12345 Shareware ================ Once registered, copy/paste the validation you received over the text (12345/Shareware) at the top. Check to be sure it is identical to your original copy. Once you have done so, you may delete all other text in this document. ================ For registration information, see the ReadMe.txt that came with your download. ================ IMPORTANT: Make no edit changes to this file until you receive a validation. ================ |JCL |"Y=Q MG[ ;BOQO>P 6T;HQCKO |"K=XB );)=( ;, |"Q=R?6NNH^=OM LJXNHDU 8AXU*YNK MOZ>^E |"LPJGZ K;WCW 30 70 |"PKI W=[JZS1-2 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"PKI L;X9W5SRa.2+ 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"PKI L;X9W5SRa.2, 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"PKI J@NI^I4^4+7 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"PKI J@NI^I4^4+7)7 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"PKI W?WIZFT^3+6 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"PKI W?WIZFT^3+6)7 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"PKI OAP>]5NJa/2/4+ 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"PKI OAP>]5NJa02+ 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"PKI J@NI^I3^5+4 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"PKI J@NI^I3^5+5 3,5*7(9& 5- 8':%<01. |"PKI J;QKY?_10- 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"PKI UG[CL@_20/2, 3,5*7(9& 8- 8':%<01. |"HJIw Advertisements... ::ECOClass.ZIP - classify your PGN games ECOClass assigns ECO, NIC, or even your own user-defined codes to PGN chess games. It comes with 2000 predefined opening lines (130,000 positions) which you can modify--or even replace with new opening classification downloads. Assigns opening descriptions as well. You'll find ECOClass fast--competing with the big chess databases and capable of any desired level of accuracy--assigning even five-digit ECO codes. Opening lines up to 30 moves deep can be added and there is no practical limit to total positions. ECOClass: A great way to organize your PGN collections. Use with PGNSort and CChunk to group your files by opening. ::PGNSort.EXE Version 1.2 is now out, allowing much easier elimination of duplicates in game files. No longer is it necessary to specify each PGN tag required by the sort. Instead four common dup-killing functions have been incorporated into pre-defined macros. Just enter a single letter "call-up" for the macro and go. Total control, using up to eight individual PGN tags, is still available of course. Character position selection of header information can even be used to fine tune the sort. Use PGNSort to organize collections by ECO or opening description. There's no longer the need to rely on the monster file approach. ::Just because you own another database... ...doesn't mean you don't need U4. ChessU4 is still going to be the best way to have a quick look at a game score hot off the net presses. Preparing new game scores for entry into your database will come off much easier if they're prepared with NORMAL, PGNSort, HighRank, and CollEdit. Each of these programs goes after a specific aspect of a PGN game: NORMAL - proof scores; convert and check headers PGNSort - eliminate duplicate games--including partial dups--before they corrupt your database HighRank - get player names into a standard spelling; split incoming games between those played by the professionals and those by amateurs. CollEdit - make combined header fixups for many games at a single crack. CollEdit is especially good at fixing Site names: just order a PGN game file by sorting on Site with PGNSort; in CE, use the 'lx Site' command; next,'x'; then make changes with 'makelike', 'replace', 'overwrite', etc. You'll save indexing space in your database and convert the descriptions of games to your own, good standard. ::NORMAL.ZIP The mainstay of any set of programs for dealing with ASCII chess game collections. You'll want NORMAL (especially) if you have one of the large database programs as it performs the first step in getting new games into a reliable, proofed format. Normal checks notation and converts game headers to PGN. It's able to scan most any text document and retrieve games, making it indispensable for building up your collections from the latest games posted on the on-line services and the Internet. NORMAL forgives the untidy game score and converts it to perfect standard PGN. ::The Interface The author (that's me) of the U4 programs apologizes (just a little) for the interface. Full-Windows, GUI interfaces are easy to use and look good besides. Why then the plain White screen? Simple, most programmers spend 85% or more of their time building the interface. That's fine for a single application but when someone has many ideas for chess utility programs and not enough time to do each one, it's better to provide a useful number of products than spend all one's time perfecting a single idea. With the simple interface, many more programs have been made available. ...And if you don't believe I can write a Windows front-end, you didn't see ClassC.EXE! ::ChessU4 features you didn't know existed: Version 2.3 now allows importing and exporting games to CM4000. You can even let CM4000 annotate a full game (Mentor) and have the annotations imported and converted to PGN. ::Special Offer -- Free Validation! No offense, but if you use only one program from the U4 group, you might still appreciate a validation. Putting a $5.00 check in the mail is likely too much trouble so here's the offer: (I'm usually in the market for some games of a particular opening....so...) If you have a fairly substantial collection, send me a note EMail. I'll reply with an opening, ECO, line, or position I'm interested in. If it sounds like a deal, we'll agree to the nearest 500 games (PGN, of course). You send me the games in a ZIP file and I'll send you a validation for the program of your choice. I already have most of the opening collections from CIS so I'd be more interested if your collection was built from a variety of sources. ::HighRank.ZIP Now out--version 3.0! HighRank assigns player ratings to PGN games and gives all player names a common spelling. More importantly, it allows you to divide the games in your collection between those played by professionals and those by amateurs. If you rely on your collection for studying chess, you probably don't want to be pouring over the games of your neighbor down the street. Unfortunately, whenever you don't recognize a player's name, you might be! HighRank comes equipped with a list of 1000 of the world's top-ranked players and quickly separates a PGN file into games that match (one or both players) and games that don't. A "fuzzy-name" matcher locates (and optionally corrects) player names even when spelling and punctuation differ. ::ClassC (for the Abstract Thinker) Ever wonder what an entire chess game collection would look like if you could see it on your screen all at once? In full color? Most people don't. Wonder that is....but for those that do, ClassC.exe has a full Windows interface (yes, opening dialogs yet!) to point out characteristics of chess that have never been seen before. ClassC works best with opening collections or collections covering a single player. You'll see that Botvinnik would often play a completely different style of game depending upon whether he had the White or Black pieces; you'll notice the deep openings--and those that quickly go off into uncharted territory. In time, you'll recognize openings by their color-banded signatures. ::ChessU4.ZIP The nimble reader... Have you ever asked yourself why someone posting a game score didn't bother to proof the notation first? Answer: the reader they own is not ChessU4. With "U4" it's a 15 second operation: First second: click the ChessU4 icon, it opens; 3rd second: type "*", NotePad opens; 6th second: Paste (Ctrl/V); 9th second: choose "Save"; 12th second: choose "Close" (NotePad); 15th second: press Enter twice. Voila! Er....I just tried again and did it in 10 seconds (but I rushed a little). ::CChunk.ZIP One of the most difficult tasks when working with ASCII chess collections is combining games from individual files and breaking larger files into smaller pieces. Most editors are simply not up to the task. Use CChunk instead to split and combine files--it's designed to work with chess games. Incidentally, Ver. 2.0 has been completely rewritten. You'll find the new interface much easier to use! ::ChessU4 features you didn't know existed There are a lot of nice chess readers, both shareware and commercial, on the market these days and some have some very good features. When working with large ASCII collections, however, ChessU4 is usually your best bet--it's much faster and designed for the big jobs. It seems to be the only one capable of position and header searches, quickly scanning up to 4000 games in a file. Version 2.0 introduced "logic" searches... Some "Find" (f) examples: [find any game which includes both players] , [find any game played by either player] Any PGN field can be combined in the search. Complex AND/OR Boolean logic search statements can be constructed--including the use of nested conditions. ::ChessU3.ZIP The tree searches of Chess Assistant or ChessBase are good for a rough cut but to really get down into your data, extract 500 or so games of the line you are interested in--then print to PGN. Do a ChessU3 analysis of the file and you'll be amazed what you were missing before: lines you thought were separate will be found to weave in and out; blind transpositions are eliminated; perpetual draws pointed out. Mini-max backsolving shows the absolute best line before you've left move one. ::ChessU3.ZIP If you're a strong postal or correspondence player and don't own ChessU3 then likely you've lost at least one game unnecessarily. When your opponent dodges the line you've selected, you can often jump ahead and get him back on track with a "U3" analysis. This feature works especially well for the most complex openings such as the Semi-Slav, the Queen's Indian, and many English openings. ::PERTO.ZIP "PERTO" is short for "repertoire." It is a program which will help you eliminate surprises by plugging the holes in your stock of openings. Using PERTO, you select and look deeply into a single position at a time, finding ALL possible move sequences leading up to it and all reasonable alternatives the opposing side may use to sidestep your choice. Working backwards, resolving the major alternatives thus allows you an excellent chance of achieving a manageable start of your game. PERTO provides these results by analyzing up to 8000 games in your PGN collection for each position choice. Say you're an advocate of the accelerated fianchetto Sicilian: you'll see every advance move required and the probabilities of alternative moves to expect should your opponent wish to steer the game elsewhere. ::NIC2PGN.EXE This program is for users of NiC (New in Chess) databases--and for those that receive their games. It converts NIC formatted game headers to PGN. ::ChessU4 features you didn't know existed: ...Want to send that brilliancy you just played to a chess magazine and have is published? You could spend a couple of days annotating the game score, print it out and mail it in--hoping the feature writer was having a slow week and had time to play through the score or type it in. On the other hand, you could use the "d*" command of ChessU4. All you need in addition is a chess font such as Linares or Tilburg. The "d*" (diagram) option produces a text file of the entire game in a series of tiny, perfect chessboards. Just open and print with MS Word. A layout feature allows you to compose a page and show all, or just some of the diagrammed positions during the game. The regular "d" (diagram) command produces a single, larger chess diagram using your chosen chess font. You can then place these individually into the ASCII chess score. Finally, you can convert your chess score into full, international symbolic. ::ChessU4 features you didn't know existed: Want to turn your ChessU4 into a full-fledged chess publisher? You'll need the Linares font. It's available (for about $29) from, Steve Smith smiths@aca.nwc.whecn.edu Alpine Electronics 526 West 7th St, Powell WY, 82435, USA Telephone: (307) 754-7080 ::NORMAL.ZIP -- Don't forget Drag & Drop! You've downloaded a half-dozen PGN game files and have them in a remote directory....how are you going to remember all those file names when NORMAL asks for them?? Don't. Just start the Windows File Manager and drop the files one-by-one onto the NORMAL icon. You can append all output while doing so. Drag & drop works also for ChessU4 and a number of other "U4" family programs. ::ChessU4 features you didn't know existed: You can't move the pieces with ChessU4 (boo!) since the DLL that produces the board is "read-only." However, if you've downloaded the Waxman chess program (sometimes found under "WaxChess") you're just a second or two away from the possibility. With the new ChessU4 Version 2.3, the handy little WaxChess board (by Check-Tech Software, Inc.) pops up in an instant. Next, just open the default ".pos" file and the selected ChessU4 game is on your screen for analysis and "what if." ::Flash! See an ad that interests you while running NORMAL but your Pentium is reaching orbital speeds? Just press the mouse cursor to the window bar and it will hold the message. ::ChessU3.ZIP If there's a secret weapon in the U4 arsenal then its name is ChessU3. ChessU3 was actually the first program ever developed in the family of utilities. Trouble was, up till now, it was only available on disk. This has changed--there is now a demo in a library near you. ChessU3 is an ASCII tree-searcher. If you own ChessBase or Chess Assistant then you know what a tree-searcher is. But how many times has this happened? You are following a great line in your chosen defense; Black scores 7 to 0 in the current position. You click the forward arrow, going one position deeper in the tree, then Poof! The advantage disappears. There are now 50 games and Black maintains only the slightest advantage. What happened?? It was an illusion as one or more transpositions flowed into the subsequent position and spoiled everything. Your time following bum leads comes to an end with ChessU3 since it sees through ALL forward transpositions ahead of time--even from move one. At any position transpositions have already been taken into account and show in the win/loss/draw statistics. How does ChessU3 do it? That's the secret! ::CMSTAT.EXE Do you own CM4000? CMSTAT takes an analyzed score (Mentor) from Chess Master 4000 and shows the ups and downs of the game visually by producing an Excel barchart. It also creates an annotated game score where the numeric evaluations from CM4000 have been converted to ?, !, ?!, and ?! move comments. When a blunder or losing move is noted, the correct line is also inserted into the game score. The PGN scores produced allow the sub-variations to be played by your Chess Assistant or ChessBase database. ::ChessU4 features you didn't know existed. Suffering from ICCF international postal notation paranoia? Do you go back and forth checking your moves against the little numbered board that come with your Section start-up kit? Stop worrying--just keep your postal records in ChessU4 then use the "u" ("Using ICCF") option to export the game just before filling out your postal card. View this file in NotePad and transfer the numeric moves. The standard notation is listed right alongside so you know you're sending the move you want. ::ChessU4 features you didn't know existed. Eric Churchill's RECORD is a great way to keep track of on-line games but when you're playing official postal (USCF, ICCF, etc.), move recording is a bit more stringent. Here's an example of what you can do in ChessU4: Onstad,Paul - Kuthe,Hans-Peter cr ICCF WT/H/913 1995 1.Kuthe,Hans-Peter, Schleswiger Weg 13, D-33102 Paderborn, Germany {Sent Postmarked Received } {W/B} 1.e4 {5254} {16-Nov-95 16-Nov-95 21-Nov-95} {1/-} c5 {3735} {22-Nov-95 22-Nov-95 25-Nov-95} {-/1} 2.Nf3 {7163} {27-Nov-95} {2/-} {Total Time - PWO: 3 / HPL: 1} {========} 1/2 You can keep all your games in a single text document--the "List" command of Version 2.3 works perfectly with the above format. Just restrain yourself and avoid sending the little "1/2" terminator at the end! ::Now on CompuServe....SWREG! The U4 author is a starving, unemployed, nearly homeless individual who should be working (and can only afford a 386) but all he does is write chess software! He can't afford a Visa/MC account. However, this has left some out in the cold who haven't access to U.S. funds. There is now a solution in CompuServe's software registration service....check the DES when you do your download. SWREG has a single price and that is 35 US$ for ALL "U4" family software. You will receive an immediate validation by EMail with a disk Airmailed the same day. There are no additional shipping charges. FEDEX or other special delivery is available only if you compute the additional charges and include the extra amount with your order. ::Registration You've had this program six months now and committed these banners to memory? Well congratulations! Your next step is to send in your registration. Doing so will have one disadvantage--these banners will go away. It's been fun talking though! Prices: Pkg 1: $10 - U4 family EMail validation for four programs of your choice. Pkg 2: $15 - Pkg.1 + four additional programs (eight total) Pkg 3: $24 - All progrmas shipped on disk (includes also CMStat, ClassC, NIC2PGN, & CollEdit) Pkg 4: $35 - Pkg.3 using CIS GO SWREG #8908 - shipped airmail overseas Make out check or money order to: Paul W. Onstad 70641.3236@compuserve.com 10168 Parrish Ave NE Elk River, MN 55330 USA :: End