‐
2617 fore play a large number of variants, normal Chess being one of those.
2618 In addition it plays Knightmate, Capablanca and Gothic Chess, Shatranj,
2619 Courier Chess, Cylinder chess, Berolina Chess, while the user can eas‐
2620 ily define new variants. It can be obtained from:
2621 http://home.hccnet.nl/h.g.muller/dwnldpage.html
2623 HoiChess
2626 HoiChess is a not-so-very-strong Chess engine, which comes with a de‐
2627 rivative HoiXiangqi, able to play Chinese Chess. It can be obtained
2628 from the standard Linux repositories through:
2629 sudo apt-get install hoichess
2631 Crafty
2634 Crafty is a chess engine written by Bob Hyatt. You can use XBoard to
2635 play a game against Crafty, hook Crafty up to an ICS, or use Crafty to
2636 interactively analyze games and positions for you.
2637 Crafty is a strong, rapidly evolving chess program. This rapid pace of
2639 development is good, because it means Crafty is always getting better.
2640 This can sometimes cause problems with backwards compatibility, but
2641 usually the latest version of Crafty will work well with the latest
2642 version of XBoard. Crafty can be obtained from its author's FTP site:
2643 ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu/hyatt/.
2644 To use Crafty with XBoard, give the -fcp and -fd options as follows,
2646 where <crafty's directory> is the directory in which you installed
2647 Crafty and placed its book and other support files.
2648 zic2xpm
2651 The ``zic2xpm'' program is used to import chess sets from the ZIICS(*)
2652 program into XBoard. ``zic2xpm'' is part of the XBoard distribution.
2653 ZIICS is available from:
2654 ftp://ftp.freechess.org/pub/chess/DOS/ziics131.exe
2656 To import ZIICS pieces, do this:
2658 1. Unzip ziics131.exe into a directory:
2660 unzip -L ziics131.exe -d ~/ziics
2662 2. Use zic2xpm to convert a set of pieces to XBoard format.
2664 For example, let's say you want to use the FRITZ4 set. These
2666 files are named ``fritz4.*'' in the ZIICS distribution.
2667 mkdir ~/fritz4
2669 cd ~/fritz4
2670 zic2xpm ~/ziics/fritz4.*
2671 3. Give XBoard the ``-pixmap'' option when starting up, e.g.:
2673 xboard -pixmap ~/fritz4
2675 Alternatively, you can add this line to your `.Xresources' file:
2677 xboard*pixmapDirectory: ~/fritz4
2679 (*) ZIICS is a separate copyrighted work of Andy McFarland. The
2681 ``ZIICS pieces'' are copyrighted works of their respective creators.
2682 Files produced by ``zic2xpm'' are for PERSONAL USE ONLY and may NOT be
2683 redistributed without explicit permission from the original creator(s)
2684 of the pieces.
2685
2688 Copyright (C) 1991 Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, Massachu‐
2689 setts.
2690 All Rights Reserved.
2692 Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
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2708 Enhancements copyright (C) 1992-2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008,
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3446GNU $Date: xboard(6)