W A X M A N version 1.2w Copyright (C) 1992 Check-Tech Software, Inc. Box 802411 Chicago, IL 60680 RUNNING THE PROGRAM. You need WINDOWS 3.0 or later to run WAXMAN. To start the program, double-click on its icon. To stop, choose EXIT from the GAME menu. Once running, WAXMAN is controlled by commands arranged in a series of menus: ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ Game ³ Edit ³ Level ³ Options ³ Play ³ ÀÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÃÄNew ÃÄEdit Board ÃÄTime ÃÄAnalysis ÃÄPlay! ÃÄSave ÀÄClear Board ÀÄMoves ÃÄFlip Board ÀÄTake Back ÃÄLoad ÀÄSound ÃÄExit ÀÄAbout.. NEW GAME. When you start WAXMAN, it is ready for a new game. When a game is in progress, you can start a new game by selecting NEW GAME from the GAME menu. PLAY. At the start of a new game, WAXMAN is in its 'referee mode'. This means that it only keeps track of whose move it is, makes sure all entered moves are legal, announces check, checkmate or stalemate, but otherwise stays out of the way. This can be useful if you want to practice a particular opening line or to play over an entire game from a newspaper or chess magazine. WAXMAN remains passive until invited to play. To do that, choose PLAY! from the PLAY menu. WAXMAN will start playing the side whose move it is at the time. For example, if you want to play White against WAXMAN as Black, make the first move and then select PLAY!; if you want to play Black, select PLAY! immediately at the start of the game. To switch sides, select PLAY! again after WAXMAN made its move. To enter a move, click the mouse on the piece you want to move. Then move the mouse to the destination square and click again. To castle, just enter the king move; the rook will be moved automatically. To capture en passant, enter the pawn move and the 'victim' will disappear. When a pawn reaches the eighth rank, a dialog box will prompt you to select the piece to which the pawn should be promoted. To take back a move, select TAKE BACK from the PLAY menu. Note that this puts WAXMAN back in its referee mode to allow you to undo and re-enter multiple moves. To resume playing, select PLAY! again. PLAYING LEVEL. The level, or strength, of WAXMAN's play is controlled by the time limit - the amount of time in which it must complete a given number of moves. The more time, the stronger its play. The possible settings are anywhere between one minute for all moves (fastest, weakest play) and five hours for every single move (slowest, strongest). The default is ten minutes per game - fairly strong play on a fast machine. Keep in mind that WAXMAN is not idle even when it is waiting for your move, and if you think long and hard, so does it. MATE PUZZLES AND OTHER CHESS PROBLEMS. To set up a position, select EDIT BOARD or CLEAR BOARD from the EDIT menu. A checkmark will appear next to the EDIT BOARD entry to indicate that the program is in edit mode, and all other menu items will be disabled (grayed). To put a piece on a square, click the mouse on that square repeatedly until the desired piece appears (the clicks cycle through all piece types); then click somewhere else and the piece will 'register'. Once all the pieces are in place, click on the EDIT BOARD menu item again to remove the checkmark. The rest of the menu items will be re-enabled and you can start playing. Note that it is ALWAYS WHITE'S MOVE from the initial position. If this is not what you want (a Black-to-move problem), set up the position with one White piece on the wrong square and then make the first move, moving the piece to its proper square.