Introduction

The Chess Puzzles Application is designed to allow a user of a Palm OS based handheld to download chess puzzles to the device and solve them offline. By downloading and using the Chess Puzzles you agree to the terms of the license provided together with this document. If you do not agree to the terms of the license, please promptly remove the software from your computer and handheld.

This version works on all devices based on Palm OS version 3.0 or higher.

How to start

First, the user has to download the application and install it on their handheld. The application comes with a free sample selection of puzzles, which has to also be synced to the device. Additional databases of puzzles can be purchased and downloaded separately.

Selecting and downloading puzzles

The puzzles for the game are distributed in packs. The packs are available at the site where you downloaded the application. The packs come in three types: Category Packs, comprised of puzzles with a similar level of difficulty; Variety Packs, where puzzles of different levels are combined together; and Individual Selection Packs, where user creates his/her own puzzles collection.

Once the database is downloaded to the Palm, it's name appears in the list of available collections in the application. The user has to select a collection and then the list of puzzles included in it appears in the list. Once the puzzle is selected, the user moves to solve it.

A preview database containing a puzzle pack can be downloaded to the Palm without purchasing the database. In this case the puzzle position will be available for preview for 30 seconds. In order to unlock the full functionality of the puzzle a registration key should be purchased on the site where the game was downloaded, or on http://app.phonechess.com/PuzzleLoader/buy?pid=rdb.

Solving puzzles

The puzzle is solved when the player finds a way to accomplish the goal stated in the puzzle's description no matter what moves the opponent makes. The puzzles loaded to the server are checked to have only one solution, so if the goal is accomplished, for example the mate to black is reached in three moves, the puzzle is solved.

In order to make the process of solving the puzzle more interactive, the game has a built-in chess engine that makes the moves on behalf of the defending side. The moves are made with intent to prevent the player from accomplishing the goal and thus the process of solving the puzzle becomes trying to defeat the engine in the required number of moves.

The pieces are moved by selecting them by either dragging and dropping the selected piece from the current to the new position or by clicking on the current and the target squares. In order to save keystrokes and server interactions, the game calculates all possible moves for each piece prior to the move and then allows placing the pieces only into valid positions. The dotted frames on the origin and the destination indicate the opponent's last move. If after the player had picked up the picked, he/she decided to move another piece, moving the frame onto the piece's original position or clicking on the piece will put it down. After this the other piece can be moved.

Options while solving the puzzle

Additional options are available while solving the puzzle from the menu. The menu allows the player to view the solution to the puzzle, to take back the last move (including the opponent's response) and to restart the puzzle from the initial position.

Also the player may go back to the list of puzzles by selecting the Done button on the menu.

Defense Mode

If you disagree with the solution and think that you have found a defense that will spoil the attackers plan, you can switch into a Defense Mode through the menu. In this mode the game will play the attacker and you will play defense. You then can use that move that you found and make sure that the puzzle does have an answer to it (or may be not! - let us know if you found a way to prove the solution wrong).