Ultra Mac Games 1 & 2/UltraMacGames2.iso/Chess/chess-FAQ-Part2.txt

Internet Message Format | 1995-06-14 | 59KB

From [e-mail] (Stephen M. Pribut)
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: *Chess Faq Part 2  -  chfaq11b.txt [1/2]
Date: 20 Feb 1995 20:14:40 GMT

Content-Type: Text/Plain

Expires:1995/02/27
Last-Modified: 1995/02/16
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
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Keywords: chess FAQ semimonthly answers
Archive-Name: games/chess/part2

Stephen M. Pribut        [e-mail]

 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


The Internet Chess Server (ICS)is a true internet chess highlight! 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 chess.lm.com 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
several IC Servers running:

To play on the ICS,USA, all you need to do is type:

telnet chess.lm.com 5000

You will be asked for a name. Type in any name you want.
You will then be logged in as an "unregistered" player.

If you want a "registered" account, type "help registration"
and follow the directions carefully.

SOME FACTS ABOUT ICS:

There are over 7,000 accounts on ICS, from all over the world.

There are often over 150 people logged in. Many times more than 230.

Players range in skill from Grandmaster down to beginner, so
you can always find someone at your level.

This is "live" chess, not e-mail chess! It only takes a second
or two to transmit your move to your opponent (unless there is
bad lag on the internet).

It's a fun, club-like atmosphere, with people talking about
chess, kibitzing during games, shouting greetings to each
other, discussing sports, arguing politics, etc.

You can:

- play chess 24 hours a day.
- play games using any time control you and your opponent
     agree to, ranging from one minute for the whole game to
     5 hours.
- get ratings for blitz and slow chess.  Each game is rated
     right after it is played.  You can play unrated also.
- watch Grandmasters and International Masters playing blitz.
- play over and sutdy the past 14 games of any ICS player.
- obtain "graphical interfaces", that allow you to make moves
     with a mouse on a board on your screen. These are available
     for DOS, Mac, and Unix machines. do "help interface".
- talk to people from all over the world, with the many
     commands for communicating: tell, shout, kibitz, whisper.

For more information, just login into ICS, and look around.
"help" and "info" give you a list of all the files of
information that you can read.  You can also talk to an
administrator if you have any questions or problems.
Administrators can be found by typing "who" and looking for
a "*" by their name.



ICS-addresses:
  Euro- Server:  anemone.daimi.aau.dk 5000      (130.225.18.58 5000)

  US-   Server:  chess.lm.com 5000            (164.58.253.10 5000)
                 (this has changed twice in October - November  1994)
  Dutch-Server:  dds.hacktic.nl 5000            (193.78.33.69 5000)
  Aussie-Server:  lux.latrobe.edu.au 5000       (131.172.4.3 5000)


ICS-backup servers (unsaved games)
                telnet iris4.metiu.ucsb.edu 5000
                telnet coot.lcs.mit.edu 5000

Ftp server :    ftp chess.onenet.net 5000 (164.58.253.10 5000)
                To see a sample ftp session, do: help ftp


 Graphical Interfaces for ICS
------------------------------------

There are several graphical interfaces available for the ICS.
All are available via anonymous ftp from the chess ftp site, in
the directory pub/chess.  See "help addresses" and "help ftp" on ICS
for the location of the ftp site and instructions on how to use it.

NAME           Operating System                             Author
--------------------------------------------------------------------
GIICS          DOS with modem                               LLama
NGIICS         DOS with TCP/IP                              LLama
ZIICS          DOS with modem                               Zek
JIICS          DOS with modem (requires VGA/mouse)          Peluri
Monarc         DOS with modem                               Kevster
Raja Elephant  MS Windows and modem (also known as "WICS")  fischer
Gilchess       MS Windows and modem                         Azorduldu
PMICS          OS/2 PM and modem (get pmics091.exe,
                    in pub/chess/DOS/OLD-STUFF)             woof
XBoard         Unix with X windows and TCP/IP (or modem)    mann
XICS           Unix with X windows and TCP/IP               observer
cics           Unix with ordinary terminal (e.g. vt100)     observer
NeXTICS        NeXT with modem or TCP/IP                    red
MacICS         Mac                                          douglas
MacICS-TCP     Mac with TCP/IP                              eew
E-ICS          Mac                                          douglas
Aics           Amiga                                        fischer

Programmers: Please do "help programmers" for suggestions about how to
parse the output from this server.

IEGC, a e-mail pairing service is currently run by Franz Hemmer - [e-mail].
Ratings are posted in rec.games.chess.  Three speeds are supported, move a day,
move a day except weekends and 10 moves per month. For pairing send your NAME,
E-MAIL ADDRESS, and LEVEL-OF-PLAY (Novice,Intermediate, or Expert) or approximate
rating to (<a href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a>).
You will be matched to play 2 games simultaneously. This is another true
internet chess highlight!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS About IECG

What is the origin of IECG?

At the end of 1993, several chess players who had met and played
elsewhere via slow net email began playing their games via Internet to
speed up play. A notice calling for more players was placed in
rec.games.chess. The idea has proved popular, as indicated by the rapid
growth to almost 900 players world-wide.


What is the purpose of the IECG?

To continue to provide chessplayers throughout the world with the
opportunity to compete and meet new chess friends in the context of an
organization which does not require fees for membership and the rating
of games. This includes players who have their own access to Internet,
or the ability to use the Internet address of a friend.


What are the goals of IECG?

* To fully staff IECG with capable volunteers -- including tutors for
those new to chess via email -- so that the chess-via-Internet community
can continue to enjoy the benefits of this service.

* To gain further recognition in the world's chess community so that all
members can enjoy that measure of status of belonging to an
international chess organization.


What relation does IECG have to ICS?

None, though many IECG players do play blitz via ICS.


Does IECG have any interaction with FIDE, ICCF, or with national
    chess federations such as USCF or CFC?

None at this time.


What algorithm is used to determine player ratings?

* Formulas similar to those used by USCF and CFC.
Please note: National ratings -- with appropriate conversions -- can
apply.
Subject to correction/revision, the following adjustments are believed
to be appropriate.

Quebec [FQE]   : Add 100 points
England        : Multiply the 3-digit rating by 8 and add 700
Norway         : Add 180 points
ELO            : Add 100 points
FIDE conversion: Add 50 points

Further information welcomed!

* IECG ratings are updated virtually in real-time. Also, rating changes
  are published more often -- and more quickly -- in rec.games.chess
  than is possible in federation publications.


New players frequently ask: "What is a good number of games to
    start?"

Difficult to answer without knowing the player's available hobby time,
other commitments, and threshold of stress. Start with one, two, or even
three two-game matches. Then discuss the specifics of your situation
with Franz Hemmer.


What about other forms of Tournaments?

IECG will arrange them soon!


Do I have to read my email and respond on weekends?

No. You just have to keep the standard pace:
        10 moves in 30 days, avg. rate of 1 every 3 days.

Am I going to get flagged if I am confronted with other commitments
     <job-change/a-big-project/an-exam/a-week's-vacation/family-crisis>?

Not if you advise your opponent, requesting adjournment, with a copy of
that message sent to the TD. In short, adjourments are permissible IF
Franz Hemmer is notified, and the notification confirmed.


How do I blow the whistle on someone who won't move?

Notify the TD, with full details, including dates.


How do we resolve typographical errors?  (Touch-move?)

Typos are binding. If a transmitted move is possible, it can
not be retracted. If it is impossible, it should be corrected.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
        * STAFF *     International Email Chess Group:     * STAFF *
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Franz Hemmer,       CEO/TD                     [e-mail]
Henk Chang,         Executive VP/Archivist     [e-mail]
Lisa Powell,        Chairman Of The Board,
                    Executive VP Chess Academy [e-mail]
Barry Wright,       VP Training                [e-mail]
Giorgio Chinnici,   VP Planning & Documents    [e-mail]
Chuck Schulien,     Advisor on Master events   [e-mail]
Mats Larsson,       Advisor on Master events   [e-mail]
Mike Westbrook,     Arbitrator                 [e-mail]
Sherman Klausner,   Academy Staff Coordinator  [e-mail]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
       * TEAMS *     International Email Chess Group:     * TEAMS *
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harvey Reed: TD, Corporate/Ad Hoc Teams, IECG:
  David MacMahon, Marcam Team Coordinator, Marcam CC   [MCAM]
  Mats Larsson, Axis Team Coordinator, Axis CC         [AXIS]
  Evan Welsh, EPCC Team Coordinator, EPCC              [EPCC]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
        * GAME *     International Email Chess Group:     * SCORES *
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Send completed game scores [record of moves] to
Franz Hemmer:  [e-mail]     [to update win-draw-loss statistics]
Henk Chang:    [e-mail]        [to maintain IECG games database]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
        * MISC *     International Email Chess Group:     * MISC *
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TD for quad tournaments: Richard Kyllo
                         [e-mail]

E-mail quads: 4-player double round robin mini-tourneys.
Each player plays two games against each opponent,
one as white and one as black. Further details from Richard Kyllo
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you would like a copy of the latest IECG Quick Guide, then write to
Giorgio Chinnici: [e-mail]

If you would like to join, then please fill out the following and
send it to Franz Hemmer <[e-mail]>

     Your full Name             :
     Email Address              :
     Estimated rating           : nnnn [FIDE?, USCF?, ??]
     Country, State and City    :
     Played email chess before? :
     Ready to play a match?     :

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


 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.


Other lists:

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.
The moderator of the FidoNet International CHESS Echo is Bill Spinks @ 1:2613/333.12.

Also, a second FidoNet conference is now in existence. It is the
Fidonet Chess Tourney Echo, moderated by Doug Attig at [e-mail]
or FidoNet 1:138/239.0.

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 caissa.onenet.net.  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.

    Follows is an outline of some of the available directories on ICS:

    pub/chess: general chess directory
    pub/chess/PGN: Portable Game Notation directory
    pub/chess/PGN/Standard: ASCII version of the PGN Standard
    pub/chess/PGN/Standard.TOC: Table of Contents for above
    pub/chess/PGN/Events: directory of directories of events by year
    pub/chess/PGN/Players: directory with many PGN games by player
    pub/chess/Tests: directory with many chess program test positions
    pub/chess/Tests/Manifest: description of EPD test files
    pub/chess/TB: endgame tablebases
    pub/chess/TB/README-TB: tablebase decyphering documentation
    pub/chess/TB/tbt.c: ANSI C tablebase test harness
    pub/chess/PGN/Tools: PGN tools and utilities directory
    pub/chess/Unix/SAN.tar.gz: Standard Algebraic Notation source kit


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'as: ftp://ics.onenet.net/pub/chess/Unix/SAN.tar.gz.

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.  The Swedish list ratings
are ELO ratings.  ELO ratings may be lower than USCF ratings by 50 to 250
points. The 2431 rating of "Genius" is estimated to be approximately the
equivalent of 2650 USCF rating.

A computer may assist in your learning in many ways. One of the best uses is
to auto-analyze your own games. Find out where you have erred and what
better lines were available. You may also set up positions that are of
interest or play out lines against the computer. If you are working on a
specific opening, you may play a vairiety of continuations against the
computer. Both middle game and endgame practice are also useful. Set up positions
that are in the instructional books you are reading. Playing against the
computer is excellent practise. Most people recommend setting up a board,
rather than just keeping the position on screen. Unless of course you
are cramming for the ICS.

Here's the latest SSDF-rating list from Sweden. The SSSDf are using
new autotesting equipment. The 2.400+ rating achieved by Chess Genius 3.0 (Pentium 90) is the highest
rating ever achieved by any program in SSDF's history! (approx. 2.650 USCF!)

The following list was supplied by Mads Brevik, computer science student at
Kongsberg College of Engineering.(mads2bacchus.kih.no)              \

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      THE SSDF RATING LIST 1995-01-08   40615 games played by  134 computers

                                           Rating   +     -  Games   Won  Oppo
                                           ------  ---   --- -----   ---  ----
*  1 Genius 3.0 Pentium 90 MHz               2431   64   -57   148   69%  2289
*  2 Genius 3.0 486/50-66 MHz                2371   40   -37   352   67%  2245
*  3 MChess Pro 4.0 486/50-66 MHz            2351   46   -44   253   61%  2274
   4 Mephisto Genius 2.0  486/50-66 MHz      2346   34   -32   483   66%  2230
   5 Rebel 6.0 486/50-66 MHz                 2320   34   -32   466   64%  2218
   6 Ch.Machine 30 MHz King 2.0 aggr/R30 off 2313   26   -24   877   71%  2153
   7 Chess Machine 30-32 MHz Schroder 3.1    2310   34   -32   500   70%  2165
   8 Chessmaster 4000 486/50-66 MHz          2304   38   -36   392   69%  2165
   9 MChess Pro 3.5  486/50-66 MHz           2298   33   -32   486   62%  2209
  10 Mephisto Gideon Pro  486/50-66 MHz      2286   38   -36   380   65%  2178
  11 Chess Genius 1.0  486/50-66 MHz         2282   34   -32   464   65%  2176
  12 MChess Pro 3.12  486/50-66 MHz          2275   37   -34   427   71%  2121
  13 Fritz 3.0 486/50-66 MHz                 2266   37   -35   393   66%  2151
  14 Berlin Pro 68 020 24 MHz                2247   43   -41   289   63%  2149
  15 Chess Genius 1.0  486/33 MHz            2245   41   -41   292   55%  2211
  16 Kallisto 1.82-1.83 486/50-66 MHz        2238   31   -30   530   54%  2207
  17 MChess Pro 3.12  486/33 MHz             2234   50   -48   208   60%  2160
  17 Mephisto Vancouver  68030 36 MHz        2234   37   -34   451   73%  2059
  19 Mephisto RISC 1 MB ARM 2  14 MHz        2211   25   -24   858   63%  2117
  20 Kasparov SPARC  20 MHz                  2210   31   -30   528   57%  2157
  20 Hiarcs Master 2.0  486/33 MHz           2210   46   -46   229   51%  2200
  22 Saitek RISC 2500 ARM2 14 MHz 128K       2199   24   -24   881   61%  2119
  23 Chess Machine Schroder 512K ARM2 16MHz  2198   28   -27   679   63%  2105
  24 MChess 1.1-1.71  486/33 MHz             2195   44   -40   326   74%  2017
  25 Chess Machine The King 512K ARM2 16MHz  2181   33   -32   461   57%  2135
  26 Mephisto Vancouver  68020 12 MHz        2164   25   -24   904   70%  2017
  27 Socrates 3.0  486/33 MHz                2151   49   -50   203   47%  2172
  28 Fritz 2.0  486/33 MHz                   2145   36   -36   383   53%  2124
  29 Mephisto Berlin  68 000 12 MHz          2125   26   -25   761   61%  2045
  30 Fidelity Elite  68030 32 MHz (vers.9)   2122   40   -37   372   73%  1952
  31 Mephisto Vancouver  68000 12 MHz        2102   23   -23   922   58%  2048
  32 Novag Sapphire H8 10 MHz                2091   35   -34   431   62%  2004
  33 Hiarcs Master 1.0  486/33 MHz           2075   48   -48   214   48%  2091
  34 Nimzo 2.2.1 486/33 MHz                  2039   46   -47   229   42%  2093
  35 Fritz 1.0  486/33 MHz                   2036   51   -51   188   52%  2023
  36 Zarkov 3.0 486/25-33 MHz                2035   46   -48   232   39%  2114
  37 Rex Chess 2.3  386/25-33 MHz            2030   65   -62   126   59%  1965
  38 Zarkov 2.5  386/25-33 MHz               2019   56   -53   168   61%  1940
  38 Kasparov Brute Force  H8 10 MHz         2019   25   -25   753   52%  2005
  40 Novag Diablo  68000 16 MHz              2006   22   -22  1000   44%  2052
  41 Fidelity Mach III  68000 16 MHz         1995   14   -14  2399   52%  1980
  42 Complete Chess System  486/33 MHz       1986   47   -47   221   47%  2008
  43 Mephisto MM 5  6502 5 MHz               1981   20   -20  1215   49%  1987
  44 Mephisto Polgar  6502 5 MHz             1973   17   -17  1693   42%  2033
  45 Mephisto Milano  6502  5 MHz            1961   26   -26   740   42%  2017
  46 Kasparov President/GK-2100 H8 10 MHz    1954   44   -43   258   53%  1930
  47 Chessmaster 3000  386/25-33 MHz         1934   68   -74   103   36%  2032
  48 Mephisto Amsterdam  68000 12 MHz        1926   22   -22  1020   58%  1871
  49 Kasparov GK-2000   H8 10 MHz            1898   29   -29   582   43%  1949
  50 Mephisto Modena  6502 4 MHz             1895   29   -30   555   44%  1936
  51 Psion Atari  68000 8 MHz                1882   18   -18  1487   44%  1928
  52 CXG Sphinx Galaxy  6502 4 MHz           1881   17   -18  1603   38%  1965
  53 Novag Ruby H8  10 MHz                   1878   30   -30   545   42%  1933
  54 Conchess Plymate Victoria 6502 5.5 MHz  1868   26   -27   701   40%  1941
  54 Saitek Turboking II  6502 5 MHz         1868   23   -24   906   38%  1954
  56 Saitek Kasparov Blitz                   1739   49   -51   202   41%  1800
  57 Chessmaster 2100 Amiga 68000            1686   65   -76   120   25%  1873
  58 Mephisto Europa                         1681   50   -52   190   42%  1739
  59 Chess Champion 2175 Atari/Amiga         1671   56   -62   157   30%  1820
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1 Genius 3.0 Pentium 90 MHz, 2431
Geniu3 486/66    1.5-3.5   MCPr40 486/66   10.5-9.5   Geniu2 486/50    4.5-3.5
Rebel6 486/66   12.5-7.5   CM30 King 2.0     15-5     CM30 Schr 3.1      3-1
CM4000 486/50    2.5-1.5   MCPr35 486/50   12.5-8.5   Fritz3 486/66   12.5-2.5
Kallis 486/50   17.5-2.5   Sapphire        10.5-0.5

 2 Genius 3.0 486/50-66 MHz, 2371
Genius 3 P90     3.5-1.5   MCPro 4.0 P90      9-11    MCPr40 486/66   12.5-9.5
Geniu2 486/50   11.5-8.5   Rebel6 486/66   20.5-13.5  CM30 King 2.0   11.5-8.5
CM4000 486/50   13.5-6.5   MCPr35 486/50   11.5-8.5   ChGen1 486/50     12-9
ChGen1 486/33   12.5-7.5   Kallis 486/50     12-8     Meph. RISC        20-5
RISC 2500          4-3     Chess M Schr      3-0     Lyon 68020      13.5-6.5
Fritz2 486/33   18.5-1.5   Lyon 68000      19.5-4.5   Vancou. 68000      9-2
Polgar 5 MHz      19-1

 3 MChess Pro 4.0 486/50-66 MHz, 2351
Genius 3 P90     9.5-10.5  Geniu3 486/66    9.5-12.5  Geniu2 486/50     10-10
Rebel6 486/66     10-10    CM30 King 2.0      2-3     CM4000 486/50   11.5-8.5
MCPr35 486/50     13-9     Gideon 486/50    4.5-2.5   ChGen1 486/50     13-7
Fritz3 486/66      7-6     ChGen1 486/33      9-3     Kallis 486/50   16.5-3.5
Lyon 68020       6.5-3.5   Fritz2 486/33     16-4     Berlin 68 000    7.5-3.5
Lyon 68000         3-3     Diablo 68000       4-0     Polgar 5 MHz       1-0

 4 Mephisto Genius 2.0  486/50-66 MHz, 2346
Genius 3 P90     3.5-4.5   Geniu3 486/66    8.5-11.5  MCPr40 486/66     10-10
Rebel6 486/66   13.5-6.5   CM30 King 2.0     20-22    CM30 Schr 3.1     14-6
CM4000 486/50      9-8     MCPr35 486/50     10-10    Gideon 486/50    5.5-7.5
ChGen1 486/50   11.5-8.5   MCPr31 486/50    5.5-2.5   Fritz3 486/66      1-0
Portor. 68030    2.5-2.5   Kallis 486/50     16-10    Meph. RISC      14.5-5.5
SPARC 20 MHz    15.5-4.5   Hiarc2 486/33     13-7     RISC 2500         21-10
Chess M Schr      20-4     Chess M. King     18-4     Lyon 68020      14.5-5.5
Socr 3 486/33    8.5-2.5   M Chess 386        3-1     Berlin 68 000     16-4
Vancou. 68000     16-4     Diablo 68000      18-2     Mach III           9-1
Zark26 386/25      1-0

 5 Rebel 6.0 486/50-66 MHz, 2320
Genius 3 P90     7.5-12.5  MCPro 4.0 P90      2-2     Geniu3 486/66   13.5-20.5
MCPr40 486/66     10-10    Geniu2 486/50    6.5-13.5  CM30 King 2.0    2.5-5.5
MCPr35 486/50   13.5-6.5   ChGen1 486/50     11-9     Fritz3 486/66   11.5-10.5
Berlin Pro        12-8     ChGen1 486/33    5.5-7.5   Kallis 486/50     14-9
MCPr31 486/33    7.5-2.5   Meph. RISC        14-6     SPARC 20 MHz       9-11
Hiarc2 486/33    5.5-4.5   RISC 2500       16.5-3.5   Chess M Schr       7-3
Chess M. King      7-3     Lyon 68020        15-5     Socr 3 486/33      9-1
Fritz2 486/33      7-3     Berlin 68 000     17-3     Vancou. 68000     17-3
Almeria 68020      4-0     Fritz1 486/33    9.5-0.5   Diablo 68000    18.5-1.5
CCS  486/33        9-1     Polgar 5 MHz      17-1

 6 Ch.Machine 30 MHz King 2.0 aggr/R30 off, 2313
Genius 3 P90       5-15    Geniu3 486/66    8.5-11.5  MCPr40 486/66      3-2
Geniu2 486/50     22-20    Rebel6 486/66    5.5-2.5   CM30 Schr 3.1   11.5-8.5
CM4000 486/50    9.5-10.5  MCPr35 486/50     12-8     Gideon 486/50     13-7
ChGen1 486/50     14-6     Genius 68 030     17-9     MCPr31 486/50   12.5-7.5
Fritz3 486/66    3.5-1.5   Berlin Pro        11-9     ChGen1 486/33   13.5-6.5
MCPr31 486/33     11-9     Meph. RISC      13.5-6.5   SPARC 20 MHz      12-8
Hiarc2 486/33   13.5-6.5   RISC 2500        7.5-2.5   Vancou. 68020   11.5-8.5
Socr 3 486/33     16-4     Fritz2 486/33   14.5-5.5   Lyon 68000        70-21
Vancou. 68000     14-6     Hiarc1 486/33     17-3     Mach IV 68020     62-18
Nimzo  486/33     18-2     Zark30 486/33     13-7     Roma 68020      18.5-1.5
Brute Force       17-3     Diablo 68000    17.5-3.5   Mach III        19.5-0.5
CCS  486/33     15.5-1.5   Meph. MM 5         2-0     Polgar 5 MHz      18-2
Meph. Milano    18.5-1.5   Super Exp. C      45-5

 7 Chess Machine 30-32 MHz Schrder 3.1, 2310
Genius 3 P90       1-3     Geniu2 486/50      6-14    CM30 King 2.0    8.5-11.5
CM4000 486/50      9-11    MCPr35 486/50   10.5-9.5   Gideon 486/50   14.5-5.5
ChGen1 486/50     14-7     MCPr31 486/50     14-15    ChGen1 486/33     11-9
Kallis 486/50     13-7     MCPr31 486/33      3-1     Vancou. 68030    7.5-3.5
Meph. RISC      13.5-6.5   SPARC 20 MHz    13.5-6.5   Hiarc2 486/33    1.5-1.5
RISC 2500       12.5-7.5   Chess M. King    0.5-0.5   Vancou. 68020     12-8
Socr 3 486/33      6-0     Fritz2 486/33   16.5-3.5   Vancou. 68000   18.5-1.5
Hiarc1 486/33    2.5-1.5   Nimzo  486/33   15.5-4.5   Zark30 486/33   18.5-1.5
Brute Force     18.5-1.5   Diablo 68000      15-2     Mach III          17-3
Meph. MM 5        18-2     Polgar 5 MHz      19-1     Meph. Milano    17.5-2.5

 8 Chessmaster 4000 486/50-66 MHz, 2304
Genius 3 P90     1.5-2.5   Geniu3 486/66    6.5-13.5  MCPr40 486/66    8.5-11.5
Geniu2 486/50      8-9     CM30 King 2.0   10.5-9.5   CM30 Schr 3.1     11-9
Gideon 486/50      2-1     Berlin Pro       0.5-0.5   Kallis 486/50      3-5
SPARC 20 MHz      11-9     RISC 2500         18-12    Chess M Schr   17.5-2.5
Chess M. King   19.5-2.5   Lyon 68020        11-9     Berlin 68 000     15-5
Lyon 68000      16.5-3.5   Vancou. 68000   16.5-3.5   Nimzo  486/33   17.5-2.5
Brute Force       11-4     Diablo 68000    16.5-3.5   Mach III           2-0
Polgar 5 MHz      26-4     Meph. Milano      20-0

 9 MChess Pro 3.5  486/50-66 MHz, 2298
Genius 3 P90     8.5-12.5  Geniu3 486/66    8.5-11.5  MCPr40 486/66      9-13
Geniu2 486/50     10-10    Rebel6 486/66    6.5-13.5  CM30 King 2.0      8-12
CM30 Schr 3.1    9.5-10.5  Gideon 486/50   10.5-12.5  ChGen1 486/50     10-7
Portor. 68030   13.5-6.5   Kallis 486/50     11-9     Meph. RISC       2.5-1.5
SPARC 20 MHz       9-11    Hiarc2 486/33     11-9     RISC 2500       20.5-9.5
Chess M Schr   12.5-7.5   Chess M. King   15.5-4.5   Lyon 68020        15-5
Socr 3 486/33      7-3     Fritz2 486/33      1-0     Berlin 68 000     14-6
Vancou. 68000     18-2     Diablo 68000    17.5-2.5   Mach III        16.5-1.5
Polgar 5 MHz      38-2

 10 Mephisto Gideon Pro  486/50-66 MHz, 2286
MCPr40 486/66    2.5-4.5   Geniu2 486/50    7.5-5.5   CM30 King 2.0      7-13
CM30 Schr 3.1    5.5-14.5  CM4000 486/50      1-2     MCPr35 486/50   12.5-10.5
ChGen1 486/50    3.5-2.5   MCPr31 486/50    0.5-1.5   Berlin Pro         8-1
ChGen1 486/33      4-6     Portor. 68030      9-11    MCPr31 486/33      6-1
Meph. RISC       3.5-4.5   SPARC 20 MHz      13-8     Hiarc2 486/33   13.5-5.5
RISC 2500       12.5-7.5   Chess M Schr      3-0     Chess M. King   12.5-7.5
Lyon 68020      14.5-5.5   Socr 3 486/33   15.5-5.5   M Chess 386        1-1
Lyon 68000         2-0     Vancou. 68000   15.5-4.5   Almeria 68020    4.5-1.5
Nimzo  486/33      2-0     Zark30 486/33    8.5-2.5   Diablo 68000    16.5-3.5
Mach III           5-0     Meph. MM 5        17-3     Polgar 5 MHz    19.5-0.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The list was posted with the following request:
"The Swedish Rating list may be quoted in other magazines, but we insist that this will be done in a correct way!  We expect, that not
only the rating figures, but also the number of games and the margin of error
will be quoted.

This list is primarily made for the members of the Swedish Chess Computer Association.  The details
of the testwork are described in our Swedish magazine PLY, where you for instance can find the names
of the tester for every single result!  Note that all games are played on the tournament level -
40/2 hrs. "


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).


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 4000 (2304 ELO) by Software Toolworks <[e-mail]>
    No copy protection. No limited number of installs. Auto annotation.
CD ROM version for windows available. Approximately $40. Incredibly good cost
to game quality ratio!
 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. Reviews will be incorporated and
expanded here as I more fully evaluate the programs. Chessbase for Windows is
the first program which has an expanded feature description and mini-review.
Chess Assistant will follow, with an improved description and than others as
available.  Sincere thanks to both ICS and ChessBase USA for makeing their
programs available for evaluation.


Bookup from Chess Laboratories, P.O. Box 3541, S. Pasadena, CA 91031.
818-799-7567. Version 8 is now available. Version 7 for MS-DOS costs $99 and
version 1.3 for MacOS costs $59. Online demo is available at
caissa.onenet.net. This demo may read any version 8 database and includes a
subset of the e4 openings.

ChessAssistant 1.4 (MS-DOS); $195.  Free conversion utilities for PGN, NICBase,
ChessBase formats. Free functional demo available. The demo works on up to 250 games.
Get the demo! This functional demo will give you an idea of the power of this
program.  It is available directly from ICS, Seattle, Washington and is also
found online at caissa.onenet.net. The online name is capgn.exe. (550,000k+of
selfextracting file). International Chess Enterprises, Inc., P.O.  Box 19457
Seattle, WA 98109 1-800-26-CHESS or 206-448-1066.  5,000 games included in
basic. One of the outstanding features is the "tree", from which all of the
paths leading into and out of a particular board position are displayed. The
percentages wins for white, draws, wins for black are displayed for each move
, and the same statistics may be toggled on for that particular board
position. Header and position searches. Easy easy to use, the interface and
menu is quite intuitive. When entering your own games, a move guessing
algorithm is used by CA and is extremely helpful. May be linked to Zarkov,
Chess Genius, Fritz or HIARCS for analyis assistance.  1995 subscription
12,000 games sent every 2 months $150.  350,000 games on CDROM $250. This is
truely an amazingly large number of games.  Annotated Game Collections:
include CA-Light Ruy Lopez (Spanish), Sicilian Chelyabinsk (...e5,
Lasker/Pelikan), King's Indian Averbakh, Sicilian Rossolimo - $15 each. Toll
free support is available 5 days per week. (longer review of CA coming next
month)

ChessBase 4.0 (MS-DOS only); basic $295, deluxe $395, super mega -
$595. 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
301-797-6269.  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.

ChessBase for Windows (Windows 3.1); $295 basic. deluxe $395. Currently there
is a special available with the basic ChessBase for Windows: 200,000 games
are included at no extra charge. Upgrade from CB 4.0 for DOS is $80. Analysis
module $60.  ChessBase USA, P.O.  Box 133, Hagerstown, MD 21741.  301-733-7541
(orders only:  800-524-3527); fax [phone]. No demo is available at this
time. Hopefully one will be made soon so the curious may view the
revolutionary features of this program.  This is the only chess database
program currently available to run directly in Microsoft Windows. Note that
Windows requires a fast computer. I would recommend a 486 50DX at a minumum,
but those with more tolerance for waiting than I could use a slower machine.
The quick start manual recommends a minimum of a 486-33, although it will
run on a 386. VGA graphics are viewable at 640 x 480 although the manual
recommends 800 x 600. (Maybe they have a 17" monitor!). It is an exceptional
program and makes full use of the features of windows.  Multiple games may be
viewed simultaneously, each one may be miniaturized so that 6 or more games
may be visible, each with independent controls. The same game may be viewed at
different stages. It is easy to edit or add alternate lines and comments,
annotations or "?", "!", etc to any game in your database.  Just begin using
your mouse to enter the moves or click on the appropriate icon to add
comments.  You do not have to switch to any other submenu area.  This is an
incredible convenience and an amazing time saver.  The game may then be saved
either in the original database or an alternate or "training" database.
Several games may be combined. If you are studying a particular opening and
want to combine 4 or 5 games that exemplify this opening, you may combine them
together as alternate lines of each other.  Highlight the games, press the
enter key and the games will be combined together. ECO type viewing of the
lines is available one mouse click away.  Searching and sorting on a variety
of fields is available. Classification by ECO is one Control-C away.  Besides
the oridinary position search a feature called "find novelty" features a
modified position search which will find games that are similar to the game
that you are viewing or have just entered.  It will search the currently open
database.  The printing and publishing features are exceptional, and like
other truetype windows printing programs, extremely easy to use. If your
windows has already been configured for your printer there is no set up
necessary. At this time it comes with a "quick start manual" which is adequate
to get you going. An undocumented feature is Alternate-F1, which sets an internal
toggle to floats a bubble over the icons telling what each does as your mouse
passes over it. ChessBase magazine includes approximately 1,000 games every second month, 25%
- 50% annotated, along with a section on tactics, endgames, dramatic master
errors and an opening study. These may be added to your database choices
within CBW. $115. (CBM Express $225 includes CB Magazine and monthly disks
totalling 16,000 games per year).

Chess Genius:  Written in 386 assembler.$149 for Genius 3, or $75
for the Genius 2 to 3 upgrade. This price includes airmail registered delivery
from PC Solutions. Local currentcy: 90 pounds + 2.50 pounds Post & Packing -
(first class or airmail registered delivery) There is an automatic info
service for Chess Genius - just email:- [e-mail] and you will
get an info sheet back.  Having just been set up, it is primarily  an
advert-sheet at this time, but it will be expanded to include general new &
interesting stuff as time goes on. Also contact
[e-mail] for direct questions.


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.
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.

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