Radioshack TALKING E-CHESS User Manual

www.radioshack.com

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OWNER’S MANUAL — Please read before using this equipment.

Speaking Function

— you hear the computer announce its moves,

Liquid Crystal Display

move, piece position and verification, level, position set up, and chess clock information.

letting you play it more naturally.

8 Teaching Modes

— help you learn how to checkmate an opponent’s king.

136 Playing Levels

— let you match the level o f difficul ty to your skill level.

Chess Clocks

— show the elapsed time for each move during a game or the total game time.

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— shows current

Opponent Selection

against the computer or another person, or have the computer play itself.

32 Opening Book Library

most major opening strategies, so the computer can respond more rapidly during a game’s opening moves. This speeds up play and helps you play more professionally.

— lets you play

— contains

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If an icon appears at the end of a paragraph, go to the box on that page with the corresponding icon for pertinent information.

— Warning

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°°°°

— Hint

— Important

— Note

....

— Caution

2002 RadioShack Corporation.

RadioShack and RadioS hac k.co m

are trademarks used by

RadioShack Corporation.

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Features ........................... 2

Preparation ....................... 2

Installing/Replacing

Features

Batteries ........................ 2

Resetting the Computer 3

Basic Chess Instructions .. 3

The Chess Board .......... 3

The Game Pieces .......... 4

Game Rules ................ .. 5

Basic Operation ................ 7

Turning the Computer

On/Off ............................ 7

Starting a New Game .... 8

Entering Moves ............. 8

Having the Computer

Suggest a Move ............ 9

Changing Colors with the

Computer ....................... 9

Undoing Moves ............. 9

Showing All

Legal Moves ................ 10

Game Indicators .......... 10

Chess Play Levels ....... 11

Sound Options ................ 18

Speech ........................ 18

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• Use only fresh batteries of the required size and recommended type.

• Do not mix old and new batteries, different types of batteries (standard, alkaline, or rechargeable), or rechargeable batteries of different capacities.

• If you do not plan to use the computer for a month or more, remove the batteries. Batteries can leak chemicals that can destroy electronic parts.

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Your RadioShack Talking E-Chess comp uter is one of the most versatile chess computers available. Your computer can play chess at a rating of 1750.

More of the computer's features include:

Undo

— lets you take back the previous move, to

help you improve your game.

Rule Enforcement

— the compute r prev ents ill egal moves like a game referee, to help beginners learn the rules.

Power Off Option

— lets you turn o ff the computer without interrupting the game in progress, so you can continue playing lat er.

Help

— shows you all legal moves you can make

during a game.

Move Suggestion

— lets you ask the computer to suggest your next move, teaching you the best response to an opponent’s move.

Problem Setup

— lets you set up special chess problems so you can practice solving problems published in newsp apers, chess lit erature, or histor y books.

We recommend that you read these instructions thoroughly before you use your computer.

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Your computer requires th ree AA b atte ries (n ot su pplied) for power. For the best performance and longest life, we recommend RadioShack alkaline batteries.

1. To save the current game and turn off the

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If you are replacing the computer’s batteries, make sure you turn off the computer before opening the battery compartment cover. This saves the current game in the computer. Your computer saves any games in its memory for about 30 seconds after you remove the batteries.

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Dispose of old batteries promptly and properly. Do not burn or bury them.

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The green squares are referred to as “black” throughout the rest of this manual.

computer, press

2. Use a Phillips s crew driv er to re mo ve the screw from the battery compartme nt cover , the n lift off the cover.

3. Place the batteries in the compartment as indicated by the polarity symbols (+ and –) marked inside.

4. Replace the cover and s ecu re it with the screw.

When the display dims, the sound becomes weak or distorted, or the computer stops operating properly, replace the batteries.

RATING/OFF

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If your computer does not work properly after you replace the batteries, insert a pointed object, such as a straightened pa per clip, int o the the front of the computer. The computer sounds a

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message and puter clears any game stored.

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appears. Resetting the com-

RESET

hole on

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Sound Effects .............. 18

Move Announcements 19

Sound .......................... 19

Advanced

Chess Functions ............ 20

Move Score Display .... 20

Rotating Information

Display ........................ 20

Selecting

Competition Pairs ........ 20

Ratings .. .. .................... 21

Using Coach ............... 22

Using Opening Books . 23

Using

Teaching Modes .......... 24

Using Problem Setup .. 25

Troubleshooting .............. 27

Care ................ . ........... 28

Basic Chess Instructions

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Following international chess notation, the chess board is made up of 8 verti ca l rows ca lled files, and 8 horizontal rows called ranks.

Each file (left to right) is des ignated b y a letter of the alphabet (A through H), and consists of 8 squares alternately colored green and white.

Each rank (bottom to top) is designated by a number (1 through 8), and also consists of 8 squares alternately colored green and white.

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You can set up any pieces you want in any legal order with the computer’s teaching mode (see “Using Teaching Modes” on Page 24).

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There are 16 white and 16 black pieces, 32 in all. Each color has these pieces.

Each kind of piece moves in a different way.

Basic Chess Instructions

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squares verticall y or horizontally, but it cannot move through a square occupied by another piece.

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pattern. It moves 2 squares horizontally or vertically, then moves 1 additional sq uare at a right angle from its first move. At the end of it s move, th e knight must land on a square of a different color than the one it started from. The knigh t can mov e even if t he squares it moves through are occupied. (It is the only piece that can “jump” another piece.)

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diagonally, but it cannot move through a square occupied by another piece.

(rook)

(knight)

(bishop)

— can move any number of

— moves in an L-shaped

— can move any numbe r of squa res

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squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. (The queen's moves are a combination of the rook's and bishop's moves .) The quee n cannot m ove through a square occupied by another piece.

(queen)

— can move any number of

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horizontally, or diagonally.

directly forward, except when capturing another piece. It captures a piece by moving diagonally forward 1 square, except when capturing (See “Capturing moves from its original position, it can move 1 or 2 squares forward. On subs equen t mov es, it can on ly move 1 square.

A pawn can be promoted to a h igh er-ra nk ing pie ce. See “Promoting a Pawn” on Page 6.

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(king)

— can move only 1 squa re vertically,

(pawn)

— can move only 1 (or 2) squares

En Passant

” on Page 6). When it

en passant

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The object of the g am e is t o position your pieces so your next move would capture the opponent's king, and your opponent cannot move, protect the king, or capture your piece. This is called checkmate.

Basic Chess Instructions

Here's an example of an

en passant

The white pawn advances from E4 to E5. The black pawn is still in its original position (D7).

Basic Chess Instructions

The black pawn advances from D7 to D5.

capture.

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Check occurs when a player's piece directly threatens to capture the opponent's king, but the opponent can move the king, or another piece, to escape capture.

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To capture a piece, you move your piece into the square occupied by the piece you are capturing, except when capturing an opponent's pawn

en passant

Remove the captured piece from the board.

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A pawn can capture an opponent's pawn that has just moved 2 squares from its original position. Whenever your pawn is on your fifth rank, and your opponent moves 2 spaces to the same rank adjacent to your pawn, then you can decl are and move to y our si xth ra nk im medi ately behin d the pawn, then capture the pawn.

(see “Capturing

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En Passant

”).

en passant

The white pawn advances to D6 (one square behind the black pawn’s position). The black pawn is captured by the white pawn, even though the exact square it is on is not occupied by the white pawn.

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If your pawn advances to the eighth rank, you can promote it to a queen or another piece, even if the queen or other piece is still on the board.

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Castling protects the king from a potential check or checkmate situation by hiding it behind a fortified position or moving it out of immediate danger of attack. You can castle if:

• The king has not moved from his origina l

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If the computer is thinking, it might not turn off when you press RATING/OFF. If this happens, press OPTIONS/ MOVE to force the computer to make its move, then press RATING/OFF.

position.

• The rook that you want to move by cast ling has not moved from its original position .

• The king is not placed in check on its current square, the square to which it is going, or a square it passes over.

• The squares between the king and the rook are not occupied.

If a rook is on the same side of the board as the king's square, this is called a the rook is on the same side of the board as the queen's square, this is called a

In castling, the king moves 2 squares in the direction of either rook. The rook that is closest to the king after the king has m oved n ow move s to th e square right next to and on the other side of the king. Castling counts as 1 move.

king's side castle

queen's side castle

. If

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CLEAR/ON

Press

to turn on the computer.

To save the current game and turn off the

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again.

RATING/OFF

RESET

. For more information, see

computer, press If you replace the batteries without saving the cur-

rent game or p ress self to a new game. After that, the computer resets itself to Level “Chess Play Levels” on Page 11.

The computer stores all of the game positions and any settings you set up.

To continue playing the current game, press

CLEAR/ON

, the computer resets it-

Basic OperationBasic Operation

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°°°°

If the next move you make will capture one of your opponent’s pieces, press

LAST MOVE instead of NEXT MOVE. The

computer displays each move your piece can make that would result in the capture of your opponent’s piece, than any other legal moves your piece can make.

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• On the display, indicates it is white's turn to move, while indicates it is black's turn to move.

• You cannot enter a command before the computer makes its move.

• To select a different

Basic Operation

piece after you pressed

LAST MOVE or NEXT MOVE in this step,

repeat Steps 1 and 2.

• The computer might respond instantly, so you might not see

flash and the

game timer count up.

• If you do not want to wait for the computer to calculate its move, you can press OPTIONS/ MOVE to force the computer to make a move.

°°°°

The computer always starts a new game with you playing the white pieces and your oppo nen t pl ay ing the black pieces.

To start a new ga me and erase any game stored in memory, press

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appears and the computer announces

SHIFT

NEW GAME/REPEAT.

then

“New Game.”

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Playing chess against the computer is like playing with a human opponent — you make your move, and the computer responds with its move .

Making a move involves a FROM square and a TO square. The FROM sq uare is the cu rrent loc ation o f the piece you plan t o mov e; the TO square is wh ere

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you are moving the piece.

1. When it is your turn to move, repeatedly press

NEXT PIECE

LAST PIECE

or you want to move. The piece alternately flashes on its FROM square an d one of its lega l destinations.

2. If the move that appears is not the one you want, repeatedly press

MOVE

to select other legal move s for the piece.

3. Press

OPTIONS/MOVE

move. flashes to indicate it is the computer’s turn, and the game timer counts up while the computer plans its move.

To select a different move after you press

OPTIONS/MOVE

in this step, you must wait for

the computer to make its move, then press

/UNDO

to take back the computer’s move. Press your previous move.

°°°°

to select the piece

NEXT MOVE

to make your

/UNDO

again to take back

LAST

4. Once the computer has determined its move,

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The game timer continues to count while you press SETUP +/HINT.

the piece it selects to move flashes on its FROM square and TO square alternatively, then stops on its TO square. The computer displays to indicate it is your turn to move, and the game timer continues to count up.

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The computer can suggest moves for you during a game.

To view the move the computer suggests for you,

SETUP +/HINT

press displays the move it suggests. Press

MOVE

to make the move the computer suggested, or repeatedly press select another move and continue the game.

during your turn. The comp ute r

OPTIONS/

NEXT PIECE

LAST PIECE

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The computer is set so you play the white pieces and it plays the black pieces. You can change colors with the computer so it plays the white pieces and you play the black pieces.

To change colors before you begin a game, press

OPTIONS/MOVE

press The game timer counts up and flashes while the computer takes back its last move. Then yo u can take over and enter moves for the computer's side and continue to play the same game.

. To change colors during a game,

/UNDO

when it is your turn to move.

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This function lets you take back any move made by you or the computer after the move has been completed.

Basic OperationBasic Operation

+ 19 hidden pages