3.2 Edit Menu

Copy Game

Copies a record of the current game to an internal clipboard in PGN format and sets the X selection to the game text. The Ctrl-C key is a keyboard equivalent. The game can be pasted to another application (such as a text editor or another copy of XBoard) using that application's paste command. In many X applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Game command.

Copy Position

Copies the current position to an internal clipboard in FEN format and sets the X selection to the position text. The shifted Ctrl-C key is a keyboard equivalent. The position can be pasted to another application (such as a text editor or another copy of XBoard) using that application's paste command. In many X applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Position command.

Copy Game List

Copies the current game list to the clipboard, and sets the X selection to this text. A format of comma-separated double-quoted strings is used, including all tags, so it can be easily imported into spread-sheet programs.

Paste Game

Interprets the current X selection as a game record and loads it, as with Load Game. The Ctrl-V key is a keyboard equivalent.

Paste Position

Interprets the current X selection as a FEN position and loads it, as with Load Position. The shifted Ctrl-V key is a keyboard equivalent.

Edit Game

Allows you to make moves for both Black and White, and to change moves after backing up with the ‘Backward’ command. The clocks do not run. The Ctrl-E key is a keyboard equivalent.

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

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

Edit Position

Lets you set up an arbitrary board position. The shifted Ctrl-E key is a keyboard equivalent. Use mouse button 1 to drag pieces to new squares, or to delete a piece by dragging it off the board or dragging an empty square on top of it. To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the square. This puts a white or black pawn in the square, respectively, but you can change that to any other piece type by dragging the mouse down before you release the button. You will then see the piece on the originally clicked square cycle through the available pieces (including those of opposite color), and can release the button when you see the piece you want. To alter the side to move, you can click the clock (the words White and Black above the board) of the side you want to give the move to. To clear the board you can click the clock of the side that alread has the move (which is highlighted in black). The old behavior with a piece menu can still be configured with the aid of the pieceMenu option. Selecting ‘Edit Position’ causes XBoard to discard all remembered moves in the current game.

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

Edit Tags

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

          <tag-section> ::= <tag-pair> <tag-section>
                                  <empty>
          <tag-pair> ::= [ <tag-name> <tag-value> ]
          <tag-name> ::= <identifier>
          <tag-value> ::= <string>

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

          [Event "Portoroz Interzonal"]
          [Site "Portoroz, Yugoslavia"]
          [Date "1958.08.16"]
          [Round "8"]
          [White "Robert J. Fischer"]
          [Black "Bent Larsen"]
          [Result "1-0"]

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

Edit Comment

Adds or modifies a comment on the current position. Comments are saved by ‘Save Game’ and are displayed by ‘Load Game’, PGN variations will also be printed in this window, and can be promoted to main line by right-clicking them. ‘Forward’, and ‘Backward’.

Edit Book

Pops up a window listing the moves available in the GUI book (specified in the ‘Common Engine Settings’ dialog) from the currently displayed position, together with their weights and (optionally in braces) learn info. You can then edit this list, and the new list will be stored back into the book when you press OK. Note that the listed percentages are neither used, nor updated when you change the weights; they are just there as an optical aid.

Revert

Annotate

If you are examining an ICS game and Pause mode is off, Revert issues the ICS command ‘revert’. In local mode, when you were editing or analyzing a game, and the -variations command-line option is switched on, you can start a new variation by holding the Shift key down while entering a move not at the end of the game. Variations can also become the currently displayed line by clicking a PGN variation displayed in the Comment window. This can be applied recursively, so that you can analyze variations on variations; each time you create a new variation by entering an alternative move with Shift pressed, or select a new one from the Comment window, the current variation will be shelved. ‘Revert’ allows you to return to the most recently shelved variation. The difference between ‘Revert’ and ‘Annotate’ is that with the latter, the variation you are now abandoning will be added as a comment (in PGN variation syntax, i.e. between parentheses) to the original move where you deviated, for later recalling. The Home key is a keyboard equivalent to ‘Revert’.

Truncate Game

Discards all remembered moves of the game beyond the current position. Puts XBoard into ‘Edit Game’ mode if it was not there already. The End key is a keyboard equivalent.

Backward

Steps backward through a series of remembered moves. The ‘[<]’ button and the Alt+LeftArrow key are equivalents, as is turning the mouse wheel towards you. In addition, pressing the Control key steps back one move, and releasing it steps forward again.

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

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

Forward

Steps forward through a series of remembered moves (undoing the effect of ‘Backward’) or forward through a game file. The ‘[>]’ button and the Alt+RightArrow key are equivalents, as is turning the mouse wheel away from you.

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

Back to Start

Jumps backward to the first remembered position in the game. The ‘[<<]’ button and the Alt+Home key are equivalents.

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

If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of ‘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 Alt+End key are equivalents.

If you are examining an ICS game, 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.