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Text File | 1991-11-09 | 23KB | 646 lines

██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒ ▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██ ChessMAGIC! ██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒ (c)1991 ▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██ Knightware/Bud Bradley ██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒ ▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██ in association with ██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒ Decibel BBS ▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██▒▒██ USER'S REFERENCE MANUAL Distributed by KnightWare 465 Ridgedale Way Lawrenceville, GA 30244 (404) 978-2893 Decibel BBS Atlanta, GA Tom Brady, Sysop (404) 288-6858 1200/2400/9600 (HST) (404) 284-1152 1200/2400 (MNP/V42) Copyright (c)1991 Bud Bradley/KnightWare All Rights Reserved I N T R O D U C T I O N This document was written as a navigational aid for ChessMAGIC! users and is a subset of the master "Sysop's Reference Manual." This manual should benefit all ChessMAGIC! users, whether their favorite BBS is running the unregistered demo shareware package or the full registered version. Those of you able to play on a fully registered ChessMAGIC! system, will enjoy the many added benefits and features described. Many of the standard features available in ChessMAGIC! are unavailable in other forms of BBS chess programs. ChessMAGIC! will provide you with many enjoyable hours of chess competition against computer opponents, as well as your fellow (human) BBS opponents. Depending upon how your Sysop decides to configure his ChessMAGIC! system, you will be able to participate in various gaming areas (i.e. Rated, Unrated, Teams, Tournaments, etc.). ChessMAGIC!, unlike other BBS chess programs, uses the same algorithm for calculating its ratings as does the USCF. These ratings will be consistent throughout each and every one of your rated chess areas. Unlike ChessMAGIC!, other BBS chess programs maintain no master records, so they are unable to provide for maximum ratings efficiency and accuracy. ChessMAGIC! is highly integrated in the fact that it carries only 1 rating per player, no matter how many rated areas there are. All player data is maintained in a centralized data base and shared by all rated chess areas. This provides a more realistic rating system per board. More good news is, all areas are accessible from the ChessMAGIC! menu. No more need for a sysop to set up different door menu options. - Page i - A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s KnightWare wishes to express our sincere thanks to Decibel BBS and a few of its members (Larry Phillips, Al Schrank, Jay Eidex, Warren De Mers and especially Tom Brady), for their suggestions, patience and encouragement. - Page ii - T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s Section Title Page 1.0 ALL ABOUT THE MENU 1 1.1 Menu Use and Option Descriptions 2 2.0 PLAYING AREA 3 2.1 Making Moves 3 2.2 Board Commands/Options 4 2.3 NotePad & Message Editors 5 3.0 USER vs THE COMPUTER! 6 - Page iii - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.0 ALL ABOUT THE MENU ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shown below, the top box of the main menu provides the ChessMAGIC! credits, registration status/name, current chess play area and whether a single or multinode version. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ KnightWare ChessMAGIC! Version 1.34 (c)1991 │ │ *UNREGISTERED COPY* │ │ CHESS AREA TITLE Single Node Version │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The menu selections are shown in the next three boxes. To select a command, enter the designated letter and press <ENTER>. ┌────[ GAMES ]─────┐ ┌─────[ STATS ]──────┐ ┌─────[ MISC ]──────┐ │ A. Play Game(s) │ │ H. Ratings │ │ O. Help │ │ B. Start Game(s) │ │ I. Win/Loss % │ │ P. Information │ │ C. Join Game(s) │ │ J. Game History │ │ Q. COLOR to Mono │ │ D. View Game(s) │ │ K. Player List │ │ R. Design Board │ │*E. Online Game │ │ L. Who's Online │ │ S. Select Area │ │ F. Play Computer │ │ │ │ │ │*G. Game Inquiry │ │ (*=Available Soon) │ │ X. EXIT TO BBS │ └──────────────────┘ └────────────────────┘ └───────────────────┘ The last box shows player name, statistics and current game status. The demo version will not update the wins, losses or draw categories. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Wins: Losses: Draws: │ │ │ │ Accesses: Last Access: Your move in Games │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ - Page 1 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.1 Menu Use and Option Descriptions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ GAMES ] Commands A. Play Game(s) - Used for actual game play. A list of your current games along with play status (i.e. flagged if your move) is shown. * B. Start Game(s) - Used to open new games as white or black. An existing opponent may also be specified, thus reserving games to prevent otherwise open joining by any player. * C. Join Game(s) - Used to join open games that are awaiting opponents. D. View Game(s) - View any game currently in progress. E. Online Game - (under development -- unavailable in demo) * F. Play Computer - Used to open new games against any of 10 computer players who range in difficulty levels (i.e. 1 is easiest, 10 is most difficult). Similar to command B, you open games as white or black, but you then specify the player by number. G. Game Inquiry - Used to view and/or download completed games. (under development -- unavailable in demo) * NOTE: Upon using one of these commands, you must use command A to actually play in your games. [ STATS ] Commands H. Ratings - Prepares/displays a ratings report. I. Win/Loss % - Same as above, but sorted by percentages. J. Game History - Lists completed games detailing wins and losses. K. Player List - Displays complete list of current players. L. Who's Online - Displays status of anyone currently online. [ MISC ] Commands O. Help - Displays detailed menu information describing commands and their functions. P. Information - Product credits and registration information. Q. Color Setting - Current display setting, will toggle through three possible choices: COLOR to Mono MONO to Laptop LAPTOP to Color R. Design Board - Displays game board in current color and tile configuration, allowing user to customize white and black squares to suit their own tastes. S. Select Area - Used to move from one gaming area to another, based on Sysop configuration. (demo version only provides two areas) X. Exit to BBS - Exits ChessMAGIC! and returns to BBS. - Page 2 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.0 PLAYING AREA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The playing board is drawn using ANSI graphics. White pieces are white letters on a black background and black pieces are black letters on a white background. As shown, the pieces are letter equivalents: P = Pawn R = Rook N = Knight Q = Queen B = Bishop K = King Game data displayed includes game number, current move number, player names, ratings and clock times. The player whose move it is, is flagged with a "->" beside that player's name. The options box shows the available playing area commands. The status box will display various status messages when needed such as White Wins, Game Drawn, Message Waiting, etc. These messages will be highlighted and blinking, so as not to be overlooked. All moves and commands are entered in the designated "Enter Command/Move" box. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.1 Making moves ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Algebraic notation (i.e. e2-e4) is REQUIRED when making ChessMAGIC! moves. A delimiter is also required in move entry, consisting of any character (i.e. e2 e4, d2;d4, b1=c3, etc.). The only exception to algebraic notation is when castling. In that case, you MUST move as o-o (king-side) or o-o-o (queen-side). Use lowercase letters, NOT the numeral 0! After entry of your command/move, press <ENTER> and the system will perform upon your request. Invalid commands/moves will not be allowed, nor acted upon. - Page 3 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.2 Board Commands/Options ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C - Used to display white & black list of captured pieces and their corresponding point values. D - Used to offer your opponent a draw, but only after you have made your move. Until your opponent makes his next move, the draw offer remains. Once your opponent has moved, the draw offer is automatically removed. R - Used to resign your game. T - Used to take back your current move. This command is not available during games played against computer opponents. I - Used to invert (i.e. reverse) the game board. K - Used to kill a waiting game. If someone reserves a game and has specified you as their opponent, but you don't wish to participate, this option is available. The game will be deleted without affecting either ratings or statistics (i.e. it never existed). L - Used to display complete list of game moves. M - Used to enter a message to your opponent (described below). N - Used to go to the [N]ext available game whether in view or play mode. When in play mode, this will take you to next game in which it is your move. By specifying a valid game number, you can go directly to that game without stepping through several others: n34 (will step directly to game #34) P - Used to access ChessMAGIC!'s NotePad. This will enable you to enter private notes (unseen by your opponent) to yourself as an aid in the current game. (See next page for full description.) F - Used to refresh the game screen in case something such as line noise causes things to get jumbled. Q - Used to quit from play mode and return to ChessMAGIC!'s main menu. X - Used to exit ChessMAGIC! and return to BBS. * SPACE - Used to abort the computer's "thinking" process. * S - Used to resume the aborted computer "thinking" process mentioned above. * NOTE: These two commands are only available when playing against a computer opponent. ** Z - LOCAL OPTION ONLY! Press uppercase Z, followed by <ENTER>. If it's White's move when first Viewing a game, this option is automatically enabled (i.e. local play accepted without Z press). Use this option for each subsequent play, or IF it's Black's move when you first View a game. This option inverts/reverses board positions, so current player is at bottom of the game board. ** NOTE: The Z option is available ONLY in local mode. Use the main menu's D (View) option to use it in any/all games. BE CAREFUL when viewing games, or you could have some upset users! - Page 4 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.3 NotePad & Message Editors ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ NotePad ] Each player has their own NotePad for keeping game notes within each and every game. These notes are completely private and unviewable by their opponents or other observers. [ Messages ] Public notes can be entered by each game player to their opponents. Viewable by everyone, only the players of that game are able to access the editing features. Users are notified of waiting mail. When selected to read/enter a message, additional message entry options are displayed in the "status" window: ┌─[ Status ]────────────────────────┐ │ [L]ong [S]hort [V]iew [A]bort MSG │ └───────────────────────────────────┘ L - used to enter a long message, described below S - used to enter a single line message V - used to view messages A - used to abort message mode, returning to play mode Long Message Entry/Edit - The game board will clear and in its place will be a message entry area for up to 23 lines of text. Simply begin typing, hitting <ENTER> at end of each line. Don't worry about typos, those can be corrected by using the special edit features. However, the backspace is destructive for immediate corrections, if you wish. The <ESC> key can be pressed anytime to bring up the following command options: Commands: [A]bort, [E]dit, [H]elp, [S]ave or [C]ontinue These commands are explained as follows: A - Used to abort the current message entry session without saving anything. - Page 5 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.3 NotePad & Message Editors {continued} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ E - Used to enter cursor placement mode for editing typos and such. <NumLock> MUST be ON in order for cursor positioning to work. Special editing commands are available in this mode and are explained below. Cursor movement corresponds to your numeric keypad as follows: Cursor LEFT = 4 or Left Arrow Cursor RIGHT = 6 or Right Arrow Cursor DOWN = 2 or Down Arrow Cursor UP = 8 or Up Arrow Other editing functions are performed with additional keys on your numeric keypad: Insert space = 0 or <Ins> Delete to end-of-line = 1 or <End> Delete character = . or <Del> Cursor to "home" position = 7 or <Home> Delete entire screen = 9 or <PgUp> The Q command is special in that it exits from the cursor/edit mode and returns to the command line options. H - Used to display helpful information about editor use. S - Used to save message and return to the game screen. The opponent is automatically notified of the awaiting note. C - Used to pick up where the cursor was left for continuing with the message entry process. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.0 USER vs THE COMPUTER! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With the 10 levels of play offered in ChessMagic!'s built-in computer chess program, you have the choice of playing a beginner, a seasoned veteran or anything in between! The advantage of playing against a computer opponent is that you are able to play in real-time mode, rather than having to wait for someone to phone in and move after you move. If your time is about to expire, you don't have to finish the game that session! Simply exit and the computer will be patiently awaiting your return to pick up where you left off! ChessMAGIC!'s chess program also utilizes a library of book openings. If it recognizes the opening you're playing, it will respond immediately. - Page 6 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.0 USER vs THE COMPUTER! {continued} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The computer players are listed below by skill level. Freddy (Level 1) is the easiest to beat, while Ace (Level 10) is the most difficult. The times shown are approximate "thinking" times needed by each player level when other than book moves are made against them. The times may vary according to CPU type and number of nodes, but were arrived at on an i486-25. The test results were based on all games set up and first three Black moves (ignore White's moves) as follows: Black = Human White = Computer 1 = c7c6 n/a 2 = g8f6 n/a 3 = d8a5 n/a Level Name Rate Longest "Think" Time ----- ----------------- ---- -------------------- 1 Freddy Fish 1320 9 sec 2 Harvey Ham 1340 20 sec 3 Pawn Patzer 1360 24 sec 4 Rook Rogers 1380 27 sec 5 Woody Woodpusher 1400 3 min 39 sec 6 Sir Lancelot 1420 4 min 22 sec 7 The Archbishop 1440 4 min 37 sec 8 Queen Lizzie 1460 5 min 37 sec 9 King Fischer 1480 6 min 29 sec 10 Ace Decibel 1500 7 min 08 sec The computer players initialize with varying rates, since they are known to have varying skill levels. NOTE: When the computer decides its beaten, it will flash a "Mate" message in the status window and you win. Keep in mind, the first four computer levels aren't deep thinkers... Users will begin with a default rate of 1500. The registered version includes special utilities to enable the Sysop to modify ratings as necessary (i.e. may wish to allow USCF ratings to begin). The computer players will gain/lose rating points (in a rated area) just like their human counterparts. However, when a user has a rating of 200 points or higher than that of the computer opponent being played, the outcome of the game will never affect either of their ratings. - Page 8 -