How to use chess board applet at ChessLab

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ChessLab board can be used for: moving the chess pieces and playing as you would with a real chessboard setting up any positions that you want to search for or analyze viewing puzzles and their solutions in ChessLab Interactive Magazine generating and downloading the PGN representation of the game played on or loaded into ChessLab board selecting different sets of chess pieces, sizes and colors for the chessboard loading your games into ChessLab board observing and learning names of opening and variations ChessLab Board Description ChessLab board has 2 operating modes: 'Play mode' and 'Setup mode'. Play mode is the default. You can switch between these 2 modes via the option buttons marked as 'Play' and 'Setup' on the right-hand side of the chessboard. In the 'Play mode', ChessLab board 'knows' the rules of the game, so it would not perform any illegal chess moves. Move list displays the moves made in standard chess PGN notation. In the setup mode, any chess position can be set: any chess piece (except kings) can be deleted off the board or added to the board. You can add chess pieces to the board by dragging them with a mouse from a rectangular area under the chessboard.  In Setup mode, you can also set whether it is White's or Black's turn to move by selecting the corresponding option buttons under the chessboard. You can castle only in 'Play' mode. Position setup mode is for dragging pieces only & no move rules are applied to enable a free-form setup and correction. Once you set up the position, you can change the play mode where rules are applied.

Move List

You can see the move list on the right-hand side of the chessboard. In Play mode, as you move the chess pieces, the move list displays the moves in standard PGN notation. The current move is highlighted.  In both Play mode and Setup mode, the move list displays the

VCR-like buttons

You can see the VCR-like buttons on the right-hand side of the chessboard under the move list. If the game is played on the chessboard or loaded into it, you can use these butons to go through the game move-by-move. With VCR-like buttons, you can go back and forward in the move list, as well as to the beginning and to the end of the game.

Start, Clear and Flip buttons

'Start' button restarts the game in the Play mode from the initial position with White pieces on the bottom of the board. 'Clear' button clears up the chessboard of all pieces (except kings) and sets the ChessLab board into a Setup mode, so that you can add and move chess pieces from a rectangular area under the chessboard. 'Flip' button reverses the chessboard. This button can be used at any time in the game and it does not re-initialize the position.

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