Dynamic Chess Strategy eBook - Frequently Asked Questions

Some questions below were imagined by the author and several friends who tested the eBook.

As soon as I get feedback from the users, this section will be updated and it will be periodically rewritten with fresh information and answers to readers' actual questions.

This document is organized differently from the one in the book; it is prepared to be extended and updated.

The aspect is also slightly different, this document cannot use special fonts, but standard internet fonts.

Feel free to ask your own questions or report bugs using our Ask Questions/Report Bugs form.

Functionality

QUESTION: The program does not work! When I click on the «.exe» file it says something about the Internet connection. A complete mess follows and I have to restart the computer.

ANSWER: My eBook is based on the IE5+ display engine. If the IE setting is «Work off-line», you will get an «off-line message». Just click on «Connect». This doesn't mean you will connect to Internet, but to a «virtual web» which the program creates within your own computer. You may also get the same message after trying an external link without a connection, then closing the «IE standard off-line message page». Always click on «Connect». If you happen to clic on «go on disconnected» or on «x - exit», you will get that message page in full-screen mode. Press «Esc» or «Alt» + «F4» to get rid of it.

Q: I do not see chess figurines in comments, but truncated words, a lot of double «h» and funny symbols!

A: You probably forgot to install the fonts!

Q: The «Forward 5» and «Back 5» functions are not very accurate. What use can I give them?

A: Basically, the «Forward 5» and «Back 5» functions are useful for quick browsing through the games without branches. They will stop before the nodes of variations. In this case, the number of moves advanced or reversed in the last go could be less than 5. They can be very good training assistants! To the average club player, I recommend a first time manual replay of each game, with variations, comments and key-moves off. Take your time, stop before the (hopefully invisible) key-moves, marked by the key symbol, and try to find them out. You are encouraged to combine the «Forward», «Forward 5» or «Back» and «Back 5» functions with a previous reading of a string of moves, perhaps aloud. Memorize them and then, try to imagine the resulting position looking at the board or, ideally, nowhere. When you are done, click the corresponding buttons (press the corresponding keys) and compare the board in your mind with the one on your screen. If they coincide increase (otherwise decrease) the number of moves and start over. Five full moves is really good, if you never fail. This procedure will efficiently train your chess memory. It is based on a method of the Russian school, adapted to new tecnology. If you are very good indeed, you may start your practice by reading a few moves before a key-move, then, try to find it blindfolded.

Display

Q: The program takes my whole screen, can I do anything else when reading the book?

A: I seized the whole screen to help your concentration, which is the most important factor in your chess performance. All other functions of your computer are there in the background e.g, a «Skype» conversation, an «E-mule» download, your e-mail client, etc. If some program needs manual attendance, just minimize the e-book.

Q: How can I improve the display quality?

A: The latest Windows versions have introduced the «clear type» method to soften the text appearance on LCD screens.

Standard Windows softening (similar to the «post script» technique) blurs the text colour towards the background. Apart from this, «clear type» sprays around pixels of rather different colours. This is one more proof that the major advances in technology are based on cheating our senses!

For most monitors and video adaptors, the «clear type» option improves the text display (and the more so when the colours of the page are not B/W). To access the «Clear type» option, go to Control Panel/Display (or Screen)/Appearance/Effects. At Microsoft, there is also a free download: Clear Type Tuner Power Toy

The colours used by the e-book will accomodate most screens; nevertheless, if your video card allows, you may fine tune them to your own taste. My desktop settings are: «red channel» - Gamma=0.8 (less than default), «blue channel» - shininess=-10 (less than default) and the card defaults for the rest. This fits my favourite version «3.3.0» and all other general needs. For the versions «1.1.x» and «2.1.x» (where «blue» predominates), I should switch the above settings between «red» and «blue».

Q: What happens if I use the program on a different screen resolution, like WXGA?

A: A «normal» resolution (SVGA or XVGA) has a 4:3 width/height ratio, the newer SXGA has 5:4 and a «standard panoramic» has 16:9. The latter is not entirely respected and most «panoramic» laptops or desktop monitors have a «custom resolution». In the last years, «1280x800» was the most employed on laptops. The versions «4.1.x» and «4.2.x» of my e-book correspond to this resolution. Lately, another resolution became fashionable: 1440x900 (TFT desktops and large laptops). This is supported by the versions «5.1.x» and «5.2.x». Beware that the video signal for such custom screens may not be recognised by other external devices (like a lower range projector). This is a general warning (mind your hardware compatibility!), the misfunctioning has nothing to do with my program. If you happen to own such a «dogmatic device» and plan to use it with my e-book (for demonstrations, lessons, etc), switch the screen resolution to a standard one: SVGA - 800x600 or XVGA - 1024x768. According to your display controller (usually in Control Panel > Display > Configuration > Advanced Options), either check the «keep format» or uncheck the «full screen (no borders)» option. If the external device accepts this signal, instead of buying the panoramic version, buy a lower resolution version (1 or 2) with the «instant upgrade» option to panoramic (it will cost you only one euro more). This way you will have two programs, one to be used with your screen and the other one with the external device.

Using a version with a higher resolution display, you will get superfluous bands of checkers towards the right and/or below. See the screenshots of 1.1.0 and 4.1.0 in the download page

The e-book is meant for a full screen preview, that's why I designed several versions which correspond to different resolutions.

Best is to adjust the screen resolution to the exact resolution of the e-book version you have chosen. If that is not possible, adjust the resolution to the closest one (which covers the book resolution entirely). For LCD screens, the version which corresponds to your «native» screen resolution is the best one. If you use a certain version on a screen set to a higher resolution, it will still display in full screen mode. A dark blue checkers background will fill in the unused space. On a lower resolution, the display is truncated. Scrolling the interface is not available and the program cannot work properly.

The «true» wide/panoramic resolution will get more support in future upgrades, for the time being you must choose a version which corresponds to the height of your screen.

The owners of bigger monitors should be guided by the width/height ratio of the native resolution, otherwise the image is distorted and a square becomes a rectangle. For instance, for a monitor 1,600x1,200 (ratio 4/3) you may set the resolution to 1024x768 and run the version 2. Such way you cover the whole screen without distortion. If you want to run the version 3, which is the best looking,

go to Advanced Options (as described above)
set the resolution to 1280x1024 and
either check the «keep format» or uncheck the «full screen (no borders)», according to the options offered by your display controller

For a big panoramic, e.g, 1800x1200, use version 5 with the same procedure (the resolution is 1440x900).

Some quality display cards have a smart adaptor which will do most of the work automatically.

Content

Q: Why have you been so tough about Nimzovich in your «introduction»?

A: Not really very tough!

I intended to jolt any blindful belief in his, and anybody else's «principles». As I said in the «Upgrade» section, many players compared the content of my work with that of «My System»; therefore, it would be of bad taste to commend the latter very much. I reserve this pleasure for my planned book. In the main body of this book you won't find any impiety towards him. As IM Pavlov put it «these we are, these should parade!»

For a titled player, his games might have lost their charm nowadays, but in 1927 Nimzovich was ranked between the first four or five in the world. As a strategist, only Capablanca had a clear advantage on him, but Nimzovich was undoubtedly world champion on method. His method was obviously influenced by Kant's «Prolegomena...». Our philosophy bachelor was as organised and subtle as Kant, while authoritarian and sometimes «hermetic» as Hegel. The «seasoning» of the method is a Schopenhauerian acid humour and some Marxist social awareness. For most chess students, Nimzovich is still the best «food for thought». Some modern authors, share the «Critic of Pure Chess Reasoning» with Nimzovich, but they seem more interested in content rather then method. Deterred by computer programs, Kasparov, Dvoretsky and other quick-minded corporations, «chess in itself» tilts towards never-ending analysis. You are adviced to take the fashionable «rule independence» as a synonym for «antidogmatism» and agree that any synthesis must stand the «dialectic lenses» of «little faith». Do not see this as annihilation of the old rules but as freedom to discover new ones.

Design

Q: The chess symbols look very similar with both fonts. Is «Variations» an italic version of «MainLine»?

A: Here are some technical details:

The font «MainLine» is the most used one throughout the book. The design thoroughness of its parent («Informal Serif» which is a «normal» and «kerned» printer font; which will be offered on my site White Queen in a bundle of chess editing fonts) took a good slice of my time from 2001 to 2005. It is a slightly informal serif, relaxed and balanced all over.

The font «Variations» is a bit more cursive, taller and thinner.

I designed it for displaying … guess what?

Yes! - variations; the first level of them only. It is also used when quoting some names (when quotation marks are not essential, e.g, Windows).

The easy way to get such a font was to just skew «MainLine» up to an «italic» version. Browsing through my «home made» fonts, I found a quite fit «demi-oblique» one. Decided to break the monotony by using characters which have their own «psyche», I adapted the latter for the E-book necessities. One can hardly call it an «italic font», as many Windows programs believe. The letters are drawn with just a 6° clockwise inclination, while normal italics are bent by 11-12°. New symbols and the more sophisticated ones are nearly identical in both fonts, to avoid confusion as they come side by side. Therefore, in «Variations Bold», only literals, pieces and the most common chess ideographs got the inclination. Other chess programs won't skew any symbol in their «italic» fonts. There are pros and cons for it, that's why I chose the middle way.

Q: Why do you use angle quotes all around?

A: From the Russian chess books I've got the idea to use angle quotes (French - «guillemots») for normal quoting as well as for slightly emphasized or pejorative expresions. I had two reasons for using them instead of normal quotes or a change in the letter style (cursive, bold, etc.):

In lower resolution they are more distinctive, especially with light text on dark background.
The use of normal quotes, when programming, is just another headache.

To the same effect, I also conceded some licenses to the punctuation of this book:

«e.g.,» and «i.e.,» were reduced to «e.g,» and «i.e,» respectively
The initials for the names are not followed by a full stop
After most string of chess symbols within notes, some due commas or full stops were suppressed.

Training

Q: What benefit can be derived from watching games in «autoplay mode» at the highest speed?

A: Watching full games automatically replayed at high speed can sharpen your subconcious reactions, and I am not enticing you to rapid games. At some point in your chess orbit, you did or you will understand that the majority of chess decisions are thrusted from that level of inteligence. People call it unintentionality, subliminal self, sentimental intelligence, intuition, etc. I agree with any expression, provided it means - digested erudition. Players who can calculate variations at an unusual speed rate (like Fischer or Kasparov) could bring most of those decisions to the stream of consciousness and check them thoroughly. Their genius is mostly based on hard work and accuracy. Fischer said that «chess is a matter of timing». Yes, indeed - timing the moves and taming one's subconscious. Timing the moves means knowledge and calculation; taming the subconscious can be improved by assimilating lucrative concepts and patterns when playing or training.

Another use of this software for training was suggested above. I'll repeat my considerations about «Forward 5» and «Back 5» functions. They can be very good training assistants! To the average club player, I recommend a first time manual replay of each game, with variations, comments and key-moves off. Take your time, stop before the (hopefully invisible) key-moves, marked by the key symbol, and try to find them out. You are encouraged to combine the «Forward», «Forward 5» or «Back» and «Back 5» functions with a previous reading of a string of moves, perhaps aloud. Memorize them and then, try to imagine the resulting position looking at the board or, ideally, nowhere. When you are done, click the corresponding buttons (press the corresponding keys) and compare the board in your mind with the one on your screen. If they coincide increase (otherwise decrease) the number of moves and start over. Five full moves is really good, if you never fail. This procedure will efficiently train your chess memory. It is based on a method of the Russian school, adapted to new tecnology. If you are very good indeed, you may start your practice by reading a few moves before a key-move, then, try to find it blindfolded.

Technical

Q: Can I control the e-book through the keyboard?

A: Not entirely; nevertheless, here is some good news for keyboard fans:

The «Esc» key (or the combination «Alt» + «F4») closes the program.

If you need help (this page), press «F5».

On the numeric keyboard (having activated «NumLock»):

the division key «/» will flip the board
the multiply key «*» will toggle the visibility of the first level notes
«7/Home» will switch to the start position
«5» will toggle the autoplay
«1/End» will jump to the end of the game
«0/Ins» will toggle the «include variations»
The «4/back» and «6/forward» arrows will navigate through the game simulating «Back 1» and «Forward 1» respectively.
The «8/up» and «2/down» arrows will navigate through the game simulating «Back 5» and «Forward 5» respectively.
The «3/PgDown» and «9/PgUp» will navigate through the pages, forwards and backwards respectively.

Q: Your spelling of the Russian names is sometimes different. Have you done it on purpose?

A: I've just made a choice. Some other authors do the same ... without knowing the Russian spelling!

Most names in the chess literature of the past come from a phonetic translation to German, French, or a combination of the two e.g, Tschigo(u)rin(e), Ni(e)m(t)zowitsch, Alekhin(e), Botwinnik.

More recently, the Serbo-Croat phonetic translation had a certain influence, due to the Chess Informant. There is no «unicode» yet for chess players' names. The readers who use database programs will know that searching for a player might imply five or more different names.

Besides the national orthographical diversity, there are some pressure groups of database distributors: Chess Base (German; they use English spelling for German names e.g, Huebner instead of Hübner and German spelling for others!), Convekta_Chess Assistant (British, Russian, American; they do it a bit better. They also have promissed a huge database with unified names, but that is quite difficult to imagine.), Chess Informant (Serbian with Latin alphabet; they spell most European names correctly but «translate» Russian names into Serbian), FIDE (a simulacra of English spelling combined with all the above). I have not mentioned New in Chess as they do not have a consistent names system and just copy the source.

On top of all this, just add the relatively frequent change of nationality. Many strong players of Soviet origin, don't even know their own names properly nowadays!

The difficulty, apart from the transcribers' ignorance, is caused by a couple of vowels in Russian without an English or Western European equivalent. It is a fact that the Russian language has more letters and sounds, and the poor «y» cannot stand for everything.

I wrote the names of the famous with some frequent spelling e.g, Alekhine (the Russians themselves are split into saying «A-'lye-hin» or «A-'lyo-hin»), Botvinnik, Nimzovich, Korchnoi. I shall use these variations, although for the last two I saw a dozen others and I disagree with all of them. «Nimtzovich» and «Curchnoy» should be the best English equivalents for the father of Neo-Romanticism and for the Big Vic, respectively.

The rule is to spell the name as the owner himself did in some West-European language. Nimzovich signed «Niemzowitsch» when he lived in Germany and «Nimzowitsch» after he moved to Denmark. I don't know how Korchnoi signs in his multilanguage adoptive country.

Q: When replaying «active» or entering «inactive» moves on the chess board; is there an engine to help me with analyses?

A: I hope to get this feature implemented in future books (launching an external chess GUI with your favourite UCI engine from any position). By now, the board is not very clever (doesn't even know the rules!), yet it can be helpful. It will assist you with castling (if you move the king two squares) and with pawn queening (never ever better said, as you automatically and irrevocably get a queen!). Here is how you can cheat the poor board: 1. a2xd8+! Kxd8 2. h2xf8! #

Don't worry about changing the position too much. The board, stupid as it is, has an unparalleled memory. No matter how deep your digging was or how cheeky your cheating, it will reposition you back in the stream as soon as you click on a button.

Q: How do I uninstall the eBook?

A: Did I hear properly? OK, if you want to uninstall the eBook, just delete the program files. You may also want to eliminate the fonts from the Windows/Fonts folder. Go there and delete «MainLine» and «Variations» (both normal and bold).

Do not delete the fonts if:

You want to reinstall the e-book later on.
You are likely to download other chess documents, which will be posted to my sites (whitequeen.co.uk, x-mate.org, suba.ro) as soon as I have time to write them.
You want to watch online documents like «Chess Course for Beginners» (Sorry, maybe your children, not you!) which are likely to be posted to this site in the near future.

In these cases it will save you a new download and installation.

Buying a License

The content of this section can be also read offline, by clicking the dollar icon in any demo version.

The demo version of the eBook «Dynamic Chess Strategy» is doing a double job:

Let you evaluate the content, the technical aspect and the style of the eBook.
Installing the fonts insures a smaller download for the full version and of other chess programs posted to my sites.

If you wish to buy the full version, please consider the following before proceeding:

The registration is valid for ONE major version to be installed on ONE computer only.
A major version is interchangeable with all subversions (all versions with the same first digit).
Please order a version whose DEMO you have tested as compliant (e.g., with the display capability of your monitor). Major versions are NOT interchangeable. Once you have unlocked a full version, a refund does not make sense; if it happens, it will be challenged.
Te paying gateway is «PayPal»; if you have a Pay Pal account, it makes the pay quicker, if you don't, you may get one in the process. It doesn't imply any surcharge and it's as easy as any card pay in Internet.
PayPal accepts about 16 currencies
Here are the buyer options:

«Standard». Price - 13€ (about 18US$ or £8.90). You register one major version (1, 2, 3, 4 or 5).
An «instant upgrade». Price - 14€ (about 19US$ or £9.50). You register two major versions to work in the same computer. This is useful if you have more than one screen or some other output devices (e.g, a projector) which are not capable of the same resolution. It is also useful if you plan to upgrade your monitor in the near future. Any version in Spanish or Romanian may also count as an «instant upgrade» but, as they are not yet available, you must take my word for it. Both will be lounched at the beginning of 2008. The offer is limited to one «instant upgrade» per customer.
An «upgrade». Price - 7€ (about 10US$ or £4.80). You register, in another computer, a version which is higher than all other already registered. With the same limitation, a (future) version in Spanish or Romanian may also be subject of an «upgrade». The offer is limited to one upgrade per customer.
All registered users will be offered a 30% discount on future eBooks. As I cannot accept payments of 1€ (it costs more to manage a registration) I shall accept a non-instant «instant upgrade» for past eBooks with further purchases from Mens Sana E-ditors (add 1€).

Future eBooks will try to cover new, fashionable resolutions; old SVGA (800x600) will be dropped out, unless there is a real demand. Our next eBook will be «The Kings' Tournament - Bazna 2007» scheduled for January 2008.

If you have a PayPal account, just log in and click on «send money». Fill in «recipient email» with: «gmsuba@gmail.com». In the «notes» field write the chosen version(s) number(s).

When you order a version of the actual «Dynamic Chess Strategy», you will get a link for download.

Download the file(s), preferably into the folder where this demo version was installed (in the computer you want to install it).

You need a personalised registration code to unlock the program(s). To get the unlocking code:

Run the downloaded program.
You will get a security message which includes your «ID» (a 10-digit number identifying your computer). A button will allow you to copy it to the clipboard.
Paste it in an email to gmsuba@gmail.com and I'll come back to you with the registration code(s).
If you do not have a PayPal account, you may still go to «paypal.com» (or your country's equivalent) and follow the instructions for «sending money».
If you don't wish to open a PayPal account, here is an alternative:
- Send me an email to «gmsuba@gmail.com» on subject: «Full DCS» and include: your buying option, the first digit of the version(s) you have chosen. and your corresponding computer(s) ID(s) which will become your customer registration number(s). Your email may look something like this: