Novag Aquamarine RISC II 26.6 MHz User manual

Instruction manual

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CONTENTS
I) GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS
II) QUICK INSTRUCTIONS
III) GAME FEATURES
a) making a move
b) eating a piece
c) Impossible and Illegal Movements
d) Castling
e) eat on the go
f) Promotion and subpromotion of pawns
g) Boards
h) Check and Checkmate
IV) SPECIAL FEATURES
1) NEW GAME key
2) LEVEL key
3) Mate's Resolution function
4) GO key
5) REFERENCE key
6) HINT key
7) TRAINING key
8) TAKE BACK key
9) TRACE FORWARD key
10) COLOR key
11) CLEAR/CLEAR BOARD key
12) VERIFY key
13) SET UP key
14) SOUND key
15) INFO key
16) NEXT BEST key
17) EASY key
18) RESTORE key
19) RANDOM key
20) AUTOPLAY key
V) APPENDIX
A) Chess Computer Care NOVAG®
B) Common problems of your NOVAG®
C) Technical data and characteristics
D) chess rules
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I) GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS
Congratulations on the purchase of your NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II computer. You will be able to verify its
surprising strength and the wide range of functions and possibilities. If you are impatient to try out your machine we
suggest you read the “quick instructions” paragraph and play a few games at level 1.
Playing with the NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II is simple compared to other chess computers. In any case, we
recommend that you read the general instructions before starting a game. In the general instructions, each section is
independent of the others, so you don't have to read everything at once.
The NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II works with 6 alkaline batteries of 1.5V type (AA) that are not included with
the machine. To insert the batteries, open the compartment on the back of the machine and insert the batteries
according to the +/- signs. A fresh set of alkaline batteries provide approximately 60 hours of operation.
The adapter can be purchased separately from the machine with the importer's reference. Use only the adapter
specified for your machine, the use of another adapter invalidates the warranty.
Please connect the adapter to the mains before plugging in the machine.
The NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II has C-MOS type memory that retains the last position of the board. You must
make sure that the machine has batteries or that you have the adapter connected to the network, otherwise you will
lose the contents of the memory.
II) QUICK INSTRUCTIONS
1. Before you start playing, place the pieces in opening position (the white pieces on rows 1 and 2 and the black
pieces on rows 7 and 8) of the chessboard.
2. The switch is located on the upper right side of the machine.
3. Press the NEW GAME key and you will hear three beeps. “00:00” will appear on the screen. You can now
make your first move for White.
4. To set a specific game level, press the LEVEL key and then click on a square with a piece (for example square
A1 corresponds to level 1, A2 to level 2, etc.). If you do not adjust the level, the machine will play at the last
level it played before. (In this case, do not press the GO key mentioned below next.)
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5. Once you have adjusted the game level, press the “GO” key to exit LEVEL mode. After this you can introduce
White's first move. Simply press the piece you are going to move and then the square you want to move it to.
At that very moment the machine starts up and responds more or less quickly depending on the level of play or
if it is in the opening book where you don't have to think.
Once the machine decides its move, a beep will be heard and some lights will come on that serve to indicate in
which row and in which column is the piece of the machine that it wants to be moved. After pressing this box,
the machine will mark the destination position in the same way. Consequently, your piece should be moved to
this new square by pressing it as usual. White will then play, proceeding as described above.
In the event that you want to go back a move, wait until it is your turn, press the TAKE BACK key and undo
the corresponding movement on the board following the steps indicated by the computer. In the event that a
capture has occurred, the computer will indicate on the screen which piece has to be replaced (you can see the
symbols of the pieces in the VERIFY section).
If you want to go back another movement, repeat the process by pressing the TAKE BACK key again.
III) GAME FEATURES
a) making a move
Simply press the piece you are going to move and then the square you want to move it to.
To castling, move the king first, skipping the square where the rook will remain. Then move the tower also by
pressing. When you promote a pawn, you will have to indicate the piece you wish to promote by pressing one of the
keys with the appropriate symbol. To cancel a wrong move before you finish entering it, press the CLEAR key.
b) eating a piece
If the computer indicates a move to a square that is occupied by an opponent's piece, it means that a capture will be
made. Press the piece that is going to capture, remove the piece to be eaten without pressing, and leave the eating
piece in its place by pressing the square. In case of eating on the go, do not forget to remove the eaten pawn.
c) Impossible and illegal movements
The NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II is programmed according to the international rules of chess and neither
accepts nor makes illegal moves. If you try to make an illegal move, the LCD will show “Err” and beeps will sound.
You can then make the correct move.
d) Castling
To castle, indicate only the movement of the King, which is the one that moves first by jumping one square, and then
introduce the movement of the Rook always pressing.
The NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II accepts and performs castling in suitable positions.
Note: It is illegal to castle when the king is in check or if it passes through a square that is
attacked by an opposing piece.
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e) eat on the go
If you wish to capture en passo, you only have to indicate the square from which the pawn starts and to which it
goes, as if it were a normal movement. Always remember that you must remove the captured pawn from the board.
f) Promotion and subpromotion
When you are going to crown a piece, the message “Pro?” will appear on the LCD.
You will choose the piece you want to crown by pressing the key with the appropriate symbol. When the computer
crowns, it will show you the piece you have chosen on the screen.
If you didn't have time to see it, you can use the VERIFY key to find out the selected part.
g) Boards
The NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II announces a position that corresponds to tables with the LED marked
STALE.
h) Check and Checkmate
If the computer checks it, it will light the CHECK LED. In the event that it was checkmate, the MATE LED will
also light up.
If you check the computer, this will not be specified in any way.
The AQUAMARINE RISC II can announce dunks in 8 moves.
IV) SPECIAL FEATURES
1) NEW GAME key
By pressing the NEW GAME key, a new game will start. The previous game will be canceled and in the
computer's memory all the pieces will now be in the starting position.
Press the NEW GAME key each time you want to start a new game. The level of play will remain unchanged.
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2) LEVEL key
Your NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II has 7 game modes with 8 time controls each. To adjust the NOVAG in any
of the game modes press the LEVEL key. Each time you press it, you will advance to the next group (and you will
see on the LCD the symbols: tr = tournament level, At = set average time level, Sd = starting level at..., Fd = fixed
depth level , An = level of analysis, EA = level of new player, in = level of mate in ...). Once the game modality has
been decided, to program the level you must press the corresponding box with the help of a piece. (Mode and level
can be chosen directly by pressing the corresponding box: The column corresponds to the category and the row to the
level.)
Example: If you want to adjust the AT 4 level, press the LEVEL key repeatedly until the LCD shows
“At 1”, and press box B4 (to enter n° 4). On the LCD you will see “At 4” indicating the level that is
selected.
A faster alternative is to press the level key once and then the B4 box.
To indicate that the level selection operation has been completed, you must press the GO key.
You can change or just check the game level at any time during the game as long as it is your turn to play.
Note: When you turn off the computer, when you turn it back on the game level will have been maintained
invariable.
AS A GENERAL RULE, THE OLDER THE MACHINE HAS, THE BETTER IT WILL PLAY.
8
TR8
AT8
SD8
FD8
AN8
EA8
IN8
7
TR7
AT7
SD7
FD7
AN7
EA7
IN7
6
TR6
AT6
SD6
FD6
AN6
AI6
IN6
5
TR5
AT5
SD5
FD5
AN5
AI5
IN5
4
TR4
AT4
SD4
FD4
AN4
AI4
IN4
3
TR3
AT3
SD3
FD3
AN3
AI3
IN3
2
TR2
AT2
SD2
FD2
AN2
AI2
IN2
1
TR1
AT1
SD1
FD1
AN1
AI1
IN1
A
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
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Description of the levels:
•Tournament Level Trl-Tr8:
For games with tournament time. All movements are predetermined at a fixed time (eg 40 movements in 120
minutes).
Level 8 is the strongest. If you exceed the determined time, you lose the game. This modality is the most natural
of the game, since it is the form normally used by chess players. If you consider yourself a good player it is
advised that you try level 1 or 2 at first.
•Average Time Level Established Atl-At8:
The NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II will make thoughtful plays with an average time equal to the one selected.
This modality is used to give a determined time to the machine to solve a problem.
•Starting Level In... Sdl-Sd8:
The machine has to finish the game in a previously established time. If this time is exceeded, the game is lost. The
clock counts down and will alert you with three beeps that the time has exceeded. In any case, if you want to
continue the game, you can do it out of time, but in the judgment of the machine you will have already lost. The
computer clock will continue to run. This is the only level in which the times appear on the screens at the
beginning of the game. (In the others it appears 00 00 00 00 ).
•Level Dc Depth Given Fdl-Fd8:
Important to prevent the machine from analyzing more than desired if it is intended to be weakened on purpose:
In this mode children can play using the first levels, such as FD1, FD2, etc. The computer will only search to a
certain depth.
•Analysis Level Anl-An8:
This category is the continuation of the previous one and in AN1 it deepens 9 half-plays. In AN8 he deepens 16
half-plays. As in this last level, in most of the positions, it would take an excessive amount of time, this
combination can be used as an infinite level: in this case, the play will be observed with the screen while the
machine thinks and it can be made to play by pressing the GO key.
•Eal-Ea8 New Player Level:
In this category the NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II will not think during the opponent's time. The computer
will think only a half move except when it comes to considering a capture attacked and defended by many pieces.
In this case, he will limit his reasoning to a specific number of half moves (a half move is a move of one color, for
example E2-E4,E7-E$ would be 2 half moves, one by White and one by White). black). All new player levels are
very quick to respond. If these levels are too difficult for a beginner, you can use the ones listed above; SD1, SD2
series, etc.
IF YOU HAVE DIFFICULTIES BEATING THE MACHINE, IT IS RECOMMENDED TO TRY AS SOON AS
POSSIBLE AT LEVEL SD1 OR TR1 IN COMBINATION WITH EASY AND RANDOM 4 MODES. In this way the
machine is weakened in a more "natural" way than in the SDI, SD2, etc. levels
Note: All levels can be changed with EASY (section 19). In this mode the computer does not
think while you do. In this way, another series of game levels lower than the previous ones are achieved.
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LEVEL TABLE
Level Description Half time
Tr 1
(1)
40 moves in 5 minutes / 7.5 s
2
wo
(
2
)
40 moves in 15 minutes / 22.5 s
3
(3)
40 moves in 30 minutes / 45 s
4
(4)
40 moves in 60 minutes / 1 min 30s
5
(5)
40 moves in 90 minutes / 2 min 15s
6
(6)
40 moves in 100 minutes / 2 min 30s
7
(7)
40 moves in 120 minutes / 3 min
8(8) 40 moves in 150 minutes / 3 min 45s
At 1
(9)
2 seconds a
verage
per move
2
wo
(10)
5 seconds a
verage
per move
3
(
11
)
10 seconds a
verage
per move
4
(12)
15 seconds a
verage
per move
5
(13)
30 seconds a
verage
per m
ove
6
(14)
1 minute a
verage
per move
7
(
15
)
2 minute a
verage
per move
8(16) 3 minute average per move
Sd 1
(17)
The whole game in
3 minutes
2
wo
(18)
The whole game in
5 minutes
3
(19)
The whole game in
10 minutes
4
(
20
)
T
he whole game in
15 minutes
5
(
21
)
The whole game in
30 minutes
6
(22)
The whole game in
60 minutes
7
(23)
The whole game in
90 minutes
8(24) The whole game in 120 minutes
Fd 1
(
25
)
Search only 1 half moves
2
wo
(26) Search 2 half moves
3
(
27
)
Search 3 half moves
4
(
28
)
Search 4 half moves
5(29) Search 5 half moves
6(30) Search 6 half moves
7(31) Search 7 half moves
8(32) Search 8 half moves
An 1
(
33
)
Search 9 half moves
2
wo
(34) Search 10half moves
3
(
35
)
Search 11half moves
4
(
36
)
Search 12half moves
5(37) Search 13half moves
6
(
38
)
Search 14half moves
7
(
39
)
Search 15half moves
8(40) Search 16half moves
Ea 1
(
41
)
half movescalculate 2 c
aptures
2
wo
(
42
)
half movescalculate 3 c
aptures
3
(
43
)
half movescalculate 4 c
aptures
4
(
44
)
half movescalculate 5 c
aptures
5
(
45
)
half movescalculate 6 ca
ptures
6
(
46
)
half movescalculate 7 c
aptures
7
(
47
)
half movescalculate 8 c
aptures
8(48) half movescalculate 9 captures
In 1G1 Matte in 1
2
wo
G2 Matte in 2
3G3 Matte in 3
4G4 Matte in 4
5G5 Matte in 5
6G6 Matte in 6
7G7 Matte in 7
8G8 Matte in 8
only
only
only
only
only
only
only
only
only
only
only
only
only
only
only
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3) Mate's Resolution function
The NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II can solve most mating problems in 8 moves, even those that require castling,
en passant capture, or promoting pawns. Press the NEW GAME key. Before starting the search for the mate, it is
advisable that you use the VERIFY key to check the position and make sure that the side that is going to make the
mate is the same one indicated on the LCD. If not, press the COLOR key to change sides.
To select the level of the checkmate in ... press the LEVEL key, then select the number of moves for the checkmate
with the boxes G1 to G8.
Press GO once to exit the function, and Go again to have the computer begin the search.
If the computer has not found a solution, the message “no nE” will appear on the LCD. In this case what happens is
that the solution DOES NOT EXIST and the problem is confused or the mate is done with more moves. (You can try
repeating the problem by increasing the level).
screens
While the NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II is searching, it will show you on the LCD the plays it is considering,
and a series of very useful information that will rotate as follows:
a) Time consumed.
b) First move considered in the main line.
c) Second movement of the main line.
d) Third movement of the main line.
e) Position evaluation, eg 9 99 means an advantage of 9.99 pawn units, if the - sign appears, it means that the
machine considers that your position is inferior.
f) Search depth (d 6 means it is searching up to 6 half moves).
g) Moves to be calculated (26 30 means that there are 26 moves out of the 30 possible ones still to be calculated,
with the search depth indicated above).
h) Time elapsed in this move
4) GO key
The GO key is used to enter a command or to exit the special functions SET UP/ VERIFY/ SET LEVEL/
AUTOPLAY/ SOLVE MATE.
These functions are explained in their respective paragraphs.
In addition, the GO key is used to:
•So that the NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II thinks the move for the side that has to move, even in REFEREE
mode.
•To interrupt the calculation of the move and force it to move immediately. In this case the machine will make
plays lower than the programmed level.
•To change color during the game. Wait until it is your turn to move and press the GO key. The computer will now
think the move for this color while you play the other side from now on.
•To make the computer play against itself. This can be of special interest at a certain point during a game, each
time you press the GO key the computer will think up the move for the color it's turn to move.
•To accept the HINT (see HINT).
•5) REFERENCE key
•In this mode, you turn NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II into a chess referee,checking the legality of moves
made on the board, the computer will not respond to yours
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plays. This is very useful to make the machine play a certain opening: making the first movements, the machine is
directed in the desired direction and immediately afterwards it leaves the mode with the referee, thus ensuring that the
machine continues playing the line that it wants to study. .
The LCD will display "rEF off* when REFEREE mode is not engaged and "rEF on" when REFEREE mode is
engaged. The first press shows you the current status of the REFEREE. A second press (within two seconds after the
first press ) changes the function.
6) HINT key
The NOV AG AQUAMARINE RISC II can advise moves if you are not sure how to continue a game. When it is
your turn to play, press the HINT key and the computer will show you what it currently considers to be the best move
for the side that has to move, the move will be reflected on the LCD. You can accept the move that the machine shows
you by pressing the GO key at that moment, or make your own move regardless of what the LCD shows.
IF YOU USE THE HINT-GO SYSTEM, WHENEVER YOUR MOVE MATCHES THE ONE RECOMMENDED
BY THE MACHINE, YOU SHOULD MOVE YOUR PIECE WITHOUT PRESSING .
If you press the HINT key while the computer is thinking, it will show you on the LCD the best move calculated up
to then: AT HIGH LEVELS OR WHEN PROBLEMS ARE GIVEN TO THE MACHINE IT IS VERY
INTERESTING TO OBSERVE IN THIS WAY HOW THE MACHINE FOUND SUCCESSIVE PLAYS .
Press CLEAR to return to LCD rotating information. The recommended move is the best possible one calculated by
the NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II at the game level in which it is selected.
7) TRAINING key
This function is to help the new player:
Priiger step:
When it is your turn to move, press the TRAINING key and the computer will show you on the LCD the square of
the first piece that can make a legal move.
If you continue to press the TRAINING key, the NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II will teach you all pieces with at
least one legal move.
Second step:
Once you've decided on a part, press GO. If you now press the TRAINING key each press of this key will teach you
the squares to which that piece can make a legal move.
Third step:
Press the Go key to accept the play that the computer is advising you.
If what you want is to do a different movement, execute it in the usual way.
If you want to go back to Step 1, press CLEAR key to clear the LCD and press TRAINING to go back to Step 1.
8) TAKE BACK key
The NOVAG AQUAMARINE RISC II allows you to go back up to 138 half-moves to allow you to rectify what you
consider to be a bad play or poor line of play.
Wait for your turn to play. Press the TAKE BACK key and execute the movement indicated by the machine by
pressing the squares: the computer will guide you to undo the moves.
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