#u[#b[Addendum#b]#u] - Stop press items in English.

Here are some things that didn't make their way into the online manual in time##
for release.

#b[Contacting us at Oxford Softworks#b]
You can email us direct on contact@cpsoft.demon.co.uk
or try our web site http://www.demon.co.uk/oxford-soft

#b[DOS or Windows 95 ?#b] - Chess System Tal will run best directly from
DOS (not a DOS window in Win95, but bare DOS). There's no multitasking
to steal time from CST, and CST can grab more memory without Win95 in
the background. Your mouse driver will need to be enabled.

You can also run CST from a DOS window in Win95. To increase CST performance,
you should avoid trying to multitask other applications at the same time.
But even so, Win95 will give some performance degradation.

Click on the ABOUT menu item, then PERFORMANCE. This will tell you
how much memory has been allocated to the hash tables, and the performance
of your system relative to a Pentium Pro 200.

#b[Tournament testing#b] - use as follows:
bare DOS (not a DOS window), some disk cache to speed up the CD access,
preferably transfer the large opening book to hard disk.
lots of memory - 32 Mbytes for a Pentium Pro 200 and tournament
time controls would be suitable
offer draws off
slide pieces off
must move off
sound off
capture animation off
tournament times controls
large opening book
choose opening book move by strength, slider in middle
book control set to priority large opening book (you can tell
if the large book is selected, because the 'book values' (click
on Nf3 at start position, legal move list) will be saturated
at 50,000+
play strength set to maximum
F5 screen
monochrome chess set
backdrops off
graphical clock off
beginners menu off
warnings off
use default style
set draw = equal
hash tables maximum (unless fast blitz), and watch for hash
permeability falling below 100%


#b[Information for techies#b] - Press F5 for the tech window. On the
inner eye window select SEARCH PROFILE. When CST is thinking the
following data will appear:

n/s: nodes per second
ex:  extensions: percentage of the search used by forcing line extensions
tr:  triviality: percentage of the search used by the best move
bf:  branching factor: measure of the exponentiation of the search growth
la:  line activity: average measure of the 'activity' of the position
ip:  interest pruning: percentage of nodes cut by interest pruning function
cx:  capture extensions: percentage of the search used by capture extensions
bx:  backwards extensions: percentage of the search used by b-extensions
ns:  null move percentage: percentage of the search used by the null move
ne:  null move efficiency: how often the null move 'gets it right'
hp:  hash permeability: percentage figure for available hash space. If this
     value falls below 97% or so, CST would like more memory, please.
     Longer time controls and fast processors need lots of hash memory.
he:  hash efficiency: how often the hash table holds the 'best' move.
strange tree shape: representation of the search tree, width against depth.
Blue areas indicate checks and replies to check.
Spikes at the top of the tree represent deep search extensions.
You want to know more ? Please be referred to your public library
or the internet :)  rec.games.chess.computer is a good place to start.

#b[Hash table size#b] - by studying the hash permeability figure above, you
should be able to predict the 'optimal' size of hash table. For normal
time controls, the bigger the better; but for blitz, the time taken
to clear a big hash table every move can be appreciable. In such a case,
use the HASH TABLES function to limit the hash table size to give
you 99% hash permeability and the fastest possible hash table clearance time.

#b[Named Lines#b] - In the datafile directory you will find the file##
ecoclas.txt. This is a file of the named ECO system openings in our file format##
(see main online help). You may replace the datafile\engopen.txt with this file by##
copying it onto it ie. from your chess directory in dos type
#b[copy datafile\engopen.txt datafile\old.txt#b]
this will make a backup copy of the old copy for you
#b[copy datafile\ecoclas.txt datafile\engopen.txt#b]
You will now be able to use this far more complete opening classification. It##
does make the choice of opening rather wide though!

#b[Appending lines to the opening book#b] - should be no problem, but
you'll need to transfer the opening book data from CD to hard disk and
switch off the read only attribute for processing - writing to a CD is
just not possible :)
But please remember that the amount of data involved can be very large.
For example to add 100,000 extra games to the library takes us about
5 hours of processing and hard disk access on a P90 with hard disk
caching. No disk cache ? - forget it !

#b[Opening book optimisation#b] - after a build to the opening book, you
may wish to improve the book by linking transpositions (ie. link identical
positions that can be reached by swapping the move order). You'll find, on
the distribution CD, or your hard drive, a program OPTIMISE.EXE
If your opening book is large, be prepared to sacrifice your PC for
several days :)
Go into DOS
Make sure your disk cache is functional, otherwise for days above, read months.
Make sure that OPTIMISE.EXE is in the same directory as the OPENING.BOK
Oh yes, make sure the opening book data is on your hard drive, not
on the CD :)
From DOS, type OPTIMISE OPENING.BOK
The optimiser will search for as many transpositions as it can, until
it runs out of memory. A 16 Mbyte machine will fix up all lines to a depth
of 18-20 ply or so. 32 Mbyte machines will do better.
But don't worry, we've done all this for you on the release book, and there
should be enough links in it already to deal with any extra lines you
choose to add.

#b[More opening book optimisation#b] - if you really have several hundred
megabytes spare on your hard drive, then copy the big opening book from
the CD to your hard drive, and use the BOOK CONTROL dialog to change
the path. This will speed up opening book access slightly, although
modern CD drives are likely to be fast enough anyway.


#b[Acquiring more database games#b] - There are literally millions of games
available free of charge by download from various internet sites. These games
come in PGN format, and can be read directly into Chess System Tal, studied,
and used to modify/increase the opening book.

#b[Auto232 Autoplayer#b] - The Austrian autoplayer by Chrilly Donninger is
supported. Run Chess System Tal using the /c232 switch, eg. chess /c232
You should have installed the Donninger software using the 'noname' option.
To acquire Auto232 software and special serial cable for linking two PC's,
try the Gambitsoft World Wide Web site for details.

#b[Upgrades and bug fixes#b] - Chess System Tal is under constant development,
you can look for an improved version, or a bug fix version, on our web site;
this version (if any) may be downloaded free of charge. Of course the
download will be only 'partial'; you'll need the rest of the program to get
it to run.

#b[Saitek board detection#b] - We do support the Saitek (Mephisto) sensor board.##
You must run chess tal using the /saitek switch to force the program to detect it##
the board uses the printer port to communicate with the computer and the detection##
process can lock up some printers.
#e
