     .::gnugo(6)                     2006-01-10                      .::gnugo(6)
     User Contributed Perl Documentation     User Contributed Perl Documentation

                                        3.7.7

     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] [--
          copyright] [--mode <mode>] [--replay <color>] [-l, --infile <filename>]
          [-L, --until <move>] [-o, --outfile <filename>] [--printsgf <filename>]
          [-D, --depth <num>] [-B, --backfill_depth <num>] [--score
          [estimate|finish|aftermath] ] [-a, --allpats] [-T, --printboard] [-d,
          --debug <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
          ancient 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

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     .::gnugo(6)                     2006-01-10                      .::gnugo(6)
     User Contributed Perl Documentation     User Contributed Perl Documentation

                                        3.7.7

          Start CGoban. When the CGoban Control panel comes up, select `Go
          Modem.' 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
          debugging 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
          protocol, the user interface for any Go program can be done entirely

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     .::gnugo(6)                     2006-01-10                      .::gnugo(6)
     User Contributed Perl Documentation     User Contributed Perl Documentation

                                        3.7.7

          through CGoban. Using the Go Modem Protocol, you can play with another
          computer running a different program (even on a different operating
          system) using 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.

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     .::gnugo(6)                     2006-01-10                      .::gnugo(6)
     User Contributed Perl Documentation     User Contributed Perl Documentation

                                        3.7.7

          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).

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     .::gnugo(6)                     2006-01-10                      .::gnugo(6)
     User Contributed Perl Documentation     User Contributed Perl Documentation

                                        3.7.7

          -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
          algorithm 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
          together with a description of the bug.

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