6
3
Playing against the computer
3.1
Your move
3.1.1
Ordinary moves
Press on the departure square of the piece you want to move. There is a ‘beep’, and the red lights at the
corners of the square come on. To complete your move, press the piece down on its destination square after
taking away any piece that you may be capturing.
3.1.2
Special moves
•
Castling: Always move the king first. Then move the rook in the same way, i.e. pressing on the ‘from’ and
‘to’ squares.
•
En passant
capture: First move your own pawn, then press on the square of the captured pawn as you
take it off the board.
•
Pawn promotion: Move the pawn to the promotion square.
The bottom line of the display will show (e.g.): g7-g8
♕
This invites you to promote to a queen. If you want, you can switch to a different piece by pressing
or
. When the desired piece is shown, press GREEN and replace the pawn with the new piece.
3.2
The computer’s move
The computer announces its move with a ‘beep’, and the red lights ‘blink’ to indicate the ‘from’ and ‘to’
squares alternately. Press down on these two squares as you move the piece.
It may then be necessary to complete a ‘special’ move. The red lights indicate the square or squares where a
piece must be placed or removed. Note also the ‘prompts’ at the bottom left of the screen:
In this example, the square h8 must be vacated and the black rook must be placed on f8 (to complete a
castling move). Press the squares as you carry out the operation.
In this example, the square b4 must be vacated (by a pawn that has been captured
en passant
).
If the computer gives check, its move is accompanied by a high triple buzz.
3.3
Possible errors
If you press on a piece but then decide not to move it after all, press the square again. The lights go out, and
you can restart your move.
An illegal move is rejected by a low triple buzz. Simply complete a legal move in the normal way.
If (e.g.) pieces get knocked over and you aren’t sure where to put them back, you can use the ‘Verfy’ (=
verify) function
–
see Section 5.13.
3.4
Symbols displayed in the bottom line during play
•
(rotating hourglass): The computer is thinking about its move.
•
: You are to move with White.
•
: You are to move with Black.
