V1/man/man6/chess.6

       11/3/71                                                      CHESS (VI)


NAME             chess -- the game of chess

SYNOPSIS         /usr/games/chess

DESCRIPTION      Chess is an attempt at computer chess. The program `speaks'
                 in algebraic chess notation. The initial board
                 configuration in this notation is as follows:

                       8   R   N   B   Q   K   B   N   R
                       7   P   P   P   P   P   P   P   P
                       6   -   *   -   *   -   *   -   *
                       5   *   -   *   -   *   -   *   -
                       4   -   *   -   *   -   *   -   *
                       3   *   -   *   -   *   -   *   -
                       2   p   p   p   p   p   p   p   p
                       1   r   n   b   q   k   b   n   r
                           a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h

                 A move is specified by the `from' co--ordinate followed by
                 the `to' co--ordinate. Thus the white P--K4 move would be
                 `e2e4'. The black P--K4 would be `e7e5'.

                 The following commands are recognized by the chess
                 program:

                 move
                    Make the move if legal. The program does not keep track
                    of who is to play. The move is made for what ever side
                    is specified.

                 move x
                     Make the move regardless of legality. This is a good
                     way to either set up a desired situation or to cheat.
                     The initial move `e2e8x' is a winner.

                 mw
                       The program will compute and make a move for the white
                       pieces.

                 m
                       The program will compute and make a move for the black
                       pieces.

                 lab
                       Set the level parameters to a and b, where a and b are
                       numbers between 0 and 9. The initial settings are 2 and
                       8. The first parameter increases computation time
                       rapidly while the second parameter only increases
                       computation exponentially. Currently move times run
                       from 20 seconds to 10 minutes. It was hoped that these
                       numbers would be usefully related to the program's
                       competence.
        11/3/71                                                      CHESS (VI)


                  p
                        The board is printed.

                  u
                        The last move is un--made. This is another
                        good way to cheat.

                  t
                        All the moves to date are printed.

                  s

                        The current game situation is saved on the
                        file c.tmp.

                  r
                        The game situation on the file c.tmp is restored.

                        ! command
                        The unix command is executed by the mini-- shell.

                  An interrupt (DEL) will pull the program out of its
                  computation. If it is trying to make a move, the best move
                  to date is made.

FILES             c.tmp

SEE ALSO          msh

DIAGNOSTICS       ? if an illegal move is attempted, or if an unknown command
                  is typed.

BUGS              The current version does not recognize castling, promotion
                  and en passant. A new version is in the mill.

OWNER             ken