Saitek Capella User Manual - page 3
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White can capture the pawn en passant by moving his
pawn from f5 to e6. The computer will always remind you
to remove the captured pawn from the board
2.5 Illegal moves
If you attempt to make a move that is not permitted by
the rules then the computer will refuse to accept it. You
will hear an error beep (high-low) and the board lights will
stay on, showing you where the piece you are trying to
move came from. You may place it on a legal square or
on the original square and move another piece. You will
also hear the error beep if you do not execute a computer
move correctly, or if you press an improper panel key.
2.6 Check, Mate, and Draw
When the computer puts your king in check the
CHECK light will go on. If a game ends in checkmate the
END light will go on as well. The END light alone means
that the game is a draw.
2.7 Taking back moves
To take back a move simply press TAKE BACK when it
is your turn to play. The computer will help you to retract
moves by showing you which pieces were moved and
where they came from. You can take back up to 34 indi-
vidual moves (17 for each side).
2.8 Changing sides
If at anytime during a game you wish to change sides
with the computer you may do so by pressing PLAY
instead of making your move. The computer will make the
next move for you and you can go on playing for the other
side. You can change sides as often as you like. You can
even press PLAY after every move and make the com-
puter play the entire game against itself.
Playing a game with the black pieces
If you want to play a game with the black pieces, first
set these up at the bottom of the board (the side
nearest to you). Now press NEW GAME, COLOR
and PLAY. The computer will make the first move for
White, moving down from the top of the board.
2.9 New game
To start a new game press NEW GAME and set up the
pieces in the starting position.
2.10 Game memory
You can interrupt a game at any stage (even when the
computer is thinking) simply by pressing STOP. Play is
interrupted and all lights are turned off to conserve battery
power. The computer will “remember” the position for up
to 24 months and be ready to resume play when you turn
it on again by pressing GO. The level and all other param-
eters will remain unchanged.
3. LEVELS OF SKILL
Your chess computer has a total of 64 skill levels which
include levels for casual play, tournaments, speed chess,
analysis and problem solving. Remember, that just like a
human being the computer becomes stronger when it has
more time to think about its moves.
Any level may be changed at the beginning or at any
time during a game.
How to change levels
When you press LEVEL the lights on the side panel
will display the level currently set. Keep pressing
LEVEL until the level you want is displayed. Press
COLOR to jump 8 levels at a time. For example if
you are in level A3, press LEVEL, then COLOR, to
jump to B3.
3.1 Levels for casual play
These times are averaged over a large number of
moves. In the opening and the endgame, the computer
tends to play faster, but in tactically complicated
middlegame positions, may take considerably longer on
individual moves.
Casual Levels Average Time per move
A1
1 second/move
A2
2 seconds/move
A3
3 seconds/move
A4
5 seconds/move
A5
10 seconds/move
A6
15 seconds/move
A7
20 seconds/move
A8
30 seconds/move
B1
45 seconds/move
B2
60 seconds/move
B3
90 seconds/move
B4
2 minutes/move
B5
3 minutes/move
B6
5 minutes/move
B7
10 minutes/move
B8
Infinite - will search until interrupted
3.2 Tournament levels
On these levels, the computer plays a certain number
of moves in a given amount of time, attempting to meet
the so-called “time controls” at specific points in the
game. This is exactly what happens in human tourna-
ments. At the time control, the arbiter checks to see
whether both players have completed the required num-
ber of moves. If one of them hasn’t, that player loses the
game.
Tournament levels
C1
40 moves in 90 minutes
C2
35 moves in 105 minutes
C3
40 moves in 105 minutes
C4
35 rnoves in 90 minutes
C5
40 moves in 120 minutes
C6
45 moves in 150 minutes
C7
50 moves in 120 minutes
C8
40 moves in 180 minutes
3.3 Sudden Death Levels
A tournament form that is rapidly gaining popularity is
one which requires each player to make all his moves in a
certain amount of time, regardless of the number of
moves in a game. If one side runs out of time without
checkmating the opponent, that side loses the game.
These tournaments are sometimes referred to as a sud-
den death. The game may be terminated if it is a technical
draw (e.g. insufficient material to mate ) or if both players
agree to a draw.