Contents



Modern Chess Openings

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© 2004-2007 Convekta Ltd.

FOREWORD

The series of programs called “Modern Chess Openings” is aimed at a wide range of players, from club level upwards, and consists of a number of volumes on the most popular modern openings. We hope that these programs will help our users to play their favorite openings well, while eliminating the danger of “drowning” in the flood of opening information.

In contrast to the usual books on openings that contain only reference data, “Modern Chess Openings” has the aim of revealing to its users the conceptual sense of the openings and their inseparable links with the middlegame, demonstrating typical plans, procedures, and tactical subtleties characteristic of the opening in question. At the same time, the user will gain a complete impression of the modern theoretical situation. For this purpose, “Modern Chess Openings” contains complete games played in the last ten years, thus combining recent achievements in theory with examples of middlegame strategy. This approach enables the series to be used in several ways: as a reference program on opening theory, as a source for systematic study, and as a useful tool for broadening one's chess horizons.

This program is devoted to the French Defense, a very sound, “fireproof” opening, a favorite weapon of many of the world's leading players. The program acquaints the user with the current state of theory in all the main lines of this opening, and with typical procedures and plans in the resulting middlegame. Some of the games given here were played in the period prior to the 1990's. They have been included for their instructional value; all these games were milestones on the road of opening theory, and without them our account would be incomplete.

The compact symbolic language used in the games will not prevent the user from finding typical plans, procedures, and combinations that require his particular attention. All these important fragments are marked with the TM (“typical method”) sign. In the final section, the user will find a number of exercises on strategy and tactics for self-testing.

1. Software License Agreement 2

2. Introduction 3

2.1. System Requirements 3

2.2. Technical Support 4

2.3. Installation 4

3. First Steps 5

3.1. Starting the Program 5

3.2. Browser pane 6

3.3. List Mode 8

3.4. View Mode 9

3.5. Test Mode 11

3.6. Demonstration mode 14

3.7. Report Mode 16

3.8. Viewing game as ECO table 17

4. Search 18

4.1. Header Search 18

4.2. Position Search 20

4.3. Material Search 21

4.4. Advanced Search 22

4.5. Search for Maneuvers 22

4.6. Search for Comments 23

4.7. Combining Searches 23

5. Commenting 24

5.1. Annotating Moves 25

5.2. Adding Variations 25

5.3. Working with the Clipboard 26

5.4. Saving a Game 28

6. Playing Engines and Analysis 28

6.1. Linking Playing Engines 28

6.2. Adjusting Playing Engines 29

6.3. Playing Against an Engine 29

6.4. Analyzing with Engines 30

6.5. Using the DGT Board 30

7. Sets of Games 31

7.1. Selecting Games 31

7.2. Classifying Games and Positions 32

7.3. Operations with Datasets 34

8. Chess Trees 35

9. Printing 37

10. Miscellaneous Options 39

1. sOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT

IMPORTANT!

READ CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS PRODUCT

BY USING THE ENCLOSED SOFTWARE YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, PROMPTLY RETURN THE SOFTWARE AND ALL ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS TO THE PLACE YOU OBTAINED THEM FOR A FULL REFUND.

LIMITED USE LICENSE – This agreement grants you the right to use one copy of the enclosed program (the SOFTWARE) on any single computer provided that the software is installed on only one computer at a time.

COPYRIGHT – The SOFTWARE is owned by Convekta Ltd. and is protected by British Copyright Laws, international treaties, and other national laws. You must treat the SOFTWARE like any other copyrighted material except that you may install the SOFTWARE onto a single computer, provided that you keep the original CD solely for backup or archival purposes. You may not copy the written materials accompanying the SOFTWARE.

OTHER RESTRICTIONS – You may not rent, lease, or license the SOFTWARE but you may transfer the SOFTWARE and accompanying materials provided that you retain no copies and the recipient agrees to the terms of this Agreement. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or create derivative works of the SOFTWARE.

LIMITED WARRANTY – Manufacturer warrants that the enclosed SOFTWARE will perform substantially in accordance with the accompanying written materials and that the supplied media will be free from defects for a period of 12 months from the date of purchase. The customer’s sole remedy is return of the price paid or repair or replacement of defective merchandise. This Limited Warranty is void if failure has resulted from accident, abuse, or misapplication.

NO LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES – in no event shall Convekta Ltd. or its suppliers be liable for any amount above the price paid, or for any damages whatsoever arising out of the use or inability to use this product.

2. Introduction

This program includes:

1. Program files:

1. Database management system Modern Chess Openings;

2. Playing engines Crafty and Dragon.

2. Data:

3. Theory and Practice database including commented games and fragments those illustrating typical features, methods and principles of play in the selected opening (in our case, the French defense and the Sicilian defense);

4. Sample Games database including full text of all the games used in this program product;

5. Database with Master Evaluations;

6. Chess Assistant Opening Encyclopaedia;

7. Direct Tree (abridged).

Modern Chess Openings is an abridged version of Chess Assistant, powerful chess database management system. This lets you perform different searches, add your own comments, print games, analyze with different playing engines, etc. The abridged version, however, has some restrictions, almost all of which are listed in Section 2.5 Quick Guide for Chess Assistant Users.

This manual is mainly intended to explain the unique features of Modern Chess Openings, which are not available in Chess Assistant, while the Chess Assistant’s modes are described rather briefly; some of them are not mentioned at all.

( Tip:

If you are interested in the features, which are not mentioned in the manual, you should use Chess Assistant instead of its abridged version (

This manual uses the following conventions:

Menu commands are written as follows: Base | Exit (the command Exit from the Base menu). Screen messages are written in Italics. Keys are shown as, for example, [Alt]. Clicking with the left button of the mouse is referred to as “clicking” and clicking with the right button of the mouse as “right-clicking”.

You can also use the help file at any time. Press [F1] to open the help file.

2.1 System requirements

To use Modern Chess Openings, you will need the following:

Essential: IBM-compatible PC with Pentium 100 CPU, 64 MB memory (RAM), Hard Disk (100 MB of free disk space for the program), VGA graphics, Windows 98/2000/NT/ME/XP, CD-ROM drive, Microsoft-compatible mouse.

Recommended: 1 GHz CPU, 256 MB or more RAM, 1 GB of free disk space, Windows 2000/NT/XP, Super VGA graphics with 16 bit colors and 1024x768 screen mode.

2.2 technical support

Convekta provides unlimited technical support. Technical support is available only to registered users, so mail or e-mail your registration card or information today. (Convekta technical support policies are subject to change without notice.)

Mail: Convekta Ltd., c/o IPS 666 Fifth Avenue

Suite 572 New York NY 10103 USA

E-mail: Sales@

Please refer to the documentation and on-line help system before contacting technical support. When you e-mail technical support, please provide the following information:

• Registered user’s name

• The wording of any messages that appear on your screen

• A list of what steps were taken leading up to the problem

Convekta technical support is available as follows: Support@

2.3 installation

Modern Chess Openings program files must be installed on hard disk. The program cannot be started from the CD. Follow this procedure to install Modern Chess Openings on a standalone computer:

• Close all other Windows applications.

• Insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive.

• The Setup program will start.

• Read the License Agreement.

• Type in your Name and Company (optionally).

• Select Installation Directory. Modern Chess Openings is installed in the ‘C:\Program files\Modern Chess Openings[OpeningName]’ directory by default. However, before the files are copied you have the option to change the path.

For your convenience, the setup program will offer you to create a desktop shortcut.

3. First steps

3.1 starting the program

Start Modern Chess Openings. The screen is divided into three parts: the object bar on the left, the browser in the center, and the Contents on the right.

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Contents is a detailed classifier window opened in the right pane, browser in the middle pane shows diagrams and/or comments to a current theme, and the object bar displays all the open objects, chess game bases, and windows. All open windows are displayed next to the corresponding bases so you can easily understand which base the window refers to. The program remembers all the windows open from the moment you exit and restores them when you start the program again.

There are three databases in the object bar, Theory and Practice, Games and Opening Encyclopedia. The Games database contains complete game scores of all the games from Chess Assistant’s HugeBase, in which positions from the Theory and Practice database occurred.

You can hide the object bar by clicking on the [pic] icon or pressing the [Ctrl] [C] key combination. To make the object bar visible once more, just click on this icon or press [Ctrl] [C] again.

Two main folders are given in the right pane, The Sicilian defense and The French defense. Expanding them produces similar content structure (the second level folders are listed below):

Code system – this folder may be viewed in the browser pane. It contains list of the symbols used for annotating games and their description;

Practice – this folder refers to a subset of annotated games that have emerged from a relevant opening (Sicilian or French defense). Here the most recent games of the top-players are included, those illustrating the trends in modern practice in connection with implementing the relevant opening;

Theory – this folder contains a subset of games annotated and commented by GM А.Kalinin. Here the particular traits of the relevant openings are highlighted, along with typical methods of play, typical mistakes and typical traps to avoid. This folder and the previous one contain several embedded folders corresponding to the particular lines in the considered opening;

Test – this subset of the games is used within the Test mode (see below).

We recommend you to start your work with viewing the games from the Theory database, those containing valuable verbal commentary. This will help you to get acquainted quickly with the main principles of play, typical methods and strategic devices of the opening in question.

On the toolbar, you can find the List and View buttons:

Clicking on the List button activates the List mode and displays a list of games corresponding to the currently selected folder. This operation is equivalent to double-clicking the highlighted item in the classifier’s window. Clicking the View button activated the View mode and displays the notation of the first game in a subset corresponding to the currently selected folder in the classifier window.

3.2 browsER PANE

Each line of the Contents corresponds to an opening theme, and some themes are marked with a “+” which denotes second level branches. In other words, the Contents is built like a tree. The first level branches present different opening themes, the second level branches stand for sub-themes, etc. When you unfold a branch, the “+” is replaced by a “–”.

Each branch can be folded and unfolded by double-clicking on it, clicking on the “+” or “–” signs, or by using the left and right arrow keys. You can move along the Contents with the [(] and [(] arrow keys or with the mouse. The diagrammed positions correspond to the highlighted opening theme.

The lowest level branches, which cannot be unfolded, have neither “+” nor “–“ next to the folder icon. Double-clicking on such a branch opens a new window with a list of examples of the opening theme in question, and its icon will appear on the object bar. The same result is achieved by clicking on the List button on the toolbar, or by pressing [F5]. (List mode is described in Section 3.3.) You can also open the list below the Contents. To do this, press the [Spacebar]; and the list will appear in the lower pane. To close it, press the [Spacebar] again.

The # Games field displays the number of included examples as N1/ or N1(N2), with N1 standing for the total number of examples, including nested folders; N2 for the number of examples in the lowest level branches.

The browser pane in the middle part of this window displays diagrams and/or commentary for the current theme (highlighted in the Contents). By moving the right border of the browser pane to the right or to the left you can increase or decrease the size of diagram.

The buttons below the chessboard allow replaying a game. They are shown below:

Double-clicking on the chessboard opens the Position operations dialog box (Chess Assistant 7.1 manual on operations with positions).

Right-clicking on the chessboard gives you access to the local menu, in which you can increase or decrease the chessboard and the size of the control buttons, as well as execute other commands:

Here all of the specific operations with the chessboard are enlisted. Note that selecting the Define position… item, or pressing the [Ctrl]+[B] shortcut, will display the Position operations dialog box from the previous picture.

( Tip:

Right-clicking on an object produces menu – a list of operations specific to this object. This is known as the local menu. Most commands are available from the local menus. (Later, as a rule, we will not remind you about this).

If you mark the Test mode check box with a tick, the program will hide evaluations, offering you to guess them (see Section 3.6. Testing Yourself on the Browser Pane for details).

3.3 List mode

You can open a list of the current set of games in several different ways described in the previous section. You can also do this with the Dataset | List command from the main menu or by selecting the Open list command in the local menu.

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The lines in this list are the game headers, and the current game is highlighted with a blue frame. Use the arrow keys, the green arrows on the toolbar, or the mouse to move along the list. You can also jump to the desired game by entering its number on the keyboard.

There are small letters at times next to the numbers.

a stands for games supplied with at least one annotation or diagram;

v stands for games with at least one variation;

c stands for commented games with both text annotations and variations;

p stands for games starting from a specific position.

Modify the list window to suit your taste. For example, clicking on the divider and moving it in the title bar will change the width of any column. Furthermore, the number and order of columns may also be changed. Right-click on it, select This window’s properties, and the Properties window will appear.

When you open a new list, its appearance will depend on the options set in the Tools | Options | List window. To copy the options you have set for the active window to other lists, press the Copy to global options button.

Split mode

You can move along the list and at the same time replay games and annotations on the chessboard. To do this, select the Split command in the local menu or press the [Shift] [F5] key combination. This will divide the list window into two parts. Use the [Tab] key to switch between the top and bottom parts of the screen.

3.4 view mode

To access a single game, use the View mode. There are two ways of switching from the list to the View mode:

1. Click on the [pic] icon or press the [F4] key. Click on it or press [F4] again if you wish to return to the list.

2. Open a new window for the View mode. These are four ways to accomplish this: by selecting the Dataset | View command in the main menu; clicking on the [pic] icon; double-clicking on the needed game in the list or pressing [Enter] key.

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The View mode presents a chessboard, game header, the notation, a fragment of Tree, and the Game progress diagram. (You can modify the window just as in List mode: selecting This window’s properties in the local menu.)

The program’s toolbar also changes in the View mode. Here you can find following buttons:

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Report – pressing this button enables the Report feature, activating a cross-reference from the currently viewed game to the Opening Encyclopedia database (if available);

ECO – represents the currently viewed game in form of the ECO table (if possible);

Test – pressing this button activates the Test mode;

Demo – pressing this button activates Demonstration mode.

To replay moves and annotations, use the arrow keys or two button bars below the chessboard. The buttons are similar to videocassette recorder controls.

In the upper row (from left to right): In the lower row (from left to right):

[pic] Jumps to the starting position [pic] Jumps into the variation

[pic] Steps back one ply [pic] Goes to the upper level

[pic] Deletes the last ply [pic] Goes to the next variation

[pic] Steps forward one ply

[pic] Jumps to the end position

To go to the next game, press [F8] or click on the [pic] icon on the toolbar. To return to the previous game, press [F7] or click on the [pic] icon.

( Tip:

When you’re viewing games, hide the object bar by clicking on the [pic] icon or pressing [Ctrl] [C], as this will give you a larger board and a larger notation window as well. To make the object bar visible once more, just click on this icon or press [Ctrl] [C] again.

3.5 TEST MODE

When viewing notation of the game, Test mode is available. Press Test button on the toolbar; this will hide the remaining part of notation.

Another way to activate this mode is selecting the Test mode item in the notation local menu (or press the [Ctrl] [Enter] key combination). Before you start testing, you must adjust the parameters of this mode in the Test mode dialog box.

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This feature allows setting up and modifying the parameters of the tests to be automatically presented as you go from game to game in a database. There are a large number of criteria that can be selected for determining which moves constitute a solution to a test. This timesaving approach means that the user does not have to construct each test by hand.

In the Test conditions section of this dialog you can select which “good” and/or “bad” moves will constitute a solution. You will have to make the moves that match the criteria selected in the Prefer move section, and not to make the moves that match the criteria selected in the Avoid move section. The two lower check boxes offer you the most often used cases (!!, !, !?, ¹ and ??, ?, ?! correspondingly).

If you wish to find evaluations, annotations, or particular combinations of marks, press the Advanced button.

The Use regular expressions check box lets advanced users set more complicated criteria.

The Side for test mode pane allows choosing the side (or a group of players) you will “play”. The upper button turns the Test mode Off.

The Show hint pane defines a way in which the program will give you various hints. If you start with a wrong move, the program displays all comments to the quiz move. If your second suggestion is wrong, it shows a piece that is to move.

The time given for one task is set on the Timer pane.

The Maximum variant depth box enables you to define, whether the test will include the variations to the game, or not. The default value given is 1, which means that only the moves from the game’s main text and from the embedded lines of the 1st level shall be taken into account for the test. Setting this value to 1 includes the variation of 1st level, 2 – includes the sub-variation of the 2nd level, etc.

If you have chosen Any color in the Side for test mode section, all moves become invisible. Try to guess the moves by yourself, making them with the mouse. If you have guessed right, the program makes this move on the board; otherwise it opens the New move message window, offering you to select one of the three options: Keep on guessing, Make the game move, or Insert suggestion as a variation.

There is also another possibility to set the tests parameters. Select the main menu item Tools | Options and open the Test mode tab in the Options dialog box. Here you can set the following parameters. The radio buttons group On | Off | If game is marked with Test class enables you to define, what database you shall use in Test mode: On – all the games in all databases supplied with the program are opened in Test mode; Off – all the games in all the databases are opened in View mode; If game is marked with Test class – default option that opens in View mode games from all the databases except the Test database. Games in the Test database are marked with Test class.

Setting the mark in Move to next Test automatically does just what the label suggests – that is, after completing one task, another one is displayed automatically. And finally, you can regulate the speed of autoplay in Test mode by pulling the slider bar.

After you have set all the parameters of the test and pressed OK button, the test starts. The program displays several moves from the game automatically, then stops and hides the remaining part of notation.

The test procedure itself assumes entering the moves on the chessboard. A correct continuation entered discloses the remaining part of notation up to the next test in the selected game (if any), while a wrong continuation produces the following message window below the chessboard:

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As we can see, the user is prompted here to enter another move, and some additional information is given, which may facilitate finding the solution: the piece to move and evaluation of the correct move. Side to move is marked by a colored triangle in the upper right part of this window (Black in the given case). This message will reappear after each unsuccessful try until you find the solution, which displays the hidden part of notation. There can be several tests in one selected game. You can switch off the hint information in the Test mode dialog box.

Quite a different situation arises when you have set the Maximum variant depth parameter other than 0, and entered a move from an embedded variation. In this case program replays this variation automatically and displays the following message

Pressing the Further button causes the program ro exit the variation returning to the main line and to continue in Test mode until the next text occurs within the same game.

By pressing the Stop button, you quit the Test mode. To resume testing you must click the Test button on the toolbar again.

After you have completed with a single game, the program issues Task Solved message:

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By pressing the Stop button you quit the Test mode. Pressing another button, Further, allows continuing tests with a new task.

There is Test set presented in classifier, which is designed for using in Test mode. When you complete the last task, the program informs you with the following message

Here pressing the Stop button quits the Test mode.

You may also try the Test mode on any other database supplied with this program. However, the games in the Test database have special test markers that enables program to run the tests automatically for your convenience.

To quit the Test mode at any other moment, press Test button on the toolbar again. Note that selecting the Test mode item in the notation local menu (or pressing [Ctrl]+[Enter] key shortcut) does not leave the Test mode but displays the Test mode dialog box instead.

3.6 DEMONSTRATION mode

The Demonstration mode, or simply Demo mode resembles the Test mode with only one slight difference. Open a game from the List and press Demo button on the toolbar. This operation hides the part of notation immediately after the cursor (similarly to the Test mode). Thus the user is prompted to enter a move on the chessboard.

However, in contrast to the Test mode, entering a wrong move – the one that did not happened either in the game, or in some variation to this game – calls the New move dialog box.

Here you can select one of the three proposed actions: Keep on guessing, Make the game move and Insert suggestion as a variation. We recommend you to select Keep on guessing for a while.

For example, if you try to make the Bb1-e2 move from the position after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Qb6 5. Nf3 Bd7, then the program will respond with the New move dialog box, though the move suggested is not a mistake, being quite a possible (perhaps, not the best) continuation.

[pic]

Note one more time that this is not the Test mode; it was just so that your suggestion did not coincide with the text of the game in question.

While remaining in the Demo mode, you can make several suggestions. When your suggestion coincides with the text move (the move that has actually been made in the game), the program discloses you not the remaining part of notation (like it did in the Test mode) but only the move made. In our case, 6.a3 is a ‘correct’ move for White.

Now you have to enter the next move of another side, i.e. Black’s move 6.

While remaining in Demo mode, you can move backwards in the game’s notation by clicking in the selected move. This immediately hides the remaining moves, and you can start it all over again. This feature makes the Demo mode especially useful for memorizing a single game.

Similarly to the Test mode, you can navigate in the list of a subset of games selected for the Demo mode by pressing [F7] and [F8] keys, or by pressing [pic] and [pic] buttons on the toolbar. Anytime you can leave the Demo mode either by un-pressing the Demo button, or by selecting the Demonstration mode item in the notation’s local menu.

The Demo mode may be used for memorizing particular variations and sub-variations. Possible scenario for this technique may go as follows:

1) select some particular variation you want to study in the classifier window;

2) double-clicking this item will open the list of games, it is a subset of games that corresponds to the selected variation;

3) select the first game in the list and double click it, which will activate the View mode with the game’s notation in the right pane;

4) the cursor is blinking in the location within the text of the game that corresponds to selected variation. It is the last position common to the given subset of games, starting from it, each game within the given subset proceeds in its own way. You may briefly look through the entire given subset of games to create your own impression about how play must go in this variation;

5) select the first game in the list again and press the Demo button. This activates the Demo mode, and you can start guessing your moves. Proceed with guessing until you correctly reproduce the entire game; remember, that anytime you can go back in the notation by clicking the mouse;

6) when you’re done with the first game, press [F8] key or the button with the green triangle in the toolbar, while remaining in the Demo mode. The next game of the given subset will be displayed. Repeat the steps 4-6 for each game in the given subset.

7) You have completed working with the selected subset of games in the Demo mode. Now you are pretty well prepared for playing this variation.

3.7 Report mode

Pressing Report button activates the Report mode. The program displays another window with the chessboard and notation in the leftmost pane, over the object pane. There is a button in the bottom of this window, which allows switching between the explorer and the report views.

[pic]

Essentially, the Report mode creates an immediate cross-reference to the content of Opening Encyclopedia database, reflecting the current state of the modern chess theory in connection with the opening variation in question, which occurred in the viewed game (the right pane of the window).

The set of controls on the toolbar also changes – the new button Follow is added.

Pressing the Follow button synchronizes the content in the left pane and in the right one. The case is that Opening Encyclopedia database represents a restricted aspect of the opening, including only theoretically approved lines. Therefore, it may happen so that theoretical lines and variations from the Opening Encyclopedia do not coincide with the contents of a currently viewed game. You may acknowledge this by yourself by moving forward and backward in notation of the selected game by pressing the arrow keys (with the Follow button pressed). The contents of the leftmost pane will change accordingly.

Click mouse within the Report pane. The set of controls on the toolbar changes again.

Pressing Undock button does just the same, what its name suggests – the report pane disappears, being replaced by the opening report window, which can easily be found in the windows list (the main menu, Window item).

Close button closes the Report pane.

Add button allows embedding variations from the Report pane into the currently viewed game in the right pane. This procedure changes the content of the game, and after closing its window you will be asked whether to save changes in the game.

3.8 VIEWING GAME AS ECO TABLE

This mode is essentially the same as the one in a full version of Chess Assistant, except that you cannot create an ECO table for a set of games. The ECO Table mode is activated either by clicking the ECO button, or by selecting the topmost item in the local menu of notation, View as ECO table:

[pic]

The ECO Table mode is especiallu useful when you are viewing the game with a large number of variations and sub-variations. For your convenience, we recommend to turn off the object pane by pressing [Ctrl] + [C] keys and expand the table window by dragging ith mouse its borders. Columns in the table represent the moves’ numbers. The last column in the table is reserved for the evaluation of entire variation. Rows are united in groups of two separate rows, the upper row for White’s moves and the lower one for Black’s moves. You can easily navigate in the ECO table by clicking mouse or by pressing the arrow keys. The arrow right key moves you to the next ply and the arrow left key moves you to the previous ply. The arrow down key moves to the next embedded variation (if any variations present) and the arrow up key moves you to the next variation of the upper level (or to the main line). Each transposition within the ECO table is accompanied by changes in position on the chessboard.

You can also print the currently viewed game as an ECO table (Print | Print item in the main menu) or export it (Print | Export).

To quit the ECO Table mode, click on the ECO button or select the View as commented game item in table’s local menu.

4. Search

There are six types of search in Modern Chess Openings: Header, Position, Material, Advanced, For Comments and For Maneuvers; all these types may be combined.

4.1 Header search

This type of search is based on “header” information, such as the players’ names, result, year, place, etc.

Select Search | Header in the main menu. (You can also click on the small down arrow next to the [pic] icon on the toolbar and select Header search in the drop-down list). The Search dialog box appears, with the header fields listed on the left.

White: The player (players) with the white pieces.

Black: The player (players) with the black pieces.

Result: The possible values are: 1:0, 0:1, 1/2:1/2, or an evaluation; ? stands for an unknown result.

ECO: Opening index according to the Chess Informant classification. Select the way of setting it in the Enter new value text box.

Site: The city where a tournament took place.

Date: The year and month (optionally) when a tournament was held. This criterion can be set as a single year, a range of years, a single date or a range of dates.

Event: The type of competition (match, interzonal, championship etc.).

Round: The number of the round.

Annotator: The author of game’s annotations.

Remark: There are three ways to set this criterion: a whole remark (Exact), a part of a remark (Substring) or its beginning (Prefix). Select the setting in the Type text box and type the criterion on the keyboard in the Value/Pattern window.

Source: The source of the game record.

White ELO/Black ELO: Ratings of players.

Moves: Number of moves in the game.

Possible values for the White, Black, Site, Event, Annotator and Source fields are stored in the library. You can type them in the Find text box.

Setting criteria for the values stored in the library

Games are stored as game headers, consisting of several fields, and notations. The names of players are stored in a special file called library. Besides the players’ names, the library stores possible values for some other header fields (Site, Event, Annotator and Source). This concept of libraries greatly increases the search speed and allows one to avoid mistakes in names with difficult spellings.

If you don’t remember an exact spelling, press the Mark button, enter a fragment of the name in the Value/Pattern text box, and select Substring in the Type window. If you are sure that the entered fragment is the name’s beginning then set the Prefix type. If you have entered the complete name, select Exact, and then press the Search button (This button refers to the search through the library list, so don’t confuse it with the search in a set of games!).

The elements found will be marked in the list. To see them all, select Show marked. Press this button (which is now called Show all) to return to the library list.

To delete all the entered criteria, press the Clear markers button.

To remove a criterion, press Unmark. A dialog box similar to the one produced by the Mark button will appear. Enter the criterion (or its fragment) that is to be removed, press Search, and the chosen elements of the library list be unmarked.

Searching: through an entire database or a set of games?

The Search dialog box gives you the choice of either searching through an entire database or through the current dataset. Choose between Set and Whole base in the Search in section.

To select an entire database to be used as the dataset in this operation, select Dataset | Reset or press [F6]. The old set will be erased and a base list will appear in the window. Before you start searching make sure the current set is the right one.

4.2 Position search

The positional search function looks for a specific position, a partial position, or a structure.

Select the Search | Position command in the main menu. (You can also click on the small down arrow next to the [pic] icon on the toolbar and select Position search in the drop-down list). In the Search dialog box there is a chessboard with the starting position where you can set up the position you want to search for.

Partially defined positions

You can search for a fragment of position or for a pawn structure. To set a partial position, use the piece palette just below the chessboard.

Clear the board with the [Ctrl] [C] key combination. Take the pieces from the palette and set up a position on the chessboard. To set a piece on the board, first click on the piece icon on the palette. The mouse pointer will turn into the piece icon. Now click on the square (or squares) on the board where you want to put the piece, and return to the palette and repeat this procedure with the other pieces until the position desired is set up. When this is done click on the arrow on the palette.

Besides the chess pieces, there are some other symbols on the palette. You can put them on the board too. Their meaning is as follows:

[pic] Any white piece

[pic] Any black piece

[pic] Any piece of any color or an empty square

[pic] Empty square

[pic] Sign of negation

Negation of a piece means that this piece cannot stand on this square.

Negation of an empty square means that any piece may stand on this square but it can’t be empty.

Negation of the white question mark means any black piece or an empty square.

Negation of the black question mark means any white piece or an empty square.

Negation of the doubled question mark stands for negation of pawns of any color.

You can search for several pieces on the same square. To do this, put the first piece on the desired square. Then choose another piece from the palette, press the [Ctrl] key and while maintaining it pressed drop it on the same square. Any number of pieces may be put on one square though only three of them will be displayed. To see them all, click on the arrow on the palette and then on the square.

( Tip:

You can perform every type of search (except the header search) in both bases simultaneously. While in the Search dialog box, click on the small button with 3 dots above the Help button. The Select bases to search in window will appear. Select the bases you want to search through and perform the search. The results will be given for each base in separate windows.

Search for horizontally and/or vertically symmetrical positions

To search for horizontally symmetrical positions, while in the Search dialog box, set Ignore colors to On and Side to move: either.

To search for vertically symmetrical positions, enable the Mirror flanks option.

These types of search are very useful in the opening, especially in conjunction with each other – an instructive example is given in Section 4.7 Combining Searches.

4.3 Material search

The material search function looks for games within certain material restrictions.

Select Search | Material, and set the limits for Black and White in the corresponding boxes. The lines with the large black and white question marks are to set ranges for the total number of Black’s and White’s pieces. When the options have all been set, press Search to start searching.

Search for positions with a certain material advantage

This type of search allows you to find games in which one of the opponents had an extra pawn (piece, exchange, etc.). While in the Search | Position and material window, set the difference in number of pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, and queens in the Imbalance box on the right. The line with the large white question mark instead of a piece is to set a range for the total amount of White’s extra material on the board. It is calculated on the assumption that the value of the pieces is as follows:

Queen = 9 points Knight = 3 points

Rook = 5 points Pawn = 1 point

Bishop = 3 points

You can also set the limits for Total number of pieces and indicate for how long this material imbalance continued in the Imbalance time (moves) box. If the Imbalance time is indicated as 0 then the material imbalance set above may last for any number of moves.

Search for bishops of opposite colors

Bishops of opposite colors can be specified in the Search dialog window, which appears after calling the Search | Material command in the main menu. Select Of opposite colors in the Bishops drop-down list, and the number of bishops will automatically be set to 1 for both Black and White.

4.4 Advanced search

The Advanced search is a material search in which the material restrictions are set independently for several different groups of squares. Call the Search | Advanced command in the main menu.

There are 14 markers of different colors. The current color is indicated below the chessboard. To define the first area, click on all the squares you want to include, then set the material restrictions for the selected area as described above. With the help of the local menu you can Shift markers: Left, Right, Up, or Down.

To set the material restrictions for another group of squares, click on the Blue marker tab. Likewise define another area and set the corresponding material restrictions. An example of this kind of search is given in Section 4.7 Combining Searches.

( Tip:

Position, Material and Advanced searches can also be performed in variations by enabling Search in variations in the Search dialog box.

4.5 SEARCH FOR MANEUVERS

Using this tool, you can search for common piece maneuvers.

Select Search | Maneuvers in the main menu, and the Search dialog box will appear, with the Maneuvers pane on the right. Search for maneuvers irrespective of a position on the board is hardly useful; it makes more sense to combine the maneuver and positional searches.

Set up a desired partial position, using the piece palette below the chessboard (as described in Section 4.2 Position Search). When this is done click on the arrow on the palette. Then drag the desired piece from a source square to a destination square. Repeating this action with other pieces, you can search for a sequence of moves.

4.6 Search for comments

You can search for commented games by selecting the Search | Comments command in the main menu, and then specifying the type of comments in the Search dialog box.

You can search for any textual fragments of game annotations (naturally, as with all other searches, in both bases simultaneously). To do this, select the Search | Comments command in the main menu, enable the Annotation criteria option in the Search dialog, click on the Set annotations button, and then specify the desired text annotations in the Set search parameters window.

You can even search for several textual fragments at once: just type them in different lines of the Set search parameters window. In this case the program will search for any of them, thus the resulting list will include all the games with annotations containing at least one of the fragments you have searched for.

4.7 combining searches

You can combine different types of search. Select them in the Criteria included section of the Search dialog box, and then set the criteria for each one. Let’s find, for example, all the rook + bishop endings with 4 pawns vs. 3 pawns, in which both players had three pawns on one wing and the strongest side had a passed lateral pawn on the other wing (the bishops are of opposite colors).

1. Call Search | Position. Fill the chessboard with doubled question marks (press [Ctrl] [Q]) and enable Ignore colors and Mirror flanks.

2. Click on the small button with 3 dots above the Help button. The Select bases to search in window will appear. Mark both bases, Averbakh and Examples, with a tick.

3. Mark the Material check box in the Criteria included section with a tick and set the material restrictions. There mustn’t be any queens or knights on the board, and both Black and White have one rook and one bishop each. Select Of opposite colors in the Bishops drop-down list. Set 4 pawns for White and 3 for Black, then set Ignore colors to On and Side to move: Either.

4. Mark the Advanced check box in the Criteria included section with a tick. Fill the chessboard with doubled question marks.

5. Click on all the squares inside the f7-h7-h2-f2 (right) rectangle. In both White and Black sections enter 3 on both the left and right of the pawn icon.

6. Press the Blue marker tab and click on all the squares (left) from a2 to a7 as in the diagram below. In the White section enter 1 on both the left and right of the pawn icon.

The screen should appear as follows:

[pic]

7. Press the Search button. A list with the only found game will appear (Browne – D.Gurevich, USA 1984).

In this example we combined several types of search (Position + Material + Advanced + For bishops of opposite colors + For horizontally and vertically symmetrical positions).

5. Commenting

To comment a game in View mode, just click on the Comments tab in the left part of the toolbar and the Comments toolbar will appear.

5.1 Annotating moves

To annotate a move, click on the [pic] icon. A small drop-down menu will appear. Select Annotate move and you will get the Annotations editor dialog box.

[pic]

The Informant-style symbols may be used in short comments. Highlight Short Before if you wish to insert a symbol before the current move or Short After to insert one after, then click on the appropriate symbol. You can also press the Evaluation tab and select the desired evaluation.

You may also insert any text in the notation. To do this, click on Long Before or Long After and type the text commentary in the text window. Use the Introduction and Afterword tabs to insert annotations before the first and after the last move of the game.

To delete annotations, click on the [pic] icon and select Delete annotations in the small drop-down menu. Press the [Delete] key if you wish to delete the current commentary directly in the notation.

To insert a diagram, click on the [pic] icon, and to delete a diagram, click on it again.

5.2 ADDING VARIATIONS

To comment a move with a variation, place the cursor before the move in the notation window and just play out the variation on the chessboard.

Entering moves

All moves are entered with the mouse. In order to make a move, move the cursor to a piece, press and hold down the mouse button, drag the cursor to the destination square, and then release the mouse button.

Commenting the last move in the game

If you place the cursor after the last move and enter a new one, it will be added to the main body of the game. To avoid this, press [Ctrl] and only then enter your variations to the last move.

Replacing the entered move

Press the [Ctrl] key while entering a new variation. The Changing move dialog box will appear. Existing variations are displayed on the left. Use the buttons on the right to control them.

The New variation button inserts the entered move as a new variation. If you select Insert and check moves, the new move will replace the old one, with all the next moves being checked and the illegal ones being deleted. The Replace button will overwrite the old move with the new one and delete all the following moves.

Changing the order of variations

Clicking on the [pic] icon will bring up the Variations control dialog box. To change the order of variations in the window, drag and drop them or click on the up and down arrows.

Deleting a fragment of notation

Pressing the [Backspace] key deletes the last entered move. If you wish to delete all moves from the current one until the game end, press the [Shift] [Ctrl] [Backspace] key combination. Clicking on the [pic] icon will bring up the Deleting moves dialog box. Select the desired options according to what you want to delete and press OK.

Painting on the chessboard

Clicking on the [pic] icon will produce the Color markers setup dialog box, with the current position on the left and the color markers on the right. This window contains five tabs: Markers, Lines, Blocks, Chars and Text that allow to place various color objects on the chessboard.

5.3 Working with the clipboard

You can use the standard Windows clipboard which allows one to copy games and analysis from the Internet and other sources, and to paste them to the Averbakh or Examples database. With its help you can also export data from Modern Chess Openings to other programs, and last but not least, it lets you share data inside Modern Chess Openings.

The PGN and EPD formats are the de facto standard for sharing information between different chess programs. They are also the standard formats for posting games and analysis on the Internet. The *.pgn and *.epd files are text files which can be edited manually with a text processor. They can also be produced by chess programs, which support these formats.

PGN stands for “portable game notation”, and is intended for exchanging game scores and analysis. EPD stands for “extended position description” and is intended for exchanging board positions.

To export a game from Modern Chess Openings to the PGN format:

1) Open the View window with this game.

2) To copy the game to the clipboard, press [Ctrl] [Ins].

3) Switch to the program this game is to be exported to (This can be any text processor or a chess program supporting both the PGN format and Windows clipboard).

4) To paste the game, press [Shift] [Ins].

There is also another method. While in the View window, place the cursor at the desired position. If you now press [Ctrl] [>], the program will copy the moves from the selected position until the game’s end, in PGN format, to the Windows clipboard. If you press [Ctrl] [ buttons. You can also type the page number in the left box and press [Enter]. The > buttons jump to the first and last pages correspondingly. To close the Print Preview window, press Close or hit [Escape].

Exporting

The Print | Export | Rich Text Format menu command converts a current set of games or content of the opened window into the RTF format, which is widely used in desktop publishing. Selecting this command will bring up the Save as window in which you can set the exported file name.

To adjust the layout of the RTF documents, select Print | Print options in the main menu and then click on the RTF setup tab.

10. Miscellaneous OPTIONS

Select Tools | Options in the main menu or press [Alt] [F9], and the Options window will appear. It has nine tabs that allow you to adjust the appearance of different windows in different modes. For example, to choose fonts and colors for the chessboard, notation, list etc., click on the Fonts and colors tab.

The objects that can be modified are displayed in the Element section. Clicking on a plus sign next to a folder icon brings up a list of the enclosed elements. Select the element you wish to adjust and set the Font, Color and Align. If an option is dimmed then the default settings are used. See the results of the changes in the Preview section.

Dear customer,

Thank you for using this product.

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