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BLITZ-DRAUGHTS FOR WINDOWS ---------------------------- BLITZ DRAUGHTS, and this document file, are COPYRIGHT PC SOLUTIONS, All rights are reserved. Welcome to BLITZ DRAUGHTS, the worlds strongest shareware draughts program! Please note that shareware is * NOT * free software - if you use it, you are obliged to pay for it. You can become a legitimate registered user by purchasing any our program-packs - details will be given when you run BLITZ. You will need to be a very good player to beat BLITZ, even on a very low level of play. Remember that the F5 key enables two-player/set-up mode, so you can enter the moves of a game to set up a position, or use the computer as a display for two human players. Note that you can also change the X-Y size of the board - have fun with checkers on a 5x7 board! BLITZ is the ONLY program able to do this. Note that black pieces come out yellow - if they were black, they would be invisible! I choose what I think is the most pleasing combination. BLITZ has all the features that you would expect from a commercial chess program, ie. fast ALPHA-BETA tree search, opening book (for the 8 by 8 game), and much more. The response time is used as a GAME- AVERAGE - sometimes the computer takes longer, but in the long run it is accurate. The total time taken is given as #Sec, and total moves as #Mov, at the top right of the screen. The SHAPE FUNCTION inverts all black squares for grey and visa versa - this is most effective on odd-sized board shapes. When BLITZ returns a score of +/-30000, a win/loss is in sight, and the compter is playing perfectly! If you like SHAREWARE-BLITZ, please buy the full version, on GAMES- -PACK-1, which has extra Strength Levels, position Edit, Game Replay/ Load/Save/Backtrack and more. It also plays a MUCH stronger, faster game - indeed tests show that it outplays ALL other commercial draughts programs at this time. PLEASE support quality shareware like this!! PLAYING THE GAME ------------------ DRAUGHTS is traditionally played on the BLACK squares of an 8 by 8 chess board - BLITZ can re-size the board, but for clarity let us discuss the 8 by 8 game. The squares are numbered from 1 (bott right) to 32 (top left), with black men on squares 1-12 and white on squares 21-32. Men move diagonally forward onto empty squares, or jump over and capture an opponent if there's a clear space behind it. One VERY important rule - IF YOU CAN JUMP, YOU MUST! If, after jumping, the same piece can jump again, IT MUST! One exception to this rule - when a man reaches the KING-ROW (the 8th), and is made into a KING, it may NOT make any futher jumps - until the next move! When a man becomes a KING, it can move in all 4 diagonal directions. When one side has no legal moves left, that side loses the game! Commands DURING PLAY:- ESC - Abort back to main menu - for new game or exit. -,+ - Alter average response time in seconds - ZERO for beginners. F1 - Show moves, ie. all of your movable pieces. F2 - Make me take your go. F4 - Display board numbering. F5 - Toggle two-player/setup mode on/off. F6 - Invert board upside-down. F12 - Help screens.. v - View (Load and replay) a game from disk. CTRL-B Best line display toggle. Installing BLITZ DRAUGHTS on WINDOWS. ------------------------------------- To install BLITZ DRAUGHTS to run under windows, follow these steps:- 1) Run windows, and select the GAMES group. 2) Hold the ALT key down, and double-click the mouse at an empty position where you want BLITZ DRAUGHTS to appear. 3) The cursor will be in the DESCRIPTION box - type the name of the program - ie. BLITZ DRAUGHTS. 4) Now click the cursor on the COMMAND LINE box, and enter the path for BLITZ DRAUGHTS - ie. C:\BLITZ\BLITZ52W.EXE - if in doubt, use the BROWSE option. 5) Now click on the CHANGE ICON box - you will be asked to select an icon from the Program Manager. Click OK on that, then enter the path for BLITZ DRAUGHTS - ie. C:\BLITZ\BLITZ.ICO or use browse again. 6) Click on OK, and you are ready to go! BACKGROUND INFO ----------------- +------------------------+ |::: 32::: 31::: 30::: 29| White side, moving down. | 28::: 27::: 26::: 25:::| |::: 24::: 23::: 22::: 21| | 20::: 19::: 18::: 17:::| |::: 16::: 15::: 14::: 13| Board numbering for English draughts. | 12::: 11::: 10::: 9 :::| |::: 8 ::: 7 ::: 6 ::: 5 | | 4 ::: 3 ::: 2 ::: 1 :::| Black side, moving up. +------------------------+ You will find the end-game problems given below on the disk with BLITZ - you can select the VIEW option, then play through them, a step at a time. Remember that the Registered version gives you the option to save, annotate and replay your own game positions and problems as well! Draughts is a much under rated and neglected game, often derided as a 'kids' game, and looked down upon by exponents of games like chess. This view is unjustified, as the game offers characteristics and suppleties simply not found in any other board game. And despite of over 200 years of research and analysis of the game, there is still plenty of new play to be found by the adventurous player. In a way, the virtue of the game is actually in its limited piece movement and mobility, since this forces you think in terms of warding off threats at a much deeper level than you would do in a game like chess, that has a larger mobility. The most important rule is that if you can jump YOU MUST! This leads to fascinating combinations, often sparked by cunning material sacrifice. Consider this problem:- Black Man on 4, Black king on 6, White men on 7 and 12. Black to play and win. (or B 4,K6 : W 7,12 in standard notation.) View PROB01.B on disk. The winning move is 4-8! White MUST jump 12-3, its man at 3 becoming a king. Now black moves his king 6-2! White now only has 1 move, 3-8, since its man at 7 cannot move, and black simply jumps the 2 pieces 2-11,11-4 and wins! Here is another problem:- B 1,2,6 : W 11,18,27 with black to play & win. (View PROB02.B on disk) The key move for black is 2-7 !! White replies 11-2, and the new king HAS to stop at 2 to be crowned, it cannot go on and make further jumps. Black now plays 1-5, White must jump 2-9 and black wins with 5-14,14-23,23-32. Now a harder problem:- (Composed by D.Oldbury) W 6,10,14,15,18,19,22,23,27 : B 1,3,7,12,K13,20,K25,26 White to play and win. (View PROB03.B on disk) Sage/Blitz can see the 17 move solution in about 1 second on a 486!! 27-24! 20-27, 14-9, 7-14, 15-11, 1-10, 11-7, 13-6, 18-9-2, 25-18, 23-14, 10-17, 19-16, 3-10, 2-6, 12-19, 6-15-24-31-22-13 White wins. OK, having done something to convince you of the beauty of the game, let us backtrack, and consider how you should approach actual play. In the broadest terms, getting a man up, without your opponent having any compensating advantage, will usually win you the game. In the opening, beginners often lose pieces by pushing them forward too far and too fast. Another common mistake is to break up your back rank WITHOUT FORCING YOUR OPPONENT TO DO THE SAME. Your back rank is protection against your opponent getting a king, and also provides some protection against piercing shots and combinations. So, for black, it is a good idea to keep the pieces at 1,2,3,6,7 intact for as long as possible. Note that I have excluded squares 4 & 8 - these are the SINGLE CORNER squares, and it is usually safe to evacuate these squares at an early stage - it is hard to get through for a king here, and even when you do, the king can often be held by a defender at square 3. By contrast, you should take particular care to defend your DOUBLE CORNER squares at 1 & 5 - this is a good place to break through for a king. For this reason, black will often keep men at 1 & 3 right through until the late stages of a game - this is called the BRIDGE defence. White usually has to place a man on square 10 before he can march through for a king. The BRIDGE can also tie up white men at square 12 (3 holds it) and 5 (1 holds it) - these are called the DOG-HOLES, and white should avoid going into these squares if at all possible. A good way to for White to attack blacks double corner is by occupying or controlling squares 14, 18 and 23 - this line-up is called the DYKE formation. Of course all the above applies equally WHITES back defence squares as well - for instance the White BRIDGE is at squares 30 & 32. To get to grips with the game, let us examine the classic openings - first let us look at blacks opening moves, strongest first. 11-15 - Considered to be Blacks strongest - dominating the center. 11-16 - The BRISTOL also good for black, often followed by 24-20, 16-19 with black attacking 19. 9-14 - The DOUBLE-CORNER - much under rated, often followed by 22-18, 5-9, 25-22 with many traps laying in wait for white. 10-15 - The KELSO - While superficially looking strong, it does tend to jam up blacks single corner a little. 10-14 - The DENNY, an even opening, often followed with 22-18, 11-16. 12-16 - The DUNDEE - weak for black, since 24-20 cramps his Single Corner. 9-13 - The EDINBURGH - while traditionally considered weak for black since White's 22-18 grabs the center, modern analysis reveals later counterplay for Black if played correctly. The 11-15 move deserves special consideration - it is draughts equivalant to E2-E4 in chess! White has 7 replies, all of them good! In decending order of strength they are 23-19, 22-18, 22-17, 23-18, 24-19, 24-20, 21-17. Here are some classic openings that follow 11-15:- 11-15,22-18,15-22,25-18 The SINGLE CORNER opening. 11-15,23-19,8-11,22-17,4-8 The OLD FOURTEENTH opening. 11-15,23-19,8-11,22-17,3-8 The ALMA opening. 11-15,23-19,8-11,22-17,11-16 Forms the GLASGOW opening. 11-15,23-19,8-11,22-17,9-13 Forms the LAIRD AND LADY opening. 11-15,23-19,9-14,22-17,5-9 Forms the FIFE opening. 11-15,23-19,9-14,27-23 Forms the DEFIANCE opening. 11-15,23-19,9-14,22-17,6-9 Forms the SOUTER opening. 11-15,23-19,7-11 Forms the WHITLER opening. 11-15,23-19,9-13 Forms the WILL OF THE WISP opening. 11-15,22-17,8-11,17-13,15-18 Forms the MAIN OF THE MILL opening. 11-15,22-17,15-19 Forms the BLACK DYKE opening. 11-15,23-18 Forms the CROSS opening. 11-15,24-19,15-24,24-19 Forms the SECOND DOUBLE CORNER opening 11-15,24-20,8-11,28-24 Forms the Ayrshire Lassie opening. 11-15,21-17,9-13 Forms the SWITCHER opening. Each one of these openings can yeild up hundreds of classic games, some dating back 200 years or more! Since the range is so great, maybe it will be better to examine one model game, blow by blow.. Consider this classic game - Jordan v Tescheleit. (View GAME01.B on disk) 9-14, (Forms the Double Corner opening) 22-17 (22-18 is also good) 11-15, (Attack center), 25-22, 15-19 (Now forms the Double Corner Dyke, with Black occupying the key square 19 & attacking Whites Double corner) 23-16, 12-19, 24-15, 10-19, 17-10, 6-15 (7-14 would weaken and lose the man on 19), 21-17 (Trying to attack 14), 5-9 (prevents it), 29-25, (Its OK to develop single corner men), 8-12 (Backs up 19), 25-21, 7-10, (Note the DYKE 10,15,19), 17-13 (Alternative way to pressurise the Double corner), 1-6 (Looks bad, as it breaks up the back, but prevents the dangerous 13-9), 27-24 (Grips 19), 4-8, 32-27 (Breaks the back rank, but brings more pressure on 19), 9-14, 27-23, 3-7 (The best - 12-16 loses to 22-18 shot), 23-16, 12-19, 22-17 (Now that black has no piece at 1, the pieces at 6,10 & 14 are weak) 7-11 (Try playing 14-18 yourself - a complex line!), 26-23, (Releasing the tension and playing for a draw), 19-26, 30-23, 8-12 (Not 11-16? 24-19!), 24-20, 15-18, 23-19 (Forced), 11-15, 20-16 (31-26 also draws), 15-24, 28-19, 2-7 (prevents 16-11 which is easy for white), 31-26, 18-23, 26-22, 23-27 (Now Black seems to have got White sewn up, but..), 16-11! 7-16-23, 22-18 Drawn! Black must give back the 2 pieces. Well, obviously there is far to much to the game to cover here. I could describe the myriad of openings, traps, special positions, etc. but such analysis is beyond an intro like this, that is simply designed to give you a taste of the game. I'll leave you with a short game demonstrating a famous trap in the "Bristol" opening, a sort of "Fools Mate", dating back to 1650! 11-16, 23-18, 16-20, 24-19, 8-11? (losing move), 19-15, 10-19, 18-14, 9-18, 22-15-8, 4-11, 27-24, 20-27, 31-24-15-8, White wins. Here is another early trap in the Kelso opening:- 10-15, 23-19, 6-10, 22-17, 11-16? (losing move), 17-13, 16-23, 13-6, 2-9 27-18-11-2 and White wins. AND FINALLY.. ------------- This version of BLITZ is released as shareware. You may distribute it as long as you don't charge more than a small disk-copying fee for it, or alter it in any way. PC SOLUTIONS holds all rights to this program, and we reserve the right to withdraw permission to use or distribute this program from any individual or organisation, if we feel they are abusing this privilege. Please remember that shareware is NOT free, but 'try before you buy', so please become a registered user by purchasing one of our program packs - see the advert within the program. People often ask how we generate such small, fast programs - well special thanks must go to Borland and their excellent Turbo-C compiler - this can generate much, much faster/smaller code than, say, Quickbasic. Forget the rest, Turbo-C is the best! Contact Borland UK on Freephone 0800 212727 (or 0734 321150) for futher info. You will find some of our own special C-Tools for Turbo-C on our Util-Pack.. GAME-PACK-1 CHESSMATE-2600 - New version of our top-rate chess program. Now has very nice shaded effect color pieces, plus full game store/replay features, and more.. SAGE-DRAUGHTS-2700 - Probably the worlds strongest draughts program, new graphics, mouse & many features. Forget those other weak shareware programs, and learn how to REALLY play! ADDIX-II - Great educational strategy game - an addictive two player game (Computer plays one player) also helps with Maths skills. BLITZ - Innovative Checkers game on Vari-size board- many added functions! Both DOS and WINDOWS versions supplied here - for even more advanced versions of SAGE and BLITZ, see the PROFESSIONAL version below.. DROP-IT - Variant on CONNECT-4 theme, with re-sizeable board & more.. FALLZONE-II - Action - help ERIC battle through a multi-level game.. RANGER - ERIC takes on more aliens.. other great strategy/mind games.. GAMES-PACK-1 (5.25 or 3.5 disk) costs only 8 pounds !! (USA $15) GAME-PACK-2 FLIPIT - Very strong REVERSI/OTHELLO game, many features, such as re-sizeable board, full game store/replay options, and an extensive tutorial on playing the game. Also includes OCTOTHELLO - othello on an octagonal board! Forget all those other weak programs, this one can REALLY play! JAX - Addictive little brain teaser. RENJU - Fiendish japanese board game - easy to learn, hard to beat. MINEZONE-II - Neat deduction game - another outing for ERIC. CASCADE-II - Drop marbles & collect targets in this addictive game! STELLAR-COMBAT - A neat shoot-em up. DECODE - Crack the code! + More great games. GAMES-PACK-2 (5.25 or 3.5 disk) costs only 8 pounds!! (USA $15) GAME-PACK-3 CAPTAIN ERIC-II - ERIC has to find his way through a dangerous landscape with monsters lurking all around, and many problems to solve. He must also find ammo for his gun, as well as the keys for the next level. Excellent graphics, fast and furious fun! ERICS-REVENGE - Further levels for ERIC to beat - many new puzzles to solve, and many new monsters to beat. FALL-ZONE-II - Another fine action/strategy game - ERICS out again! BOMB-RUN - Bomb strategic targets in this super arcade game. (CGA/VGA) WALL-RUN - Try to out-wall your computer opponent - addictive action! RACER - Fast Car-racing game... + many more great games.. GAMES-PACK-3 (5.25 or 3.5 disk) costs only 8 pounds!! (USA $15) GAME-PACK-4 DYNAMO DRAUGHTS - Play the EUROPEAN 10x10 game, with sweeping KINGS & MEN jumping backwards! Very Strong player, Full Game edit/replay + more.. Also plays SHASHKI (RUSSIAN), SPANISH and AMERICAN POOL draughts! Includes tutorial texts on these fascinating games - as played by hundreds of thousands of players across Europe & America. For an even more advanced version, see PRO version below.. BLOCKADE - An exciting new OTHELLO-ish board game, many features. Its a sort of two-player version of LIFE - you play the computer and try to capture his cells, while generating new ones of your own. you score points for capturing key areas. A truely innovative game, invented by PC SOLUTIONS! CONTAX - Another PC Solutions invention! A fine strategy game (CGA/VGA). The traditional GOMOKU/RENJU type game, but with a twist - you can only occupy cells already adjacent to both one of yours and an opponents piece. This simple rule radically alters the topography of the game, considerably sharpening tactical play. SOLO - New twists to SOLITAIRE game... + all our new releases! GAMES-PACK-4 (5.25 or 3.5 disk) costs only 8 pounds!! (USA $15) X-WORD For Crossword & Scrabble enthusiasts! Solve complex anagrams, search for letter patterns, with a dictionary of over 140,000 words and phrases. Also CASCADE (word puzzle game) & other puzzles.. X-WORD (5.25 or 3.5 disk) costs only 8 pounds!! (USA $15) UTILITY PACK Sprites'n'Fonts - Mouse driven sprite/font/graphics designer, with built- in screen designer. C-Tools - Sprites/Fonts library,+ other I/O - make small EXE. (C source) Includes example C code to use graphics from SPRITES'n'FONTS. XCELCOPY - Fast Disk-Copy utility, better thabn DISKCOPY, many features! LIFEPIX - Fractalish generator. (C source) BATFX - Menus for BATCH files. MACLAN - Structured Assembly language for the A86 assembler. (with source) CGA Enhancer, PC-XT Speedup, DMOUSE screen designer, CBM64-IBM Converter. Easy-Ed, Phonetic Word-Finder, Flexi-Label (Mail list & labels..) + more.. UTIL-PACK 1 (5.25 or 3.5 disk) costs only 8 pounds!! (USA $15) HOW TO ORDER Some programs have both Windows & DOS versions, others DOS only. In either case, easy WINDOWS install is provided for all programs. SPECIAL OFFER - Buy two or more packs, and P & P is free! Please specify disk size when ordering. Remember - our programs come with high quality packaging and full printed documentation. Each pack also comes with several extra PC Solutions shareware 'new releases' for free! Add 1 pound UK P&P, or 3 pounds overseas airmail (USA $7) if you are only ordering one pack - otherwise P & P is FREE. Send Cheques/P.O.'s to:- PC SOLUTIONS, Dept BT , P.O. Box 954, Bournemouth BH7 6YJ, ENGLAND. PCS PROFESSIONAL EDITIONS In addition to the standard versions you have just seen listed, PC SOLUTIONS now also market special PROFESSIONAL versions of SAGE DRAUGHTS, DYNAMO DRAUGHTS and DAMA ITALIANA. While the Standard versions you have seen are superb programs, with infinite play-levels, superb graphics, full game store/edit/replay, board position/problem edit and solve, and an enhanced playing power that equals or surpasses any other program - up to grandmaster level, the PROFESSIONAL editions of DYNAMO, SAGE and DAMA ITALIANA have even more features. To start, you have even larger opening and endgame databases, for more accurate and stronger play - with the option to extend the database yourself. The play is so strong that even the World Draughts Champion uses our program to help with analysis! There are advanced game annotation features, with the ability to output the resultant game or board position to a word processor. SAGE PROFESSIONAL also comes with the PRO version of BLITZ. Also included with each of the PROFESSIONAL editions of our programs is BASIC CHECKERS - a simple 8x8 english draughts program WITH ITS BASIC SOURCE CODE - so you can have a go at writing your own program! This program will run under the QBASIC interpreter supplied with MSDOS 5/6, so no other purchase is necessary to use it. The code is heavily annotated - you do not need a high level of programming skill to start learning! Each PRO program comes with both DOS and complimentary WINDOWS versions - ie. SAGE PRO comes with BLITZ for WINDOWS. The PROFESSIONAL versions of SAGE DRAUGHTS, DYNAMO DRAUGHTS or DAMA ITALIANA cost 29 pounds sterling, or $49 (USA) or 72,000 lire (Italy) or 255 francs (France) or 75 Dm (Germany) - pay with a normal cheque in your currency. The price includes first-class/air-mail postage cost. PC SOLUTIONS, Dept BT , P.O. Box 954, Bournemouth BH7 6YJ, ENGLAND.