Activities/Gnuchess
About Gnuchess
Gnuchess is a Sugar front end to the gnuchess program [1], a computer program for playing chess.
Where to get Gnuchess
The Gnuchess activity is not yet available for download from the Sugar Activity Library: Gnuchess
The source code is available on on the Sugar Labs Gitorious server.
Using Gnuchess
The Toolbars
- from left to right
- Activity-toolbar Button
- (toolbar described below)
- Edit-toolbar Button
- (toolbar described below)
- View-toolbar Button
- (toolbar described below)
- Configure-toolbar Button
- (toolbar described below)
- Custom-toolbar Button
- (toolbar described below)
- New game
- Start a new game.
- Undo
- Revert last move (When playing against the robot, the last two moves are reverted.) Note that undo is disabled when playing remotely over the network.
- Hint
- Used to offer a hint to the current player
- Message area
- Current status, e.g., Hint, Check, Checkmate, et al.
- Stop Button
- Exit the activity
Activity Toolbar
- Activity name field
- used to change the name of the activity
- Reflection Button
- used to write descriptions for the Journal entry of this instance of Portfolio
- Share Button
- Gnuchess supports sharing with another Sugar user
- Copy
- Copy current game to clipboard (in algebraic chess notation)
- Paste
- Paste a game from the clipboard (in algebraic chess notation)
- Fullscreen
- Used to show board at full screen with no toolbars showing. (Type ESC to return from Fullscreen mode.)
- Playback
- Playback the current game as an animation.
- Game history
- See a transcript of the game history in algebraic chess notation [2].
- White
- Display of White's most recent move
- Black
- Display of Black's most recent move
- Default
- Use default pieces
- Sugar
- Use Sugar colors on pieces
- Custom
- Use custom pieces
- Play White
- You play White, your opponent plays Black
- Play Black
- You play Black, your opponent plays White
- Easy
- This is the minimal setting for gnuchess: "book off" and "depth 1"
- Hard
- This is default setting for gnuchess, which includes "book on"
- Play against the computer
- The computer will move automatically
- Play against a person
- Take turns on the same computer or an opponent on the network (button will change colors when playing over the network)
Used to load custom artwork for each piece from the Sugar Journal.
Additional notes
- In order to castle on the King's side (O-O), move the King to the g file.
- In order to castle on the Queen's side (O-O-O), move the King to c file.
- When the King is put in check, its square will flash
- When given a hint, the squares of the piece to move and its destination are flashed. Also, the hint is displayed in algebraic notation.
- The file saved to the Journal is in portable game format (PGN).
Additional notes re sharing
- The Sugar colors of ones opponent appear on the 'human' button.
- Only the sharing can start a new game.
- Resuming is somewhat broken in Version 1.
Learning with Gnuchess
There is a rich history and long tradition of chess. It is arguably a fun way to engage in strategic thinking. It it is fun.
Extending Gnuchess
The basic rules of chess are involute in Gnuchess. However, you can have some fun with the graphics. When you share, your custom artwork is shared with your opponent, so each side can design their own look and feel.
Where to report problems
You can soon report bugs and make feature requests on our bug-tracking system (You need to create an account first). To list all open tickets of Gnuchess you can use query component=Gnuchess. You are also welcome to leave comments/suggestions on the Talk:Activities/Gnuchess page.
Credits
The Sugar wrapper for GNU Chess was written and is maintained by User:Walter.