Excalibur electronic 974 Handheld Game System User Manual


 
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
the Game
HELP: When this 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 move. Turning this option ON
will instead show the total game
time.
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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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 “Levels of Play,” page 9).
Use the +1, -1, -10, and +10 keys to
change the level number. Also use
the LEVEL key to enter level
option mode.
How to Change
Level Options
When the level is displayed,
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.
Secondary Key Functions
Below are the features available
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
above the key. You may press the
CLEAR 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 -1 or the +1 key.
Options Before the Game
Starts
OPEn: 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.
New York Times Problems
The next five options permit the
selection of one of The New York Times
problems taken from actual chess mas-
ter games.
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