Copyright: Phe Meas


WinChess Help Contents

Game Instructions

Starting the Game

How the Pieces Move

Winning the Game

Playing WinChess

Chess Notation

Chess Strategy

Commands

Game Menu

Edit Menu

Level Menu

Options Menu

Display Menu

TroubleShooting

Problem with CTL3DV2.DLL

Problem with Displays


Starting the Game

White usually moves first, and then each player takes turns moving only one piece per move (Castling is an exception). Only one piece is allowed on a square.

To capture an enemy piece, simply remove the enemy piece from the board and replace it with your own piece (En Passant is an exception).


How the Pieces Move

  King     Queen     Rook    Bishop   Knight     Pawn

                             Special Moves


King

The King is the most important piece on the board. When the King becomes trapped, the game is lost. The King can move one square in any direction (eight possible moves). An exception is castling. The King may never move into a check.


Queen

The Queen is the most powerful piece on the board. She can move any number of squares in a straight line in any direction: horizontal, vertical, or diagonal (if she is not blocked by another piece). The Queen has the powers of a Rook and a Bishop combined.


Rook

The Rook is the second most powerful piece. It can move any number of squares in a straight line either horizontally or vertically, as long as it is not blocked.


Bishop

The Bishop can move any number of squares in a straight diagonal line if it is not blocked by another piece. Since each player has two bishops and each starts on a different colored square, each bishop stays on its own color squares for the duration of the game. Sometimes they are called white and black bishops based on their square color, regardless of the color of the piece.


Knight

The Knight has a very special move. It moves two squares either horizontally or vertically and then makes a right angle turn and moves one more square. Unlike other pieces, the Knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces between its old and new squares.


Pawn

The Pawn is the weakest piece on the board. It moves straight ahead and can never move backward. However, it captures diagonally. It can only move one square at a time, but on its first move it has the option of moving forward one or two squares.


White usually moves first, and then each player takes turns moving only one piece per move  Special Moves
Special Moves

In addition to the regular moves of each piece already described, there are three special kinds of moves you should know about. Many beginners are often confused and upset when one of these moves are used by a more experienced opponent; especially en passant.

Castling - Protect your King and activate a Rook in one move!

En Passant - A special way that pawns capture other pawns.

Pawn Promotion - What happens when a pawn reaches the last rank?


Winning the Game

To win the game you must checkmate your opponent's King. It is not necessary to actually capture and remove the King from the board. A King is checkmated when he is being attacked by an opponent's piece ("check") and has no way to get out of it.

You can never move into check, either directly (by moving the King into an attacking square of an opponent's piece) or indirectly (by moving one of your pieces that exposes your King to attack by an opponent's piece).

If you are in check, you must get out of check immediately. You can either move your King out of range, capture the attacking piece, or place another one of your own pieces in-between your King and the attacking piece (this last method will not work if the attacking piece is a Knight.) If you cannot do any of these things, then you are checkmated and have lost the game.

Another situation is when a King is not in check but has no legal move. This situation is called stalemate and results in a tie.


Playing WinChess

Basically, you use the mouse to pick up pieces and move them. To move a piece, point the mouse cursor at a piece and press the left mouse button to "grab" the piece. Drag the piece using the mouse to the desired square and let go of the mouse button.  If the move is valid, the piece will be plopped on that square (any captured piece being removed first!) and WinChess will start thinking about its move. You can tell WinChess is thinking because the mouse cursor turns into an hour glass. If your move is invalid, the piece is placed back where it started and you must make another move.


Basically, you use the mouse to pick up pieces and move them. To move a piece, point the mouse cursor at a piece and press the l
Chess Notation

There are two major forms of chess notation in use today; descriptive and algebraic. In descriptive notation, a move is written using a letter for the piece followed by the destination square. The piece letters used are the first letters of the piece name, except for the Knight, which uses 'N' to distinguish it from the King ('K'). For example, a common first move is to move the pawn directly in front of the King forward two squares. This would be represented as "P-K4", implying a pawn has moved to the fourth rank of the King's file.

WinChess uses algebraic notation, which is more accurate than descriptive notation. This is because it gives exact start and end squares, where descriptive notation may be ambiguous.  The board is numbered by rank (1-8)and alphabetized by file (A-H). In the above example, "P-K4" would be represented as "E2-E4". Sometimes a shorthand version of algebraic notation is used for pawns, so that only the destination square is given when it is clear which pawn is moving: "e4".

Chess Abbreviations

In the above examples, a dash '-' is used to indicate movement from one square to another. There are other abbreviations:

x	captures (for example, e4xd5)

O-O	King side castle

O-O-O	Queen side castle

ep	captures en passant (for example, e5xd6 ep)

+	check

!	good move

!!	excellent move

?	bad move

??	blunder


Chess Strategy

Every chess game can be divided into three main phases: the opening, the middle game, and the end game.

The opening game lasts until around the 10th move. The goal of the opening game is to organize your pieces around a particular attack or defense. In the opening, you should try to memorize at least one or two standard opening lines (your opening "book") and use them when you play. Castle early if you can, and develop bishops and knights before your Queen and Rooks.

The middle game follows the opening, and generally is a series of positional moves combined with piece trades to create an advantage when entering the end game. Try to trade pieces when you are ahead, and find combinations that will win exhanges of pieces.

The end game is where there are few pieces left on the board, and often the King takes an active role in an attempt to Queen a Pawn. Put Rooks behind "passed" pawns (pawns that have passed enemy pawns).

Assign the following point values to the chess pieces:

Queen	9

Rook	5

Bishop	3

Knight	3

Pawn	1

When exchanging pieces, keep in mind the relative value of each piece. For example, you usually do not want to trade your Rook for an opponents Bishop.

Here are some general guidelines to use when playing chess:

1. In the opening and mid-game, try to control the center of the board.

2. Castle early in the game; preferably in the first 10 moves. This offers extra protection for your King and activates a Rook.

3. Don't be too anxious to move your Queen and Rooks out too early. The Rooks especially are more endgame pieces, and the Queen is easily chased around the board by the opponents bishops and knights. Move your Knights and Bishops out first.

4. "A Knight on the rim is dim" - try not to place a Knight on the edge of the board.

5. If you are ahead, exchange pieces of equal value.

6. "When all else fails, push a pawn." This is actually terrible advice, but I swear by it.

7. Learn an "opening book" of moves. This is especially important if you want to play in tournaments; having a repertoire of opening moves at your fingertips speeds up the opening game and offers more time to think about moves later.  Sometimes it has the additional effect of disturbing the opponent.


Castling

Each player can "castle" once during the game if and only if:

1. Neither the King or the Rook may have moved before.

2. The King cannot be in check, or castle into or through check.

3. The spaces between the King and Rook must be clear.

You can castle using either Rook. To castle, move the King two spaces to the left or right, and then move the Rook to the opposite side of the King toward the center of the board.


En Passant

This is a French term that means "in passing."  When one player moves a pawn two

squares forward, the opponent can capture the pawn just as if it had moved only one

square forward.  Note that the opportunity for capturing such a pawn is lost if it is not

taken immediately.


Pawn Promotions

If a Pawn advances all the way to the opposite end of the board, it is immediately promoted to another piece. Usually this is a Queen, but the player may also select a Rook, Bishop or Knight (it is illegal to have more than one King, and silly to leave the pawn where it is!)


Game Menu

The Game menu provides commands for starting new games, opening existing games, saving games, and exiting WinChess.

New - Start a new game.

Open - Open a saved game.

Save - Save current game.

Save As - Save the current game under a new name.

Hint - Gives a hint on what and where to move.

Pass - Pass a turn.

Exit - Exit WinChess.


Edit Menu

The Edit menu provides commands to undo, redo, and edit the chess pieces.

Undo - Undo a previous move.

Redo - Redo an undone move.

Arrange - Re-arrange the Chess Pieces.


Level Menu

The Level menu provides commands to change the level of difficulty and timing.

Time Limit Game - Time limit the game.

Time Limit Move - Time limit each move.

Match Users Time - Match users move time.

Novice - Easy game.

Intermediate - Intermediate game.

Advance - Hard game.

Custom Search Dept - Set computers search dept.


Options Menu

The Options menu provides commands to change the default settings.

One Player|Two Player - Changes playing mode.

DemoMode - Enable demo mode.

Movement - Changes movement.

Sound - Execute Sound pop-up menu.


Options|Movement Pop-up

Drag - Allows you to move the chess pieces by draging and dropping.

Select - Allows you to move the chess pieces by selection.


Options|Sound Pop-up

Enable Sound - Turns sound on.

Auto Repeat - Continously repeat the midi song.

Select Midi File - Open a new midi song.


Display Menu

The Display menu provides commands to change the display settings.

Colors - Changes the default colors.

Reverse - Reverse the chess board.

Show BestLine - Enable or disable the displaying of best lines.


CTL3DV2.DLL Error

Problem:

When WinChess starts, a dialog pops-up with the following message:

This application uses CTL3DV2.DLL, which has not been correctly installed.

Solution:

Make sure that CTL3DV2.DLL is moved from the WinChess directory to WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.


Display Error

Problem:

Occasionally, WinChess does not display its colors properly.

Solution:

This problem only occurs on 256-colored displays. If you have a higher-colored display, you dont have to worry. When this happens, go to the Display|Colors pop-up and select the checked color. You may have to do this several times in order for it to display correctly.