Saitek Chess Explorer manual Info Mode Watch and Learn, Using Info Mode, Principal Variation

E7	PLY: 5		E8	PLY:13
F7	PLY: 6		F8	PLY:14
G7	PLY:	7	G8	PLY:15
H7	PLY:	8	H8	PLY:16

On the Training Levels, the computer’s search depth is limited to a certain number of moves, as shown above. As you cycle through the levels, the computer displays PLY:# for each level. A “ply” is an indi- vidual move (a move for either side), and “#” is the number representing the search depth. For example, on Level A7, the computer searches to a depth of one ply (PLY:1), and thus looks ahead only one individual move. On this level, therefore, it will often overlook a mate in one. This produces weaker play, giving beginners a better chance of beating the computer.

4. INFO MODE: WATCH AND LEARN

Imagine this: You’re playing chess against a friend, and it’s his move. You’d love to know what move he’s thinking about, and you’d really like to get his opinion of the board position. But, of course, you won’t ask— because that’s just not done. Well, guess what—when you play against this chess computer, you can ask anything you want, and you’ll get all the answers! In fact, you can get an incredible amount of information about the computer’s thought process. On request, it will show you the move it’s thinking of, the line of play it expects after that move, its evaluation of the current board position, how deeply it is searching, and more. As you can imagine, studying this information can help you learn so much more about chess.

Using Info Mode

How do you access all this game information? By using Info Mode at any time! If you do this while the computer is thinking, you’ll see the information displays change as the computer considers different moves and searches deeper!

See “INFO MODE AT A GLANCE!” for a chart summarizing all the Info Mode displays.

Game information is divided into four groups, and pressing INFO cycles from one group to another. The BLACK/> and WHITE/< keys can be used to cycle through the displays within each of the groups.

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Press CLEAR to exit Info Mode and go back to showing the normal chess clock.

After learning about Info Mode, take a look at Section 5.3 for a description of the Rotating Display feature. Selecting this feature makes the computer automatically cycle through the requested information in one-second intervals every time it thinks about its move—you can actually watch the computer “think out loud”!Whenever requested information is not available, the display will show dashes (– – – – –).

4.1 Principal Variation

Press INFO the first time to get information on the principal varia- tion (the predicted line of play, or the sequence of moves the computer thinks will be made). The first display you will see is the move the computer is currently thinking of making. The principal variation is shown to a maximum depth of four individual moves. Press BLACK/> repeatedly to scroll forward through all the moves:

•Move 1 (predicted line of play)

•Move 2 (predicted line of play)

•Move 3 (predicted line of play)

•Move 4 (predicted line of play)

Press WHITE/< to scroll backward and see previous displays again. Press CLEAR to return to the normal clock display.

Since the first move of the predicted line of play is the move the computer assumes you will make, you can also consider this move as a hint! So—whenever you need help, press INFO on your turn.

4.2 Search Information

Press INFO a second time to get information on the computer’s search! Press BLACK/> repeatedly to scroll forward through these four displays:

•Evaluation of the current position (based on a pawn being worth 1.0 points; a positive number indicates White is ahead)

•Two numbers: The first is the current search depth, or the number of individual moves the computer is looking ahead; the second is the number of moves the computer has examined so far

•The move currently being considered

•The search speed, or number of positions (nodes) being searched every second

Press WHITE/< to scroll backward and see previous displays again. Press CLEAR to return to the normal clock display.

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