The Stored games window permits you to look at the History.
(20 games played latest) of a player, the personal Library of a player.
(accessible to the public collection of 100 favourite games of the player), and eventually an easy-to-use Search facility for searching through ICC database, made up of over 1,000,000 grandmaster games played on ICC. The list shows the games with their respective information divided into columns that can be reordered by clicking on their name at the top. The information shown is: the game number, white’s rating, white’s handle, black’s rating, black’s handle, the winner/state (aborted, adjourned, draw) of a game, a game’s type, time, increment, ECO code, how a game ended, time and date.
There is a toolbar at the side allowing you to load a highlighted game and finger white or black. At the bottom you will see a text box in which you place the handle of a player, after which you have only to press Load history, Load Library, or Load adjourned games.
On the left there is also a Search button that allows you to search quickly through ICC online database.
The challenges window only appears after you have received a direct challenge from a player.
It presents the information on the challenge in the following order: rating, challenger’s handle, color (if selected), type, time, increment, and finally a rating change in case of a win, draw, or loss. Double-clicking on a challenge immediately accepts it.
At the side there is a toolbar permitting you to accept also a challenge, decline it, remove it from the list, propose different game parameters, and finger a challenger.
20.2.10. Engines and Advanced chess
Chess Assistant allows you a number of options for using engines on ICC. You can either use one when watching a game (described in Watching games), or to play a game automatically, or even to play Advanced chess. For all of these purposes you can use any engine you configured in Chess Assistant.
It is possible to make an engine play automatically, though to do this you must either be using a computer account or play as a guest. If you play as a guest, the program will allow the engine to activate but will also send a message advising, “CA Engine is active”. When using the engine, you can make it share its analysis. This can happen either by setting it in the options to send the mainline automatically via kibitz or whisper, or it can be done manually. In this case you access the local menu of the engine window by clicking on it:. Remember that you can also create your own opening book, which the engine will use after.
Another trend that is now supported by Chess Assistant 8.1 is Advanced Chess. Advanced Chess is a format in which the player is allowed complete access to an engine plus their database program. In Chess Assistant, this means that not only can you activate the engine in the background, but you can also have the tree of your choice follow the moves, telling you the known alternatives and all their statistics. Furthermore, you can test out moves and variations on the board without sending them to your opponent, and those they cannot see. To do this, just keep the <Ctrl> key pressed while playing the move you want to analyze, and you will see it appear as a line in the notation window. After that, you no longer need to use the <Ctrl> key and all the other moves you make will be added in the commentary. When you've decided on a move, just go back to the last move in the notation, click on it, and just make your move. All the analysis will remain hidden from your opponent, though will stay in the notation and be saved with the game. Please remember that this can only be used as either a computer account on ICC or as a guest (though your opponent'll be told when the engine's being used in the latter case to avoid any cheating).