Piece training – Excalibur electronic 712 User Manual

Page 8

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that world chess champions

play! At the beginning of a

game, you may choose to learn

one of 32 popular book open-

ings—ways to begin the game—

used by chess masters. Press

OPTIONS

repeatedly to display

OPEN

, and then press the

or

the

key to select the number

of the opening you want to

learn. (See list on right.) Press

the

CLEAR

key to return to nor-

mal play.

Now play a move. Ivan II, the

Conqueror Talking Chess Set

will tell you if your move is not

the correct opening move. To

learn the correct move press

CLEAR

and then press

HINT

.

When the computer comes back

with its move, you will briefly

see the word

OPEN

on the screen

if you have another opening

move to make. If the word

OPEN

does not appear, you may con-

tinue normal play. You have

completed the training for that

opening line.

The names of the openings

are:

1. Ruy Lopez, Open Defense
2. Ruy Lopez, Zaitsev Defense
3. Ruy Lopez, Exchange
4. Scotch

Game

5. Scotch Four Knights
6. Giuoco

Piano

7. Two Knights Defense
8. Four

Knights

9. Petroff’s

Defense

10. Sicilian Alapin Variation
11. Sicilian, Najdorf Variation
12. Sicilian, Dragon Variation
13. Sicilian, Keres Attack
14. Caro-Kann Defense
15. Panov-Botvinnik Attack
16. Caro-Kann Excahnge Variation
17. Queen’s Gambit Declined
18. Lasker Defense, Queen

Gambit Declind

19. Queen Gambit

Declined Exchange Var.

20. Slav Defense
21. Queen’s Gambit Accepted
22. Nimzo-Indian Defense,

Classical Var.

23. Nimzo-Indian Defense,

Rubinstein Var.

24. Semi-Slav Defense
25. Queen’s Indian Defense
26. Queen’s Indian Defense,

Petrosian Var.

27. Bogolubow Indian Defense
28. Catalan
29. Gruenfeld Defense
30. King’s Indian Defense
31. Modern Benoni Defense
32. Benko Gambit

The moves and explanations

of these famous openings are

given in many books on chess.

Entering Your Own

Opening

Ivan II, the Conqueror

Talking Chess Set also allows

you to set up any book opening

you want—or even an opening

you invent—to practice. Press

MULTIMOVE

, then make moves

for both sides until the opening

position you want to practice is

reached. Now press

MULTIMOVE

again. Press

CLEAR

and play

against the computer in this

position.

Piece Training

You can practice in eight dif-

ferent training positions. There

are five special minigames and

three mating-practice positions.

Mini-game positions

The most famous and suc-

cessful chess teachers in the

world take their beginning stu-

dents from the simple to the

complex by having them play

“mini-games” of chess that con-

centrate on just one or more

types of pieces. Even advanced

players practice these basics,

just as a concert pianist contin-

ues to practice the scales so that

they remain second nature. Like

any great trainer, Ivan II, the

Conqueror Talking Chess Set

will play you these special prac-

tice games.

First make sure you are at the

start of a game by pressing

NEW

GAME

. Now press

OPTIONS

until

TRAIN

is displayed. Then press

the

key. Look at the LCD to

see which of the mini-games are

displayed. You'll see that the

mini-games always include the

king and pawns for both sides.

In fact, one mini-game contains

just this material. The other four

mini-games use kings and

pawns, but add a different single

piece to the exercise knight,

bishop, rook, and then queen.

Start with the basic king and

pawns minigame.

Make your first move. Your

object, as in regular chess, is to

checkmate the king. Normally,

this means both sides will try to

force a pawn through to the

other side of the board safely to

promote it to a queen. You'll

learn lots of principles, tricks,

and traps in this training mode

that will win you many full-

fledged chess games!

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