After the application has been started, and the logo screen has been cleared, several Windows are displayed, each having its own specific function. All Windows can be moved freely within the main Window. Also the size of each Window can be adjusted to your liking. Every time you exit the application, both the position and the size of all Windows can be saved so the next time you start the program your preferences are still in place!

Clicking the X symbol in the top right corner of a window hides that Window. The window can be restored from the Windows menu.

By clicking the right mouse button inside the Window, a pop-up menu is shown with the most common functions that apply for that Window. This may save some mouse movement and searching through the menus. Depending on the choosen layout more or less information windows are shown. A number of pre-defined layouts can be choosen from the layouts menu. Its also possible to define your own layouts.

The Chessboard Window

This Window shows the current state of the Chessboard and the player’s name. Moves are done by positioning the pointer over a Chess piece, holding down the left mouse button and dragging the piece to its destination. When the button is released, an attempt is made to play this move. When invalid, an error message is displayed and the piece is moved back to it original position. Alternatively click and release on the piece, a selection rectangle is shown, then click on the destination square to make the move.

To castle, just play the King move, the Rook will be moved automatically. When a Pawn promotes, a dialog box appears allowing you to select the piece to promote to. En-passant moves are simply made by moving the Pawn.

For faster move entry you may also double click on the destination field, if only one move is possible it is carried out immediately; otherwise a small menu pops up. If the smart move option is enabled only a single click is needed.

The Moves List

The moves list contains the list of moves played, optional the moves list can also display the players names and other games details. You can navigate the moves list using the toolbar buttons, or the navigation functions under the moves menu.

 

By double clicking on a specific move, the game is moved to that position. The last played move that corresponds with the position on the chessboard is underlined.

If you move back in the moves list, then perform a different move on the chessboard, a new variation is inserted in the moves list. This is indicated by a series of moves in between round brackets and in a different color. A variation can be deleted by double clicking the last move you want to remove, then click the red X button from the toolbar.

Moves can be annotated with the Annotate function from the moves menu. To have the annotations visible in the moves list make sure the Show annotations option is selected in the general options.

The Clocks Window

This Window contains the Chess clock for both White and Black players. The Clock can be displayed as a digital or analogue Clock. In digital display it will do a countdown (00:00:00) during tournament levels. Other levels of play will count upward.

The status line also shows the clocks for white and black, always digital.

The Book Window

The book windows has two tabs, the moves tab and the books tab. In the books tab the moves are listed from the opening book(s) that are valid for the current Chess position. If there are no applicable moves, the Window is empty. Each move has a number of attributes with it. The score is the relative value of the move as seen from the player. The Type field indicates where the move came from, a question mark indicates that program will not play the move.

The remaining 3 fields (White, Black, Total) are only valid when a book with statistic information is used, the field contains the number of times the move leaded to win for White/Black. The Total field contains number of times this move has been played.

When learning is enabled the Learning column shows the learned score. This score is added to the moves basic score to aid in move selection.

Double clicking a move in the list plays that move on the board.

 

On the books tab the active opening books are shown, also shown here are some button to open/close books and to change the order of the books.

The statistics Window

The “thinking” process can be peeked at in this Window. In the View page from the options dialog you may define which details are shown here; e.g., main variant, score and search depth.

Histogram Window

This Windows visualizes the value of all positions in the game. You have the option of a Bar graph or Line graph display style. Use the view page from the options dialog to set your preference.

Figure 1

The vertical axis represents the score. It automatically adjusts to the maximum score during the game. Horizontally the last 50 moves are in view. By double clicking the left mouse button anywhere inside the histogram, that move position will be shown on the chessboard. The current position is also shown in the move list window. If the moves list contains variations then the histogram only shows the scores from the active variation.

Engine Info Window

This is a special window in which some engine can show additional information about their thinking process. Of the Lokasoft engines, the Rebel 12 engine is known to show the most information in this window.

Database Window

The database window contains a list of games from an open database.  More than one database can be open at the same time, each displayed in its own window. A game can be loaded from a database by double clicking on the line with the game. After the game is loaded the database window is minimized.

You can use ‘drag and drop’ to move games from one database to another or drop a game on the chessboard window to load it. To start a ‘drag’ operation click on the most left gray column to select one or more games, then move the mouse a little bit until the cursor changes shape, now click the left button and start dragging. Dropping it on an other database window will move or copy the selected games, dropping on chessboard loads the game. Use the <ctrl> key to toggle between copy and move.

 

Internet Console

The internet console is used to play online chess using various free or payed chess servers. You can place your challenges here or see what games are playing.