Categories
android followchess

Follow Chess 1.0 released!! Now follow moves from multiple Chess tournaments

Follow Chess v1.0
  Follow Chess v1.0 for Android was released today! With it, you can now watch multiple Chess tournaments in multi-board format!

Check out moves from multiple international chess tournaments.
Currently broadcasting Women’s Grand Prix, 14th Bangkok Club Open, Danish National Class, Fagernes International and Dubai Open!!
Dont like the Ads? See Menu – Remove Ads to remove all Ads and go Pro! This will also unlock all features that may be added in the future!

 

TIP : Tap on any board in the multi-screen view to launch the offline Analysis Board.

Offline Analysis Board – Play through the moves or even enter you own moves to understand the nuances of the game!

Please note that this board will not auto-refresh if new moves are made in the actual game.

Hit the Menu – Analyze This and you get the full game (with your variations!) into Analyze This app for saving, sharing and further analysis!

TIP : Instant Engine Analysis – Double tap the board in this screen to launch the instant engine analysis with my Analyze This app!
TIP : Flip Board – Like my other Chess apps, swipe your finger down on the board to flip the board!

The app supports nearly 5300 Android devices!!! As usual, there could be issues with certain devices running on certain Android versions. If you are one of those unlucky ones, please send me an email at pereiraasim@gmail.com and I would be able to fix it. Leaving a review on the Play Store, does not give me enough information to fix the issue; so it will remain as it is! Instead, pls mail me!

Even if there is no issue, just mail me with your feedback. I like to listen to em!

DOWNLOAD (PLAY STORE)

Future Features
– Games from previous rounds
– Pairing & Schedule
– Results
…till then, happy viewing!

Chess Book Study for iPad – Help

Chess Book Study app on iTunes

1. How do I copy my personal ebooks?
NEW in v1.2 – Now with v1.2, you no longer need to connect your iPad to iTunes to copy the ebooks. You can simply open your Chess PDFs via Dropbox, Drive, Email or other supported Apps! (see note below)

Connect your iPad to iTunes on your Mac or PC. (You can also connect it on Linux.) Then locate the Chess Book Study App’s Documents folder. Copy your book to the Documents folder and you are done! (Disconnect your iPad and the book should be visible)
Please note that only ebooks/magazines in PDF format are supported.

2. What features does the iOS app currently support?
Add/View Bookmarks – You can add multiple bookmarks or jump to bookmarked page.
Brightness – Change screen brightness (useful when reading in low light)
Show/Hide board – You can view the book in full screen by hiding the board
Board Colors – Choose a different board color
New Board
Following features are in the Pro version only:
Position Setup [PRO] – Set up a new board position
Flip board [PRO]

3. Tip to navigate the book – tap bottom for next page, tap top for previous page
You can swipe through the pages of the books. Additionally, you can tap the bottom of the book to load next page. Tap the top of the book to view previous page.

Got an issue? Please email me at pereiraasim@gmail.com

Ex: How to open PDF from Dropbox

In Dropbox , tap the “Share” icon which has a upward pointing arrow. It will show a Popup.
Then choose Open In… and Chess Book Study app should be listed.

Should Anand win the Candidates?

A smiling Anand at the Candidates 2014
(pic by @NastiaKarlovich)

Note, the question is no longer, “Will Anand win the Candidates?” since this is now put to rest after the first 6 rounds. But my question is; should he?

Today is a rest day for the players and me too (after a BIG Analyze This app release). So I thought it was a good day to rest a bit, take a break from programming and ponder over this Q.

Should Anand win the Candidates?!“.
Sounds dubious, doesn’t it? After all, which player would not want to win a tournament and challenge Magnus Carlsen himself!? And which fan would not want his favorite star to win the Candidates? But should he?

Before I start getting threat calls from Chennai, and Vishy himself ‘unfriends’ me on FB and stops following on Twitter, let me make it clear. I am a big Anand-fan and would like to see him play forever!

There is no doubt about his stature. He is a legend who has single-handedly carried the expectations of a million Indians Chess fans (and one of the reason I quit my full-time job and started working on my Chess Apps and eBooks). He has won everything there was worth winning.

And the way he is currently playing, is a treat to watch. Then, why this question?

Lets take 3 likely scenarios when the Candidates tourney ends:

Scenario 1 : Anand plays badly here-after (r6) and ends up somewhere in the middle of the standing.
This will be obviously bad for him and his fans, especially after a dream start like this. We fans and probably Anand himself would not have imagined that he would be in sole lead after 6 rounds!
This will be quite disastrous.

Scenario 2 : Anand wins the Candidates and the right to challenge Carlsen (again!). Many Chess fans would think this would be the easiest pairing for Carlsen and a lop-sided match. I am sure even Carlsen, would probably stop practicing on his Play Magnus app and stop drinking Orange Juice. He might even take up additional modelling assignments or sign-up a movie! (“Board Wars – Return of the Tiger” starring Liv Tyler and some south Indian dude).

But would Anand himself like to play Carlsen again? Carlsen is strong, but not unbeatable. And he might even take some inspiration from the Rocky movies. According to reports, Anand was initially planning to skip the Candidates (probably because he wanted a nice break and wasn’t really thinking of matching Carlsen again). Would the Chess-world (barring Indian fans), be excited again to watch the match? (well I bet, on any given day a Carlsen-Anand match would have more viewers than a Carlsen-XYZ match)
Anand will now need to spend months in intense preparation if he has to beat Carlsen.

If Anand defeats Carlsen, does it make Anand more greater than he already is? It would be another feather in his overcrowded hat and an impossible comeback! But at some point, the new generation has to overtake the older while the legends fade, and that is perfectly natural!
If Anand loses again, the cycle repeats!?

Scenario 3 : Anand narrowly misses the ticket and finishes 2nd in the Candidates. Probably Aronian beats him on tiebreaks.
Fans will definitely be sympathetic towards Anand and be happy that against all odds, he played a superb tournament and the “tiger is back”. No hard feelings. Even Anand would feel good about his performance.
Anand goes on a nice extended holiday with his family, feeling content that he performed his best and came very close to winning it. He gains a dozen rating points and is having a good time, till his next tournament. Less pressure!

What do you think? Should Anand win the Candidates?

Categories
analyzethis android

Analyze This v3.0!! Lots of features and fun in your favorite Android Chess app!

Extremely happy to have released Analyze This v3.0 today. This culminates many months of work and I could not have been more happier than this.

This release has lots of exciting features and I am personally very happy with it.

WHAT’S NEW in 3.0?

  • Delete games from PGN file (remember to always back-up your precious PGN files!) (Thx Mesut, Romuald, Claude)
  • Copy Engine output to Notation – Handy if you like to permanently save the engine analysis to PGN. To copy the whole line to notation, simply touch and hold the line. Alternately, you can also tap the engine name and choose ‘Clip main-line’ to copy just the main line. (Thx Timotei, Kevin, Mazzy)
  • Play against Mobile / Engine shootout [PRO Only] – Wonder why the GM resigned in his game? Now you can try that position and play it against the Engine. Or wish to sharpen your Endgame skills? Play it out against the Engine. You can start a different engine (or even the same engine) for the other side, and have the Engines play against each other and finish off the game! This can be a really powerful tool to practice endgames or certain winning positions and test your skills against the machine.
  • Annotation editor – Add comments and symbols. You can tap on any other move and enter the comment for that move too. Makes it easier to quickly annotate a game.
  • Quick Annotation Palette – For those cases where you simply want to add a symbol. Just double-tap any empty square on the board and quickly choose the symbol It cannot get easier than this!
  • Promote variation – You can now promote sub variations from the Notation view.
  • Auto-replay game  [PRO Only] – Like to go through many master games? Then this is for you. Load your favorite games and let the app automatically move through the game.
  • Variation chooser – Sometimes when you are studying an annotated game with lots of variations, its not easier to find the sub variation inside the large variation tree. Analyze This gives a handy list of variations for you to choose. Tap the variation to enter it. At the end of the sub-variation, you can tap-tap (twice) to automatically jump back to the main line. Pretty handy I say! (Thx Durga Prasad)
  • Player lookup via Wikipedia – Sometimes when I browse through PGNs downloaded from theweekinchess.com, I come across good games played by relatively unknown players. This feature makes it handy to lookup the player’s profile (if exists) on Wikipedia. It is also a good way to check on your favorite players and their important statistics.
  • Swipe to change games – Say you loaded a game from your PGN file. Now to load the next game, you simply swipe left-wards on the board. Similarly, swipe right to load the previous game from the PGN. (every time you restart the app and swipe, you will be shown the games list for the first time. Subsequently, swiping will work as expected) (Thx Joseph)
  • Arrows and Highlights – Sharing the board as image just got prettier. Before you share the image, you can highlight key squares and draw arrows! (Thx Carlos)
  • Single tap to launch Notation menu. If you already have a move highlighted in the Notation view, then you simply touch it one more time to access the Notation menu (Delete Move, Promote variation, Annotation Editor) options.
  • Improved Fritz color (hopefully this is easier on the eyes on brighter devices) (Thx Zamana)
  • Stockfish upgraded to DD (another update v3.0.2 was released with Stockfish 3.0 included. If DD has problems running on your device, you can switch the engines from the Manage Engines screen). Added support for intel Phones. (Thx Eric and neevstation)
  • Move to sd card (for supported devices) – App can now be moved to the SD card (if you are falling short of space on the internal memory). Please let me know in case some things don’t work. (Thx Larry)
and some more…!
PHEWW!

Check out the Tips and Tricks!

Download Links:
PLAY STORE
AMAZON APP STORE (v3.0 releasing soon)

PS: The app has been thoroughly tested (as much as one person could!) and there may be some potential problems. Please drop me a note if you see anything odd!
IMP: If you see some weird behavior after upgrade (over your existing version), its always best to uninstall and re-install again!

Categories
android followchess

Follow Chess – New Android app to watch live chess games

Friends,

Here is a simple App to watch the Live games from the Candidates 2014 tournament.
FOLLOW CHESS on the Play Store

With multiple boards, you surely cannot miss a move!
‘Follow Chess’ will broadcast many more tournaments in the future and have many awesome features like my other Chess apps. Stay tuned!

FOLLOW CHESS on the Play Store

Cheers,
Asim

New Kindle ebook – Chess Tactics Gym! (1500+ diagrams in 25+ themes)

Friends, I am excited to release my new ebook, Chess Tactics Gym!

Ever wondered how nice it would be if you could master one Tactical idea at a time. Looking at multiple tactical positions with the same theme can help you understand the theme and improve, if not master it.
This is exactly what this book is all about. You study 100+ examples on Knight Forks, or 100+ examples of Deflection and so on, till the idea sinks in.
Think you already know the basic themes like Fork, Pin, Skewer, Deflection? Wait till you read the chapters on “Back-rank weakness”, “Back-rank deflection”, “Exploiting the Pin”, “Rook lift”, “Exploiting weak squares” etc.

Overall, with 1500+ diagrams from recent 2013 games categorized into 25+ themes, I am confident you have never seen a book like this! Players below 2000 ELO will definitely find it most beneficial, but even stronger players would find it entertaining (How about the chapter on Pretty and Unfortunate mates!)

The book also has 300 exercises in the end to test your newly acquired knowledge!

TABLE OF CONTENTS
♚ Part I – Basic Ideas

  • Fork
    • Knight Fork (130 positions)
    • Bishop Fork (33)
    • Rook Fork (12)
    • Pawn Fork (9)
  • Skewer (28)
  • Pin
    • Pin against the King (38)
    • Pin against other pieces (7)
  • Exploiting the Pin
    • Material gain (99)
    • Knight forks revisited (32)
    • Check mate (30)
  • Deflection
    • Simple Deflection (130)
    • Back-rank Deflection (23)
  • Discovered Attack & Check
    • Discovered Attack (95)
    • Discovered Check (32)
  • Double Attack (74)

♚ Part II – Advanced Ideas

  • Assault on the King
    • Exposing the King (38)
    • Exploiting Weak Squares (21)
    • Back-rank Weakness (30)
    • The Rook Lift (7)
  • Removing the Defender (67)
  • Special themes
    • Clearing (22)
    • Blocking (10)
    • Zwischenzug (11)
    • Queen Traps (26)
  • Mates
    • Back-rank Mate (53)
    • h-file Mate (10)
    • Pretty Mate (38)
    • Unfortunate Mate (18)

♚ Part III – Exercises


NOTE : 1500+ diagrams make it a very large book (approx 27MB). Hence, download from Amazon may take time!

VIEW ON AMAZON

“The Champion’s League” – An article by Aruna Anand

This article by Aruna Anand appeared in Culturama magazine (January 2014 edition)


“On December 24, 1995, as a young girl full of rebellious ideas, I was ushered into our drawing room to meet a man who could, if we pleased, become my prospective husband. As I mentioned I was rebellious, I refused to carry the customary coffee tumblers and sweets that make up the tradition of our girl-seeing* ceremony.

The boy was smart, no doubt, well travelled, extremely courteous and well mannered. We introduced ourselves and spoke about innocuous things like the weather and traffic. As we had nothing outwardly annoying to say about each other, we decided to be married. And that was how I came to be known as Mrs. Viswanathan Anand.

For me, he is just Anand, a simple person who loves Mexican food and has a trained sense of humour. To the world, he is Vishy, a celebrated five-time world chess champion.

As a newly minted bride, our honeymoon was in Dortmund at a chess tournament. I used to cuddle up in a corner of the theatre and sleep. Every time there was applause I would wake up to see Anand walk off the stage. I would be so afraid to meet anyone’s gaze as I had no idea what had happened. I would hide in the restroom and wait for Anand to call out to me. That was my first ever experience with chess.

Anand as a player and person is very principled. He is very happy just sticking to his principles even if it means having to sacrifice short-term goals. For him, being part of the journey is as important as the destination.

And many a time he has been at the wrong end of the chess politics. He hates to complain or whine. He just likes to get on with it and not waste too much time on what is out of his grasp. In 2002, I remember when the chess world decided to put aside its differences and unite in forging a unified title, the truce came at the cost of Anand being excluded from the championship. I remember a famous American Grandmaster who engineered this truce telling, Anand, “Vishy you are a gentleman and a nice guy, so you understand we had to keep you out for the betterment of chess”. It was the first time I saw Anand angry. Even then, he smiled and said, “Bon Appetite” and moved on. Later on, I remember, we decided not to be part of the whole unification process and just not attend the meeting. It was his way of saying my way or the highway. I told Anand not to worry as this truce would soon end up in a wastepaper basket.

Sometimes a woman’s intuition holds when reason and ego are at stake .

When the chess world bowed to the demands of various governments to get their wards to have a shot at the chess title, it was always Anand who had to play. I remember the time before the acrimonious title defence in Sofia. We had to undertake this 40-hour trip to Sofia across four countries as the air space was closed. Anand said just one beautiful thing to me. “You are putting everything you got on the line here. Trust me. I will get on with the job.” I think that was the moment I really treasured despite having had to drive through the pot-holed roads of Romania without cell phone coverage. The outside world did not see a man with steely grit wanting the title defence badly because he never once used the 40-hour trip as an excuse. For me, personally, winning in Sofia was the most defining moment of his career. If the world championships were the crowns, this was clearly the diamond in it.

The toughest thing about Anand the person and the champion is that being a nice guy you can’t be anything but a nice guy! You have to be nice whether you like it or not. Sometimes I have seen him angry and still patiently finish replying to an irate journalist. I would often tell him to just tell the man to lump it. Anand would smile and say that if he considered the time taken to make the person understand he is angry, it would take half that to mumble the answer. In 2011, Anand had a very different role to play — that of a father. We always joked that he was more exhausted after childbirth than I was. As a father, I have to say he is indulgent, although he does try hard to look stern. But Akhil is as smart as his dad and has figured who the bad cop in the family is. I would like Akhil to get Anand’s sense of humour and humility for a start.

As a wife and mother, the best time for me is when our family is together and we don’t have to connect to Skype to make our day seem normal. We enjoy doing the most normal things together. The most special moment is when a child of two-and-a-half and a chess legend can jump on a bed and throw pillows at each other while I watch my bedroom falling apart and pretend to be angry. For me, at that moment, I feel the Anands are at home and complete.

*The girl-seeing ceremony is part and parcel of the arranged marriage system, where a prospective groom meets a prospective bride for the first time, with both families present. The ceremony typically has the girl serving coffee and sweets to the groom and family, which is followed by a performance of her talents in music or dance. Today, this has changed drastically, where the boy and girl meet on formal dates to get to know each other.

By Aruna Anand (wife of Vishy Anand)


Thanks to Mr Kameswaran for posting these images on FB

Original Source: http://culturama.in/13966/?page_number=1
Categories
android ichess

Chess – How to improve your Tactical defense?

Chess is 99% tactics. Many games are won when you spot a tactical shot or simply miss one from your opponent.
Hence, apart from sharpening your own tactical skills, it is also important to improve your defensive skills, so that you don’t easily fall prey to your opponent’s Tactical shots.

The key here is to be aware of THREATS in any given position. When you are aware of the Threats in the position, you would naturally take precaution to not leave a piece enprise or safe guard your King from the impending mate.

So, improving your ability to spot Threats in the position is a sure shot way to bump up your tactical defense.

Take a moment to study the following position (It is White to move and imagine YOU are playing Black). It is a very simple position, but ask yourself.
“What is White threatening?”
“Are any of my pieces undefended?”

Once you notice that your Rook on a6 has no support and it can be attacked by Qc8 (with check!), you would know what to do! So if instead of White, it was your turn (Black’s move), you would naturally safe guard the Rook or exchange off the enemy Queen.

Another simple example (White to move and you are Black).
“What is White threatening?”

Qf8+ immediately finishes the game. So if you were playing Black and it was your move instead, you would protect against the mate with say …Kg7

A more difficult puzzle with Black to move. Ask yourself the same question.
“What is Black threatening?”

Oh, thats infact simple. Black would play Bxg2 mate! You now know the Threat.

What if the position was actually like this with Black to move:

You can immediately spot the tactical motif for your opponent. Remember you are playing White and the idea is to ask “What is Black threatening?”
The threat is: Black will play Qxf4 sacrificing his queen to “deflect” the White queen away from the protection of the g2 pawn. Then after you reply with Qxf4, your opponent (Black) will play the deadly Bxg2 and hold his head high up while the onlookers admire his skill.
Instead, if it was your turn to move (White), you would see the “Threat” and protect yourself against the embarrassing mate!

Summary

  1. Always ask yourself, “What is my opponent threatening?” or “What will be my opponent’s next move”
  2. Watch your opponent’s last move (99% of the times, your opponent’s last move has all the “Threats”)
  3. Always look out for the “checks”, “captures” and “threats” in the position.
  4. After a good amount of practice/training, points 1, 2 and 3 above would actually be obsolete and you would no longer have to do that, since your brain and intuition will automatically make you aware of the impending Threats. You would naturally get a feel for the position. However, never let down your guard!
  5. Practice, Practice, Practice, no short cuts!

How to practice?

  1. Pick up your favorite puzzle book (even if you have already solved all the puzzles). Now solve the puzzles all over again from the losing side’s perspective, every time asking yourself the simple question, “What is my opponent threatening?” (you play as the losing side). However it is better if the winning side is actually on Top (for a change!)
  2. iChess for Android has a very interesting feature which can be very useful for defensive training. iChess can rotate the board, such that the losing side (remember YOU are playing the losing side for now), is at the bottom. For every puzzle you solve, ask yourself the above question and go ahead and make moves for the winning side. This kind of training is bound to help you improve your Tactical defenses and overall “Threat” perception. (To turn ON this option, open iChess > Menu > Settings > Board Rotation > Select “Winning side on top”. Now for every puzzle, iChess will show the winning side on top and you have to make moves for the other side as if you are guessing what moves your opponent is going to make)
May Caissa be with you!
PS. All the above images are from iChess, with the board rotation feature turned ON as mentioned above.

Chess reading for the week – April 1st

Here are some interesting chess posts for the week:



From wired.com : Chess Boxing Demands a Rare Breed of Human: The ‘Nerdlete’
    “What makes a better chess boxer, a boxer who can think strategically or a chess player who can throw a punch?

     The rules in chess boxing are simple. There are 11 rounds and players alternate between boxing and chess. The boxing rounds last three minutes and the chess rounds last four. You win by knockout or checkmate. If neither of those is achieved, the boxer with the highest number of points wins.
Chess boxing partly appeals to the same white-collar people who are drawn to things like fight clubs — mild-mannered professionals that need to let out their angst.”

From NPR : Chess for Success
You can either listen to the 12min podcast with GM Maurice Ashley here or read the transcript here. Its funny!
    “The “Frankenstein-Dracula,” the “King’s Indian” and the “Fried Liver” are all famous ways to do what? As this week’s V.I.P., International Grandmaster of chess Maurice Ashley, knows, they’re all strategies to begin a chess match. In this episode, Ashley divulges his own chess-playing strategy that combines Zen-like meditation with CIA-like mind games.”

From chessprofessionals.org : ACP Tournament of the Year
Not sure if tournament organizers have any incentive to figure their tournament in this list, but its a good start and hopefully will improve the quality of tournaments; for players, spectators and the fans worldwide.
    “ACP Tournament of the Year 2012 Tata Steel Chess, Wijk aan Zee
     Best Round Robin event of 2012: Tata Steel Chess, Wijk aan Zee
     Best Open event of 2012: Tradewise Gibraltar Festival
     Best official event of 2012: World Chess Championship Match Anand-Gelfand, Moscow”

From chessbase.com : A Game of Chicken: Ivanov rides again
The controversy just doesn’t seem to die. In fact, this will not be the last, till some tighter controls are in place.
    “In the last weeks of 2012 he wowed the chess world with a 2700 performance. Two months later the new Bulgarian star FM Borislav Ivanov finished 88th in the Plovdiv, this time with a performance of 1970. Then came another enviable achievement, a clear win at the Villava rapid (again with a 2700 performance). What is going on? Alex Karaivanov speculates, with new video analysis by Valeri Lilov.”

From BBC : A Point of View: Chess and 18th Century artificial intelligence
A different point of view!
    “Now, the Turk fascinates me for several reasons. First, because it displays an odd, haunting hole in human reasoning. Common sense should have told the people who watched and challenged it that for the Turk to have really been a chess-playing machine, it would have had to have been the latest in a long sequence of such machines. For there to be a mechanical Turk who played chess, there would have had to have been, 10 years before, a mechanical Greek who played draughts.”

♔ Awesome cartoon!

Grischuk caught on camera

While watching the Grischuk – Kramnik post match interview video (see below), I could not help but notice Grischuk’s body language in the beginning of the video.
What must be going through his mind?

Even more interesting is the below video during his game with Kramnik. In the dying stages, he looks at the clock maybe every second or two (losing precious seconds in the process!). If he glances at the clock so often, how would he even be calculating the position.

(Please forward the video and watch from 2hrs 48mins onwards till he makes his move around 02hrs 50mins)

And finally, the most amazing off-the-board blunder by a Chess player I have ever seen. Probably Grischuk’s worst move ever!

(see what happens when Grischuk arrives at the board)


(If the embedded video does not work, you can watch it on Youtube)