examine

Usage: examine [player1 [player2, game_number]

This command starts a game in the examine mode where you, as the examiner, can move the pieces for both white and black, take moves back and analyze side variations. You can examine a new game from scratch, a stored (adjourned) game, a finished game from history or a game in someone's journal .

There are five ways to begin an examine session:

1) New Game from Scratch -- "Examine" used alone without any player names begins examine mode for a new game and, in essence, you will be playing yourself. Typing "match your_handle" is also a way to enter examine mode for a new game. You can also examine a game starting from one of the special 'board' positions stored on the server; see the boards help file for details.

2) Stored Games (adjourned) -- "Examine player1" will examine your stored game against player1 (if one exists). "Examine white_player black_player" will examine the stored game (adjourned) between the two players. Example: "examine dav thedane".

3) Completed Game from History -- "Examine player1 game_number" will examine that game from player1's history. Example: "examine theviking 45".

4) Game from a Journal -- "Examine player1 game_slot" will examine that game from player1's journal (unless the journal is private, namely "jprivate" variable has been set to non-zero). Example: "examine sms B".

5) Create a new position -- bsetupwill start a game from scratch in "bsetup" mode. When you are done modifying the position, you will enter examine mode.

No matter how you start the examine functions, the game will be played from the starting position, not the last, stored position.

While in examine mode, you can move the pieces in order to set up a position and/or analyze side variations. There are three special commands you can use when examining a stored game:

forward [#] goes forward # moves (default n=1)

backward [#] goes backward # moves (default n=1)

revert goes back to the main variation (the last branch)

For new games, only backward works; the other commands have no affect since there is no main line stored. Therefore, once you go backward, you will need to move the pieces again in order to move forward.

Lastly, the command unexamine leaves the examine mode and ends your analysis of the game.

Other users can also examine the game you are reviewing. But you must decide who these other examiners are. Here are the steps involved:

(1) The other examiner must first observe your game.

(2) You, as the main examiner, must type "mexamine " in order to give "user" access to the examine mode.

As long as there is at least one designated examiner of a game, the analysis can continue even when the first examiner who started the examine session leaves.

In order to communicate with another examiner of the game, it is best to use the kibitzcommand. If you use whisper, the game's observers but not examiners will hear your message.

(1) Players examining games have a # next to their handles in the (short) who display, and examined games are listed in both the games and allobservers displays.

(2) Unexamine stops your participation in the analysis, and also stops your observer status. Other examiners of the game may continue, however, even if you started the examine session initially.

(3) Clock times displayed are unimportant, of course, since time is not a factor when analyzing games.

(3) You can rename the players of the examine game by using the "wname" and "bname" commands.

See Also: