Excalibur electronic 974 manual How to Change, Options Before and During

the unit back on. If it is not "think- ing," Electronic Chess will auto- matically turn off after a period of time, saving your game position. Use the ON key to resume the game.

LEVEL KEY

Use this key to view the current level of play (for more information,

see “,” page 9). Use theLevels+1, -1,of-10,Playand +10 keys to change the level number. Also use the LEVEL key to enter level option mode.

How to Change

When Levelthe levelOptisonsdisplayed, pressing the OPTIONS key shows:

FAST: In this mode, Electronic Chess uses a more selective search for thinking. It may miss a tactical move, but it can look more deeply into the position. Press the +1 key to turn FAST on or off. Or press the OPTIONS key again to show:

rAnd: Allows the computer to randomly choose between two good moves so that you get to practice and play against different respons- es. Press the +1 key to turn random on or off.

Press CLEAR when you are fin- ished with the LEVEL key.

SecBelowndaryare theKeyfeaturesFunctionsavailable to you through the secondary func- tions. To access any of these fea- tures, you first press the blue 2nd key and then press the indicated key, looking at the blue label

the key. You may press the aboveCLEAR key or the 2nd key to stop using a secondary function.

OPTIONS KEY

Pressing the OPTIONS key repeatedly will display all selec- table options. To select or change an option, use the -1or the +1 key.

Options Before the Game

StartsOPEn: Select one of 34 book opening lines of play. (See page 6.)

GAME: Select one of 16 Great Games. (See page 10.)

TrAIn: Select one of eight train- ing positions. Positions with the Black king in the middle give you practice in checkmating the Black king.

TheN wnextYorkfiveTimesoptionsProblemspermit the selection of one of The New York Times problems taken from actual chess mas- ter games.

Your mission is to find the master move for each position. If you do not play the master move, an error beep will sound. The HINT key may be pressed to see the master move. Electronic Chess will remember the last problem number you worked on for each of the five options. Before select- ing a problem, first set the level to 72, so that you have a good opponent if you play on after the correct move.

MATE1: Select one of 66 mate-in-1 move problems.

MATE2: Select one of 196 mate-in-2 moves problems.

MATE3: Select one of 95 mate-in-3 moves problems.

MATE4: Select one of 9 mate-in-4 moves problems.

PrOb: Select one of 135 tactical problem positions. You are generally looking for moves that win material. But in some cases you may have a los- ing position and the master move is to force a draw.

To access THE NEW YORK TIMES problems from any screen, you can fol- low this procedure:

1. Push the CLEAR/ON button

2. Press the NEXT/2ND key

3. Press NEW GAMES

4. Press the NEXT/2ND key again.

5. Press OPTIONS

The word OP En will appear on the

screen.

6.Repeatedly press OPTIONS until MATE1 or one of the other options list- ed on page 6 or 7 appears.

7.When the desired option is dis- played, press the +1 key to access the first problem in that group, or keep pressing to see them all, one by one.

Options Before and During

HELP: Whenthe Gamethis option is turned on, all legal moves for the selected piece will be shown at one time.

InFO: When turned on, this option will display the score, depth of search (number of moves Electronic Chess is "thinking ahead"), best move it is considering playing, and clock times. These will be displayed while the computer is

thinking at its higher levels. TOtAL: Your Electronic Chess

normally shows the time taken for

each . Turning this option ON will insteadmove show the total

time.game CLrBr: Use this option to clear the chess board for easier problem setup. Pressing SETUP now will enter setup mode with the chess board cleared of all pieces except a White king. You must also place a Black king on the board to exit

setup mode.

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