Lines of Action (GM[9])

Some notes

For more information about LOA contact Dave Dyer or have a look at his LOA pages.

All (game-specific) property values are case insenstive!

The default board size is 8.
The default first player is black.

Point and Move types

Point

A board position is specified by one letter and one number, letters are always displayed left-to-right across the screen. Numbers are normally displayed 1-n from bottom to top of the screen.
Examples: [a5], [C8], [d4]

Move

For normal moves specify the source and destination squares, as specified by point type. The two points may be seperated by either '-' or ':' (to identify a capturing move) and may be followed by a trailing commentary such as '+' and '!'. Applications don't need to interpret or preserve these move annotations - they are optional and intended for human readability.

The following unusual moves specifiers are also used when appropriate

'Pass'
'Resign'
'Forfeit'
'Escape' - used only in Gemma variation

Examples: B[e1-e3];W[C2:C5++];W[c5-c6];B[resign]

Properties

Property:	AS
Propvalue:	SimpleText
Propertytype:	-
Function:	Adding stones - the color of the player who is adding
		stones to the board. The valid strings are 'Black', 'White'
		or 'None'. The puropse of this property is to define a
		board position where the human is expected to continue placing
		stones on the board through some user interface.

Property:	IP
Propvalue:	SimpleText
Propertytype:	game-info
Function:	Designates the initial position in the game to be
		displayed by the viewer.
		The only value currently supported is 'End', which causes
		the viewer to initially display the final position of the game.
		The default is to display the position after setup but before
		any moves.

Property:	IY
Propvalue:	SimpleText
Propertytype:	game-info
Function:	Invert Y axis.  Values are 'true' or 'false'.
		If 'true', the board should be displayed with numbers
		increasing in value from bottom to top of the screen.
		Default: 'false'

Property:	SE
Propvalue:	point
Propertytype:	-
Function:	Mark the given point and up to 8 additional points,
		depending on where the provided point (stone) could legally
		move.

Property:	SU
Propvalue:	SimpleText
Propertytype:	game-info
Function:	Setup type - designates the intial placement of pieces,
		and also the implicitly the variation on the basic rules to be
		employed. The currently valid values include the following
		strings:
		'Standard', 'Scrambled-eggs', 'Parachute', 'Gemma' and 'Custom'
		(the initial board is empty, AB and AW properties
		will be used to establish the starting position).
		Default: 'Standard'
                For details on the setups and rule variations, consult the
		LOA home pages.