June 1, 1997

Welcome to Mini-PGN 2.0 for Microsoft Windows 95/NT!  I hope you enjoy it.
This is the second release of Mini-PGN and it is in beta release right now.
It includes several enhancements, performance improvements and bug fixes
from Mini-PGN 1.0.


What is Mini-PGN?

Mini-PGN is a Microsoft Windows 95/NT program I created to read PGN chess
game files and play them back on IBM compatible personal computers.  It 
is not a shareware or commercial program.  In order to use it, you must
agree that you:

- will not sell this program or package this program for resale
- will not claim that you wrote this program or that you own it
- will use it in a manner that is consistent with the disclaimer and license.

Mini-PGN is not a chess playing program.  It does not play chess, rather 
it replays previously recorded chess games.  It also supplies a board that
you can you analyze the games yourself without having a real chess board
available.  If you are a chess teacher, this might be a good tool for you
to use while reviewing a game in front of your class or student.

I wrote Mini-PGN using Microsoft's Visual Basic 5.0 and Windows 95 and have
tested it on several platforms.  It is logistically impossible for me 
to test Mini-PGN on all possible platforms so if it does not work on your
system, please accept my apologies.  Send me as much information as you 
can and I will try (but can not guarantee) to fix it.  Specifically, Mini
-PGN has not been tested on slower machines (i386 and slower) or low memory
systems (8Mb and lower).

Mini-PGN represents each game as two movable windows.  One window is a
chess board position window and the other is a gamescore position window.  
The chess board position window (called the BOARD window) has several
controls on it described below.  The gamescore position window (called the
GAMESCORE window) has only one scroll bar control on it.

Another item of note is that, although illegal moves are theoretically bad
PGN moves, some programs I have used will allow them.  Mini-PGN checks
the validity of each move and will not allow an illegal move to be played
This includes disallowing moves that leave a king in check, capture 
en passant when it is no longer allowed, castle when its illegal, etc.


Installation Instructions

You should be in possesion of a MINIPGN2.ZIP file.  After unZIPing it, you
will see a series of files and a SETUP.EXE program.  Run the SETUP program
and then you can use the MINI-PGN.EXE.  It will create a Program Group
if you wish and install the Mini-PGN icon in it.  The Mini-PGN icon is 
a small white pawn.

You can install Mini-PGN as a helper app in a World Wide Web browser.
Simply tell your browser (Netscape's Navigator, Microsoft's Internet
Explor er, etc.) to associate PGN files with MINI-PGN.EXE.  After that,
whenever you download PGN files, MINI-PGN will automatically load and read
them.

For example, in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3.0 browser, click on Options
then click on the Programs tab.  Then click on the File Types button.
You will see a large number of file extensions and program names that are
launched when these file extensions are used.  Simply associate PGN files
with MINI-PGN.EXE.

Mini-PGN.DOC is a user's guide.  WhatsNew.DOC is Mini-PGN's release notes
RESUME.DOC is my current resume in Microsoft Windows Word format.

I have included two public domain PGN game files as well.  The first game
file is called ACM96.PGN - it is all six games of the first Kasparov vs.
Deep Blue chess match.  It is a nice exhibition of a very powerful chess
program playing one of the best chess players in the world under tournament
conditions.  The second game file is called DB-K2.PGN - it is the rematch
between Deep Blue and Kasparov.

Gary J. Allard
