Internet Info 1994 March/Internet Info CD-ROM (Walnut Creek) (March 1994).iso/answers/rec/games/chess/part2

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 34KB | 652 lines

Newsgroups: rec.games.chess,rec.answers,news.answers
Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!hri.com!noc.near.net!MathWorks.Com!panix!zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!gatech!swrinde!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!library.ucla.edu!csulb.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!shauck
From: [e-mail] (William R. Shauck)
Subject: rec.games.chess Answers to Frequently Asked Questions [2/2]
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Followup-To: poster
Summary: This posting addresses some of the FAQ's on the
    rec.games.chess    news group. Topics include E-Mail games, Internet
    Chess Server (ICS), Material available via FTP servers, Dedicated
    Computers, and Software for Playing, Databases and Utilities.
Keywords: chess FAQ semimonthly answers
Supersedes: <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
References: <[e-mail]>
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 1994 06:26:02 GMT
Approved: [e-mail]
Expires: Wed, 30 Mar 1994 06:25:24 GMT
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Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu rec.games.chess:22922 rec.answers:4332 news.answers:15951

Last-Modified: 1994/03/01
Archive-Name: games/chess/part2

 Publicly available playing, e-mail lists, or material
  [17] E-Mail Games, ICS, Mailing Lists, Gopher, Usenet Reader
  [18] Material Available via Anonymous FTP
 Commercially available playing or material
  [19] Chess-Playing Computers
  [20] Chess-Playing Software
  [21] Database Software
  [22] Utility Software
 Miscellaneous
  [23] Using Graphic Chess Symbols in Printed Text
  [24] Trivia
  [25] Common Acronyms
  [26] Rules
  [27] Variants
  [28] Disclaimer and Copyright Notice

This FAQ list may be obtained via anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu under
/pub/usenet/news.answers/games/chess/part2.  Or, send email to
[e-mail] with 'send usenet/news.answers/games/chess/part2' in
the body of the message, leaving the subject line empty.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: [17] E-Mail Games, ICS, Mailing Lists, Gopher, Usenet reader

Rob Buchner ([e-mail]) organizes e-mail games on "ladders."
If you would like to be included on the ladder, simply send him a message.
Contacting potential opponents and setting up matches is your initiative.
Just let him know whenever a match starts or ends.  Also, after a game has
been completed, include the following information:
 white   score   black   completed       moves   opening
 *****   *****   *****   *********       *****   *******
 name     ?:?    name    date            number  type
Ladder updates are posted to rec.games.chess about once a month.

The Internet Chess Server (ICS) was originally developed by Michael Moore
([e-mail]).  ICS allows interactive chess games for those with
Internet telnet capability.  Use telnet (e.g., "telnet ics.uoknor.edu 5000")
to connect.  All may log on and play chess, but if you wish to have your games
recorded and develop a rating, register on the system you use (see help on the
system for more information).  Send questions to [e-mail] or
[e-mail].  There are currently two IC Servers running:
   ics.uoknor.edu (129.15.10.21) 5000 (Univ. of Oklahoma, USA)
   bentley.daimi.aau.dk (130.225.16.62) 5000  (Aarhus, Denmark)
       (if 5000 doesn't work, try 5001 or 5002)
ICS only displays ASCII boards. For graphical interfaces for X, NeXT, MacOS or
MS-DOS, see [18] (Miscellaneous) for an associated FTP server.

Michael Nolan has set up a mailing list "echo" of the rec.games.chess news
group.  Messages sent to the list will be posted in rec.games.chess, and all
posts to rec.games.chess will be sent to the mailing list.  The address to
send messages to be posted to rec.games.chess is:
          [e-mail]           (UUCP: tssi!chessnews)
The mailing list administration address is:
          [e-mail]   (UUCP: tssi@chessnews-request)
Requests to be added to the mailing list should include a clear indication of
the e-mail address to be used, and will be verified before being accepted.

There is a mailing list which is not associated with rec.games.chess called
"chess-l."  It averages about 4 posts/day, which are sent to subscribers via
e-mail.  To subscribe to the chess-l news group, send the message "subscribe
chess-l Your-Real-Name-Here" to [e-mail].

A mailing list for those interested in scholastic chess has been set up by
Kenneth Sloan ([e-mail]).  Send a request to be added to the list to
[e-mail].

Gopher is "a document delivery service"; sort of a stripped-down menu-driven
FTP.  Those with access to a gopher client can access kasey.umkc.edu for
chess-related material.

For those on the Internet whose sites do not receive rec.games.chess, it can
be read (along with all other Usenet groups) from an experimental bulletin
board system (EBBS) run by the University of North Carolina.  The Internet
address for EBBS is launchpad.unc.edu (152.2.22.80).  A news reader
(read-only) is available to all users, but posting is limited to those who
have been verified by land mail.  Internet e-mail privileges are also
available to verified users.  All access to this system is free at this time.

There is a Special Interest Group (SIG) on a pool of computers: the Free-Net
System at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.  Try "telnet
freenet-in-[a,b,c].cwru.edu" (replace "[a,b,c]" with one of a, b or c).  Login
as a visitor and explore the system.  Try "go chess" to find local chess
bulletin boards and an e-mail chess group.  Request membership at
[e-mail] [The Cleveland Chess Sig (FNCF), 4382 Tiedeman
Rd., Brooklyn, Ohio 44144].

There is a FidoNet conference for chess which offers games by e-mail.
Contact the moderator of the CHESS conference: Rita Goudreau @ 1:167/133.
(Internet equivalent: [e-mail]).

There's an e-mail chess pairing service run by William Moxley.  To get an
opponent, send your NAME, E-MAIL ADDRESS, and LEVEL-OF-PLAY (Novice,
Intermediate, or Expert) to [e-mail].  If you don't hear
back within a week, you cannot be reached at the e-mail address provided.

------------------------------

Subject: [18] Material Available via Anonymous FTP

FTP is a way of copying files between networked computers.  Information on it
is available via anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu in the file
/pub/usenet/news.answers/finding-sources.  If you do not know how to use
anonymous FTP or do not have access to it, you can retrieve the file by
sending an e-mail message to [e-mail] with "send
usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" as the body of the message.  (Send a
message containing "help" for general information on the server.)  Or, see the
posting titled "How to find sources (READ THIS BEFORE POSTING)" in the news
groups comp.sources.wanted or news.answers.  Information on what the various
compression extensions mean (like ".Z") and what utilities are available to
deal with them can be found in the comp.compression FAQ list (see the posting
in comp.compression or news.answers titled "comp.compression Frequently Asked
Questions," or get /pub/usenet/news.answers/compression-faq/* from
rtfm.mit.edu).

Miscellaneous.  A general repository for chess-related material is somewhat
associated with the Internet Chess Server (ICS).  Currently, the 'ICS FTP
host' is chess.uoknor.edu (129.15.10.254).  Material is in the pub/chess
directory.  New material may be placed in pub/chess/uploads.  Many freeware
chess programs for different platforms, including graphical ICS (see [17])
clients, are available (e.g., for MS-DOS, MacOS, AmigaOS, NeXT, and UNIX vt100
or X Windows interfaces).  Scores of various matches and other groups of games
as well.

Chaos.  A chess tournament pairing program (Swiss pairing as well as Round
Robin), GNU General Public License, runs on the Commodore-Amiga, available
from AmiNet mirrors (e.g., wuarchive.wustl.edu), under /pub/aminet/game/think.

GNU chess.  Gnuchess is a freely available chess-playing software program.
Gnuchess 4.0 can be FTP'ed from prep.ai.mit.edu, export.lcs.mit.edu, and
probably other sites.  It can be compiled for X Windows (with XBoard, below),
SunView, curses, IBM PC character set, or ASCII interfaces.  Included in the
package are the utilities gnuan (analysis program), game (PostScript
printout), postprint (prints hashfile), checkgame (checks a game listing for
illegal moves), and checkbook (checks the opening book for illegal moves).
It has been posted to gnu.chess.

LaTex chess macros.  Piet Tutelaers' ([e-mail]) chess LaTex
package (version 1.2) may be FTP'ed from sol.cs.ruu.nl (131.211.80.5); please
restrict access to weekends or evenings.  A server can answer e-mail requests
(put "send HELP" as the message to [e-mail]).  Get
TEX/chess12.*.  See [23].

Notation.  Notation is a chess game score preprocessor written by Henry
Thomas ([e-mail]).  It reads chess games, either in full algebraic or
shortened notation (i.e., Nf1-g3 or f1g3 or Ng3) and is able to output the
games and/or the board at any move, in ASCII, PostScript, TeX, or nroff.  It
also can generate output for the gnuan and XBoard programs.  It is
multi-lingual for piece identification; understanding French, English,
German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Polish, etc.  The program also handles
variations and symbolized comments.  It works fine on UNIX (Sun SPARCstation
and Sun-3).  It uses standard C, and function declarations are done in both
K&R-C and ANSI-C.  It won't be difficult to compile for MS-DOS with MSC.
Sources have been posted to comp.sources.misc.  You can also get them from
Mr. Thomas by e-mail.  They may be FTP'ed from wuarchive.wustl.edu, in
/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume28/notation/*.Z (European users use
garbo.uwasa.fi).

Chess notation tool kit.  The Standard Algebraic Notation (SAN) Kit chess
programming C source tool kit is designed to help chess software efforts by
providing common routines for move notation I/O, move generation, move
execution, and various useful position manipulation services.  There are
substantial additions to the previous version which include a standard
position notation scheme along with some benchmarking tests.  A main program
is included which gives sample calls for the various routines.  Simple I/O
functions are also provided.  A clever programmer needs only to add a search
and an evaluation function to produce a working chessplaying program.  A
programmer who already has the source to a chessplaying program may improve it
further by including tool kit routines as needed for standardization.  The
author of this package is Steven J. Edwards ([e-mail]).  The SAN Kit
may be retrieved from the 'ICS FTP host'.

XBoard.  XBoard is an X11/R4-based user interface for GNU Chess or ICS.  As an
interface to GNU Chess, XBoard lets you play a game against the machine, set
up arbitrary positions, force variations, or watch a game between two
machines.  As an interface to the ICS, XBoard lets you play against other ICS
users or observe games they are playing.  You can also use XBoard as a
chessboard to review or analyze games.  It will read a game file or allow you
to play through a variation manually.  This is useful for keeping track of
email postal games, browsing games off the net, or reviewing GNU Chess and ICS
games you have saved.  Beginning with version 2.0, Tim Mann <[e-mail]>
has taken over development of XBoard.  The program can be FTP'ed from the 'ICS
FTP host.'

------------------------------

Subject: [19] Chess-Playing Computers

There are numerous dedicated chess-playing computers available commercially,
as well as chess-playing software for various personal computers.  Prices
vary from perhaps $10,000 for the most expensive dedicated computer to
perhaps $30 for the cheapest software (see [20]).  The differences are
basically how strong the machine (or software) plays, and the other features
it has to offer (e.g., for dedicated machines: size of board, wood/plastic,
autosensory or "push the pieces," etc.).

When purchasing a chess computer or software, it is best to buy something
which plays at least 300 points above your rating.  Here are the estimated
USCF ratings for some of the more popular dedicated chess computers.

The following list of estimated ratings for dedicated chess computers is from
_Computer Chess Reports_, 1993.

TASC R30 "King"                          2558
Mephisto Lyon 68030                      2468
Mephisto Vancouver 68030                 2463
Mephisto RISC 1MB                        2444
Saitek Kasparov RISC 2500                2439
Mephisto Portugal 68030                  2432
Fidelity Elite 10 68040                  2377
Mephisto Vancouver 32 bit                2361
Mephisto Lyon 32 bit                     2358
Fidelity Premiere Vancouver              2342
Mephisto Berlin                          2342
Fidelity Elite 9 68030                   2331
Mephisto Vancouver 16 bit                2316
Mephisto Portugal 32 bit                 2315
Mephisto Lyon 16 bit                     2314
Mephisto Almeria 32 bit                  2293
Saitek Galileo BruteForce                2284
Fidelity Mach IV/Designer 2325           2276
Mephisto Portugal 16 bit                 2252
Fidelity Elite v5 dual                   2234
Mephisto Polgar 10                       2234
Mephisto Roma 32 bit                     2220
Mephisto Dallas 32 bit                   2217
Mephisto Almeria 16 bit                  2214
Novag Diablo/Scorpio                     2201
Fidelity Mach III/Elite 2                2189
Novag SuperExpert/Forte C                2184
Mephisto Mondial 68000                   2175
Mephisto Polgar                          2170
Mephisto MM5                             2160
Mephisto Roma 16 bit                     2153
Mephisto Milano                          2152
Mephisto Dallas 16 bit                   2152
Novag SuperExpert/Forte B                2138
Mephisto Academy                         2137
Fidelity Mach II L.A.                    2124
Mephisto Amsterdam                       2119
Fidelity Travel Master                   2117
Mephisto MonteCarlo 4                    2116
Saitek GK 2000                           2111
Mephisto Modena                          2110
Saitek Galileo Maes D                    2107
Mephisto MM4                             2104
Mephisto Mega 4                          2103
CXG Sphinx Domin                         2096
Saitek Travel Champion                   2093
Novag SuperExpert/Forte (6 MHz)          2087
Novag SuperExpert/Forte (5 MHz)          2048
Fidelity Designer 2100 Display           2048
Fidelity 68000 xl B                      2040
Saitek Corona2/TurboKing2                2037
Saitek Statos                            2034
Saitek Corona/Simult                     2021
Excalibur Legend/Accolade                2020
Fidelity ParEX/Chesster                  2014
Mephisto MM3                             2010
Novag Expert (5 MHz)                     2008
Novag Forte B                            2008
Novag Forte                              1999
Saitek TurboKing                         1984
Fidelity Excel 4                         1983
Novag Expert (4 MHz)                     1976
Saitek TurboKasparov                     1958
Mephisto MM2                             1952
Fidelity Excel/Designer 2000             1952
Saitek Prisma/Blitz                      1951
RadioShack 2150L                         1927
Novag SuperNova                          1918
Novag SuperConstellation                 1917
Mephisto Blitz                           1893
Novag Super VIP                          1889
USCF Academy/Mephisto Marco Polo/Europa  1864
Novag Primo/VIP                          1835
Novag Constellation 3.6                  1834
Novag Quattro                            1826
Novag Constellation                      1777
Advanced StarChess                       1755
Fidelity Sensory 9                       1699
Saitek Astral/Conquistador/Cavalier      1678

Ratings are the average of CCR30', CCR10', Computer Chess News Sheet
and the "Ply" list from Sweden.  See the Volume 3, Number 2 issue
of _Computer Chess Reports_ for more details.

There are a number of non-commercial chess-playing machines, the strongest
and most famous of which is "Deep Thought."  Deep Thought was built and
programmed by graduate students Feng-Hsiung Hsu, Thomas Anantharaman, Murray
Campbell, Peter Jansen, Mike Browne, and Andreas Nowatzyk at Carnegie Mellon
University, and who are now working (some of them, anyway) for IBM.  The
current version of Deep Thought has beaten several GM's and many IM's.  It
has a USCF rating of about 2520.  (The Oct. 1990 issue of _Scientific
American_ goes into more detail on Deep Thought.)  Another Carnegie Mellon
product, "Hitech," was developed by former World Correspondence Champion Dr.
Hans Berliner and sports a USCF rating just over 2400.

------------------------------

Subject: [20] Chess-Playing Software

The strength of chess-playing software is highly dependent on the hardware it
runs on (all software discussed is for MS-DOS; programs available for MacOS
are noted).  Here is a method to approximate the strength differences for the
same software running on different hardware (source: _Computer Chess Reports_).

Processor                        "Chess MIP's"

8088                      Speed in MHz divided by 19
80286, 1 wait state       Speed in MHz divided by 8
80286, 0 wait states      Speed in MHz divided by 6
80386, no cache memory    Speed in MHz divided by 6
80386 with cache          Speed in MHz divided by 4.7
80486                     Speed in MHz divided by 2.3

(Note that math coprocessors--used before the 486--don't change the speed,
since chess programs don't use floating point arithmetic at all.)

Now, if a program has a given rating on a 1 (Chess) MIP machine, this is how
to adjust the rating for other MIP's (interpolate between points):

MIP:  0.25 0.5 1 1.5  2  3   4   6   8   12  16  24  32  48  64
Adj.: -180 -87 0  47 80 124 154 195 223 261 287 323 347 379 402

For example, a program running on a 10 MHz 8088 (0.5 MIP's and -87 points)
will be about 272 USCF rating points weaker than the same program running on
a 33 MHz 80386 (no cache: 5.5 MIP's and +185 points).

    CCR Ratings List PC Program Ratings

ChessMachine Madrid King 2.0        2558
ChessMachine Madrid Schroder 3.0    2498
Chess Genius                        2494
MChess Professional                 2460
ChessMachine Schroder ARM2          2420
ChessMachine King ARM2              2399
Socrates                            2392
Fritz 2.0                           2360
Zarkov 3.0                          2350
Psion 2                             2318
Zarkov 2.5 & 2.6                    2312
Grandmaster                         2297
Rexchess 2.3                        2283
Sargon 5                            2278
Alpha                               2274
Fritz 1/Knightstalker               2237
Chessmaster 3000                    2201
Chess Champion                      2175
Psion 1                             2121
Colossus x                          2070
Chessmaster 2100                    2057
Final Chesscard                     1894

Ratings are the average of autotest at 30" to 1' per move, Computer
Chess News Sheet from England and the "Ply" list from Sweden.  PC
programs are rated on an i486 PC running at 33MHz.  See the Volume 3,
Number 2 issue of _Computer Chess Reports_ for more details.

  MChess Pro          ~2480  by Marty Hirsch, San Rafael, California
Runs on a 286 with 640K, but a 386 with 12 Meg is recommended (10 are used for hash tables).
   Opening book is 7x as large as amateur version and is programable.
   Improved graphics.  DM 250
MChess 1.1 - 1.72    2400  by Marty Hirsch
   DM 180
Zarkov 2.6           2350  by John Stanback / Chess Laboratories
   Interfacing to the chess database software Bookup.
   Supersedes Zarkov 2.5 (USCF 2280) by John Stanback.
   Best analyzation features.  DM 135
ChessChampion 2175   2340  by Chris Whittington
   Program uses Shannon B strategy, not brute force like all the others.
   Supersedes ChessPlayer by Chris Whittington.  DM 115
KnightStalker II    ~2300  by Frans Morsch / ChessBase
   Interfacing to the chess database software ChessBase.
   Program can be used as background-evaluator while working
   with ChessBase 4.0.  It can read ChessBase libraries.  DM 178
   Supersedes KnightStalker I (USCF 2260, DM 99) by ChessBase.
Grandmaster Chess    2300  by John Stanback / Capstone
   Mass market version of Zarkov 2.55 with pull-down menus and fancier graphics
   (2d and 3d board), but is missing some of Zarkov2.6's features such as
   generating multiple candidate moves when analyzing games, annotations,
   generating PCX or WPG chess diagrams, interfacing to Bookup7 etc.  DM 110
Rexchess 2.30        2290  by Larry Kaufman
   DM 99.  Will be superseded by TitanChess by Larry Kaufman,
   which is expected to come out Dec 92.
   - Heuristic Alpha by Larry Kaufman
      Written for 8086er and 80286er in C.  Selled to Electronic Arts.
      Expected to come out spring 93.
   - Sokrates by Larry Kaufman
      Written for 80386er and 80486er in Assembler.
      Hasn't found any publisher up to now.
Psion 2              2290  by Richard Lang / Psion Ltd.
   Supersedes Psion 1 (USCF 2140) by Psion Ltd.
   Program of Mephisto Amsterdam, recompiled for IBM PC.
CheckCheck                 by Wolfgang Delmare / Digital Concepts
   German but completely self-explaining (mouse/buttons/icons).
   Full version contains complete database of four-piece-finishings.
   That needs 16 Mb on the hard disk.
   DM 99 without database or DM 168 for full version.  VGA only
Chessmaster 3000     2170  by Software Toolworks
   Excellent graphics.  DM 99
   A windows version of Chessmaster 3000 is marketed as well for DM 119.
   A CD ROM version can be bought for DM 145.
   Supersedes Chessmaster 2100 (USCF 2070) by Software Toolworks.
Sargon V            ~2100? by Dan and Kathy Spracklen / Activision
   DM 115.  Supersedes Sargon IV by Spinnaker.
Colossus Chess X     2090
   DM 50
BattleChess                by Interplay
   Very weak program with the most entertaining graphics.  DM 50
   A windows version of BattleChess is marketed as well for DM 110.
   Little trap: BattleChess II isn't a chess but a chinese chess program.

Available for MacOS: Chessmaster 3000 & 2100, Sargon IV (V due soon),
BattleChess and CheckMate.  Available for the Amiga: Chessmaster 2000 and
2100, Sargon III and IV, Chessplayer 2150 and Chess Champion 2175, BattleChess
and CheckMate, ChessMate, The Art of Chess, Colossus Chess and the
ChessMachine.

Gnuchess is a freely available chess-playing software program (see [18]).
Its strength varies widely based on the machine for which it's compiled.

------------------------------

Subject: [21] Database Software

Chess databases store games and information about games, and can manipulate
and recall that information in a variety of ways.  The "big three" of chess
databases are NICBase, ChessBase, and Bookup.  You can purchase data disks for
each of these databases.  NICBase and ChessBase are game-oriented, while
Bookup is opening-oriented.  Each has its strengths and weaknesses.  A good
(but dated) review of these programs was written by Eric Schiller and appeared
in the Sept. 1990 _Chess Life_.  A more current review was written for the
APCT, and Jon Edwards has volunteered his e-mail address for information:
[e-mail].  Bookup interfaces with Zarkov; ChessBase
interfaces with KnightStalker/Fritz.

Bookup from Chess Laboratories, P.O. Box 3541, S. Pasadena, CA 91031.
818-799-7567.  Version 7 for MS-DOS costs $99 and version 1.3 for MacOS costs
$59.

ChessBase 3.0 (MS-DOS only); basic $295, deluxe $395, upgrade from 2.2 $75.
ChessBase ACCESS $39.95.  ChessBase USA, P.O. Box 133, Hagerstown, MD 21741.
301-733-7541 (orders only: 800-524-3527); fax [phone].  USCF prices: 3.0
$279, ACCESS $37.95.  ChessBase 4.0 is out; upgrade from 3.0 is $60-70,
Depending on manual.  $5 demo disk.

NICBase 3.0 (MS-DOS or Atari ST: $195 with 5,000 games; $595 with 50,000
games) & NICTools ($125) from Chess Combination, Inc. P.O. Box 2423 Noble
Station, Bridgeport CT 06608-0423. Phone [phone] or 800-354-4083; fax
203-380-1703; e-mail [e-mail] (Albert Henderson). Free
catalog and sample of _New in Chess_. NICBase 3 demo disk free to users of
CompuServe and the Internet. NICBase 3 was reviewed in _Chess Horizons_
Jul/Aug 1992, Canadian _En Passant_ Apr 1992, _California Chess Journal_
Feb/Mar 1992, and USAT _Chess Perspectives_ Nov 1991.

------------------------------

Subject: [22] Utility Software

Eric Churchill's Chess Recorder, a (PC) Windows program that records chess
moves, suitable for keeping track of postal games, will be uploaded to GEnie
and submitted to comp.binaries.ibm.pc.  (It even keeps a log of when the
moves were entered, which could be used to keep track of postal time limits.)
You can enter annotations and other comments and they appear in a separate
window when the corresponding move is displayed.  The program will print out
the moves of the game (with annotations).  $15 shareware fee.  Graphics are
quite good--looks OK even on monochrome systems.  The colors of the pieces on
color systems are 'interesting.'  It can now flip colors to put Black on
bottom.

Swis-Sys, a $70 Swiss System pairing program, is available from Thad Suits
(the author), 2125 1st Ave North, Great Falls, MT, 59401. 406-453-6160.

Chaos, another pairing program (Swiss pairing as well as Round Robin), GNU
General Public License, runs on the Commodore-Amiga, available from Aminet
mirrors (wuarchive.wustl.edu for example), directory /pub/aminet/game/think.

        Thanks, Jochen

& Jochen Wiedmann
For other software utilities see [18].

------------------------------

Subject: [23] Using Graphic Chess Symbols in Printed Text

There are basically three ways of composing chess texts in international
figurine notation (or including diagrams in printed text):

1) Use a word processor or page-layout program and a chess font.  For
instance, for the Apple Macintosh there are at least 3 different sets of
fonts usable with standard word processors like Microsoft Word, MacWrite,
Nisus or WriteNow; or with page-layout programs like Illustrator or
PageMaker.  Most of these fonts are proprietary (you must purchase them).
The fonts usually can be used for both the figurines and the diagrams.  A
freely available/usable PostScript font, including a variety of figurines,
diagrams and _Informant_ symbols, has been posted to comp.fonts and
rec.games.chess by Andy Walker ([e-mail]).

2) Use a chess-specific writing application.  ChessWriter (Apple Macintosh)
offers an interface including a chessboard and a text window.  Moves made on
the chessboard are automatically transformed into characters in the text
window.  ChessWriter is proprietary.
   CC-Publisher (MS Windows) is another commercial chess-specific writing
application.  You must have MS Windows, a word processing package (Word,
WordPerfect, AmiPro), and a chess database system (for generating
diagrams--although this could be done by hand--like ChessBase or Zarkov).  It
comes in two versions.  The basic version supports HP LJ-compatible laserjet
printers ($49.95).  The deluxe version supports any PostScript printer, and
comes with PostScript Type I or TrueType fonts ($139.95).  You get integrated
utilities to move you from game-entry or diagram-creation to conversion and
import into your word processor, with special Tips and Tricks for MS Word,
Lotus AmiPro, and WordPerfect users.  Extremely easy installation, and your
fonts become available to all Windows applications.  There's a comprehensive
user manual on the installation disk, and you get free technical support!
(_Chess Chow_ subscribers get disconts: basic--$10, deluxe--$20.)  To order,
see address for _Chess Chow_ in [15].

3) Use the LaTeX chess macros and fonts package by Piet Tutelaers (see [18]).
TeX is an advanced public-domain system for text formatting available on
mainframes, workstations and personal computers.  LaTeX is a set of
text-formatting macros for TeX.  METAFONT is a font generator program for
TeX.  For general information on all of these, and pointers to reference
manuals, see the FAQ list posting in comp.text.tex.)  Once you have the chess
package, you'll need to 3a) be able to use METAFONT to generate chess fonts
starting from the programs contained in the package; 3b) be able to install
the LaTeX macros in your TeX system; and 3c) learn the macro language to
format chess texts.  Activity 3a can become tiresome if you do not have any
help from a TeX wizard.  Using LaTeX to write chess text is not very simple,
but the results are worth the effort.

------------------------------

Subject: [24] Trivia

How long is the longest possible chess game?

The basic idea is a player may claim a draw if fifty moves elapse without a
capture or a pawn advance.  Ignoring the special cases where more than 50
moves are allowed by the rules, the answer is after Black's 5948th move,
White is able to claim a draw.  The simple calculation is (<Pawn_moves> +
<Captures> - <Duplicates> + <Drawing_interval_grace_period>) *
<Drawing_interval>, or (16*6 + 30 - 8 + 1) * 50 = 5950; we're able to trim
two moves from this total by observing that sequences of Captures/Pawn_moves
must have (at least) 4 alternations between the two players.

------------------------------

Subject: [25] Common Acronyms

AI       Artificial Intelligence ("Anything we can't do with a computer")
BCE      _Basic Chess Endings_ (see your local chess book source)
BCF      British Chess Federation
BCO      _Batsford Chess Openings_ (see [14])
DT       Deep Thought (see [19])
DT II    Deep Thought; latest version
ECO      _Encylopedia of Chess Openings_ (see your local chess book source)
ELO      Arpad Elo's rating system (see [8])
FAQ      Frequently Asked Question (see news group news.answers)
FIDE     Federation Internationale des Echecs (see [1])
FM       FIDE Master (see [1])
F-S II   Fischer-Spassky match held Sept-Nov '92 (Fischer won 10-5)
GM       Grandmaster (see [1])
ICS      Internet Chess Server (see [18])
IGM      see GM
IM       International Master (see [1])
IWM      International Woman Master (see [1])
KIA      King's Indian Attack (see opening books)
KID      King's Indian Defense (see opening books)
MCO      _Modern Chess Openings_ (see [14])
N        Novelty (see TN)
NM       National Master (or just "Master"; see [8])
OTB      Over-the-board (as opposed to correspondence/postal chess)
QGA      Queen's Gambit Accepted (see opening books)
QGD      Queen's Gambit Declined (see opening books)
SM       Senior Master (see [8])
TD       Tournament Director
TN       Theoretical Novelty
   A new idea in an opening line (usually used when a GM first tries it)
USCF     United States Chess Federation (see [2])
WGM      International Woman Grandmaster (see [1])

------------------------------

Subject: [26] Rules

Steve Rix ([e-mail]) has volunteered to supply either a plain
text or TeX version of the FIDE Laws of Chess to any who ask via e-mail.  He
also periodically posts the plain text version to rec.games.chess.

------------------------------

Subject: [27] Variants

Over the centuries, many variations of chess have appeared and more have been
invented recently by gaming enthusiasts.  Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc. (28
South Main Street, Rutland, VT 05701) has published a general book on the
subject: _Chess Variations: Ancient, Regional, and Modern_ by John Gollon.
Two of the most popular alternatives to our version of chess are known as
Chinese Chess (or shiang-chi or xiangqi) and Shogi (or Japanese Chess).  Ishi
Press International (76 Bonaventura Drive, San Jose, CA 95134) sells good
books on both of these games.  (_Chinese Chess for Beginners_ by Sam Sloan
and _Shogi for Beginners_ by John Fairbairn.  Warning: Sam Sloan's eccentric
views about chess history are far from universally accepted.)  One relatively
recent variation of chess is called Ultima and is described in detail in the
book _Abbott's New Card Games_ by Robert Abbott.

------------------------------

Subject: [28] Disclaimer and Copyright Notice

Some answers given may reflect personal biases of the author and the chess FAQ
listing's contributors.  In cases where the answers name specific products and
their respective manufacturers, these are not to be taken as endorsements of,
nor commercials for, the manufacturer.  Where cost information is stated this
is based on "street" information, and is in no way binding on the seller.
Unless otherwise stated, prices, addresses, and telephone numbers are in
United States' terms.  The answers contained herein pertain to discussions on
the rec.games.chess news group, and are by no means exhaustive.

The chess FAQ list owes its existence to the contributors on the net, and as
such it belongs to the readers of rec.games.chess.  Copies may be made freely,
as long as they are distributed at no charge, and the disclaimer and the
copyright notice are included.
--
William R. Shauck                   Internet: [e-mail]