ChessGenius version 1.7 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 90KB of free memory. ChessGenius was written by Richard Lang, ten times Computer Chess World Champion. New features in 1.7 include: Board coordinate option and support for the 5-way navigator in new Palm devices and Jog dial on Sony Clie devices. There is an option to use the 5-way navigator to enter moves. Useful for one handed operation. The right and left keys change the board view and center key inverts the board. On Sony Clie devices up/down whilst pressing the Jog Dial changes the board view. As before up/down allows takeback/forward. 2: Registration Get the full World Championship Program in your pocket by registering at: http://www.palmgear.com/register and enter Product ID: 6018 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. - Save game to memo only saves the first 10 moves of a game. - 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 'Switch sides/Move' to force ChessGenius to move first. Menus and Shortcuts: Tap the Menu icon to bring up the ChessGenius menu. The Menu icon is the round icon at the bottom left of the screen. (Below the area used by ChessGenius and to the left of the writing area). 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. The scroll button provides a quick way to take back and step forward. 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 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) Fast animation. Graphic pieces move faster if ticked. b) 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. c) Tutor. If ticked ChessGenius will warn if a blunder or weak move is played and give the option of takeback. This is intended for beginners. d) Permanent brain. If ticked ChessGenius also thinks when it is your turn to move. This raises ChessGenius's playing strength. Note that battery drain is higher whenever ChessGenius is thinking. d) Show legal moves. If ticked ChessGenius will show legal moves. Tap on a piece to see where it can move to. Analyze Game: Analyze game is like 2 player mode but ChessGenius calculates continuously and shows its thinking on the small board. Useful for replaying games to see where mistakes have been made or for playing over an imported PGN Master game. Note that battery drain is higher whenever Genius is thinking. You vs. IR: You can play against another player who has ChessGenius installed on a Palm device using the infrared port.- Start a new game and set this mode on both devices. 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. Color and Gray scale support: See the 'Colors... /O' menu item Color devices: Light and dark board squares can be any color Palm OS3.5 upwards: Light and dark squares can be any gray scale. Palm OS3.0 to 3.3: Dark squares can be either: dark gray, light gray, black checked or dark gray checked. Palm OS2.0: No support for colors. Save Game as memo: This saves the current game as a memo. The game can be deleted, edited, beamed or put into a category using the built in 'Memo Pad' application. Your games will be backed up to your desktop computer during HotSync. Load game: This displays a list of saved games. Tap on a game to load it. Transferring games between Palm and Desktop PC: ChessGenius loads and saves games in a standard PGN format which is compatible with most PC Chess playing programs. Advanced users will be able to move games between the Palm and Desktop PC by cutting and pasting to the Memo Pad area of the Palm Desktop software. For details see the FAQ page at: www.chessgenius.com 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. - Use the scroll buttons for quick Take back and Step forward - Hint. - Play against ChessGenius, against another player, watch ChessGenius play itself or Analyze game. - 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. - Swap sides/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. - Color/Gray scale support. - Save and Load games in PGN format. - Permanent brain option. - Tutor option. Warns of bad moves. - Legal moves option. Shows legal moves. - Infrared play. - Show legal moves option. - High resolution support for Sony Clie and Palm OS5 devices and for the Handera 330. 5: Upgrading to version 1.7 If you already have an older version of ChessGenius simply install over your current version. Registered users will not need to enter the License Key again. 6: Technical Support and FAQ For Technical support, answers to Frequently Asked Questions and information on the rules of chess Visit http://www.chessgenius.com or email support@chessgenius.com end