NEWBIE: How can I disable the clocks?

[Andy Wright]

Hi,

I am very new to this forum and WinBoard so please be gentle

I recently downloaded and installed WinBoard 4.4 and am very excited to give it a go. However, when I start a new match (I want to play against the computer) I get two 1 minute timers (clocks), one for me, one for the PC.

How can I completely disable the clocks so that I don't have to play under pressure (I only want to sharpen my severely neglected Chess skills)?

Many thanks,


Andy

[Guenther Simon]

Hi,

I am very new to this forum and WinBoard so please be gentle

I recently downloaded and installed WinBoard 4.4 and am very excited to give it a go. However, when I start a new match (I want to play against the computer) I get two 1 minute timers (clocks), one for me, one for the PC.

How can I completely disable the clocks so that I don't have to play under pressure (I only want to sharpen my severely neglected Chess skills)?

Many thanks,


Andy

Do you mean completely disabling or just hiding?
AFAIK you cannot completely disable the clocks, but you can hide them by giving them a very small
font(Options => Fonts => Clocks - Note that you can set smaller sizes than Windows offer in the dialogue,
just enter a small number.).
If you only want to change the time controls to be without time pressure simply give yourself
a very high value and set a time odd for the opponent engine, e.g. 120 minutes vs. 10 minutes,
which would be a time odd of 12 in the dialogue.(Options => Time control)
Probably you want to have a mixture of both proposals above?

Guenther

[Charles Browne]

From the Winboard help file:

/clock or /xclock, or /clockMode true|false

Determines whether or not to display the chess clocks. If clockMode is False, the clocks are not shown, but the side that is to play next is still highlighted. Also, unless searchTime is set, the chess engine still keeps track of the clock time and uses it to determine how fast to make its moves.

So in the start up dialog box you could put a check mark next to the Additional Options box and add /clockMode false in the Additional Options field space. Not sure if it would be /clockMode false or -clockMode false, but /clockMode false works for me. (Make sure you use a capital M. In other words, watch the spelling.)

Or you might be able to add this to the winboard.ini file for the engines or engines you use, that is if you never want to see the clock. Adding it to the winboard.ini file, in the appropriate place, will prevent you from having to add it to the start up dialog box each time. Someone else will need to tell you the appropriate place in the winboard.ini file to add it.

May be H.G.Muller, or someone else, knows a better solution or trick.

[Tony Hecker]

A quick solution may be to disable the "Auto Flag" option. Then you can continue playing when time runs out. (Options -> General -> "Auto Flag")