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 .::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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