 Nova Chess 1.11                                                   03/28/1996
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Nova Chess is a chessprogram for MS-DOS.

Requirements:   CPU 80386 or better
                installed mouse driver

Copyright:      Nova Chess is Freeware. It may be copied and used without
                charge. It is not allowed to sell this software nor to make
                any modifications to it. All rights are reserved by the
                author.
                The author is not responsible for any possible damage caused 
                by the use of this software.

Controls:       - The menu appears when the mousepointer is placed at the top
                  of the screen and vanishes when the mousepointer is moved
                  downwards.
                  If a topic on the menubar is selected, you may exit without
                  making a selection by pressing the right mousebutton.

                - To make a move click seperatly on the FROM square and on the
                  TO square.
                  To deactivate a selected piece just click on it again.

                - To stop the computer from calculating a move press the
                  right mousebutton. The computer will make its move
                  immediately.

                - With the following function keys you can change the colors.
                  There are 64 colors to choose from.
                  The specified function key increases the value by 1,
                  together with SHIFT it decreases the value by 1.

                  F1 - changes the color of the black squares
                  F2 - changes the color of the white squares
                  F3 - changes the color of the black pieces
                  F4 - changes the color of the white pieces
                  F5 - changes the color of the border
                  F6 - changes the color of the text
                  F7 - changes the color of the background
                  F8 - changes the color of the overscan

                  F9, SHIFT+F9, F10 and SHIFT+F10 show default colors.


Menubar:

        GAME

                New
                  Starts a new game.

                Change sides
                  Switches the sides without turning the board. The computer
                  starts to compute its move immediately.

                Rotate board
                  Turns the board without switching the sides.

                Take back
                  Takes back a halfmove. You are allowed to take back as many
                  moves as you wish.
                  Alternatively you may use <Ctrl>+<Backspace>.

                Exit
                  All changes you have made to colors, levels and options will
                  be saved. After this the program terminates.
                  Note: The actual game can't be saved.


        LEVELS

                Time
                  Specifies the time the computer will take for calculating
                  its move. The program stays within the selected time-limit.

                Depth
                  The program stops calculating when it reaches the specified
                  depth. This setting is used to limit the horizon of the
                  program in order to reduce its strength.
                  Beginners should use the setting 1.
                  The computer may take some time to calculate a move if you
                  choose 6 or more halfmoves (depends on the number of pieces
                  on the board).


        OPTIONS

                Sound
                  Toggles the sound on/off.
                  The sound isn't correct if you run Nova Chess under Windows.

                Random
                  The computer does not only play the best move but less good
                  ones, too. The program is slower with this setting on.

                Show ML
                  The line of best moves (=main line) is displayed at the
                  bottom of the screen.
                  Beginners get some hints by examining the second move of
                  this line because the computer calculated it as the best
                  response.


        INFO

                Controls
                  Short information about the controls.

                Nova Chess
                  Information about Nova Chess.



Nova Chess was not designed to replace professional chessprograms according
to strength and functionality.

New versions will be uploaded to the ChessForum on CompuServe. 


Thomas Starke               CIS  101532,1007
