Features
Drag & Drop
Moves can be made by dragging pieces with the stylus to the desired destination. If you try to drop a piece on a illegal position it will just go back to were it came from...no cheating.
Helio can play black or white
You can let the Helio play either side of the board.
Two player mode
In this mode the program acts as an intelligent chessboard.
Selectable strength
Even at the highest setting your Helio won't beat Kasparov...it is not Deep Blue...honestly... Yet there may be reasons why you would want the Helio not to play its best game, for example when:
- Your chess playing skills are as good as mine (i.e. sucks);
- You are impatient, and don't like to wait for the Helio to make its move;
- You would like to preserve the battery of the Helio;
- You have some other excuse...
To reduce the play strength of the Helio you can specify the maximum amount of time the Helio is allowed to think about its move, or limit the maximum number of moves it is allowed to look ahead.
Undo moves
We all screw up sometimes...but with my chess playing skills (or lack thereof) a "undo" feature is simply a necessity. ChessMate lets you take back as many moves as you like up to the beginning of the game.
Greyscale or monochrome graphics
ChessMate can operate in greyscale mode or monochrome mode. With the right contrast setting greyscale mode looks a bit nicer, but under low lighting conditions monochrome mode may be more readable.
Auto save game
When you exit the ChessMate application, the current game will be automatically saved. When you start ChessMate again you can continue where you left off.
CPU boost option
The CPU boost option can be use to increase the play strength of the Helio without increasing the time needed to decide which move to make. When the CPU boost option is enabled, the CPU speed is switched to its maximum (75 MHz) when the Helio is thinking about its move. This way ChessMate can evaluate twice as many positions in a given time. However when the CPU runs at its maximum speed it drains the battery much more quickly, therefore this option can be disabled.
Preverve Battery mode
While the Helio thinks about its move it draws a fair amount of power from the batteries. The Preserve Battery mode prevents the batteries from completely being drained.
When the CPU boost option is enabled, and the battery level drops below a certain point, ChessMate will switch back to normal CPU speed (37.5 MHz). When the battery is nearly empty, the move selection process will be stopped, giving the battery a chance to recover. If that happens the best move found so far will be made.
Since the move selection process may be prematurely stopped, the Preserve Battery mode may reduce the play strength when the battery is running low.