There's really no benefit to being able to hide the history bar. You
currently gain a bit of space, but that's because this option breaks
timed games by hiding the timers. This option might make sense after a
bit of a UI redesign, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=705046
Blitz Chess is typically five minutes per player (10 minutes total). If
you want to go faster than that, you can always set a custom duration.
Most players will probably be most comfortable with a longer limit such
as 90 minutes/player.
This isn't a board orientation, it's a piece orientation. It actually
silently forces the "White" board orientation.
It could be implemented separately as a checkbox, but I don't think we
want to keep this "feature."
Also, this option is broken in 3D mode. (Though as a checkbox, it could
be insensitive in 3D mode.)