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Current Shareware 1994 January
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SHAR194.ISO
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takenote.zip
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NOTE.HLP
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1993-06-11
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9KB
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175 lines
T A K E N O T E
Welcome to TAKENOTE, a Chess study tool. TAKENOTE allows you to
study several variations of an opening or go through the notes of
Chess game without losing the original position. The left button
allows you to move the pieces on the board and make captures just
like in a normal Chess program. The right button was used in
earlier versions of Takenote to bring up the menu; no longer
applicable. This version (V.4) maintains the menu to the right of
the board at all times; an added convenience.
TO SCROLL THIS HELP FILE USE THE DOWN ARROW TO SCROLL DOWN THROUGH
THE FILE AND THE UP ARROW TO SCROLL BACK UP. PRESS "Q" TO EXIT.
U s i n g T h e M e n u
All menu functions can be accessed by moving the cursor to the far
right of the screen and clicking the left button when the cursor
is over the appropriate icon (the icons are the same characters
that you pressed on the keyboard in the earlier versions; e.g.,
D displays the move tree). When incrementing or decrementing
lines you have to put the cursor to the immediate right of the
arrow icon; put it right over the other icons.
You can still access the icons through the keyboard: just move
the cursor to the menu section (anything to the right of the chess
board), so the program knows you want a menu selection, and then
press the appropriate key.
The gameflow keys can still be accessed only through the keyboard.
When using this new version I found it too easy to hit the wrong
icon for game flow so I left them as key only. I'll have to make
a major reconfiguration of the display to make the gameflow icons
safe to access; V.5.
The following refers to "keys" but means icons too.
THE ARROW KEYS - The up arrow key increments the line number.
I.E., If you are going through an opening or game
and wish to research another variation, press the
up arrow key. E.G., say you are studying the
Scotch, 1.E4 E5 2.NF3 NC6 3.D4 ED, and you want
to add the Scotch Gambit as a side variation to
your notes. Press the up arrow key, this will
increment the line number by one and allow you
to keep entering moves; 4.BC4 BC5 5.C3 DC, etc.
when you are through studying the gambit line (or
whatever line you've been looking at) return to
the menu and press the down arrow key.
The down arrow key will return you to the
previous line and reset the position on the board
to the beginning of the line. To forward through
the line you need to toggle the keyboard on by
pressing the "K" key.
GAMEFLOW COMMANDS: "F" - forwards through the present line
one node (one half - move) at a
time.
"B" - backsteps through present line. If
there is a line that feeds into the
the present line (true for all
lines except the main line) then
you will backstep into it when you
get to it.
"L" - go to the end of the Line. If you
want to get to the end of the
current line without having to "F"
all the way through it, press "F"
to "play" the first node (half
move) and then press "L" to get all
the way to the end of the line. The
pieces move on the board like some-
body was playing really fast.
"T" - Delete the move you just made;
i.e., move take back. If you are
replaying a line and delete a move
then all of the moves after it are
deleted too.
OTHER MENU COMMANDS - pretty self explanatory, they are
S - Save the present game in a file.
You are prompted for the name of the
file. It can be restored by
G - You are prompted for the name of the
file. If the file is there it loaded
into memory, and can be forwarded through
with the keyboard command "F", etc.
D - Prompts you for the line number
and allows you to scroll down
the listing of that line.
I - Displays what lines have
already been played with information
about what was the preceeding line and
what was the last nodenumber played
before switching lines. THIS IS VITAL
INFORMATION. You are allowed 100 lines
and a total of 1000 nodes.
R - In case things don't look right
on the board, press the 'R' key
from the the menu. The screen
will be refreshed to the
to the current position stored
in memory. This command is
only accessible through the
keyboard, just like the
gameflow commands.
X - Exits the program. Prompts you for
another game. NOTE: If you want to
save a game you must do so before
exiting. If you answer "Y" to the
prompt for another game the current
game is erased.
The line numbers are incremented from the highest line number recorded
so far. If you branch off from line 0 (the main line) to line 1, then
return to line 0, play a few moves, and then branch off to line 2 then
decrementing line numbers will put you in line 1. You will have to
decrement the line number one more time to get to line 0, or just
enter the line number from the menu. If you are not sure what is
stored in a given line just display it with option "D" from the menu.
V.5 Enhancement: Text Entry
Now you can enter text notes for each move you make. Just click the
right mouse button. If the present game does not have a name you will
be prompted for one; enter the full file name, e.g., newgame.gam
You have to enter the three character extension, but whatever you name
it when it comes time to save your game the extension will be saved as
gam. If no notes already exist for the move in question then the
screen to the right of the chess board will be filled with asterisks,
the text cursor will be placed at the top of the file.
TO NAVIGATE THROUGH THE TEXT DISPLAY:
CTRL-D cursors down through the file; i.e., scrolls up.
CTRL-U cursors up through the file; i.e., scroll down.
CTRL-Q quits the text screen brings the menu back up
down arrow - moves text cursor down current screen
up arrow - moves text cursor up the current screen
BS key back spaces on current line.
V.6 Enhancement : Legality Check
I added a legal move generator to this version. When you make a
move the move generator creates a list of legal replies and then beeps
. After you here the beep you'll see the node number increment on the
menu screen. If your next move is not on this legal move list then
Takenote retracts your move and then lights up the squares that you
legaly move your piece to (for 3 seconds, with filled in semi-circles,
then erases the semi-circles). This feature can also be used as a
tutorial; just move a piece off and then back on its original square
to get the squares you can move to too light up.
If you use this program in your chess endeavors please send $30.00 to
David Katelansky
9802 Forum Park
Apartment 3197
Houston, Texas 77036
Any comments, criticisms, suggestions, requests, complaints, etc.,
can be forwarded to the above address.
Good Luck In Your Chess Studies,
David Katelansky