MENU REFERENCE

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

The File Menu

The File menu contains the standard file operations applied to chess games.

New Game Window Opens a new game window.

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

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

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

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

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

Close Closes the front window.

Export to HTML... Exports the frontmost game or collection window to HTML.

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

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

Preferences... Opens the Sigma Chess Preferences Dialog. Under OS X this command is located in the application menu next to the Apple menu.

Quit Quits Sigma Chess. Under OS X this command is located in the application menu next to the Apple menu.

The Edit Menu

All items in the Edit menu apply to the Annotation Editor.

Undo Undo last change (can be applied repeatedly).

Redo Redo last change (can be applied repeatedly).

Cut Cut selected text/game to clipboard.

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

Paste Paste text/game/position from clipboard.

Clear Clear selected text.

Select All Select all text.

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

Find Next Find next occurrence of search-text.

Replace Replace selected text with new text.

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

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

The Game Menu

The Game menu contains commands for take back and replay of moves, as well as access to the Position Editor and the Game Information dialog.

New Game Starts a new game in the current window.

New Rated Game... Starts a new rated game in the current window.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Position Editor Opens/closes the Position Editor.

Annotation Editor Opens/closes the Annotation Editor.

Clear Annotations Clears all annotation text for the current game.

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

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

Info... Opens the Game Information dialog.

The Analyze Menu

The Analyze menu controls the actual chess engine.

Go Starts analyzing the current position. This command can also be invoked by pressing the spacebar.

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

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

Pause Pauses the current game and stops the chess clocks.

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

Play Main Line Plays Sigma Chess's "Main Line" on the board.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Endgame Databases Enables the endgame databases for certain endgames.

The Level Menu

The Level menu gives access to the various playing levels, modes and styles.

Playing Mode & Level... Opens the main Level dialog, where you can select playing mode and level.

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

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

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

Sigma Chess Rating... Lets you specify Sigma Chess's playing strength (ELO rating).

Player Rating... This dialog tracks your own rating performance obtained from the rated games you have played against Sigma Chess.

ELO Calculator... Opens the ELO Calculator dialog.

The Display Menu

The Display menu controls the various display settings, including piece sets and boards, colours etc.

Turn Board Turns the board 180°.

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

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

Board Size Change the size of the front game window.

Move Marker Enables/disables move markers (i.e. frames from and to squares of the most recently performed move).

Toggle Info Pane Shows or hides the info pane in the right side of the game window by resizing the window accordingly. Under OS X you can also do this by clicking the green title bar button (under OS 9 click the "restore" button in the top right corner of the window).

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

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

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

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

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

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

Toolbar at Top Positions (toggles) the main toolbar of game/collection windows at the top or bottom.

The Collection Menu

The Collection menu contains various commands for manipulating game collections.

Edit Filter... Lets you define/edit a collection game filter.

Enable Filter Enables/disables the current game filter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Info... Opens the Collection Info dialog.

The Library Menu

The Library menu contains commands for saving and editing position libraries. Editing is disabled in the Lite version.

Sigma Library This menu item shows the name of the currently loaded position library (which per default is the "Sigma Library").

Sigma Chess Access Defines which moves Sigma Chess will play from the position library. The position library can also be completely disabled here.

Library Editor Opens/closes the position library editor.

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

Import Collection... Imports the selected games in the frontmost collection window to the currently loaded position library.

Save Saves the current position library.

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

The Window Menu

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