xboard

www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/xboard/xboard.man.html

search

	Buy GNU books!

xboard

NAME

xboard - X user interface for GNU Chess, Crafty, the Internet Chess Server (ICS), and electronic mail correspondence chess.

SYNOPSIS

To run with GNU Chess: xboard [options]
To run with Crafty: xboard -fcp crafty -fd crafty's-directory [options]
To run with the ICS: xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
To play email chess: See cmail(6).
To run standalone: xboard -ncp [options]
To use in a pipeline: |pxboard

DESCRIPTION

xboard is a graphical chessboard that can serve as a user interface to the GNU Chess and Crafty chess engines, the Internet Chess Servers, electronic mail correspondence chess, or your own collection of saved games.

As an interface to GNU Chess or Crafty, xboard lets you play a game against the machine, set up arbitrary positions, force variations, or watch a game between two machines.

As an interface to Crafty, xboard also lets you interactively analyze your stored games or set up and analyze arbitrary positions.

As an interface to the Internet Chess Server (ICS), xboard -ics lets you play against other ICS users, observe games they are playing, or review games that have recently finished. Most of the "wild" chess variants on ICS are supported, including bughouse.

As an interface to electronic mail correspondence chess, xboard works with the cmail(6) program. See its manual page for instructions.

You can also use xboard as a chessboard to play through games. It will read and write game files and allow you to play through variations manually. You can use it to browse games off the net or review games you have saved. These features are available at all times; if you want to use them without starting a chess engine or connecting to the ICS, you can do so with the command xboard -ncp.

To view games from a netnews reader like rn(1) or xrn(1), use the news reader's Save command and specify "|pxboard" as the save file name. This pipes the article to pxboard, a simple shell script that saves the article to a temporary file and runs xboard in the background. See the script itself for more information.

To move a piece, either drag it with the left mouse button, or click the left mouse button once on the piece, then once more on the destination square. To drop a new piece on a square (when applicable), press button 2 or 3 over the square and select from the popup menu.

When xboard is iconized, its graphical icon is a white knight if it is White's turn to move, a black knight if it is Black's turn. See Iconize below if you have problems getting this feature to work.

MENU COMMANDS, BUTTONS, AND KEYS

All xboard commands are available on menus. The most frequently used commands also have shortcut keys or on-screen buttons.

File Menu

Reset: Resets xboard and the chess engine to the beginning of a new chess game. The "r" key is a keyboard equivalent. In Internet Chess Server mode, clears the current state of xboard, then resynchronizes with ICS by sending a refresh command. If you want to stop playing, observing, or examining a game on ICS, use an appropriate command from the Action menu, not Reset.
Load Game: Plays a game from a record file. The "g" key is a keyboard equivalent. A popup dialog prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more than one game, a second popup dialog displays a list of games (with information drawn from their PGN tags, if any), and you can select the one you want. Alternatively, you can load the Nth game in the file directly from the file name dialog, by typing the number N after the file name, separated by a space.
The game file parser will accept PGN (portable game notation), or in fact almost any file that contains moves in algebraic notation. Notation of the form "P@f7" is accepted for piece-drops in bughouse games; this is a nonstandard extension to PGN. If the file includes a PGN position (FEN tag), or an old-style xboard position diagram bracketed by "[--" and "--]" before the first move, the game starts from that position. Text enclosed in parentheses, square brackets, or curly braces is assumed to be commentary and is displayed in a pop-up window. Any other text in the file is ignored. PGN variations (enclosed in parentheses) are treated as comments; xboard is not able to walk variation trees. The nonstandard PGN tag [Variant "varname"] functions similarly to the -variant command-line option (see below), allowing games in certain chess variants to be loaded. There is also a heuristic to recognize chess variants from the Event tag, by looking for the strings that the Internet Chess Servers put there when saving variant ("wild") games.
Load Next Game: Loads the next game from the last game record file you loaded. The shifted "N" key is a keyboard equivalent.
Load Previous Game: Loads the previous game from the last game record file you loaded. The shifted "P" key is a keyboard equivalent. Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
Reload Same Game: Reloads the last game you loaded. Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
Save Game: Appends a record of the current game to a file. A popup dialog prompts you for the file name. If the game did not begin with the standard starting position, the game file includes the starting position used. Games are saved in the PGN (portable game notation) format, unless the oldSaveStyle option is True, in which case they are saved in an older format that is specific to xboard. Both formats are human-readable, and both can be read back by the Load Game command. Notation of the form "P@f7" is generated for piece-drops in bughouse games; this is a nonstandard extension to PGN.
Copy Game: Copies a record of the current game to an internal clipboard in PGN format and sets the X selection to the game text. The game can be pasted to another application (such as a text editor or another copy of xboard) using that application's paste command. In many X applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be used for pasting; in xboard, you must use the Paste Game command.
Paste Game: Interprets the current X selection as a game record and loads it, as with Load Game.
Load Position: Sets up a position from a position file. A popup dialog prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more than one saved position, and you want to load the Nth one, type the number N after the file name, separated by a space. Position files must be in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation), or in the format that the Save Position command writes when oldSaveStyle is turned on.
Load Next Position: Loads the next position from the last position file you loaded.
Load Previous Position: Loads the previous position from the last position file you loaded. Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
Reload Same Position: Reloads the last position you loaded. Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
Save Position: Appends a diagram of the current position to a file. A popup dialog prompts you for the file name. Positions are saved in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation) format unless the oldSaveStyle option is True, in which case they are saved in an older, human-readable format that is specific to xboard. Both formats can be read back by the Load Position command.
Copy Position: Copies the current position to an internal clipboard in FEN format and sets the X selection to the position text. The position can be pasted to another application (such as a text editor or another copy of xboard) using that application's paste command. In many X applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be used for pasting; in xboard, you must use the Paste Position command.
Paste Position: Interprets the current X selection as a FEN position and loads it, as with Load Position.
Mail Move
Reload CMail Message: See the manual page for cmail(6).
Exit: Exits from xboard. The shifted "Q" key is a keyboard equivalent.

Mode Menu

Machine White

Tells the chess engine to play White.

Machine Black

Tells the chess engine to play Black.

Two Machines

Plays a game between two chess engines.

Analysis Mode

Puts XBoard in analysis mode on the current edited position or game. This mode requires that you use a chess engine that supports analysis, such as Crafty; GNU Chess will not work. See the manual section GETTING CRAFTY for more information on getting and installing Crafty.

Analyze File

This mode lets you load a game from a file (PGN, etc.) and use a chess engine to interactively analyze it. This mode requires that you use a chess engine that supports analysis, such as Crafty; GNU Chess will not work. See the manual section GETTING CRAFTY for more information on getting and installing Crafty.

ICS Client

This is the normal mode when xboard is connected to a chess server. If you have moved into Edit Game or Edit Position mode, you can select this option to get out.

To use xboard in ICS mode, run it in the foreground with the -ics option, and use the terminal you started it from to type commands and receive text responses from the chess server. Useful ICS commands include who to see who is logged on, games to see what games are being played, match to challenge another player to a game, observe to observe an ongoing game, examine or oldmoves to review a recently completed game, and of course help.

Some special xboard features are activated when you are in examine or bsetup mode on ICS. See the descriptions of the menu commands Forward, Backward, Pause, ICS Client, and Stop Examining below. You can also issue the ICS position-editing commands with the mouse. Move pieces by dragging with mouse button 1. To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the square. This brings up a menu of white pieces (button 2) or black pieces (button 3). Additional menu choices let you empty the square or clear the board. Click on the White or Black clock to set the side to play. You cannot set the side to play or drag pieces to arbitrary squares while examining on ICC, but you can do so in bsetup mode on FICS.

If you are playing a bughouse game on the ICS, you can drop an offboard piece by pressing mouse button 2 or 3 over an empty square to bring up a piece menu. It makes no difference which button you use. A list of the offboard pieces each player has available is shown in the window title after the player's name.

Edit Game

Allows you to make moves for both Black and White, and to change moves after backing up with the Backward command. The clocks do not run.

In chess engine mode, the chess engine continues to check moves for legality but does not participate in the game. You can bring the chess engine back into the game by selecting Machine White, Machine Black, or Two Machines.

In ICS mode, the moves are not sent to the ICS: Edit Game takes xboard out of ICS Client mode and lets you edit games locally. If you want to edit games on ICS in a way that other ICS users can see, use the ICS examine command or start an ICS match against yourself.

Edit Position

Lets you set up an arbitrary board position. Use mouse button 1 to drag pieces to new squares, or to delete a piece by dragging it off the board or dragging an empty square on top of it. To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the square. This brings up a menu of white pieces (button 2) or black pieces (button 3). Additional menu choices let you empty the square or clear the board. You can set the side to play next by clicking on the White or Black indicator at the top of the screen. Selecting Edit Position causes xboard to discard all remembered moves in the current game.

In ICS mode, changes made to the position by Edit Position are not sent to the ICS: Edit Position takes xboard out of ICS Client mode and lets you edit positions locally. If you want to edit positions on ICS in a way that other ICS users can see, use the ICS examine command, or start an ICS match against yourself. (See also the ICS Client topic above.)

Training

Training mode lets you interactively guess the moves of a game for one of the players. You guess the next move of the game by playing the move on the board. If the move played matches the next move of the game, the move is accepted and the opponent's response is autoplayed. If the move played is incorrect, an error message is displayed. You can select this mode only while loading a game (that is, after selecting Load Game from the File menu). While xboard is in Training mode, the navigation buttons are disabled.

Show Game List

Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last Load Game command.

Edit Tags

Lets you edit the PGN (portable game notation) tags for the current game. After editing, the tags must still conform to the PGN tag syntax:

    <tag-section> ::= <tag-pair> <tag-section>

		      <empty>

    <tag-pair> ::= [ <tag-name> <tag-value> ]

    <tag-name> ::= <identifier>

    <tag-value> ::= <string>

See the PGN Standard for full details. Here is an example:

    [Event "Portoroz Interzonal"]

    [Site "Portoroz, Yugoslavia"]

    [Date "1958.08.16"]

    [Round "8"]

    [White "Robert J. Fischer"]

    [Black "Bent Larsen"]

    [Result "1-0"]

Any characters that do not match this syntax are silently ignored. Note that the PGN standard requires all games to have at least the seven tags shown above. Any that you omit will be filled in by xboard with "?" (unknown value), or "-" (inapplicable value).

Edit Comment

Adds or modifies a comment on the current position. Comments are saved by Save Game and are displayed by Load Game, Forward, and Backward.

ICS Input Box

If this mode is on in ICS mode, xboard creates an extra window that you can use for typing in ICS commands. The input box is especially useful if you want to type in something long or do some editing on your input, because output from ICS doesn't get mixed in with your typing as it would in the main terminal window.

Pause

Pauses updates to the board, and if you are playing against a local chess engine, also pauses your clock. To continue, select Pause again, and the display will automatically update to the latest position. The [P] button and keyboard "p" key are equivalents.

If you select Pause when you are playing against a local chess engine and it is not your move, the engine's clock will continue to run and it will eventually make a move, at which point both clocks will stop. Since board updates are paused, however, you will not see the move until you exit from Pause mode (or select Forward). This behavior is meant to simulate adjournment with a sealed move.

If you select Pause while you are in examine mode on ICS, you can step backward and forward in the current history of the examined game without affecting the other observers and examiners. Select Pause again to reconnect yourself to the current state of the game on ICS.

If you select Pause while you are loading a game, the game stops loading. You can load more moves manually by selecting Forward, or resume automatic loading by selecting Pause again.

Action Menu

Accept: Accepts a pending ICS match offer. If there is more than one offer pending, you will have to type in a more specific command instead of using this menu choice.
Decline: Declines a pending ICS offer (match, draw, adjourn, etc.). If there is more than one offer pending, you will have to type in a more specific command instead of using this menu choice.
Call Flag: Calls your opponent's flag, claiming a win on time, or claiming a draw if you are both out of time. You can also call your opponent's flag by clicking on his clock or by pressing the keyboard "t" key.
Draw: Offers a draw to your opponent, accepts a pending draw offer from your opponent, or claims a draw by repetition or the 50-move rule, as appropriate. The "d" key is a keyboard equivalent.
Adjourn: Asks your opponent to agree to adjourning the current game, or agrees to a pending adjournment offer from your opponent.
Abort: Asks your opponent to agree to aborting the current game, or agrees to a pending abort offer from your opponent. An aborted ICS game ends immediately without affecting either player's rating.
Resign: Resigns the game to your opponent. The shifted "R" key is a keyboard equivalent.
Stop Observing: Ends your participation in observing a game, by issuing the ICS observe command with no arguments.
Stop Examining: Ends your participation in examining a game, by issuing the ICS unexamine command.

Step Menu

Backward

Steps backward through a series of remembered moves. The [<] button and the "b" key are equivalents. In addition, pressing the Control key steps back one move, and releasing it steps forward again.

In most modes, Backward only lets you look back at old positions; it does not retract moves. This is the case if you are playing against a local chess engine, playing or observing a game on the ICS, or loading a game. If you select Backward in any of these situations, you will not be allowed to make a different move. Use Retract Move or Edit Game if you want to change past moves.

If you are examining a game on ICS, the behavior of Backward depends on whether xboard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is off, Backward issues the ICS backward command, which backs up everyone's view of the game and allows you to make a different move. If Pause mode is on, Backward only backs up your local view.

Forward

Steps forward through a series of remembered moves (undoing the effect of Backward) or forward through a game file. The [>] button and the f key are equivalents.

If you are examining a game on ICS, the behavior of Forward depends on whether xboard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is off, Forward issues the ICS forward command, which moves everyone's view of the game forward along the current line. If Pause mode is on, Forward only moves your local view forward, and it will not go past the position that the game was in when you paused.

Back to Start

Jumps backward to the first remembered position in the game. The [<<] button and the shifted "B" key are equivalents.

In most modes, Back to Start only lets you look back at old positions; it does not retract moves. This is the case if you are playing against a local chess engine, playing or observing a game on the ICS, or loading a game. If you select Back to Start in any of these situations, you will not be allowed to make different moves. Use Retract Move or Edit Game if you want to change past moves; or use Reset to start a new game.

If you are examining a game on ICS, the behavior of Back to Start depends on whether xboard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is off, Back to Start issues the ICS backward 999999 command, which backs up everyone's view of the game to the start and allows you to make different moves. If Pause mode is on, Back to Start only backs up your local view.

Forward to End

Jumps forward to the last remembered position in the game. The [>>] button and the shifted "F" key are equivalents.

If you are examining a game on ICS, the behavior of Forward to End depends on whether xboard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is off, Forward to End issues the ICS forward 999999 command, which moves everyone's view of the game forward to the end of the current line. If Pause mode is on, Forward to End only moves your local view forward, and it will not go past the position that the game was in when you paused.

Revert

If you are examining a game on ICS and Pause mode is off, issues the ICS command revert.

Truncate Game

Discards all remembered moves of the game beyond the current position. Puts xboard into Edit Game mode if it was not there already.

Move Now

Forces the chess engine to move immediately. May not work with all chess engines.

Retract Move

Retracts your last move. When playing a local chess engine, you can do this only after the engine has replied to your move; if it is still thinking, use Move Now first. In ICS mode, Retract Move issues the command takeback 1 or takeback 2 depending on whether it is your opponent's move or yours.

Options Menu

Always Queen: If this option is off, xboard brings up a dialog box whenever you move a pawn to the last rank, asking what piece you want to promote it to. If the option is on, your pawns are always promoted to queens. Your opponent can still underpromote.
Animate Dragging: If Animate Dragging is on, while you are dragging a piece with the mouse, an image of the piece follows the mouse cursor. If Animate Dragging is off, there is no visual feedback while you are dragging a piece, but if Animate Moving is on, the move will be animated when it is complete.
Animate Moving: If Animate Moving is on, all piece moves are animated. An image of the piece is shown moving from the old square to the new square when the move is completed (unless the move was already animated by Animate Dragging). If Animate Moving is off, a moved piece instantly disappears from its old square and reappears on its new square when the move is complete.
Auto Comment: If this option is on, any remarks made on ICS while you are observing or playing a game are recorded as a comment on the current move. This includes remarks made with the ICS commands say, tell, whisper, and kibitz. Limitation: remarks that you type yourself are not recognized; xboard scans only the output from ICS, not the input you type to it.
Auto Flag: If this option is on and one player runs out of time before the other, xboard will automatically call his flag, claiming a win on time. In ICS mode, Auto Flag will only call your opponent's flag, not yours, and the ICS may award you a draw instead of a win if you have insufficient mating material. In local chess engine mode, xboard may call either player's flag and will not take material into account.
Auto Flip View: If the Auto Flip View option is on when you start a game, the board will be automatically oriented so that your pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the top.
Auto Observe: If this option is on and you add a player to your gnotify list on ICS, xboard will automatically observe all of that player's games, unless you are doing something else (such as observing or playing a game of your own) when one starts. The games are displayed from the point of view of the player on your gnotify list; that is, his pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the top. Exceptions: If both players in a game are on your gnotify list, if your ICS highlight variable is set to 0, or if the ICS you are using does not properly support observing from Black's point of view, you will see the game from White's point of view.
Auto Raise Board: If this option is on, whenever a new game begins, the chessboard window is deiconized (if necessary) and raised to the top of the stack of windows.
Auto Save: If this option is on, at the end of every game xboard prompts you for a file name and appends a record of the game to the file you specify. Disabled if the saveGameFile option is set, as in that case all games are saved to the specified file.
Blindfold: If this option is on, xboard displays the board as usual but does not display pieces or move highlights. You can still move in the usual way (with the mouse or by typing moves in ICS mode), even though the pieces are invisible.
Flash Moves: If this option is on, whenever a move is completed, the moved piece flashes. The number of times to flash is set by the flashCount command-line option; it defaults to 3 if Flash Moves is first turned on from the menu.
Flip View: Inverts your view of the chess board for the duration of the current game. Starting a new game returns the board to normal. The "v" key is a keyboard equivalent.
If you are playing a game on the ICS, the board is always oriented at the start of the game so that your pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the top. Otherwise, the starting orientation is determined by the flipView command line option; if it is False (the default), White's pawns move from bottom to top at the start of each game; if it is True, Black's pawns move from bottom to top.
Get Move List: If this option is on, whenever xboard receives the first board of a new ICS game (or a different ICS game from the one it is currently displaying), it retrieves the list of past moves from the ICS. You can then review the moves with the Forward and Backward commands or save them with Save Game. You might want to turn off this option if you are observing several blitz games at once, to keep from wasting time and network bandwidth fetching the move lists over and over. When you turn this option on from the menu, xboard immediately fetches the move list of the current game (if any).
Highlight Last Move: If Highlight Last Move is on, after a move is made, the starting and ending squares remain highlighted. In addition, after you use Backward or Back to Start, the starting and ending squares of the last move to be unmade are highlighted.
Move Sound: If this option is on, xboard alerts you by playing a sound after each of your opponent's moves (or after every move if you are observing a game on the Internet Chess Server). The sound is not played after moves you make or moves read from a saved game file. By default, the sound is the terminal bell, but on some systems you can change it to a sound file using the soundMove option; see below.
If you turn on this option when using xboard with the Internet Chess Server, you will probably want to give the set bell 0 command to the ICS, since otherwise the ICS will ring the terminal bell after every move.
ICS Alarm: When this option is on, an alarm sound is played when your clock counts down to the icsAlarmTime (by default, 5 seconds) in an ICS game. For games with time controls that include an increment, the alarm will sound each time the clock counts down to the icsAlarmTime. By default, the alarm sound is the terminal bell, but on some systems you can change it to a sound file using the soundIcsAlarm option; see below.
Old Save Style: If this option is off, xboard saves games in PGN (portable game notation) and positions in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation). If the option is on, a save style that is compatible with older versions of xboard is used instead. The old position style is more human-readable than FEN; the old game style has no particular advantages.
Periodic Updates: If this option is off (or if you are using a chess engine that does not support periodic updates), the analysis window will be updated only when the analysis changes. If this option is on, the Analysis Window will be updated every two seconds.
Ponder Next Move: If this option is off, the chess engine will think only when it is on move. If the option is on, the engine will also think while waiting for you to make your move.
Popup Exit Message: If this option is on, when xboard wants to display a message just before exiting, it brings up a modal dialog box and waits for you to click OK before exiting. If the option is off, xboard prints the message to standard error (the terminal) and exits immediately.
Popup Move Errors: If this option is off, when you make an error in moving (such as attempting an illegal move or moving the wrong color piece), the error message is displayed in the message area. If the option is on, move errors are displayed in small popup windows like other errors. You can dismiss an error popup either by clicking its OK button or by clicking anywhere on the board, including downclicking to start a move.
Premove: If this option is on while playing a game on ICS, you can register your next planned move before it is your turn. Move the piece with the mouse in the ordinary way, and the starting and ending squares will be highlighted with a special color (red by default). When it is your turn, if your registered move is legal, xboard will send it to ICS immediately; if not, it will be ignored and you can make a different move. If you change your mind about your premove, either make a different move, or double-click on any piece to cancel the move entirely.
Quiet Play: If this option is on, xboard will automatically issue an ICS set shout 0 command whenever you start an ICS game and a set shout 1 command whenever you finish one. Thus you will not be distracted by shouts from other ICS users while playing.
Show Coords: If this option is on, xboard displays algebraic coordinates along the board's left and bottom edges.
Show Thinking: If this option is on, the chess engine's notion of the score and best line of play from the current position is displayed as it is thinking. The score indicates how many pawns ahead (or if negative, behind) the engine thinks it is. When GNU Chess is thinking on your time, this thinking is not shown if GNU Chess was compiled with the -DQUIETBACKGROUND option. In matches between two machines, the score is prefixed by W or B to indicate whether the display is of White's thinking or Black's, and thinking on the opponent's time is never shown.
Test Legality: If this option is on, xboard tests whether moves you try to make with the mouse are legal, and refuses to let you make an illegal move. Moves loaded from a file with Load Game are also checked. If the option is off, all moves are accepted, but if a local chess engine or the ICS is active, they will still reject illegal moves. Turning off this option is useful if you are playing a chess variant with rules that xboard does not understand. (Bughouse, suicide, and wild variants where the king may castle after starting on the d file are generally supported with Test Legality on.)

Help Menu

Info XBoard: Displays the xboard info file in a new window. For this feature to work, you must have the GNU info program installed on your system, and the file xboard.info must either be present in the current working directory, or have been installed by the make install command when you built xboard.
Man XBoard: Displays this man page in a new window. For this feature to work, the file xboard.6 must have been installed by the make install command when you built xboard, and the directory it was placed in must be on the search path for your system's man(1) command.
Hint: Displays a move hint from the local chess engine.
Book: Displays a list of possible moves from the local chess engine's opening book. The first column gives moves, the second column gives one possible response for each move, and the third column shows the number of lines in the book that include the move from the first column. If you select this option and nothing happens, the chess engine is out of its book or does not support this command.
About XBoard: Shows the current xboard version number.

Other shortcut keys

Iconize

Pressing the i or c key iconizes xboard. The graphical icon displays a white knight if it is White's move, or a black knight if it is Black's move. If your X window manager displays only text icons, not graphical ones, check its documentation; there is probably a way to enable graphical icons. If you are running the Motif window manager mwm(1), add these lines to your .Xdefaults file and restart mwm:

    Mwm*iconDecoration: activelabel label image

    Mwm*XBoard*iconImageBackground: White

    Mwm*XBoard*iconImageForeground: Black

The first line above enables graphical icons in mwm; you don't need it if you already have them. The next two lines force the white knights to come out white and the black knights black. Unfortunately these resources can't be set from inside xboard; you have to set them in your .Xdefaults.

You can add or remove xboard shortcut keys using the X resource form.translations. Here is an example of what would go in your .Xdefaults file:

    XBoard*form.translations: \

        Shift<Key>?: AboutGameProc() \n \

	<Key>y: AcceptProc() \n \

	<Key>n: DeclineProc() \n \

	<Key>i: NothingProc()

Binding a key to NothingProc makes it do nothing, thus removing it as a shortcut key. The xboard functions that can be bound to keys are:

AbortProc, AboutGameProc, AboutProc, AcceptProc,

AdjournProc, AlwaysQueenProc, AnalysisModeProc,

AnalyzeFileProc, AnimateDraggingProc, AnimateMovingProc,

AutobsProc, AutoflagProc, AutoflipProc, AutoraiseProc,

AutosaveProc, BackwardProc, BlindfoldProc, BookProc,

CallFlagProc, CopyGameProc, CopyPositionProc, DebugProc,

DeclineProc, DrawProc, EditCommentProc, EditGameProc,

EditPositionProc, EditTagsProc, EnterKeyProc,

FlashMovesProc, FlipViewProc, ForwardProc,

GetMoveListProc, HighlightLastMoveProc, HintProc,

Iconify, IcsAlarmProc, IcsAlarmProc, IcsClientProc,

IcsInputBoxProc, InfoProc, LoadGameProc,

LoadNextGameProc, LoadNextPositionProc, LoadPositionProc,

LoadPrevGameProc, LoadPrevPositionProc, LoadSelectedProc,

MachineBlackProc, MachineWhiteProc, MailMoveProc,

ManProc, MoveNowProc, MoveSoundProc, NothingProc,

OldSaveStyleProc, PasteGameProc, PastePositionProc,

PauseProc, PeriodicUpdatesProc, PonderNextMoveProc,

PopupExitMessageProc, PopupMoveErrorsProc, PremoveProc,

QuietPlayProc, QuitProc, ReloadCmailMsgProc,

ReloadGameProc, ReloadPositionProc, RematchProc,

ResetProc, ResignProc, RetractMoveProc, RevertProc,

SaveGameProc, SavePositionProc, ShowCoordsProc,

ShowGameListProc, ShowThinkingProc, StopExaminingProc,

StopObservingProc, TestLegalityProc, ToEndProc,

ToStartProc, TrainingProc, TruncateGameProc, and

TwoMachinesProc.

OPTIONS

This section documents the command-line options to xboard. You can set these options in two ways: by typing them on the shell command line you use to start xboard, or by setting them as X resources (typically in your .Xdefaults file). Many of the options cannot be changed while xboard is running; others set the initial state of items that can be changed with the Options menu.

Most of the options have both a long name and a short name. To turn a boolean option on or off from the command line, either give its long name followed by the value True or False (-longOptionName True), or give just the short name to turn the option on (-opt), or the short name preceded by "x" to turn the option off (-xopt). For options that take strings or numbers as values, you can use the long or short option names interchangeably.

Each option corresponds to an X resource with the same name, so if you like, you can set options in your .Xdefaults file or in a file named XBoard in your home directory. For options that have two names, the longer one is the name of the corresponding X resource; the short name is not recognized. To turn a boolean option on or off as an X resource, give its long name followed by the value True or False (XBoard*longOptionName: True).

Chess Engine Options

-tc or -timeControl minutes[:seconds]

Each player begins with his clock set to the timeControl period. Default: 5 minutes. The additional options movesPerSession and timeIncrement are mutually exclusive.

-mps or -movesPerSession moves

When both players have made movesPerSession moves, a new timeControl period is added to both clocks. Default: 40 moves.

-inc or -timeIncrement seconds

If this option is specified, movesPerSession is ignored. Instead, after each player's move, timeIncrement seconds are added to his clock. Use -timeIncrement 0 if you want to require the entire game to be played in one timeControl period, with no increment. Default: -1, which specifies movesPerSession mode.

-clock/-xclock or -clockMode True/False

Determines whether or not to display the chess clocks. If clockMode is False, the clocks are not shown, but the side that is to play next is still highlighted. Also, unless searchTime is set, the chess engine still keeps track of the clock time and uses it to determine how fast to make its moves.

-st or -searchTime minutes[:seconds]

Tells the chess engine to spend at most the given amount of time searching for each of its moves. Without this option, the engine chooses its search time based on the number of moves and amount of time remaining until the next time control. Setting this option also sets clockMode to False.

-depth or -searchDepth number

Tells the chess engine to look ahead at most the given number of moves when searching for a move to make. Without this option, the engine chooses its search depth based on the number of moves and amount of time remaining until the next time control. With the option, the engine will cut off its search early if it reaches the specified depth.

-thinking/-xthinking or -showThinking True/False

Sets the Show Thinking menu option. Default: False.

-ponder/-xponder or -ponderNextMove True/False

Sets the Ponder Next Move menu option. Default: True.

-mg or -matchGames n

Automatically runs an n-game match between two chess engines, with alternating colors. If the loadGameFile or loadPositionFile option is set, xboard starts each game with the given opening moves or the given position; otherwise, the games start with the standard initial chess position. If the saveGameFile option is set, a move record for the match is appended to the specified file. If the savePositionFile option is set, the final position reached in each game of the match is appended to the specified file. When the match is over, xboard displays the match score and exits. Default: 0 (do not run a match).

-mm/-xmm or -matchMode True/False

Provided for backward compatibility. If true and matchGames is 0, sets matchGames to 1.

-fcp or -firstChessProgram program

Name of first chess engine. Default: gnuchessx.

-scp or -secondChessProgram program

Name of second chess engine. A second chess engine is started only in Two Machines (match) mode. Default: gnuchessx.

-fb/-xfb or -firstPlaysBlack True/False

In games between two chess engines, firstChessProgram normally plays white. (This is a change from earlier versions of xboard.) If this option is True, firstChessProgram plays black. In a multi-game match, this option affects the colors only for the first game; they still alternate in subsequent games.

-fh or -firstHost host

-sh or -secondHost host

Hosts on which the chess engines are to be run. The default for each is localhost. If you specify another host, xboard uses rsh(1) to run the chess engine there. (You can substitute a different remote shell program for rsh using the remoteShell option described below.)

-fd or -firstDirectory dir

-sd or -secondDirectory dir

Working directories in which the chess engines are to be run. The default for both is "", which means to run the chess engine in the same working directory as xboard itself. (See the CHESSDIR environment variable.) This option is effective only when the chess engine is being run on the local host; it does not work if the engine is run remotely using the -fh or -sh option.

-initString string

-secondInitString string

The string that is sent to initialize each chess engine for a new game. Default:

    new

    random

Setting this option from the command line is tricky, because you must type in real newline characters, including one at the end. In most shells you can do this by entering a "\" character followed by a newline. It is easier to set the option from your .Xdefaults file; in that case you can include the character sequence "\n" in the string, and it will be converted to a newline.

If you change this option, don't remove the new command; it is required by all chess engines to start a new game.

You can remove the random command if you like; including it causes GNU Chess to randomize its move selection slightly so that it doesn't play the same moves in every game. Even without random, GNU Chess randomizes its choice of moves from its opening book. Crafty ignores this command; it randomizes by default.

You can also try adding other commands to the initString; see the GNU Chess or Crafty documentation for details.

-firstComputerString string

-secondComputerString string

The string that is sent to the chess engine if its opponent is another computer chess engine. The default is "computer\n". Probably the only useful alternative is the empty string (""), which keeps the engine from knowing that it is playing another computer.

-reuse/-xreuse or -reuseFirst True/False

-reuse2/-xreuse2 or -reuseSecond True/False

If the option is False, xboard kills off the chess engine after every game and starts it again for the next game. If the option is True (the default), xboard starts the chess engine only once and uses it repeatedly to play multiple games. Some chess engines may not work properly when reuse is turned on, such as versions of Crafty earlier than 12.0, but otherwise new games will start faster if it is left on.

-firstProtocolVersion version-number

-secondProtocolVersion version-number

This option specifies which version of the chess engine communication protocol to use. By default, version-number is 2. In version 1, the "protover" command is not sent to the engine; since version 1 is a subset of version 2, nothing else changes. Other values for version-number are not supported.

Internet Chess Server Options

-ics/-xics or -internetChessServerMode True/False

Connect with an Internet Chess Server to play chess against its other users, observe games they are playing, or review games that have recently finished. Default: False.

-icshost or -internetChessServerHost host

The Internet host name or address of the chess server to connect to when in ICS mode. Default: chessclub.com. See the file ics-addresses in the xboard source distribution for a list of other addresses to try. If your site doesn't have a working Internet name server, try specifying the host address in numeric form. You may also need to specify the numeric address when using the icshelper option with timestamp or timeseal (see below). At this writing, chessclub.com is 207.99.5.190 and freechess.org (formerly fics.onenet.net) is 164.58.253.13.

-icsport or -internetChessServerPort port-number

The port number to use when connecting to a chess server in ICS mode. Default: 5000.

-icshelper or -internetChessServerHelper prog-name

An external helper program used to communicate with the chess server. You would set it to "timestamp" for ICC (chessclub.com) or "timeseal" for FICS (freechess.org, eics.daimi.aau.dk, etc.), after obtaining the correct version of timestamp or timeseal for your computer. See "help timestamp" on ICC and "help timeseal" on FICS. This option is shorthand for "-useTelnet -telnetProgram program".

-telnet/-xtelnet or -useTelnet True/False

This option is poorly named; it should be called useHelper. If set to True, it instructs xboard to run an external program to communicate with the Internet Chess Server. The program to use is given by the telnetProgram option. If the option is False (the default), xboard opens a TCP socket and uses its own internal implementation of the telnet protocol to communicate with the ICS. See the FIREWALLS section below for an explanation of when this option is useful.

-telnetProgram prog-name

This option is poorly named; it should be called helperProgram. It gives the name of the telnet program to be used with the gateway and useTelnet options. The default is telnet. The telnet program is invoked with the value of internetChessServerHost as its first argument and the value of internetChessServerPort as its second argument. See the FIREWALLS section below for an explanation of when this option is useful.

-gateway host-name

If this option is set to a host name, xboard communicates with the Internet Chess Server by using rsh(1) to run the telnetProgram on the given host, instead of using its own internal implementation of the telnet protocol. You can substitute a different remote shell program for rsh with the remoteShell option described below. See the FIREWALLS section below for an explanation of when this option is useful.

-internetChessServerCommPort or -icscomm dev-name

If this option is set, xboard communicates with the ICS through the given character I/O device instead of opening a TCP connection. Use this option if your system does not have any kind of Internet connection itself (not even a SLIP or PPP connection), but you do have dialup access (or a hardwired terminal line) to an Internet service provider from which you can telnet to the ICS.

The support for this option in xboard is minimal. You need to set all communication parameters and tty modes before you enter xboard.

Use a script something like this:

    stty raw -echo 9600 > /dev/tty00

    xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/tty00

Here replace /dev/tty00 with the name of the device that your modem is connected to. You might have to add several more options to these stty commands. See the man pages for stty(1) and tty(4) if you run into problems. Also, on many systems stty works on its standard input instead of standard output, so you have to use "<" instead of ">".

If you are using linux, try starting with the script below. Change it as necessary for your installation.

##################################################
#!/bin/sh -f
# configure modem and fire up xboard

# configure modem
( stty 2400 ; stty raw ; stty hupcl ; stty -clocal
stty ignbrk ; stty ignpar ; stty ixon ; stty ixoff
stty -iexten ; stty -echo ) < /dev/modem

xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/modem
##################################################

After you start xboard in this way, type whatever commands are necessary to dial out to your Internet provider and log in. Then telnet to ICS, using a command like telnet chessclub.com 5000. Important: See the paragraph in the LIMITATIONS section below about extra echoes.

-icslogon or -internetChessServerLogonScript file-name

Whenever xboard connects to the Internet Chess Server, if it finds a file with the name given in this option, it feeds the file's contents to the ICS as commands. The default file name is .icsrc. Usually the first two lines of the file should be your ICS user name and password. The file can be either in $CHESSDIR, in xboard's working directory if CHESSDIR is not set, or in your home directory.

-msLoginDelay delay

If you experience trouble logging onto an ICS using the -icslogon option, inserting some delay between characters of the login script may help. This option inserts delay milliseconds of delay per character. Good values to try are 100 and 250.

-icsinput/-xicsinput or -internetChessServerInputBox True/False

Sets ICS Input Box on the mode menu. Default: False.

-autocomm/-xautocomm or -autoComment True/False

Sets the Auto Comment menu option. Default: False.

-autoflag/-xautoflag or -autoCallFlag True/False

Sets the Auto Flag menu option. Default: False.

-autobs/-xautobs or -autoObserve True/False

Sets the Auto Observe menu option. Default: False.

-moves/-xmoves or -getMoveList True/False

Sets the Get Move List menu option. Default: True.

-alarm/-xalarm or -icsAlarm True/False

Sets the ICS Alarm menu option. Default: True.

-icsAlarmTime ms

Sets the time in milliseconds for the ICS Alarm menu option. Default: 5000.

-pre/-xpre or -premove True/False

Sets the Premove menu option. Default: True.

-quiet/-xquiet or -quietPlay True/False

Sets the Quiet Play menu option. Default: False. Default: False.

-colorize/-xcolorize or -colorizeMessages TrueFalse

Setting colorizeMessages to True causes xboard to colorize the messages received from the ICS. Colorization works only if your xterm supports ISO 6429 escape sequences for changing text colors.

-colorShout foreground,background,bold

-colorSShout foreground,background,bold

-colorChannel foreground,background,bold

-colorKibitz foreground,background,bold

-colorTell foreground,background,bold

-colorChallenge foreground,background,bold

-colorRequest foreground,background,bold

-colorSeek foreground,background,bold

-colorNormal foreground,background,bold

These options set the colors used when colorizing ICS messages. All ICS messages are grouped into one of these categories: shout, sshout, channel 1, other channel, kibitz, tell, challenge, request (including abort, adjourn, draw, pause, and takeback), seek, or normal (all other messages).

Each foreground or background argument can be one of the following: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, or default. Here "default" means the default foreground or background color of your xterm. Bold can be 1 or 0. If background is omitted, "default" is assumed; if bold is omitted, 0 is assumed.

Here is an example of how to set the colors in your .Xdefaults file. The colors shown here are the default values; you will get them if you turn -colorize on without specifying your own colors.

    xboard*colorizeMessages: true	

    xboard*colorShout: green

    xboard*colorSShout: green, black, 1

    xboard*colorChannel1: cyan

    xboard*colorChannel: cyan, black, 1

    xboard*colorKibitz: magenta, black, 1

    xboard*colorTell: yellow, black, 1

    xboard*colorChallenge: red, black, 1

    xboard*colorRequest: red

    xboard*colorSeek: blue

    xboard*colorNormal: default

-soundProgram progname

If this option is set to a sound-playing program that is installed and working on your system, xboard can play sound files when certain events occur, listed below. The default program name is "play". If any of the sound options is set to "$", the event rings the terminal bell by sending a ^G character to standard output, instead of playing a sound file. If an option is set to the empty string "", no sound is played for that event.

-soundShout filename

-soundSShout filename

-soundChannel filename

-soundKibitz filename

-soundTell filename

-soundChallenge filename

-soundRequest filename

-soundSeek filename

These sounds are triggered in the same way as the colorization events described above. They all default to "", no sound. They are played only if the colorizeMessages is on.

-soundMove filename

This sound is used by the Move Sound menu option. Default: "$".

-soundIcsAlarm filename

This sound is used by the ICS Alarm menu option. Default: "$".

-soundIcsWin filename

This sound is played when you win an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).

-soundIcsLoss filename

This sound is played when you lose an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).

-soundIcsDraw filename

This sound is played when you draw an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).

-soundIcsUnfinished filename

This sound is played when an ICS game that you are participating in is aborted, adjourned, or otherwise ends inconclusively. Default: "" (no sound).

Here is an example of how to set the sounds in your .Xdefaults file.

    xboard*soundShout: shout.wav

    xboard*soundSShout: sshout.wav

    xboard*soundChannel1: channel1.wav

    xboard*soundChannel: channel.wav

    xboard*soundKibitz: kibitz.wav

    xboard*soundTell: tell.wav

    xboard*soundChallenge: challenge.wav

    xboard*soundRequest: request.wav

    xboard*soundSeek: seek.wav

    xboard*soundMove: move.wav

    xboard*soundIcsWin: win.wav

    xboard*soundIcsLoss: lose.wav

    xboard*soundIcsDraw: draw.wav

    xboard*soundIcsUnfinished: unfinished.wav

    xboard*soundIcsAlarm: alarm.wav

Load and Save Options

-lgf or -loadGameFile file
-lgi or -loadGameIndex index: If the loadGameFile option is set, xboard loads the specified game file at startup. The file name "-" specifies the standard input. If there is more than one game in the file, xboard pops up a menu of the available games, with entries based on their PGN (portable game notation) tags. If the loadGameIndex option is set to N, the menu is suppressed and the Nth game found in the file is loaded immediately. The menu is also suppressed if matchMode is enabled or if the game file is a pipe; in these cases the first game in the file is loaded immediately. Use the pxboard shell script if you want to pipe files containing multiple games into xboard and still see the menu.
-td or -timeDelay seconds: Time delay between moves during Load Game. Fractional seconds are allowed; try -td 0.4. A time delay value of -1 tells xboard not to step through game files automatically. Default: 1 second.
-sgf or -saveGameFile file: If this option is set, xboard appends a record of every game played to the specified file. The file name "-" specifies the standard output.
-autosave/-xautosave or -autoSaveGames True/False: Sets the Auto Save menu option. Ignored if saveGameFile is set. Default: False.
-lpf or -loadPositionFile file
-lpi or -loadPositionIndex index: If the loadPositionFile option is set, xboard loads the specified position file at startup. The file name "-" specifies the standard input. If the loadPositionIndex option is set to N, the Nth position found in the file is loaded; otherwise the first position is loaded.
-spf or -savePositionFile file: If this option is set, xboard appends the final position reached in every game played to the specified file. The file name "-" specifies the standard output.
-oldsave/-xoldsave or -oldSaveStyle True/False: Sets the Old Save Style menu option. Default: False.

User Interface Options

standard Xt options

xboard accepts standard Xt options like -display, -geometry, and -iconic.

-movesound/-xmovesound or -ringBellAfterMoves True/False

Sets the Move Sound menu option. Default: False. For upward compatibility, -bell/-xbell are also accepted as abbreviations for this option.

-exit/-xexit or -popupExitMessage True/False

Sets the Popup Exit Message menu option. Default: True.

-popup/-xpopup or -popupMoveErrors True/False

Sets the Popup Move Errors menu option. Default: False.

-queen/-xqueen or -alwaysPromoteToQueen True/False

Sets the Always Queen menu option. Default: False.

-legal/-xlegal or -testLegality True/False

Sets the Test Legality menu option. Default: True.

-size or -boardSize (sizeName | n1,n2,n3,n4,n5,n6,n7)

Determines how large the board will be, by selecting the pixel size of the pieces and setting a few related parameters. The sizeName can be one of: Titanic, giving 129x129 pixel pieces, Colossal 116x116, Giant 108x108, Huge 95x95, Big 87x87, Large 80x80, Bulky 72x72, Medium 64x64, Moderate 58x58, Average 54x54, Middling 49x49, Mediocre 45x45, Small 40x40, Slim 37x37, Petite 33x33, Dinky 29x29, Teeny 25x25, or Tiny 21x21. Pieces of all these sizes are built into xboard. Other sizes can be used if you have them; see the pixmapDirectory and bitmapDirectory options. The default depends on the size of your screen; it is approximately the largest size that will fit without clipping.

You can select other sizes or vary other layout parameters by providing a list of comma-separated values (with no spaces) as the argument. You do not need to provide all the values; for any you omit from the end of the list, defaults are taken from the nearest built-in size. The value n1 gives the piece size, n2 the width of the black border between squares, n3 the desired size for the clockFont, n4 the desired size for the coordFont, n5 the desired size for the default font, n6 the smallLayout flag (0 or 1), and n7 the tinyLayout flag (0 or 1). All dimensions are in pixels. If the border between squares is eliminated (0 width), the various highlight options will not work, as there is nowhere to draw the highlight. If smallLayout is 1 and titleInWindow is True, the window layout is rearranged to make more room for the title. If tinyLayout is 1, the labels on the menu bar are abbreviated to one character each and the buttons in the button bar are made narrower.

-coords/-xcoords or -showCoords True/False

Sets the Show Coords menu option. Default: False. The coordFont option specifies what font to use.

-autoraise/-xautoraise or -autoRaiseBoard True/False

Sets the Auto Raise Board menu option. Default: True.

-autoflip/-xautoflip or -autoFlipView True/False

Sets the Auto Flip View menu option. Default: True.

-flip/-xflip or -flipView True/False

If Auto Flip View is not set, or if you are observing but not participating in a game, then the positioning of the board at the start of each game depends on the flipView option. If flipView is False (the default), the board is positioned so that the white pawns move from the bottom to the top; if True, the black pawns move from the bottom to the top. In any case, the Flip menu option can be used to flip the board after the game starts.

-title/-xtitle or -titleInWindow True/False

If this option is True, xboard displays player names (for ICS games) and game file names (for Load Game) inside its main window. If the option is False (the default), this information is displayed only in the window banner. You probably won't want to set this option unless the information is not showing up in the banner, as happens with a few X window managers.

-buttons/-xbuttons or -showButtonBar True/False

If this option is False, xboard omits the [<<] [<] [P] [>] [>>] button bar from the window, allowing the message line to be wider. You can still get the functions of these buttons using the menus or their keyboard shortcuts. Default: True.

-mono/-xmono or -monoMode True/False

Determines whether xboard displays its pieces and squares with two colors (True) or four (False). You shouldn't have to specify monoMode; xboard will determine if it is necessary.

-flashCount count

-flashRate rate

-flash

-xflash

These options enable flashing of pieces when they land on their destination square. flashCount tells XBoard how many times to flash a piece after it lands on its destination square. flashRate controls the rate of flashing (flashes/sec). Abbreviations: flash sets flashCount to 3. xflash sets flashCount to 0. Defaults: flashCount=0 (no flashing), flashRate=5.

-highlight/-xhighlight or -highlightLastMove True/False

Sets the Highlight Last Move menu option. Default: False.

-blind/-xblind or -blindfold True/False

Sets the Blindfold menu option. Default: False.

-clockFont font

The font used for the clocks. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify the font size, xboard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size being used. Default: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.

-coordFont font

The font used for rank and file coordinate labels if showCoords is True. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify the font size, xboard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size being used. Default: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.

-font font

The font used for popup dialogs, menus, comments, etc. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify the font size, xboard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size being used. Default: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.

-fontSizeTolerance tol

In the font selection algorithm, a nonscalable font will be preferred over a scalable font if the nonscalable font's size differs by tol pixels or less from the desired size. A value of -1 will force a scalable font to always be used if available; a value of 0 will use a nonscalable font only if it is exactly the right size; a large value (say 1000) will force a nonscalable font to always be used if available. Default: 4.

-bm or -bitmapDirectory dir

-pixmap or -pixmapDirectory dir

These options control what piece images xboard uses. The xboard distribution includes one set of pixmap pieces in xpm format, in the directory pixmaps, and two sets of bitmap pieces in xbm format, in the directories bitmaps and bitmaps.xchess. Pixmap pieces give a better appearance on the screen: the white pieces have dark borders, and the black pieces have opaque internal details. With bitmaps, neither piece color has a border, and the internal details are transparent; you see the square color or other background color through them.

If xboard is configured and compiled on a system that includes libXpm, the X pixmap library, the xpm pixmap pieces are compiled in as the default. A different xpm piece set can be selected at runtime with the -pixmapDirectory option, or a bitmap piece set can be selected with the -bitmapDirectory option.

If xboard is configured and compiled on a system that does not include libXpm (or the --disable-xpm option is given to the configure program), the bitmap pieces are compiled in as the default. It is not possible to use xpm pieces in this case, but pixmap pieces in another format called "xim" can be used by giving the -pixmapDirectory option. Or again, a different bitmap piece set can be selected with the -bitmapDirectory option.

Files in the bitmapDirectory must be named as follows: The first character of a piece bitmap name gives the piece it represents (p, n, b, r, q, or k), the next characters give the size in pixels, the following character indicates whether the piece is solid or outline (s or o), and the extension is ".bm". For example, a solid 80x80 knight would be named "n80s.bm". The outline bitmaps are used only in monochrome mode. If bitmap pieces are compiled in and the bitmapDirectory is missing some files, the compiled in pieces are used instead.

If the bitmapDirectory option is given, it is also possible to replace xboard's icons and menu checkmark, by supplying files named "icon_white.bm", "icon_black.bm", and "checkmark.bm".

You can import pixmap pieces from the ZIICS distribution by using the zic2xpm program to convert them. This program produces both xpm and xim pixmaps, so you can use these pieces even if you do not have xpm support compiled into your xboard. ZIICS provides a large number of piece sets to choose from. Here's how to import them:

1) Download the ZIICS distribution. It is available from

     ftp://ftp.freechess.org/pub/chess/DOS/ziics131.exe

2) Unzip it into a directory, for example:

      unzip -L ziics131.exe -d ~/ziics

3) Pick a chess set you want to use, for example the FRITZ4 set. Create a directory to hold the pieces, then run the zic2xpm program to create the pieces:

      mkdir ~/fritz4

      cd ~/fritz4

      zic2xpm ~/ziics/fritz4.*

(The zic2xpm program is in the directory where xboard was compiled, in case you didn't do a make install.)

4) Now, just add the -pixmapDirectory option when you start xboard:

     xboard -pixmapDirectory ~/fritz4

Or add the option to your .Xdefaults file:

     xboard*pixmapDirectory: ~/fritz4

-whitePieceColor color

-blackPieceColor color

-lightSquareColor color

-darkSquareColor color

-highlightSquareColor color

-premoveHighlightColor color

Colors to use for the pieces, squares, and square highlights. Defaults:

    -whitePieceColor       #FFFFCC

    -blackPieceColor       #202020

    -lightSquareColor      #C8C365

    -darkSquareColor       #77A26D

    -highlightSquareColor  #FFFF00

    -premoveHighlightColor #FF0000

If you are using a grayscale monitor, try setting the colors to:

    -whitePieceColor       gray100

    -blackPieceColor       gray0

    -lightSquareColor      gray80

    -darkSquareColor       gray60

    -highlightSquareColor  gray100

    -premoveHighlightColor gray70

-drag/-xdrag or -animateDragging True/False

Sets the Animate Dragging menu option. Default: True.

-animate/-xanimate or -animateMoving True/False

Sets the Animate Moving menu option. Default: True.

-animateSpeed n

Number of milliseconds delay between each animation frame when Animate Moves is on.

Other Options

-ncp/-xncp or -noChessProgram True/False

If this option is True, xboard acts as a passive chessboard; it does not start a chess engine at all. Turning on this option also turns off clockMode. Default: False.

-mode or -initialMode modename

If this option is given, xboard selects the given modename from the Mode menu after starting and (if applicable) processing the loadGameFile or loadPositionFile option. Default: "" (no selection). Other supported values are MachineWhite, MachineBlack, TwoMachines, Analysis, AnalyzeFile, EditGame, EditPosition, and Training.

-variant varname

Activates preliminary, partial support for playing chess variants against a local engine or editing variant games. This flag is not needed in ICS mode. Recognized variant names are:

  normal        Normal chess

  wildcastle    Shuffle chess, king can castle from d file

  nocastle      Shuffle chess, no castling allowed

  fischerandom  Fischer Random shuffle chess

  bughouse      Bughouse, ICC/FICS rules

  crazyhouse    Crazyhouse, ICC/FICS rules

  losers        Lose all pieces or get mated (ICC wild 17)

  suicide       Lose all pieces including king (FICS)

  giveaway      Try to have no legal moves (ICC wild 26)

  twokings      Weird ICC wild 9

  kriegspiel    Opponent's pieces are invisible

  atomic        Capturing piece explodes (ICC wild 27)

  3check        Win by giving check 3 times (ICC wild 25)

  shatranj      An ancient precursor of chess (ICC wild 28)

  unknown       Catchall for other unknown variants

In the shuffle variants, xboard does not shuffle the pieces, but you can do it by hand using Edit Position. Some variants are supported only in ICS mode, including fischerandom, bughouse, and kriegspiel. The winning/drawing conditions in crazyhouse (offboard interposition on mate), losers, suicide, giveaway, atomic, and 3check are not fully understood. In crazyhouse, xboard does not yet keep track of offboard pieces. Shatranj is unsupported, but it may be usable if you turn off Test Legality.

-debug/-xdebug or -debugMode True/False

Turns on debugging printout.

-rsh or -remoteShell shell-name

Name of the command used to run programs remotely. The default is rsh or remsh, determined when xboard is configured and compiled.

-ruser or -remoteUser user-name

User name on the remote system when running programs with the remoteShell. The default is your local user name.

ANALYSIS MODES

If you are using a chess engine that supports analysis, such as Crafty, you can use xboard to analyze your games. GNU Chess does not support analysis. See the section titled GETTING CRAFTY for more information on obtaining and installing Crafty. There are a few ways to analyze:

Analyzing

stored

game

(PGN,

etc):

Analyze

File

Mode

Menu.

Setting up a position to analyze Choose Edit Position from the Mode Menu. Edit the board (the right and middle mouse buttons bring up the black/white piece menus). When finished editing, click on either the White or Black clock to tell xboard whose turn it is to move. Choose Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu. Watch the analysis, move pieces around, etc.

Analyzing a new game If you want to start a new analysis from a fresh board, choose Reset Game from the File Menu, then choose Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu. Now you can move pieces around and watch the engine's analysis.

GETTING CRAFTY

Crafty is a chess engine written by Bob Hyatt (hyatt@cis.uab.edu). You can use XBoard to play a game against Crafty, hook Crafty up to an ICS, or use Crafty to interactively analyze games and positions for you.

Crafty is a strong, rapidly evolving chess program. This rapid pace of development is good, because it means Crafty is always getting better. This can sometimes cause problems with backwards compatibility, but usually the latest version of Crafty will work well with the latest version of xboard. Crafty can be obtained from its author's FTP site: ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu/hyatt/.

To use Crafty with XBoard, give the -fcp and -fd options as follows, where crafty's-directory is the directory in which you installed Crafty and placed its book and other support files.

    xboard -fcp crafty -fd crafty's-directory

FIREWALLS

By default, xboard -ics communicates with an Internet Chess Server by opening a TCP socket directly from the machine it is running on to the ICS. If there is a firewall between your machine and the ICS, this won't work. Here are some recipes for getting around common kinds of firewalls using special options to xboard. Important: See the paragraph in the LIMITATIONS section below about extra echoes.

Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can telnet to a firewall host, log in, and then telnet from there to ICS. Let's say the firewall is called fire.wall.com. Set command-line options as follows:

    xboard -ics -icshost fire.wall.com -icsport 23

Or in your .Xdefaults file:

    XBoard*internetChessServerHost: fire.wall.com

    XBoard*internetChessServerPort: 23

Then when you run xboard in ICS mode, you will be prompted to log in to the firewall host. (This works because port 23 is the standard telnet login service.) Log in, then telnet to ICS, using a command like telnet chessclub.com 5000, or whatever command the firewall provides for telnetting to port 5000.

If your firewall lets you telnet (or rlogin) to remote hosts, but doesn't let you telnet to port 5000, you will have to find some other host outside the firewall that does let you do this, and hop through it. For instance, suppose you have an account at foo.edu. Follow the recipe above, but instead of typing telnet chessclub.com 5000 to the firewall, type telnet foo.edu (or rlogin foo.edu), log in there, and then type telnet chessclub.com 5000.

Exception: chessclub.com itself lets you connect to the chess server on the default telnet port (23), which is what you get if you don't specify a port to the telnet program. But the other chess servers don't allow this.

Suppose that you can't telnet directly to ICS, but you can use rsh to run programs on a firewall host, and that host can telnet to ICS. Let's say the firewall is called rsh.wall.com. Set command-line options as follows:

    xboard -ics -gateway rsh.wall.com -icshost chessclub.com

Or in your .Xdefaults file:

    XBoard*gateway: rsh.wall.com

    XBoard*internetChessServerHost: chessclub.com

Then when you run xboard in ICS mode, it will connect to the ICS by using rsh to run the command telnet chessclub.com 5000 on host rsh.wall.com.

Suppose that you can telnet anywhere you want, but you have to run a special program called ptelnet to do so.

First, we'll consider the easy case, in which ptelnet chessclub.com 5000 gets you to the chess server. In this case set command line options as follows:

    xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet

Or in your .Xdefaults file:

    XBoard*useTelnet: true

    XBoard*telnetProgram: ptelnet

Then when you run xboard in ICS mode, it will issue the command ptelnet chessclub.com 5000 to connect to the ICS.

Next, suppose that ptelnet chessclub.com 5000 doesn't work; that is, your ptelnet program doesn't let you connect to alternative ports. In this case, you will have to find some other host outside the firewall that does let you do this, and hop through it. For instance, suppose you have an account at foo.edu. Set command line options as follows:

    xboard -ics -telnet -telnetProgram ptelnet -icshost foo.edu -icsport ""

Or in your .Xdefaults file:

    XBoard*useTelnet: true

    XBoard*telnetProgram: ptelnet

    XBoard*internetChessServerHost: foo.edu

    XBoard*internetChessServerPort:

Then when you run xboard in ICS mode, it will issue the command ptelnet foo.edu to connect to your account at foo.edu. Log in there, then type telnet chessclub.com 5000.

ICC timestamp and FICS timeseal do not work through many firewalls. You can use them only if your firewall gives a clean TCP connection with a full 8-bit wide path. If your firewall allows you to get out only by running a special telnet program, you can't use timestamp or timeseal across it. But if you have access to a computer just outside your firewall, and you have much lower netlag when talking to that computer than to the ICS, it might be worthwhile running timestamp there. Follow the instructions above for hopping through a host outside the firewall (foo.edu in the example), but run timestamp or timeseal on that host instead of telnet.

Suppose that you have a SOCKS firewall that requires you to go through some extra level of authentication, but after that will give you a clean 8-bit wide TCP connection to the chess server. In that case, you could make a socksified version of xboard and run that. If you are using timestamp or timeseal, you will need to socksify it, not xboard; this may be difficult seeing that ICC and FICS do not provide source code for these programs. Socksification is beyond the scope of this document, but see the SOCKS Web site at http://www.socks.nec.com/how2socksify.html.

ENVIRONMENT

Game and position files are found in the directory named by the CHESSDIR environment variable. If this variable is not set, the current working directory is used. If CHESSDIR is set, xboard actually changes its working directory to $CHESSDIR, so any files written by the chess engine will be placed there too.

LIMITATIONS

There is no way for two people running copies of xboard to play each other without going through the Internet Chess Server.

Under some circumstances, your ICS password may be echoed when you log on.

If you are connecting to the ICS by running telnet, timestamp, or timeseal on an Internet provider or firewall host, you may find that each line you type is echoed back an extra time after you hit Return. If your Internet provider is a Unix system, you can probably turn its echo off by typing stty -echo after you log in, and/or typing ^E-Return (control-E followed by the Return key) to the telnet program after you have logged into ICS. It is a good idea to do this if you can, because otherwise the extra echo can occasionally confuse xboard's parsing routines.

The game parser recognizes only algebraic notation.

The internal move legality tester does not look at the game history, so in some cases it misses illegal castling or en passant captures. It permits castling with the king on the d file because this is possible in some "wild 1" games on ICS. However, if you attempt an illegal move when using a chess engine or the ICS, xboard will accept the error message that comes back, undo the move, and let you try another.

Fischer Random castling is not understood. You can probably play Fischer Random chess successfully on ICS by typing castling moves into the ICS Interaction window, but they will not be animated correctly, and saved games will not be loaded correctly if castling occurs.

FEN positions saved by xboard never include correct information about whether castling is legal or how many half-moves have been made since the last irreversible move, and sometimes may not correctly indicate when en passant capture is available.

The mate detector does not understand that non-contact mate is not really mate in bughouse. The only problem this causes while playing is minor: a "#" (mate indicator) character will show up after a non-contact mating move in the move list; xboard will not assume the game is over at that point. However, if you are editing a game, Edit Game mode will be terminated by a non-contact mate.

Some xboard functions may not work with versions of GNU Chess earlier than 4.0, patchlevel 77, or with versions of Crafty earlier than 15.11. A few functions work with GNU Chess but not Crafty, or vice versa.

The menus may not work if your keyboard is in Caps Lock or Num Lock mode. This seems to be a problem with the Athena menu widget, not an xboard bug.

Also see the ToDo file included with the distribution for many other possible bugs, limitations, and ideas for improvement that have been suggested.

REPORTING PROBLEMS

Report bugs and problems with xboard to <tim@tim-mann.org>. Please use the script(1) program to start a typescript, run xboard with the -debug option, and include the typescript output in your message. Also tell us what kind of machine and what operating system version you are using. The command "uname -a" will often tell you this. Here is a sample of approximately what you should type:

    script

    uname -a

    ./configure

    make

    ./xboard -debug

    exit

    mail tim@tim-mann.org

    Subject: Your short description of the problem

    Your detailed description of the problem

    ~r typescript

    .

If you improve xboard, please send a message about your changes, and we will get in touch with you about merging them in to the main line of development.

AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Tim Mann has been responsible for xboard versions 1.3 and beyond, and for WinBoard, a port of xboard to Microsoft Win32 (Windows NT and Windows 95).

Mark Williams contributed the initial (WinBoard-only) implementation of many new features added to both XBoard and WinBoard in version 4.1.0, including copy/paste, premove, icsAlarm, autoFlipView, training mode, auto raise, and blindfold. Ben Nye contributed X copy/paste code for XBoard.

Hugh Fisher added animated piece movement to xboard, and Henrik Gram added it to WinBoard. Frank McIngvale added click/click moving, the Analysis modes, piece flashing, ZIICS import, and ICS text colorization to xboard. Jochen Wiedmann ported xboard to the Amiga, creating AmyBoard, and converted the documentation to texinfo. Elmar Bartel contributed the new piece bitmaps for version 3.2. Evan Welsh wrote cmail. John Chanak contributed the initial implementation of ICS mode. The color scheme and the old 80x80 piece bitmaps were taken from Wayne Christopher's XChess program.

Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original xboard; they were responsible for versions 1.0 through 1.2.

COPYRIGHT

XBoard's alternative piece bitmaps (bitmaps.xchess) are derived from the bitmaps in the XChess program, which was written and is copyrighted by Wayne Christopher.

The following terms apply to Digital Equipment Corporation's copyright interest in XBoard:

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of Digital not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission.

DIGITAL DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL DIGITAL BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

The following terms apply to this enhanced version of XBoard distributed by the Free Software Foundation:

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

ZIICS is a separate copyrighted work of Andy McFarland (Zek on ICC). Use of ZIICS falls under the ZIICS license, not the GPL.

webmaster donations bookstore	delorie software privacy
Copyright � 2003 by The Free Software Foundation	Updated Jun 2003

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

MENU COMMANDS, BUTTONS, AND KEYS

File Menu

Mode Menu

Action Menu

Step Menu

Options Menu

Help Menu

Other shortcut keys

OPTIONS

Chess Engine Options

Internet Chess Server Options

Load and Save Options

User Interface Options

Other Options

ANALYSIS MODES

GETTING CRAFTY

FIREWALLS

ENVIRONMENT

SEE ALSO

LIMITATIONS

REPORTING PROBLEMS

AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS

COPYRIGHT