Excalibur electronic CHESS STATION 975-3-EFG - Manual (Page 8)

Setting Up Special Positions
This is another terrific feature
that allows you to solve problems
that you see in magazines or news-
papers, or that you make up your-
self. It also allows you to enter
game positions you want to play, or
that you want LCD Chess to look
at, perhaps using the Infinite Search
level.
Normally, it is easier to start from
an empty board to set up such prob-
lems. So first, press 2nd then
OPTIONS
repeatedly until CLrBr
(clear board) is displayed. Now
press the SETUP key. You’ll see
that your display board is automati-
cally cleared, except for a White
king.
Use the DIRECTION keys to
move the White king to the correct
square and press GO. Continue by
placing the Black king on it’s
square. (You can’t leave the SETUP
mode until both the White and
Black king are placed.) Black
pawns will be the next piece to
place, but you may repeatedly press
the SETUP key to select the piece
type you want to place on the board.
To change the piece’s color, use the
/ key. Don’t forget to press GO
to register the piece on the board.
Follow this procedure until all the
pieces in the problem or position
are completely set up. Finally, press
CLEAR
to play or to have LCD
Chess analyze the position.
Make sure that LCD Chess
knows which color is to move.
When you first enter setup mode,
you may change the color of the
side to move by pressing / .
Operational Hint
If you missed where LCD Chess
moved, simply press UNDO and
then GO. This will not affect being
able to rate your game.
General Rules of Chess
1. The two players must alternate
in making one move at a time. The
player with the white pieces moves
first to start the game.
2. With the exception of castling
(see below), a move is the transfer
of a piece from one square to anoth-
er square which is vacant or occu-
pied by an enemy piece.
3. No piece, except the Knight
may cross a square occupied by
another piece.
4. A piece moved to a square
occupied by an enemy piece cap-
tures it as part of the same move.
The captured piece must be imme-
diately removed from the chess-
board by the player making the cap-
ture.
5. When one player moves into a
position whereby he can attack the
King, the King is in “Check”. His
15
ENGLISH
White gets a strong center and quick devel-
opment
of his pieces. As early as 13. Rd1,
you can sense that Black is in danger. His
king has no piece defenders; his forces seem
passive while White's are aggressively coor-
dinated. As often happens in such situations,
White breaks through with a pawn push in
the center, in this case 15. d4-d5!. It clears
the board for White's more active forces.
Petrosian, one of the best defenders of all
time, tries repeatedly to trade queens, but
White wisely rebuffs these offers, which
would take much of the power off the board.
White's d-pawn becomes a star, advancing
all the way to the 7th rank. Because of this
queening threat, White is able to sacrifice his
queen for one of Black's defending rooks. In
the final position, it's hopeless for Black
because White will either promote his pawn
to a queen or capture whatever Black uses to
block on d8.
15. Robert Fischer vs. Reuben Fine,
New York, 1963
Nine years before winning the world cham-
pionship, Bobby Fischer played this Evan's
Gambit (a variation of the Giuoco Piano)
against his famous elder. Bobby sacrifices
two pawns in order to get his pieces out
quickly. Then he plays 14. h2-h4!, sacrific-
ing another pawn to force the Black queen
away from the g7-square. After that, Black's
king will be stuck in the center and in danger
of the h4-d8 diagonal. Bobby's final move,
17. Qg3!, forces Fine to resign, because he
must move his queen from the critical black
diagonal h4-d8. Even on 17. … Qxg3, White
ignores the capture of his own queen and
plays 18. Bf6 mate!
16. Lajos Portisch vs. Johannessen,
Havana, 1966
During the first half of this game, a Queen's
Gambit Slav, the great Hungarian grand-
master Lajos Portisch locks up the center
with a d4-e5 structure by move 14. This
gives him a "beachhead" on e5 and makes it
hard for Black to counterattack in the center,
which is the standard antidote for an attack
on the wing. The next stage starts with 16.
h4. Portisch announces his intention to
attack on the kingside. He refrains from
castling his own king into safety because he
knows it’s safe enough in the center, at least
for the time it will take him to break through
with his attack. When Black tries to trade off
pieces with 17. … Bxf3, Portisch sacrifices a
knight for an unstoppable attack with 18.
Bxh6 and then calmly moves his king to the
second rank to bring his other rook into the
game. His Rxh4 was another brilliant sacri-
fice that crushes any hope of defense. In the
final position, Black resigns because White
will simply play 26. Rxh6+, winning the
Black queen. If 26. … Qxh6, then White
plays 27. Qxh6+ and will mate on h7.
Using Setup Mode
At any time during a game when
it is your move, you may change the
position on the board by adding a
piece, removing a piece, or chang-
ing any of the pieces—for example,
from a queen to a knight.
Removing a Piece
Press the 2nd key, then the
SETUP
key. Use the DIRECTION
keys to move the black shape over a
piece. Press GO to remove the
piece. Press CLEAR to continue the
game.
Adding or Changing a Piece
Press the 2nd key, then repeated-
ly press the SETUP key to select
the correct piece. You will see the
piece flash on a square. Use the
DIRECTION
keys to move it to a
square. Then press GO to register
the piece. Press CLEAR to continue
the game.
14
ENGLISH