Welcome to the homepage of ChessTask!
ChessTask is a tool for creating collections of chess problems, each consisting of
It closely works together with LaTeX and provides kind of a frontend for it. Additionally, the tasks can also be output to HTML files for publishing them on the internet. ChessTask supports the complete set of ``Informator symbols''.
If you are already curious about how the output of ChessTask looks like, cast a quick glance at the examples.
Otherwise, continue to read and learn what ChessTask is all about...for example by taking a small tour through the manual.
\board{eeeeeeek}
{eeeeeere}
{eepeeeeq}
{eeeeepee}
{eeeebeee}
{eQeeeeee}
{BBeeeerP}
{KeeeeeeR}
where the letter `e' stands for an empty square, uppercase letters represent
the white pieces and lowercase letters the black ones.
As one can clearly see, it is not easy to judge whether the position is set up correctly
or not. One
would have to save the input file, call LaTeX and look at the produced
output:
LaTeX output (PDF)
in order to verify that White can really checkmate in one move. The current version
of ChessTask uses the ``skak'' package by Torben Hoffmann for displaying
moves and the chess board. Setting up a position is much easier now, a single
FEN (Forsyth Edwards Notation) string will do the trick. However, still some
kind of graphical interface---like WinBoard/XBoard---is required or at least
very helpful.
This was the first point that led me to writing ChessTask. I wanted to set up the
board while looking at "real" pieces and not letters.
The second point was that I wanted to produce only one output file.
It should start with the tasks and then, on a new page, the list of solutions should begin.
If one edits a file like this with a normal text editor one has to jump back and forth
between tasks and solutions, always trying to ensure that the correct order is preserved.
Now, ChessTask takes care of this intricacy. Each chess problem is set up
in a single step, including the board diagram, the title of the task, the problem
itself and the solution. While exporting to LaTeX or HTML
the solutions get separated from the tasks automatically.
TeX was written by Donald E. Knuth. It is mainly used to write
articles, papers and books that contain lots of mathematics or are of scientific nature in general.
By the use of special extensions (like the macro package LaTeX by Leslie Lamport)
TeX can solve almost
any textprocessing task (e.g. writing office letters), while producing high quality output.
It supports all kinds of languages like Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew a.s.o. and can also output
"special characters" like notes and bars for publishing a piece of music or
chess pieces for displaying positions.
TeX/LaTeX does not support WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). Instead, one edits an ASCII file, containing the text and commands for formatting it, which is the input file for TeX. As output, a DVI (DeVice Independent) file is created that can either be viewed or converted to other formats like PostScript or PDF and then be printed.
One good thing about TeX/LaTeX is, that it is available for almost any operating
system. And it is absolutely free of charge!
But probably the best thing in connection with ChessTask is, that you do not have
to learn TeX/LaTeX at all (In fact, TeX is a programming language
with about 900 different basic commands). You only need to install it and ChessTask
creates the input files for you automatically while exporting your tasks.
If you got interested and want to test LaTeX please visit the following homepages
And if you do not want to tangle with LaTeX you can still export your tasks to HTML and print them using your browser...
For unZIPing the archives in Windows you need an extracting program like WinZip or Zip'N'All that supports long file names. If you want to boldly go where no Zip user has gone before, you might want to check out the list of Freeware Zip progs.
In order to compile ChessTask for Windows, you need:
In order to compile ChessTask for Unix/Linux, you need:
| Name | Content |
| ChessTask2_0src.zip | Source files for both, Unix/Linux and Windows |
| ChessTask2_0wine.zip | Precompiled version for Windows ("English" as default language) |
| ChessTask2_0wing.zip | Precompiled version for Windows ("German" as default language) |
Please regard the files `README' and `COPYING' for the terms of the GNU GPL (General Public License) and further instructions about compiling ChessTask and its usage.
Using Doxygen you can easily generate a documentation for the source files if you want to.
Pgn2ltx: Converts PGN (Portable Game Notation)
games to a LaTeX input file, using the ``skak'' package.
Fen2eps: Converts FEN (Forsyth Edwards Notation)
strings directly to an EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) file.
For a whole bunch of nice tools, diagram editors, chess fonts, databases, chess programs a.s.o. visit the great site of the Norresundby Chess Club maintained by Eric Bentzen and friends.
Dirk Bächle, 2004-03-24