═══ 1. OS/2 Internet Go Server Client Program (OS2IGC) ═══ The OS/2 Internet Go Server Client Program (OS2IGC) is a program that allows you to play Go through the Internet Go Server (IGS). The following topics will guide you through the use of the OS/2 Internet Go Server Client Program:  Terminal View - Communicating with the IGS  Who View - Seeing who is logged on and interacting with them  Games View - Watching the games that are being played  Configuring OS2IGC The following topic is a reference guide to the IGS commands:  Help For The Internet Go Server The following topics contain information about this Beta Test:  Beta Test News  About The Author ═══ 2. Terminal View ═══ The Terminal View allows you to send simple commands to the Internet Go Server and receive responses from the IGS. The following topics will guide you through the use of the Terminal View:  Terminal View window  Pop-up menu items  Internet Go Server commands ═══ 2.1. Terminal View WIndow ═══ The Terminal View window consists of an output field that displays messages from the Internet Go Server and an input field where you can type commands to be sent to the IGS. When you open the Terminal View, the OS2IGC program connects to the Internet Go Server. This requires that you have a TCP/IP connection established with the Internet. If you haven't connected to the Internet before opening the Terminal View, the OS2IGCprogram won't be able to connect to the Internet Go Server. Once a connection is made with the Internet Go Server, the IGS will prompt you to login to the server. If you previously specified your Login Name and Password on the User page of the OS2IGC Settings Notebook, the program will automatically respond to the login and password prompts from the IGS. If you have not specified this information, you will have to type your login name and password when the IGS prompts you. After you have successfully logged on to the server, you may send any IGS command to the server. If you send a who command to the IGS, the OS2IGC program will automatically open the Who View when it receives the list of people that are logged on to the server. If you send a games command to the IGS, the OS2IGC program will automatically open the Games View when it receives the list of active games from the server. ═══ 2.2. Terminal View Pop-up Menu Items ═══ The Terminal View pop-up menu contains the following items: Connect Attempts to connect to the Internet Go Server. You can select this item if the OS2IGC program has failed to connect to the IGS (and you have fixed the problem) or after you have disconnected from the IGS. Disconnect Allows you to disconnect from the Internet Go Server. If you were playing a game when you disconnect from the server, the game is automatically adjourned and saved by the server. ═══ Terminal View ═══ The Terminal View is an interactive window that allows you to send simple commands to the Internet Go Server and see the responses from the server. For a detailed explanation of each field in the Terminal View window, select from the list below:  Output field  Input field ═══ Output Field ═══ The output field is the large area at the top of the Terminal View window. It displays all messages received from the Internet Go Server. You can scroll through old messages by using the scroll bar at the right of the output field. You can select text in the output field, but there is currently nothing you can do with the selected text. ═══ Input Field ═══ The input field is the small area at the bottom of the Terminal View window. You can type any legal Internet Go Server command in this input field. When you press the Enter key, the OS2IGC program sends your command to the IGS. For most commands, the response to your command is displayed in the output field. However, the following commands perform special actions: Games Opens the Games View Who Opens the Who View ═══ 3. Who View ═══ The Who View displays a list of all players currently logged on to the Internet Go Server. From the Who View window, you can interact with any of the players. The following topics will guide you through the use of the Who View:  Who View Window  Pop-up Menu Items  Interacting With A Player ═══ 3.1. Who View Window ═══ The Who View window is a details view of the folder containing Player Objects for each player currently logged on to the Internet Go Server. When you open the Who View, the OS2IGC program sends a Who command to the IGS to get the information about who is logged on to the server. It builds a Player Object for each player and displays it in the Who View Window. ═══ 3.2. Who View Pop-up Menu Items ═══ The Who View pop-up menu contains the following items: Refresh now Sends a Who command to the IGS to update the information in the Who View window. Sort Allows you to sort the Who View window by the player's names or by their ranks on the IGS. ═══ 3.3. Interacting With A Player ═══ The Player Objects that are displayed in the Who View window allow you to interact with the players logged on to the Internet Go Server. From the Player Object, you can:  DIsplay The Player's Statistics  Chat With The Player  Send A Message To The Player  Ask The Player For A Game  Send A Match Command To The Player  Send An Automatch Command To The Player ═══ 4. Player Object ═══ The Player Object describes a player logged on to the Internet Go Server. The Statistics View of a Player Object is a Settings Notebook that contains the information returned by the Stats command for that player. The Chat View of a Player Object is an interactive window that allows you to exchange messages with the player. The following topics will guide you through the use of the Player Object:  Statistics View  Chat View  Sending A Message To The Player  Asking The Player For A Game  Sending A Match Command To The Player  Sending An Automatch Command To The Player ═══ 4.1. Statistics View ═══ The Statistics View of the Player Object consists of a Settings Notebook that contains the information about the player. This information is returned from the Internet Go Server in response to a Stats command. The Settings Notebook looks somewhat different if you choose your own Player Object. The pages in your Player Object allow you to modify some of the data, which is automatically sent back to the IGS when you close the Settings Notebook. This allows you to update your own player information without learning the required IGS commands. In either case, the Settings Notebook may contain the following pages:  Stats  Rating  Info  Defaults  Options  On Server  Last Access ═══ 4.1.1. Stats Settings Notebook Page ═══ The Stats page shows you the basic statistics for the player. ═══ 4.1.2. Rating Settings Notebook Page ═══ The Rating page shows you the ratings information maintained by the IGS for the player. ═══ 4.1.3. Info Settings Notebook Page ═══ The Info page shows you the player's information. ═══ 4.1.4. Defaults Settings Notebook Page ═══ The Defaults page shows you the default settings for the player. This information is used by the Automatch command when setting up a match with another player. ═══ 4.1.5. Options Settings Notebook Page ═══ The Options page shows you your player options. This page is only displayed if you are displaying the Settings Notebook for your Player Object. ═══ 4.1.6. On Server Settings Notebook Page ═══ The On Server page shows you the information about a player who is currently logged on to the Internet Go Server. ═══ 4.1.7. Last Access Settings Notebook Page ═══ The Last Access page shows you the information about a player who is currently not logged on to the Internet Go Server. ═══ Stats ═══ This page displays information returned by the Internet Go Server about a player. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Language  E-Mail Address  IP Address  Chosen Game  Claimed Rank  Registration Date ═══ Language ═══ The Language field displays the language selected by the player in the last Language command he sent to the IGS. ═══ E-Mail Address ═══ The E-Mail Address field displays the electronic mail address for the player. This field is set by sending a Register command to the IGS. ═══ IP Address ═══ The IP Address field displays the IP address for a guest. Since this player is not registered with the IGS, he doesn't have an E-Mail address to display. ═══ Chosen Game ═══ The Chosen Game field displays the game selected by the player in the last Choice command sent to the IGS. ═══ Claimed Rank ═══ The Claimed Rank field displays the rank claimed by the player in the last Rank command sent to the IGS. ═══ Registration Date ═══ The Registration Date field displays the date and time the player registered with the IGS. ═══ Stats ═══ This page displays your information returned by the Internet Go Server. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Language  E-Mail Address  Chosen Game  Claimed Rank  Registration Date ═══ Language ═══ The Language field displays the language you selected in the last Language command you sent to the IGS. If you never sent a Language command to the IGS, your language is default If you want to change your selected language, open the list box (by clicking on the arrow at the right of the list box) and select the language you want. When you close the Settings Notebook, OS2IGC will automatically send a Language command to the IGS to change your language in its player profile. Note: If you click on the Default push button, your selected language will be changed to default. ═══ E-Mail Address ═══ The E-Mail Address field displays your electronic mail address. If you want to change your e-mail address, make the changes in the entry field. When you close the Settings Notebook, OS2IGC will automatically send a Register command to the IGS to change your e-mail address in its player profile. Note: If you click on the Default push button, your e-mail address will be changed to the address that was originally returned by the IGS. ═══ Chosen Game ═══ The Chosen Game field displays the game you selected in the last Choice command you sent to the IGS. If you never sent a Choice command to the IGS, your selected game is Go. If you want to change your selected game, open the list box (by clicking on the arrow at the right of the list box) and select the game you want. When you close the Settings Notebook, OS2IGC will automatically send a Choice command to the IGS to change your chosen game in its player profile. Note: If you click on the Default push button, your selected game will be changed to go. ═══ Claimed Rank ═══ The Claimed Rank field displays the rank you claimed in the last Rank command you sent to the IGS. If you never sent a Rank command to the IGS, your claimed rank is NR. If you want to change your claimed rank, use the arrows at the right of the spin button to select a new rank. When you close the Settings Notebook, OS2IGC will automatically send a Rank command to the IGS to change your claimed rank in its player profile. Note: If you click on the Default push button, your claimed rank will be changed to NR. ═══ Registration Date ═══ The Registration Date field displays the date and time you registered with the IGS. ═══ Rating ═══ This page displays the rating information returned by the Internet Go Server about a player. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Rating  Rated Games Played  Wins  Losses ═══ Rating ═══ The Rating field displays the player's rating as maintained by the IGS. If this field is followed by an asterisk (*), the rating is an official IGS rating. This indicates that the rating was calculated from enough IGS rated games to insure that the rating is valid. If this field is not followed by an asterisk, it is an approximate rating based on the player's claimed rank and the games he has played. ═══ Rated Games ═══ The Rated Games field displays the number of games the player has played with other players that have official IGS ratings. ═══ Wins ═══ The Wins field displays the number of games the player has won while playing on the IGS. The player can reset this field to zero by sending two Reset commands to the IGS. ═══ Losses ═══ The Losses field displays the number of games the player has lost. The player can reset this field to zero by sending two Reset commands to the IGS. ═══ Info ═══ This page displays information returned by the Internet Go Server about a player. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Player Information ═══ Player Information ═══ The Player Information field displays the information the player last sent to the IGS with the Info command. ═══ Info ═══ This page displays your information returned by the Internet Go Server. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Player Information ═══ Player Information ═══ The Player Information field displays the information you last sent to the IGS with the Info command. If you never sent an Info command to the IGS this field contains If you want to change your player information, make the changes in the entry field. When you close the Settings Notebook, OS2IGC will automatically send an Info command to the IGS to change your player information in its player profile. ═══ Defaults ═══ This page displays default settings returned by the Internet Go Server for a player. This information is used by the Automatch command when setting up a match with another player. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Time  Board Size  Byo-yomi Time  Byo-yomi Stones ═══ Time ═══ The Time field displays the number of minutes of basic time for a game established by the Automatch command. ═══ Board Size ═══ The Board Size field displays the size of the board for a game established by the Automatch command. ═══ Byo-yomi Time ═══ The Byo-yomi Time field displays the length of each byo-yomi period (in minutes) for a game established by the Automatch command. ═══ Byo-yomi Stones ═══ The Byo-yomi Stones field displays the number of stones that must be played within each byo-yomi period for a game established by the Automatch command. ═══ Defaults ═══ This page displays your default settings returned by the Internet Go Server. This information is used by the Automatch command when setting up a match with another player. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Time  Board Size  Byo-yomi Time  Byo-yomi Stones ═══ Time ═══ The Time field displays the number of minutes of basic time for a game established by the Automatch command. If you want to change your default basic time, modify the value in the entry field. When you close the Settings Notebook, your new default time will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Defs command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, your basic time will be changed to 90 minutes. ═══ Board Size ═══ The Board Size field displays the size of the board for a game established by the Automatch command. If you want to change your default board size, modify the value in the entry field. When you close the Settings Notebook, your new default board size will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Defs command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, your default board size will be changed to 19. ═══ Byo-yomi Time ═══ The Byo-yomi Time field displays the length of each byo-yomi period (in minutes) for a game established by the Automatch command. If you want to change your default byo-yomi time, modify the value in the entry field. When you close the Settings Notebook, your new default byo-yomi time will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Defs command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, your default byo-yomi time will be changed to 10 minutes. ═══ Byo-yomi Stones ═══ The Byo-yomi Stones field displays the number of stones you must play within each byo-yomi period for a game established by the Automatch command. If you want to change your default number of byo-yomi stones, modify the value in the entry field. When you close the Settings Notebook, your new default number of byo-yomi stones will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Defs command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, your default number of byo-yomi stones will be changed to 25. ═══ Options ═══ This page displays your player options returned by the Internet Go Server. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Automail  Bell  Chatter  Client  Kibitz  Looking  Open  Quiet  Shout  Verbose ═══ Automail ═══ The Automail check box indicates whether or not you want the Internet Go Server to mail you a list of the moves when you complete a match. If you change the state of this check box, when you close the Settings Notebook your new selection will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Toggle command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, this check box will become unchecked. ═══ Bell ═══ The Bell check box indicates whether or not you want the alarm to sound when redrawing a board. If you change the state of this check box, when you close the Settings Notebook your new selection will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Toggle command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, this check box will become checked. ═══ Chatter ═══ The Chatter check box indicates whether or not you want to receive messages from other players issuing the Chatter command for games you are observing. If you change the state of this check box, when you close the Settings Notebook your new selection will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Toggle command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, this check box will become unchecked. ═══ Client ═══ The Client check box indicates whether or not your software is an Internet Go Server Client Program. Note: You cannot change the state of this check box. The OS2IGC program requires that you be running in Client Mode. ═══ Kibitz ═══ The Kibitz check box indicates whether or not you want to receive messages from other players issuing the Kibitz command for games you are observing. If you change the state of this check box, when you close the Settings Notebook your new selection will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Toggle command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, this check box will become checked. ═══ Looking ═══ The Looking check box indicates whether or not you are looking for a match. If this check box is checked, the information returned for you by a Who command includes a "!" symbol. If you change the state of this check box, when you close the Settings Notebook your new selection will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Toggle command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, this check box will become unchecked. ═══ Open ═══ The Open check box indicates whether or not you are available to accept Match requests from other players. If you change the state of this check box, when you close the Settings Notebook your new selection will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Toggle command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, this check box will become checked. ═══ Quiet ═══ The Quiet check box indicates whether or not you want to be notified when people logon or logoff from the Internet Go Server and whether or not you want to automatically see game results. If you change the state of this check box, when you close the Settings Notebook your new selection will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Toggle command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, this check box will become checked. ═══ Shout ═══ The Shout check box indicates whether or not you want to see messages broadcast by other players using the Shout command. Note: This option does not affect your reception of system messages. If you change the state of this check box, when you close the Settings Notebook your new selection will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Toggle command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, this check box will become checked. ═══ Verbose ═══ The Verbose check box indicates whether you want full boards or only the last move sent to you. If you change the state of this check box, when you close the Settings Notebook your new selection will be sent back to the Internet Go Server in a Toggle command. Note: If you click on the Default push button, this check box will become unchecked. ═══ On Server ═══ This page displays information returned by the Internet Go Server about a player who is currently logged on to the server. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Idle Time  Playing In Game  Observing Game ═══ Idle Time ═══ The Idle Time field displays how long the player has been logged on to the Internet Go Server without sending any commands to the server. ═══ Playing In Game ═══ The Playing In Game field displays the number of the game the player is currently playing. If the player is not currently playing a game, this field contains None. ═══ Observing Game ═══ The Observing Game field displays the number of the first game the player is currently observing. If the player is not currently observing any games, this field contains None. ═══ Last Access ═══ This page displays information returned by the Internet Go Server about a player who is currently not logged on to the server. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Last Access (GMT)  Last Access (Local Time) ═══ Last Access (GMT) ═══ The Last Access (GMT) field displays the date and time (in terms of Greenwich Mean Time) the player was last logged on to the Internet Go Server. ═══ Last Access (Local Time) ═══ The Last Access (Local Time) field displays the date and time (in terms of local time) the player was last logged on to the Internet Go Server. ═══ 4.2. Chat View ═══ The Chat View of the Player Object allows you to interact with the player by exchanging messages with that player. The Chat View window contains an input area where you can compose your message to be sent. It also contains an output area that displays all messages received from the player. ═══ Chat View ═══ The Chat View of the Player Object allows you to interact with the player by exchanging messages with that player. The top portion of the Chat View window is an output area that display all messages received from the player. The player must use the Tell command to send messages to you. The bottom portion of the Chat View window is an entry field. You can compose your message to the player and press the Enter key to send the message. OS2IGC automatically constructs a Tell command containing your message text and sends it to the IGS for you. You only have to enter the message text in the entry field. ═══ 4.3. Sending A Message To The Player ═══ You can send a single message to the player by selecting the Send Message option from the Player Object's pop-up menu. This displays the Send Message Dialog. ═══ Send Message Dialog ═══ The Send Message Dialog allows you to send a single message to a player. The title bar of the Send Message Dialog contains the name of the player that the message will be sent to. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Message ═══ Message ═══ The Message field is an entry field in which you may type the message to be sent to the player. When you have completed typing the message, click on the OK push button to send the message. If you decide not to send any message to the player, click on the Cancel push button. ═══ 4.4. Asking The Player For A Game ═══ You can send a message to the player asking him if he would like to play a game by selecting the Ask For Game option from the Player Object's pop-up menu. This displays the Ask For Game Dialog. ═══ Ask For Game Dialog ═══ The Ask For Game Dialog allows you to send a message to a player asking him if he would like to play a game. The title bar of the Ask For Game Dialog contains the name of the player that the message will be sent to. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Message ═══ Message ═══ The Message field is an entry field in which you may type the message to be sent to the player. When you have completed typing the message, click on the OK push button to send the message. If you decide not to send a message to the player, click on the Cancel push button. ═══ 4.5. Sending A Match Command To The Player ═══ You can send a Match command to the player to start a game with him by selecting the Match option from the Player Object's pop-up menu. This displays the Match Dialog. Note: You should always send a message to the player asking if he would like to play a game before sending him a Match command. You can do this by selecing the Ask For Game option from the Player Object's pop-up menu. If the player agrees to the game, you can then send the Match command to him with the agreed upon parameters. ═══ Match Dialog ═══ The Match Dialog allows you to compose a Match command and send it to the player. The title bar of the Send Message Dialog contains the name of the player that the Match command will be sent to. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  My Color  Board Size  Basic Time  Byo-yomi Time When you have filled in all of the fields, click on the OK push button to send the Match command to the player. If you decide not to request a match with the player, click on the Cancel push button. ═══ My Color Group ═══ The My Color group box contains two radio buttons. Click on the Black radio button if you want to play the black stones or click on the White radio button if you want your opponent to play black. ═══ Board Size ═══ The Board Size spin button allows you to choose the size of the board you want to play on. The values range from 9 to 19, indicating a 9x9 to a 19x19 board. You can use the arrows at the right of the spin button to select the board size that you want to play on. ═══ Basic Time ═══ The Basic Time spin button allows you to specify the basic time for the game, in minutes. The values range from 0 to 999. If you specify a basic time of 0, each player will immediately go into overtime (byo-yomi). You can use the arrows at the right of the spin button to select the basic time for the game. You can also type a time directly into the spin button entry field. ═══ Byo-yomi Time ═══ The Byo-yomi Time spin button allows you to specify the length of each byo-yomi period in the game, in minutes. Each player must play 25 stones within each byo-yomi period, or he forfeits the game. The values range from 0 to 999. If you specify a byo-yomi time of 0, a player will immediately forfeit the game when he uses up his basic time. You can use the arrows at the right of the spin button to select length of the byo-yomi periods for the game. You can also type a time directly into the spin button entry field. ═══ 4.6. Sending An Automatch Command To The Player ═══ You can send an Automatch command to the player to start a game with him by selecting the Automatch option from the Player Object's pop-up menu. Note: You should always send a message to the player asking if he would like to play a game before sending him an Automatch command. You can do this by selecing the Ask For Game option from the Player Object's pop-up menu. If the player agrees to the game, you can then send the Automatch command to him. ═══ 5. Games View ═══ The Games View displays a list of all games currently being played on the Internet Go Server. From the Games View window, you can open Observe Views to watch any game in progress. The following topics will guide you through the use of the Games View:  Games View Window  Pop-up Menu Items  Observing A Game ═══ 5.1. Games View Window ═══ The Games View window is a details view of the folder containing Game Objects for each game currently being played on the Internet Go Server. When you open the Games View, the OS2IGC program sends a Games command to the IGS to get the information about all games being played on the server. It builds a Game Object for each game and displays it in the Games View Window. ═══ 5.2. Games View Pop-up Menu Items ═══ The Games View pop-up menu contains the following items: Refresh now Sends a Games command to the IGS to update the information in the Games View window. Sort Allows you to sort the Games View window by the game number, the white or black player's names, or the white or black player's ranks on the IGS. ═══ 5.3. Observing A Game ═══ The Game Objects that are displayed in the Games View window allow you to observe the games in progress on the Internet Go Server. From the Game Object, you can:  DIsplay The Game Board ═══ 6. Game Object ═══ The Game Object represents a game in progress on the Internet Go Server. The Observe View of a Game Object shows a game that you are observing. This view is dynamically updated whenever either player makes a move. The Play View of a Game Object shows a game that you are playing. This view is dynamically updated whenever either you or your opponent makes a move. The following topics will guide you through the use of the Game Object:  Observe View  Play View ═══ 6.1. Observe View ═══ The Observe View of the Game Object consists of a picture of the game board, an area containing timing and prisoner information about the game, and a kibitz window. The following topics explain the various areas of the Observe View:  Title Bar  Game Board  Timing Area  Kibitz Window ═══ 6.1.1. Title Bar ═══ The title bar tells you the number of the game and the names of the players, as black player vs white player. ═══ 6.1.2. Game Board ═══ The game board shows you the current state of the game. The board is oriented with the black player at the top and the white player at the bottom. The black and white stones are represented by black and white circles on the board. The last move played by either player is represented by a stone that alternates in color between gray and either black or white, depending on who made the last move. This makes it easy to locate the last move played. You can change the color of the board by opening the Mixed Color Palette or Solid Color Palette and dropping a color on the board. You can change the color of the lines on the board by holding the Ctrl key while dropping a color on the board from one of the color palettes. ═══ 6.1.3. Timing Area ═══ The timing area is located to the right of the game board. It consists of a picture of a clock and areas in which byo-yomi stones and prisoners are shown. The top window on the clock shows how much time (in minutes and seconds) is left on the black player's clock. When the game starts, this is the basic time remaining until black enters overtime. When the black player is in overtime, this is the amount of time remaining in the current byo-yomi period. Above the clock are indicators of how many stones the black player must play within the current byo-yomi period and the number of white stones captured by the black player. The middle window on the clock shows the number of the last move and what the move is. A normal move is indicated by the player's color (B or W) and the coordinate where the move was made. The bottom window on the clock shows how much time is left on the white player's clock, either basic time or byo-yomi time. Below the clock are indicators of how many black stones were captured by the white player and how many stones white must play in the current byo-yomi period. The red lights at the top and bottom of the clock will flash to indicate which player must make the next move. When the game is over, or is adjourned, the clock stops flashing. You can change the color of the clock by dropping a color on the clock from one of the color palettes. You can change the background color of any of the clock windows by dropping a color in the window. You can change the color of the text within any of the windows by holding the Ctrl key while dropping a color in the window. You can change the font displayed in the move (center) window by dropping a font on the window from the Font Palette. ═══ 6.1.4. Kibitz Window ═══ The kibitz window is either to the right of the timing area or below the game board, depending on the size you have chosen for the Observe View window. The kibitz window consists of an output list box where kibitz messages from other observers are displayed and an entry field at the bottom of the window. You may enter a message in this entry field. When you press the Enter key, OS2IGC appends the message to a kibitz command and sends the command to the server. This message is then broadcast to all other observers of the game. You may scroll back through the previous kibitz messages by clicking on the scroll bar to the right of the output list box. You can change the background color of the output list box or the entry field by dropping a color on the appropriate field from one of the color palettes. You can change the font used in the output list box or the entry field by dropping a font on the field from the Font Palette. ═══ 6.2. Play View ═══ The Play View of the Game Object consists of a picture of the game board, an area containing timing and prisoner information about the game, and a message window. The following topics explain the various areas of the Play View:  Title Bar  Game Board  Timing Area  Message Window  Pop-up Menu Items ═══ 6.2.1. Title Bar ═══ The title bar tells you the number of the game and the names of the players, as black player vs white player. ═══ 6.2.2. Game Board ═══ The game board shows you the current state of the game. The board is oriented with the black player at the top and the white player at the bottom. The black and white stones are represented by black and white circles on the board. The last move played by either player is represented by a stone that alternates in color between gray and either black or white, depending on who made the last move. This makes it easy to locate the last move played. When it is your turn and you move the mouse over the game board, the mouse pointer becomes your stone. To make a move, move the stone over the intersection where you want to play the stone and press mouse button 1. If you want to pass, resign, or issue some other IGS command, click on the system menu (at the left side of the title bar) to obtain the pop-up menu and select the desired pop-up menu item. When the game is in Scoring Mode (that is, after three consecutive passes have been made by the players), the mouse pointer changes toa tombstone symbol (indicating "rest in peace"). Move the mouse pointer so the arrow coming out of the tombstone points to a dead stone and press mouse button 1. The group of stones connected to the dead stone is removed from the board. Continue removing dead groups until only live groups are left. When you are done removing the dead groups, select the Done item on the pop-up menu. You can change the color of the board by opening the Mixed Color Palette or Solid Color Palette and dropping a color on the board. You can change the color of the lines on the board by holding the Ctrl key while dropping a color on the board from one of the color palettes. ═══ 6.2.3. Timing Area ═══ The timing area is located to the right of the game board. It consists of a picture of a clock and areas in which byo-yomi stones and prisoners are shown. The top window on the clock shows how much time (in minutes and seconds) is left on the black player's clock. When the game starts, this is the basic time remaining until black enters overtime. When the black player is in overtime, this is the amount of time remaining in the current byo-yomi period. Above the clock are indicators of how many stones the black player must play within the current byo-yomi period and the number of white stones captured by the black player. The middle window on the clock shows the number of the last move and what the move is. A normal move is indicated by the player's color (B or W) and the coordinate where the move was made. The bottom window on the clock shows how much time is left on the white player's clock, either basic time or byo-yomi time. Below the clock are indicators of how many black stones were captured by the white player and how many stones white must play in the current byo-yomi period. The red light at the top and bottom of the clock will flash to indicate when it is your turn. When the game is over, is in scoring mode, or is adjourned, the clock stops flashing. You can change the color of the clock by dropping a color on the clock from one of the color palettes. You can change the background color of any of the clock windows by dropping a color in the window. You can change the color of the text within any of the windows by holding the Ctrl key while dropping a color in the window. You can change the font displayed in the move (center) window by dropping a font on the window from the Font Palette. ═══ 6.2.4. Message Window ═══ The message window is either to the right of the timing area or below the game board, depending on the size you have chosen for the Play View window. The message window consists of an output list box where messages from your opponent are displayed and an entry field at the bottom of the window. You may enter a message in this entry field. When you press the Enter key, OS2IGC appends the message to a say command and sends the command to the server. This message is then sent to your opponent. You may scroll back through the previous messages by clicking on the scroll bar to the right of the output list box. You can change the background color of the output list box or the entry field by dropping a color on the appropriate field from one of the color palettes. You can change the font used in the output list box or the entry field by dropping a font on the field from the Font Palette. ═══ 6.3. Play View Pop-up Menu Items ═══ The Play View pop-up menu contains the following items: Handicap Sends a handicap command to the IGS to set the handicap for the game. This item is in the pop-up menu only if you are playing black and this is the first move of the game. Komi Sends a komi command to the IGS to set the komi for the game. This item is in the pop-up menu only if it is your first move. Free Sends a free command to the IGS to indicate toggle whether or not this game counts for your IGS rating. This item is in the pop-up menu only if it is your first move. Pass Sends a pass command to the IGS to indicate that you want to pass. This item is in the pop-up menu only if it is your move. Resign Sends a resign command to the IGS to resign the game. This item is in the pop-up menu only if it is your move. Undo (playing) Sends an undo command to the IGS to undo your opponent's last move. This item is in the pop-up menu only if it is your move. Request undo Sends a message to your opponent asking him to undo your last move. This item is in the pop-up menu only if it is your opponent's move. Score Sends a score command to the IGS to request an estimate of the current score of the game. Request adjourn Sends an adjourn command to the IGS to request an adjournment of the game. If your opponent agrees, the game will be adjourned. Save Sends a save command to the IGS to request that the game be saved at the server. Undo (scoring) Sends an undo command to the IGS to reset the game board to its state when the game entered scoring mode (that is, there have been three consecutive pass commands issued by the players). You, or your opponent, have to start removing dead groups again. Done Sends a done command to the IGS to signify that you are done removing dead stones from the board. This item is in the pop-up menu only if the game is in scoring mode. When both players issue the done command, the game is completed. ═══ Handicap Dialog ═══ The Handicap Dialog allows you to set the handicap for the game. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Handicap ═══ Handicap ═══ The Handicap spin button allows you to select the handicap for the game. You may choose a handicap between 0 and 9 stones. When you have selected the handicap, click on the OK push button to send your selection to the server. If you decide play an even game (that is, no handicap), click on the Cancel push button. ═══ Handicap Dialog ═══ The Komi Dialog allows you to set the number of komi points for the game. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Komi ═══ Komi ═══ The Komi spin button allows you to select the number of komi points for the game. You may choose a number between -99 and 99 points. At the end of the game, the number of komi points is added to the white player's score. For example, if the komi is 5.5 points (that is, you selected 5 in the komi spin button), the white player gets an additional 5.5 points at the end of the game. If the komi is -5.5 (that is, 5.5 points reverse komi), the black player receives an additional 5.5 points at the end of the game. Note that the number of komi points always includes one-half point, to insure that there can never be a tied game. In an even game, if the score is tied at the end of the game, the white player wins by the default 0.5 komi points. When you have selected the number of komi points, click on the OK push button to send your selection to the server. If you decide play a game with the standard 0.5 komi points (that is, an even game), click on the Cancel push button. ═══ 6.4. Observe View ═══ The following topics explain the various areas of the Observe View:  Title Bar  Game Board  Timing Area  Kibitz Window ═══ 6.5. Play View ═══ The following topics explain the various areas of the Play View:  Title Bar  Game Board  Timing Area  Message Window  Pop-up Menu Items ═══ 7. Configuring OS2IGC ═══ To configure OS2IGC, open the Settings Notebook for the OS2IGC object: 1. Point the mouse at the OS2IGC object and press mouse button 2. 2. Select the Settings item from the pop-up menu. The following pages are available to configure OS2IGC:  Server - Configure the connection to the IGS  User - Configure your IGS user identifier and password  Debug - Configure OS2IGC for debugging ═══ 7.1. Server Settings Notebook Page ═══ The Server page allows you to configure the connection to the Internet Go Server. ═══ Server ═══ You can change the Internet name for the Internet Go Server by typing a new name in the Server Name field. You can change the number of the port used to connect to the IGS by typing a new number in the Port field. Or you can specify the name of a socks server in the Socks Server Name field. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Server Name  Port  Socks Server Name ═══ Server Name ═══ The Server Name field displays the Internet name of the Internet Go Server (IGS). You can change the name if you want to connect to another server that understands the IGS command set by typing the new name in this field. This field must contain an Internet name, not an IP address. Note: If you click on the Default push button, the name will be replaced with the name of the default server, igs.nuri.net. ═══ Port ═══ The Port field displays the number of the port used to connect to the Internet Go Server (IGS). You can change the port number if you want to connect to another port that supports a telnet connection to the server by typing the new port number in this field. Note: If you specify a port that does not support a telnet connection, you will not be able to connect to the server. Note: If you click on the Default push button, the port number will be replaced with the default port, 6969. ═══ Socks Server Name ═══ This field is used only if you are connected to an internal network and must go through a Socks Server to reach the external Internet. The Socks Server Name field displays the name of the Socks Server used to route data to the Internet. You can specify the name of a Socks Server by typing the server name in this field. Note: This field must contain the name of a Socks Server, not an IP address. Note: The OS2IGC program initially attempts to connect to the IGS directly. If the specified server name is not found and you specify the name of a Socks Server, OS2IGC tries to locate the IGS through the specified Socks Server. It is safe to specify the name of the Socks Server even if you sometimes connect directly to the external Internet. ═══ 7.2. User Settings Notebook Page ═══ The User page allows you to specify your IGS user identifier and password so OS2IGC can automatically log you on when it makes contact with the server. ═══ User ═══ You can specify your IGS user identifier (login name) by typing a name in the Login Name field. You can specify your IGS password by typing a password in the Password field. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Login Name  Password ═══ Login Name ═══ The Login Name field displays your IGS user identifier (login name). You can specify (or change) the name if you want OS2IGC to automatically respond to the login prompt from the IGS when you connect to the server. ═══ Password ═══ The Password field displays asterisks (*) if you specified a login password. You can specify (or change) the password if you want OS2IGC to automaticlly repsond to the password prompt from the IGS when you connect to the server. Note: If you specify a password, you have no protection from anyone logging on to the IGS with your user identifier and password. If your computer is accessible by other people, you shouldn't specify the password here, but should enter the password manually when the IGS asks for it. ═══ 7.3. Debug Settings Notebook Page ═══ The Debug page allows you to request debugging information from OS2IGC. You don't need to specify this information unless you discover an IGS command sequence that doesn't work properly with OS2IGC. ═══ Debug ═══ You can specify the name of a file to capture all data sent from the IGS. by typing a file name in the Log File Name field. You can specify the name of an input script by typing a file name in the Input Script Name field. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Log File Name  Input Script Name ═══ Log File Name ═══ The Log File Name field displays the name of the file in which OS2IGC saves all input data from the IGS. You can specify (or change) the file name if you want OS2IGC to save all input from the IGS. This is used to document sequences of commands from the IGS that do not work properly with OS2IGC. ═══ Input Script Name ═══ The Input Script Name field displays the name of the file that OS2IGC uses to simulate input from the IGS. This feature is used to test the response of OS2IGC to sequences of commands received from the IGS. The input script is normally a sequence of commands captured from the IGS by using the Log File feature. You can specify (or change) the file name if you want OS2IGC to take its input from a script, rather than connect to the IGS. Note: If you specify an Input Script, OS2IGC will not connect to the IGS and you will not be able to interact with the server until you remove the name from this field. ═══ Message Received From Player ═══ The Message Received Dialog displays a message received from another player. The title bar of the Message Received Dialog contains the name of the player that send you the message. For a detailed explanation of each field, select from the list below:  Message  Reply ═══ Message ═══ The Message field dispays the message received. If you want to send a reply to the player, type the message in the Reply field, then click on the OK push button. If you don't want to send a reply to the player, click on the OK without typing a message in the Reply field. ═══ Reply ═══ You can type a message in the Reply field. When you press the OK push button, this message will be sent back to the other player. If you don't want to send a reply to the player, click on the OK without typing a message in the Reply field. ═══ 8. Beta Test News ═══ This is a Beta Test version of the OS/2 Internet Go Client program, written by Ira H. Schneider. The intention of this program is to provide an OS/2 Warp client for the Internet Go Server (IGS). When the program is completed, it will allow access to most IGS functions through the graphical user interface, mostly through pop-up menu items. The goals of this program are:  To provide a native OS/2 client program to communicate with the IGS.  To free the user from having to learn the IGS commands.  To allow the user to customize the program for his convenience. The current version of the program provides the following functions:  Connect to the IGS through an existing Internet TCP/IP session. This includes a session that you create by dialing an Internet service provider using SLIP, or a permanent TCP/IP connection to the Internet (including through a Socks Server).  Automatically login to the IGS.  Display a list of who is currently logged on to the IGS (Who View).  Interact with anyone logged on from the Who View display, including getting the user's statistics, sending a message to the user, and initiating a match with the user.  Play a game with any other player currently logged on to the IGS (Play View). Send and receive messages from your opponent within the Play View window.  Display a list of games currently in progress (Games View).  Observe any (or all) of the games in progress (Observe View). Exchange kibitz messages with other observers within the Observe View window.  Change your IGS settings, including default values, options, rank, game choice, player information, and e-mail address, through your Settings Notebook. This is accessed through the Who View.  Customize the program through the Settings Notebook, including server access, automatic login information, debug information, Who View and Games View display, sort, color, and font information, and the name of the client object.  Customize the colors and fonts used in Play View and Observe View, and resize the Play View and Observe View windows.  Provide help information on the operation of the program, as well as the IGS commands. Future versions of the program will add the following functions:  More customization of the game board displayed in Observe View and Play View.  Support for teaching games (Teach View).  Invoke other IGS functions through the pop-up menu.  Copy a game in progress (from Observe View, Play View, or Teach View) to local storage and be able to navigate through the game, possibly adding variations.  Review games stored on the IGS.  Converse with any other player currently logged on to the IGS (Chat View). The program will be distributed through the common IGS repository, bsdserver.ucsf.edu. Announcements about new versions of the program will be posted on the rec.games.go newsgroup on the Internet. ═══ 9. About The Author ═══ Ira H. Schneider I can be contacted via e-mail at iras@bocaraton.ibm.com and can be found on the IGS as iras. I would like to hear any comments about the OS/2 IGS Client program. I am particularly interested in the following:  Comments on the user interface (both good and bad).  Comments or suggestions on the useability of the program.  Bugs you find in the program.  Suggestions for new features, changes to the user interface, etc. I will try to answer all mail about the program. ═══ Terminal View ═══ Terminal view is the command line interface to the Internet Go Server. You must open Terminal view to establish a connection to the IGS. When you open Terminal view, OS2IGC connects to the IGS. After the connection is made, you may logon to the IGS and start using the IGS functions. ═══ Games View ═══ Games View displays a list of the games that are currently being played on the Internet Go Server. You can watch any game in progress by just opening its icon in the Games View. ═══ Connect ═══ Connect tries to establish a connection with the Internet Go Server. You normally select this option after you close the connection with the IGS or after correcting a problem that stops OS2IGC from contacting the IGS. For example, if you open the Terminal View before establishing a connection to the Internet, OS2IGC will not be able to contact the IGS. You can establish the connection to the Internet and select the Connect pop-up menu item to try contacting the IGS again. ═══ Disconnect ═══ Disconnect terminates the connection with the Internet Go Server. This can be used instead of issuing the Exit command directly to the IGS. Disconnect also closes the Who View and the Games View. You can also disconnect from the IGS by closing the Terminal View. ═══ Who View ═══ Who View displays a list of the players that are currently logged on to the Internet Go Server. You can get the statistics for any player by just opening his icon in the Who View. You can also send a message to any player or request a match with a player using the player's pop-up menu in Who View. ═══ Statistics View ═══ Statistics View displays the statistics for the player. ═══ Chat View ═══ Chat View displays a window that allows you to exchange messages with the player. ═══ Send Message ═══ Send Message allows you to send a message to the player. ═══ Ask For Game ═══ Ask For Game allows you to send a message to the player requesting a match. ═══ Match ═══ Match allows you to request a match with the player. ═══ Automatch ═══ Automatch allows you to request an automatic match with the player. ═══ Refresh now ═══ Refresh now allows you to request that the Who View data be updated from the Internet Go Server. ═══ Sort ═══ Sort allows you to specify in what order the contents of the Who View window appear. If you select Sort a pop-up menu appears that displays the choices of how the Who View window is to be sorted. These choices are: Sort By Name The data in the Who View window are to be sorted by the player's name. Sort By Rank The data in the Who View window are to be sorted by the player's rank. ═══ Sort By Player Name ═══ Player name specifies that the data in the Who View window be arranged in alphabetical order by the player's name. ═══ Sort By Rank ═══ Rank specifies that the data in the Who View window be arranged by the player's rank, in decreasing order. The list starts with the professional players, continues with the dan ranked players, and finishes with the kyu ranked players. ═══ Refresh now ═══ Refresh now allows you to request that the Games View data be updated from the Internet Go Server. ═══ Help - IGS Commands ═══ IGS Commands displays help for the Internet Go Server commands. ═══ Help - Beta Test News ═══ Beta Test News displays information about the Beta Test version of the OS/2 Internet Go Client. ═══ Help - About The Author ═══ About The Author displays information about the author of the program and how to contact him. ═══ Help - Product Information ═══ Product Information displays information about the version of the program that you are using. ═══ Observe View ═══ Observe View displays the state of a game in progress on the IGS. ═══ Play View ═══ Play View displays the state of a game you are playing on the IGS. ═══ Pass ═══ Pass specifies that you want to pass as your move. ═══ Resign ═══ Resign specifies that you want to resign from the game. ═══ Request adjourn ═══ Request adjourn specifies that you want to adjourn the game. If your opponent agrees, the game is saved and adjourned. If your opponent doesn't agree to the adjournment, the game continues. ═══ Score ═══ Score specifies that you want to see an estimate of the score of the game. ═══ Save ═══ Save specifies that you want the IGS to save the state of the game. ═══ Request Undo ═══ Request Undo sends a message to your opponent asking that he undo your last move. ═══ Undo ═══ Undo specifies that you want the IGS to undo your opponent's last move. ═══ Undo ═══ Undo specifies that you want to reset the game to the state it was in when Scoring Mode was entered. This replaces all removed dead stones from the board. You would choose this pop-up menu item when either you or your opponent accidentally removed a living group from the board during Scoring Mode. ═══ Handicap ═══ Handicap specifies that you want to set the number of handicap stones being used in this game. ═══ Komi ═══ Komi specifies that you want to set the number of komi points being used in this game. ═══ Free ═══ Free specifies that you want to mark this game as not counting (or counting) towards your IGS rating. ═══ Done ═══ Done specifies that you are done removing dead groups from the game board and you want the final score for the game. ═══ 10. Help For The Internet Go Server ═══ The Internet Go Server The Internet Go Server (IGS) allows you to play go with anyone else logged on through the Internet. The following topics will explain the commands used by the IGS:  Commands to get you started  Commands ═══ Commands to get you started ═══ Here are some common commands that you should start with: who List who is on the server. games show the current games match Offer to play someone. save Save your game shout Tell everyone something. yell Send a message to the specified channel. tell Tell someone something. kibitz Send a message to people on the observe list observe Observe a game. coords Describes what coordinates can be used to make moves. toggle Toggle the various player flags. rank Set your rank. help commands gives a list of commands. help gives help on the command. See also:  IGS Commands ═══ Commands You Can Use While Playing A Game ═══ addtime Add minutes to your opponent's time. chatter Send a message to people on the observe list coords Describes what coordinates can be used to make moves. free Changes a game from counting towards ratings to not counting. handicap first move by Black to place handicap stones kibitz Send a message to people on the observe list komi Komi mediation between players. pass Pass a move--takes 3 to score a game. resign Quit a game (chicken) save Save your game say Say something to your opponent See also:  Commands You Can Use While Waiting For A Game  Commands You Can Use Any Time ═══ Commands You Can Use While Waiting For A Game ═══ decline Refuse to play someone. kibitz Comment on a game. load Load a previously unfinished game. match Offer to play someone. observe Observe a game. See also:  Commands You Can Use While Playing A Game  Commands You Can Use Any Time ═══ Commands You Can Use Any Time ═══ all List who is observing a game. best List the best players chars Change the board display. decrease Decrease your rank by one. delete Remove an adjourned game. dump Change the dump variable. games show the current games help Get help. increase Increase your rank by one info Change your info line. last List last to log on to the server look Look at an ajourned game. mail Mail a Smart Go Format file moves List the moves of a game. password Change your password. players List who is on the server. quit Logout. rank Set your rank. refresh Redraw a board. reset Reset player stats. sgf Look at some of the sgf games. shout Tell everyone something. stats List a players info. stored Look at ajourned games. tell Tell someone something. time List time left on a game. toggle Toggle the various player flags. watching List the games you are observing who List who is on the server. See also:  Commands You Can Use While Playing A Game  Commands You Can Use While Waiting For A Game ═══ 10.1. IGS Commands ═══ The command line interface to the Internet Go Server supports many commands. Each command is listed in the topics that follow. In General: <--- angle brakets are used for required arguments [not required stuff] <--- square brakets are used for non-required In the commands the <, >, [, and ] are not part of the commands. Please note that commands can be abbreviated. For example 'match' abbreviates to 'mat' and 'quit' abbreviates to 'q'. Also ; means yell, . means tell, ' means kibitz, ? means help. , means say Some commands are only valid at certain times. Select one of the following topics to see the commands that are valid at special times:  Commands You Can Use While Playing A Game  Commands You Can Use While Waiting For A Game  Commands You Can Use Any Time For information on the rating system:  IGS Rating System For answers to Frequently Asked Questions:  Frequently Asked Questions See also:  FTP  Many Faces Of Go (computer program)  American Go Association (AGA) ═══ 10.1.1. Addtime ═══ Addtime command Usage: addtime value Addtime adds 'value' minutes to the your *opponent's* clock. Addtime also puts in a kibitz saying how much time was added to which player. If a real big number is used as a value, addtime could have problems. I believe the limit is around 4,000,000 minutes. See also: match time ═══ 10.1.2. Adjourn ═══ Adjourn command Usage: adjourn Request the adjournment of the game. The game will be saved--you may want to save first it so it may be started later. Adjourn is also used to agree to adjourn. See also: decline stored save ═══ 10.1.3. Alias ═══ Alias command Usage: alias [] [ ] Alias is used to shorten commands. Alias without arguments displays your current aliases. Alias with only one argument will remove that alias. Examples: #> alias tt tell tim #> alias tt means tell tim #> tt hi #> alias tt #> alias #> In the above, 'tt' will expand to 'tell tim'. So 'tt hi' is the same as 'tell tim hi'. The command 'unalias' will disable aliases for the current login. When you login, you say unalias and you will not be able to use aliases until you logout. Your aliases will still be saved. ═══ 10.1.4. All ═══ All command Usage: all game# List who is observing the game number specified. See also: observe match ═══ 10.1.5. Automatch ═══ Automatch command Usage: automatch Automatch asks for a match with oppenent. The arguments used to start the game come from you defaults, set with the command defs. The color is automatically choosen, as is the komi and handicap. The color is choosen in a subtle way. If a player has a *'ed rating it is used. Other wise a player's declared rank is used. Given the above, if both players are equal, who gets black is dependent on the current time, or randomly. An example is I (a 4k) match someone with a rating of 28.01, I get black. If that player toggles rank off, and is rank if 4k, it is random as to who gets black and who get white. If two players' defs disagree, the challengers defs are used. Example: tim #> automatch one one #> automatch tim <--- will use tim's defs See also: byo-yomi defs match ═══ 10.1.6. Append ═══ Append Command Usage: append < action> **** APPEND IS NOT IMPLEMENTED *** Append is used to add information at the current move of a game begin reviewed. As a result it is simple to use, but has lots of uses. All of the actions below can be abbreviated: comments Displays the comments associated with the current move. Example: 'app com This is bad' adds that comment to this move. See also: forward backward review current ═══ 10.1.7. Ayt ═══ Ayt Command Usage: ayt This command just prints a 'yes' at your terminal. This allows one to tell if they are connected to the server. The 'ayt' stands for 'Are You There', and is part of the telnet protocol. In fact if you make your telnet session send AYT, the server will respond with as 'yes', just like the 'ayt' command. ═══ 10.1.8. Backward ═══ Backward Command Usage: backward Backward moves to the previous move. You can only back up to the beginning of the game. If you are using a client you are set the current move information using Smart Go Format encoded data. If you are not a client a board is drawn. If you wish to see more, then you have to use the command 'current'. Once you enter into a variation, you cannot go backwards. The char '=' is shorthand for backward. See also: forward review current ═══ 10.1.9. Beep ═══ Beep Command Usage: beep Sends a beep and a message to the player. Toggle bell off will turn off people beeping you. ═══ 10.1.10. Best ═══ Best Command Usage: best [rank] List the best players registered with the server. If a rank is suplied, then all of the player of that rank are listed. If there are more players than will then the tail of the player list is listed. There is a limit of 48 lines of best you can get. See also: display rating statistics stats ═══ 10.1.11. Channels ═══ Channels Command Usage: channels [# command args] For each channel it channels displays the title of the channel, if the channel is moderated, the moderator and if the channel is open. Below the title is the list of players listening to that channel. To start up a channel, simply 'yell' into that channel: #> ; \1 Changing into channel 1. #> Channels can also be used for setting the parameters for that channel: #> channel 1 title This is a title <--- must be moderator, or channel is unmoderated. #> channel 1 moderate #> channel 1 open <--- must be moderator #> channel 1 remove player <--- must be moderator #> channel 1 clean ═══ 10.1.12. Chars ═══ Chars Command Usage: chars BWEDTtScM Chars set the characters used to draw the board. The characters are as follows: B Black W White E Empty D Dame T White territory t Black territory S Startpoint c Counted M Mark The default is: '#@....+.X' ═══ 10.1.13. Chatter ═══ Chatter Command Usage: chatter [#] message Sends the messsage to the observation list of game '#'. '#' may be omitted if you are observing only one game or you are playing. The message is limited to 184 characters. (Usually, telnets will allow you to type in 255.) Players do not see chatters. Players do not see their oppenents chatters. The 'chatter' command does not record its messages in the game record. Therefore, this command should be used for idle kibitzes that are not related to the game. There is a short hand 'chatter': a double quote ("). The game number is only necessary if you are observing more than one game. When one uses the short hand one needs the space after the double quote. Example: #> " W dead. ^----------------NOTE: a space after ". produces: Kibitz observer [rk]: Game white vs black [#] W dead. See also: kibitz observe say shout tell toggle ═══ 10.1.14. Choice ═══ Choice Command Usage: choice Choice is used for deciding which game one wishes to play. Choice without the '' argument, displays what games are available on this server. Only one game will count towards ratings. The current choices are:  Go  Shogi (Japanese Chess)  Chinese Chess Examples: #> choice 1: go 3: shogi 4: chinese-chess #> choice go Game set to go. #> choice chin Game set to chinese chess. #> ═══ 10.1.15. Current ═══ Current Command Usage: current Current is used to get the information at the current move of a game begin reviewed. As a result it is simple to use, but has lots of uses. All of the actions below can be abbreviated: comments Displays the comments associated with the current move. info Information about the current game. help The list of actions. marks Tells you where marks are on the board. move Redraws the current move. letters Tells you where letters are on the board. variations Displays the number of variations in the current node. Example: 'cur com' displays the kibitzes made during this move. See also: append forward backward review ═══ 10.1.16. Coords ═══ Coords Command Select the type of game you are interested in:  Go  Shogi  Chinese Chess  Drawing The Go Board ═══ Coordinate System For Go ═══ Usage: The coordinate system used by this server is [A..Z][1..25], depending on the board size. 'I' is not a valid letter. The maximum board size is 19. On a 19x19 board A1 is lower left, T19 is upper right, D4 is the lower left star point. Black's first move can be the handicap: 'Handicap #', where '#' is the number of stones. '#' has to be between 2 and 9 inclusive. During the game 'pass' is also a valid move. It takes 3 passes to score a game. See match. Undo is also valid during a game and during scoring. There can be no spaces in between the letter and number. Examples: To place a stone on the lower left (LL, or ll) star point: d4, D4 To pass: pass To set a handicap of 5 stones: handicap 5 ═══ Coordinate System For Shogi ═══ Usage: <*|coord>- Capitalization matters. You cannot have spaces in the movement. Pieces: K: King G: Gold s: Silver n: Knight r: Rook b: Bishop l: Lance p: Pawn S: Promoted Silver N: Promoted Knight R: Promoted Rook B: Promoted Bishop P: Promoted Pawn L: Promoted Lance To move the far left black pawn forward one space: p1g-1f To promote a black pawn: p1d-1c+, or p1d-1c^, or p1d-1c' To drop a pawn: p*1c To do a handicap: handicap 2b 7b This will remove the peice at 2b and 7b A move with a promotion and a drop is not allowed. See also: How To Play Shogi ═══ Coordinate System For Chinese Chess ═══ Usage: <#>-<#>: # is 1-9 and letter is a-j You cannot have spaces in the movement command. Pieces: K: King (shuai, jiang) S: Guard (shi) R: Rook (ju) [marshal , general] [chariot] M: Minister (xiang) C: Cannon (pao) N: Knight (ma) P: Pawn (bing, zu) [solder] To move the rook in the bottom right forward one: R1f1 Both sides type the same command. To move the cannon from the second column to behind the center pawn: C2h5 Move the cannon in column 2 horizontal to column 5 To move the far right pawn forward: P1f1 Move the pawn in column 1 forward 1 space To move the minister from bottom to the right side: M7f9 Move the minister on column 7 forward to column 9 To move the knight from bottom to the left forward: N2f3 Move the minister on column 7 forward to column 9 If there are two pieces on the same column, you have to use the 'f' and 'r' as the column. To move the front pawn forward one space: fPf1 ═══ Drawing The Go Board ═══ This describes how a board is drawn. Along the top and bottom rows, are the letters for the coordinates. Along the side of the board are the numbers. The characters that are used to draw the individual pieces is set be the chars command. The info to the right of the board is pretty self explanatory. If there is a '*' in front of the 'Last move:', this means the last command processed by one of the players was an undo. See also: refresh ═══ 10.1.17. Decline ═══ Decline Command Usage: decline Refuse a match after someone has offered one. See also: open match ═══ 10.1.18. Decrease ═══ Decrease Command Usage: decrease Decrease lowers your rank, as shown by 'stats', and 'who'. See also: increase stats display rank who ═══ 10.1.19. Defs ═══ Defs Command Usage: defs [ ] Change values for which automatching works. If you like a particular size of board or time/byo-yomi combination, this command changes the values. When you automatch someone, those values are used to ask for the match. Fields: size stones byotime time Example: defs size 19 <--- 19x19 board size defs stones 2 <--- two stones per byo-yomi period defs byotime 2 <--- two minutes per byo-yomi period defs time 90 <--- 90 minutes for per player playing period See also: automatch match ═══ 10.1.20. Delete ═══ Delete Command Usage: delete Deletes an adjourned game. The has the form: whiteplayer-blackplayer. After an adjourned game is deleted, it cannot be recovered. Both players need to delete the game before the game is actually removed. Games stored longer than the time specified in the uptime command will still be automatically removed. See also: load stored uptime ═══ 10.1.21. Display ═══ Display Command Usage: display Shows the currently supported ranks. k Kyu; 30 kyu is the lowest, goes to 1 kyu d Amateur dan; 1 dan is the lowest, goes to 9 dan p Professional dan; same as above IGS92 (Internet Go Server 1992) is a special title awarded to the winner of the 1992 IGSWCT. Internet Go Server World Computer Tournament. McM93 is a special title awarded to the winner of the 1993 McM Tournament (stats lyu). There are also various other ranks (currently two). They should be self explanatory. NR and ??? Ranks above 6d can only be set by the administrator. See also: decrease increase rank ═══ 10.1.22. Done ═══ Done Command Usage: done Done is used to signify when players are done removing dead stones from the board and are ready to score. Be wary of people who remove live stones. Both players have to type done before the game is scored. See also: coords pass score ═══ 10.1.23. Erase ═══ Usage: erase Erase will remove any messages you have. After you type erase you will see a line which says 'Messages erased.' Even if you have no messages, you will get the same notice. See also: message notify stats ═══ 10.1.24. Exit ═══ Exit Command Usage: exit Quit the go server. If you are playing, it attempts to save your game. See also: load save ═══ 10.1.25. Find ═══ Find Command Usage: find Find will list all of the accounts which belong to the email address. A partial address may be given. Example: #> find chih <--- notice this is beatme Finding chih: beatme George ooo Found 3 accounts. The list which is scanned to find the accounts is built once a day, the same time cron is run. If the address given to find begins with a dash '-', find will look for that substring within the address data base. #> find -.fr Will find all of the people which have '.fr' in their email addresses. See also: register stats ═══ 10.1.26. Forward ═══ Forward Command Usage: forward Forward advances the current place in a review file. If you reach the end of the file, it starts over at the beginning. If you are using a client you are set the current move information using Smart Go Format encoded data. If you are not a client a board is drawn, then comments are displayed. If you wish to see more, then you have to use the command 'current'. When reviewing, just hitting return is the same as forward. When the end of a variation is reached, the next variation is automatically shown. See also: backward review current ═══ 10.1.27. Free ═══ Free Command Usage: free Free makes a game not count towards ratings. It is only valid during a game. You can only use 'free' before the second move. Either player may use 'free' to not have the game count. Example: one #> match tim tim #> match one tim #> free <--- the game does not count tim #> free <--- the game does count If you and your oppenent do not agree, then you might want to adjourn and not finish the game. This is something which should be agreed upon before a game starts. If a game is free there is a 'F' in the games dispaly. See Also: IGS Rating System ═══ 10.1.28. Games ═══ Games Command Usage: games [game #] List the games currently in progress. White is always listed first. If a game number is suplied, it is the olny game listed. [##] white name [ rk ] black name [ rk ] (Move size H Komi BY FR) (###) [ 9] page [ 1d ] vs. tie [ 1k ] (176 19 0 0.5 15 I) ( 0) In the header, ## is the game number and [ rk] are the players ranks. Then the number of moves into the game, the size of the board, what is the handicap for the game, komi, and the byo-yomi period. The last numbers of the listing is the number of people observing each game. If a game is a free game, there is a 'F' under the flags column. If a game is a teaching game, there is a 'T' under the flags column. If a game is a tournament game, there is a '*' under the flags column. The type of game will be listed in the 'R' column. The types of games are (S) for shogi, and (C) for chinese chess. See also: all choice watching ═══ 10.1.29. Goto ═══ Goto Command Usage: goto or goto Goto goes to the place in the review file named . The variation names are displayed when you enter into a new variation. You only need a partial match to get to a named place. The variation names are listed on the side of the board, when using a non-client review. You cannot go to a previous place in the file. Variation can be a number. This number for games is close to the move number. For SGF files with variations in them, it is the number of SGF 'nodes' (how many ';' there are in the SGF file.) If the variation name begins with a numeral, it is treated as a number. See also: backward forward review sgf variation ═══ 10.1.30. Handicap ═══ Handicap Command Usage: handicap #stones This should be black's first command after starting a game to place the handicap stones. See also: coords match ═══ 10.1.31. Help ═══ Help Command Usage: help Help command gives a list of commands. Help gives help for the specified command. In General: <--- angle brakets are used for required arguments [not required stuff] <--- square brakets are used for non-required In the commands the <, >, [, and ] are not part of the commands. Please note that commands can be abbreviated. For example 'match' abbreviates to 'mat' and 'quit' abbreviates to 'q'. Abbreviations: ; yell . tell ' kibitz ? help , say ═══ 10.1.32. Increase ═══ Increase Command Usage: increase Increase raises your rank, as shown by 'stats', and 'who'. See also: decrease stats display rank who ═══ 10.1.33. Info ═══ Info Command Usage: info [message] Sets the your info to be message. It will handle up to 255 characters. Be warned that some terminals only display 80 columns. See also: games stats toggle ═══ 10.1.34. Kibitz ═══ Kibitz Command Usage: kibitz [#] message Sends the messsage to the observation list of game '#'. '#' may be omitted if you are observing only one game or you are playing. The message is limited to 184 characters. (Usually, telnets will allow you to type in 255.) Players do not see kibitzes. Players do not see their oppenents kibitzes. The 'kibitz' command records its messages in the game record. The 'chatter' command should be used for idle kibitzes that are not related to the game. There is a short hand 'kibitz': a single quote ('). The game number is only necessary if you are observing more than one game. When one uses the short hand one needs the space after the single quote. Example: #> ' W dead. ^----------------NOTE: a space after '. produces: Kibitz observer [rk]: Game white vs black [#] W dead. See also: chatter observe say shout tell toggle ═══ 10.1.35. Komi ═══ Komi Command Usage: komi value One player types in 'komi #.#'. A message is sent to both players informing them of the value that player wanted. The second player types in 'komi #.#', where '#.#' is the same value. The server then changes the value of the komi, for the game. 'Value' is allowed to be negative. After a handicap move, the komi is set to 0.5. Otherwise the default is 5.5. ═══ 10.1.36. Language ═══ Language Command Usage: language [language] Language will set your default language, which will be used to read help files, to the appropriate language, if possible. Given no arguments, it lists the languages which it knows about, which are:  default  chinese  english  korean  japanese See also: stats ═══ 10.1.37. Last ═══ Last Command Usage: last [player] Lists the users who used the server recently. If given a name, lists that names' past logins. If given a count, lists the last count logins. A name can be truncated. If one says 'last t', all of the accounts which have logged in and begin with 't' are listed. See also: who games ═══ 10.1.38. Load ═══ Load Command Usage: load Load a saved game. You must remember your file name. The file name will be whiteplayer-blackplayer. See also: adjourn delete look save stored ═══ 10.1.39. Look ═══ Look Command Usage: look Look at saved game. You must know the file name. It will be either "you-opponent" or "opponent-you". See also: adjourn load save stored touch ═══ 10.1.40. Mail ═══ Mail Command Usage: mail address whitename-blackname-day-hour-minute This mails the moves of the last game between whitename and blackname to the address specified. The game had to have already completed, not adjourned. The day is the day of the month the game completed, the hour is the hour, and the minute is the minute the game completed. If you want to find the list of the files, use 'sgf player'. Please use your correct address. I get the mail that is not correctly addressed. A correct address has to at least have '@', and '.' in the address. If you have an address in your address field, you can use 'mail me white-black-05-10-58'. 'mail me' means use the address from your address field. That address is your registration e-mail address. registration address. See also: automail psmail sgf ═══ 10.1.41. Match ═══ Match Command Usage: match player_name [color [board_size [time [byo-yomi minutes]]]] Offer a game to an opponent or accept one offered to you. You must supply your prospective opponent's name. Optional arguments are your color, the board_size, and time for the match. If you do not supply the color the offering player is black (the second player to type "match opponent" is white.) The default board size is 19 and the default match time is one and one half hour per person. The color argument is 'W' or 'B'. Both board_size and time are integers. Time is measured in minutes. The first move by black can be "handicap #" where # is the number of handicap stones. See the "coord" help file. "Pass" is how you go from playing to scoring. At the end of the game, after all dame have been filled, it takes three passes to score a game. The prompt will change from "#>" to "Enter Dead Groups:" Enter the coords of groups which are dead and the server will erase the dead groups. Type "done" to score. If you make a mistake while scoring, 'undo' will restore the board. Both players have to type done. See also: automatch byo-yomi coords decline games open pass quiet refresh say score undo verbose ═══ Byo-yomi ═══ The Byo-yomi is the period, or periods, of the game after the initial time has expired. There are two rules for games on IGS. Under the IGS rules, byo-yomi is as many periods of the time specified in the match commands. If you specify 15 (for 15 minutes) as the last number of the match command, each byo-yomi period will be 15 minutes. During that time, you have to make 25 moves, or you lose. A period of 10 minutes is the default. (IGS originally started with a 5 minutes, 25 moves period but that was too hard on people with net lag.) You are given three periods to of 1/6th the initial time. Although you can make as many moves as you want, as soon as you run out of time, you lose the match. ═══ 10.1.42. Message ═══ Message Command Usage: message [ message string] With the account and message string, message appends that string onto the message file of . Example: #> message tim Thanks for the server. Will add: mm/dd/yy hh:ss: Thanks for the server. Where mm/dd/yy hh:ss is the time that the message was left to tim's message file. Without the player and message, you read your messages. An anouncement is made of the for: 'You have messages.' just after the motd if you have messages. Please try to restrict the line length of the messages. Some players lose past 80 characters on a line. Use erase to remove any messages you have. Messages are automatically removed after the message file is over 30 days old. See also: erase notify stats ═══ 10.1.43. Moves ═══ Moves Command Usage: moves [game_number] List all of the moves of the game game_number. The default game is your own. See also: observe all watching ═══ 10.1.44. Name ═══ Name Command Usage: name < white|black> For teaching games, this will provide a way of naming the players. The players names will appear when the board is refreshed. The game will still be saved under the name of the person who starts the teaching game. Only the person who started the teaching game can set the names. See also: teach title ═══ 10.1.45. Notify ═══ Notify Command Usage: notify [] Notify without any aruguments will list who is currently waiting for whom. Notify with a player will tell you when that player logs on. It will give you a message, then beep your terminal. The person is taken off the notify list, when they log on. If you are waiting for a person, with notify, already then 'notify person' will remove that person from the notify list. See also: message ═══ 10.1.46. Observe ═══ Observe Command Usage: observe # Puts you on the observation list of match number '#'. You can be on multiple observation lists. To quit observing a game type "observe #" again. The white player is listed first in reports. See also: watching all match unobserve ═══ 10.1.47. Open ═══ Open Command Usage: open This toggles if other people can try to match you. See also: toggle ═══ 10.1.48. Pass ═══ Pass Command Usage: pass Used to pass when playing. See also: coords ═══ 10.1.49. Password ═══ Password Command Usage: password Sets your current password to the password given. The password must be at least five characters long. See also: toggle ═══ 10.1.50. Players ═══ Players Command Usage: players See 'help who' See also: who ═══ 10.1.51. Psmail ═══ Psmail Command Usage: psmail address whitename-blackname-day-hour-minute This is exactly just like mail except the sent file is PostScript (tm) as opposed to a Smart Go File. Ninty-nine moves a page are printed, along with all of the kibitzes. See also: mail ═══ 10.1.52. Quiet ═══ Quiet Command Usage: quiet This toggles if you get systems messages. System messages are the ones which have '{' and '}' surrounding them. See also: toggle ═══ 10.1.53. Quit ═══ Quit Command Usage: quit Quit the go server. If you are playing, it attempts to save your game. See also: load save ═══ 10.1.54. Rank ═══ Rank Command Usage: rank Sets your rank. Clases: k Kyu; 30 kyu is the lowest, goes to 1 kyu d Amateur dan; 1 dan is the lowest, goes to 9 dan p Professional dan; same as above Example: rank 4k rank 1d rank NR Ranks above 4d can only be set by an administrator. Special titles: IGS92 Internet Go Server 1992 was awarded to the winner of the 1992 Internet Go Server World Computer Tournament (m6). McM93 McMahon 1993 was awarded to the winner of the 1993 tournament (lyu). QKB93 Quicky King Blitz 1993 was awarded to the winner of the fast game tournament (tigerman), organized by zhuge and magpie. GOE94 Ing 1994 was awarded to the winner of the 1994 tournament (nomad), olli was the organizer with nearly 300 people in the tournament To have your rank, not your rating, set above 4d, you probably need to use the computer to promote you. See also: display IGS Rating System ═══ 10.1.55. Refresh ═══ Refresh Command Usage: refresh [game number] Redraws the board. If verbose is off, refresh lists the past move. If a game number is given, redraws that game. Refresh also updates the time during a game. If someone runs out of time, the game is then resigned by that person, unless the game is being loaded after an adjourn. Along the top and bottom rows, are the letters for the coordinates. Along the side of the board are the numbers. The characters that are used to draw the individual pieces is set be the chars command. The info to the right of the board is pretty self explanatory. If there is a '*' in front of the 'Last move:', this means the last command processed by one of the players was an undo. If you have verbose turned off just the last move is sent, using the coordinate system. If you are in client mode, the last move is sent along with the number of captured stones, the current time allotment and if the players are in byo-yomi. See also: coords status verbose ═══ 10.1.56. Register ═══ Register command ** New Users: Usage: register ** Current users or those needing to re-register: Usage: register Note: Do not use < > in your email address. The register command is used to register new accounts, and to change the address of existing accounts. Register needs two things from a guest account: an account name, and an email address. It takes both of these to create an account. You must use a valid email address. You CANNOT send email to an IP address. Please make sure the address you use is correct, or you will not be registered. To register a named account (accounts which are not guest##), just give an email address. If you have made no errors in your email address, your registration will be successful, and you will receive your password and registration letter usually within a few minutes, or at most a few hours. If you do not get a response within a few hours, consider your registration unsuccessful. A NEW account must be used within 20 hours after the password and registration letter is received, or else the account will be automatically deleted. Register again if you are unsuccessful. You cannot log into your account until you receive the registration letter with your password. Please read the registration letter carefully. Use the correct email address. You *cannot* send email to an IP address. Note: Do not use < > in your email address. Example: New users #> register Current users #> register See also: stats who ═══ 10.1.57. Reset ═══ Reset Command Usage: reset After typing reset twice, during any one session on the server, your won/lost record will be set to zero. See also: stats ═══ 10.1.58. Results ═══ Results Command Usage: results [person|*] Looks at the results of the games that have been played recently. If given a person to look for, lists that persons' results. If you say 'results t' you will get all of the results for players whose name begins with 't'. If I say 'results tim', then I get results for 'timin' as well. This is to allow for abbreviations of player names when getting results. If results is used with no arguments, you get the results for you. In order to see all of the previous games, you need to use '*' as the player name. Most fields are self explanatory. However, the numbers at the end of the line are the day of the month, the hour, and the minute the game completed. See also: sgf ═══ 10.1.59. Resign ═══ Resign Command Usage: resign Resign the game that you are currently playing. See Also: adjourn ═══ 10.1.60. Review ═══ Review Command Usage: review Review is designed to allow players to review any Smart Go File. Review loads a file. Once loaded, the commands forward, backward, and goto are used to look at the contents of the SGF file. Once review is started, you must use 'forward' to look at the text. When started, review will display the variations in the SFG file. Clients are sent the actuall Smart Go Format data, every time a node is entered (at the forward command). (A typical node will have a move, comments, and possibly variations.) If you are connected through telnet directly, you will be shown a board, just like during a game. You can go through the entire file with the commands forward, backward, and current. If no argument is given, while reviewing, the current review session is ended. If no argument is given while not review, a list of the currently available file for reviewing is shown. You can only review *one* file at a time. In order to stop reviewing, and go to the next file, you have to 'review', with no arguments. See also: backward forward goto sgf variation ═══ 10.1.61. Save ═══ Save Command Usage: save Saves the current game you are playing. See also: load match mail ═══ 10.1.62. Say ═══ Say Command Usage: say message Say will deliver <message> to your opponent. It is only good during games (when you have an opponent). The message comes out in the same format as tell. Say can be abreviated to ','. Example: , bad move comes across as '*tim*: bad move', during a game. See also: tell shout yell ═══ 10.1.63. Score ═══ Score Command Usage: score <game #> Score will list two scores. The first is the score IGS *believes* the score should be. IGS trys to removes some obviously dead stones then counts the score. Then IGS prints the score that will be calculated after the done command is entered. When the two scores are in agreement, the game is ready to be scored. Pay close attention to the number of dame printed in the score command. To score a game: The players must pass three times in a row to enter scoring mode. When in scoring mode, which is indicated by the prompt "Enter Dead Group: ", enter the coordinate of one of the dead stones for each dead group. All dead stones *must* be removed before entering 'done'. At the end of this type 'done' at the scoring prompt. Both players have to type done in order to score the game. Once a game has been scored, the result cannot be changed. See also: done ═══ 10.1.64. SGF ═══ Sgf Command Usage: sgf <person> Shows you the listing of games that are saved in Smart Go Format. Each line of the listing corresponds to a completed game. The <person> '-' will match everyones' account games. If I wanted to look for joebobs' games, 'sgf joebob' would do the trick. The files are dated. A file will look like: white-black-day-hour-minute white is the white player, black is the black player, day is the day of the month, hour and minute are the hour and the minute the game completed. tim-one-10-06-19 is an example, where the time is 10th day, 6th hour and the 19th minute. The time is local server time. In order to view Smart Go Format games, you need to ftp from bsdserver.ucsf.edu and get Go/prog/mgt.22.sh.Z Compile it and it will view SGF games. Also available is xmgt23.sh.Z If you do not wish to go through that trouble, you can use psmail to mail yourself a PostScript file of the game. This file should be printable on any PostScript printer. See also: ftp mail psmail tokens ═══ <hidden> Tokens ═══ These are the tokens which IGS uses in SGF files: EV EVent PW PlayerWhite, person who plays white WR WhiteRank, The rank/rating of the white player PB PlayerBlack, person who plays white BR BlackRank, The rank/rating of the black player TM TiMe, the time limit of the game in seconds DT DaTe, Date the game was played in YYYY-MM-DD GM GaMe, the type of game, go is type 1. SZ SiZe, the size of the board on which the game is played. CP CoPyright, Copyright notice for the game. GN GameName, The name given to a game: white-black(B) (IGS) PC PlaCe, where the game took place RE REsult, who won: W|B+<points>|<Time>|<Resign> KM KoMi, the komi for the game LT LoseonTime, present in the root node if losing on time happens C Comment, a comment during a move (10000 chars max) BL BlacktimeLeft, Black's time left after black has made a move WL WhitetimeLeft, White's time left after black has made a move B Black, a move make by black W White, a move make by white ═══ 10.1.65. Shout ═══ Shout Command Usage: shout message Send a one line message to everybody. See also: tell yell ═══ 10.1.66. Stats ═══ Stats Command Usage: stats [<player>] List information about the player the defaults are in parenthesis '()': Game: go (1) <---- Game and game number of your choice (1) Rating: NR 0.0 <---- calculated rating (0) Rated Games: 0 <---- number of games for the above (0) Rank: NR <---- rank you inserted with 'rank' (NR) Wins: 0 <---- # of wins, help reset (0) Losses: 0 <---- # of losse, help resets (0) Last Access(GMT): (On Server) Thu Apr 22 20:41:52 1993 <--- some date Address: <None> <---- help address (None) Info: <None> <---- help info (None) Defaults (help defs): time 90, size 19, byo-yomi time 10, byo-yomi stones 25 Verbose Bell Quiet Shout Automail Open Looking Client Kibitz Chatter On On Off On Off On Off Off On On The server will display in what games a person is play and or observing. If the game has an 'I' after the number, the game is using IGS rules. See also: automatch defs info rank Rating System register reset toggle who IGS Rating System ═══ 10.1.67. Status ═══ Status Command Usage: status <status game #> Gives the board position for the supplied game number. Format: <white name> <# of captured stones> <time left> <byoyomi stones> <T|F> <black name> <# of captured stones> <time left> <byoyomi stones> <T|F> ##: ################### (size of the board times) The '##:' is the line number of the board. The rest of the numbers are as follows: 0: Black 4: White Territory 1: White 5: Black Territory 2: Empty 6: Starpoint 3: Dame 7: Counted See also: games ═══ 10.1.68. Stored ═══ Stored Command Usage: stored [person] Shows you the listing of games the person has saved. Games which are stored more than a certain number of days, are removed automatically. See also: delete load save uptime ═══ 10.1.69. Teach ═══ Teach Command Usage: teach # Start a teaching game with a board sized '#'. A teaching game is the same as a regular game, except one person inputs all of the moves. (The same player plays black and white.) The person who is the player can hear kibitzes. Teaching games are not counted towards ratings. When you play a teaching game a 'T' is in the flags for that game. If you want a title for the game you are teaching use the title command. See also: games match name title ═══ 10.1.70. Tell ═══ Tell Command Usage: tell <person> message goes here. Send a message to the account 'person'. Current one line messages are the limit. The 'person' argument may be '.'. In that case, it sends the message to the last person you used 'tell' with. The 'person' argument may also be '$'. The recipient will be the last person to log in, or last person listed by 'who'. As a short cut to 'tell . message', the server understands '. message'. '.' == 'tell .'. Examples: #> tell tim want to play a game? <--- after specifing 'tim' #> . how about a 10 min game? <--- you can omit the players name. *lyu*: hi #> tell ^ hi Setting your '.' to lyu. #> ^---------- Note the space after the '.' See also: say shout who ═══ 10.1.71. Time ═══ Time Command Usage: time [game #] Tells how much time is left of a game. If a game is in byo-yomi There is a '(B)' displayed after the time, as well as how many stones are left to play. Without arguments time displays the amount of time you have left in your game, if you are playing. If you are observing then time displays the time info on all of the games you are observing. See also: addtime games refresh ═══ 10.1.72. Title ═══ Title Command Usage: title description of the game The title will be displayed at the entry into an observation of a game. The title will also appear in the SGF file. See also: name teach ═══ 10.1.73. Tmatch ═══ Tmatch Command Usage: tmatch player_name [color [board_size [time [byo-yomi minutes]]]] This is exactly like match except tells to players are blocked while playing in a t-match. This is designed for use in tournaments. Say can be used for both players to communicate. See also: byo-yomi match say ═══ 10.1.74. Toggle ═══ Toggle Command Usage: toggle <option> [<value>] Toggle changes the option given. If given no 'value', toggle sets the specified option to the opposite of what it was. Valid options: automail Have the server mail you moves after you complete a match (check you e-mail address). bell If your bell will ring on redraw of boards. chatter Block chatters on games. client Sets the server to transmit to a client. Implies 'toggle verbose false'. kibitz Block kibitzes on games. looking Really want to play, shows a '!' under info. open If 'On' then you are available to accept 'match' requests from other players. Other wise you never know about them. If you are playing you do not get match requests. quiet If set then you do not hear about people logging in/out, game results. This flag does not stop shutdown messages. shout Players shouts, but not system messages. verbose If set then full boards will be sent to you, otherwise only the last move will be sent. Valid values: true, false, on, off, 0, 1; case insensitive. See also: chatter kibitz match Rating System shout stats who ═══ 10.1.75. Touch ═══ Touch Command Usage: touch <file name> Touch will keep a file from being removed. It resets the date of the game to be the current date. This will keep games from being automatically removed. The current date is displayed in the 'look' command. The number of days a game is kept before it is automatically removed is in the 'uptime' command. See also: look save stored uptime ═══ 10.1.76. Translate ═══ Translate Command Usage: translate <word> Translate takes a word and gives all of the possible phrases for the given word. A 'word' is very lose. If one says 'translate at', every phrase with the letters 'at' in it will be displayed in every possible language. ═══ 10.1.77. Undo ═══ Undo Command Usage: undo Undo undoes the last command typed in by your *opponent*. This makes sure both parties agree about taking back the move. All sequential undos will be saved into a variation in the SGF (Smart Go Format) files. Sub-variations cannot be saved and comments are not aligned with the variations. Undo during scoring means the board will be restored to what it was just before scoring started. See also: coords ═══ 10.1.78. Unobserve ═══ Unobserve Command Usage: unobserve <#> Removes you from the observation list for game <#>. Without arguments removes you from observing all games. See also: watching all match observe ═══ 10.1.79. Uptime ═══ Uptime Command Usage: uptime Gives the current time, in local time and GMT. Gives the amount of time the server has been up. Also, alot of various other pieces of information. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Time Table (all around the world) --------------------------------------------------------------------- today | tomorrow yesterday | today --------------------------------------------------------------------- | Std time -- Daylight time | | is one hour greater. | Europe GMT USA USA USA USA Taiwan Korea NZ pacific moun central east Japan --------------------------------------------------------------------- 01:00 00:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 09:00 10:00 13:00 05:00 04:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 13:00 14:00 17:00 09:00 08:00 24:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 17:00 18:00 21:00 13:00 12:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 21:00 22:00 01:00 17:00 16:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 01:00 02:00 05:00 21:00 20:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 05:00 06:00 09:00 01:00 24:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 09:00 10:00 13:00 --------------------------------------------------------------------- ═══ 10.1.80. User ═══ User Command Usage: user <country name> or <rank range> Examples: user korea user 1k-2d List online users by name, info, country, rank, won/lost games, game observed, game played, idle time, who flags, language setting. Name Info Country Rank Won/Lost Obs Pl Idle Flags Language ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ | | | | | | | | | | User name User info Country Rank Won/Lost | | | | | Observed | | | | game | | Who Language Game | flag setting Idle time See also: find stats who ═══ 10.1.81. Variation ═══ Variation Command Usage: variation [Game #] [Move #] <Smart Go Format Text> Variation sends this as a variation to other people observing a game. If you omit either the game # or the move # (but still have one #), the number left is assumed to be a move #. Example: #> observe 1 #> variation 1 2 (;W[jj]) <--- move 2 should have been at K10. #> variation 2 (;W[jj]) <--- move 2 should have been at K10. If you omit both the game # and the move #, the move # is taken to be the next move. Example: #> variation (;W[jj]) <--- move 3 should have been at K10. The only Smart Go Token supported in variations are W[xx], and B[xx], where 'x' is a coordinate letter. For client users the variation will print out Var observer [rank] @ move number (move coords): <SGF text> For non-client people Var observer [rank] @ move number (move coords): B|W <move coord>... The Smart Go Format text is parsed to see if it makes sense. The move number has to be even for white and odd for black. There can be no spaces. For the SGF coords, 'aa' is A19 and 'ss' is T1. See also: kibitz ═══ 10.1.82. Verbose ═══ Verbose Command Usage: verbose This toggles if you get verbose boards, or just the moves. Most clients use verbose off to cut down time. See also: toggle ═══ 10.1.83. Watching ═══ Watching Command Usage: watching Shows the games currently being observed by you. See also: observe ═══ 10.1.84. Who ═══ Who Command Usage: who [<rank range> [flags]] List who is currently logged in to the server. The information in who is: Info Name Idle Rank : Info Name Idle Rank QX -- -- tim 1 4k ^^^----The player's ranking. ^^^---------The player's idle time, ##d, ##h, ##m ##s, for days, hours, minutes, seconds. ^^-------------------------The game number the player is playing. ^^----------------------------The first game being observed. ^^^-------------------------------The player's current state. If there is a 'Q' under the info it means the player has quiet set (ie. not listening to system messages). If there is an 'X' under the info, it means the person is not accepting matches. If there is a '!' under info, it means the person is looking for a match. A 'S' under the info means the person cannot hear shouts. <rank range> is a range: who '2d-4d', 'who 3k', 'who all' <flags> are 'l', for looking for games, 'o' for open, and 'p' for playing: 'who all o' looks for players that are open for games, 'c' is for people on channels, 'r' is for rated players, 'g' is for guest logins, '!' will do the opposite, multiple flags are not thought out, yet. '1' is for go games, '4' is for shogi games, '3' is for shogi games, 'v' is for verbose. See also: games stats toggle ═══ 10.1.85. Yell ═══ Yell Command Usage: yell \[channel #] <message > Send a message to the specified channel number. If the channel number is left out, the previous channel number is used. There is a short hand for 'yell', it is ';'. This means that 'yell 1 message' is the same as '; 1 message' Examples: #> ; \1 <-- will just subscribe to the channel. #> ; \1 hello <-- After specifing '1' as the channel #> ; how is everything going <-- everything 'yell'ed is on that channel. #> ; \-1 <-- This leaves all channels. ^--------------------- Note the space after the ';'. See also: channels say shout tell who ═══ 10.2. IGS Rating System ═══ The IGS Rating System *FIRST DRAFT* Table of contents (Written by John Bate, bate on the server.) Select one of the following topics:  Introduction  Computing Handicaps  How Ratings Are Calculated  Mathematical Details  An Example  Cycles In The Rating System  Entry Into The Rating System  Rating Statistics  A Few Suggestions  Common Questions If you want a listing of your rating performance, day to day, please email me at tcasey@adobe.com, and I will send it to you. ═══ 10.2.1. Introduction ═══ A game of Go is most enjoyable when the players are evenly matched, and each must play to the best of his or her ability in order to win. This requires that an appropriate handicap be used, which in turn requires an accurate estimation of the strengths of the players. This is the intended purpose of the rating system. Consistently using the differences in the players' ratings to determine handicaps will, in the long run, provide the most interesting and challenging games for everyone. Also, by using the rating system, each player should eventually win about 50% of his or her games. To use the rating system, set your RANK to a reasonable value (using the "rank" command) and then begin playing games. You will receive a numerical RATING which will automatically be updated, usually once per day. (A rating of 32.00 corresponds to a rank of 1 dan.) The "stats" command will display both your rating and your rank. If you use the command "toggle rank on", then other players will also see your rating, and "who" will show an approximate rating value, instead of your rank, marked with "*". The command "toggle rank off" may be used to keep your rating private. Note that once you have a numerical rating, your RANK and your RATING are completely independent. You may set your RANK manually to any desired value, but it will not have any effect at all on your RATING, which is computed solely from the results of your games. Your RANK is used only to initialize your RATING to a reasonable starting value. ═══ 10.2.2. Computing Handicaps ═══ A rating difference of 1.00 corresponds to a difference of 1 handicap stone, which is considered to have a value of about 10 points. An even game (with 5 komi) is correct when there is no difference in the players' ratings. A no- komi game gives Black an advantage of about 5 points, or 1/2 stone, which is perfect when the rating difference is 0.5. A 2-stone game (without komi) gives Black an additional advantage of exactly one stone, and so this is appropriate when the rating difference is 1.5 (*not* 2.0). In general, an N-stone handicap is ideal for a rating difference of N-1/2. The following table may be used to determine the most reasonable handicap. Rating Difference Handicap Komi Ideal Rating Diff 0.0-0.25 0 5 0.0 0.25-1.0 0 0 0.5 1.0-2.0 2 0 1.5 2.0-3.0 3 0 2.5 etc..... Note that the proper number of handicap stones may be found by taking the rating difference *UP* to the next integer. There is a tendency to use smaller handicaps, giving White the advantage. This is fine, but if Black is to have a truly even chance (and White is willing to lose half the games) then the above table should be used. For even more accuracy, the komi may be adjusted by 1 point for each 0.1 that the rating difference departs from the ideal. ═══ 10.2.3. How Ratings Are Calculated ═══ In this section, the operation of the ratings system will be described in general terms. The exact mathematical details will be given later for those who are interested. Each player has a "seed" rating. When a player first enters the rating system, the seed is set to the stated RANK value (which is the ONLY time that the rank is used). After that, the seed is changed to the current RATING value on a regular basis. A "likelihood" is assigned to every possible rating for a given player. This likelihood is highest at the seed and decreases on either side of it. Each game between two players in the rating system is also assigned a likelihood value which depends on the handicap, the komi, the RATINGS of the two players, and the winner of the game. (Other factors, such as the margin of victory, are ignored.) The system will determine which player had the advantage based on the handicap, the komi, and the players' ratings. The likelihood will be 0.5 if the game was exactly even (in other words, if the handicap was ideal for those ratings). It will be larger if the winning player had an advantage (the handicap was too small), and smaller if the winning player was at a disadvantage (the handicap was too large). The ratings system uses the seeds of all of the players in the rating system and the results of all the games between these players. It then computes a set of ratings for ALL of the players AT ONCE which maximizes the total likelihood of the entire system. This likelihood is the product of the likelihoods of each player's computed rating, and the likelihoods of the results of each game, given those ratings. Here is a good analogy which will help in understanding the ratings system. Think of each player's seed as a fixed post, and each player's rating as a movable post attached to the seed by a rubber band. Think of each game as a spring joining the ratings posts of the two players. If the lower ranked player won, the spring will be stretched and will try to pull the ratings closer together. If the higher-ranked player won, the spring will be compressed and will try to push the ratings apart. The strength of the spring will depend on the accuracy of the handicap. If the winning player had an advantage, the spring will be weak, but if the winning player was at a disadvantage, the spring will be strong. The entire system of posts, rubber bands, and springs will have a stable position which will determine the ratings of the players. ═══ 10.2.4. Mathematical Details ═══ The likelihood of a particular player's rating is p(d)=exp(-((d/sigma)^2)/2) where d is the difference between the rating and the seed, and sigma indicates the degree of confidence that the seed accurately represents the player's strength. Sigma begins at 1.0 for new players 9k and above, and decreases by 0.02 for each game that is processed by the rating system, until a minimum of 0.3 is reached. For players 10k abd below, the sigma is 2.00 and has a minimum of 0.6. (Sharp-eyed readers with a good knowledge of statistics may realize that this formula should be divided by root-two-pi to be a proper likelihood function. But this constant factor may be ignored in the ratings system.) The likelihood of a particular game result is calculated as follows, given H=handicap stones, K=komi, W=White's rating, B=Black's rating: Effective Handicap: E = if H=0 then 0.5-0.1*K else H-0.5-0.1*K This computes the "ideal" ratings difference that would make the game exactly even. For example, a 2 stone game (H=2, K=0) gives E=1.5 and an even game (H=0, K=5) gives E=0. This corresponds to the "ideal rating difference" column in the table in the previous section. Black's Advantage: A = E - (W-B) This adjusts the effective handicap by the difference in the strengths of the players, giving the net advantage for Black (if positive) or White (if negative). For example, if the difference in ratings is W-B=2.0 and a 2-stone game is played (E=1.5), then A=-0.5 indicating that White still has a 1/2- stone advantage. Likelihood of Black winning: L = if A>=0 then 1.0 - 0.5*((3/4)^(2*A)) else 0.5*((3/4)^(2*-A)) This function gives L=0.5 if the game is exactly even (A=0), higher values if Black has the advantage (A>0), and lower values if White has the advantage (A<0). The value of L is between 0 and 1. Likelihood of the result: G = if Black won then L else 1-L This gives the likelihood of the observed result. It will be 0.5 if the game was exactly even, higher if the player with the advantage won, and lower if the player with the advantage lost. The system calculates the ratings of all of the players which will maximize the product of all of the likelihood values (for both players and games). To avoid numerical problems, the sum of the logarithms of the likelihoods is used. (The details of the algorithm that does this are beyond the scope of this document.) ═══ 10.2.5. An Example ═══ Suppose that PlayerA, with a rank of 1d, wins an even game (with 5 komi) against PlayerB, also with a rank of 1d, and that this is the only game in the system. The seeds of both players will be initialized to 32.00, and their sigma values will be 1.0. First, try setting their ratings to 32.00, which will give likelihoods of 1.00 for both. The advantage of PlayerA in the game is 0, giving a game likelihood of 0.5 and a total likelihood of 1*1*0.5=0.5. Now try giving PlayerA a rating of 32.25, and PlayerB a rating of 31.75. This will give both players a likelihood of 0.969 which is only a little less than 1.0 since these ratings are still close to the seed (the rubber bands haven't stretched very much). Given these ratings, PlayerA had an advantage of 0.5 which would increase the likelihood of the game (since the player with the advantage won) to 0.666 giving a total likelihood of .969*.969*.666=0.625 which is higher than the 0.5 produced before. Now try giving PlayerA a rating of 33, and PlayerB a rating of 31. These values are a lot farther from the seeds, giving likelihoods of 0.607 (the rubber bands are being stretched a bit more). PlayerA would now have an advantage of 2.0 which increases the likelihood of the game to 0.901 (since if PlayerA is really 2 stones stronger, then the result is very likely). But the total likelihood is only 0.607*0.607*0.901=0.332 which is smaller than before. So this change in the ratings is too big. By using an iterative search algorithm, the optimum values may be found, which are ratings of 32.333 for PlayerA and 31.667 for PlayerB, giving a total likelihood of about 0.635 which is the maximum. If the game had been played with no komi, then the players' ratings would change by about 0.238 if Black won or 0.454 if White won. (Since it is more likely that Black will win a no-komi game, it will affect the ratings less when it happens.) It is left as an exercise for interested readers to verify these values. :-) Below is a *very* typical letter about the ratings on IGS. The person who wrote me is the '> ' lines and I am the rest of the lines. I am reluctant to post about ratings system. People read more into the ratings than the system was designed to accommodate. It is supposed to be used to setting the proper handicap, that is it. Here is the letter: > ...First example was zb (me :-)) who played Lim and won but got a > dropped rate by 0.25. If it was due to that Lim was not calculated into the > system, then there should be NO effect on zb's rating. In no reason a winner > should have a decreased rate instead. Another example is about players ong and > fei. fei won a game over ong yesterday but fei got a decreased rating while > ong got an increased one. You may argue that ong played strong players. > However before ong got his rate increased, he played fei(4d*), xzhao(5d*), and > ylwang(NR*) and lost all. As you stated ylwang was NOT calculated at that time > (as NR*), so the counts for ong should be fei(4d*) and xzhao(5d*), and both had > rating scores LOWER than ong when they played! Therefore no reason should fei > got a decreased rating score while ong got an increased one. Below are the games which affected fei and ong. The above example is just a tiny sliver of the total information. Below I included the *partial* games used in computing fei and ong rating. If you can say, by inspection, what should happen given the data below you are doing a lot better than I. In order to show any fault in the ratings system, you would have to use two player which do not play *anyone* else. John Bates did this, and the ratings system performed as well as can me expected. If one does a stats Lim (I did a show of Lim), one can see that he has not played any games, his rank is NR, and he has no rating. Lim has *nothing* to do with the ratings system. 'zb' rating drop was from something else in the ratings system, not from Lim. A player's rating can change just by being active in the system. That is all it takes. Lets say you have 15 people playing each other (they are active). One new person comes in, as a 6d, and plays and wins. The new person wins so much he becomes an 8d. As he gets promoted, he pulls all the people he played with him up, also. The other people do not even have to play to get pulled up. They just have to have be part of the 'playing network', if you will. For example the new person plays lyu, lyu plays m6, m6 plays zhong, zhong plays fei, and so on. If fei plays no games, while the new person is winning, his rating will increase. We all saw this happen with nyws. Instead of winning, if the nyws had lost badly, he would have pulled people down. What this boils down to is some 'local' instability, for global stability. Players may see their ratings change, a little here and there, but globally the ratings are accurate. If you can show me an example with a two players who do not play anyone else but themselves, then I can look at the behavior and go from there. > From the above examples I think the rating system on IGS is not working > appropriately sometimes. I hope you can check it out and make the rating a > perfect one. Thanks a lot for your time and patience. I think it is working, from the above example. Or at the very least it is arguable as to what it is doing. Here is the data. The format is similar to the 'games' command. Most of the info is kept with the player, so 'NR' means nothing, as does 'xx' and the bogus score at the end. 0016 xzhao [ NR ](W) : player1 [ NR ](W) H 2 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0016 ong [ NR ](W) : player4 [ NR ](W) H 4 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0016 player1 [ NR ](B) : xzhao [ NR ](B) H 2 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0016 fei [ NR ](W) : player2 [ NR ](W) H 0 K 5.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0016 player1 [ NR ](B) : xzhao [ NR ](B) H 2 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0016 player4 [ NR ](B) : player5 [ NR ](B) H 0 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0016 player1 [ NR ](B) : xzhao [ NR ](B) H 2 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0017 ylwang [ NR ](W) : ong [ NR ](W) H 0 K 5.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0017 xzhao [ NR ](W) : ong [ NR ](W) H 0 K 5.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0017 fei [ NR ](B) : ong [ NR ](B) H 0 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0015 player1 [ NR ](W) : player3 [ NR ](W) H 0 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0015 player3 [ NR ](W) : player4 [ NR ](W) H 0 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0015 player1 [ NR ](B) : xzhao [ NR ](B) H 2 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0015 ong [ NR ](W) : player4 [ NR ](W) H 4 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0015 xzhao [ NR ](W) : player1 [ NR ](W) H 2 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0016 player3 [ NR ](B) : player6 [ NR ](B) H 0 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0018 player7 [ NR ](W) : player3 [ NR ](W) H 0 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0015 player1 [ NR ](W) : player3 [ NR ](W) H 0 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0015 player3 [ NR ](W) : player4 [ NR ](W) H 0 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0016 player4 [ NR ](B) : player5 [ NR ](B) H 0 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 0017 player8 [ NR ](W) : player5 [ NR ](W) H 2 K 0.5 xx W 0.0 B 0.0 Players Ratings: player1 34 34.2852 0.9400 1 xzhao 36 35.2148 0.5000 1 ong 36 36.6328 0.5000 1 player2 35 34.7031 0.9800 1 fei 35 35.3789 0.5800 1 As you can tell, what happens to player one and player2 affect ong and fei. So does player3, player4, player5, player6, and player7. tim ═══ 10.2.6. Cycles In The Rating System ═══ The rating system operates in cycles, as follows. At the beginning of a cycle, each player's seed is initialized to his or her current RATING value, and a new collection of games is started. During the cycle, each player's rating is recalculated on a daily basis using the results of all of the games played since the beginning of the cycle, and the seed values that were set at the beginning of the cycle. Note that the ratings will change daily, but the underlying seed values (to which the ratings are attached by "rubber bands") do NOT change during a cycle. Each day, a new set of games (springs) are added to the system which will affect the ratings (movable posts), but the seeds (fixed posts) remain anchored. At the end of the cycle, the seeds are changed to the computed ratings, and the games are discarded. (All of the tension is removed from the system by moving the fixed posts to match the movable posts, and discarding all the springs.) Then a new cycle is started. The plan is to make each cycle last for one week, so that one entire week's worth of games are collected before making any permanent changes to the ratings (by changing the seeds). However, as this document is being written (March 18, 1993), the ratings system is still in the VERY FIRST cycle which began when the ratings system was restarted on February 1, 1993. This means that each player still has the same seed that they had on that date, and the "rubber bands" will prevent the ratings from moving very far from those seeds. The system contains a very large number of springs and rubber bands which are under a considerable amount of tension, making it difficult for any new games to have much effect at all. Weekly cycles will begin soon, probably when the server moves from Berkeley to San Francisco. (Right, Tim? :-) [tim -- I started a new cycle. It will be run until I get to the server next.] ═══ 10.2.7. Entry Into The Rating System ═══ To enter into the ratings you need to have your rank set greater than 25k. Once in the ratings system, you can change your rank to be what- ever you wish. The initial rank is used as your seed rating. The only other condition is that you play someone with their rank set in the same maner, or play someone already in the ratings system; to have the game count. If one player is not in the rating system and has their rank set to NR, the game will not count. Both players have to meet the conditions for the game to count towards ratings. If you play a NR player, the game may still count. The NR player can already be in the ratings system, ie, have a rating. See also: rating ═══ <hidden> Rating ═══ All games completed when both players have computed ranks. A player may *still* have a computed rank, without having a '*' next to his rank. You have to play 20 RATED games to be allowed to display a '*'. Not all games are counted towards a rating. Please see 'help entry'. In order to get a '*', you have to be a rank greater than 25k. Note: Please play a few games BEFORE deciding what your rank should be. This will allow for a good starting point within the IGS rating system. The ratings computed on IGS are generally only acurate to about 0.5. The reason for this is how handicap/komi is generally choosen. There is also a lot of noise in the lower divisions (in the kyus) from people 'testing the ratings' and various other missinformation. ═══ <hidden> Rating Statistics ═══ Rk The rank. Rank Cnt The number of players with that rank. Rating Cnt The number of players with that rating. Avg Rating The average rating for that rank. Avg Diff The average difference of rating - rank. Rk Rank Rating Avg Avg Cnt Cnt Rating Diff 1: 35 42 23.9681 22.9681 2: 115 35 5.4196 3.4196 3: 23 32 6.5197 3.5197 4: 28 29 4.8147 0.8147 5: 27 36 5.7506 0.7506 6: 11 53 7.4901 1.4901 7: 78 32 7.5876 0.5876 8: 62 40 9.6276 1.6276 9: 29 38 9.5205 0.5205 10: 22 44 11.3061 1.3061 11: 19 43 12.1530 1.1530 12: 75 34 12.7690 0.7690 13: 27 43 12.4387 -0.5613 14: 32 53 14.2983 0.2983 15: 34 45 15.5515 0.5515 16: 55 74 16.2064 0.2064 17: 82 58 16.5648 -0.4352 18: 44 62 17.4907 -0.5093 19: 47 49 17.6200 -1.3800 ═══ 10.2.8. A Few Suggestions ═══ The ratings system will work best when the ratings have had a chance to adjust themselves to reasonably accurate values. Note that the assignment of the value 32.00 to "1 dan" is entirely arbitrary, and that this value may drift over time due to the continual addition and deletion of accounts from the system. There is also a wide variation in ranks from one country to another, and so it is best not to pay too much attention to the "rank" that corresponds to your "rating". In the long run, it is quite possible that all of the "real" 1d players (whatever that means) will have ratings close to 30.00 or 34.00 or some other value. Pay attention to the DIFFERENCE between your rating and your opponent's rating, but don't worry too much about the numbers themselves. The system will also work best when most games are played with handicaps that are "correct" given the current ratings of the players. Games played with handicaps that are far too large or far too small may have extreme and undesirable effects. When you play a game, determine the numerical difference between your rating and your opponent's, round it *UP* to the next integer, and use that number of handicap stones. If you think you are giving away too many stones (or getting too few), perhaps you have been improving or playing well lately. Use the computed handicap. Losing is good for you. :-) If you think you are giving away too few stones (or getting too many), perhaps you have been losing a lot recently. Use the computed handicap. Maybe you will win and get your confidence back. In the long run, using the proper handicaps will make the game more enjoyable for everyone. ═══ 10.2.9. Frequently Asked Questions ═══ Q: What do I do about problems or suggestions I find? A: Please email tcasey@adobe.com any questions you have about the ratings. There are ratings results stored from March, 1993. Most, if not all questions can be answered with this data. Q: What happens if results of a game does not count towards my rating? A: Please make sure the game would be against a rated player. After this, as soon as you can email tcasey@adobe.com and see if there is a logical explaination. If the results are gone by the time something needs to be done, it is too late. Q: What do I do if my rating is not changing? A: If your rating is not changing one of two things is happening. 1) You are playing as expected of your rating, or 2) The ratings are not counting your games. To find out the differece, make sure the number of rated games you are playing is chaning, from day-to-day, as expected. If this number is changing, the ratings system is counting your games. Q: Do 9x9 and 13x13 games count? A: No. All games which are not 19x19 do not count towards ratings. Q: Does a game with a 'NR' player count? A: help entry. Q: Why does my rating chage when I do not play? A: Your rating depends not only on the games you play, but also on the people you play. If you play fred and fred does very well, your rating will increase as well, without you playing anyone else. Q: I set my rank too low initially, can I change it and have the rating change accordingly? A: No. You just have to wait for 20 games until your rating is displayed. After 20 games I would think your rating will stablize. If it is more than 5 stones off, them you may need it adjusted. Q: How can I reset my seed and start over again? A: You cannot. I (tim) have not seen a need for this. Q: How do handicap games affect the ratings? A: Handicap games are treated just the same as regular games. If a teaching you cannot keep a rating with a teaching game, you probably cannot keep the rating. Q: Why did my rating change when I didn't even play that day? A: As soon as you play one game with another rated player, your rating (post) is attached to everyone else's ratings through that game (a spring), until the start of another cycle. Any change in your opponent's rating will pull on the spring and cause a change in your rating, too. In theory, it is possible for a game to affect the ratings of every player in the system. For example, if you (as a 1d) lose an even game to a 3k player, it will cause a fairly large decrease in your rating. :-( But if that "3k" player then wins several more even games against 1d and 2d players, this will increase his or her rating quite a bit, and this in turn will reduce the change in your rating. (Perhaps that game was not so unlikely after all.:-) Q: I initially set my rank at 5k, but that turned out to be too low. I changed it to 1d, but my rating didn't change. Why? A: When you set your rank and play ONE game against another ranked player, your seed is initialized and you enter the ratings system. From then on, your RANK and your RATING are entirely separate. Your RANK is only set manually with the "rank" command, and your RATING is computed automatically. The moral of the story: pick a reasonable rank BEFORE your FIRST game. After that it is too late. Q: How accurate are the ratings? A: Probably not more than 0.5. The games played are usually played down to one 1.0 Q: Why do the ratings not move 'fast enough'? A: The ratings do move about the speed they should. You actually can move from 25k* to 5k* in a matter of months. The players 10k* and below are allowed to move more quickly than the stronger players. This is to allow for people learning. After about 10k*, the ratings are as slow as they are for every other player. Q: Why do I have the wrong rating? A: If you have played 20 games, given a close seed (within a few stones), you probably have a rating close to your true IGS rating. Your IGS rating will possilby not be the same as the rank you are used to using in your local club. There is no absolute strength for a give rank. A one dan on IGS is different than a one dan any where else. The names are the same, but they are same names for differnt strengths. Q: Why are there drops in my rating, or *everyones* rating? A: The ratings system is quite inflated. As it adjusts itself peoples' ratings become higher and higer. We adjust the ratings DOWN or UP by tracking a few players throughout the system. For example, if you have a consistent player who gains a stone in strength, in a short time (less that a year); then the ratings are probably too strong. This is a result of all of the fake 4ds. I would allow the ratings to stablize more quickly, but I think that people would complain more, so the adjustment is taking a lot of time. The goal for ratings is in years, not days. Q: I have played games with other ranked players, but my rating doesn't change. Why? A: There is a lower limit (currently 25k) below which ranks and ratings and games are ignored. (This is because some players use 30k, 29k, etc. just for fun, and because very low ranks are inaccurate and unstable anyway.) If your seed was set to a value lower than this, nothing will ever change it. Start over with a new account and set your rank to something higher than 25k BEFORE your FIRST game. (Also look at the answer to the next question.) [tim -- There was also a bug in the ratings code which picked what games get used. This bug has sinced been fixed.] Q: What can I do to reset my seed and start my rating over again? A: In the future (as of this writing) the "reset" command will reset your seed to your current RANK, as well as zeroing your wins and losses, just as if your account was brand new. (However, at the moment this does not happen.) I (tim) am thinking of a command to affect your 'sigma'. Q: What are the parts of the rating system? A: There are three things which describe the ratings: rating, seed, sigma. The seed is the anchor of your ratings. You are close to your seed, in rating. Your seed was an old rating from which your rating is compted. The sigma is a measure of how acurate you rating is. If the sigma is high, then the 'believability' or your current seed is low. ═══ 11. The American Go Association (AGA) ═══ AGA - The American Go Association is the national organization of go players in the United States. Among its activities:  Publish the American Go Journal and the American Go Newsletter  Coordinate and assist a growing network of local go clubs in the U.S.  Sanction and promote local and regional AGA-rated tournaments  Organize annual U.S. Go Congress (first week in August)  Arrange and coordinate educational tours by go professionals  Maintain a national player rating system  Distribute listings of go clubs and AGA members  Seek and coordinate people and projects aiming to promote go Your participation in the American Go Association will support this work and keep you informed of go activites here and abroad. For information on joining the AGA send electronic mail to wjh+@cmu.edu or contact AMERICAN GO ASSOCIATION Box 397, Old Chelsea Station NY, NY 10113 ═══ 12. Many Faces of Go ═══ A computer opponent is sometimes available. It will announce itself when you login. This opponent is a connection to The Many Faces of Go, the current North American computer go champion, which plays at about the 12 Kyu level. We need a volunteer with a fast Hewlett Packard machine to run the computer opponent more often. Please let David Fotland (fotland@hpihoc.cup.hp.com) know if you are interested. David Editorial note: I.E. Do not tell me. :) tim ═══ 13. FTP ═══ To ftp from bsdserver.ucsf.edu do the following: (*something* is typed by the computer.) Note: igs.nuri.net is also a mirror anonymous ftp site for the Go archives. *%* ftp bsdserver.ucsf.edu ... *Name: (account)* anonymous *Password: * account@machine.domain [Your e-mail address for passwd]. *ftp* cd Go *ftp* binary *ftp* get <filename> *ftp* quit Files: FAQ aga PLAYERS README RULES RULES.PS.Z RULES.SG Directories: comp clients games igs info mgt pro prog incoming If you want to look at the directories, just cd into them and type 'ls'. For example 'cd Go/igs' followed by 'ls' will give a list of files available for ftp, about IGS. Clients are in the 'clients' directory. ═══ 14. How To Play Shogi ═══ Rules Simplified for Easy Understanding by Brian Leist "Gosh" leistb@acad.ripon.edu edited by Arlin Anderson "aea" Objective: The objective of shogi is to capture (or checkmate) the King of the opposing army. The only other way to win is for your opponent to resign. Board and Pieces: The board is 9x9 numbered 9 to 1 from left to right and either with letters a through i (on IGS) or with roman numerals i to ix (standard numbering) from top to bottom. Each side starts in the three rows nearest it's side of the board. These last three rows also make up the promotion area for the opposition (discussed later). Each side has twenty pieces: 1 King, 2 Golds, 2 Silver, 2 Knights, 2 Lances, 9 Pawns, 1 Rook and 1 Bishop. The pieces are set up with the pawns across the 3rd row. The bishop one in from the left on the second row and the rook one space in from the right on the second rank. The 1st row has the king in the middle, flanked by the Golds then the silvers, the knights and finally the lances. (Diagram below). The pieces have no color (useful in the drop move explained later) and each side's pieces are identified by the way they face or by a = or # on IGS. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ a | =l | =n | =s | =G | =K | =G | =s | =n | =l | i +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ b | | =r | | | | | | =b | | ii +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ c | =p | =p | =p | =p | =p | =p | =p | =p | =p | iii +----+----+----*----+----+----*----+----+----+ d | | | | | | | | | | iv +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ e | | | | | | | | | | v +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ f | | | | | | | | | | vi +----+----+----*----+----+----*----+----+----+ g | #p | #p | #p | #p | #p | #p | #p | #p | #p | vii +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ h | | #b | | | | | | #r | | viii +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ i | #l | #n | #s | #G | #K | #G | #s | #n | #l | ix +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Pieces Movement: The King can move only one space in any direction. The Golds can move only one space as well in any nondiagonal and one space in the forward diagonals. The Silvers can move only one space in any diagonal and one space straight forward. +----+----+----+ +----+----+----+ +----+----+----+ | \ | I | / | | \ | | | / | | \ | | | / | +----\--I-/----+ +----\--|-/----+ +----\--|-/----+ | --- K --- | | --- G --- | | | s | | +----/--I-\----+ +----+--|-+----+ +----/----\----+ | / | I | \ | | | | | | | / | | \ | +----+----+----+ +----+----+----+ +----+----+----+ KING GOLD SILVER The Knights move forward one and then one to either forward diagonal. These knights cannot go backwards or sideways, only forward. Knights can jump other pieces (only pieces in game allowed to jump). The Lances can move any number of spaces but only straight forward. The Pawns can move only one space and only straight ahead. +----+----+----+ +----+----+----+ +----+----+----+ | | | | | | ^ | | | | | | +----+----+----+ +----+- ^-+----+ +----+----+----+ | \ | | / | | | ^ | | | | ^ | | +----\----/----+ +----+- ^-+----+ +----+- |-+----+ | | \/ | | | | ^ | | | | p | | +----+--|-+----+ +----+- ^-+----+ +----+----+----+ | | n | | | | l | | | | | | +----+----+----+ +----+----+----+ +----+----+----+ KNIGHT LANCE PAWN The Bishop can move any number of spaces on any diagonal. The Rook can move any number of spaces sideways forward of backwards. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | ^ | \ | | | | | | +---+---+-|-+---\---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | \ | | | | | +---+---+-|-+---+---\---+---+---+---+ | <------ r ----------\----------> | +---+---+-|-+---+---+---\---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | \ | | / | +---+---+-|-+---+---+---+---\---/---+ | | | | | | | | | b | | +---+---+-|-+---+---+---+---/---\---+ | | | v | | | | / | | \ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ ROOK AND BISHOP Promotion: If any piece other than the King and the Golds finish a move into the last three rows on the other side of the board, the piece may be promoted. The promotion alters the movement of the piece. Silvers, Knights, Lances and Pawns are promoted to Golds with the same movement as a Gold. The rook when promoted gains one space of movement on the diagonals and the bishop when promoted gains one space of movement in the non-diagonals. The promotion is not required, but is permanent. Sometimes it may be useful to keep the movement of the piece (usually only Silvers are not promoted). Promoted pieces are designated by a circle around the symbol (on underside of pieces so flip them over to promote) or by capital letters instead of lower case (on IGS). +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | ^ | \ | | | | | | +---+---+-|-+---\---+---+---+---+---+ | | \ | | | / | \ | | | | | +---+---\-|-/---+---\---+---+---+---+ | <------ R ----------\----------> | +---+---/-|-\---+---+---\---+---+---+ | | / | | | \ | | | \ | | / | +---+---+-|-+---+---+---+---\-|-/---+ | | | | | | | | -- B -- | +---+---+-|-+---+---+---+---/-|-\---+ | | | v | | | | / | | \ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ PROMOTED ROOK AND BISHOP Capturing Pieces: Whenever the movement of a piece causes it to finish on the same space as an opponent's piece, that opponent's piece is captured and is removed from the board. It is kept in reserve by the capturer to be used later in the game by the Drop rule (see below). ---x----x----x----x---- Drops: This is the move that makes Shogi different from all other games in its class. Any piece captured from the opponent can be used by placing it on any space on the board not occupied by another piece (yours or opposition's). The only retrictions on dropping pieces involve the pawn. Rule 1. No two nonpromoted pawns on the same side can be in the same column. Rule 2. A pawn cannot be dropped to cause mate. The only other restriction is no piece can be dropped so that it doesn't have a move. This means no pawn or lance can be dropped on the last row or no knight can be dropped on the last two rows. All dropped pieces are unpromoted. These are all the basic rules. "help shogi" on IGS will show you how to type the moves in. You can also mail shogirules with: mail me shogirules See also: choice coords in Shogi stats