MENU REFERENCE



The following reference contains a brief description of each of the eight Sigma Chess menus.
 

The File Menu

The File menu contains the standard file operations applied to chess games.
 
New Game  Opens a new game window.

New Collection... Creates and opens a new empty collection.

New Library... Creates and opens a new empty position library.

Open...  Displays a dialog, where you can open a Sigma Chess document (games, collections, libraries, PGN files etc.).

Save  Saves the contents of the front most window, e.g. a game window. If there is no file associated with the game, a standard save-dialog will be opened. Is disabled for collection windows, because for collections, changes are saved automatically on disk.

Save As...  Saves the current window under a new name.

Close Closes the front window.

Page Setup...  Opens the standard Page Setup dialog.

Print...  Prints the current window, e.g. all moves of the current game including annotations and diagrams. For collections, only the selected games are printed.

Preferences...  Opens the Sigma Chess Preferences Dialog.

Quit  Quits Sigma Chess.
 

The Edit Menu

All items in the Edit menu apply to the Annotation Editor.
 
Undo  Undo last change (can be applied repeatedly).

Redo  Redo last change (can be applied repeatedly).

Cut  Cut selected text/game to clipboard.

Copy  Copy selected text/game/position/analysis to clipboard.

Paste  Paste text/game/position from clipboard.

Clear  Clear selected text.

Select All  Select all text.

Find...  Opens the standard search/replace dialog.

Find Next  Find next occurrence of search-text.

Replace  Replace selected text with new text.

Replace & Find  Replace selected text and find next occurrence of search-text.

Replace All Replace all occurrences of search-text with replace-text from cursor.
 

The Game Menu

The Game menu contains commands for take back and replay of moves, as well as access to the Position Editor and the Game Information dialog.
 
Reset Game  Starts a new game in the current window.

Rate Game...  Starts a new rated game in the current window.

Branch Game  Opens a new game window and copies all moves from the start of the current game up to the current position.

Undo Move  Takes back the last played half move. This command can also be invoked through the left arrow key on the keyboard.

Redo Move  Replays the next half move. This command can also be invoked through the right arrow key on the keyboard.

Undo All Moves  Takes back all moves to the beginning of the game. This command can also be invoked by holding down the option (alt) key and then pressing the left arrow key.

Redo All Moves  Replays all moves to the end of the game. This command can also be invoked by holding down the option (alt) key and then pressing the right arrow key.

Go To Move...  Jumps directly to a specific move, more precisely to the position prior to the specified move number. You can also double click on the move in the move list.

Clear Rest of Game Removes all moves after the current position.

Position Editor  Opens/closes the Position Editor.

Annotation Editor  Opens/closes the Annotation Editor.

Clear Annotations Clears all annotation text for the current game.

Add to Collection Adds (attaches) the game to the selected game collection.

Detach from Collection Detaches the game window from it's owning collection. The game is not removed from the collection.

Info...   Opens the Game Information dialog.
 

The Analyze Menu

The Analyze menu controls the actual chess engine.
 
Go  Starts analyzing the current position. This command can also be invoked by pressing the spacebar.

Next Best  Starts analyzing the current position looking for alternative moves.

Stop  Stops the search and plays the best move so far (unless Manual Play is on). This command can also be invoked by pressing the spacebar.

Pause  Pauses the current game and stops the chess clocks.

Hint   Displays a move hint, i.e. the move that Sigma Chess considers to be your best choice in the current position.

Draw Offer   Let the player offer a draw after having performed a move (i.e. while Sigma Chess is thinking).

Resign Lets you resign the current game if it's your turn to move. Stops the chess clocks and updates the game result accordingly.

Auto Play  Instructs Sigma Chess to play for both sides until the end of the game or the search is stopped. Is disabled in manual mode and in the analysis level.

Demo Play   Starts a continuous sequence of "Auto Played" games.

Analyze Game...  Analyzes the current game and stores the search results as annotation text for each move.

Analyze Collection... Analyzes and annotates the games of the currently loaded collection starting with the currently opened collection game.

Analyze EPD...  Analyzes a multi position EPD file and stores the search result in a text file with one line per position.

Transposition Tables... Sets the size of the transposition tables or turn them off.

Endgame Databases Enables the endgame databases for certain endgames.
 

The Level Menu

The Level menu gives access to the various playing levels, modes and styles.
 
Playing Mode/Level... Opens the main Level dialog, where you can select playing mode and level.

Permanent Brain If this option is off, Sigma Chess will not think during  its opponent's time. This reduces the playing strength somewhat. When the option is on (default), Sigma Chess tries to predict your next move and starts analyzing the resulting position. In case you should happen to play the predicted move, Sigma Chess can respond quickly and thus save time on its own clock.

Non deterministic  If this option is on, Sigma Chess is non deterministic i.e. it will choose randomly between equally good moves.

Playing Strength... Lets you specify Sigma Chess's playing strength (ELO rating). Additionally this dialog tracks your own performance obtained from the rated games you have played with Sigma Chess.

ELO Calculator... Opens the ELO Calculator dialog.

Playing Style  This submenu specifies the playing style adopted by Sigma Chess.
 

The Display Menu

The Display menu controls the various display settings, including piece sets and boards, colours e.t.c.
 
Turn Board  Turns the board 180°.

Piece Set  Selects the 2D piece set. This facility is also available when setting up positions, when promoting and when using the Library Editor. This submenu is also available as a popup menu by holding down the ctrl-key and clicking on any piece on the board.

Board Type  Selects one of the 2D boards. This submenu is also available as a popup menu by holding down the ctrl-key and clicking on any empty square on the board.

Notation  This submenu lets you choose figurine notation, as well as either short or long algebraic notation. The figurine notation applies to all places where moves are being displayed, whereas short algebraic notation only applies to the game record and when printing.

Piece Letters  Select the move notation language for move display, print and PGN export. Default is English.

Game Info Filter... Open a dialog where you can specify which parts of the game information (which can be viewed/set in Game Information dialog) to show in the move list and on printouts.

Show Analysis  Shows or hides the Analysis window.

3D Board  Toggles between 2D and 3D mode. This option is disabled if the 3D board has not been enabled in the Preferences Dialog, or if Sigma Chess has not been assigned sufficient memory.

Show 3D Clocks  Shows or hides the chess clocks below the 3D board.

Colour Scheme  Lets you to customize the background colour. Is also available as a popup menu by clicking in the summary area.
 

The Collection Menu

The Collection menu contains various commands for manipulating game collections.
 
Edit Filter... Lets you define/edit a collection game filter.

Enable Filter  Enables/disables the current game filter.

Open Game  Opens the currently selected game in a new game window.

Previous Game  Opens the previous collection game in the existing game window.

Next Game  Opens the next collection game in the existing game window.

Layout... Opens the Collection Layout dialog, where you set the formatting (e.g. page breaks, heading type) of each collection game.

Import PGN... Imports all games from a PGN file into the current collection (after the last game).

Export PGN... Exports the selected games to a PGN file.

Compact  Compact currently loaded collection by discarding unused space in the collection file. This will reduce the size of a fragmented collection.

Move/Renumber... Moves/renumbers the selected games.

Info...  Opens the Collection Info dialog.
 

The Library Menu

The Library menu contains commands for saving and editing position libraries. Editing is disabled in the Lite version.
 
Sigma Library This menu item shows the name of the currently loaded position library (which per default is the "Sigma Library"). It also serves as an option, which can be turned off, so that Sigma Chess will disable its opening library during the game.

Library Editor  Opens/closes the position library editor.

Add Position  Adds the current position to the position library.

Remove Position  Removes the current position from the position library.

ECO/Comment...  Set ECO code and/or comment/name for the current position.

Save  Saves the current position library.

Save As...  Saves the current position library under a different name.
 

The Window Menu

The Window menu is a dynamic menu which includes a "list" of the currently opened windows.


The Sigma Chess 5.1 User's Manual - Copyright (C) 2001, Ole K. Christensen

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