IVAN II
Operating Manual
Model 712
Congratulations on your purchase of
Excalibur Electronics’ IVAN! You’ve
purchased both your own personal chess
trainer and a partner who’s always ready
for a game—and who can improve as you
do! Talking and audio sounds add anoth-
er dimension to your IVAN computer for
increased enjoyment and play value.
Find the Pieces
Turn Ivan over carefully with his chess-
board facedown. Find the door marked
“PIECE COMPARTMENT DOOR”.
Open it and remove the chess pieces.
Replace the door and set the pieces aside
for now.
Install the Batteries
With Ivan facedown, find the door
marked “BATTERY DOOR’. Open it and
insert four (4) fresh, alkaline AA batteries
in the battery holder. Note the arrange-
ment of the batteries called for by the dia-
gram in the holder. Make sure that the
positive tip of each battery matches up
with the + sign in the battery compart-
ment so that polarity will be correct.
When the batteries are properly installed,
Ivan automatically turns himself on and
starts talking letting you know he's ready
for action. If Ivan does not start talking,
use a thin pointed object and press the
ACL button. Replace the battery com-
partment panel, and turn Ivan over.
Play a Game Right Away
After you have installed the batteries, the
display will show the chess board with all
the pieces on their starting squares. Place
the plastic chess pieces on their start
squares using the LCD screen as a guide.
The dot-matrix display will show
01
01
CHESS
CHESS
. This indicates you are at the
first move of the game and ready to play
chess.
Unless you instruct it otherwise, IVAN
gives you the White pieces—the ones at
the bottom of the board. White always
moves first. You’re ready to play!
Making your move
Besides deciding on a good move, you
have to move the piece in a way that Ivan
will recognize what's been played. Think
of communicating your move as a two-
step process--registering the
FROM
square and then registering the
TO
square.
Lift the piece or pawn you want to move.
Press the edge of the piece's base down
gently on the center of its
FROM
square.
Ivan will say and display the coordinates
of the
FROM
square-for example "E2."
