perm filename MONITO[F8,ALS]1 blob
sn#321386 filedate 1977-12-13 generic text, type C, neo UTF8
COMMENT ⊗ VALID 00006 PAGES
C REC PAGE DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002 THE CHESS MONITOR
C00005 00003 Memory requirements
C00010 00004 Black Piece design
C00014 00005 White Piece design
C00018 00006 The Chess Monitor
C00021 ENDMK
C⊗;
THE CHESS MONITOR
Specifications
The chess monitor will have all necessary features to monitor a chess game
between two players, either with both playing on the same Video¬Brain or
with the two players at separate Video-Brains connected via the telephone.
It will contain information regarding the rules of chess and it will
verify the legality of all attempted moves before allowing them to be
made.
It will keep a chess clock on the game, if this is desired, and will sound
the usual warnings.
It will have provisions for listing the rules of the game, the movements
of the different pieces and similar information when so requested by one
of the players.
It will display the board at all times with the pieces there-on, and it
will update the board whenever a legal move has been made.
If the two players are using the same Video-Brain, the board will be
displayed on its side to correspond to the position of the players. If
the two players are at different Video-brains the boards will be displayed
for each player with his pieces at the botton and the opponnents pieces
at the top.
The chess monitor will also provide information, on request, as to the
pieces that are threatened, the threatening pieces and the protecting
pieces. This will probably be done by blinking these pieces against a
background of the other pieces, or else by showing these pieces only,
which ever scheme is found to be the more practical and the more useful.
Pieces will be moved by the players by using joy sticks in the same way
as now done in the checkers program.
Memory requirements
RAM requirements, 3 K minimum, 4 K a safer estimate.
It will be necessary to store in RAM an unzoomed board image with the
pieces thereon. This will require 2560 8-bit bytes.
Two separate records of the piece arrangement will be kept, one of the
board as it exists before a player's move and the second of board after
his projected move. This is necessary to be able to verify the legality
of his move before it is actually made, and then to either back up or
accept the move. These records can be stored in a condensed form but they
will require at least 128 bytes if the unpacking is to be at all simple.
Space for formulation answers to questions and to keep time records will
undoubtedly bring the total RAM requirementd up to a full 3 K.
The safer procedure might be to plan on having 4K of RAM, although, as
noted below, it may be possible to keep the requirements to 3 K by being
rather more generous in the use of ROM.
ROM requirements, 6 K minimum, 8 K a safer estimate.
Displaying the board, and some nominal text, which accounts for
approximately 2 K of ROM for the checkers program will take at least 3 K
for chess. The checking for legality in the checkers program is done by
the same code that is used for playing and so this is none too good a
basis for estimating the chess requirements, but I would guess that this
would take at least 2 K, since there are 6 different kinds of pieces, each
with its own move rules, and there are many special situations that must
be checked.
Then there are 12 different pieces that must be imaged. If these are to
be at all easy to identify they will each require 18 bytes for their
representation. However one can cheat a bit by making most of the pieces
bi-laterally symetrical and then by storing only half pieces. Another
possible technique would be to design the black and the white pieces so
that they are complementary. It will take study to determine if these
techniques will result in any net saving since the mirroring and
complementing operations will take more bytes of code. It seems safer to
allot 216 bytes for this, or being generous assume 256 bytes.
And finally if there is to be much by way of text to explain why projected
moves are illegal and to explain the rules of the game, this will take
at least another 512 bytes of ROM, bringing the total up at least 6 K.
Since the explanation aspect of the program should be a big drawing card
it seems wrong to skimp too much in this regard.
The safer procedure would be to plan on having 8 k of ROM, and to use the
excess ROM memory to ease the demands on the RAM memory, perhaps enough to
be able to keep the RAM requirements down to 3 K.
Black Piece design
__________________ __________________ __________________
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| OO | | | | |
| OOOOOO | | | | |
| OOOOOO | | | | |
| OOOO | | OO | | |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOO | | |
| OO | | OOOOOO | | OO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOO | | OOOO |
| OO | | OOOO | | OOOO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OO | | OO |
| OO | | OOOOOO | | OO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OO | | OOOO |
| OO | | OOOOOO | | OOOO |
| OOOO | | OO | | OO |
| OOOOOO | | OOOOOO | | OOOO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOO | | OOOO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOO |
|________________| |________________| |________________|
QUEEN BISHOP PAWN
__________________ __________________ __________________
| | | | | |
| O O O O | | | | |
| OOOOOO | | | | |
| OOOO | | OOO | | O O O O |
| OOOOOO | | OOOOOOO | | 0 0 0 0 |
| OOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO |
| OOOO | | OOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO |
| OO | | OOO | | OOOOOO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOO | | OOOOOO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OO | | OOOOOO |
| OO | | OOOOOO | | OOOOOO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOO | | OOOOOO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOO | | OOOOOO |
| OO | | OOOOOO | | OOOOOO |
| OOOO | | OOOOOO | | OOOOOO |
| OOOOOO | | OOOO | | OOOOOO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO |
|________________| |________________| |________________|
KING KNIGHT ROOK
White Piece design
__________________ __________________ __________________
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| OO | | | | |
| O O | | | | |
| O O | | | | |
| O O | | OO | | |
| OO OO | | O O | | |
| OO | | O O | | OO |
| OO OO | | O O | | O O |
| OO | | O O | | O O |
| OO OO | | OO | | OO |
| OO | | OO OO | | OO |
| OO OO | | OO | | O O |
| OO | | OO OO | | O O |
| O O | | OO | | OO |
| O O | | OO OO | | O O |
| O O | | O O | | O O |
| O O | | O O | | O O |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOO |
|________________| |________________| |________________|
QUEEN BISH ∂P PAWN
__________________ __________________ __________________
| | | | | |
| O O O O | | | | |
| OO OO | | | | |
| O O | | OOO | | O O O O |
| O O | | O OO | | 0 0 0 0 |
| O O | | O OO | | OOOOOOOO |
| O O | | O O | | OO OO |
| OO | | O O | | O O |
| OO OO | | O O | | O O |
| OO OO | | OO | | O O |
| OO | | O O | | O O |
| OO OO | | O O | | O O |
| OO OO | | O O | | O O |
| OO | | O O | | O O |
| O O | | O O | | O O |
| O O | | O O | | O O |
| O O | | O O | | OO OO |
| O O | | O O | | O O |
| OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO | | OOOOOOOO |
|________________| |________________| |________________|
KING KNIGHT ROOK
The Chess Monitor
The Chess Monitor is an exciting new educational entertainment program.
This program does not play chess but it knows all about the rules of the
game and it acts as a referee for two players. Players may play togather
using a single Video-Brain or they may be in different locations, even
different cities, if each has his own Video-Brain.
The Chess Monitor will be found useful by experienced chess players. It
provides a conviently available chess set, as it were, with a built-in
referee and time clock. It will also keep a running record of a match or
a tournament.
The Chess Monitor is of equal value for inexperienced players, helping
them to learn the rules of the game and preventing them from making
illegal moves. It explains why their attempted play is illegal in simple
terms and it will even explain (on request) such things as the moves of
the different pieces, the rules regarding castling, capturing en passant,
etc.
As an addit feature, it will be possible to have the program inform
the players of the interplay of threats and counter threats, at any time,
by color changes or by blinking, to call attention to those pieces that
are being attack and to the attacking and defending pieces, either for the
black side or for the white side.
The chess Monitor may be used by two players, playing togather in the same
room, or it may be used by two players over the telephone. This last
provision is of great convenience for people who are shut-in by reason of
health or physical incapacity. Even the hail and hearty will find it a
convenience to be able to have a quiet bed-time chess game with a friend
who resides at some distance. You may want th re-activate your old chess
club which was disbanded because too many players moved away.