ChessGenius

ChessGenius for Palm connected organizers contains a World Microcomputer Championship winning chess engine.

Thank you for downloading ChessGenius!

The following files are included:

- License.txt Read before installing the ChessGenius.

- Readme.txt This file.

- ChessGenius.prc Install this on your Palm device.

To find out more about ChessGenius visit:

http://www.chessgenius.com

1: Introduction.

ChessGenius for Palm connected organizers contains a World

Microcomputer Championship winning chess engine. It offers

incredibly strong play even on the instant level and a wide range

of features for beginners and experts.

It runs on all Palm devices that have Palm OS3.0 or higher and

about 80KB of free memory. It also runs on the PalmPilot

Professional with OS2.0 but not on the PalmPilot Personal.

ChessGenius was written by Richard Lang, ten times Computer Chess

World Champion.

2: Registration

Get the full World Championship Program in your pocket by

registering at:

http://www.chessgenius.com

After registering you will receive a "License Key". Enter

this key to unleash the full features of ChessGenius.

The unregistered ChessGenius has the following limitations.

- Playing Level. After move twenty the playing level switches

to 1 second per move.

- Main line. Not displayed after move ten.

- Opening library is smaller.

- The 'ChessGenius unregistered box' is displayed each time

the program starts.

3: Hints and Tips.

To play with the Black pieces:

Select "New game" and then "Move now" to force ChessGenius to

move first.

Menus and Shortcuts:

Tap the menu button to bring up the ChessGenius menu. It is often

quicker to use shortcuts - write the letter of the shortcut on

the Graffiti area (The shortcut stroke is not required).

Take back:

This reverses a single move so has the effect of changing sides.

To avoid changing sides take back twice.

Board sizes:

Tap on the small icon on the bottom right to switch between Small

and Big board sizes. Use menu command or short cut 'I' to see the

Giant board.

Championship:

The word 'Championship' is displayed on the small board view if

'Hint' and 'Take back' have not been used and the 'Main line' has

not been viewed and 'Playing level' not changed during game.

Can you beat ChessGenius and see the word 'Championship' ?

Clocks:

The chess clocks at the top of the small board view show time

as minutes:seconds or hours;minutes. Note the ':' or ';'

If the playing level is set to 'Game in ..' the clocks count down

to show the remaining time. When time has run out '--:--' is

displayed. If the playing level is changed mid game the clocks

are set to appropriate times.

Playing levels:

The 'Mate in' playing level can only be used for solving chess

problems, not for playing games or with ChessGenius vs.

ChessGenius.

Side to Move:

The text 'Thinking' or 'Your move' is displayed normally if White

is to move and reversed if Black to move.

Set up position - castling and en-passant status:

See the 'Tips' that are visible whilst setting up a position for

details.

Auto-off:

ChessGenius does not disable the Auto-off setting of Palm

devices. To prevent your Palm from switching off during long

thinking times or during ChessGenius vs. ChessGenius games it is

necessary to touch the screen occasionally.

New Game Options:

These options are also in preferences.

a) Show main line: If ticked, the small board will show a line

of text that shows the 'thinking process' of the computer.

For example, the line may show:

"1.03 05 cxd4 Nxd4 Nc6 Bb5" This means that:

ChessGenius is winning by 1.03 pawns,

Search depth = 5,

and line of moves. ChessGenius is planning cxd4 and expects

Nxd4 in reply etc.

b) Opening Book: If ticked ChessGenius will play the first

opening moves of a game from its built in opening library, it

will not calculate or think.

Sound:

Sounds can be switched on or off (and with Palm OS3, the volume

adjusted) by using the built in 'Prefs' application on your Palm

device.

Technical support:

Visit http://www.chessgenius.com

or email [email protected]

4: Features.

- Incredibly strong play even on the 'instant' level.

- Forty playing levels.

Ten easy levels. ChessGenius makes deliberate mistakes.

Ten time based levels. Instant, 1 sec, 2 sec,...

Ten Blitz levels. Whole game in 1 min, 2 min,...

The Chess Clocks count down in these levels.

You lose if you run out of time

Ten Problem solving levels. Solve newspaper

checkmate in .. problems.

- Three board views. The smallest board allows much

additional information to be displayed on screen

including:

The last 8 moves of the game.

Chess Clocks. Total White and Black time and move

time.

Main line. e.g. "1.03 05 cxd4 Nxd4 Nc6 Bb5"

Display of 'Championship' if you have not used

Hint, Taken back moves or Viewed the Main line. Can

you beat ChessGenius without help?.

- Set-up position allows any legal position to be entered.

- Take back moves to the start of game.

- Step forward ( to reverse take back) to end of game.

- Hint.

- Play against ChessGenius, against another player or watch

ChessGenius play itself.

- Promote pawns to any legal piece.

- Recognises draw by repetitions and by the 50 move rule.

- Announces a draw if there is insufficient material to win.

- Reverse board.

- Move now.

- Huge library of opening moves.

- Make moves by tapping on 'from' and 'to' square or sliding.

- Animated piece movement. Fast animation option.

- Graffiti short cuts. Command stroke not required.

end