xshogi(6): Xt/Athena user interface

xshogi — Xt/Athena user interface for gnushogi

Synopsis

xshogi [ options ]

Description

xshogi provides an X11/Xt/Athena Widgets user interface for gnushogi. With xshogi you can play gnushogi, set up arbitrary positions, force variations, or watch xshogi manage a game between two shogi programs. Furthermore, it can be used as an interface between two players on different displays.

xshogi can also be used as a shogi board to play out games. It will read through a game file or allow a player to play through a variation manually (force mode). This is useful for keeping track of email postal games or browsing games off the net.

After starting xshogi, you can make moves by pressing mouse button 1 while the cursor is over a square with your piece on it and dragging the mouse to another square. If the move is illegal, gnushogi will not allow it. xshogi will then retract the move.

Rules

Shogi is a Japanese board game played by two players. The object of the game is to capture the opponent's King. Shogi is played on a nine-by-nine board. The vertical rows are called files, the horizontal ones ranks or just rows. Each player has twenty pieces: one King, two Gold Generals, two Silver Generals, two kNights, two Lances, one Rook, one Bishop and nine Pawns. The player moving up the board and making the first move is referred to as black and his opponent white, although in Shogi sets all pieces have the same colour. They are differentiated only in direction: pieces pointing away from a player are his. The pieces lie flat on the board and have their Japanese name written on them.

Moves

King: one step in any direction per move
Gold General: one step per move any way except diagonally backward (as a king but not diagonally backward)
Silver General: one step per move forwards or diagonally (as a king but not sideways or vertically backward)
Knight: one step to left or right, and two steps forward (the only piece which may jump over other pieces)
Rook: moves vertically or horizontally any distance
Bishop: moves diagonally any distance
Lance: moves forward any distance
Pawn: one step forward

Promotion

The three rows furthest away from a player are called the promotion zone. Apart from the King and the Gold, any piece can be promoted to a more powerful piece when it makes a move completely or partly in the promotion zone. So, when a piece moves into, out of or fully inside the promotion zone it may be promoted upon completion of its move. Promotion is optional, provided that the piece still can make a legal move in case it is not promoted: if a Pawn or a Lance move to the last row, or a Knight moves to either of the last two rows, it must be promoted. In Shogi sets promoting a piece is done by turning this piece upside down. Its promoted name is written on its other side.

Apart from the King and the Gold General all pieces can promote. After promotion their moves are as follows:

+: Promoted Silver, promoted kNight, promoted Lance and promoted Pawn all move as a Gold.
+: The promoted Rook in addition to the moves of the unpromoted Rook can move one step in the diagonal directions. It either moves like a Rook or like a King.
+: The promoted Bishop in addition to the moves of the unpromoted Bishop can move one step horizontally or vertically. It either moves like a Bishop or like a King.

Capturing and dropping pieces

When one piece moves onto the same square as an opponent's piece, the opponent's piece is captured. All pieces capture in the same way that they move. Captured pieces become part of the capturer's force. In a later move, instead of moving a piece on the board, a player may put a piece that he has captured from his opponent back onto the board, in an empty square. This is called dropping a piece. Pieces are always dropped unpromoted: if a promoted piece is captured, it reverts to its unpromoted rank. Pieces may be dropped on any empty square on the board with only three restrictions:

1): After dropping a piece it must be able to make a legal move. This applies to Pawns, Knights or Lances. They may not be dropped onto a square from which they will never be able to move.
2): Attacking the King by dropping a Pawn on the square in front of him is not allowed if the King cannot prevent being captured on the following move. To use the Chess expression: checkmating the King with a Pawn drop is prohibited.
3): A pawn may only be dropped on a file (vertical row) if there is no other unpromoted pawn of the same player on that file.

Draws

The game of Shogi has very few draws (roughly 1 percent), mainly because of the possibility to drop pieces. Draws cannot be offered and can arise from two situations:

1): A position (including the pieces in hand) occurs 4 times with the same player to move ("Sennichite"). However, if this is caused by consecutive checks (direct attacks on the King, threatening to capture it on the next move) by one side, the player giving these checks loses the game.
2): Both players have moved their King into the the promotion zone (or they cannot be prevented to do so) and the Kings cannot be checkmated. In that case the players may decide to count their pieces where the King does not count, the Rook and Bishop count as 5 points, and all other pieces as one point. Promotion is disregarded. If both players have at least 24 points the game is a draw ("Jishogi"). If a player has less, he loses the game.

Of course, a player can refuse to count pieces when he still has mating chances or chances to gain material which would affect the outcome of the counting. There is no strict rule about what to do if this is not the case, but nonetheless a player refuses to count up (e.g. because he does not have enough points for a draw). It has been generally accepted that in such a case the game ends and the pieces are counted after one player has managed to get all his pieces protected in the promotion zone.

Options

The following command line options also correspond to X resources that you can set in your .Xdefaults or .Xresources file.

standard Xt options: xshogi accepts standard Xt options like -display, -geometry, -iconic, -bg etc.
-tc or -timeControl minutes[:seconds]: Amount of time for a set of moves determined by movesPerSession. If this number of moves is played within the time control period, xshogi resets the time clocks. Default: 5 minutes.
-mps or -movesPerSession moves: Number of moves in a time control period. Default: 40 moves.
-st or -searchTime minutes[:seconds]: Tell gnushogi to spend at most the given amount of time searching for each of its moves. Without this option, gnushogi 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.
-sd or -searchDepth number: Tell gnushogi to look ahead at most the given number of moves when searching for a move to make. Without this option, gnushogi chooses its search depth based on the number of moves and amount of time remaining until the next time control. Setting this option also sets -clockMode to False.
-clock or -clockMode (True | False): Determines whether or not to use the clock. If clockMode is False, the clock does not run, but the side that is to play next is still highlighted.
-td or -timeDelay seconds: Time delay between moves during "Load Game". This doesn't have to be round numbers. Try -td 0.4. Default: 1 second.
-nsp or -noShogiProgram (True | False): If this option is True, xshogi acts as a passive shogiboard; it does not try to start a shogi program, not even to check whether moves made in Force mode are legal. It also sets -clockMode to False. Default: False.
-fsp or -firstShogiProgram program: Name of first shogi program. In matches between two machines, this program plays white. Default: "gnushogi".
-ssp or -secondShogiProgram program: Name of second shogi program, if needed. In matches between two machines, this program plays black; otherwise it is not started. Default: "gnushogi".
-fh or -firstHost host: Name of host the first shogi program plays on. Default: "localhost".
-sh or -secondHost host: Name of host the second shogi program plays on. Default: "localhost".
-rsh or -remoteShell shell_name: Some systems do not use rsh as the remote shell. This option allows a user to name the remote shell command. This should be done in the resource file.
-mm or -matchMode (False | Init | Position | Opening): Automatically run a game between firstShogiProgram and secondShogiProgram. If matchMode is set to Init, xshogi will start the game with the initial shogi position. If matchMode is set to Position, xshogi will start the game with the position specified by the loadPositionFile resource. If matchMode is set to Opening, xshogi will play out the opening moves specified by the -loadGameFile resource. If the -saveGameFile resource is set, a move record for the match will be saved in the specified file. Default: "False".
-lgf or -loadGameFile file: Name of file to read a game record from. Game files are found in the directory named by the SHOGIDIR environment variable. If this variable is not set, the current directory is used unless the file name starts with a /.
-lpf or -loadPositionFile file: Name of file to read a game position from. Position files are found in the directory named by the SHOGIDIR environment variable. If this variable is not set, the current directory is used unless the file name starts with a /.
-sgf or -saveGameFile file: Name of file to save a game record to. Game files are saved in the directory named by the SHOGIDIR environment variable. If this variable is not set, the current directory is used unless the file name starts with a /.
-spf or -savePositionFile file: Name of file to save a game position to. Position files are saved in the directory named by the SHOGIDIR environment variable. If this variable is not set, the current directory is used unless the file name starts with a /.
-coords or -showCoords (True | False): If this option is True, xshogi displays algebraic coordinates along the board's left and bottom edges. The default is False. The coordFont resource specifies what font to use.
-mono or -monoMode (True | False): Monochrome mode. You shouldn't have to specify monochrome. xshogi will determine if this is necessary.
-pc or -pieceColor color: Color specification for pieces suitable for XParseColor(). Default: #FFFFD7.
-sc or -squareColor color: Same for squares. Default: #EBDFB0.
-wps or -westernPieceSet (True | False): Choose the Western style piece set.
-npb or -normalPawnBitmap file
-nnb or -normalKnightBitmap file
-nbb or -normalBishopBitmap file
-nrb or -normalRookBitmap file
-nkb or -normalKingBitmap file: Names of the bitmap files for the bitmap piece icons.
-rpb or -reversePawnBitmap file
-rnb or -reverseKnightBitmap file
-rbb or -reverseBishopBitmap file
-rrb or -reverseRookBitmap file
-rkb or -reverseKingBitmap file: Names of the bitmap files for the outline piece icons.
-debug or -debugMode (True | False): Turns on debugging printout.

Resources

initString: The actual string that is sent to initialize the shogi program can be set from .Xdefaults. It can't be set from the command line because of syntax problems. The default value is "new\nbeep\nrandom\neasy\n". The "new" and "beep" commands are required. You can remove the "random" command if you like; including it causes gnushogi to randomize its move selection slightly so that it doesn't play the same moves in every game. Even without "random", gnushogi randomizes its choice of moves from its opening book. You can also remove "easy" if you like; including it toggles easy mode off, causing gnushogi to think on your time. That is, if "easy" is included in the initString, gnushogi thinks on your time; if not, it does not. (Yes, this does seem backwards, doesn't it.) You can also try adding other commands to the initString; see the gnushogi documentation for details.
blackString and whiteString: These resources control what is sent when the Machine Black and Machine White buttons are selected. This is mostly for compatibility with obsolete versions of gnushogi.

Alternate bitmaps for piece icons can be specified either by choosing one of the built-in sets or with the file name resources described above. There are three built-in sets of piece bitmaps available, large (the default), medium, or small. It is easiest to select the set you prefer in the .Xdefaults file:

XShogi*boardSize: Medium

The font used for button labels and comments can be changed in the .Xdefaults file. You may want to choose a smaller font if you are using the small pieces:

XShogi*font: helvetica_oblique12

The font used for coordinates (when the showCoords option is True) can be set similarly:

XShogi*coordFont: helvetica_10

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

XShogi*pieceColor: gray100
XShogi*squareColor: gray60

Command buttons and keys

Quit: Quits xshogi. Q or q is a keyboard equivalent.
Reset: Resets xshogi to the beginning of a shogi game. It also deselects any game or position files.
Flip View: inverts the view of the shogi board.
Hint: displays a move hint from gnushogi.
Load Game: plays a game from a record file. If no file is specified a popup dialog asks for a filename. Game files are found in the directory named by the SHOGIDIR environment variable. If this variable is not declared then the current directory is used unless the file name starts with a /. G or g is a keyboard equivalent. The game file parser will accept almost any file that contains moves in algebraic notation. If the first line begins with `#', it is assumed to be a title and is displayed. Text enclosed in parentheses or square brackets is assumed to be commentary and is displayed in a pop-up window. Any other text in the file is ignored.
Load Position: sets up a position from a position file. If no file is specified a popup dialog asks for a filename. Position files are found in the directory named by the SHOGIDIR environment variable. If this variable is not declared then the current directory is used unless the file name starts with a /. Position files must be in the format that the Save Position command writes.
Save Game: saves a game to a record file. If no file is specified a popup dialog asks for a filename. If the filename exists, the user is asked whether the current game record is be appended to this file or if the file should be replaced. Game files are saved in the directory named by the SHOGIDIR environment variable. If this variable is not declared then the current directory is used unless the file name starts with a /. Game files are human-readable, and can also be read back by the Load Game command. Furthermore, they are accepted as gnushogi text bookfiles.
Save Position: saves a position to a position file. If no file is specified a popup dialog asks for a filename. Position files are saved in the directory named by the SHOGIDIR environment variable. If this variable is not declared then the current directory is used unless the file name starts with a /. Position files are human-readable, and can also be read back by the Load Position command.
Machine White: forces gnushogi to play white.
Machine Black: forces gnushogi to play black.
Force Moves: forces a series of moves. That is, gnushogi stops playing and xshogi allows you to make moves for both white and black.
Two Machines: plays a game between two computer programs.
Forward: moves forward through a series of remembered moves. F or f is a keyboard equivalent.
Backward: moves backward through a series of remembered moves. As a side effect, puts xshogi into Force Moves mode. B or b is a keyboard equivalent.
Pause: pauses the clocks or (in Load Game mode) pauses the game being loaded. Press Pause again to continue. P or p is a keyboard equivalent.
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 black pieces (button 2) or white 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 Black or White indicator at the top of the screen.
Challenge: allows you to make a two display game between two human players. Enter the display you want to connect to. If you are allowed to connect, a new board is displayed at the remote display. Challenge mode can only be stopped by pressing "quit".
Select Level: allows you to reset the clocks for both players. Enter the number of moves and the number of minutes in which the moves should be done.
Move NOW: force computer to stop thinking and to make the current best move.
Iconify: I, i, C or c iconifies xshogi.

Limitations

If you press the Pause button during gnushogi's turn, xshogi will stop the clocks, but gnushogi will still make a move.

After a mate or draw when playing against gnushogi, if you back up with the Backward button, the clocks are reset (because gnushogi has exited and must be restarted).

Some xshogi functions may not work with versions of gnushogi earlier than 1.1, patchlevel 02.

The game parser recognizes only algebraic notation.

Authors

Original authors of XBoard: Chris Sears and Dan Sears.

Enhancements for XBoard (Version 2.0): Tim Mann.

Conversion to XShogi (Version 1.1): Matthias Mutz.

Current maintainer: Mike Vanier.

Copyright

XShogi borrows some of its piece bitmaps from CRANES Shogi.

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 the enhanced version of XShogi distributed by the Free Software Foundation:

This file is part of XSHOGI.

XSHOGI is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY. No author or distributor accepts responsibility to anyone for the consequences of using it or for whether it serves any particular purpose or works at all, unless he says so in writing. Refer to the XSHOGI General Public License for full details.

Everyone is granted permission to copy, modify and redistribute XSHOGI, but only under the conditions described in the XSHOGI General Public License. A copy of this license is supposed to have been given to you along with XSHOGI so you can know your rights and responsibilities. It should be in a file named COPYING. Among other things, the copyright notice and this notice must be preserved on all copies.