Zork has participated in E-mail tournaments in IECC, IECG and SEMI.

Contents:

ZORKINIT.GAM
E-MAIL PROCEDURE
TWO-GAME MATCHES


ZORKINIT.GAM

When you first install Zork, you will need to edit your e-mail address into the first line of zorkinit.gam.  If you are installing a new version of Zork, you may want to retain your option settings in zork.ini, and any changes you have made to zorkinit.gam.  Move these files to another directory, or rename them, before installing the new version of Zork; and then copy or rename them back again.  This will work except for very early versions of zork.ini that were shorter than 130 bytes.

When you update zorkinit.gam, be careful to write it back out as an ordinary text file.  For example, when you read a text file into Write (Windows 3.1), it asks "Do you want to convert this file to Write format?"  Select the "No conversion" option.  zorkinit.gam is about 100 characters long.  After you edit and save it, you can use File Manager or Explorer to verify that it hasn't suddenly increased to several thousand characters (on Win95 Explorer, you have to select the file, then select "Properties" on the File Menu, to find out the exact size of a file).  If it has, you have written it out in the wrong format.

When you edit your e-mail address into zorkinit.gam, you may also add PGN titles.  The PGN titles in zorkinit.gam always appear in the PGN dialog.  You can enter additional PGN titles directly into the PGN dialog, but they are retained only until Zork terminates, and will not be there the next time you run Zork.  Zork also adds titles to the PGN dialogue whenever it reads a game with additional PGN titles.

By default, the mail messages generated by Zork do not contain message headers.  Zork assumes that you will be using your mail program's address book, or it's "Reply" function, to send your messages.  If you are using a telnet-based mail program like Pine and want the message headers, turn on the check mark by the menu item "Message Headers".  By default, Zork generates the header lines "To:", "Cc:", and "Subject:"; you can edit zorkinit.gam to add or drop header lines to match up with your mail program.  Mail header definitions must all be at the beginning of zorkinit.gam, with "From:" and "To:" first and always present; all mail header tags must end with colon (:).  Following the mail header tags in zorkinit.gam are the default PGN tags for the PGN dialog.


E-MAIL PROCEDURE

A new game can be initialized with "New Game", "Random Game" or "Paste".  The latter can be used to paste in a game already in progress, or to paste in PGN info provided by the TD (this comes into play particularly in random tournaments, when the TD supplies Setup or FEN specifications).

Fill in "PGN Info..." as needed on the Options Menu.  If you begin by entering the To: address before entering White and Black, Zork provides a series of services.  It displays an additional dialogue to prompt for color (of the first game, if a two-game match), two-game matches, chess club, and tournament start date.  Then it uses the From: and To: addresses to generate White, Black, and a default filename.  (NOTE: if the name in the e-mail address comprises more than two words, Zork assumes it is a name in the European style, e.g., it converts "Mies van der Rohe" into "van der Rohe, Mies"; if the name is American-style, with a middle name, you will have to edit the name generated for White and/or Black.)  If the club is IECG, Zork generates an e-mail chess clock initialized to the tournament start date.  If you generate an IECG chess clock in this manner, Zork will update the received date when you use "Paste & Compare", and update the replied date and your time used when you use "Copy & Save".  If you send moves before the start date, Zork will not update your time usage until the tournament officially begins.

Finally, after making move(s) as appropriate, save the game to a new file.  Subsequently, upon receiving a move from your opponent:

1. Use "Read Game..." to select the game file and display the current position.  Any information in the file following the game will be retained in Zork's message window.  Steps 1 and 2 can be combined with the new command "Paste Read Compare", which uses a filename generated in the same manner as for a new game file.

2. Copy the opponent's game score from the mail window using the copy function provided by the mail program.  Then "Paste & Compare" to verify the game score and view your opponent's new move.  If the mail message includes any additional information following the game score, you can include it in the copy & paste, and it will be appended to Zork's message window.

Zork will update the received date in the IECG chess clock, and ask for your opponent's time usage, at this time.  If you decide you are not yet ready to select a move in reply, save your game at this time to preserve your opponent's move and time usage, and your received date.  Then (of course) you will skip this step next time you read the game from disk to contemplate a reply.

3. Make your move.

4. Use "Edit Message" to add greetings, comments, etc. to your message; and to update chess clock info manually.  You can use "Edit Private" to save analysis and information about your opponent on disk without it appearing in the messages that you send.

5. Use "Copy & Save" to write the game to disk and to the Windows Paste Buffer.  Anything that has been retained in Zork's message window will be included with the game, both on disk and in the Paste Buffer.  Zork updates the IECG chess clock (replied date and your time used) at this time.

6. Paste your game into the mail message text window.

7. You can now review your message in the mail window before using the commands of your mail program to send the message.


TWO-GAME MATCHES

The first game of a two-game match can be initialized in the usual manner.  Fill in "PGN Info..." before proceeding to "Second Game".  Zork will switch "White" and "Black" automatically in the PGN info, but you may need to edit "Event", which includes a suffix of ".1" or ".2" in IECC.  You can now make a move to the second game, if you wish, and save the games to a file.

For subsequent moves:

1. Use "Read Game..." to select the game file and display the first game.  Or "Paste Read Compare", combining Steps 1 and 2.

2. Copy the first or both game scores from the mail window, then "Paste & Compare".

3. Make your move to the first game.

4. Use "Read Second Game".

5. If you copied only the first game score at step 2, now copy the second game score.  Then "Paste & Compare".  If you copied both game scores at step 2, no action is needed here; comparison of the second game will proceed automatically.

6. Make your move to the second game.

Now, proceed from step 4 under E-MAIL PROCEDURE.

If you're looking at the second game and want to go back and look at the first again, "Copy & Save" repositions you back to the first game.
