Lucas Chess Portable 6.4c Multilanguage | 19.49 Mb
The aim of this program is to play chess against the computer
with increasing levels of difficulty and with a limited number of hints
that are given by a chess tutor. Also included are thousands of training
positions such as different types of endgames, tactical combinations
and chess problems (mate in 2,3,4 and more).
Levels
The
computer uses different chess programs (so-called chess engines) of
various strength. The user starts playing against the weakest engine at
first. Initially the engine plays with limited strength but as the user
wins more games the engine will be given more calculation time and its
strength will improve. Eventually the engine will reach its maximum
level of strength and if the user continues to win he will be passed to
the next stronger engine and so forth. And even if you consider yourself
being close to winning the next chess world championship, I can promise
you that the included chess engines won't run out of steam that
quickly. The strongest engines included in this program (such as Rybka
and Stockfish) will give a professional top ten world ranking chess
player a real run for his money.
To overcome a level you must win
against the engine twice, once with the white pieces and once with the
black pieces. With every won game your personal point score increases.
The higher the level the more points you receive for a won game. The
engines are arranged in groups. Each group contains engines of similar
strength. The basic rule for engines is, you have to collect plenty of
points against lower rated engines until to can play the stronger
engines. In detail this means each group of engines has a minimum
required point score. If you want to play against an engine of a
particular group your personal point score must have reached at least
the group's minimum point score.
Help
In case you don't feel
being close to winning the world chess crown (yet), there is still some
good news. You will get some real help. Lucas Chess comes with a chess
tutor. The tutor watches over your moves. In case you make a blunder,
the tutor will first of all tell you and at the same time it will
suggest a better move. You can then choose to play the better move
instead. For example in case you have overlooked a mate in three moves,
be assured that the tutor will tell you.
How does this work? As
already mentioned, Lucas contains very strong chess engines such as
Rybka 2.3.2a (by Vasik Rajlich), critter, stockfish. Note that this is
currently one of the strongest existing chess programs (see CCRL for
chess engine ratings). You can not only play against Rybka, you can also
use Rybka as your tutor, which means you get a chess grandmaster as
your coach. You may notice that some of the engines are not so easy to
beat and in that case a really strong tutor comes in very handy.
So
what happens if the tutor sees a stronger move than yours? Very simple,
a dialog with three chessboards will pop up showing on separate boards
your own move (with a point score from the tutor)
the tutor's suggested move (with a point score from the tutor)
the move expected by your opponent (with a point score from the opponent)
From the dialog you can choose whether to play your own move or the move suggested by the tutor.
Does that mean you can turn off your brain and let the tutor do all the
work? No, it's not quite that easy. The number of hints from the tutor
is limited. If you use too many hints you will run out of hints. Also,
as you start winning and the engine level improves the number of hints
decreases. Playing at the highest level against an engine means that you
will get no more hints from the tutor. Sometimes it can be good to
decline the tutor's hint and choose your own move. In particular when
your move is only slightly inferior to the tutor's move (compare the
point score!!). If you decline the tutor's suggestion then you haven't
used the hint and the number of remaining hints stays. This way you can
preserve hints and use them further down the track when you may need
them more urgently.
Training
A large number of training
positions are also included. You can try to find the solution yourself
and if you cannot find it, well the tutor will help you.
There are 50000 chess problems (mate in 2) from Eduardo Sadier.
More training positions (various endgames, tactical combinations, more chess problems
In
the utilities menu you will also find an option, which allows playing a
game against any engine of your choice, regardless of your current
point score (and even use the tutor).
Also you can follow the games of the Grand Masters by means of the option: Play like a Grand Master
Also a PGN viewer.
Platforms: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8
Multilingual user interface: English, Russian, etc
Size: 19.49 MB
0 comments Blogger 0 Facebook
Post a Comment