
bsetup

Usage:  bsetup [argument]

Summary: Bsetup mode is a special form of the "examine" mode that allows you
to set up any position you want and then use examine mode to analyze it.  The
standard alias for "bsetup" is "setup".

ENTERING BSETUP MODE
-------------------

  There are two ways to enter bsetup mode: from scratch and from "examine"
mode.  The difference in the two procedures concerns the start position of the
board in bsetup mode: empty board versus a board position.

  (a) FROM SCRATCH -- When nothing else is active (that is, you are not
playing or examining another game), type either "bsetup" or "examine setup". 
The board will be totally empty when you enter bsetup mode; you will have to
place all of the pieces where you want to have them.

  (b) FROM WITHIN EXAMINE MODE -- Typing "bsetup" during examine mode (namely
while you are examining a game) places you in "examine bsetup" mode.  The move
list is cleared and a new move list will be established.  However, the current
board position will be used as the starting board position; you can then
modify that position and arrange the pieces to be where you want them to be.

USING BSETUP MODE
----------------

  There are several commands you can use in order to create a board position
and designate which side is going to move next.

  BSETUP CLEAR -- Typing the command "bsetup clear" will give you a new,
blank, empty board.

  BSETUP START -- Typing the command "bsetup start" will give you the regular
starting position for a game of chess.

  BSETUP board_category board -- You can load a non-standard board position if
you want.  The chess server has several non-standard boards.  They can be
listed by using the "board" command.  For example, "boards openings" will list
the various openings you can start a game from and "boards wild" will list
"wild" opening positions.  Note: you must first be in bsetup mode in order to
create a given board position.
  To create a suicide game, type "bsetup suicide".

  BESETUP FEN position -- You can also set up complete board positions by
supplying a FEN position.  For example:

    bsetup fen rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/3P4/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR

You have to indicate the pieces and blank squares on each rank of the chess
board, starting with rank 8 (Black's back rank) and going from the a-file to
the h-file.  The '/' mark divides one rank of pieces from another.  Letters in
CAPS mean a White piece (such as 'K' for White King); small letters mean a
Black piece (such as 'k' for Black King).  The numbers (such as 1, 3, 4 and 8)
refer to the number of *consecutive* blank squares.  For example, the fen
position given above is the one that occurs when White opens the game with
Pd3.  NOTE: You just give the board position, not which side is to move;
use "tomove" to modify whose move it is. 

  Placing pieces -- There are two formats for placing pieces: case sensitive
and designate color.  Either one works.  Here is a table of the formats.  For
the "square" portion, enter a square in algebraic notation, such as e4 or h5. 
You can use either "@" or "*" as the special symbol.

                CASE SENSITIVE          DESIGNATE COLOR

    Piece       White      Black        White       Black
    -----       --------   --------     ---------   ---------
    king        K@square   k@square     wk@square   bk@square
    queen       Q@square   q@square     wq@square   bq@square
    rook        R@square   r@square     wr@square   br@square
    bishop      B@square   b@square     wb@square   bb@square
    knight      N@square   n@square     wn@square   bn@square
    pawn        P@square   p@square     wp@square   bp@square
  
  Clearing a square -- There are two ways you can clear a square and make it
empty: either place an 'x' (meaning empty piece) or "clear" the square.

    x@square
    clrsquare square
    bsetup clearsquare square

For example, "x@e4", "clrsquare e4" and "bsetup clearsquare e4" would all have
the same effect: making e4 an open square.  NOTE: you do not have to clear a
square before placing a piece.  For example, if there is a Black Queen on e5,
placing a Black Pawn on e5 will automatically remove the Black Queen.

  BSETUP TOMOVE white|black -- Typing "bsetup tomove white" will have White be
the player to move next.  Typing "bsetup tomove black" will have Black be the
player to move next.  NOTE: You do not need to include the "bsetup" part of
the command; the "tomove" command works alone once you are in bsetup mode.

  BSETUP wcastle <rights>|bcastle <rights> -- You may also set the castling
rights for the game.  Use "bsetup wcastle <rights>" and "bsetup bcastle
<rights>" to set the castling rights for White and Black respectively.  The
possible 'rights' are:

   none    (no castling)
   kside   (kingside only)
   qside   (queenside only)
   both    (both sides)

When you load a board using bsetup the rights are set up automatically.  On a
cleared board both player's rights are set to 'none'. Therefore if you use a
ready made board and move the rooks and kings around, you will need to set the
appropriate castling rights.  Castling rights are validated when you exit
bsetup; if the rights are invalid, you will receive an error message.

  BSETUP EPPOS <file> -- You can indicate whether an "en passant" capture is
possible, as if a pawn had just been advanced two squares.  In this case, you
need to specify the file of the pawn (a - h).  For example, "bsetup eppos c"
would mean that a pawn on the c-file has just been moved from c7-c5 or from
c2-c4, depending on the "tomove" setting.  NOTE: You need to have a pawn on
the right square and have the correct player "tomove" in order for the eppos
command to work; otherwise, you will get an error message.

  RULES -- Lastly!  You can also change the rules for the chess game.  There
are different rules for suicide chess, of course ("help suicide_chess"); but
there are also different castling rules for Fischer Random chess ("help fr")
and for certain kinds of wild chess ("help wild").  In order to use the
correct rules, you need to use bsetup to change them.

  bsetup fischer   [for Fischer Random chess]
  bsetup standard  [for normal chess -- this is the default]
  bsetup suicide   [for suicide chess]
  bsetup wild      [for wild chess]


EXITING BSETUP MODE
------------------

  BSETUP DONE -- Typing "bsetup done" will exit bsetup mode and start examine
mode.  However, the position will be validated first.  For example, the player
who is not about to move cannot be in check, pawns cannot be on the 1st or 8th
ranks, each side must have a king, neither side can have more than one king.

  If the position is valid, you will enter examine mode next.  If the position
is invalid, a message will be sent to you and you will remain in bsetup mode.

  UNEXAMINE -- Typing "unexamine" at any point will immediate cancel both
bsetup and examine modes.


SPECIAL NOTES:

(a) Games in bsetup mode will be listed in the "games" display.

(b) Users in bsetup mode will have comments to that effect in their finger
displays and will have the symbol "#" next to their handles in "who" displays. 
"Tells" to users in bsetup mode will give the feedback that the user is in
bsetup mode.

(c) You cannot create a position and then play a match with an opponent. 
However, you can examine a game with another user, use "mexamine" to allow the
other user to move the pieces, and you can alternate moves back and forth as
if you were playing a game.  You will be in examine mode the whole time, of
course, and the game will not appear in "history" displays.

(d) At present, you cannot use "jsave" in order to save an examined or bsetup
game to your "journal".  This capability is being developed.

(e) A standard alias for "bsetup" is "setup".

(f) You can change the names of the players of the game by using the "wname"
and "bname" commands.

See also:  alias  bname  board  clrsquare  examine  finger  fr  games  handle 
history  journal  jsave  mexamine  suicide_chess  tell  unexamine  who  wild 
wname

[Last modified -- October 30, 1997 -- Friar]
