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.::gnugo(6)	      User Contributed Perl Documentation	   .::gnugo(6)

NAME
       gnugo - The GNU program to play the game	of Go

SYNOPSIS
       gnugo  [--boardsize <num>] [--color <color>] [--handicap	<num>] [--komi
       <num>] [--quiet]	[-v, --version]	[-h, --help] [--help  debug]  [--copy-
       right]  [--mode	<mode>]	 [--replay  <color>] [-l, --infile <filename>]
       [-L, --until <move>] [-o, --outfile <filename>] [--printsgf <filename>]
       [-D,  --depth  <num>]  [-B,  --backfill_depth  <num>]  [--score	[esti-
       mate|finish|aftermath]  ] [-a, --allpats] [-T, --printboard] [-d, --de-
       bug <level>] [-w, --worms] [-m, --moyo <level>] [-b,  --benchmark  num]
       [-t, --trace] [-r, --seed num]

DESCRIPTION
       GNU Go plays a game of Go against the user. It has many other features:
       it  can	play  against  itself  or another program, analyse and score a
       recorded	game. GNU Go is	compliant with Go  modem  protocol,  load  and
       save game in the	Smart Game format.

       GNU Go default is a simple alpha-numeric	board display, but you can use
       a client	such as	CGoban.

       The game	of Go

       Go  is a	game of	strategy between two players usually played on a 19x19
       grid called goban. The two players put black and	white  stones  on  the
       goban to	enclose	territory. Go was invented about 4000 years ago	in an-
       cient  China. Other names for this game are (Chinese) Wei Chi, (Korean)
       Baduk and (Ing) Goe.

       Playing a game in ASCII mode

       To start	a game with default options, just invoke  "gnugo".  The	 board
       will  be	drawn at your terminal using ASCII letters.  In	this mode, you
       can get help on available commands by the h key.	 To play as Black with
       4 stones	handicap, with a 0.5 komi, recording  the  game	 in  the  file
       record.sgf:

	gnugo --color black --handicap 4 --komi	0.5 -o record.sgf

       Playing a game with CGoban

       CGoban  is a general purpose client program by Bill Shubert for playing
       Go. It runs under X Window System with a	beautiful  resizeable  graphic
       display.	 To  use  GNU Go under X Window	System,	obtain the most	recent
       version of CGoban from Bill Shubert's web site

       http://www.igoweb.org/~wms/comp/cgoban/index.html

       Start CGoban. When the CGoban Control panel comes up,  select  `Go  Mo-
       dem.'   You  will get the Go Modem Protocol Setup. Choose one (or both)
       of the players to be ``Program,'' and fill out the box to the  path  to
       gnugo. After clicking OK, you get the Game Setup	window.	Choose ``Rules
       Set''  to  be  Japanese (otherwise handicaps won't work). Set the board
       size and	handicap if you	want. Click OK and you are ready to go.

       In the Go Modem Protocol	Setup window, when you specify the path	to GNU
       Go, you can give	it command line	options, such as --quiet  to  suppress
       most messages. Since the	Go Modem Protocol preempts standard I/O, other
       messages	are sent to stderr, even if they are not error messages. These
       will appear in the terminal from	which you started CGoban.

       Scoring system

       The  game  stops	when both players pass.	GNU Go will attempt to compute
       and report the score to you. It may occasionally	make mistakes  due  to
       wrong  evaluation  of the status	of a group. You	can check the score as
       follows.	In ASCII mode, at the end of the game,	stones	believed  dead
       are  marked  in lower case letters, and you have	the option of toggling
       their status before counting.   Using  CGoban,  you  may	 use  CGoban's
       counting	 facility  to  count the game using either Japanese or Chinese
       rules.

       Viewing a stored	game

       gnugo -l	filename.sgf --mode ascii

       loads filename.sgf and lets you navigate	through	the game by using  the
       commands	 forward, back,	goto and last.	It is not possible to navigate
       through variations in ascii mode.  You may  also	 use  CGoban  to  view
       stored games. CGoban can	navigate variations.

       Documentation

       The files in the	doc directory contain detailed documentation about de-
       bugging options and internal program structure. Other documentation may
       be found	in comments throughout the source code.

       Go Modem	Protocol

       The  Go	Modem Protocol is a standard interface between Go programs and
       graphical display.

       The Go Modem Protocol was developed by Bruce  Wilcox  with  input  from
       David  Fotland,	Anders Kierulf and others. Any Go program *should* use
       this protocol since it is standard. Since CGoban	supports  this	proto-
       col, the	user interface for any Go program can be done entirely through
       CGoban. Using the Go Modem Protocol, you	can play with another computer
       running	a different program (even on a different operating system) us-
       ing a modem, a serial cable or over the internet	if the	other  program
       also  supports  the  protocol.  You  can	 also  communicate with	the Go
       servers using CGoban.

       Smart Game Format

       Games (with comments, variations	and other features) can	be  stored  in
       the Smart Game Format (SGF). This format	originated in Anders Kierulf's
       program	Smart Go. Martin Muller	and Arno Hollosi developed the current
       standard, which may be found at

       http://www.red-bean.com/sgf/

       GNU Go supports the Smart Game Format.

OPTIONS
       Main options

       --mode mode

       force the playing mode (ascii', gtp or gmp). Default is	ASCII.	If  no
       terminal	is detected GMP	(Go Modem Protocol) will be assumed.

       --replay	color

       replay  the  game  generating  moves  for  color, where color is	white,
       black, or both. (requires -l)

       --quiet

       Don't print copyright and other informational messages.

       -l, --infile file

       Load the	SGF file (to score or analyze a	recorded game).

       -L, --until move

       Stop loading just before	move is	played (e.g. 154 or L10).

       -o, --outfile file

       Save the	played game to file in SGF format.

       Game Options:

       --boardsize num

       Set the board size to use (1-19). Default is 19,	other  common  formats
       are 13 and 9.

       --color color

       Choose  your  color (black or white). Black plays first,	White gets the
       komi compensation.

       --handicap num

       Set the number of handicap stones.

       --komi num

       Set the komi (points given to white player to compensate	 advantage  of
       the first move, usually 5.5 or 0.5). Default is 5.5.

       Informative Output:

       -v, --version

       Display the version of GNU Go.

       -h, --help

       Display help message.

       --help debug

       Display help about debugging options.

       --copyright

       Display copyright notice.

       Debugging and advanced options:

       -T, --printboard

       Show board each move.

       --level num

       Level of	play. (default 10; smaller=faster, weaker).

       -b, --benchmark num

       Benchmarking mode - can be used with -l.

       -t, --trace

       Verbose tracing (use twice or more to trace reading).

       -r, --seed num

       Set random number seed.

       --score [estimate|finish|aftermath]

       Count or	estimate territory of the input	file. Usage:

       gnugo --score estimate -l filename

       Loads  the SGF file and estimates the score by measuring	the influence.
       Use with	-L if you want the estimate somewhere else than	at the end  of
       the file.

       gnugo --score finish -l filename

       Loads the SGF file and gnugo continues to play by itself	up to the very
       end. Then the winner is determined by counting the territory.

       gnugo --score aftermath -l filename

       Similar	to --score finish except that a	more accurate but slower algo-
       rithm is	used to	determine the final status of the groups.

       If the option -o	outputfilename is provided, the	results	will  also  be
       written as comment at the end of	the output file.

       --printsgf outfile

       Load SGF	file, output final position (requires -l).

BUGS
       If you find a bug, please send the SGF output file to gnugo@gnu.org to-
       gether with a description of the	bug.

3rd Berkeley Distribution	     3.7.7			   .::gnugo(6)

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