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Chess Master 9000 Manual
Chess Master 9000 Manual
Table of Contents 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
QuickStart! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Minimum System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Installing CHESSMASTER 9000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Starting CHESSMASTER 9000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Logging in as a Play er. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Viewing Player Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
P uzzle of the Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Proof of Purchase Coupon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside back cover
Hotkeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . outside back cover
Chess_PC_Manual.qxd 7/22/02 1:15 PM Page 4
4 Introduction Introduction 5
2. Click I nstall.
INTRODUCTION 3. Then click Next.
Congratulations! You’ve purchased the latest version 4. Choose an installation option:
of the world’s best-selling chess program. Whether
• Typical Installation—Copies all the program files to your system, but
you’re new to chess pr ograms, or a
leaves the larger endgame databases and the audio files on the CD for you
CHESSMASTER® veteran, you’ll find that
to access as needed.
CHESSMASTER® 9000 is the most
comprehensive chess software av ailable anywhere. • Full installation—Copies all CHESSMASTER 9000 components to your
Now, there are many mor e ways for you to improv e hard driv e, provided that y ou have sufficient space on y our drive.
and enjoy chess: 5. Click Next and specify wher e you want to install CHESSMASTER 9000. The
• New ches s sets and boards, including over 60 new True-3D chessboards and default installation path is C:\P rogram F iles\Chessmaster 9000. Click B rowse
piece sets if you wish to specify a different path.
• More ways to play chess, including a new QuickStart! mode 6. Click Next again to begin the installation.
• New Chess courses and tutorials only av ailable in CHESSMASTER 9000 7. W hen the installation is complete, s elect Restart Windo ws, and then click Next.
• New analysis function that lets y ou select the level of advice y ou need 8. Click Finish and Restart Windo ws Now.
• Over 150 opponents, fr om beginner to Grandmaster level
§ Star ting CHESSMASTER 9000
• New functions for advanced players
Insert Disc 1 into your CD-ROM drive. You should
If you are new to CHESSMASTER, or simply want to jump right in and see the CHESSMASTER 9000 Welcome screen.
star t playing, look throughout the manual for this symbol: §, which will Then, choose from the following options:
give you the basics you need to begin. Later, you can learn mor e about the
• Click Run to start CHESSMASTER 9000.
advanced features of CHESSMASTER 9000.
• S elect the Uninstall option from the Windows
§ Q uickStar t! program menu if you wish to remov e
If you are familiar with pr evious versions of CHESSMASTER, and you want to CHESSMASTER 9000 fr om your system.
jump right in and play chess, go to the G ame Room and click on the Q uickStart! • Click C ancel to exit CHESSMASTER 9000. If Disc 1 is currently in your
button. CHESSMASTER 9000 will set up a game for y ou, based on your rating CD-ROM drive, or if y ou have A utoplay turned off on your CD-ROM drive,
choice when you created your user. you can start CHESSMASTER 9000 b y doing the following:
Choose Programs>Chessmaster 9000>Chessmaster 9000 from the
§ Minimum System Requirements Windows Start menu.
CHESSMASTER 9000 does not officially support Windows® 95 or 2000 • When you start CHESSMASTER 9000, the I ntroduction video plays. You
Pentium II 450 or AMD K6-3 500 can watch the video or skip it b y pressing any key or clicking the mouse.
Windows 98/ME 64 MB RAM (128 MB RAM recommended) When the video stops, the Player Login screen appears.
Windows XP 128 MB RAM (256 MB RAM r ecommended) § To begin using CHESSMASTER 9000, you must log in as a player:
DirectX8.1-compatible v ideo card (Includes support for high-end 3D v ideo cards) 1. Click New Player and the Create New Play er
300 MB hard driv e space screen appears.
Windows-compatible mouse 2. The first time you play CHESSMASTER 9000,
Internet connection for play on Ubi.com (minimum 56k modem or br oadband) you will be allowed to set the level of play. If you
know your chess rating, for example, you can
§ Installing CHESSMASTER 9000 type it in. This will determine the lev el of
You must use the setup pr ogram to install CHESSMASTER 9000. You cannot opponents you face.
install it by copying the software from the CD to your hard drive. 3. In the Player Name box, type the name you wish to use.
1. Insert Disc 1 in your CD-ROM drive. If you’re installing CHESSMASTER
9000 for the first time, the CHESSMASTER 9000 Welcome screen appears.
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4. Click Create. The CHESSMASTER 9000 lobby appears with seven icons, or needs and tastes. Depending on which room you’re in, setting up the
“doors” that lead y ou into the seven CHESSMASTER rooms — the Library, environment can involve one or more of the following:
Classr oom, Tournament Hall, Game Room, Database Room, Kids’ R oom, and • Designing the layout of y our playing area.
CMLiv e Room. This includes selecting a chess set, defining its
5. To delete a player, simply select the player you want to delete fr om the list, and position, and displaying one or more of the
click Delete. CHESSMASTER windows.
Note: When y ou create a player, CHESSMA STER 9000 adds the nam e to the • Setting up sounds, narrated features, and
Player Lo gin lis t. So, the next time you start CHESSM ASTER 9000, you can s imply window and CMLive effects. F or example, you
select yo ur nam e, and then click Login. Using the abov e s teps, you can add as many can activate sound narration, so that you can
players as you wish. listen to CHESS MASTER’s advice while y ou’re
playing a game. You can tell CHES SMAS TER
Viewing Player Information to notify you when someone from Ubi.com
CHESSMASTER 9000 keeps a player profile for each player you add on the logs on, sends you a message, or challenges y ou to a game.
Player Login screen, tracking the wins, losses, draws, overall ratings, number of • Configuring your chessboard, which includes specifying cer tain settings, such
tutorials completed, and several other statistics. as turning the board lights on or off , determining the speed at which the chess
To view the statistics for a given player: pieces move, deciding whether you want CHESSMASTER to let y ou know
the openings that you and your opponent are using, and so on.
1. From the P layer Login list, s elect the player whos e inform ation you want
to view, and then click View Player . The P layer Profile for the selected • Specifying the type of chess notation y ou want to use. Chess notation refers to
player appear s. the method of recording the moves on the chessboard.
2. Click the appropriate tab to view the statistics you want. How to Design Your Playing Area
Note: When you’re in a giv en room, you can view the profile of the current player. The playing area consists of the chess set, the chessboard, and the
From the Game Room, Classroom, Tournament H all, Library, and CMLive, choose CHESSM ASTER 9000 windows that appear in a given room . For example, in the
Player Statistics from the W indows menu. From the Kids’ Room, choose Player Game R oom, you might want a True-3D Blue Marble chessboard with Isle of
Progress from the Windows menu. Le wis pieces, with the P layer Profile, C aptured P ieces, and Game Status w indows
open. However, in the Kids’ Room, y ou might want a simple 2D Kids’ chessboard
§ Puzzle of the Day with Kids’ Clay pieces and the Shortcuts and C hess Coach windows open.
Before you log in to C HES SM ASTER, you can challenge yourself r ight So, you can design the layout of the playing area with any or all of the
away by trying to s olve this puzzle, which changes ever y tim e y ou start CHESSMASTER 9000 features you want. Or, you can use one of the pre-
CH ESSMAST ER 9000. defined layouts that CHESSMASTER provides. If you choose to design y our
To use the Puzzle of the Day: own custom layout, you can save it to a file, and then use it again later.
1. Start CHESSMASTER 9000 to display the Play er Login screen. § To design the layout of the playing area:
2. R ead the tip below the puzzle, and then attempt to solve it. CHESSMASTER 1. Select Preferences from the menu bar of any r oom.
9000 lets you know if the mo ve you make is right or wr ong.
2. Then choose Chess Set. The S elect Chess Pieces & Board scr een appears.
3. If you can’t figur e it out, simply click I Give Up, and CHESSMASTER 9000
will highlight the correct move for you. 3. Select the chessboard y ou want from the top and the pieces from the bottom,
and then click OK. CHESSMASTER displays the chess set you selected.
4. If you wish, y ou can ignore the puzzle and simply log in to CHESSMASTER.
4. Click anywhere on the border (or frame) of the chessboar d, and then drag it to
the location you want.
5. If you have chosen a True-3D chess set, you can resize the 3D chessboard,
DEFINING YOUR ROOM ENVIRONMENT zooming in and out with the wheel on your mouse.
The many powerful features of CHESSMASTER 9000 are organiz ed into seven
6. From the Windows menu, select the windows you want to display in the
different rooms: The Library, Classroom, Tournament Hall, G ame Room,
playing area. A chess piece symbol next to the menu option indicates the
Database Room, Kids’ Room, and CMLive. Each CHESSMASTER room
corresponding window is open.
provides a set of features that lets you design the room environment to suit your
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7. CHESSMASTER saves the current layout of your playing area until you Shor tcuts window—Lets you quickly access commonly used featur es in the
customize it again or replace it b y opening an existing layout. corresponding room.
§ O pening and saving playing area layouts Game Status window—Displays names of players and their ratings, elapsed time
for each player, the Move List (in whatever notation you’ve selected), and V CR
1. From the Preferences menu, choose Layouts.
buttons that let you scroll through each move in the game. This window is not
2. Click the Save tab, and then specify where you want to save the layout. The available in the Classr oom.
default path is C:\Program Files\Chessmaster 9000\Lay outs.
Annotation window—Lets you see CHESSMASTER’ s comments and analysis
3. In the File Name bo x, type a name for the layout, and then click Save. of your game:
CHESSMASTER automatically appends the menu extension to all lay out files.
Player Tab—Here, you may enter comments and analytical information on the
§ To open an existing layout: moves you make during a game. Simply click the Edit button, type the
1. From the Preferences menu, choose Layouts, and then choose Load. information you want in the edit bo x, and then click OK .
2. Open the folder that contains the layout you want. The default path is Auto Annotation Tab—To have C HESSMA STER analyze a game you’ve just
C:\Program Files\Chessmaster 9000\Lay outs. play ed:
3. Double-click the layout you want, or select the layout and click Load. 1. Select Game Analysis from the Mentor menu.
CHESSMASTER opens the playing ar ea layout you selected.
2. Click P lay on the Auto Annotation tab.
Note: At any time, you may restore the default layouts b y selecting Restore Defaults 3. Then listen to CHESSMASTER pr ovide commentar y on the current game.
from the Prefer ences pull-down menu.
4. Click Pause to interrupt the analysis at any time, and click Play again to
§ Selecting a Chess Set resume the analysis.
Over the centuries, the game of chess has 5. Click Stop to halt the analysis and to r ewind the analysis to the beginning.
continued to inspire artists around the world. 6. You can also load a sav ed game and analyze it the same way.
CHESSMASTER 9000 provides you with the Analysis Tab—Provides analysis on the curr ent game situation, including a
widest variety of chess sets on the mar ket, numerical score and the best line of mov es. Use the V CR buttons on the Game
including over 60 new True-3D chess sets and Status window to scroll through and review the analysis.
boards. When you choose Chess S et from the
Preferences menu in CHESSMASTER 9000, Note: Because you use the Annotation window to enhance your playing skills and to
the program automatically chooses the matching study existing games, it is accessible only in the Game Room and the Library.
board for y ou, and vice versa. If you want to try out different boards and pieces Captured Pieces window—Displays the captur ed pieces on both sides as the
together, simply turn the Match Boar ds and Pieces option off . game progresses. You can resize the window as necessary to show all the captured
§ Using the CHESSMASTER Windows pieces. This window is not av ailable in either the Classroom or D atabase Room.
All the C HESSMASTER rooms (except the Database Room) provide s everal Player Statistics window—Displays a profile on the play er currently logged in to
vis ual aids that you can use while you play, practice, or learn chess. You can CHESSMASTER 9000. It also keeps track of the wins, losses, draws, overall
access these visual aids (also called “windows ”) by selecting Windows from the rating, number of tutorials completed, and several other statistics.
menu bar of any room. P layer Pr ogress window—Like the Player Statis tics window, but for the
This section describes the available CHESSMASTER windows. Note that some Kids’ R oom.
of the windo ws are not accessible in certain rooms. For example, the Annotation Note: CHESSMASTER 9000 keeps separate stats for your online play. These stats
window, which contains comments and analytical information on the curr ent can be accessed in the CMLive room, and ar e the stats used when you ar e competing
game, is not av ailable in the Tournament H all, because when you’re playing a against other CHESSMASTER owners on Ubi.com.
tournament, you’re not supposed to have access to such information.
Note: Windows that ar e specific to a given room are described in their respective
chapters later in this User’s Guide. For example, the Chat window and Online
Information window, which are accessible only in the CMLiv e Room, ar e described in
“The CMLive Room.”
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§ Configuring Your Chessboard selected, the default “drag and drop” method will be used.
1. From the Preferences menu, choose B oard Settings. In addition, there ar e a number of 3D effects settings that vary according to your
2. There ar e three tabs that let you adjust y our type of video card and what 3D effects, if any, it supports.
chessboard:
Flipping Your Chessboard
a. Appearance
At any time, you can flip the chessboard to see the board from your
b. Function opponent’s per spective, by selecting F lip B oard from the Preferences m enu or
c. 3D Settings by pressing Ctrl-B.
3. Use the check bo xes and buttons to specify Note: If you are playing with a True-3D board, you can rotate the board freely using
the board settings you want. the mouse and keyboard.
4. Click OK to apply the selected settings to
your chessboard. You may turn the following § Using a True-3D Chessboard
Board Settings options on and off: 1. From the chessboards available, select a True-
Announce Check and Announce Openings— 3D board or set.
CH ESS MASTER announces when you are in check and what opening lines you 2. If you wish to try out differ ent 3D boards
and your opponent are using. The respectiv e messages are displayed in the status and pieces together, simply turn the Match
bar, at the lower left of the room w indow. Boar ds and Pieces option off.
Board Coordinates—Determines whether your chessboard displays coordinates, 3. You can resiz e any 3D chessboard by
and how CHESSMASTER displays them. N ormally, the horizontal rows are zooming in and out with the wheel on your
labeled 1 through 8, and the vertical rows are labeled a through h. If you click mouse.
In-Square, CHESSMASTER displays the corresponding Rank & F ile coordinate 4. For more fine control over zoom ing, us e
in each square, so you don’t have to figure them out on your own. Alt-Mouse.
Board Turn Lights —Lights that appear on the right side of the chessboard 5. If you wish to r otate the 3D board, position your mouse near the center of the
indicate whether it is White or Black ’s turn to move. board. Hold down Ctrl and move the mouse to rotate the 3D board from left
to right, and tilt it for ward and back.
Highlight M ove Squares—CHESSMASTER reiterates each move, by
6. You can flip the 3D board and pieces around with Ctrl-B, just as you can a
highlighting the piece’s original square, and then the destination squar e. This
2D board.
option is on by default. You may also choose to have CHESSMASTER draw an
arrow between the two mo vement squares. 7. You can also move the 3D board around with hotkeys. The F2 through F6
keys move the 3D board around in various preset positions.
Quick Entry—Lets you move a chess piece by clicking its destination square,
8. The F7, F8 , and F9 keys are left for you to save your own preset 3D
rather than dragging and dropping it. When Quick entry is active, and y ou click a
board positions.
piece that has exactly one legal move, that move is made. If y ou click a square to
which only one piece can move, that move is made. Quick Entr y is off by default. 9. You can also modify the 3D board by right-clicking on the board and selecting
from the menu.
Sliding Pieces—Refers to the animation speed at which your opponent’s pieces
move. The default speed is Fast, which causes your opponent’s pieces to move
across the board quickly. If you click Off, your opponent’s pieces snap to their
destination. If you click Slow, your opponent’s pieces slide slowly to their
destination squares.
Time Stamp Annotation —CHESSMASTER adds the elapsed time for each
move into the P layer tab of the Annotation window. The time is taken from the
elapsed time indicated on the Game Status window.
Two-Click Moves—Lets y ou move pieces b y clicking once to pick up the piece,
and again to drop the piece on the destination squar e. If this checkbo x is not
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§ Setting Up Sounds, Voice, and Effects § Recording Moves with Algebraic Notation
CHESSMASTER 9000 provides a wide range of audio featur es that you can Algebraic Notation is the most common method of recording moves in a chess
control, such as the sound the chess pieces make when you move them on the game, combining symbols for the piece and its destination square. Major pieces
board or capture another piece, and whether or not cer tain features are narrated. are uppercase letters (K, Q, B, N, R), Pwans are rank and file, files ar e lowercase
Sound changes are made by selecting Preferences from the menu bar of any letters “a” through “h”, and ranks are numbers 1 through 8. Here is an example:
room, then choosing Sound and making any desired changes. OK saves the Be5 is B ishop to file e, rank 5, and e5 is Pawn to file e, rank 5.
changes and returns to play. Algebraic notation records captures with an x (for example, Bxe5), check with a
Selecting a Sound for Piece Movement plus sign (+), checkmate with a double plus sign (++) or #, castling Kingside with
The sound your pieces make when you move them on the board or capture a O-O, and castling Queenside with a O-O-O. To describe a mo ve in algebraic
another piece depends on the option you select fr om the P iece Movement notation, first indicate the letter of the piece that is moving: K for a King, Q for
tab in C HES S MA STER Sounds. You can choose one of the following piece a Queen, R for a Rook, B for a B ishop, and N for a Knight. I f you’re moving a
mov em ent sounds: Pawn, indicate the file (a - h) and rank (1 - 8) of the piece’s destination square.
Spoken Move Announcements —The default option, which produces spoken When a move causes checkmate, this is indicated with a ++ at the end of the
commentary for all mo ves made on the chessboard. mov e, such as, Rh7++. Checkmate can also be indicated with a number sign (#)
in CHESSMASTER 9000.
Thematic Sound Sets—P roduces sounds related to the theme of the chess set In addition to the standard Algebraic notation, CHESSMASTER 9000 also
you’re using. Not all chess sets have a thematic sound associated with them. provides Coordinate, Long Algebraic, Figurine Algebraic, Descriptiv e, and
Simple S ounds—A simple “clinking ” sound. International notation. S imply choose the type of notation you wish fr om
Notation in the Preferences menu.
No Sounds —Turns off sounds for piece mo vement altogether.
Note: If you are unfam iliar with chess notatio n, we strong ly s uggest that yo u use the
Note: F or instruction on choo sing your own piece sounds, see CHESSMASTER
Tutorials in the Classroom to learn about the various methods of recording chess games.
9000 help.
• Pawns Weakness sets how hard the personality avoids positions where a pawn • Pondering lets the personality think about its subsequent moves while your
is unprotected, is rendered immobile, or otherwise w eakens the overall pawn tim e is elapsing, which is m uch to its advantage. A check mark indicates
structure. The higher the setting, the more the personality is concerned with that this option is on (the default). To weaken the per sonality’s play, clear
maintaining a solid pawn str ucture. The personality also values the amount at this option.
which it will engender an Opponent ’s Pawns Weakness.
§ Selecting a Time Control
Material Options One of the keys to enjoying chess is determining ho w much time to give yourself
Use the Material tab options to determine the impor tance the personality places and your opponent to complete a game. CHESSMASTER 9000 offers y ou
on its own chess pieces and those of its opponent. several time options, fr om rapid “blitz” to longer “classic” time controls. In
The possible values for each piece ar e between 0.0 (no importance) to 15.0 CHESSMASTER 9000, the chess clock is always running: When y ou make a
(highest impor tance). move, it stops your clock and star ts your opponent’s clock running, and vice
versa. If you are playing a rated or tournament game, and either player uses up
The default material points for chess pieces are:
all of his or her time before completing the required number of mov es, that
Queen = 9 player loses the game. This does not apply in an Unrated game.
Rook = 5
To select a time control:
Bishop = 3
1. From the Game menu, choose S et Up Game.
Knight = 3
2. Click the Time Controls tab.
Pawn = 1
3. From the drop-down list, select one of the following time controls:
Style Options
Moves/Minutes —Specify the number of moves each player needs to make in a
Use the Style tab options to specify the playing style for the personality certain number of minutes. Most chess tournaments ar e played at this rate.
you’re creating:
Seconds Per Move—Specify the number of seconds each player has to make a
• Attacker/Defender sets the personality’s tendency to capture pieces, ranging
mov e. In the G ame Room, this is an unenfor ced Time Control, which means
fr om -100 to +100. Negativ e values emphasize attack; positive values
that you can’t lose the game by running out of time (you can lose the game on
emphasize defense.
time in the Tournament Room). This Time Control is useful, however, for setting
• Strength of Play determines the quality of the per sonality’s play. A rank the amount of time it takes for the computer to move. Keep in mind that this is
nov ice has strength of play at or near 0. A Gr andmaster has strength of play the average time it will take for the computer to move, and it may mov e more
up to 100. Set the scroll bar low for a weak opponent, or higher for a slowly or quickly on an individual mov e.
greater challenge.
Minutes Per Game—Specify the number of minutes each player has to complete
• Randomness adjusts the personality ’s diversity of play, while maintaining its
the entire game. If you select this time control, type the number of minutes in
strength of play.
the Minutes edit box. I n CHESSMASTER 9000, any game where each play gets
• Max Search Depth sets the number of future moves towards which the 15 minutes or more is considered “standard,” 3 to 15 minutes per player is
personality looks ahead. “blitz,” and less than 3 is “bullet” chess. (You receive ratings in Tournament and
• Selective Search determines ho w sensitive the personality is to non-useful Rated game play for each of these three categories, but not for Unrated games
mov e searches, when analyzing the possible positions in a game. played in the Game Room.)
• Contempt for Draw determines ho w the personality reacts when you offer a F ischer Style—Assign each player a specified number of minutes to complete the
draw. If set at 0, the personality is more likely to accept a draw offer to draw if game, with a certain number of bonus seconds added to the game each time a
the game is even. If set at 1, and it’s behind b y less than a pawn (1 point), it player makes a mo ve. If you select this time control option, set separate time
rejects the draw. If set at –2, and the personality is less than 2 points ahead, it controls for each player.
accepts the draw.
Infinite Time—No time limitations for your game.
• Transposition Table speeds up the personality ’s thinking and strengthens its
play by allowing it to skip a move it has already analyz ed. The scroll bar allows Hourglass—Each player gets a specified number of seconds per mo ve at the start
you to set aside a certain amount of memory for remembering prior analysis. of the game. As one player uses time, the other play er gains the same amount of
The more memory, the stronger and faster the play. time (like an hourglass). So, if you move rapidly, you can for ce your opponent to
Chess_PC_Manual.qxd 7/22/02 1:16 PM Page 18
do the same. When you select this time control, you will need to type the § To force your computer opponent to mo ve:
seconds allotted to each play er in the Seconds Per Move edit box. From the Actions menu, choose Force Move, which makes your computer
Note: The Separate Time Controls optio n gives yo u two sets of time boxes, a different opponent move immediately, choosing the best move it has considered thus far.
o ne for each player. This is us eful if you want m ore or less time than your o pponent, § To wake up your opponent:
and is a go od way o f balancing the g ame between play ers of different skill levels. To use
this o ption, s imply type the number of m oves and minutes in the respectiv e edit boxes. From the Actions menu, choose Wake Up!
Note: Keep in mind that when you’re playing a computer personality, two actions can
§ H ow to Move Pieces and Start a Game interrupt the computer’s thinking — taking back a move and switching sides. In
A game begins as soon as you or your opponent makes the first mo ve. If you are either case, CHESSMASTER lets you wake up your opponent, so that it can start
White, y ou need to make the first move. If your opponent is White, you must thinking about its next move and resume the game.
wait until your opponent moves. Using the mouse is the easiest and most
common way to move your pieces. § To pause a game:
1. From the Actions menu, choose Pause.
§ To move a piece with your mouse:
2. Click OK to resume the game.
1. Place the pointer over the chessboard. The pointer changes to a hand.
2. Click the chess piece y ou want to move and hold down the left mouse button § To take back your last move:
to drag the piece to its destination squar e. The hand grabs the piece as you From the Actions menu, choose Takeback Move.
drag it. Release the mouse button to place the piece on that square. This is the Note: If you take back a mov e, and you’re playing a computer personality, the
default way to move pieces. computer gets interrupted. In this case, choose Wake Up! from the Actions menu to
3. You can also choose the Two-Click Moves option, which lets you move pieces tell your opponent to make its next move.
by clicking once to pick up the piece, and clicking again to drop the piece on
its destination square. To select this option, go to Board Settings. (See § To replay the move you just took back:
Configuring your Chessboard in Defining Your Room Envir onment.) F rom the Actions menu, choose Replay Move.
4. If you make an illegal move, CHESSMASTER r eturns the piece to its original Note: To return to the beginning of the game, open the Game Status windo w from
square, and if Illegal Move Commentary is on, CHESSMASTER tells you why the Windo ws menu, and click the right-most VCR button.
the move is illegal.
§ To offer a draw:
5. If you make a mistake, in the G ame Room, you can choose Takeback Move
from the Actions menu. 1. From the Actions menu choose Offer Draw. If CHESSMASTER accepts the
draw, a message appears indicating its acceptance. I f CHESSMASTER declines
6. If you’re having difficulty grabbing a chess piece, make sure the index finger of
the draw, a message appears telling you to play on.
the hand is inside the square of the piece you want to move.
2. Click OK to end the game or continue the game respectiv ely.
Note: Remember that Quick E ntry and Sliding Pieces options let y ou determine how If CHESSMASTER declines the draw, and you still want to end the game, or if
you and your opponent move pieces on the board. F or more infor mation, refer to you are simply frustrated and don’t think you can win, you can resign from the
“Configuring Your Chessboard.” game by choosing Resign from the Actions menu.
To move a piece with the keyboard: § To change your side and piece color:
1. Type the destination square for your piece using the current notation.
1. Just choose Switch Sides from the Actions menu (or CTRL + I).
2. F or example, if you were using Algebraic notation, and wanted to move your 2. Switching sides interrupts the computer’s thinking. This means that if you’re
King pawn two squares, you would type e4. playing a computer personality, it won’t make its next mo ve until you wake it
3. In general, we recommend that y ou move your pieces with the mouse. up. To resume the computer’s thinking so that it can make its next move,
However, the only way to play Blindfold games is via the keyboar d. choose Wake Up! from the Actions menu.
In-Game Options Note: If you’re playing Black, and you want to flip the board so that White is on top,
In the Game Room, CHESS MASTER gives you a number of options to speed up or choose Flip Board from the Preferences menu.
pause play, force moves, ask for a draw, save your game, and even to take back moves.
Chess_PC_Manual.qxd 7/22/02 1:16 PM Page 20
To adjourn a game: To copy the Game Status window to the Windows clipboard:
1. From the File menu, choose Save. (If you are playing in the Tournament H all, 1. From the Edit menu, choose Copy, then choose Move List or Move List
you can choose Adjourn from the Actions menu.) (w/Tabs). The Annotation Type appears.
2. Specify the folder, file type, and file name to which you want to s ave the 2. Specify the annotation you want to include:
game. You should always save adjourned games as C HES SM AS TER Game • None—Copies the moves from the Game Status window without annotations.
(CM G) files.
• P layer—Copies the mov es with any annotations you entered in the Player
3. Click S ave. CHESSMASTER sav es the adjourned game to the specified tab in the Annotation window.
location and file name.
• Analysis — Copies the moves with CHESSMASTER’s analysis of the
To resume an adjourned game: position, which includes the ev aluation and theoretical-best lines of moves.
1. From the File menu, click Load. The File Open dialog appears. • Auto-Annotation —Copies the moves with CHESSMASTER’s annotations.
2. F rom the Look In dr op-down list, select the folder that contains the 3. CHESSMASTER copies the Game Status window’s move list to the
adjourned game. Windows clipboard as ASCII text.
3. From the File of Type drop-down list, select CHESSMASTER Games (CMG). To copy the Board Position to the Windows clipboard:
4. Select the game, and then click Load. CHESSMASTER opens the game. 1. From the Edit m enu, choose Copy, then choose one of the B oard
To print the current board position: Position options:
From the File menu, choose Print > Board Position . CHESSMASTER prints • ASCII Board Position copies the current board position in ASCII text
the image of the current chessboar d. format to the Windows clipboard. An ASCII board consists of characters
and dashes. The dashes represent empty squares, and the characters
Note: To per form standard Windows print operations, such as selecting a printer,
represent the chess pieces. For example, BR represents the Black Rook, WR
specifying a page range, and specifying the number of copies, choose Print > Setup
represents the White Rook, BN r epresents the Black Knight, WN represents
Printer from the File menu.
the White Knight, and so on. The following illustrates an example of an
Using the Game Status Window ASCII chessboar d:
CHESSM ASTER records each move you and Note: Before y ou paste an ASCII chessboard into a word-processing application,
your opponent make during a game. It records use the application’s Font command to select a non-proportional font, such as
the moves in the Game Status window, using Courier, to align the ASCII text corr ectly.
the current chess notation. The Game S tatus • Board Position w/ Chess Font copies the curr ent board position to the
window (which is stored with its corresponding Windows clipboard using the chess font.
game) can be accessed from the Windo ws menu. Note: Before you paste a copied chess font board diagram into a word processing
application, use the application’s Font command to select the CHESSMASTER
To open and close the Game Status TrueType font.
window:
• Graphical Board copies the current board position (complete with graphics)
From the Windo ws menu, choose Game
to the Windows clipboard.
Status . The Game Status window appears. The
chess piece symbol next to the menu option 2. The text or image is copied to the Windows clipboard.
indicates that it is open.
BR BN BB BQ BK BB — BR
BP BP BP BP BP BP BP BP
— — — — BN — — —
————————
— — WP — — — — —
————————
WP WP WP — WP WP WP WP
WR WN WB WQ WK WB WN WR
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To print the G ame Status windo w: 4. Click P lay to hear CHESSMASTER’s Illustrated Voice Analysis (IVA)
1. F rom the File menu, choose Print > Move List. explain the suggested mo ve. To stop the IVA, click Stop , which will rewind it
2. Specify which annotation you want to include. to the beginning.
3. Click OK . CHESSMASTER prints the mov es from the Game Status window 5. Click the Close icon (X) at the upper-right corner of M ove Advice to close it.
with the annotations y ou selected. The name of each player appears at the top To use the Chess Coach:
of the list, followed by all mo ves in the current notation.
1. From the Mentor menu, choose Chess Coach.
Getting Advice 2. The Chess Coach window appears.
When playing in the G ame Room, you can ask CHESSMASTER for help in a 3. Click the tab you want to use — Advice, Database Findings, or Teaching Modes.
number of ways: Q uick Hint, Blunder Aler t, Chess Coach, or Move Advice. 4. To close the Chess Coach window, select it again from the Mentor menu or
§ To use Quick Hints: click the Close icon (X) on the upper-right corner of the window.
1. From the Mentor menu, choose Q uick Hint , which offers a suggestion for 5. If you open the Chess Coach windo w during a game, CHESSMASTER
y our next move. provides a running commentary on the tactical features of a position. If you’re
not sure why a move does what the Chess Coach says, make the mo ve on the
2. Click Yes to make the suggested m ov e, or No if y ou don’t want to make board, examine the position carefully, and then try to determine what the
the move. Chess Coach means.
3. Keep in mind that CHESSMASTER uses the current notation to suggest the
move. S o, it is a good idea for you to accept CHESSMASTER’s suggestion, at A dvice Tab—Provides a summary of all possible moves and their significance.
least until you learn about chess notation. This gives y ou a great way to learn how the opening variations are related to
each other. When the gam e is out of the opening book, a short description of
§ To use Blunder Alert: each move’s impact on the gam e appears. This might be “Pins knight,”
1. From the Mentor menu, choose Blunder Alert. “Threatens m ate,” or “Hangs queen.” The A dvice tab also explains the tactical
2. When you make a move that could result in motives the moves involve. When this tab is dis played, you can double-click any
checkmate, or the loss of significant material, move to make the sugges ted move.
the Blunder Alert will pop up on scr een. Database Findings—Lists all the games in the CHESSMASTER 9000 database
3. C lick on the Why? button to find out why that have the current position. It shows the number of wins, draws, losses, and
C HESS MA STER t hinks you are making a winning percentage of those games.
big m is t ake. Teaching Modes—See the next section.
4. You can either Take Back the move, or
Disagree with CHESSMASTER and make Using the Teaching Modes
the move anyway. The Teaching Modes tab in the Chess Coach window (described above) lets you
5. Unless you are an advanced player, we take advantage of the audio and visual tips that CHESSMASTER provides.
strongly recommend that you accept These teaching modes can help dev elop and improve your strategic and tactical
CHESSMASTER’s suggestion and tr y a playing skills and enhance your awar eness of the different positions during play.
differ ent move. If you’re new to chess or just want to impr ove your skills, you can use the
To use Move Advice: teaching modes to inform you of minor tactics, threatened pieces, and board
coverage by highlighting and ghosting the appr opriate pieces on the chessboard.
1. From the Mentor menu, click Move Advice.
2. Type the number of seconds you want The CHESSMASTER teaching modes are described below:
CHESSMASTER to use to analyz e your § Legal Moves—Shows you the possible moves a selected piece can make. You
position and determine the best move, and then click OK . CHESSMASTER simply click the piece you want to move, and ghost pieces immediately appear in
uses the specified amount of time to think, and then suggests a mov e. all the squares to which the piece can move. You can then drag your piece to
3. Scroll through the text to read about the suggested move, and then make the make the move. If a destination squar e is occupied by an opponent’s piece, that
move, or piece is “ghosted” or opaque, indicating you can capture it.
Chess_PC_Manual.qxd 7/22/02 1:16 PM Page 24
§ Pieces That Can Be Captured—S hows all pieces that can be captured based
on the current board position. Use this mode when you are confident that you
understand the basic moves of each piece. ANALYZING GAMES IN THE GAME ROOM
With CHESSMASTER 9000’s advanced analysis features, y ou can:
§ Threatened Pieces—Shows all the pieces that can be captured by your
opponent in the next move. In other words, it ghosts all the pieces that are under • S ave and load a game
attack for the player who is about to mo ve. Use this mode to help you recognize • Set up a specific position on the chessboard
your opponent’s threats. • Annotate a game
Pinned Pieces—Shows pieces that cannot or should not mov e because they’re • Study a game with CHESSMASTER’s Visual Thinking and Mentor Lines
protecting a mor e valuable piece. The ability to identify pinned pieces is a • Copy a game from another room to the Game R oom
middlegame tactic essential to the repertoire of any good chess player. • Enter information on a curr ent game
Skewered Pieces—Highlights those pieces that are protecting pieces of lesser • S olve a position for checkmate
attack value on the same rank, file, or diagonal. The ability to identify skewered
pieces is another essential middlegame skill. Saving and Opening Games
The first step to effectiv e game study is saving as many of your games against as
Isolated Pawns—Exposes pawns that are not directly supported by another pawn
many differ ent opponents as possible. After you save a game, you can open it at
of the same color and ar e potentially weak.
any time and examine it mov e by move. This is essential in gaining an
Passed Pawns—Highlights pawns with no enemy pawns in fr ont or adjacent to understanding of your personal str engths and weaknesses as a chess player.
the same file. Passed pawns are considered strong because their path to CHESSMASTER 9000 lets you save the current game (completed or not) to a
promotion is clear. The ability to identify passed pawns is an essential par t of CHESSMASTER Game (CMG) file or to a Portable Game Notation (PGN)
endgame tactics. file. Use CMG if you want to sav e all annotations, including the opponents,
Teaching Off turns off the currently selected teaching mode. analysis, auto-annotation, and Illustrated Voice Analysis (IVA) information. Use
PGN if you want to open the game in a text application, or another chess
Note: You can only tur n on one teaching mode at a time. Also , some chess sets and
program, as the PGN format is the recognized standard for saving a chess game.
board colors may display Teaching M ode better for your needs. So, feel fr ee to
experiment with different chess sets. Note: To turn sound on and off for Game Analysis, choose Sound from the
Pr eferences menu, click the Voice tab, and then check or clear Auto-Annotation.
For more infor mation, see “Setting Up Sounds, Voice, and Effects” in “Defining Your
Room E nvironment."
To save a game:
1. From the File menu, choose Save.
2. From the S ave In drop-down list, specify the
folder where you want to save your game.
3. F rom the S ave As Type list, choose a file type
for y our game. Select CMG if you want to open
the game later in CHESSMASTER 9000. S elect
PGN if you want to export the game to another
chess application.
4. In the File Name box, type a name for the game you’re saving. You can use the
default (based on the play ers and the date) or type your own.
5. Click Save. CHESSMASTER saves the game to the specified folder, file type
and name.
Note: CHESSMASTER 9000 automatically saves all of your Rated Games in PGN
format, in your Users directory, but doesn’t save your Unrated games.
Chess_PC_Manual.qxd 7/22/02 1:16 PM Page 26
26 Analyzing Games in the Game Room Analyzing Games in the Game Room 27
28 Analyzing Games in the Game Room Analyzing Games in the Game Room 29
To sav e any game with annotations and analysis: To copy a game from another room:
1. Choose Save from the File menu. 1. From the Edit menu, choose Copy Game From, and then from the cascading
2. Select CMG as the file type. menu, choose the room from which you want to copy a game.
3. Specify a name and location for the game, and click Save. 2. CH ESS MAS TER copies the game fr om the specified room onto the
current chess board.
Studying games with Visual Thinking and Mentor Lines 3. You can then use any analysis functions, and save the game as a PGN or
To use Visual Thinking: CM G file.
1. From the Windo ws menu, choose Visual Thinking. Entering Game Information
2. Watch the chessboard dynamically update as
CHESSMASTER considers its best line. To enter Game Information on a current game:
3. Use the VCR controls to move back and 1. From the Game menu, choose Game Information .
forth in the display. 2. In the Title box, either keep the default title, or type a new title of y our choice,
4. Use the Hold and Resume buttons to pause such as “TC vs Morphy 1868”
and resume Visual Thinking. 3. Enter any play er names, titles, and country of origin for White and Black.
5. To close the Visual Thinking window, select 4. In the Site box, type where the game was played.
it again from the Windo ws menu or click the 5. Enter the name of the annotator.
Close icon (X) on the upper-right corner of 6. The ECO bo x displays the opening code in the current chess notation.
the window.
7. In the Remarks box, enter any comments you have regarding the game.
6. Visual Thinking is only available in the Game Room.
8. Specify the r esult of the game:
To use Mentor Lines: a. Game Not Over
1. From the Mentor menu, choose Mentor Lines. b. White Won
2. Watch the window dynam ically update as c. Black Won
CHES SMA ST ER considers its best line. d. Draw
3. The display will show 9. Click OK . CHESSMASTER stores the information you entered with the
a. The time CHESSMASTER takes to corresponding game.
predict the moves
b. The number of moves (depth) that Solving for Mate
CHESSMASTER is thinking about To find a checkmate:
c. The material and positional advantage (scor e) that would result if all the 1. From the Mentor menu, choose S olve for Mate.
moves are played out as predicted by CHESSMASTER
2. Type the number of moves (from 1 to 30) you want C HES SM A STER to
Note: A positive score means that White is winning, and a negative number means look ahead to solve for checkm ate. If you enter more than 5, the search can
Black is winning. take a while.
4. Thinking Lines are only available in the Game Room and Library. 3. Click OK . CHESSMASTER searches all possible positions looking for
checkmate and displays the number of the positions as it analyzes the game.
Copying Games from Other R ooms 4. When CHESSMASTER finishes its search, and it finds the checkmate in the
CHESSMASTER 9000 allows you to copy a game fr om any other room into the number of specified moves, it asks if you want to see the moves.
Game Room, to take advantage of some of the unique analyzing tools only
5. Click Move to see the moves, and then click OK to reset the boar d to its
found in this room.
original position.
Chess_PC_Manual.qxd 7/22/02 1:16 PM Page 30
3. Click + and - to expand and collapse openings and variations. To select a game to match:
4. You can search for a specific opening b y entering a word such as “Indian” or 1. Click the Advanced tab
“Gambit” into the Search box and clicking the Search button. This brings up
2. Click the Match the Masters button.
a list of opening books that have that word in their name.
3. Choose the game you want and click OK. In
5. Select the practice opening you want, and then click OK.
general, w e recommend that you begin with
6. You are then instructed in the selected opening. the first game, and mo ve down the list.
7. A t any time, click on Hint, and CHESSMASTER will pr ompt you on the 4. Read the text setting the stage for the game.
next mo ve in the sequence.
5. Then click Next to begin the game.
8. CHESSMASTER lets you know when the practice is complete.
6. The beginning mo ves will quickly be played
9. Click on New to select a new opening book to practice. out, and then you will see sev eral mov e
10. Click Cancel to return to the Classroom. options written in the currently selected chess notation.
§ Learn from IM Josh Waitzkin 7. Select an answer and click on OK to see how close y ou match the Master ’s
decision. If you want to skip that mo ve, click Next.
One of the best ways to learn and improve your play is to study with a master-
level player. CHESSMASTER 9000 offers you the next-best thing, b y including 8. You are told if your choice was correct. Even if you did not choose the same
a number of featur es from International Master Josh Waitzkin. Whatever your move that the Master made in the game, you might still get partial or even full
skill level, these features— including situations taken from Josh’s own games— credit for the move that you chose.
provide a number of ways to study chess: 9. Click Next to go on to the next move.
• Study Josh Waitzkin Games 10. Click C ancel at any time to leave Match the Masters.
• Study the Endgame Course 11. A t the end of the game, Pandolfini rates your play.
• Study the Psychology of Competition Course 12.This rating does not affect your playing strength rating in CHESSMASTER
9000—it simply lets you know how well you did in Match the Masters.
To study a Josh Waitzkin game or course:
1. Click on the Josh tab. Take the Larry Evans Endgame Quiz
2. Then select the A nnotated Games, 1. Click the Intermediate tab.
Endgame Course, or P sychology of 2. Click the Endgame Quiz button.
Competition b u t t o n . 3. Read the text setting the stage for the quiz.
3. Select the game you want, and then click OK. 4. Each question will give you an endgame position
4. Josh talks about and illustrates each move in on the Classroom chessboard, taken from
the list. famous games or composed endgame studies.
5. Pause s tops the IVA in its current state so that 5. S elect an answer from the three provided.
when you play it again, it starts where it left off. 6. Unlike Match the Masters, there is only one
6. Stop rewinds the game to the beginning of corr ect answer for each question in the Larry
the current annotation. Evans Endgame Quiz.
7. Use the VCR buttons to step through the moves one-by-one. 7. You are told if your choice was correct; click Next to go on to the next
8. Click the Close (X) icon in the upper-right corner to leav e the game. quiz question.
8. There are 50 questions in all.
Match the Masters 9. Click C ancel at any time to leave the Endgame Quiz.
In this Advanced exercise, renowned chess teacher Bruce Pandolfini lets you play 10. At the end of the game, Larry Evans rates your play.
through games of famous chess masters, where you try to make their moves (or
even better ones). Match the Masters is in a multiple-choice format, and you 11. This rating does not affect your playing strength rating in CHESSMASTER
score variable points for each answer, depending on how right or wrong y ou are. 9000—it simply lets y ou know how well y ou did in the Endgame Quiz.
At the end of each game, Pandolfini rates your play.
Chess_PC_Manual.qxd 7/22/02 1:16 PM Page 34
Try John Nunn’s Chess Puzzles 4. C lick Personality to view the details for
CHES SMAS TER 9000 provides a series of “Brain Teaser” puzzles from British each opponent.
Grandmaster John Nunn, which are a nice change of pace from playing chess games. Note: Until y ou have play ed 20 Rated games,
To select a puzzle to solve: your chess rating is “provisional” and you can only
challenge opponents within 400 points of your
1. Click the Advanced tab.
score in an up ward direction. You can challenge
2. Click the Nunn’s Puzzles button any lower-rated opponents you like.
3. Then click + to see the available puzzles. 5. S elect a time control (Minutes per Game,
4. Choose the puzzle you want, and then click OK. Moves per M inutes, Fischer Style)
5. Read the intro to the puzzle. 6. When you play a Rated game, CHESSMASTER doesn’t assign you a default
6. Attempt to solve the puzzle. color. You can either specify a color, or ask CHESSMASTER to randomly
7. CHESSMASTER lets you know if your answer was corr ect. assign you a color.
8. If the move is correct, click OK, and then click Next to move to the next puzzle. 7. Move a piece to start the game.
9. If the move is incorr ect, click OK to try again. 8. Using the Game Status window is the same as in the Game Room.
10. Click Hint if you need help from CHESSMASTER. 9. Keep in mind that you have no Hints, Blunder Alert, or Coaching windows
av ailable to you in the Tournament Room.
11.Click Cancel at any time to cancel the puzzle.
Pausing or Ending a Game
To Pause a game
THE TOURNAMENT ROOM 1. From the Actions menu, choose Pause.
Welcome to the Tournament Room, where you set up tournaments and play
Rated games. Unlike Unrated games in the Game Room, Rated games affect 2. Click OK to resume the game.
your overall chess rating. S o, everything counts— there’s no taking back moves, To Adjourn a Game
no advice, no coaching, and no hints. It’s between you and y our opponent. 1. Select Adjourn from the Preferences menu.
In the Tournament Room, you can learn how to:
2. If it is y our turn to move, CHESSMASTER 9000 requires y ou to make a
• Play a Rated Game sealed mo ve before you adjourn the game.
• Pause or End a R ated Game 3. Make the next mo ve in your game, and the game will be saved automatically.
• Create and Run a Tournament 4. When you resume your adjourned game, your sealed move will automatically
• Vie w and Print Tournament Results be made, and it will be your opponent’s turn to move.
• Suspend, Adjourn, and Open Tournaments To Resume an adjourned game:
Note: If this is your first time using the Tournament Room, you should consider 1. Select Load ->Load Adjourned Rated Game.
reviewing “Defining Your Room Environment," so that y ou can set up the 2. The list of y our saved games will appear.
Tournament Room chess sets, sounds, and windows as you like.
3. S elect the game you wish to play.
Playing a Rated Game 4. When you resume your adjourned game, your sealed move will automatically
1. Click on the Rated G ame button in the be made, and it will be y our opponent’s turn to move.
Shortcut window, or select Rated Game To offer a draw:
from the pull-down menu.
1. You can offer a draw in the Tournament Room, just as you would in an
2. Choose your opponent from the list. Unrated game.
3. On the upper right are three numbers, 2. From the A ctions menu choose Offer Draw.
showing the affect on your rating should you win, lose, or draw against the
3. CHESSMASTER will either accept or reject the draw.
selected opponent.
Chess_PC_Manual.qxd 7/22/02 1:16 PM Page 36
Suspending Tournaments
To be fair to all players, CHESSMASTER asks the human player to make a THE LIBRARY
sealed move before adjourning the tournament. CHESSMASTER resumes an
adjourned tournament b y starting with the sealed move of the human player, so Welcome to the CHESSMASTER 9000 Librar y. Here, you can:
the sealed move isn’t rev ealed until the tournament resumes. • Study more than 800 Classic Chess Games
To adjourn the current tournament in progress: • Study Chess Openings
1. From the Actions menu, choose Adjourn. • Create your own Opening Book
2. If it is a human player’s turn to move, that player must make a sealed mo ve, Note: If this is your first time using the L ibrary,
just as in a Rated Game. you should consider reviewing “Defining Your
To open an existing tournament: Room Envir onment," so that you can set up the
Library chess sets and windows as you like.
1. Click on Load > Load Tournament
2. Use the Look-In menu to find the folder that contains the C MT file you sav ed. Studying a Classic Game
3. Open the CMT file you saved. CHESSMASTER 9000 pr ovides a library of mor e than 800 classic games, which
4. CHESSMASTER plays the sealed move, and the tournament begins from span some four centuries of master-level chess. These games are annotated b y
where it left off. five-time US Champion GM Larry Evans, among others, so that you can learn
from and enjoy games played by the best play ers in chess history .
§ To view a Classic Game:
1. F rom the Game menu, choose Load Classic
Game, or click on the Classic Game button in
the Shortcut window.
2. If you wish to scroll through the games in
order, they are listed chronologically, beginning
in 1619.
3. Use the Search function to sort for games
involving a par ticular player, y ear, or location.
Type the word you wish to search for in the bo x, and click S earch to bring up
a list of games with that keywor d in them.
4. S elect the classic game you want to open, and then click OK.
5. CHESSMASTER opens the selected game on the chessboar d.
6.. Use the VCR buttons to scroll through each move of the game in the Game
S tatus window.
7. You can then read the comments on each game in the Annotation window.
8. The Mentor Lines and Coach windows are available in this room to assist you
in your Classic Game study.
9. Don’t forget that you may also copy the classic game to the Game R oom with
the Copy Game From drop-down menu command. You can then add y our
own comments, or have CHESSMASTER analyze the game.
Chess_PC_Manual.qxd 7/22/02 1:16 PM Page 40
Studying Chess Openings tree, and you can use - to collapse the tr ee.
An Opening Book is a repertoire of opening moves and countermoves. Opening 10. The boxes abo ve the Opening Moves window update dynamically as you
Book theory has been improved upon by great chess masters for hundreds of select different moves in the Opening Mov es tree:
years, and these files are available for y ou to study in CHESSMASTER 9000 for a. Opening gives the general name for that line of opening mo ves.
your own chess development. b. Moves displays the opening move and countermoves, up to and including
CHESSMA STER has compiled a single-master Opening B ook Reference, which the selected move.
you can think of as an encyclopedia of known opening m oves. To get the most c. Variation displays the variation name of the selected opening mo ve or
out of the Opening Book Refer ence, you s hould use it in conjunction with the countermove.
Game S tatus window and Annotation window. The Game Status window lets
you scroll through the moves in the Master Opening Reference using the VCR d. ECO displays the opening code of the selected mo ve. The ECO code is a
buttons. The Annotation window lets you revie w and listen to annotations on chess convention that CHESSMASTER 9000 suppor ts. It appears for
each individual move. informational purposes only.
e. Weight display s one of four values (0, 25, 50, or 100) w hich indicate how
To use the Opening Book Reference: often the selected move is used. For example, suppose the current opening
1. From the Opening B ook menu, choose book contains three opening moves — e2-e4, b2-b4, and d2-d3 — and they
CHESSMASTER Book Reference. each have corres ponding Weight values of 25, 50, and 100, respectively. In
2. CHESSMASTER displays a loading message other words, the weight of e2-e4 is 25, b2-b4 is 50, and d2-d3 is 100. If a
and then opens the Opening Book given move has a Weight of 0, then the probability of that move being used
Reference with Mentor.obk, the Master is zero.
Opening Book. 11. The Mentor Lines and Coach windows are av ailable in this room to assist you
3. Use the Opening Moves window at the in your study of Chess Openings.
bottom to review the possible opening moves
and counter moves. The chess board updates
Create Your Own Opening Book
as you select different moves in the tree. To create a new Opening B ook from scratch:
4. When you’re done using the Opening Book 1. From the Opening B ook menu, choose
Reference, click the Close icon (X) in the either New Opening Book to start from
upper-right corner. scratch, or Edit CHESSMASTER Book to
5. When you view an Opening Book, you see fiv e boxes at the to p — Opening, edit one of the opening books that came with
Moves, Variation, ECO, and Weigh t — as well as an Opening Moves window CHESSMASTER 9000.
at the bottom. 2. Using the chessboard, make the first opening
6. The Opening Moves window displays the opening m oves of the current move. The opening move appears in the
Opening Book. Opening Moves window, and also in the
7. The column titles indicate the move number for each play er. For example, “1.” Moves box.
represents White’s first move, and “1. …” represents Black’s first counter move. 3. If you want, type a name in the Variation box
“2.” represents White’s second move, “2. …” represents Black’s second counter for the opening mov e.
move, and so on. 4. From the Weight drop-down list, choose a
8. Click + to display the next column, which lists all the possible countermoves weight value for the opening mo ve. (For
for the Black player . As you continue to click + in each column, the detailed information on weight values, see the previous section.)
Opening Moves tree begins to expand to show all the possible m ov e lines for 5. Make the first countermo ve.
each opening. 6 . C HESS M A ST ER updates the O pening Moves w i n d ow and the Move s
9. Once you’ve expanded the O pening Moves tree, you can use either the mouse b ox accord i n g l y.
or the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the individual moves within the 7. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the first countermove, which will appear in the
second column (1. …) of the Opening Moves window.
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8. Continue this process to specify the entire mov ement line for the first opening.
9. To build your Opening Moves tr ee, create a second countermove to the first
opening mov e by selecting the first opening move in the tree. This returns the THE KIDS’ ROOM
chessboard to that position, so that y ou can start building the moves line for Welcome to the CHESSMASTER 9000 Kids’ R oom, the one room that is
the next possible counter move. (Note that the chessboard is like a mirror of specifically designed just for kids. It’s the one-stop place wher e kids of all ages
the Opening Moves tree.) can enjo y the game of chess without having to enter any of the other
10. Repeat steps 5 through 9 until you specify all the possible move lines for y our CHESSMASTER rooms. In the Kids’ Room you can do a little of ev erything
first opening. that CHESSMASTER 9000 has to offer. You can learn chess basics; you can
practice what you’ve learned using the simplified chess drills; you can play chess
11. Continue this process to complete your Opening Book. As your tree expands
against computerized kid-like opponents; and you can earn M aster Class points
to the left, a hierarchy develops that includes “parent” moves, “children”
for the lessons you complete and the opponents y ou beat. So, let the
moves, and “sibling” moves. (“Sibling” moves ar e moves that appear in the
CHESSMASTER 9000 Kids’ Room turn you into the chess player that you’ve
same column and share the same “parent”.) You can use the mouse or the
always dr eamed you’d be!
arrow keys to select individual moves in the hierarchical tree, so y ou can
modify or delete them. § Choosing Your Board and Chess Set
12. As you create your new opening book, review the consider ations outlined in One way to make chess even more fun is to pick a chessboar d and chess pieces
the next section. They show you how you can delete a move, save the you like.
current opening book, clear the Opening B ook in case you want to start
over again, base a new Opening Book on an existing one, and edit an To choose your Board and Chess Set:
existing Opening Book. 1. Click on Chess Sets in the S hortcuts window.
13. To close the Opening Book, click the Close icon (X) in the upper-right corner. 2. Scroll through the list of chessboar ds and
14. CHESSMASTER 9000 will ask if you want to save the opening book. Click click on one to pick it.
Yes or No. 3. Choose pieces to go with the board from the
15. If you want to base a ne w opening book on an existing opening book (or you window below it.
want to simply edit an existing opening book), you can load the one y ou want 4. Click on OK to save your choices.
by choosing Opening Book -> Load O pening Book from the File menu.
This lets you can choose an O pening Book in CHESSMASTER’s .obk format. § Learning to Play
16. Click Load to modify the selected .obk file. If an Opening Book alr eady exists After you’ve picked out a chess set, the best place to star t is the tutorials. These
in the Opening Book dialog, and y ou haven’t saved it, CHESSMASTER 9000 tutorials were created specifically to help y ou
prompts you to save it. You can then edit the existing Opening Book, using learn the game of chess quickly and impr ove
the information in the previous sections. your playing skills.
17. Choosing Import P GN File from the File m enu lets you load a game in PGN To select and run a tutorial:
format into the Opening B ook Editor. You can set the criteria by which PGN 1. Click Learn to Play in the S hortcuts window.
files of games are imported, including gambits, Queen moves, pawn moves, side
to m ove, wins/losses/draws, length of the game, frequency of captures, and 2. Click + and - to expand and collapse the
depth. Or, you can s imply im port a PGN game with CHESSMASTER’s tutorial topics.
default settings. 3. Select the tutorial you want, and then click
OK . CH ESS MASTER s tarts the tutorial
y ou selected.
4. Read, listen, and watch the first page of the
tutorial, and then click Next to go to the next page.
5. If the tutorial asks y ou a question, click the appropriate answer, highlight a
squar e, or make a move on the boar d, as instructed.
6. Click Cancel to quit a tutorial.
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§ QuickStar t! 4. Select the opponent you want to play, then click OK . The name of the
If you want to jump right in and play chess, simply click on the QuickStar t! opponent you picked appears in the Top opponent box of Set Up Game Details.
button, and CHESSMASTER 9000 will set up a game for you, based on your 5. You can also play a human play er, like your brother, your sister, your parent,
current chess rating. If you don’t yet have a rating, CHESSMASTER 9000 will or a friend.
choose your opponent, based on y our rating choice when you created your user. 6. To pick a human player as your opponent, leave the Human button selected
and type his/her name into the bo x. You and your opponent will have to take
§ Working on Drills turns at the computer to play the game.
The Kids’ Room provides some chess drills you can use to improve your game.
Setting the Time
To select and run a drill: The amount of time you giv e yourself and your opponent to complete a game
1. Click on Drills in the Shortcuts window. (or a move) is very important in the game of chess. In the Kids’ Room, you have
2. Click + and - signs to expand and collapse the drill list. all the time you want to make your moves in an Unrated Practice game. If you
3. Select the drill you want, and then click OK. want to set the time to something differ ent, see “Selecting a Time Control” in
the “Game Room” section.
4. Try to solve the chess puzzle b y moving the pieces. If you move a piece to the
wrong spot, it will pop back to where it started. If you do the problem right, Choosing Your Color and Switching Sides
the next puzzle appears. CHESSMASTER automatically makes y ou the Bottom player with White chess
5. There are instructions that tell you how to do each exercise. They also show pieces. However, you can change the side you play on, as well as the color of
how long you’ve been trying to solve the curr ent problem. your pieces. To be Black instead, click the Bottom Computer button and choose
6. If you can’t figure it out, click Skip to skip the current drill and move on to your opponent again. You can click the Rotate Board button to switch whether
the next one, or click Cancel to cancel the drill. Black or White is on top.
7.When you finish the drill, the Drill Records tell you how well you did. You can Starting the Game
only have your time added to the Drill Records if you correctly answer every
1. After you’ve picked y our opponent and picked which
drill question.
side you’re playing, click OK to start the game.
8. Click OK to close the D rill.
2. A game begins as soon as you or your opponent makes
§ Playing a Practice Game the first mo ve. If you are White, you need to make the
first mo ve. If your opponent is White, you must wait
If you want to play a practice game, where you can get advice and help from the
until your opponent moves.
CHESSMASTER and do things such as take back your moves, you’ll want to
play an Unrated game. 3. You can move pieces using the m ous e by clicking and
dragging. CHESS MASTER recor ds each move you
Choosing an Opponent and your opponent make during a game in the Game
The Kids’ Room provides some computer opponents you can choose fr om. Each S tatus window.
computer opponent comes with a picture and some text you can read to learn
§ To move a piece on the chessboard:
about the opponent.
1. Place the pointer over the chessboard. The pointer changes to a hand.
To choose an opponent for an Unrated game: 2. Click the piece you want to move and hold down the mouse button to drag it
1. Click P lay a Game in the Shortcuts window. to its destination square. The hand grabs the piece as you drag it.
You are White (on bottom), and y our 3. If you make a wr ong move CHESSMASTER returns the piece to its original
opponent is Black (on top). squar e, and CHESSMASTER tells you why the move is wrong.
2. Click the Computer button next to the Top 4. If you make a mistake and you’re playing an Unrated game, choose Takeback
opponent box, and then click Personality. Move from the Actions menu. (This option is not av ailable if you’re playing a
3. Scroll through the list to view the available rated game.)
opponents. Click on the I nfo tab to read
about your opponent. Note: If you’re having difficulty grabbing a chess piece, make sure the index finger of
the hand is inside the squar e of the piece you want to move.
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To Play Through a Josh Waitzkin G ame: the ECO number (or opening code) in the current chess notation.
1. Click on the Josh button. Rearranging the Game List
2. Select the game y ou want, and then click OK. The columns in the Game List show the game number, the ECO code of the
3. Josh talks about and illustrates each mov e in the list. game opening, the play ers and their colors, the game results, and the game event.
4. Pause stops the IVA in its current state so that when you play it again, it starts By default, the games ar e listed in ascending order by game number.
where it left off . You can sort games by ECO code, player name, game result, and event by
5. Stop rewinds the game to the beginning of the current annotation. clicking the appropriate column title. ECO codes appear in alphanumeric order,
6. Use the VCR buttons to step through the moves one-by-one. player names and events appear alphabetically, and game results appear in
ascending numerical order. You can also r earrange and change the columns that
7. Click the Close (X) icon in the upper-right corner to leav e the game.
appear in the Game List window. For example, you can r earrange the order in
which the columns appear, delete existing columns, or add ne w ones.
THE DATABASE ROOM To rearrange the order in which the columns appear:
Welcome to the CHESSMASTER 9000 D atabase Room, which contains a huge Click the column title and drag it in front of or behind another column.
database of over 500,000 chess games, including Grandmaster-level games from To delete and add existing columns:
2001 and 2002. When you’re in the Database Room, you can perform simple or 1. From the Preferences menu, choose Column Setup.
complex sear ches for chess games played throughout history, and even create your
own database of games. You can use the database to view detailed information on 2. To add a column, s elect the column you want from the Available Columns list,
each game, including the move list, game results, events, and player ratings. You and then click the -> button. (To add all av ailable columns, click the => button.)
can also analyze game openings, add and delete games, export games and search 3. To delete a column, select it in the Selected Columns list, and click the <-
for games b y opening line, board position, or multiple search criteria. button. (To delete all display ed columns, click the <= button.)
Our tour of the Database Room is broken down into: 4. To use the default configuration, click D efault.
• Display G ame Details 5. Click OK to assign the column settings.
• Search for G ames Using the Opening Moves Window
• Working with Databases The Opening Moves window (at the bottom of
Note: If this is your first time using the Database Room, y ou should consider the Database Room) displays the opening moves
reviewing “Defining Your Room E nvironment,” so that you can set up the Database for the game selected in the Game List window.
Room chess sets and windows as you like. The moves highlighted in red indicate the mo ves
that were played in the currently selected game;
Displaying Game Details all other moves in the opening tr ee are displayed
The Database R oom consists of a menu bar and five tabs: Moves, Game Info, in white. The column titles indicate the mov e
Key Info, Data Query, and Position Search. Each tab is divided into three number for each play er. For example, “1.”
windows. The top window changes according to the tab you select. The middle represents White’s first move, and “1. …”
windo w, called the Game List window, appears the same for all tabs. It lists all the represents Black ’s first mo ve. “2.” Represents
games in the current database. (The CHESSM ASTER 9000 game database is the White’s second move, and “2. …” represents
default.) The bottom window, called the Opening Moves window, also appears Black ’s second move.
the same for all tabs. It shows a tree of possible moves for the opening selected in 1. Use the ar row buttons on the right to m ove through the tree of moves for
the Game List windo w. the opening.
To view game information: 2. Select Key Mode in the Pr eferences drop-down menu to vie w the games that
have gone out of the opening book after the selected position. The Game List
1. Click the Game Info tab or choose Game Info from the View menu. window updates to reflect the corresponding games.
2. You will see the follo wing information: Game title, layer information, player 3. To view a specific game, select it in the list, and click the Moves tab.
ratings, elapsed time, event name, the site location, the annotator , the round
number in which the game was completed, the date the game was play ed, and 4. To return to the database games, click Key Mode again.
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TCP/IP and LAN Play • If you select Post Challenge, use the Min and Max boxes to specify the
CHESSMASTER 9000 also supports play o ver TCP/IP and LAN. rating range of the person you want to play. Type the minimum rating in
the Min box and the maximum rating in the Max box. You can only post
To start CHESSMASTER Live using TCP/IP: one standing challenge at a time.
1. Click the TCP/IP button in the CMLive Room. • If you select Player Cha llenge, choose who want to play from the
2. Choose either to host a new Internet game or join an existing game. P layers list.
3. Do one of the following: 3. Check or clear O thers Can View to indicate whether you want other people
• To host a session, type a name in the Game Name box, click Host and then to be able to watch your game.
wait for your opponent to join you. 4. Use the next set of options to specify:
• To join a session, type the IP address (in the Host Name box ) of the player • Whether you want to play a Rated or Unrated game.
who’s hosting the game you want to join, and then click Join. • Whether Takeback Move (in the Actions menu) is allowed. If you specify
4. CHESSMASTER connects you to the remote host, so y ou can start playing the game as Rated, Ta keback Move will be unavailable, just as in any
ov er the Internet. other Rated game.
5. See the CMLive Help for step-by-step instructions on all the CMLive features. • The piece color y ou want to play, White or Black, or you can let
CHESSMASTER randomly assign the colors.
To start CMLive using a L AN:
5. Use the last group of options to select a time control for y our game. If you
1. Click the LAN button. CHESSMASTER prompts you to specify whether you
specify the game as Rated , note that Seconds per M ove and Infinite Time
want to host a ne w LAN game or join an existing LAN game.
are not available, just as in any other Rated game.
2. Do one of the following:
6. S elect Enforced Time to end the game within the time you set, or select
• To host a session, type a name in the Game Name box, click Host, and Unenforced Time to continue playing the game after it officially ends.
then wait for your opponent to join you. Enforced Time is always activated for a Rated game.
• To join a session, select the game y ou want to join from the Active Games 7. Select either Post Challenge for a general challenge, or S end Challenge to
list, and then click Join. (The Activ e Games list displays all the games challenge a specific play er.
currently being hosted on the local network.) CHESSMASTER connects
8. Check A utopost if you always want y our challenge posted.
you to the hosted game, so you can star t playing over the Internet.
9. Click OK to accept the settings, or click Close to cancel the settings. When
3. CMLiv e does not support direct-connect modem play. you send a challenge to an individual player, the You Are Being Challenged
Challenging Another Player message appears on that player’s screen.
To play an online game over the Internet, you need to challenge or accept a 10. A message on y our screen indicates whether the player accepts or declines y our
challenge by another Internet player. When you challenge another Internet challenge. If the player accepts, the chessboard becomes active.
player, y ou specify the parameters of the game you want to play and select an Accepting a Challenge
opponent.
You can either accept a challenge that another player sends y ou, or you can
To challenge another Internet player: accept a standing challenge posted by another player. When another Internet
1. From the Game menu, choose Challenge . play er sends you a challenge, a message appears notifying you of the parameters
You can either challenge a particular of the game.
individual or post a standing challenge to all To accept a challenge from another player:
players in your online session. You can only
1. In the You Are Being Challenged dialog, click A ccept and start playing.
challenge players not currently playing a game.
Click D ecline if you don’t want to accept.
2. Select Post C hallenge to pos t a standing
challenge to all players in your online 2. If you are White, you must make the first move. If your opponent is White,
sess ion, or Player C hallenge to challenge a y ou must wait for him or her to make the first move.
specific person. 3. Standing challenges appear in the Online Information window under
Challenges.
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To accept a standing challenge: specific individuals, select the names in the list. Use the Ctrl key to select
1. If the Online Information window isn’t open, choose Online Information multiple player names.
from the Windo ws menu. 5. Send Options lets you send a message. First select a player from the Play er
2. Right-click the challenge in the list, and then click A ccept Challenge. If you List. In the Message to Send box, type the message you want to s end, and
do not meet the rating requirements of a challenge, or y ou have chosen to then click S end.
ignore the challenger, the challenge is grayed-out in the list. For more detailed 6. Ignore O ptions lets you ignore (or not receive) challenges and messages from
information, see the “Using the Online Information Window” section. other players. Check or clear Ignore Challenges and Ignore Shouts to turn
ignore off or on r espectively.
§ Understanding the Rating System 7. To ignore individual players, right-click the player’s name in the P layer List or
When you play a CMLive game over Ubi.com, the results of that game affect in the Message window, and choose Ignore. To acknowledge them again,
your online chess ratings of you and your opponent. CHESSMASTER 9000 right-click the names and choose Un-ignore.
records a separate rating for your online rating and y our rating in the
Tournament Room. When playing on Ubi.com, CHESSMASTER 9000 keeps a § Setting Up CMLive Sounds
number of statistics on your games, including your recor d with Black and White CHESSMASTER 9000 provides a fe w settings that let you take advantage of the
pieces, how you have performed against individual opponents, in blitz play, and sounds that CHESSMASTER plays when someone fr om CHESSMASTER
so for th. LIVE logs on, sends y ou a message, or challenges you to a game. When y ou use
Note: Any games played via TCP/IP and LAN neither affect your online rating, nor these settings, CMLive must be r unning.
do they keep your online statistics, as U bi.com play does. To turn the CMLiv e sounds on and off:
Using the Chat Window 1. From the Preferences menu, choose Sound.
CHESSMASTER provides a Chat window in the CMLive Room that lets you 2. Click the Effects tab.
send and r eceive messages from other CMLive players, as well as ignore messages 3. Check the sounds you want on, clear the sounds you want off, and then
and challenges from other players. click OK .
To use the Chat window: • Window Close produces a sound whenev er you close the CHESSMASTER
1. From the Windo ws menu, choose Chat . The chess piece next to the menu window or exit.
option indicates that it’s open. Choose Chat again to close it. The differ ent • Buddy Login produces a sound and a message whenever someone from
areas of the Chat window and how to use them ar e described below. CMLive logs on.
2. Message Windo w–Displays the messages y ou send and receive, preceded by • Tell Chat produces a sound and a message whenever someone from
the name of the player who sent the message and the message type. You can CMLive sends you a message.
send and r eceive the follo wing types of messages: • Game Challenge produces a sound and a message whenever someone wants
Shouts – Messages sent to all players in the session. to challenge you to a game in the CMLiv e Room.
Says – Messages sent to more than one, but not all, players in the session. 4. To turn window and CMLive sounds on and off , check the sounds you want
Tells – Messages sent to y ou from another player. on, clear the sounds you want off , and then click OK .
Thinks – Messages sent to yourself, such as reminders. Using the Online Information Window
3. Right-click on a play er name preceding a message in the Message window to The Online Information window in the CMLive Room lets you view
do any of the following: information about the current Internet players, the games in progress, and the
a. View a player profile. posted challenges.
b. Ignore a player. To use the O nline Infor mation window:
c. Undo an ignore. From the Windo ws menu, choose Online Infor mation. The chess piece next
d. Challenge a player. to the menu option indicates that it’s open. Choose Online I nformation again
4. Player List displays all the people in the selected channel. To send a message to close it. The different areas of the Online Information window and how to
to all players in the channel, choose Select Everyone. To send a message to use them ar e described below.
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64 Credits Credits 65
MPEG Layer-3 playback supplied with the M iles Sound System from RAD
Game Tools Inc.
MPEG Layer-3 audio compression technology licensed by Franhofer IIS and
THOMSON multimedia
PROOF OF PURCHASE
CHESSMASTER® 9000
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