EG Chess

Rules & Pieces

Menus & Control

Network Play

Frequently Asked Questions

Customizing

Brought to you by Earth Gaming which is comprised of:

Kris Arndt	karn@nucleus.com

Renota Schöepp	renota@nucleus.com

Web	: http://www.nucleus.com/~npl/

Mirror	: http://members.xoom.com/earthgaming/

Email	: npl@nucleus.com

ICQ	: 16376770

Copyright © Earth Gaming 1999


Rules & Pieces

Goal

The objective of chess is to capture your opponent’s King with one of your pieces.  Refer to check and checkmate for more specific details.

A stalemate occurs when your King is not in check but you can not make any legal moves

Tip: Chess is a strategy game where good players tend to think several moves ahead of what is actually happening on the board.

Setup

All of your pieces are lined up in front of you on your side of the board.

White always moves first. This leads to all chess diagrams which are shown from White's perspective.

Piece Movement

Only one piece can be moved in one turn.

All pieces must have a clear, visible path to their destination. Only the knight can jump over

other pieces.

Also, a piece can only be moved into an empty square or a square occupied by your opponent.  If you move into a square occupied by your opponent it means you have captured his piece, and his piece is removed from the board and replaced with your own.

The pieces are, in order from the most powerful to the least:

The King

The King is the most important, although not the most powerful piece. He can only move  one square in any direction (except when castling).  Should your opponent capture or trap your King you have lost the game.

The King can not move into check; that is, it can not move onto a square that is attacked by one of your opponent's pieces.

The Queen

She is the most powerful piece.  She can move in a straight line in any direction (provided that her path is not blocked).

The Rook

The Rook can move in a straight line either horizontally or vertically (provided it's path is not blocked).

The Knight

The Knight is special for several reasons. One, it move in an "L" shaped pattern - 2 up & 1

over, 2 over & 1 up, etc. Two, it does not actually traverse the entire "L" shape, but jumps

from it's current square to it's destination square without touching any of the squares in between.  This means that it can "jump" over other pieces along that "L". Three, it can only jump to a square that is opposite in colour of the square it is jumping from.

The Bishop

The Bishop can move any number of squares diagonally in one direction (provided it's path is not blocked).  One important note is that the Bishop can only land on the same colour of square that it began on.  For example, if the Bishop started it's turn on a black square it must end it's move on a black square.  Because of this restriction you have one Bishop starting on a white square ("white-square" Bishop) and one Bishop starting on a dark square ("dark-square" Bishop).

The Pawn

A Pawn can only be moved forwards and can only capture an opponent's piece diagonally.

When you first move a Pawn you have the option of moving it forward 1 or 2 squares, but  after that you can only move it forward one square at a time.

When capturing an opponent's piece you can only capture a piece that is diagonally ahead of you by one square.  En Passant, however, twist this under special circumstances.

If a pawn makes it to your opponent's side of the board he is "promoted" in rank to that of

another piece - Queen , Rook , Bishop , or Knight .  Usually you would make him a Queen

since she is the most powerful piece.

Special Moves

Castling

You may only Castle once during a game, and only under specific conditions.  Castling allows you to move your King and Rook in one move - there by protecting your King and moving your Rook into a more active and defensive or offensive position.

Castling can only be performed when neither your King nor your Rook have been moved

previously in the game, and as long as the squares between the King and participating Rook are empty of all pieces.  You can not, however, Castle when the King will move out of check, into check, or through a check.

To perform this move you:

1)	Move your King 2 squares to the left or right.

(king side)	(queen side)
2)	The Rook then moves (in a straight line left or right) to the square beside the king that is the closest to the inside, or middle of the board.

Queen side Castling (Queen side Castling short) is when you move the king to the queen's side of the board and then proceed to use the rook on the queen's side of the board.

King side Castling (Queen side Castling long) is when you move the king closer to the edge on his side of the board and then use the rook on the king's side of the board.

En Passant (in passing)

En Passant prevents the scenario where you move your Pawn up to be ready to kill your

opponents previously unmoved Pawn and your opponent uses his 2-square forward move to

bypass you.

En Passant allows you to kill his Pawn while it is passing by your killing-square to his second safe square. It works like this:

1)	You move your Pawn forward so that you are ready to kill his previously unmoved Pawn should it move forward one square.

2)	Your opponent decides to exercise his option of moving forward 2 squares.

3)	You move your piece forward diagonally behind his piece & voila, his piece is dead.

You must perform En Passant in the turn immediately after your opponent moves forward 2

squares or you will forfeit your chance at killing his Pawn, and his Pawn will remain alive.

Check and Checkmate

In chess you do not actually capture and kill or remove the King from the board like you do for other pieces, all you have to do is checkmate him. This happens in three stages.

1)	First you put your opponent's king in threat of being attacked by one of your pieces (that is, if you move your piece again you could kill his King). At this point he is checked.

2)	Your opponent then has one opportunity, or turn, to remove his King from danger. He can:

a)	Capture the attacking piece.

b)	Place one of his own pieces between the attacker and his King (thus preventing the move because most pieces can not jump over another piece).  This will not work for the Knight since the it can jump other pieces.

c)	Move his King out of range of the attack.

3)	If your opponent can not remove his King from danger your opponent is checkmated; that is, it is your turn again and if you move your piece you kill his King.

There are a few rules that govern checking and checkmating:

1)	When moving your king you can not move into check.  That is, you can not move your king into a square where he can then be put into check by your opponent.

2)	You can not use Castling to move yourself out of a position when you are in check.  For that matter, you can not use Castling should your King pass over any square where he would be in check.

Stalemate

Stalemate (draw) occurs when your King is not in check but you can not make any other legal moves.

Chess Notation

Chess has a standard method of recording all the moves in a game.

The chessboard is always documented from White's position. The rows are ranks, and the

columns are files.

Each piece is designated by a letter King = K, Queen = Q, Rook = R, Bishop  = B, and Knight = N.  Pawns don't have a letter.

The first move is the White's move (of course) and since the game is turn-based (that is, each

player makes only one move) the colours of the pieces are not recorded.  They will always be white, black, white, black, etc.  All pieces also start on the same locations for each  game so only the moves made by each player when his turn begins is recorded.

x is used to indicate a capture.  Usually we only record who moved, onto what square he

moved, and the fact that the piece that was on this square was captured.  We don't need to

record what that piece was because it is recorded in a previous move.  However, if it was a

pawn that captured another piece then we record what file the pawn came from (since there are so many on the board).

The other symbols, usually placed after the move, are:

+	Check
++ or #	Checkmate
0-0	Queen side castling (short)
0-0-0	Queen side castling (long)
ep	En Passant capture
=	Pawn promotion
?	Weak move or mistake
!	Good or best move

Here is how it would look:

g3	White moves his Pawn forward one square
e5	Black moves his Pawn forward 2
Ka3	White moves his Knight out
Bxa3	Black Bishop captures white Knight
bxa3	White Pawn captures black Bishop
Kf6	Black Knight moves out
…
Bb2+!	White Bishop checks. Best move.

If any ambiguities occur they can be resolved by indicating either the rank or the file that the

piece came from.

If points are assigned to pieces they are usually Queen = 9, Rook = 5, Bishop = 3.5,

Knight = 3.5, and Pawn = 1.  The fractions on the Bishop and the Knight are usually  dropped when teaching children.

Although descriptive notation (e.g. 1.P-K4 P-K4) was used up until recently, the  International Chess Federation (FIDE) only recognizes algebraic notation.


Menus & Control

Use the arrow keys or hold down and drag the right mouse button to rotate the board.

Click on a piece to select and then click on the destination grid to move.

File Menu

Exit                 	Exit game.

Game Menu

New                 	Start a new game

End Game        	Stop the current game

1 Player vs Comp	Play against the computer

2 Player Local	Play against yourself or another person locally

Network Play 	Play against another person via network

White             	Play as the white pieces

Black              	Play as the black pieces.

Options Menu

Sound             	Toggle sound effects

Music                	Toggle music

Grid Highlight	Toggle board grid highlighting

Set Name        	Set user name and password for multiplayer (password only for game server)

Computer Skill 	Choose the computer player difficulty level

Computer Skill Sub Menu

Easy            	…

Medium       	…

Hard             	…

Hardest           	…

Help

About...           	Information about the product

Help                 	This document


Network Play

Hopefully, the network dialog box is self-explanatory.

Chatting

In the game, hit <Enter> and then start typing.  Hit <Enter> again to send the message.


Frequently Asked Questions

1.   Missing DPLAYX.DLL

2.   Could Not Create Scene!

3.   When I click on a piece it does not spin.

4.   ERROR: Connection failed (player already in game)

99. My problem is not here.

1.   Missing DPLAYX.DLL

Then you do not have Microsoft DirectX 5.0 or greater installed.  Contact Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com or our EG Chess web page to get the package.

2.   Could Not Create Scene!

This happens when an object file (*.x) or some other necessary component can not be found.  Check the chess.log file in the same directory as the executable; this file provides in depth information to what file is missing.

Another reason could be that the you have a DirectX version earlier than 5.0.  Again go to our EG Chess web page to find the DX link.

3.   When I click on a piece it does not spin.

i.	It is not your turn.

ii.	You are not clicking directly on the 3D piece.

iii.	You are clicking on the 3D piece, but the click is not registered by Windows.  The solution is to hold down the left mouse button on the piece and wait for Windows to process the event.  This sometimes happens on slower computers.

iv.	The game is over.  Check the status bar to see who won.

6.   ERROR: Connection failed (player already in game)

i.	You have crashed out and tried to, immediately, log back in.  Wait a couple of minutes for our server to acknowledge your lack of presence.

ii.	Someone is using your account.

iii.	Someone has the same user name and password as you.  Our initial user name and password generator bases is output on your registration information.  There is a slim chance that two people will be given the same log in data.  Your user name and password is delivered to us as well as to you.  We then parse the name and password, check it with our current database and verify to ensure it is unique.  If it isn’t we allocate a new user name and password and send that information to you, in the form of email.

99. My problem is not here!

If you experience what seems to be a bug then go to the patch fix page of this game.  If you can not find your bug then please submit it and we will have a fix within a week.


Customizing The Game

The game sounds and geometry have been designed to be open to the user.  You can create your own object files or music and sound effects to replace the ones supplied.  Simply, replace the files in the objects and/or sound directories with your own.