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Subject: *FREE* Chess Assistant Light is out!

Author: Albert Silver

Date: 08:04:58 10/09/01


Hi all,

This is to officially announce the release of Chess Assistant Light, available
for download for free from the site: http://www.convekta.com/

Chess Assistant Light is free and has no expiration date. It is designed to
allow users to test and see what Chess Assistant 6 is like, as well as be a not
ungenerous software solution to users with more limited means. We hope you enjoy
it.

Here are a few of the features you will find:

- Fully functional top of the line database functions with searches and
organizational features. You can open bases (no more than 5 at a time in CA
Light) up to 15,000 games in size, and enjoy the GUI's drag and drop features
allowing you to easily move games around. Use the classes to quickly and easily
organize your games and the more versatile classifiers (classifiers are
read-only in CA Light) that allow you to read electronic texts and create an
infinite number of classified sub-bases in a single base with no game
repetitions. A sample Classifier can be found at
www.convekta.com/downloads/CA61/Nota6.zip but more will be forthcoming on the CA
Light download page.

- It reads and converts the following formats: .CBH (CB Win), .CBF (CB Dos),
.PGN, CA Win and CA DOS. All comments such as arrows, highlighted squares, text
comments, etc. are converted without any problems.

- You CAN create new bases and new games to save in them, but here there is a
snag: new games will all have the main headers read as CALight White and CALight
Black for example. Still, discover how easy entering and editing a game can
really be with simple shortcuts such as <backspace> to delete the last move,
<delete> to erase the current variation, and if you want to insert a diagram in
the notation for printing, just press the Insert/Remove Diagram button at the
top.

- A playing program that allows you to play against Crafty or any Winboard
engine using any time control. [CA6 comes with Chess Tiger 14 and supports UCI
and MCS protocols for programs such as Shredder 5].

- Setup engine-engine matches, tournaments, or run test suites to your heart's
delight. You will find the test suite mode in CA Light (and CA6 of course) to be
the most powerful one available. Not only will it keep track of all past and
present results in a clear organized manner, but you can even export them to a
text or Excel file for example.

- The automatic analysis functions are completely functional, so that you CAN
have Crafty (or another Winboard engine of your choice) analyze a game and
present its results. If you want to turn on the engine to see its analysis while
looking over a game, simply press the <spacebar>, or press the Monitor button.

- A new and powerful ICC interface:

     - Allows you to watch games with an engine running in the background (up to
the 30th move).
     - Customize the buttons to automatically send out the most common seeks and
other commands such as an instant rematch button.
     - Easy to read lists of games being played, being sought or being stored,
with columns that can be resorted by simply pressing the top of the column.
     - Multiple boards can be opened (only 2 in CA light) with colored symbols
on the bottom telling you whether a move was played on another board so you
don't need to worry about missing anything, and a single-click on one switches
to it.
     - Set graphical profiles with custom backgrounds and fonts that can be
saved and later exported or imported at will.
     - Games can be saved directly into the base, so that you can look at them
in closer detail either manually, or by running the automatic analysis features.
     - Easily search and access games from your history, library or from the ICC
database. Then just double-click on the game and save it into the base of your
choice.
     - Setup numerous profiles according to your choice. These can be registered
or not, and either human or computer accounts.
     - Discover "Advanced Chess" CA style. With the CA interface, you can test
out moves by pressing the Ctrl key when making it on the board. This way the
move is considered analysis, and is entered into a variation and not sent to the
opponent. If you wish to officially make the move, just go back to the last move
played, and enter your move normally. With the full CA6, you would also have
access to the complete trees (in CA light they cut off after one side castles)
from the bases, CAP information, etc.

- Want to print the games? No problem. Not only can you set any number of
printing options, controlling the indexing such as variations on the same line
or on a new line, etc. You can choose the header presentation to look like a
typical book/magazine layout or even like the Informant, and if you don't like
it, you can customize it. Finally, if you need it for a bulletin, Export it to
RTF format to further edit in your favourite word processor.

- Printing on paper is for the dinossaurs you say? You can also enjoy the HTML
generating functions in CA Light (and CA6) that permit you to easily and
automatically generate web pages in either classic printout style (including
diagrams), or as snazzy Javascript pages with resizable boards, complete
annotations and variations, and a convenient drop-down menu to access the list
of games.

- There is complete support for the DGT sensory board as well, and it can be
used to play games against the program, against a human on ICC, or even just to
enter games from a board instead of recoursing to the mouse. There is a Sounds
file available for download that allows an option to speak the moves when
played.

Bear in mind that these are but a sample of the features, and the program
contains many many more.

Come and download it and see what all the fuss is about at
http://www.convekta.com


                                    Albert


------------------------------------------------

Please note that the upgrade files for CA6 to CA6.1 are also available for
download in all supported languages.



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