Summary: Bsetup mode is a special form of the examine mode that allows you to set up any position you want and then use examine mode to analyze it. The standard alias for "bsetup" is "setup".
There are two ways to enter bsetup mode: from scratch and from "examine" mode. The difference in the two procedures concerns the start position of the board in bsetup mode: empty board versus a board position.
(a) FROM SCRATCH -- When nothing else is active (that is, you are not playing or examining another game), type either "bsetup" or "examine setup". The board will be totally empty when you enter bsetup mode; you will have to place all of the pieces where you want to have them.
(b) FROM WITHIN EXAMINE MODE -- Typing "bsetup" during examine mode (namely while you are examining a game) places you in "examine bsetup" mode. The move list is cleared and a new move list will be established. However, the current board position will be used as the starting board position; you can then modify that position and arrange the pieces to be where you want them to be.
There are several commands you can use in order to create a board position and designate which side is going to move next.
BSETUP CLEAR -- Typing the command "bsetup clear" will give you a new, blank, empty board.
BSETUP START -- Typing the command "bsetup start" will give you the regular starting position for a game of chess.
BSETUP board_category board -- You can load a non-standard board position if you want. The chess server has several non-standard boards. They can be listed by using the board command. For example, "boards openings" will list the various openings you can start a game from and "boards wild" will list wild opening positions. Note: you must first be in bsetup mode in order to create a given board position.
Placing pieces -- There are two formats for placing pieces: case sensitive and designate color. Either one works. Here is a table of the formats. For the "square" portion, enter a square in algebraic notation, such as e4 or h5. You can use either "@" or "*" as the special symbol.
| Piece | White | Black | White | Black |
| king | K@square | k@square | wk@square | bk@square |
| queen | Q@square | q@square | wq@square | bq@square |
| rook | R@square | r@square | wr@square | br@square |
| bishop | B@square | b@square | wb@square | bb@square |
| knight | N@square | n@square | wn@square | bn@square |
| pawn | P@square | p@square | wp@square | bp@square |
Clearing a square -- There are two ways you can clear a square and make it empty: either place an 'x' (meaning empty piece) or "clear" the square.
x@square clrsquare square
Note: you do not have to clear a square before placing a piece. For example, if there is a Black Queen on e5, placing a Black Pawn on e5 will automatically remove the Black Queen.
TOMOVE white|black -- Typing "tomove white" will have White be the player to move next. Typing "tomove black" will have Black be the player to move next.
BSETUP DONE -- Typing "bsetup done" will exit bsetup mode and start examine mode. However, the position will be validated first. For example, the player who is not about to move cannot be in check, pawns cannot be on the 1st or 8th ranks, each side must have a king, neither side can have more than one king.
If the position is valid, you will enter examine mode next. If the position is invalid, a message will be sent to you and you will remain in bsetup mode.
UNEXAMINE -- Typing unexamine at any point will immediate cancel both bsetup and examine modes.
(a) Games in bsetup mode will be listed in the games display.
(b) Users in bsetup mode will have comments to that effect in their finger displays and will have the symbol "#" next to their handles in who displays. "Tells" to users in bsetup mode will give the feedback that the user is in bsetup mode.
(c) You cannot create a position and then play a match with an opponent. However, you can examine a game with another user, use mexamine to allow the other user to move the pieces, and you can alternate moves back and forth as if you were playing a game. You will be in examine mode the whole time, of course, and the game will not appear in history displays.
(d) At present, you cannot use jsave in order to save an examined or bsetup game to your "journal". This capability is being developed.
(e) A standard alias for "bsetup" is "setup".
(f) You can change the names of the players of the game by using the "wname" and "bname" commands.
| alias | bname | board | clrsquare | examine | finger | games | handle |
| history | journal | jsave | mexamine | tell | unexamine | who | wname |
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