Illegal Moves/Wrong Moves; Check, Mate, And Draw; Getting Hints From The Computer - Saitek Blade User Manual

IT'S EASY TO VERIFY POSITIONS!
Press Lights On/Voice Output
NEW GAME 1 on; New Game
A, 1 on; White Rook
ROOK key
ROOK key H, 1 on; White Rook
ROOK key A, 8 flashing; Black Rook
ROOK key H, 8 flashing; Black Rook
(beep—no more Rooks on the board)
ROOK key
Any key Exit by making a move or pressing any other key
Pawn Promotion:
• When you promote a pawn, first press your pawn
down on its from square, as usual. As soon as you press
down on the to square, you will hear Pawn now Queen—
and your pawn automatically becomes a Queen! If you
would rather underpromote to a Knight, Bishop, or Rook,
first press the from square. Then, before pressing the to
square, press the Piece Symbol key for the Knight,
Bishop, or Rook. Finally, press down on the to square.
You will hear Pawn now [piece]. Remember to change
your piece on the board, or mark it with tape!
• When the computer promotes a pawn, it first indi-
cates its move as usual. As soon as you press its from
and then to squares, it will announce Pawn now Queen if
it is promoting to a Queen. When the computer
underpromotes , first press its from and to squares as
usual. After the underpromotion is announced ( Pawn
now Bishop , for example), and the to square flashes,
press the corresponding Piece Symbol key (the BISHOP
key, in this case) to acknowledge the underpromotion,
and the to square lights will turn off. If you have the voice
turned off and the computer decides to underpromote,
check its chosen piece by pressing the Piece Symbol
keys in succession - the key which turns the flashing to
square off indicates the correct piece. Don't forget to
replace the computer's pawn with its new piece, or mark it
with tape!
Castling: The computer automatically recognizes
castling after the King is moved. After you have pressed
the King down on its from and to squares, the computer
announces Castling, and uses board lights to remind you
to move the Rook. Press down on the Rook's indicated
from and to squares to finish the castling move. See
Figures 2-2a and b for an example.

2.3 Illegal Moves/Wrong Moves

Your computer will never accept an illegal move. If you
attempt such a move, the computer will announce your
error! If you press the wrong to square, you will hear
Illegal move —and the board lights will continue to indi-
cate the square the piece came from. To clear the illegal
move, either move that same piece to another square, or
press the piece back down on its from square and move
a different piece.
If you press down on the square of the wrong color
piece, you will hear Black [piece type] or White [piece
type] - illegal move; check the side to move and make
the move correctly.
If you don't execute a computer move correctly, you
also get a triple beep. This indicates that you are trying to
move the wrong piece, or you are moving the computer's
piece to the wrong square. Check the board lights, and
• Use Non Auto Mode (see Section 2.10) to play
Description
New game
1st White Rook
2nd White Rook
• Keep records of your own chess games. When a
1st Black Rook
2nd Black Rook
• Study book lines by entering them manually!
• Play against a friend, with the computer acting as
AND...
• Pressing PLAY at the beginning of a new game
move the piece correctly.
If you press a piece down on a from square but you
decide not to make that move, press down on that same
square again to cancel the input. Now make another
move of your choice. If you change your mind after enter-
ing your whole move, you must take the move back as
described in Section 1.

2.4 Check, Mate, and Draw

When a King is in check, the computer says Check!
and flashes the A and B board lights.
Whenever a game ends in checkmate, Checkmate! is
announced, followed by a) Good Game! Play again? if
the computer loses or b) Play again? if the user loses,
and the A, B, G and H board lights will flash.
Your computer recognizes draws by stalemate and
consecutive three-fold repetition. The voice will announce
Draw! Play again? and the D and E board lights will
flash.

2.5 Getting Hints from the Computer

Whenever you need help, press SMART HINT on your
turn, and the computer will give you a move suggestion! If
it thinks moving your Knight from g1 to f3 is the best
move, for example, it uses the board lights to indicate that
move, and tells you to Move Your Knight! You will get
your hint on average in two to five seconds no matter
what level you are on, since the hint move is based on a
special Best Play Level rather than the current level. So—
you'll always get immediate feedback whenever you need
5
TRY OUT NON AUTO MODE!
through master games. Press PLAY to see what
the computer would do in any position! Use the
DISPLAY MOVE and EVALUATE features to
gain insight into the computer's thoughts!
game is over, play to certain positions to see how
other moves or different strategies might have
affected the outcome—watch and learn!
referee and checking all moves for legality!
TRY PLAYING BLACK FROM THE BOTTOM!
will let you play the Black pieces from the bottom
of the board (see Section 2.11). If you do this,
make sure you set up the board as shown below!
Board set-up with Black at the bottom of the board