news: SAGE 5000..
pc...@del.this.co.uk
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SAGE 5000 for WINDOWS represents the latest in intelligent
games playing software that will give even the very best
players a challenging game of checkers on the PC. SAGE can
analyse thousands of positions per second during its search,
however speed is not everything - SAGE has been programmed
by someone with an understanding of the game, and can make
good moves based on that analysis.
Features
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SAGE 5000 plays both ENGLISH and ITALIAN variants of draughts.
Run multiple copies of SAGE, analyse several games at once.
Set any level of playing strength, from 1 second to 1 day a
move, tournament style clock display used.
Package includes DYNAMO PRO that can play the 10x10, Pool,
Spanish, Russian, Canadian and Brazilian games.
New improved Windows 95/98 32 bit code and engine, much
faster/deeper searching capability.
Now includes the 6 piece database for English checkers on
CDROM.
Improved high quality ray-traced graphics, animation of piece
movements, icon toolbar controls.
Includes all the programs from our "Super Pack" compilation,
and CHECKER KIT demo program with BASIC source.
Replay/rewind games with natural "tape" controls, Save/Load
games to disk, Annotate game/moves with comments.
Set up your own problem positions for the computer to analyse.
Print moves or diagrams (using a checkers true-type font).
Powerful opening book-database which can contain set-up
positions and auto-find transpositions (& sides-reversed
positions). You can add your own games to the book, and mark
any move?,<,=,>,! (weak to strong, 5 grades).
Automatically analyse complete games move-by-move, saving the
results in a text file. It can analyse sets of EPD positions,
again posting the results (best line, eval) to a file.
SAGE supports PDN (Portable Draughts Notation) Database format
- a new way to annotate/store large numbers of games via
simple text files. You can browse a "1 line per game" summary
of a database, click on the one you want, search the database
for certain players/comments and even board position
transpositions - a very powerful tool!
Analysis (bestline/eval) can be spooled to a txt file while
you play, or added to comments automatically.
All functions are implemented with a terrific user interface -
most are available with a simple mouse-click on a picture-icon
button - despite its powerful features, even a beginner can
operate SAGE easily.
Performance
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The previous version of SAGE was second in the 1997
Man-Machine tournament, previously won the "Sam Cohen"
checkers tournament, and has a good track record against top
players. Here is an example game (in PDN format) with Derek
Oldbury, World Champion, playing against an earlier version of
SAGE, on a slow 12Mhz PC. [Event "Demo game"] [Black "Derek
Oldbury, World champion!"] [White "SAGE 2300, 286/12,
40sec/move"] 11-15 22-18 15-22 25-18 8-11 29-25 10-14 24-20
7-10 25-22 12-16 28-24 4-8 24-19 8-12 32-28 {the tempting
27-24 loses} 9-13 {3-7 loses to 19-15 10-19 27-24} 18-9 5-14
22-18 1-5 18-9 5-14 27-24 3-7 26-22 14-17 21-14 10-17-26
31-22 7-10 {Now at this stage Derek felt he had it sewn up but
he didn't expect the following..} 22-18 13-17 18-14 2-7 30-26
17-21 19-15! 11-18-27 20-11-2 10-17 2-9 27-31 26-23 {Drawn!}
Test Position
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Here is a test problem for SAGE (by D.Oldbury) White to play
and win. Can you see it? White: 6,10,14,15,18,19,22,23,27
Black: 1,3,7,12,K13,20,K25,26 Sage sees the 13 move solution
in a second and plays:- 27-24! 20*27, 14-9, 7*14, 15-11,
1-10, 11-7, 13*6, 18*9*2, 25*18, 23*14, 10*17, 19-16, 3*10,
2-6, 12*19, 6*15*24*31*22*13 White Win.
Ordering
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The SAGE 5000 package (including DYNAMO PRO and the PC
Solutions SUPER-PACK) runs on any PC Compatible (4MB+ RAM
recommended), and costs 39 pounds or $69 US, fully inclusive
of Air-mail delivery. UPGRADES: Owners of SAGE4001 or SAGE4000
can upgrade to SAGE 5000 for a reduced cost of 25 pounds or
$49 US, fully inclusive. Return of original SAGE disk is not
necessary if purchased from PC Solutions - just tell us your
original order date so we can check our records.
PC SOLUTIONS, PO BOX 954, BOURNEMOUTH BH7 6YJ, ENGLAND
EMAIL: pc...@tcp.co.uk
http://i.am/checkers
SAGE/DYNAMO checkers WWW site (inc shareware versions)
and CHESS GENIUS homepage:
http://i.am/pc_solutions