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------------------------------------------------------------ CHESSEDT.EXE ------------------------------------------------------------ Version 6.00 Stephen M. Wharry Congratulations: You have just purchased the first, and as far as I know the only, PERSONAL chess database-analysis- editor program on the market. What's that???? You didn't purchase it, you picked it up on a bulletin board or CompuServe??? WELL, hurry right out, put $25 in an envelope, and entrust it to the US Mail to be delivered to: ------------------------------------------------------------ Stephen Wharry 4842 Clearview Circle Bartlesville, OK 74006 ------------------------------------------------------------ You conscience will continue to bug you until you PAY FOR YOUR COPY of this wonderful program. CHESSEDT.EXE is being distributed on the shareware concept in that it is not copy protected and you are free to distribute copies to your friends. However, if you are using this program, you are obligated to pay for it. ------------------------------------------------------------ Note: To those blessed souls who have actually paid for their copy of CHESSEDT, ignore my ramblings about money. My policy, unlike MICROSOFT, is "Pay once, Never pay again." ------------------------------------------------------------ System requirements MSDOS (PCDOS) 3.x or greater is best, though most of the program will run on earlier versions. A minimum of 256K is necessary. Recommended is 512K. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 2 CHESSEDT.EXE 1 System requirements 1 History 4 Features of CHESSEDT 5 Getting Started 7 Automatic installation 7 Manual installation 7 CHESSEDT Options 8 Using CHESSEDT 8 Filenames and Directories 9 Filenames 9 Files types 11 Quit 12 File 12 Open - File 13 Save - File 14 Dir(ectory) - File 14 Purge - File 15 Headings - File 15 Edit 16 Quit - Edit 16 New - Edit 16 Heading - Edit 17 Game - Edit 19 Inputting the moves, the scoresheet 20 Terminating moves. 22 (Q)uit - Game - Edit 22 (A)nnotation - Game - Edit 22 Reviewing/Editing Annotations 24 (C)aptured pieces - Game - Edit 24 (G)oto move n - Game - Edit 25 (J)ump to move n - Game - Edit 25 (S)witching notation - Game - Edit 25 (T)urn board - Game - Edit 26 (I)nsert move - Game - Edit 26 (D)elete move - Game - Edit 26 (M)emorize position - Game - Edit 26 (N)ew game - Game - Edit 26 Append - Edit 26 Board - Edit 27 Exit - Board - Edit 27 Clear board - Board - Edit 28 Toggle eraser - Board - Edit 28 Switch colors - Board - Edit 28 Document - Edit 28 (Q)uit - Document - Edit 30 (N)ew - Document - Edit 30 (S)kip - Document - Edit 30 (M)emorize - Document - Edit 30 (R)estore - Document - Edit 30 (B)oard edit - Document - Edit 31 CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 3 Print 31 Selection of an output device 31 Game - Print 32 Score - Print 33 Board - Print 33 Postal - Print 33 Captured Pieces - Print 33 Stats (Statistics) 34 (Q)uit - Stats 34 (A)ssemble all - Stats 34 (T)ournament - Stats 35 (S)core - Stats 35 (O)pening - Stats 36 (C)olor - Stats 36 (P)layer/opponent - Stats 36 (D)ate - Stats 36 (R)atings - Stats 37 (N)ame/owner - Stats 37 (G)o - Stats 38 Utility 39 Options - Utility 39 Board Position Database - Utility 42 Building your own database entries 43 Quit - Board DB - Utility 43 Browse - Board DB - Utility 44 Quit - Browse - Board DB - Utility 44 Next - Browse - Board DB - Utility 44 Load - Browse - Board DB - Utility 45 Find - Board DB - Utility 45 Edit board - Board DB - Utility 45 ASCII Conversions - Utility 45 bg and eg - ASCII Conversions - Utility 46 bh and eh - ASCII Conversions - Utility 46 ba and ea - ASCII Conversions - Utility 47 DOS Shell 47 If you have problems 48 APPENDIX I 49 APPENDIX II 50 ALGEBRAIC NOTATION 50 DESCRIPTIVE NOTATION 51 CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 4 History Before you get tied up in learning all about CHESSEDT, let me give you a history lesson. (No it isn't required. You may safely skip this section). This program was first written in BASIC on a SINCLAR ZX-81 when I began playing postal chess. It kept track of my postal games as separate files and checked the moves for notation errors. Unfortunately, it didn't catch the ones I wrote on the postcards. Shucks, lost a few of those. Stupid computer! As I graduated to an ATARI 800-XL (boy color and everything) the program was enlarged to allow what is best described as a compilation of game statistics. It also graduated to using graphic chess characters rather than alphabetical characters as the pieces. The compilation of statistics came about from an idea planted in my brain by Andy Soltis in one of his Chess Life columns. GM Soltis suggested that chessplayers often have misconceptions as to their strengths and weaknesses. For example: John Doe may think he plays the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian well as black, but does terrible against it as white. In reality John Doe has terrible results whenever he gets into a Najdorf Sicilian, regardless of the color. (I know, I play it against him ALL the time!!!) GM Soltis suggested we list our games, openings, color allocations, and really study which openings are more suited to our style of play. Check to see how well we do as white or black. Is there really a difference in how we do against class A players versus Experts? Well, since my chess editor already kept track of the openings and my results, it only took a few (????) lines of code to pull those files up and sort them into some kind of table. Miraculously, I could now find out what openings I played and what my results were with them. My use of this editor/statistics compiler quickly branched from postal chess games into tournament games. For several years, every evening in a far corner of the house you could hear the 'boot-up' of an ATARI 800-XL in preparation for an evening of postal chess. And, after every tournament, you could hear the same beeping noise as tournament games were entered into the computer. In 1987, I finally broke down and entered the world of IBM and IBM clone's. With the purchase of an IMS 286 operating at 10 MHz, a copy of Microsoft Quickbasic and a mouse, I CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 5 started the long process of converting this program to its third computer host, the results you are about to see. The first release of CHESSEDT (July 1988) featured text only for the playing board and pieces. However it did contain the essence of all you are about to see. The next release in November of 1988 corrected many of the bugs from the first release, added graphic support, other notations beside English algebraic, file conversion utilities, a board editor, and improved menus and text editors. This newest version adds postal support, mouse support, international notation, jump to move command, improved directories, captured pieces printout, a document editor, autoload from the command line, MS windows support, check for checks, and a number of other improvements. Well enough history for now. Onto bigger and better things. (Let's see.... If they read the above history, they're probably thinking to themselves, 'Boy, I bet he spent a lot of long hours working on this program. He probably didn't get to bed till late for months on end. I really should send him some money for this program!!!' Yes I did. This program took over 6000 lines of code! And I really would appreciate it if you would become a registered user.) Features of CHESSEDT By now you are asking yourself, what are the features of this great program? Well, I'm here to tell you!!! CHESSEDT... 1) Will allow you to store all your chess games as game files, to be recalled at any time. This is the main function of this program, not an add on to make the program more versatile. Great for storing postal chess positions. You can even output the current board position and last few moves on a postcard. 2) Will allow you to check the moves on a scoresheet and annotate the game in preparation for submitting the game for publication. Besides printer output, the game and annotations can be output to a normal ASCII file that can be imported into the text editor of your choice. CHESSEDT was written especially as a chess editor. 3) Will allow you to enter all your moves in English algebraic notation, computer algebraic, long algebraic, international numeric, and English descriptive. Shortened forms of these same notations are supported. You input the moves in the SAME notation you use to record the game. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 6 CHESSEDT will translate to any of the above, from any of the above!! You select the notation you want displayed and type in the moves in any of the five standard notations. CHESSEDT will translate it to the selected notation. 4) Will allow up to 200 half moves, 100 full move pairs, and 100 annotations per game, with multiple annotations on the half move. 5) Will allow you to build a positional database and search this database regardless of the move order. You can build your own opening position library with annotations or you can swap files with friends. 6) Will allow you to analyze your success/failure ratio on your games and openings based on score, tournament, color, date, opponent, ratings, and more. In this analysis, you may include as few as one and as many as every game you have ever played. 7) Will allow you to convert an ASCII file containing games, such as a USA Today On-Line capture file, to a set of CHESSEDT game files. This will allow you to build a library of game files rapidly without having to type in the moves!! 8) Will allow you to play through and edit an ASCII document file containing multiple games. You can play through the annotations in the games as well and return to the main lines when you have exhausted the annotations. 9) Will allow you to create chess problems using a board editor and store these problems along with moves and annotations. CHESSEDT will remember what the starting board position was when you recall the file!!! 10) Will allow you to select from four display modes, two text and two graphic, depending on your computer system. You can select from monochrome, CGA, EGA-text and EGA modes. 11) Will allow you to select the colors for the pieces, the board, the text and the display areas from a palette of 64 colors. (Note: Only for EGA modes.) 12) Is compatible with MS Windows. 13) Supports the Microsoft Mouse. Use the mouse to select commands, move pieces, etc. These are just some of the major features of CHESSEDT. I have written it to be fairly flexible in the manipulation of files containing games. As you become familiar with CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 7 CHESSEDT, I'm sure you'll find applications that I haven't even mentioned. Getting Started If you are reading this then you have already dearchived both CHESSEDT.DOC and CHESSEDT.EXE or you have received copies of both of these files on some type of media. Before you can use CHESSEDT, a few simple installation steps are necessary. If you are new to DOS, you may wish to use the automatic installation program supplied (CEDTINIT). Automatic installation ______________________ Type CEDTINIT at the DOS prompt. CEDTINIT is a program that will create the appropriate directories, copy CHESSEDT, and run CHESSEDT to set the initial default values in the file CHESSEDT.DAT. Note: Your old version of CHESSEDT will be written over. If you wish to save your old files, then be sure to make a backup copy before using the installation program. To use CHESSEDT, type CD [name] to change directories to your chess directory and then type CHESSEDT. Manual installation ___________________ The first step in the installation is to decide how you wish to organize your personal chess database. By this I mean, where do you want your files stored, all in a single directory, or in multiple directories and sub-directories. Personally, I have all my postal games in my \CHESS\POSTAL directory and my tournament games in my \CHESS\TOURNEY directory. I keep CHESSEDT, and several other chess related programs, in the \CHESS main directory. So with this in mind, at the DOS prompt type MD [name], where [name] is the name of the directory where you will be placing this program. This will be your main chess directory. Then create any other directories or sub- directories you might wish to use in the future. CHESSEDT fully supports the directory features of DOS. If you are a user of those floppy things, you may not want to create any directories at all. However, I find that, even with floppies, directories and subdirectories are nice. For floppies, remember you may need to format them before you use them. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 8 After all directories have been created, copy the CHESSEDT program into the main chess directory you have created above. If you are using floppies, it is probably a good idea to copy COMMAND.COM onto your CHESSEDT floppy. You may even want to make your CHESSEDT floppy a system disk. I know it's a tight fit, but you can get CHESSEDT.EXE, COMMAND.COM, and CHESSEDT.DAT on a single floppy. CHESSEDT is now installed. CHESSEDT Options ________________ The very first time you run CHESSEDT, the program will prompt you for some information. The information requested includes the default directory, the owner of this program, the display mode, the type of notation, and selection of colors to be used for the pieces and board. After you have selected all the options, CHESSEDT creates a file called CHESSEDT.DAT listing these options. Don't worry too much about what options you selected as you can change them from within CHESSEDT itself using the 'Utility - Options' command described below. Using CHESSEDT To start CHESSEDT: Set the default drive/directory to the drive/directory where the program CHESSEDT.EXE is located. Type CHESSEDT [filename] at the DOS prompt. The filename is optional and can be used to load a game file from the DOS command line. This option is used to maintain compatibility with MS Windows. By modification of your WIN.INI file to point GAM files to CHESSEDT, you will be able to click on a game file from Windows and MS Windows will launch the application (CHESSEDT) and load the indicated file. For more information on MS Windows and WIN.INI, see your MS Windows manuals. I have included a copy of a CHESSEDT.PIF file, on the Utilities Disk, for use with MS Windows. When you first enter CHESSEDT you notice three windows, the chessboard, the scoresheet, and the menu/text window. CHESSEDT is a menu driven program for several reasons. First, I find menus easy to use. Second, when the program was first being written, menus were the only logical structure since one cannot type fast on a Sinclar ZX-81. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 9 The menu system is a menu-bar style with mouse support. You can select a menu item in one of three ways. You can place the mouse cursor over the selection and click, or you may type the first letter corresponding to your choice, or you can use the cursor keys (or tab) to select the default menu item indicated by the "« »" characters and press the return key. CHESSEDT does not discriminate between and uppercase and lowercase command letters. Normally, you will not have to press the return after a command, as your selection will automatically be activated. There are several exceptions to this, such as in the edit/append game menu. In this latter menu you must press a return after the command letter to differentiate a move from a command. For menus where the carriage return is required for selection of a menu item, I have added the ability to activate the selection by pressing the control key and the command letter key (i.e. control A activates the annotation editor immediately, not waiting for the carriage return). Note: If you are confused by my sometimes calling the ENTER key, the RETURN key, then you'll just have to tough it out. For some reason IBM decided the key near your little finger on your right hand labeled ENTER, or with an arrow with a right angle, should now be called the ENTER key. I apologize if I tend to call this key the RETURN or the carriage return, but that's what it is and what it does. It generates a newline and carriage return characters in the computer and on a typewriter. All of the menus have a command letter 'Q' for quit. Pressing this key will exit you from whatever you are doing and usually take you to the previous level. Pressing Q in the main menu brings up the exit message. Pressing a Y for yes at this point will clear your screen and take you back to the familiar DOS prompt, with a little parting message from me. Now that you know how to select items from the menu (pretty tough huh), let's discuss filenames after which we will discuss each menu item separately. Filenames and Directories _________________________ Filenames _________ Many of the functions of CHESSEDT revolve around the filename of a chess game. It is important for you to know how this works. A full understanding of the filename will CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 10 allow you to arrange the structure of your chess database to your own needs/desires and probably eliminate some frustration. Filenames in CHESSEDT consist of two parts, the default directory and the name of the file itself. The default directory is initially the directory specified in the CHESSEDT.DAT file. More about this file later. When saving or opening files, CHESSEDT will usually display the default directory on the line immediately above a prompt for the filename. To change the default filename, simply type in the new filename. To change the default directory, type in the name of the directory as part of the new filename. CHESSEDT detects the presence of a new drive/directory specifier in the filename you supply. The new drive/directory will be the default drive/directory until you exit CHESSEDT or enter a new drive/directory. Note: If you consistently get error messages when trying to access your CHESSEDT datafiles, check the directory, it might be missing a colon (:) or a backslash (\). CHESSEDT uses eight letter filenames. It does this as I quite often hide useful information in portions of the filename. (See below!) If you use less than eight characters, CHESSEDT will supply questions marks or dashes for the rest of the characters. The question marks are used when getting a directory and the dashes are usually supplied when you are saving a game file. If there is no filename assigned to a game when you try to save it, CHESSEDT will create a default filename from the first four characters of the opponent's name and the last four characters of the date. Since you have full control of these when you edit the header information for a game, the filename can be as meaningless as you like. For instance, for my postal games, although I don't tamper with my opponent's name, I use the first four characters of the date to specify the game number and the last two characters to specify the year. This allows me to keep track of how many games of postal chess I have played and still generate a unique filename. (For those of you who are interested, I have reached 116 games as of December 1989) For most occasional tournament players, using the first four characters to specify the opponent and the last four characters to specify the month and year will insure a unique filename since most of us do not play a tournament game with the same player twice in one month. If you do think this might happen, then merely change the date or CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 11 opponent, or change the filename when prompted. For instance, on my club games I have started to type in the day, month, year and a game number since I rarely play over a hundred chess club games in a year. Files types ___________ CHESSEDT creates a number of file types, DAT, GAM, PRT, and LST files. The CHESSEDT.DAT file is the file contains the following data: Line 1 : The default directory. Line 2 : The owner's name. Line 3 : The type of display. Line 4 : The type of notation desired. Lines 5-11: The colors to be used in the EGA modes. These can be edited at any time with a text editor or you may also change these options from within CHESSEDT by using the OPTIONS command in the UTILITIES menu. The GAM files are the game files. These are ASCII files that are not in quite the format you might like if you were to print them out to a printer. The format of the files is as follows. Line 1 : The tournament name. Line 2 : The date. Line 3 : The opponent. Line 4 : The opponent's rating. Line 5 : The opening. Line 6 : The owner's color for this game. Line 7 : The owner's result. Line 8 : The owner's rating at the time. Line 9 : The owner's name. Line 10: The number of annotations. Line 11: The number of moves. Line 12: The current annotation number. Line 13: The current move number. The annotations, if any, begin on line 14 and there are n lines where n is the number of annotations determined from line 10 above. The moves, if any, begin immediately after the last annotation, or on line 14 if there are no annotations. There are m lines where m is the number of moves determined from line 11 above. Following the moves are 64 lines containing information about the last known board position. The first line CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 12 contains a character representing the piece at a1 and the 64th line is the piece on h8. The pieces are assigned as follows: 1 = White pawn 2 = White rook 3 = White knight 4 = White bishop 5 = White queen 6 = White King 7 = Black pawn 8 = Black rook 9 = Black knight : = Black bishop ; = Black queen < = Black king The PRT files are printable files containing output from CHESSEDT in ASCII form. For instance, the game can be printed to a file in a format for easy reading, i.e. the heading formation is set up in a standard format, the moves are listed one after another on the same line and the annotations are placed following the half move where the annotation is applicable. The PRT files can easily be imported to most text editors/word processors. The LST files are ASCII files created when outputting results from CHESSEDT which are best described as lists. For example, lists of a directory, headings, or statistics. Quit In the main menu, Quit will exit from CHESSEDT and take you back to DOS. It gives you a chance to change your mind before exiting by prompting 'Quit CHESSEDT Version 6.00' and then waiting for a key to be pressed. Pressing any key but the Y will pop you right back to the main menu. Pressing the Y key, signifying a yes, will exit you to DOS File This menu item is used to open (recall) or save (store) a game file, check a directory, purge game files, or scan the headings of games. Details on each of the selections are listed below. There are several special features of this version of CHESSEDT. When prompted for a filename, you can enter a partial filename such as "XDE" and CHESSEDT will act on the first filename it finds that contains these characters. Additionally, you can enter "????89" and CHESSEDT will act CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 13 on the first filename it sees with an 89 in the fifth and sixth positions. Another feature is a pop-up directory of files matching a partial file specification. To access this pop-up partial directory, press function key one (F1) instead of the carriage return when entering a filename. A list of files will be shown along with a scrolling bar and a ">" sign showing the default file. This default file is the file that will be defined as if you had typed in the filename. You can change this filename by using the cursor keys or the home/end/pgup/pgdn keys or you can scroll through this list and select the file using the mouse. You can activate the pop-up directory feature any time you are prompted for a filename. Note: If CHESSEDT finds only a single file that matches the partial filename you entered, it will assume this is the file you want and it will automatically return this filename and execute the command you selected, even if you activated the pop-up directory. You can also use the mouse when you are prompted for a filename. If the displayed filename is the one you want, just click on the displayed filename and it will be selected just as if you entered a carriage return. Open - File This selection will recall a game from disk into CHESSEDT. If the filename you type is less than eight characters, CHESSEDT will recall the first filename it finds which matches all the characters you have typed. Thus, when opening a filename "WRI", CHESSEDT will recall the first filename it finds whose first three characters are WRI. As indicated above, when prompted for the filename you can enter a partial filename and press F1 to access a list of all files matching the partial filename you entered. Selecting Open from the File menu using the right mouse button will automatically reload the current filename. Using the left mouse button will prompt you for a filename. When a game is recalled from disk, all header information, annotation, moves, and the current board position are recalled. Since the header information includes the current move number and annotation number, the game is recalled at the point where it was saved. Thus, you can be working with a game, save it, recall it days later and continue as if you had never left. This is ideal for postal chess! CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 14 Save - File This selection is the inverse of the previous selection. It is used to save the game. If the game being saved is a new game, the default filename is constructed from the first four characters of the opponent and the last four characters of the date. If the filename is already defined, this will be displayed. Clicking on this command with the right mouse button will automatically save the game using the default filename. Clicking on this command with the left mouse button will allow you to input a new filename. If you want to use a different filename or directory, please feel free. You can save the file under any filename you like. If you use less than eight characters, CHESSEDT will flesh out the rest of the filename with dashes. Alternatively, when entering the opponents name and the date, you may want to type in text or numbers that define the way YOU want to store files. Note: You can change directories on two subsequent saves to create backup copies of your game files. Dir(ectory) - File The directory selection allows you to generate a directory of game files. After displaying the current default directory/disk drive, you will be prompted for the filename. For a list of all game files in the current directory, type in an asterisk (*) as a wildcard. Or type in a partial filename and CHESSEDT will flesh out the rest of the filename with question marks. CHESSEDT supports all DOS wildcards. If an * is entered as the filename, then all game files will be shown. If ??????88 is entered as the filename, then only games ending in an 88 will be shown. Since CHESSEDT creates filenames with the last two characters being the year, this is a handy way to get a directory of all games played in 1988. Note: You do NOT have to append the .GAM extension to the file name as CHESSEDT does this automatically. After confirming the file specification, CHESSEDT next requests the output device. The output of the directory search can be directed to the (P)rinter, to a (F)ile, or to the (S)creen. The default device is the screen. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 15 If a file is selected, an output filename is requested. If no directory is supplied, CHESSEDT will use the default drive/directory. If no filename is supplied, CHESSEDT will set the filename to DIRECT.LST. If no file extension is specified, CHESSEDT will append a LST to the filename supplied. If you elected to list the directory to the screen, the listing will pause every so often. To continue the listing, press any key except 'B' or 'b'. These latter keys are used to indicate to the program that you wish to break from the listing. These keys are also active in a couple of other areas of CHESSEDT. Purge - File This selection is used to delete game files from your system. If you find you need to delete a game, either because you lost or it really wasn't a true gauge of your skill (In other words, boy did you blow it!!!), then you may use this function to clear the offending game from your database. After finding the file you wish to purge, CHESSEDT brings the header information to the screen for you to review. It then asks if you really want to delete this file. Reply accordingly. You may use wildcards in this purge utility, but beware wildcards are just that, wild. They can easily be used to purge all the games you have on your whole system. However, since CHESSEDT always requests confirmation before purging a game file, you probably won't have any problems. Headings - File The heading information for each game may be listed directly to the printer/file/screen as with the directory. Superficially, the game headings list is no more that an expanded directory. Indeed, the first two steps are identical to the steps used in the directory subroutine. However, using this subroutine you can scan the game headings without having to pull the whole game into memory. For more information, see the directories and filenames above. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 16 As the headings are being displayed you have three options. You may (B)reak from the headings scan routine by pressing 'B'. You may (R)ecall the file whose heading is displayed by typing "R", or you may view the next heading by typing any other key. The headings scan routine does not affect the current headings information, moves or the annotation you were working on when you called this routine. Edit CHESSEDT revolves around the editing features. In fact, this is the soul of CHESSEDT, the ability to edit, annotate, play through, and keep statistics on chess games. In addition, CHESSEDT will allow you to set up chess problems with the board editor or play through games from a text document. I have tried to include all the features necessary to utilize CHESSEDT as a chess editor, analogous to a text editor (word processor). A fallout from this development, and in reality one of the driving forces for CHESSEDT, is the ability to store games, board positions, and just about any type of information you want about a game in a single file. Thus, you can store your postal games on disk and bring them up at a latter time when you receive the reply in the mail. You can store the results of your tournament games on file and bring them up at any time. I have tried to add routines to CHESSEDT to allow you to have complete documentation about a particular game and to allow you to search through this documentation at a latter date. Quit - Edit Quit will return you to the main menu. New - Edit This selection will clear all moves and annotation data and then take you to the routine to edit the game heading. After editing the heading, you will then be automatically taken to the game editing routine. The 'New' command is the command to be used anytime you are entering a new game. The old heading information is not cleared since you may be entering several games from the same tournament. For more details on editing the heading, see the next section. For more details on editing the game, see below. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 17 Heading - Edit As with most input in CHESSEDT, if default data are shown on the screen, pressing a return will confirm acceptance of that data. Pressing any other key will clear the default data and allow you to input new data. When the header input screen is called up, this subroutine prints the tournament name with its previously defined value, if any. You may type as much a tournament descriptor as you like, however I recommend typing the tournament name first rather than any specific descriptors, such as '1989', as this allows a later search of your database based on the tournament. Thus, with a tournament name equal to 'Golden Knights 88NS43, I can search on just Golden Knights and this game will qualify. More on this latter. Next CHESSEDT requests the date on which the game was played. As mentioned previously, for postal games I essentially put in a fake 'date' composed of the game number and the year the game was started. You could just as easily contrive any type of data to better organize your files. However, there are strong reasons for using the date for normal tournament chess. This allows you to pinpoint the day/month/year you played so brilliantly. Note: The one peculiarity which I use in the entry of the date is to enter the day before the month, i.e. day, month, year. (This should come as no shock to European players.) Since the last four characters of the date are used in constructing the filenames in CHESSEDT, it is more reasonable to include the month and year in the filename rather than the day and year. The opening is requested next, and here I must digress. Since the Atari program was somewhat limited, I came up with three letter abbreviations for all the openings. This allowed a much more efficient searching algorithms and at the same time cut down on typing. For the most part these three letter abbreviations are simply the first three letters of the name of the opening. For a complete list of the abbreviations I used, see Appendix I. Although the current searching algorithm searches for the whole name specified, the table of statistics still only uses the first three letters to specify an opening. Thus for CHESSEDT, it is probably a GOOD IDEA that you make sure the first three characters of the opening are unique. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 18 You may elect to use three letter abbreviations. If you do and you don't like my set of abbreviations, you are certainly free to make up your own. The opening can be input as upper or lower case since the statistics routine will recognize both as being equivalent. You may also input as many characters for a opening descriptor as you would like, although I have found forty characters, or less, gives a pleasant display on the screen. Next you are prompted for the color with the 'as' prompt. You may press 'b' for black or 'w' for white. This is the color played by the owner, you. Remember this program was written as a personal chess database program. If input correctly, you will be able to search your database for all the games you played as white. Next you are prompted for the result of the game. Remember this is YOUR result. Input a '1' or 'w' for a win, a '=' or 'd' for a draw, and a '0' or 'l' for a loss. If you have not yet completed the game, a default of '?' is generated when you press return. A result of ? is indicative of an active game, i.e. a game still in progress. When one of the players resigns the game, is mated, runs out of time, or a draw is agreed to, the result is automatically updated. (See 'termination moves' below.) The program then prompts for your opponent in this game. The preferred syntax is placing your opponent's last name first followed by a comma and his first name. Remember the first four characters of the opponents name will also be the first four characters of the default filename. Again it seems more logical to me to have the filename contain a portion of the opponents last name rather than the opponents first name. However, you may do as you wish. You may even decide to always preface the opponent's name with a four digit number identifying the opponent in your database. The program then prompts for your opponent's rating. This is used in determining your results against higher/lower rated opponents. Although it may seem superfluous, the program next prompts for the owner of the database. This is usually the default owner defined at start up. However, you may elect to assign a different owner to a particular game. Especially if you are inputting games that are not your own. Or perhaps you are typing in a game for a friend of yours. In this case you certainly don't want your name on his game, especially if he LOST! Remember, the owner is more than just the CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 19 second player, the color and result refer to the owner of the game!!! Note: In using this program as a chess editor for chess publications, it may be easier to always define the opponent as the player who played white, and the owner as the player who played black. Following this procedure, all game listings will list white's name first followed by black's name, just as you would like it to appear in an article. Finally, the program prompts for your rating at the time of the game. Both of the ratings input into the header data should be numbers as they will be treated as if they are numbers latter on. If the ratings are not numbers, they will be interpreted as zeros. Game - Edit If the edit feature is the soul of CHESSEDT, the game editor is the heart. This is the routine where you construct and play through the games. You can enter this routine by selecting the Game function of the edit menu, or clicking the mouse pointer on the left side of the chessboard while the main menu is displayed. The game editor is used to input games in preparation for storing them as files, translate games from one notation to another, play through an old game, and so on. When entering the game editor, the move and annotation pointers will be set to the beginning and the board will set up the starting position. Normally the starting position will be the usual setup. However, in cases where a chess problem has been created using the board editor, the starting position may be defined as other than the usual setup (See the section on the board editor for more information). After setting the pointers to the beginning and setting up the board, the scoresheet will be cleared and the first move displayed. In addition, the text window at the bottom will display the default notation being used and a command menu. Items from this menu can be selected by typing in, as the move, the first letter of the command and pressing the carriage return. A shortcut is to hold down the CONTROL key while pressing the first letter of the command. This latter will activate the selected command immediately without having to press the RETURN key. Note: For those of you with mice, just point and click. The command menu for the game editor includes the commands (Q)uit, (A)nnotation, (C)aptured pieces, (G)oto move n, CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 20 (J)ump to move n, (S)witch notation, (T)urn board, (I)nsert move, (D)elete move, (M)emorize position, and (N)ew game. These commands are detailed below, but first lets talk about the scoresheet. Inputting the moves, the scoresheet The scoresheet is defined as the window in the right upper corner of the screen. This marks the current move with a question mark prompt, unless you are playing through an old game. You have several options, either input a move, call up a command, or enter a terminating move. More about these latter. The moves are input into the scoresheet in any of five standard notations, English algebraic, English descriptive, computer algebraic, long algebraic, or international numeric. Since I used English algebraic almost exclusively, I may not have supported the other notations as well as they deserve. However, I have attempted to support them as much as possible both in the strictest legal sense and in accepted common practice. Thus, I do support PxP and NxP and other shorthand English descriptive notations as well as shortened English algebraic. CHESSEDT will translate from any of the notations to the notation you have specified as the default notation. If you have no default notation specified, CHESSEDT will not translate the move. I have done quite a bit of work on these translations and I think they work fairly well. In some cases, translations to English descriptive may get a little wordy, but they do adhere to proper notation conventions. Note: In some moves using English descriptive, the destination of the piece is not specified, such as in captures. In this case the program considers all possible captures and determines which is correct. This takes time, so if you are using English descriptive, you may notice it takes a while to determine the proper move. This can be shortened by using the full English descriptive notation including a / and the destination square. This latter also helps clarify moves the computer may think are ambiguous. You can also input the chess move using the mouse. Simply click on the piece you want to move. The origin square will appear on the scoresheet. The mouse being a computer device will present the move as if it was entered as computer algebraic. If you have selected a translation, the move will be translated to the notation you have selected. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 21 After clicking on the origin square, the mouse cursor changes shape to indicate that it is holding a piece. Next click on the destination square. The move will be made and translated to the proper notation. If you click the mouse on an empty square, CHESSEDT assumes you want to move a pawn to this point. This is useful for entering the pawn advances with a single click. For a description of notations see the appendix at the end of this manual or see "USCF Official Rules of Chess" 1987. Three special moves in chess are castling, en passant, and pawn promotion. For en passant, the move is written as if a pawn on the destination square is being captured. The ep after the move descriptor is not necessary except for English descriptive where it is required! For castling, I prefer the use of an upper case letter 'O' with dashes between. Thus, kingside castling is O-O and queenside castling is O-O-O. I have included '0' (zero) as an option to the upper case letter 'O'. Translations will always yield the upper case letter 'O'. You can also input castling by using computer algebraic or the mouse. First specify the origin square for the king and then specify the destination square for the king. The rook will be moved automatically. For promotion of pawns, the piece to which the pawn will be promoted should appear in parenthesis or after an equals sign. Thus d1(Q) or d1=Q denotes moving a black pawn to d1 and promoting it to a queen. If the move is illegal or impossible, a beep will sound and the illegal move will be displayed with a '~' after it indicating this move is illegal. If the move is possible, the move will be accepted, displayed on the chessboard, and the scoresheet will prompt for the next move. I have included in this version a routine to determine if the king is in check at the end of the move. If the king is left in check, the move is by definition, 'illegal'. Also if you have specified that a piece is being captured (using a * or x), then an opponent's piece must occupy the destination square. If you have an illegal position occur during a chess game, you may still enter the moves and work through the game. However, you will need to exit the game editor, enter the board editor, correct the game position, and then reenter the game editor via the append function. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 22 Besides the constraints listed above, other characters may be typed into a move descriptor. These characters include the ever popular ? and ! as well as -, =, + and anything else you would like to use. I currently use the character * to denote the move that takes me out of my book openings. If you are editing an old game, the previous move will be displayed. As always, you may press return to accept this move, or type any other move. If you have a mouse, positioning the mouse cursor over the scoresheet and clicking the mouse is identical to pressing a carriage return. Note: When a move is translated from one notation to another, all non-essential characters are lost. Terminating moves. Besides the normal moves, there are several moves that signify the end of the game and/or the end of the game editing routine. The game ending text recognized includes STOP, EXIT, RESIGN, FORFEIT, MATE, DRAW, TIME, 0-1, and 1-0. Each of these should be input instead of a move. Input of any of these indicate to CHESSEDT that the game is over. The result in the heading will be adjusted and you will be kicked back to the main menu. Except for 0-1 and 1-0, CHESSEDT will assume these terminating moves were typed in the proper place, i.e. if black resigned, resign should be typed in as black's move. (Q)uit - Game - Edit Quit will exit the scoresheet and return you to the main menu. If the current move is undefined, CHESSSEDT will define the move as 'Stop' and exit. If you are in the middle of the game, it will exit and not change any of the moves. After exiting, you may save the game and reenter the scoresheet at the point you exited using the Append function from the Edit menu. This is very handy for postal chess. (A)nnotation - Game - Edit The annotation command will allow you to type in whatever annotation you would like. This annotation text will appear in the game after the move/position being annotated. Thus, if you activate the annotation routine after white's 20th move, a listing of the game would list all moves up to, and including, white's 20th, list the annotation and then list the rest of the moves. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 23 Upon entering the annotation routine, the text screen will clear and you will see the message "Annotation Editor". If you type a return at this point, no annotation will be generated. However, if you press any other key you will enter a semi-full screen editor where you may type in whatever text you desire including move numbers and moves. Nothing you type will affect the game being edited. I suggest keeping the annotation text less than four lines since you may run out of space in the text screen. If more annotation is needed, merely enter the annotation routine a second time. CHESSEDT supports multiple annotations at the same point in the game. Thus, if you have a letter to write at this point in the game, go right ahead and input as many annotation texts as you want. Alternatively, if you wish to add lots of annotation for a game to be published, simply print the game out in the form of a text file. Take the text file and bring it into the word processor you want to use and add the annotation. You could then take this file and play through the games and annotations using the Document selection from the Edit menu. As mentioned above, the annotation editor is a semi-full screen editor. It will read the screen from the point where you started typing to the point where you ended typing. While in the annotation editor, you will noticed a block or underline character, this is the position of the cursor. The cursor keys can be used to move the cursor anywhere on the screen with the exception that the cursor cannot be moved above or before the starting point and the cursor cannot be moved off the screen. In addition, using the mouse, you can point to any part of the text screen and click the mouse. The cursor will appear at the position where you pointed and clicked. The Home key will place the cursor at the starting position and the End key will place the cursor at the ending position. You can use these two keys to move quickly around the annotation text. The position of the cursor does NOT influence what is being read back in. As you reach the end of the line, the annotation editor will check to see if you have enough room to type the word you are in the middle of and if not, it will wrap the word down to the next line. The insert key acts as a toggle and will change the cursor shape. An underline (over-type) is the default cursor mode. The insert mode is indicated by a block cursor. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 24 After you have input the annotation, press the return key. The editor will read the text from beginning to end and eliminate all extra spaces. There is one special annotation that is recognized by CHESSEDT. If you type in 'b', 'brd' or 'board' as the annotation text the annotation is set equal to a string representing the chessboard. When you print the game, instead of annotation text being printed, a copy of the chessboard position at the time of the annotation will be displayed/printed. Used in conjunction with multiple annotation text, this allows you to generate a chessboard display of the position discussed in the annotation. Note: If you are editing old annotation, typing in the special annotation text above will NOT alter the annotation. Reviewing/Editing Annotations When replaying through a game, the annotations will be popped up immediately after the move where they were entered. The screen at this time will show the annotation and three options, (Q)uit, (D)elete, and (E)dit. If the annotation is OK, simply press Q or the carriage return. If you want to delete the displayed annotation, press the 'd'. You will then be asked if you really want to delete this annotation. Press 'y' or 'n'. No is the default. The third option is to edit the displayed annotation. Press 'e' and you will see the annotation as if you were just entering it the first time. All comments concerning the annotation editor above apply. (C)aptured pieces - Game - Edit This option is for those of us who want to keep track of what pieces have been captured. You will first be given the option of the output device for the captured pieces. For a better description of this option, review the 'Print' option latter. After selecting the output device, which is usually the screen, CHESSEDT will display a list of captured pieces using P, R, N, B, and Q for the pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, and queens. CHESSEDT will compare the current pieces on the board with the normal complement of pieces. This will almost always be accurate unless you have prompted a lot of pawns. i.e. If you have queened three pawns and lost four queens, CHESSEDT will show only one queen captured. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 25 (G)oto move n - Game - Edit Entering the Goto move n routine will allow you to play through a previous entered game by making all moves up to the move you requested. You are first prompted for the move number. Say you have an old game with 50 moves and you want to play through the game to the 17th move. Enter the G command and type 17 at the GOTO MOVE# prompt. The board will then come alive until it reaches move 17, after which it will reenter the normal game editor routines. During the Goto move n routine, the screen will stop at all annotations. You may select any of the annotation commands you wish. After which the Goto move continues to head toward the final move you selected. If you input 100 as the move to head toward and there are only 40 moves, this routine will stop at the last move. Also, this routine will stop if it encounters an illegal move. If you input 'm', 'M', or nothing as the move to go to, CHESSEDT will go to the last memorized move pointer. (See below) If no move pointer has been memorized, CHESSEDT will jump to the beginning of the game. Note: This is really just a fast way of getting to a specific move. If you are editing an old game, pressing the return key will accept the displayed move and continue to the next move. The Goto routine merely holds the return key down for you and releases it at the appropriate place. (J)ump to move n - Game - Edit The 'Jump to move' routine is identical to the 'Goto move' with the exception that the board is not animated and the routine does not stop for annotations. (S)witching notation - Game - Edit This command allows you to switch the default notation being used for display of the moves. It does not affect the default notation stored in CHESSEDT.DAT file. As mentioned under the Utilities - Options, you switch the notation using the up and down cursor keys. When the appropriate notation is selected, press the return key. This does not change the notation of any previously entered moves, only the notation of the move being interpreted. If you wish to change the notation on a complete game, reenter the Edit game routine, switch the notation, enter CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 26 the Goto routine and go to the very last move. As each move is examined by CHESSEDT, it will be converted into the appropriate notation. (T)urn board - Game - Edit This command turns the chessboard 180 degrees so that you may view either the white side or the black side of the game. It affects only the display of the board! (I)nsert move - Game - Edit This command will insert a move into the move matrix. It is useful if you have noticed that you missed a move previously and you want to go back. In older versions of CHESSEDT, you would have to retype all the moves after the mistake. This command pushes all the moves up by a half move. You will have to use this command twice to insert a move pair. (D)elete move - Game - Edit This command will delete a move from the move matrix. It is used if you typed a move that was incorrect. To delete a move pair, use this command twice. When this command is activated, the current move is erased and the next half move is then displayed. (M)emorize position - Game - Edit This command is used to memorize the current move pointer. For the 'Goto move' and 'Jump to move' commands, you could enter 'm' as the move number to go to. The last memorized position will be used. This comes in handy in playing through a game. Say the board position at move 13 is very interesting. You could memorize the position, play on through the rest of the game, and then Jump to move 13 without having to remember or type the number 13. (N)ew game - Game - Edit This command clears all moves and annotations, resets the chessboard and returns the move pointer to move one. It is used if you are entering one game after another without going through the New command in the Edit menu. Append - Edit You select this option via the Append function in the Edit menu or click the right side of the chessboard when the main menu is displayed. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 27 Appending a game is essentially identical to editing a game with the exception that the current move pointer and the current annotation pointer are not reset. If you chose to append a game, CHESSEDT enters the editor, displays the last five move pairs on the scoresheet, and shows you the last known board position. The pieces on the chessboard are not reset to the initial starting position. You may continue from this point as if you are in the edit game function. This option is very useful for postal chess. Board - Edit You can access the board editor from several places in CHESSEDT. This routine is used to set up the board in any arbitrary position. It is useful to correct a board position, setting up problems, setting up board positions for use with the database query routine, resetting a board position while scanning an ASCII file, etc. The way this routine works is very straight forward. The color of the pieces being placed is shown on the first line of the text screen along with the status of the eraser. You type in the piece you wish to place followed by the square on which you wish to place it. Thus to put a queen on e3 you type 'Qe3' followed by a return. To place pawns, type in only the square you wish to place it on (see Toggle eraser below). Alternatively, you can click the mouse on the letter specifying the piece to be placed and then click on the destination square. Clicking on the destination square without selecting a piece will place a pawn at that position. Most of the commands are entered as a single letter commands not requiring a carriage return to take effect. If a single letter command could also be interpreted as the start of a piece placement descriptor, the command may need to be entered using a carriage return. The commands and how they affect the board editor are detailed below. Exit - Board - Edit When you exit/quit the board editor, you are prompted whether you wish to store the current board position as the starting board position. If you respond with yes, the board position will be stored in a special annotation text. When you next enter the Edit game routine, this will be the position loaded, not the normal starting position. This is very useful if you are using the board editor to set up a chess problem. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 28 If you elect not to store the board position as the starting position, you may continue on entering moves af if the board position arose from all previous moves and the edited board position is not saved anywhere. Clear board - Board - Edit Typing a C will clear the board of all pieces. To clear just a piece at a time, you must use the eraser. See below for full details. Toggle eraser - Board - Edit When you toggle the eraser by typing a T or clicking on the command, the right hand side of the top line in the text window will display the eraser status, either "off" or "on". When the eraser is "on" any square that is entered via the keyboard or clicked on using the mouse will be erased. Thus to erase a piece or pawn located on e4, turn the eraser on and type in e4. This routine is handy to quickly erase or clear selected squares on the board. Switch colors - Board - Edit This command is self-explanatory. The color of the pieces being placed is shown on the first line. This command toggles the color being shown. Document - Edit This routine will allow you to scan/edit any type of document file on your computer. It will allow you to play through the game, checking the accuracy and legality of each move. Or you could enter alternative moves, correct any mistakes in the game, play through annotation, or reset up the board and play through a new game. This routine is great to play through games captured from computer services such as COMPUSERVE or USA Today On-line (formerly The LINC), as well as playing through word processing documents. Note: In playing through word processing documents, it is best if these documents are in ASCII (text) format, rather than the normal default format. This latter format usually includes special control characters and/or data on how big the file is, etc. This gave me trouble in editing a MS Word document that had been saved using the normal MS Word formatting option. When entering this routine you are prompted for the filename of the file to be edited. You can enter any filename and CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 29 extension that you like. CHESSEDT will remember the filename of the last 'document' edited and use this as the default in the future. After you have entered your filename for the document file, CHESSEDT will create a file in the same drive/directory as the file you are editing. The filename for the new file will be identical to the filename of the document with the exception that the extension will be EDT. The EDT file will be the output file for the Document Editor. All text and moves will be passed from the document file through CHESSEDT and out to the EDT file. The text being passed will appear in the lower text window. While this text is scrolling, you may press any key to pause the scrolling. Pressing another key will resume scrolling. When the document editor finds a bit of text that it thinks is a chess move, it will pause and display the move in the appropriate place on the scoresheet. At this point you may press the carriage routine to accept this as the move to be made, enter a new move to be made, or press a command. If you press the carriage return, the document editor will pass the default move to CHESSEDT which will make the move and then pass the move to the EDT file. If you enter a new move, the document editor will pass the new move to CHESSEDT which will make the indicated move and then pass the new move to the EDT file. Commands are executed and no action is output to the EDT file. One important option!! If you press the 'INS' key on the keypad, any new moves typed in will not be passed to the document editor. These moves will be passed to CHESSEDT and the move made on the board. After you press the 'INS' key a second time, the original move will be redisplayed. Use this option to make moves on the board without these moves being output to the EDT file. Note: CHESSEDT does not affect the original document file. It creates a new EDT file which is identical to the document file with the exception of any new moves that you might have made. The document editor is ideal for validating the correct moves (i.e. insuring a playable game) embedded in a chess document. As in the Game - Edit routine, you can enter the command either by typing in the command, clicking on the command with the mouse, or holding down the control key while pressing the command key. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 30 (Q)uit - Document - Edit This command exits back to the main menu. CHESSEDT assumes you are finished with the document at this point and it closes the EDT file. If you are not completely through your document, the EDT file will contain only those moves and text reached before the Quit command was reached. (N)ew - Document - Edit You would want to use this command to reset the chessboard for a new game. Say you have played through the first game in your document and you are coming to the next game. You will have to execute this command to set up the board for the new game. As with most of the commands, this command does not change the current move being considered. (S)kip - Document - Edit This command is used to skip the displayed move and proceed to the next move. No action is taken on the displayed move, however the text is output to the EDT file. This command is used most frequently when the document editor selects some bit of text that it thinks might be a move, but really isn't. This command can also be executed by pressing the escape key. (M)emorize - Document - Edit In allowing the ability to play through annotation, it is necessary to remember the board position where the annotation starts. To store a board position, execute the Memorize command. You will be prompted for the board position number. Enter a number from 1 to 9 and press the carriage return. The current board position and current move pointer will be stored at this point for later recall. The (M)emorize command can be used to store nine different board positions. You can then play through several layers of annotations, recall the starting board position, and proceed with the main line of the game. The last board position memorized is displayed in the upper right hand corner of the text window. (R)estore - Document - Edit This command is used to recall a board position stored using the (M)emorize command. You will be prompted for the board number to recall. After entering the number and a carriage CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 31 return, the board position stored will be reset onto the screen. The move pointer associated with this board position will also be recalled. You can recall a given board position as many times as you like. Note: If you have not previously stored a board position that you are trying to recall, CHESSEDT will inform you of this fact and will not reset the board nor the current move pointer. Since many times the annotations are mentioning an alternative move to the one just played, it may not be clear how you can use these (M)emorize/(R)estore commands to play through annotation. The best approach is to store the basic board position, say as board #1, before the 'annotated' move. Make the annotated move and store the next board position using a different board number, such as board #2. Recall the annotated position (board #1) and play through the annotation. Then recall the main line board position (board #2) and proceed through the rest of the game. (B)oard edit - Document - Edit This is simply an entrance to the board editor from within the document editor. Using the board editor, you can correct any illegal or incorrect positions that may have occurred in playing through the game. Although you can use the board editor to set the starting position for a game, I suggest you use the (N)ew command above. Print Selection of an output device The print menu is the menu used to output games, board positions, postcards, and captured pieces information to the printer, a file, or the screen. For all of these items in this menu, you will be prompted for the output device for the information. You will be given three options, (P)rinter, (F)ile, or <(S)creen>. Select the option by entering the first letter, clicking the mouse on the first letter, or select the default (S)creen option by pressing the carriage return. If the (S)creen is selected, the information will be displayed on the screen. If the (P)rinter is selected, the information will be printed to the printer attached to your computer. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 32 If the (F)ile is selected, you will be prompted for the output filename. You may accept the default filename or type in a new directory and/or filename. If you type in only a new directory, CHESSEDT assumes you want to retain the default filename. If the file exists, you will given the option of adding the current information onto the end of the file (Append), replacing the old file, or using a different filename. If you find that you didn't want to output the data to a file and CHESSEDT is asking for an output filename, enter a non- existent device (such as drive X:). This last step will generate an error which will be handled by CHESSEDT and return you to the main menu. Game - Print By printing the game, I mean displaying the game in a format that you might see in a publication. The first order of business is to select the output device as indicated above. After this is decided, the program then prints the header, moves, and annotation to the destination. If the destination is the screen, CHESSEDT inserts pauses after the heading, after every few moves and after each annotation. To continue listing after a pause, press any key. Note: If the annotation is defined as a board (see annotation), then CHESSEDT will generate a printed copy of the chessboard at that position in the game or change the position displayed on the chessboard on the screen. Note: For screen dumps to the printer and files, since printers are not quite adept at displaying colors, (at least not the ones I can afford) the black pieces are indicated by an underline character. This is accomplished by outputting special control characters, EPSON compatible, to the printer to activate the underlining feature. If you wish to see what they are, list the board position to a file. The file will show a real mess, but the special characters preceding each of the black and white pieces are the control sequences necessary to turn underlining on and off. The results of this command is a copy of the current game, formatted in such a manner that it could easily be published as received. If you have printed the game to a file, it can be read into most word processors allowing you greater flexibility. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 33 Score - Print This selection is essentially identical to the Game - Print menu selection. The only difference is that games printed using this option will appear with only two moves per line. Thus, this option gives a printed copy (or file) similar to the scoresheet. Some people prefer this when creating files for uploading to boards such as Compuserve. Board - Print Print chessboard will generate a dump of the board position to the printer. It will print a copy of the currently displayed chessboard using underlined characters, EPSON compatible, to display the black pieces. The program will return you to the last move to be input. An alternative is to press shift Prt Sc on your computer. If you are in text move, this will print a copy of the screen to the printer. If you are using CGA mode AND you have installed GRAPHICS.COM, you can still copy the screen to the printer. However, if you are using EGA graphics mode, you may be out of luck. I can generate a screen copy of the EGA chessboard, but it requires the use of CAPTURE.COM from my MS Word package. The advantages of this latter approach, is that I can include any of CHESSEDT's screens as part of a MS Word document. Postal - Print A couple of users desired a routine to print out the current board position and the last few moves. This output is then sent either through the US Mail or electronically to a 'postal' opponent. If you are playing chess through the modem, this routine can be handy in generating your 'postal' reply as a file that can be uploaded. This option will generate a header information with your name and your opponent's name. Note: Text created with this option will fit on a standard postcard. Captured Pieces - Print This routine will output a listing of the pieces captured by white and the pieces captured by black. The pieces are listed as their single letter English representations. Thus P = pawn, R = rook, N = knight, B = bishop, and Q = queen. This routine works by examining the current board position and comparing this with the number of pieces in the standard chess set. Thus, if you have prompted two pawns as queens CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 34 and had three queens subsequently captured, CHESSEDT will only show a single queen as being captured. This routine can be output to the end of a postal - print output to create a document or file which includes the last several moves, the current board position, and the pieces captured by each side. Stats (Statistics) One of the more powerful features of CHESSEDT is the ability of this program to treat the games generated with this program as a virtual database. Since the Stats routine looks only at the header information, YOU DO NOT EVEN HAVE TO TYPE IN THE MOVES/ANNOTATIONS FOR A GAME FILE TO USE THE STATISTICS FEATURE. Using the statistics subroutine of CHESSEDT, you may compile a list of headings, filenames, or win/draw/loss/active table of openings. These lists may be tailored to all of the possible criteria that I could think of, tournament, score, opening, color, opponent, date, ratings, and owner. After entering the statistics subroutine, you are presented with a second menu. In this statistics menu, you may select specifiers to limit the compilation of the statistics or lists. For instance, if you select the tournament specifier, you are prompted for the tournament. Only games played during this tournament are included in the final report. When one of the specifiers is selected, an asterisk will appear in front of the item. This is a reminder that you have elected to search the database with this specifier. All specifiers may be included in a database search. To deselect a specifier, merely select it a second time. The asterisk will then disappear. You may select one of the specifiers by either typing the first letter or by positioning the mouse pointer over the selection and clicking a mouse button. (Q)uit - Stats This selection will exit back to the main menu. (A)ssemble all - Stats This is the default selection for the database search. It searches all files in the specified directory and assembles CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 35 all completed games. To include active games you must elect to search on the score. If no specifiers are selected, an asterisk appears next to the 'Assemble all' item. Selecting this item a second time has no effect. If this item is selected while other specifiers are also selected, all specifiers are cleared as will be evidenced by the disappearance of all asterisks except that in front of the assemble all item. (T)ournament - Stats This item will allow you to search the database for only those games played during a particular tournament. As with all the text searches, CHESSEDT looks at the first character of the search string and tries to find a match. If it finds a match, it then looks for the second character. This continues until the end of the search string. CHESSEDT does not try and match the full tournament name stored with a game to the search string, only the first n characters where n is the length of the search string. This means you may search your database for all tournaments beginning with the letter "O" or all tournaments with the first word in the tournament name being "National". Uppercase and lower case are not differentiated, so you may be sloppy in typing in the tournament name when you are entering the game into your database. However, I suggest you adopt a systematic approach to inputting tournament names. For example, input "Golden Knights xx87xx" to specify all your Golden Knights tournaments. By specifying the Golden Knights first, you may search all these tournaments at once. If you only wish to search a specified tournament, you may use the characters after the tournament name as additional qualifiers. (S)core - Stats This feature allows you to search the database for only wins, draws, losses, active, or complete. The latter selection will include all games regardless of the result. When this specifier is turned off, the database search will include only completed games, i.e. wins, draws, and losses. It will ignore the active games. This is normally what you want to do unless you are interested in the number of active games in your database. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 36 (O)pening - Stats As with the tournament above, this item generates a search string and the search will match the first n characters in the opening, where n is the number of characters in the search string. Thus, you may elect to search the database for all openings starting with the letter "S" or you may elect to search the database for all openings matching "Sicilian Najdorf Variation" search string. Obviously, if you wish to institute a long search string, you must be consistent when you are inputting data into the header for a game. "Sicilian Najdorf Variation" does not match "Sic, Najdorf Var.". Note: As mentioned above, only the first three letters of the opening will be used in the list of openings at the end of the database search. (C)olor - Stats This item is included so that you may search the database for only those games you played as black or white. The default is to search the database for both colors. (P)layer/opponent - Stats As with the opening and tournament specifiers above, you may specify as many or as few characters as you like for the opponent. Thus you may elect to look at all opponents whose name starts with a "B" or all opponents whose name is "Lykens". Selection of this item modifies the filename that will be used to generate the directory. The filename is reset if this item is deselected. As mentioned in the header input section, I strongly suggest you input the opponents last name first. This allows a more efficient search since you are unlikely to want to know how many games you played against "GARY" as this would include all Gary's you have ever played. However you might like to compile all statistics against "Kasparov". (For some strange reason, I think the losses column might be a little bit high for this opponent.) (D)ate - Stats The date is a special search criteria that does nothing but modify the filename. Thus, you may search on only the last four characters of the date. For normal games this allows you to search on a month and year or just a year. Since the CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 37 date search string modifies the filename, you may decide to change this when prompted for the filename just prior to the search, but DON'T DO IT. (R)atings - Stats This is perhaps the most powerful of the searching criteria as it contains a number of subcriteria. After selecting this item from the menu, you are prompted for the base rating for the owner. Any games in which the owner had a rating below the base rating will be ignored. Next you will be prompted for the owner's ceiling rating. Any games where the owner had a rating above the ceiling will be ignored. Next CHESSEDT will obtain the opponent's base and ceiling ratings. These have the same definition for the opponent as they had for the owner. The use of these four rating values allows you to settle questions such as "How well did I do as a B class player against the A class players?" The final rating option allows you to select only those games where the opponents rating is higher than the owner, or vice versa. In either case, or even if you select all rating differences, you are next prompted for a minimum rating difference and a maximum rating difference. The minimum rating difference criteria is used to eliminate games where your opponent had a rating very close to your rating. The maximum rating difference is used to eliminate those games where your opponent had a rating much greater or less than your own. Thus, you can determine how you do against opponents with ratings no less than 100 points away from your own but no more than 200. This final option may seem a bit of overkill since you have the option above to specify a base and ceiling rating for both the owner and opponent. This is true, if your rating doesn't change significantly. However, if you are steadily improving, you might like to look at how well you do against people rated 100 points higher than you while your rating was changing. (N)ame/owner - Stats This feature is essentially identical to the search for a specific opponent. It is really useful if two or more people are storing their games in the same directory as it allows you to compile a list of filenames for specific 'owners'. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 38 Although this is a PERSONAL database program, I have tried to make it versatile enough to be used as a general chess editor/database program. If you treat the owner as just a second player, this program should function perfectly well in this capacity. However, note that the only place the owner appears is in the heading display. The owner does not appear in the filename in anyway whatsoever. (G)o - Stats After you have selected all the specifiers, you enter the 'G' to start the database search/compilation. The program next double checks the directory and filename to be used in the search. This is primarily to allow you to change the directory to be searched. You should not change the filename as it is integral to the search and unless you have specified the opponent or date, the filename will be equal to all question marks, i.e. fully wildcarded. If your files are stored with filenames not composed of the opponent's name and the date, you will probably want to change the filename to all question marks, i.e. ????????.GAM. CHESSEDT will next show you the filename and all search specifiers determined and ask if this is OK. If some problem occurs, press 'N' to abort the search. CHESSEDT will next ask for the output device. As always, you may select the printer, a file, or the screen. You will then be asked whether you wish a list of the filenames or a list of the headings. These features are useful if you are using the Stats routine as a supercharged directory. Thus, you can get a list of filenames for your games where you played the Sicilian opening. Or you can browse the headings for the games that meet the selected search criteria. CHESSEDT will first compile a directory of all games that meet the filename criteria. It will then clear all previous statistics and begin examining each of the games, checking for a match in the search criteria. If a game matches the search criteria, then the game data will be added to the statistics and, if selected, the filename and/or header information will be listed. After all games are examined, you are informed that the search of the database is complete. At this time a report summarizing the results of the database search is output to the destination device. The first part of the report shows the search criteria and filename used for the database search. Next each opening is listed along with the results with that opening. The CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 39 results are listed in the order wins, draws, losses, and finally active games. Since the default search criteria for the score is non-active games, the last number in each column will most likely be zero unless you specifically select active games to be included into the database search. Note: There are separate results for white and black. Also, only the first three letters of the openings are listed. At present I have no intention of extending this as three characters are sufficient to uniquely determine all major openings. However, the database search is NOT limited to just the first three letters of the opening (see select by opening). After each opening is listed, sub totals for each color and the totals for all games are listed. Utility The Utility menu contain some handy routines for "Doing What You Normally Won't Do". Which means, they are some options that didn't quite fit in with the other menu items. Options - Utility This routine calls up the program to modify the startup default file, CHESSEDT.DAT. This is identical to when you ran the program the very first time. Note: When calling this routine, the game you are working on is completely lost. If you wish to modify the defaults and continue working on a specific game, save the game, modify the defaults and recall the game. The default directory is the data directory set by the CHESSEDT program. When you first run a directory, recall a file, save a file, or any function that requires interaction with the DOS file structure, the default directory will be displayed. In my case, I use this program primarily for postal chess, thus my default directory is d:\chess\postal\. The next item requested is the owner. This program is set up to build a database for an individual, however there is enough flexibility in the program that several owners can store files in the same directories or there need not be an 'owner' at all since the owner's name can be changed from within CHESSEDT. When prompted for owner, you should type in your name. I suggest last name first followed by first name, but this is only a personal preference. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 40 The program next prompts you for the type of display you are using. There are four display modes supported, monochrome, CGA, EGA-Text, and EGA. The prompt for the display type is significantly different than the last two prompts. So far you have been able to type in any information you desire. Now things get a little simpler. To change the default display mode, press either the up cursor arrow or the down cursor arrow. The only problem you might have is if the NUM Lock is turned on. If so, turn it off. Got it??? Not too difficult I hope. When your selection is displayed, press the enter key. If you have a monochrome display, the only display mode that will work is 'Monochrome'. This will display a chess board using only text characters. The white pieces will appear in bold print (or brighter) while the black pieces will appear normal. If you are having problems, try adjusting the contrast and brightness of your monitor. If you have a monochrome display that is Hercules compatible, you may be able to get away with simulating a CGA display using the SIMCGA program provided. This SIMCGA program is being distributed without any guarantees. It was obtained from THE SOURCE, an information/program exchange service. To use the SIMCGA program, see the documentation provided. This should be run prior to running CHESSEDT. If you have a CGA display, you may select from the 'Monochrome' mode and the CGA mode. The monochrome will display pretty colors, however the pieces will be ASCII characters. The CGA mode will display the pieces as graphic characters, but everything will be in black and white. Sorry folks, but if you want high resolution graphics using a CGA, you've got to throw away the colors. If you have a EGA display, you may select from any of the display modes. The EGA text mode is identical to the Monochrome mode, with the exception that you may change colors. The EGA display mode will display all the pieces as graphic characters. Note on speed: Using either of the graphic modes, CGA or EGA, will tend to slow down putting pieces on the board. This is directly related to the difference in speed of putting a character on the screen versus drawing a graphics character. I have not gotten into assembler for the IBM as yet, so the graphic displays are all driven from the compiled BASIC program. Knowing a little about assembler, I think I can safely state the speed of the graphics can be improved, if I were to dig down deep enough. However, I CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 41 have been in that morass before on other computers and I have no immediate plans to take another dip. Display modes and types. Monochrome Monochrome mode only Hercules graphic card Monochrome and CGA* CGA Monochrome and CGA EGA, VGA Monochrome, EGA Text, CGA, EGA *CGA supported only if SIMCGA program run first. After being prompted for the display mode, you will next be prompted for the type of notation translation to be used. This sets the type of notation displayed and stored in the game files. It does NOT limit you to the type of notation you may use. Standard English algebraic, English descriptive, computer algebraic, long algebraic, and international numeric are all supported. On any given move, you may type the move using any of these notations. If the translation string is set, the move will then be translated into the appropriate notation you have selected. This is great if you want to translate an English descriptive notation game into English algebraic, or vice versa. I might mention that due to limitations in English descriptive, the translations TO this notation, although strictly legal, may not correspond with the conventional usage. However, input of English descriptive is well supported as either the strictly legal forms or the more conventional forms. Again to select the different types of notations, press either the up cursor arrow key or the down cursor arrow key. When your selection is displayed, press the enter key. If you selected English algebraic, the moves you input will be translated into standard English algebraic. If you selected English descriptive, the moves you input will be translated into standard English descriptive. If you selected computer algebraic, the moves you input will be translated into standard computer algebraic. If you selected long algebraic, the moves you input will be translated into standard long algebraic. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 42 If you selected international numeric, the moves you input will be translated into standard international numeric. i.e. the first number will be the origin file, the second - the origin rank, the third - the destination file, and the fourth - the destination rank. If you selected none, the moves you input will not be translated into any other type of notation. Using this setting, you may mix and match any and all notations you desire. The first move may be in English descriptive and the second in computer algebraic. If you have selected EGA text or EGA display modes, the program next displays the current colors being used by the program and allows you to change them using the up and down cursor keys. You may select from 64 possible colors for the light squares of the chessboard, the dark squares of the chessboard, the light pieces, the dark pieces, the rank/file labels, the scoresheet labels, and the background. For a few of the above, the color 0 is not legal since this will tend to display that item in the background color which will essentially make this item disappear. If you are switching from monochrome or CGA to either EGA mode, you may not be prompted for the colors since the computer still is in the previous mode. To obtain the prompt for colors, select 'Options' a second time. You may want to create a number of directories and store CHESSEDT.DAT files in each. In this manner, the default settings would depend on which directory you happened to be in when you ran the CHESSEDT program. CHESSEDT is fairly stupid, it looks in the current directory for its data file. If it is present, it uses those default settings. If it is not present, it creates a new CHESSEDT.DAT file for that directory. Board Position Database - Utility This routine is a functional database routine based on the board position. The moves used to get to this board position are completely disregarded and only the position of the pieces are examined. This routine is used to browse through annotated board positions or search for a board positions matching the current board position. Thus, with the proper database files, you could build and equivalent of any of the normal opening books including annotations. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 43 Building your own database entries I have included a number of example database files with the distribution disks. They are in the subdirectory \BOARDDB on the Program Disk. You can copy these files over to your directory, or use them directly from the distribution disk. Alternatively, you can create entries for the board position database very easily using the normal editing features of CHESSEDT. The files in the Board Position Database are identical in structure to 'normal' CHESSEDT game files. The only difference is that the first annotation in the game is a board position. The way to create this type of file is very easy: 1) First enter the Edit menu and select 'New' to create a new game file. 2) Enter the heading information as desired. 3) Next enter the moves needed to arrive at the board position that will be stored in the database. You may elect to move the pieces around using the board editor. 4) Select the 'annotation' command and type "B", "BRD" or "Board" to enter the current board position as annotation. (In reviewing the game, 'board position' annotation is displayed as a 64 character 'word' containing numbers, semi-colons, a few other characters.) 5) Do not enter any other annotation before entering the board position as annotation. 6) Next select the 'annotation' command a second time to annotate the board position. 7) You can now continue on with the game, annotating the game further, or you can exit. 8) After you have exited or have entered the last move, go to the file menu and save the game. 9) The game file should be stored in a disk/directory where your board position database will reside. I have created a sub-directory on my hard disk called D:\CHESS\ECO where I keep all my board position database files. Assuming everything went OK, your board position game file is now stored as part of your board position database. Quit - Board DB - Utility CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 44 This will reset the board position, moves, and annotations in effect prior to entering this routine. It will then take you back to the main menu. No moves, annotations, or any other data from the original game is lost. Browse - Board DB - Utility This routine will allow you to browse through the board position database, one position at a time. When prompted for the filename, you should enter the drive/directory where your database files are located. Optionally, you can enter a partial or full filename. Specifying the filename will limit your browsing to only those files that match the given filename. Remember full DOS wildcarding is supported so if you want to search all the files in your database directory, you may want to specify '*' as the filename. Examples: Filename = C:\ECO\* Will specify C:\ECO as the board database directory. The filename will be *.GAM which means 'include all files'. Filename = D:\CHESS\ECO\ Will specify D:\CHESS\ECO as the board database directory. The filename will automatically be set to '????????.GAM'. As you browse through the database, the files are displayed one at a time. When you reach the end, CHESSEDT will display 'No more files that match search criteria!'. At this time the original board position will be setup and you can continue where you left off. The exception to this is when you elect to load the board database file into CHESSEDT. In this latter case, all previous data are destroyed. When CHESSEDT finds a board position file, the board position is loaded onto the screen and the board annotation is displayed in the text window. You have three options, Quit, Next and Load. Quit - Browse - Board DB - Utility Just as you might imagine, this command will exit from the browsing function. It will return you to the board database main menu. Next - Browse - Board DB - Utility CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 45 This command will continue searching the database and display the next file found. You can continue through the whole database in this manner. Load - Browse - Board DB - Utility This option will load the database file into CHESSEDT as if you had entered the file menu and executed an 'open' command. You will be taken to the main menu. Find - Board DB - Utility This option will compare the current board position with the board positions stored in the database. The same three options as discussed above under the browse function apply here as well. If a match is found, the board position and annotation are displayed. If no match is found the 'No more files.' message will appear. Edit board - Board DB - Utility This is the familiar board editor you have seen in a couple places in CHESSEDT. The commands are described elsewhere. The main reason for the editor in this position is so you can setup a board position that you would like to find. ASCII Conversions - Utility This utility is used to convert text files containing chess games into CHESSEDT files. This is useful if you would like to take a text file, such as might be captured on THE LINC, and generate CHESSEDT files for the games in the file. This requires some formatting of the ASCII file. However, the formatting required is very easily done and can be accomplished in a couple of minutes per game. These modifications are described below. The first step is to define the directory and filename of the file(s) to be extracted. In this case you MUST supply the extension also since CHESSEDT has no idea what the extension might be. Note: Unlike most of CHESSEDT filenames, the filename of the extractable file does NOT need to be eight characters long. After confirming the extracted file specification, CHESSEDT then prompts for the basename for the files being extracted, CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 46 the 'destination' files. The base name should be four characters in length. If not, CHESSEDT will supply dashes. CHESSEDT then prompts for the starting filenumber. Input what ever number you would like. Usually you can accept the default of '1'. CHESSEDT then opens the file to be converted and begins to pull out games one by one. The first game extracted is stored under the name base---x, where base is the base filename and x is the starting filenumber. If you start with number 1, up to 9999 games can be extracted from a single text file. Before CHESSEDT can extract these games a few modifications to the text file(s) are necessary. These modifications involve typing two letter commands into the file to tell CHESSEDT where to begin saving the game, heading, and annotation information, and when to stop. bg and eg - ASCII Conversions - Utility Type bg (begin game) on a single line just prior to the game to be extracted. When CHESSEDT detects this command it turns on its extraction code. Unless informed that the data is header or annotation, CHESSEDT will look for the first alphabetical character and build a move character by character until it encounters a space. This then becomes the first move. It then looks for the next alphabetical character and builds the next move, etc. Thus, any 'words' located between the bg and eg markers must be moves. See bh/eh and ba/ea below. Type eg (end game) on a single line just after the game to be extracted. This resets CHESSEDT file, annotation, move counters, and saves the extracted game to disk. All of the game, including header information and annotation data must be between bg and eg. bh and eh - ASCII Conversions - Utility These are used to tell CHESSEDT that the data between bh and eh are header data, not moves. Type bh (begin header) on a single line just prior to the beginning of the header information. CHESSEDT will then look for seven pieces of information on the next seven lines. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 47 Line 1 : The tournament. Line 2 : The date. Line 3 : The opening. Line 4 : The player playing white. Line 5 : White's rating Line 6 : The player playing black. Line 7 : Black's rating. Type eh (end heading) on a single line after black's rating. Any or all of the above lines may be blank. The only advantage to having them is to put more information into the CHESSEDT file for future reference. ba and ea - ASCII Conversions - Utility These are used to tell CHESSEDT that the data between ba and ea are annotation data, not moves. Type ba on a single line prior to the beginning of the annotation data. CHESSEDT will record the annotation and the move number it was looking at when the annotation was encountered. You may turn on and off annotation recording throughout the game. CHESSEDT remembers the last annotation count and move number. Type ea on a single line just after the annotation data to define the end of the annotation. The annotation text should be less that 255 characters each. If the annotation is too long, enter an 'ea' to end annotation and immediately enter a 'ba' to begin the next annotation. Repeat this if necessary. This procedure will result in multiple screens of annotation data being displayed after a given move. However, there is no limit on the number of annotations per move, and CHESSEDT will pause after displaying each annotation. DOS Shell This is simply a 'shell' to DOS. It activates a second COMMAND.COM and leaves CHESSEDT intact including the current game you are working on. CHESSEDT must have access to COMMAND.COM to reload it. Thus COMMAND.COM must either be on the disk with CHESSEDT or in your system PATH. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 48 If you have problems If you have problems try to work them out yourself!!!! All kidding aside, I have tried to address all problems you might have in the manual above. There are a few likely problems that you may run into. The display shows funny characters around the scoresheet and above the menu. SIMCGA and my NEC Multispeed when emulating CGA do not remember the special IBM line drawing characters. This is probably the case here. For some CGA systems to display the proper characters for CHESSEDT, you may need to execute the program "GRAFTABL.EXE" supplied to you along with your version of MS-DOS. I am associated with the two major on-line systems with the following addresses and would be glad to help you out any way. GENIE S. WHARRY COMPUSERVE 71531,3125 or even the mundane address Stephen Wharry 4842 Clearview Circle Bartlesville, OK 74006 Drop me a line, electronically or otherwise, an I'll try to solve your problem. I must admit there are most likely still bugs in this program as I have NEVER found a program that has reached the released stage that does not have bugs. Also, for future releases of CHESSEDT or other chess related software, drop me a line. I have released two other chess related programs, CHESSCLB and CHESSRPT. The former is used to keep track of the chessplayers in a chess club, calculates ratings, both speed and normal, and will keep track the winning percentages and record against every other player in the club. CHESSRPT is used to prepare tournament results for submission to USCF. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 49 APPENDIX I Opening abbreviations for CHESSEDT Opening abbreviations for CHESSEDT ALE = Alekhine's Defense BGD = Blackmar-Diemer Gambit BEN = Benoni BIR = Bird's Defense BIS = Bishop's Opening CAR = Caro-Kann CEN = Center Counter Gambit DUT = Dutch ENG = English FRE = French FRO = From's Gambit GIN = Grunfeld Indian GIU = Giuoco Piano IND = Indian IRR = Irregular KGA = King's Gambit Accepted KGD = King's Gambit Declined KIN = King's Indian NIM = Nimzowisch Defense NIN = Nimzo-Indian PET = Petroff's Defense PIR = Pirc POL = Polish QGA = Queen's Gambit Accepted QGD = Queen's Gambit Declined QIN = Queen's Indian RET = Reti ROB = Robotsch RUY = Ruy Lopez SAI = Saint George SAT = Silcilian Attack SIC = Silcilian STO = Stonewall CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 50 APPENDIX II ALGEBRAIC NOTATION English algebraic notation is a form of notation used to describe the moves on a chessboard. Each square of the chess board is designated by a unique combination of a letter and number. Starting at white's lower left hand corner of the board, the rows running up and down (files) are designated with a lower case letters from a to h and the rows running from left to right (ranks) are designated with numbers from 1 to 8. Each piece on the chessboard is designated by a capital letter, with the exception of the pawn which has no designator. R = Rook N = Knight B = Bishop Q = Queen K = King The move consist of the designator and the destination square to which the piece will move. Thus Nc3 indicates a knight being moved to the square corresponding to c3, the c file and the 3rd rank. A pawn move consists only of the destination square. If two pieces of the same type can move to the same square, such as knights on f3 and b1 moving to d2, the move consists of the designator, the origin file, and the destination square. Thus in the example above, Nbd2 designates the knight on the b file will be moved to the square d2. If the origin file is not unique, then the origin rank may be used instead. Thus with rooks on d1 and d8, a move from d1 to d2 would be written as R1d2. If a move involves the capture of a piece, an x is inserted just before the destination square. Thus Bxb7 indicates a bishop capturing an opponents piece on b7. In the case of a pawn, the origin file of the pawn in used as a designator. Thus exd5 designates a pawn on the e file capturing an opponents piece on d5. En passant is designated as if the pawn being captured resided on the destination square and an e.p. is appended at the end of the move. Thus gxh3 ep. designates a pawn on g capturing an opponents pawn on h4, but ending up on h3. CHESSEDT Version 6.0 - Page 51 Kingside castling is designated by O-O and queenside castling by O-O-O. Check is designated by a plus sign (+) appended to the move and checkmate is designated by two plus signs (++). DESCRIPTIVE NOTATION In general, descriptive notation does not specify the origin nor destination squares in the move unless clarification is needed. Thus, if only one knight can take a bishop, then the move is designated by NxB. If clarification is needed, then the origin square is specified by the file and rank relative to the first rank of each player. Thus, the eighth rank for white is black's first rank. The file is specified by first the side of the board, Q for queenside and K for kingside and the piece originating on that file at the beginning of the game. Thus the QR file is the far left file for white and far right for black. The KN file is the second file from the right for white and the second from the left for black. This is the notation used when P-K4 is specified. This move means a pawn moves to the 4th rank on the king file. A knight on the kingside of the board may be specified as just KN to indicate a king's knight as opposed to a knight on the queenside which could be designated QN. Other pieces that this might apply to include rooks and on rare occasions queens and bishops. The full legal description using English descriptive is piece/[origin square]- destination square or piece/[origin square] x piece[destination square] for captures.