ChessNet Shareware/Demo version 1.1 Program and Documentation are Copyright 1989 by Design Track, Inc. and Jack Lerner All rights reserved. ChessNet is a copyrighted program offered "as is" for your evaluation and enjoyment. You are encouraged to distribute copies of this Shareware/Demo version to others for evaluation. This version is complete in all respects except the following: during modem play, games cannot be saved or loaded, and chess clocks are disabled. Also, a choice of algebraic or coordinate notation is offered in the licensed version. Use of this program beyond a reasonable evaluation period obligates you to purchase a licensed copy. Licensed copies may be obtained by sending $34.95 to: Design Track, Inc., P.O. Box 20340, Dept. SW, Cherokee Station, New York, NY 10028. The licensed version is shipped with a Microsoft Windows runtime environment. Design Track, Inc. and the author make no claims as to the program's suitability for any specific use and expressly disavow any responsibility for real or consequential damages of any sort. ChessNet allows you to play a game of chess over a modem with an opponent running this software. You may use this software standalone to play out games, analyze variations, and save to disk in ascii text format. A computer chess strategy is NOT included with ChessNet. ChessNet runs in the Microsoft Windows environment. The following description of menus and dialogs is included for those unfamiliar with the Windows interface. Menus: All of the features of ChessNet are accessed through menus. You may select menu items with the keyboard in two ways. The first step using the keyboard is to press the ALT key. Then you may use the DIRECTION keys to move across the menu bar (RIGHT and LEFT arrows) and the UP and DOWN arrow keys to select items within a menu. The currently selected item will always be highlighted. To activate the selected menu item or feature press the RETURN key. To cancel your menu selection press the ESC key. Some of the items on the menu bar contain sub-menus. You must first select and activate the item on the menu bar. The sub-menu items will then pop-up. Select and activate sub-menu items with the UP and DOWN arrow keys and the RETURN key. For example, the Options menu may be selected by hitting ALT, RIGHT arrow three times and then a RETURN. The Show Labels menu item may then be activated by hitting DOWN arrow and then a RETURN. The display of the labels on the side and top of the board may be toggled this way. Note that initially a checkmark appears next to this menu item. This indicates that the feature is currently active. The second keyboard method is more direct. First press the ALT key as before. Next select a menu item by pressing the underlined letter of the item. To select the Show Labels option using the second method, press ALT, then the O key, then the L key. To select menu items with a mouse, point to an item on the menu bar and click with the left button. This will activate the item immediately. If the item contains a sub-menu, this will popup. Select an item on the popup menu by pointing and clicking once with the left button. To cancel, point the mouse outside the menu area and click once with the left button. Menu items which are currently inaccessible are "grayed". Dialogs: The initial signon screen of ChessNet is a dialog box. Dialogs are displayed to give you additional information or to request information from you. You complete a dialog by selecting one of the command buttons inside the dialog box. The signon dialog has one command button -- OK. Note that it is outlined in bold. This indicates it is the default button and may be selected by hitting the RETURN key. If the dialog box contains a CANCEL button, it may be selected with the ESC key. Or you may click on a command button with the left button of the mouse. To select items within a dialog, use the TAB key to move to different items or groups of items within a dialog. Items are grouped if you are being asked to choose one and only one item from a group. For example, the Connect dialog asks you to choose either COM1 or COM2 as your communications port. As with menus, you may choose between items in a group with the DIRECTION keys (LEFT and RIGHT arrows), or by hitting the key corresponding to the underlined letter of the item. Or just click on the item with the left mouse button. A dialog box may also contain an edit field, such as the Phone Number field in the Connect dialog. Just tab to this field (a small cursor will appear) and type in a number. You may use the BACKSPACE and DELETE keys to correct typing errors. How to Move: Ready for a chess game? You select the piece you want to move by pointing and clicking in its square. If the piece has moves available, it will be outlined in a blinking rectangle. Only pieces with legal moves may be selected. If you don't have a mouse, the ARROW KEYS will move a solid rectangle around the board. Again, the rectangle will blink only if the piece can move. Select the piece by hitting the RETURN key or clicking with the left mouse button. The blinking rectangle will now remain solid. You can change your mind by hitting the RETURN key a second time, or clicking again. The outline rectangle will begin blinking again. After de-selecting a selected piece, you are free to choose a different piece. To move, first select a piece, then select a square to move to using the mouse or keyboard as above. A valid square to move to will be indicated by a blinking rectangle. ChessNet only allows legal chess moves. Click or hit RETURN. Shortcut: click to select, mouse button up to make the move. The last move made will be displayed and highlighted in the window to the right of the board. How to Connect: You may play chess against an opponent at another site who is running ChessNet if you each have telephone lines attached to Hayes compatible modems. Invoke the Connect dialog from the menu bar (ALT+C or click with mouse). There are two choices for connect. If you have a phone attached to your modem line, the easiest method is to first call your opponent (ordinary voice call). Then, after you both have copies of the ChessNet software running, have one player select Dial and the other Answer (first group of items within dialog). Then have both players select Voice to Data as the Connect Type. Also change any default settings of the COM Port, and Dial Type (if you don't have a touch tone line choose pulse). The player who selected Dial may choose White or Black (this can be reversed by later choosing New from the Game menu--New will reset the board and switch the sides). End the Connect dialog with OK. ChessNet will establish a data connection and ask you to hang up the phone. The board will be reset and you are ready to play! The second method is to select Dial Number as the Connect Type. Arrange who will Dial and who will Answer. The player selecting Dial fills in the number to dial in the Connect dialog. After the Dial player ends the Connect dialog, ChessNet will dial and connect. (Allow enough time for the Answer player to end the Connect dialog-- this puts the modem in auto-answer mode for up to 30 minutes.) New Game: Select New from the Game menu to reset the board. If you are playing a modem game, this will also reset your opponent's board and switch sides. It is considered poor sportsmanship to select this option without first resigning or agreeing to a draw. Load: A game previously saved with ChessNet may be loaded and resumed. If you are connected via modems, the moves will be transmitted to your opponent and loaded on both machines. Save As: To save a game to disk, type in the file name as requested. The default extension is *.CHS. If you just enter 'filename', it will be saved as 'filename.chs'. Rotate Board: See how the other side lives. Replay Game: After selecting Replay, you may back out any and all moves. With the mouse, click on the scroll bars, or with the keyboard use '+' or '-' on the keypad, INS and DEL, or UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW if you have a mouse installed. You may exit Replay by continuing the game with a new move at any point, or by toggling the option from the menu. Setting Clocks: Clocks may be set individually to any time. Setting a clock puts that player in a countdown mode. You will be notified if that player's "flag" drops, but may continue to play out the game regardless. If you are connected by modem, either player may set either clock. The setting will be transmitted and displayed on both machines. Set by clicking the mouse on the scroll bars, or use the ARROW keys. End setting mode with RETURN or by clicking outside the clock area. Clocks may only be set before the first move. Chat: After connecting via modem, messages may be exchanged with this option. What you see is what you send. Messages are displayed at the bottom of the board. After receiving a message, you are given an Option to clear the message line. Hangup: If connected, will disconnect and hang up phones on both sides. You may resume a voice call if you first pick up the phones, then select this option.