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Download Last Move
, v.1.1 (self-extracted
file, 314kb). First levels are free!
If you like the program you can register and
buy a fully functional version online. Just click
on the Buy button below.
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Post, fax, and voice
registration are also available
here. Program costs $19.95. If you want to order
a CD, click here. |
IBM PC-486
Windows 95/98/2000/ME/XP
Graphics display adapter VGA or SVGA
Mouse or keyboard |
This is an example of the game (6th level of dificulty).
Click
here to look at it and try to solve it! |
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Last Move is the third program in the Chess Puzzles
Series. It is a generator of all sorts of game situations
in which you will have to make only a single move, but
that will be the most important one - mate to the opponent's
King. The program is going to teach you not only to
discover mates in the most difficult positions, standard-looking
as well as highly non-trivial, but also to create, construct
them on your own in the course of unusual and very fascinating
games. In spite of the seeming simplicity, the game
tasks will require of you to demonstrate all of your
best play-related abilities: ingenuity, intuition, logical
and creative thinking.
The objective of the game is to create by various means
situations of mate on the chessboard. The choice of
the proper method depends on the type of task you are
to fulfil. The program features 4 task types: 1) mate
in 1 move; 2) add the opponent's King on a square where
he is mate; 3) add pieces of your side's colour to have
the opponent's King mated; and 4) construct a position
of mate with the available pieces. If you cope with
them, you win; if you don't, you lose. You are always
playing for the stronger side, i.e. the side that creates
the situation of mate to the opponent's King.
Mate in 1 move
This task is similar to an ordinary chess problem in
which one of the sides is to mate the enemy King in
one move. The act of mate-giving is always up to you.
Situations are possible when there is more than one
way of giving mate. In order to win it is enough for
you to display any one of them, irrespective of the
type of mate you have set (see Features). You only need
to make a single move on the chessboard to cope with
the task.
Add King
In case of this task you will be asked to cope with
a problem position in which the opponent's King is missing.
Your objective is to add the King in such a way that
he is in a situation of mate. Note that in the thus
created position there is no need for a final mating
move. All you have to do is determine a square on which
the King is mate and then put him there.
Add pieces
This task type is similar to the previous one in that
you are also offered a position in which one or more
pieces are missing. But this time the absent material
is yours. You are to place the piece(s) on the board
so that the enemy King is mate. The pieces you may use
to construct mate are limited. Their number may vary
from 1 to 3, depending on the difficulty level of the
task. But the correctness of your solution is estimated
regardless of how many pieces you have used. The really
important thing is to achieve mate! For example, you
are asked to add 3 pieces but you have found a mate
in which only one of them is involved. In this case
it is enough for you to add only that single piece leaving
the others alone.
Construct mate
The essence of this task type is to create on the initially
empty chessboard a position in which the opponent's
King is mate. Two sets of pieces - white and black -
are at your disposal to carry out the assignment. Your
objective is to display maximum imagination and ingenuity.
You are free to invent the most unusual, non-stereotyped
and even "unreal" mates (i.e. mates that may
not be achieved in a real chess game). The principal
criterion for the success of your action is the fact
of mate. This task type will help you go beyond the
limits of traditional ideas about chess and discover
new capabilities of the "magical pieces."
The game has two modes: Play and Training. Play mode
incorporates 10 levels of difficulty. The difficulty
of a particular task depends on two factors: the number
of pieces involved and the time allotted for the solution.
The more pieces are on the chessboard, the greater is
the difficulty of the task, for the opponent has more
possibilities for avoiding likely threats of mate. The
higher the difficulty level, the less time you have
for discovering the solution.
The program generates three types of mate: 1) simple
mate; 2) mate through discovered check; and 3) mate
through double check. For each task you have coped with
the program gives you a certain number of points. The
higher the difficulty level, the more points you get.
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