From: Daniel Sleator Sent: Monday, April 01, 1996 10:15 PM To: L. Mitchell Wein Subject: ICC help file: Manual3 (from guest125) ******************************* Manual3 ********************************* (first half of commands) Copyright (C) 1995 Internet Chess Club This Manual file contains all the text of the files in the first half of the "help" list. The files have been combined into a single file so that you can email it to yourself easily with the "mailhelp" command. Be advised that this file is almost 800 lines! Prior to mailing it to yourself, PLEASE check the email address in your finger and make sure it is correct! We don't want to get bounced mail with a file this long. Thanks, and enjoy! If you have any questions or comments, send a message to arcsin or POTZY. _________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS OF Manual3: abort, accept, adjourn, allobservers, assess, backward, bell, best, clearmessages, cls, copygame, date, decline, draw, eco, examine, exit, extend, finger, flag, flip, follow, forward, games, goto, help, history, i, inchannel, info, kibitz, list, llogons, limits, logons, mailhelp, mailoldmoves, mailstored, match, messages, mexamine, minus, moretime, moves. _________________________________________________________________________ ***** ABORT ***** Command : abort Args : none Sends a request to your opponent to abort the game in progress, thus discarding it. If your opponent issued a similar request at most one move ago, the game ends with no ratings adjustment. If you want to save the game (in order to continue it later), you should adjourn it. If your opponent is out of time, you can use abort, and the game will be immediately aborted without waiting for the opponent to type "abort". You can also abort a gmae on move 1 without the opponent's agreement. Aborted games are listed in your history, for examination or mailing. See also: adjourn, pending ***** ACCEPT ***** Command : accept Args : player "accept" can be used to start a match against the player who challenged you using the time controls he proposed. If you want to ask for different time controls, use the "match" command. If more than one player challenges you, you need to supply the desired player's name as an argument. See also: match, pending ***** ADJOURN ***** Command : adjourn Args : none Sends a request to your opponent to adjourn the game in progress. If your opponent had sent a similar request at most one move ago, the game is adjourned, in which case it is saved, and can be continued later using the match command. You may type "adjourn" when your opponent is out of time to immediately adjourn the game. The opponent does not have to confirm. See also: stored, pending, abort, match ***** ALLOBSERVERS ***** Command : allobservers Args : optional game specification Examples: "all 5" -- lists all observers of game 5 "all Fred" -- lists all observers of Fred's game "allobservers" lists all observers of a game or games. If no argument is supplied, it lists the observers of all the games. If a game is specified (by number or player name) all the observers of that game are listed. Any player who has his kibitz flag off is listed in parentheses. See also: observe, vars ***** ASSESS ***** Command : assess Args : player1 player2 Example : "assess HarZvi aries" Assess shows you the ratings changes that will occur if you win, lose or draw against another player. Just type "assess player-name". To see the rating changes between two other players, type "assess player1 player2". To see the rating changes in a game you are currently playing, just type "assess". Assess also lists the current rating of each playing, in each category (bullet, blitz, standard, wild, and bughouse). For example, "assess HarZvi aries" give: HarZvi aries ---------------------- ---------------------- Win Draw Loss Rating Win Draw Loss Rating Bullet +2750 +2350 +1950 0 +0 +0 +0 2338 Blitz +16 +0 -16 2547 +16 +0 -16 2539 Standard -11 -68 -125 3052 +9 +4 +0 2501 Wild +19 -21 -61 2080 +20 +0 -20 1941 Bughouse +2403 +2003 +1603 0 +0 +0 +0 1999 In this example, if HarZvi beats aries in Blitz, his rating will go up 16 points. If he draws aries in standard, his rating will go down 68 points. Since HarZvi has no bullet rating (0) his rating will go up 2750 points if he beats aries in Bullet. See also: definitions, ratings, bullet, wild, bughouse ***** BACKWARD ***** Command : backward Args : number The backward command is used when a player is in the 'examine' mode. It shows the position in the game the specified number of moves back. If no number is given, the default is '1'. Type 'back 1000' to go back to the beginning of the game. See also: examine, forward ***** BELL ***** Command : bell Args : none This command turns on and off the bell signals. The bell is sent at the following times unless turned off: 1) When you are challenged to a match. 2) When you recieve an update on a game which you're observing. 3) When you recieve an update on the game which you're playing. See also: set, vars ***** BEST ***** Command : best Args : c,w Shows the top 22 active players for bullet, blitz, and standard. An active player is an established one (has played at least 20 rated games) who has played at least 8 rated games in the last 31 days. Players on the computer list are omitted unless you give the optional argument "c": "best c". Bullet is replaced by wild with "best w". See also: statistics, list, rank ***** CLEARMESSAGES ***** Command : clearmessages Args : none This command clears all the messages people have sent to you. You can also clear specific messages with the "minus" or "-" command. See also: messages, minus, list ***** CLS ***** Typing "help cls" will clear your screen. Works on most terminals, but not all. ***** COPYGAME ***** Command : copygame Args : game number Examples: "copygame 5" -- makes a copy of game 5 for you to examine. "copygame" -- refreshes your copy with the current position from the source game. Copygame makes you the examiner of a copy of a currently played (or examined) game. It puts you at the current end of the game. If you were already examining a copy of that same game, it gives you an update, reverting your examined game to the current status of the real game. "copygame" with no argument gives you an update on the game you're following, as above. Actually, there's a chance it may give you a different game, because to determine what game you must have been following, it just matches the player names. See also: examine, games, observe ***** DATE ***** Command : date Args : none Gives the current date and time. (Like the unix command with the same name.) ***** DECLINE ***** Command : decline Args : player or draw or abort or adjourn If the argument is "draw", a draw offer, if present, will be declined. If the argument is "adjourn", an adjourn offer, if present, will be declined. If the argument is "abort", an abort offer, if present, will be declined. If the argument is a player name and if the player has requested a match with you, then this command will decline the challenge. If there is no argument, and you have one pending challenge, that challenge will be declined. See also: draw, adjourn, abort, match, accept, pending. ***** DRAW ***** Command : draw Args : none This command termimates the game in a draw if any of the following conditions hold: * The opponent offered you a draw at most 1 move ago. * The current position has occured at least twice before. * The last 50 moves of the game are reversible. The "pending" command indicates which (if any) of these three conditions hold. If none of these conditions hold, then the command offers a draw to the opponent. See also: resign, pending ***** ECO ***** Command : eco Args : game# or player or player history# or player player Examples: "eco 5" -- gives eco info for game 5 "eco Fred" -- gives eco info about Fred's current game "eco Fred 25" -- gives eco info about game 25 in Fred's history This gives you the opening information about the specified game. For example, "eco senior 42" gives information about game 42 in senior's history: Game: senior v. DogStar ECO[ 1]: A04 NIC[ 8]: PU.10 Long[ 9]: Pirc: classical, h3 system Three opening systems are used: ECO = Encyclopedia of Chess Openings NIC = New In Chess Long = "Normal" English opening name The game is classified for each of the systems. The number in brackets is the number of half-moves into the game where it found the position with the given label. It uses the last position in the game for which it has information. A "*" in the classification indicates that a reversal of color has occured from the "normal" occurences of the position. Thanks to Cthulhu for constructing the data for this feature. Please report any errors, or suggestions for additions or changes to him. You can search the ICC database of over 60,000 games by ECO code! Type "help search" for more info. "help ECO2" give a very interesting breakdown of wins,losses and draws by opening! Here is a very partial list relating long names and ECO codes. Thanks to BlueWalker for putting this together. Alekhine's Defense B02-05 Benko Gambit Volga Gambit A57-59 Benoni Defense A56, 60-79 Bird's Opening A02-03 Bishop's Opening C23-24 Blumenfeld Counter Gambit E10 Bogo-Indian Defense E11 Budapest Defense A51-52 Caro-Kann B10-19 Catalan System E00-09 Center Counter Game Scandinavian Defense B01 Center Game C21-22 Dutch Defense A80-99 English Opening A10-39 Evans Gambit C51-52 Four Knight's Game C47-49 French Defense C00-19 Giucco Piano Italian Game C50, 53-54 Greco Counter Gambit Latvian Gambit C40 Grunfeld Defense D70-99 King's Gambit C30-39 King's Indian E60-99 Nimzo-Indian Defense E20-59 Nimzowitsch Defense B00 Old Indian Defense A53-55 Petroff Defense Russian Defense C42-43 Philidor's Defense C41 Pirc-Robatsch Defense B07-09 Ponziani's Opening C44 Queen's Gambit D06-69 Queen's Indian E12-19 Queen's Pawn Game D00-05 Reti Opening A04-09 Ruy Lopez Spanish Game C60-99 Scotch Gambit C44 Scotch Game C45 Sicilian Defense B20-99 Three Knight's Game C46 Two Knight's Defense C55-59 Vienna Game C25-29 See also: history, games, search ***** EXAMINE ***** Command : examine Args : player history# or player player Examples: "examine Darooha 17" -- examines game 17 in Darooha's history "examine Darooha Surf" -- examines the stored game of these 2 players "examine 5" -- examines game 5 in your search list. "examine %5" -- examines game 5 in your personal library. The examine command is used to examine adjourned games or games in the history of any player. Examine mode can also be used to examine a game that has not been played on ICC. To examine an adjourned game between Darooha and Surf, do "examine Darooha Surf". To examine game 5 in Darooha's history (as printed by "history Darooha"), do "examine Darooha 5". To automatically examine each of your games after you finish it, do "set examine 1". To examine a game that has not been played on ICC, do "match ", where is your own name; you can now enter moves for both sides. To exit the examine mode, do "unexamine". To add Surf to the list of people who can move pieces in the game you are examining, do "mexamine Surf". (For this to work, Surf must be observing the game.) While in examine mode, you can use "forward" and "backward" to move through the moves. You can also try some side variation -- just enter the moves as you would do in an ordinary game (using the mouse or the keyboard). When finished with the side variation, type "revert" to get back to the main line. Hitting the Enter (Return) key is equivalent to typing "forward 1". "Forward 10" moves you through the next 10 moves of the game. "Backward 10" is similar. You can also edit the position while in examine mode. Doing this discards the previous game history. To drop a white queen on c4, type "wq@c4" or just "Q@c4". To drop a black queen, type "bq@c4" or "q@c4". To empty the square c4, type "x@c4". Wild 6 is empty, and is therefor convenient for setting up endgame positions for analysis. "match w6" will do this. See also: mexamine, search, libraries, unexamine, forward, backward, revert, history, copygame, primary ***** EXIT ***** Same as "quit". Logs you out of the server. ***** EXTEND ***** Command : extend Args : none This command is used to extend your ICC membership. You just type "extend" and you will be asked a series of questions about how you would like to pay the membership fee. Any paid extension in your membership will be ADDED to your current expiration date. By extending your account, you are agreeing to the membership agreement. Please read "help agreement". You can pay by credit card on-line, by credit card info by phone, FAX, or email, or by mailing your payment to ICC. Payment can be made by postal money order, traveller's checks, personal checks in US dollars, Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. We also accept personal checks from Canada. More information is given after you type "extend". Read "help fees" for details. phone: (412) 362-6334 USA mail: ICC FAX: (412) 362-8675 840 College St email: ICC@CHESS.LM.COM Pittsburgh, PA 15232 USA See also: absent, agreement, fees, incentive, value ***** FINGER ***** Command : finger Args : name This command lists some of the information stored about the specified player. If no player is specified, you are chosen. Among the information shown is: ratings (and whether the rating is active and [need], which is the number of games needed to become active), win/loss record. If logged on: for how long, how long idle, whether playing or not, whether observing or not, etc. Below is a description of the remaining information. ADDRESS: The player's email address. Your address can only be seen by you or an administrator, unless you do "set addresspublic 1". Then it will be visible to everyone. administrator. If your address is wrong, please message an administrator. The email is used anytime you mail a game or help file to yourself. TIME STATISTICS: These are visible only to you. The accumulated hours is your total login time on ICC since this feature was implemented (Aug 14, 1994). The "% life on ICC" is the percentage of real time that you have spent logged onto ICC. It is your accumulated ICC hours, divided by the total elapsed time starting from the time of your first login after the feature was implemented. EXPIRATION DATE: The date your ICC membership expires. Use the "extend" command to pay a membership fee. Also, read "help incentive" to see how to extend your membership one month for each new member you get to sign up. NOTES: You may have up to 10 lines of notes stored with your record. Each line is up to 100 characters long. Do "help set" for instructions on how to edit these notes. These may be used for anything you want. Among the creative uses of this are for a tournament director, who could use his/her notes (or those of a dummy unregistered player) to post pairings for the next round of a tournament. See also: set, vars, ratings, style, wild ***** FLAG ***** Command : flag Args : none This command checks how much time you and your opponent have left. If one player has run out, that player forfeits on time (even if it is you!). If both players have run out, the game is drawn. There are alternatives to flagging your opponent if he has run out of time, if you want to be nice. Read "help lagflag". See also: abort, lagflag, moretime, timestamp ***** FLIP ***** Command: flip Arguments: none Flips the board (does not work in xboard). ***** FOLLOW ***** Command : follow Args : playername Example : "follow Schroer" Makes you an observer of any games being played by the named player. When the player finishes one game and starts another, you will automatically observe the next game. Just like the observe command, except you don't have to type "observe" each time the player begins a new game. "follow" by itself will stop following the player you were following. See also: observe ***** FORWARD ***** Command : forward Args : number The forward command is used when a player is in the 'examine' mode. It shows the position in the game the specified number of moves ahead. If no number is given, the default is '1'. Also, just pressing enter (return), is equivalant to 'forward 1'. 'forward 1000' is sure to get you to the end of the game. See also: examine ***** GAMES ***** Command : games Args : [game number] or [player] Examples: "games" -- lists all games currently being played or examined "game 4" -- lsits info about game 4 only "game Fred" -- lists info about the game Fred is currently playing This command displays information about the game (if specified), or about all games (if no game is specified). Here is a typical line from the output: 6 1624 giomu 1488 Niklas [br 3 5] 3:11 - 2:38 (38-38) B: 6 Here is what these mean: 6 -- Game Number 1624 giomu -- White's rating and name 1488 Niklas -- Black's rating and name [br 3 5] -- "r" stands for "rated" (alternative is "u" for unrated) "b" stands for "blitz" (alternative is "s" for standard or a number for the type of wild game, "4" = wild4) 3 is the initial clock time in minutes ("?" if unknown) 5 is the clock increment in seconds 3:11 - 2:38 -- Time remaining for white and black (38-38) -- Material strength of white and black in the game B: 6 -- Whose move it is, and the number of the move ***** GOTO ***** Command : goto Args : playername -or- gamenumber Example : "goto arcsin" "goto 3" A simul giver can move to a specific game with the "goto" command, as in "goto 3" or "goto arcsin". "goto" with no parameter goes to another game in which it's your move (if there is one). Read "help simul" for complete info on giving simuls. See also: follow, simul, startsimul ***** HELP ***** Command : help Args : string Prints a list of topics that matches the request string. (An omitted string gives a list of all command names.) If exactly one topic matches the request, a file on that topic is printed. The matching is case-insensitive. See also: mailhelp, info ***** HISTORY ***** Command : history Args : name Lists the last 20 game results of the specified player. An example line from 'history Surf' command is: Opponent Type ECO End Date 67: + 1956 B 2132 gnusurf [ bu 2 12] B01 Mat Jul 30 94 01:32 The number on the left (67) is the game number. It can be used with 'smoves', 'mailstored' or 'examine' to list the moves of the game, to e-mail the moves to yourself, or to examine the game ("examine Surf 67"). Second column (+) is the result of the game. Possible values are: 'a' for aborted, '+' for win, '-' for loss, '=' for draw Third column (1956) is your rating after the game is finished. Ratings of unrated or aborted games that were adjourned and completed later are the ratings from when the game was adjourned, and are NOT current. They are not used in the calculations for the next game. "bu" means the game was an unrated blitz game. r = rated, s = standard. Fourth column (B) is the color you played Fifth and sixth columns (2132 gnusurf) are your opponent's rating after the game, and handle. "bu" means the game was an unrated blitz game. r = rated, s = standard. Wild games are given by the wild number, for example, "5r" is rated wild 5. "2 12" time control: initial time in minutes, increment in seconds. "C01" is the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings code for the game. 'End' column is how the game finished. Possible values are: 'Adj' adjudicated 'Agr' agreed (drawn or aborted) 'Fla' flagged 'Mat' checkmated 'BQ' black quits 'WQ' white quits 'WA' white courtesy aborted 'BA' black courtesy aborted 'Res' resigned 'NT' draw because both players have no time 'Rep' draw by repetition 'Sta' stalemate '50' draw by 50-move rule 'SD' game aborted when system shutdown 'Sho' game too short to store 'NM' draw because neither player has mating material 'TM' draw because player calling flag has no mating material The date and time are when the game began (not when it finished). So adjourned games that are resumed and finished will appear out-of-order in the time list. See also: smoves, mailstored, examine, eco ***** I ***** Command : i Args : msg Example : "i wonders who will play a game?" -- Will send "--> Fred wonders who will play a game?" to all people listening to shouts. This is just like shout, except that the broadcast message is the command you typed with your name replacing the initial "i". The message is echoed to you with the number of recipients shown. The message is presented to others with a leading "-->". "i" can be abbreviated with ":" (no following space is required). See also: shout, tell, say, kibitz, whisper ***** INCHANNEL ***** Command : inchannel Args : number number Examples: "inc" -- lsits all channels and who is in them "in 2" -- lsits all people in channel 2 "in 2 3" -- lists people in 2, people in 3, and people in both This command gives information about who is on what channel. If no arguments are supplied, it lists all the players who get each channel. If one argument is supplied it lists the players who get the specified channel. If two arguments are supplied, it lists the players who get one channel, and not the other, and those playes who get both channels. This feature was installed for team games. You can see who is in each team, and who is watching the game. See also: tell, channels ***** INFO ***** Command : info Args : none Prints a list of information help topics. To see a list of commands, do "help" instead of "info". See also: help, mailhelp ***** KIBITZ ***** Command : kibitz Args : text Example : kibitz That was a very good move! Sends the text to all players and observers of the game you are observing or playing. Same as the "whisper command", except that "whisper" goes only to the observers, not the players. It's considered rude to "kibitz" during a serious game, unless the players have told you that it's ok. Your "kib" variable determines which kibitzes you will hear. See "help vars" for details. If you are observing more than one game, use the "primary" command to choose which game your kibitzes will go to. See also: observe, vars, whisper, primary ***** LIST ***** Commands: plus (+), minus (-), list (=). Args : list-name [element] Examples: "+noplay Fred" -- adds Fred to your noplay list "=alias" -- lists all of your aliases "=GM" -- lists Grandmasters registered on ICC "-ch 1" -- removes channel 1 from your channel list These commands allow you to view or edit the following lists: message, censor, noplay, notify, gnotify, alias, channel (view or edit) computer, GM, IM, WGM, WIM, filter (view only) Plus puts a new element into the given list. Minus removes zero or more elements from the list. List shows you the specified list. When using minus, it's often to useful to end the string in "*", which causes it to match any suffix. For example, "-mes John*" removes all messages from players whose names begin with "John". "-mes J*" would remove all messages from people whose name starts with J. "=gm" shows you a list of Grandmasters registered on ICC. The lists are: message: Your messages. censor: You do not hear tells and shouts from these players. Nor can they challenge you to a match. noplay: These players cannot challenge you to a match, nor can you challenge them. notify: You are notified (with a message and possibly a beep) when a player on this list arrives. gnotify: You are notified (with a message and possibly a beep) when a player on this list starts or continues a game. alias: Short-hand commands to save typing. Do "help alias" for more details. channel: The channels you are listening to. computer:A list of the players on ICC who are computers. GM: A list of FIDE Grandmasters who are registered on ICC. IM: A list of FIDE International Masters registered on ICC. WGM: A list of FIDE Woman Grandmasters who are registered on ICC. WIM: A list of FIDE Woman International Masters registered on ICC. filter: A list of sites from which unregistered players may not log in. See also: alias, messages, tell, inchannel, shout ***** LIMITS ***** Command : limits Args : none Shows the current limits for various features on ICC: the "Hard-coded limits" which cannot be changed online, and the "Admin-settable limits" can be modified by admins. Note: With xboard (and most other clients), you can only observe one game at a time. See also: list, channels, quota, shout, observe ***** LLOGONS ***** Command : llogons Args : none Lists the names of the last 20 players who connected, in chronological order. The name stands for "log of logons". See also: logons ***** LOGONS ***** Command : logons Args : name Lists the last several logons of the specified player (your name is used if no name is specified), giving the time they connected and the time they disconnected. The current login is not counted. See also: llogons ***** MAILHELP ***** Command : mailhelp Args : helpfilename email-address Mails the specified help file to the specified address. If no address is supplied it uses your own. An admin can change your address for you. See also: help ***** MAILOLDMOVES ***** Command : mailoldmoves Args : name This command mails the move listing of the previous game of the specified player (you if no player is specified) to you. To have every one of your games automatically mailed to you, after each one is played, do "set automail 1". To stop this option, do "set automail 0". The mailformat variable determines the format of the mailed games. Do "help vars" for more information. See also: oldmoves, mailstored, vars ***** MAILSTORED ***** Command : mailstored Args : player history# or player player or game id# Examples: "mailstored darooha 8" -- This mails game #8 in darooha's history. "mailstored darooha POTZY" -- mails the adjourned game. "mailstored 5" -- mails game 5 in your current search list. "mailstored %5" -- mails game 5 in your personal library. This command mails you the moves and information on the specified game. Set mailformat 1 to get the game in PGN notation. mailformat 0 is a non-PGN format that also includes the move-times. See also: examine, search, libraries, stored, smoves, sposition ***** MATCH ***** Command : match Args : name time increment time2 increment2 r u wk color This command is used for challenging another player to a match. All the parameters are optional. (Actually, with no parameters, it withdraws all of your pending challenges.) Any parameter that is not included explicitly is taken from your variables. For example, match arcsin 2 12 will issue a challenge to arcsin with an initial 2 minutes on each clock, and 12 seconds added after each move. The "r" or "u" tells if the match will be rated or unrated. The wildness of a match is indicated by the number "k" in "wk". (e.g. "w5" indicates wild 5.) These may be combined as in "rw5" or "r5" for short. The is either "black" or "white" and specifies the color of the challenger in the resulting match. If it is unspecified, then a coin flip is used to determine the color assignment. The order the , , , and parameters is arbitrary, and they may be moved before the time parameters. If you omit an argument, it will be taken from your default variables. (exception: if