MEGA CHESS BLENDS POWER AND STYLE WITH ADVANCED PLAY OPTIONS

This elegant table-top chess computer boasts a strong and flexible program that’s bound to appeal to the keen chess player. It’s big, clear custom LCD screen lets you quickly review special status reports, including an evaluation of your play and the search depth of the computer. You get 64 different levels of play to choose from, including Blitz and Tournament. Choose the way you want the computer to respond -- You can limit its options with Selective Search or let it play Brute Force, examining every possible option. A library of opening moves lets you face off against a variety of grand-master styles of play. Lets you take back and replay up to 30 moves. Automatically powers down with long-term memory to save battery life. 

Excerpts taken from “RadioShack Catalog 1995”

OPENING BOOK OPTIONS

The computer's opening book memory contains most major opening strategies so the computer can respond more rapidly during a game's opening moves.

The computer has the following opening books:

  Passive
  Active
  Normal
  Abnormal

You can influence the computer's style of play by activating or deactivating any of these options. When you activate an option, the computer selects positions more often from that option. When you deactivate an option, the computer selects fewer positions from that option.

NOTE: After you play through the computer's opening book, changing these options has no effect on how the computer plays. However, if you played actively during the game's opening moves, the computer usually continues to respond actively even after it completes the opening moves.

Passive Book (D2)

The computer normally chooses opening moves that follow active openings and open positions. However, you can set the computer so it can choose moves that follow more passive and closed strategies by setting this option to +.

Active Book (E2)

The computer normally chooses opening moves that stress passive plays and gambits. However, you can set the computer so it can choose moves that stress more active plays and gambits by setting this option to +.

Complete Book (F2)

The computer normally chooses only some of the moves from its opening books However, you can set the computer so it can choose any move from its opening books by setting this option to +.

NOTE: If you set this option to +, the computer might make questionable or illogical moves during play. This is because its opening book contains responses to many known lines of play (even illogical ones), in case the opponent plays them.

Tournament Book (G2)

The computer normally chooses from a wide range of moves, ranging in difficulty from easy to difficult. However, you can set the computer so it can choose only the most efficient moves by setting this option to +.

NOTE: If you set this option to +, the computer plays extremely well and is almost unbeatable. However, this option also narrows the computer's choice of moves, and makes the computer's responses to moves more limited.

Book On/Off (H2)

The computer normally selects moves from one or more opening books during the first few moves of a game. However, you can set the computer so it cannot use any of its opening books by setting this option to -.

NOTE: If you set this option to -, the computer must compute a response to an opponent's move "from scratch," resulting in slower play.

Excerpts taken from “RadioShack Mega 2050X” User Manual