HOW TO START        Using your PC for Chess Improvement

STEP 14

Now you have learned how to create a clean database in SCID. Now the rest is easy. Use the Help file and try the various Menu options. Here now we shall mention some examples of specific use of SCID:

A method to analyse a game: a) Open the game to analyse, b) Open a chess engine in Scid by clicking on the icon of a train engine top right, c) Select the engine from the dialog box of all your installed engines, d) The Engine will immediately start working on your game to tell you the current best move, e) In the lower lefthand corner there is a button labeled "Annotate" Click it and choose how long you want the Engine to look at each move (and which side you'd like it to annotate (or both)). f) Open the Windows->PGN Window so you can see the annotations appear, you can also watch the analysis board by clicking on the button that looks like the corner of the chess board in the lower-right hand section of the Analysis dialog. Now you can watch SCID and your Engine play through the game. Finally, export to a file the annotated game (also in a  htm document).

A method to find reports on opening positions: From a single database you can specify the position you want to search so that you have some games where that position occurred already. Open your large Database. Then take for example the simple Fen position:  r1bqkbnr/1ppp1ppp/p1n5/1B2p3/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 4 (white to play) and you search games as this.

Press Game>new and then Edit>Setup Start Board and paste this Fen. Click OK. Back to the main window go to click Menu>Tools>Opening Report. A window appears with lots of information and clickable games to see.  This is an amazing amount of info that you should see. (The current base of the example here indicates that the majority of next moves has been Bxc6, including the old game Lasker-Steinitz N.Y. 1894)

It is useful now that you read the Help file for the "Tree Window" and "Locking the Tree Window", in order to lock your large database to be used as reference for games opened from a small database of yours. Try it. There are a lot of windows and settings in SCID that cannot be further described here. In any case with the above examples you have a certain experience to start SCID without getting confused and disappointed on how to start. You can find some MORE DETAILS and HINTS for SCID HERE. We hope to be able later on to add more examples of how to use SCID and all the options provided.

Using engines in Arena or SCID software it is advised to use the Low Priority option in the tabs when setting the engines, for a better performance of your windows software, if the engines are calculating, as they tend to use 100% of the CPU and make other tasks of your difficult.

The purpose of this pages is to learn how to use the computer to improve your chess game and not to describe various chess software programs. Thus, and if you have reached this point you have acquired a rather sufficient knowledge to handle such software programs by yourself. In this sense you can also download the other database programs CDB from http://reality.sgi.com/pmk_craypark  (CDB has a help file and a Menu options to clean PGN game files), Chesspad  from www.tip.nl/users/mark.van.der.leek  and Chess Dragon from http://www.bluepaul.com/ and see where they can be useful to you.

Normally with FEN Editor, Arena and SCID and some strong Engines (as Crafty, Ruffian, Delfi, Yace and SOS) you can cover all your computer chess needs for free. Arena in Oct. 2003 said they plan to present a new version with several improvements, especially for engine tournaments.

 

3D Experience: All chess works  here are made using a two-dimensional diagram. This means that in real three-dimensional games you may have some difficulties to adapt yourself. For this reason it is advised from time to time to use a three-dimensional board to exercise. Read the Additional Utilities Page HERE to find a free for this use software with a three-dimensional (3D) chess board.

STEP 15

In this last STEP we need to discuss about certain free chess utilities (smaller software programs) that can be helpful in particular circumstances. Many of such Utilities can be found at the site (check for those that are free (unlimited) to use) http://www.enpassant.dk/chess/softeng.htm . We can mention here briefly the following:

1. Retractor: This a free chess Program for solving and composing retrograde chess problems. In retrograde analysis the task is to deduce which moves lead to a given position - in a sense you play backwards. Practically Retractor is a tool for retro problem composers and solvers. It allows interactive retraction of moves from any legal position, with the computer checking for common illegalities. Retractor also has a solving capability, in which it will search for the last n moves for a specified value of n. See some more details of usage HERE.
You can download it from http://www.stanford.edu/~hwatheod/Retractor/. Many chess problems to work with can be found at The Retrograde Analysis Corner (For Win XP use a shortcut and at properties check the Compatibility option). For Retracting read its Help file HERE
 

2. Chess Game Notation File Converter (for European Players):  A free program mainly for European players. If you have from web sites or other sources a game in a German, Italian, French, etc. Notation letters (15 or more languages can be converted by this Converter),  this is not playable by the chess software programs. Such chess programs recognise only English piece letters as for King, Queen etc. (KQRBN) and possibly in pgn format. With this program you can convert a German, Italian, etc, game in English and as a pgn alike form (playable by chess software) and vice versa. You can also manipulate fields (the header lines with information). Download from http://www.code.gr/chess-converter/ (or at http://freedownloadswindows.com/windows/659999/Chess-Game-Notation-File-Converter.html ). Read its Help file in htm document and very illustrative HERE.

3. PGN to JS: This free program converts chess games from a PGN-file to HTML-pages. On these the surfer is able to select the game and replay the moves. A mini engine (Minimax) is used to search moves. You can upload them on the internet. The browser must be able to use JavaScript Version 1.1 or higher. You can download it from   http://www.mailchess.de/

If you drag a PGN-file to the program icon, all games in this file will be converted into a playable game file for posting on the internet. The output files will be saved to the folder chosen by the user in the configuration. They are named after the PGN-file. Also, the game list accepts Drag & Drop. Some objects, such as the game list or the game editor, offer a context menu with additional functions after a click with the right mouse button. In addition, some fields display a hint after moving the mouse cursor onto them.
In the main window with Control or Shift Key pressed you can select the games you want to appear in HTML after you loaded the pgn file with the games. There is no Help file here but some cursor hints and a F.A.Q. page (click here to see). The program has a convenient Game Editor window where you can also copy - paste (right-mouse click) FEN positions.

However the usage is easy to understand after some trials. It is advisable to keep the original settings stored someplace (or zipped). Load a pgn of yours and press Create HTML/JS. That' s all.

A typical html page can be (picture left Napoleon-Mme De Remusat):

4. Normal 32: The name of NORMAL comes from "normalization" , the process of removing non-standard differences from a file of chess games in text form. Although two chess game may appear identical, or even two files of chess games, there are a multitude of small, possible differences, not readily apparent, that a program like Normal can spot, diagnose, and correct. Most any database will readily accept games processed through NORMAL32. An option ‘PGNSort’ finds duplicate games -including fuzzy duplicates- and removes them. Normal 32 can be downloaded from:  http://www.sihope.com/~ponstad/. It has sufficient Help files. So you can easily learn how to use it. It is worth to spend here some pore time as the PGN is crucial for PC-Chess use.

To understand Normal 32:  let’s simulate some errors on a good pgn and see how it comes corrected.             1) Get a pgn file with 4-5 games. Pass it from Normal (default settings) and be so sure it is good.  2) Open it with the Notepad and cancel the heading tags at the beginning 3) Use Normal. It will tell you which game has tag problem. 3) Now edit the pgn again and replace castling O-O with 0-0 and run Normal. The new file has corrected 0-0 back to O-O. More: Got to a move of one good game and change a move, for example you have somewhere 21. Nxg5 Bb7   and change it to 21. Nxg7 Bb7. Run Normal and it will tell you about this specific error and opens a window, click proof to retype the correct move or click OK and a tag is added telling about this wrong move of the specific game. If you open the games with Winboard it will tell you also about this illegal move.

5. Play Chess on the NET: To train yourself to play Chess on the Net the easiest way is to go to FICS (free Server) and start as a Guest. FICS is at http://www.freechess.org/ There you can read their Help file and start easily. Faster is if you download the free software for FICS CClient  from:  ftp://ftp.daimi.aau.dk/pub/stud/danke/interfaces/CClient141d.exe . To see a screenshot of the CClient window click HERE.

 To start playing connect to the Internet then open CClient and press    the icon connect (before that you can put the setting for the board that suits you best; in the beginning is better the 2Dimension board view). When you connect with CClient, go to tab sought and find and press seek to post your terms of play. So you can exercise with FICS and CClient quite well.Some players like to play chess by E-Mail. A free software for this purpose is MAILCHESS (same author of above PGN to JavaS software).Download it from: http://www.mailchess.de/.

6. Play Chess with a distant Friend, using the Internet: You can play across the Internet chess with someone you know and have arranged to play with. No need to register with Chess Servers, etc. You connect directly with your friend. This is possible with the Free software Battle Master V2 to get from the web site: http://battlemasterchess.tripod.com without having others chess players reading your messages (chat). For example you can also use this software to train someone from distance.

How-To: You can start a chat with your friends in an IRC channel (*). After you have talked it over with your friends launch Battle Master 2. The person that wants to play with the white pieces should start clicking Menu> NetGame as a server (select NetGame->Start NetGame then enter your name, choose "as a server (listening)" and press Start) and give his/her IP to the other player that will play with the black pieces, so that he/she can connect as a client (select NetGame->Start NetGame then enter your name, choose "as a client (connect)", enter the IP address in the field above and press Start) using the IP address. Once the connection is established you can play chess immediately and exchange chat messages. See details in the Help File of the Program.

(*) IRC Channel: Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a worldwide collection of chat servers. Each server has different features, rules, and users, but one thing they have in common is the IRC protocol. The IRC protocol is a standard language spoken by all IRC servers, which means that an IRC client can connect to any server.

Click HERE to read in detail how a) to get a Free IRC software the Virc (has a good Help File and is rated 5 cows in  Tucows) and b) how to find in your PC your IP address of your Internet connection.

Another nice program to play across the internet with a friend is CASIA.  This program has meny options and a convenient Help file. You can also save the played game in PGN format, as well as the comments of the chat window. You can download it from the web site: http://www.bulbous.freeserve.co.uk/kasia.html

* Additional Utilities and Chess Software is added  HERE

*  To read more about the use of Chess Engines click HERE

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