Zugzwang Goal SStips for Dummies   :-)                       rev. 11-Jan-2012


How to enter Zugzwang Goal stipulations for Popeye

With the release of Popeye v4.59, a new "structured stipulation" (or "sstip") 
protocol was introduced.  As there were significant changes to Zugzwang Goal 
(eg. CapZug, MateZug, etc.) requirements, this document was assembled to make 
the transition easier for our fellow composers.  A big THANK YOU to Thomas 
Maeder and the Popeye team for providing this important testing ability, and 
to Bojan Basic for providing this handy cross-reference!


Reference links:

Online PDB (Problem Database) definition for "Zugzwang Goal":
http://www.softdecc.com/pdb/keyworddef.pdb?id=S0000726

Online PDB (Problem Database) problems with "Zugzwang Goal" keyword:
http://www.softdecc.com/pdb/search.pdb?expression=K=%27Zugzwang%20Goal%27

Arno Tüngler's "Zug Family" article published in feenschach/f188 (2011):
http://parryserieshub.chessproblems.ca/pdf/f188-3.pdf

Popeye download page:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/popeye-chess/files/Popeye/

Popeye feedback and issue tracking:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=200122

Fancy (Windows interface for Popeye):
http://www.free.of.pl/c/ccintorun/g/fancy.htm


Examples:

The examples below show the diagram stipulation and its "sstip" equivalent.  
Note that the Popeye keyword "sstip" is an abbreviation for "sstipulation".  

The common diagram stipulations are as follows:

  xz = CapZug
  +z = CheckZug
  #z = MateZug
  =z = StalemateZug

The examples are setup for CapZug ("xz").  But you can replace the "x" with
"+" or "#" or "=" to test for CheckZug, MateZug or StalemateZug respectively.


Help-CapZug:                  [ notice the placement of the 'h' characters! ]

  hxz3              sstip black 6hh[/1d[x]a{!+}]
  hxz2½             sstip black - 5h[/1d[x]a{!+}]h


Series-CapZug:

  ser-xz12          sstip white 12s[/1d[x]a{!+}]


Series-Help-CapZug:

  ser-hxz12         sstip black 12s[1h[/1d[x]a{!+}]h]


Series-Auto-CapZug:

  ser-!xz12         sstip white 12s[/-1d[x]a{!+}]


Series-Help-Auto-CapZug:

  ser-h!xz12        sstip black 12s[1h[/-1d[x]a{!+}]h]


Black series start:            [ 3 black series moves, then main stip ]

  3->{any stip}     sstip black 3s[any stipulation here]


White series start:            [ 3 white series moves, then main stip ]

  3->{any stip}     sstip white 3s[any stipulation here]


Series-Self-CapZug:            [ notice the character 'x' is used twice! ]

  ser-sxz5          sstip white 5s[1d[/!1h[!x]h&1h[x]h{!+}]a]   (*)


      (*) The sstip for ser-sxz problems is a "workaround".  The expected 
          sstipulation should be white 6s[1d[/1d[x]a{!+}]a], but Popeye 
          is not accepting it for currently undetermined reasons.  We’ll 
          update this protocol in case of any new insights.