Category: android

Categories
android ichess

300 tactical puzzles from the games of Anand and Carlsen

The biggest Chess match of the decade is just around the corner. What better way to celebrate this historic moment, than by solving puzzles derived from the games of these two brilliant players?

300 puzzles from the games of Anand (166 puzzles) and Carlsen (134 puzzles) are now available for purchase inside iChess. Now, get into the Championship mood!
(Note: First 166 puzzles are from Anand’s games followed by that of Carlsen. As usual, all puzzles are arranged in increasing order of difficulty starting with basic one-movers and going on to several moves)
Sample Puzzle
How did Anand (White) destroy Black’s King side?
White to play and win

Apart from the default free 1000 puzzles arranged into Normal, Advanced and Master levels, iChess also has lots of other puzzles that you can purchase.

Some of the puzzles available inside iChess for purchase

 Solution

App Download

Categories
android ichess

iChess – Chess puzzles app now on iPhone and iPad!

Hurray, iChess is now available on the iPhone/iPad!

Disclaimer: It does not have the usual flair of the Android version, but it will get there!

You can open your own tactics PGN file (by placing the PGN file in the iChess Documents folder via PC/Mac). However this option is available only for Paid users (iChess upgrade). You can grab one of the Promo codes below to upgrade iChess!

PROMO CODES (Hurry before somebody else uses them!)
4RW4NFXYHJX7
YLT37W47HKLW
WJ96A79NWM7T
K6K446FAFH6E
JFTLPXRWTE3A
Edit: It turns out that Promo codes cannot be used for In-App purchases, but only for Paid apps! (sigh)

Categories
android yourmove

Your Move – Android app for Correspondence Chess players

It gives me immense pleasure to announce ‘Your Move‘, my new Android app for Correspondence Chess players of ICCF & SchemingMind.

I joined ICCF in 2012 with the aim of improving my Chess skills. But not having an easy way to make moves from my Phone/Tablet was bit discomforting, especially to the developer in me!
So I developed one!

Now, you can easily make your move!

VIEW IN PLAY STORE

Features
♟ Make move, Offer/Accept draw, Resign (See menu), Message your opponent and do all the important stuff
♟ Bring up the position and analyze it even while on the road or on train with no Internet
♟ Analyze your finished games with the power of two Chess engines and save to database (uses Analyze This app)
♟ Supports standard Chess (does not support Chess 960 or variants, yet)
♟ Launch app directly by clicking the hyperlink in the email you receive from ICCF/SM

Your Move is supported with Ads and they can be permanently removed for $0.99, right from the app. (See Menu in the Board window)

VIEW IN PLAY STORE

Categories
android

10 best chess games of 2012 – pgn available for download

I just noticed this post on GM Pogonina’s website and I thought I could easily go through the games on my Tablet, but unfortunately there was no PGN for download. Using a Chess board on a webpage is not the world’s easiest thing.

So I searched the relevant games she had listed there, on Chessgames.com, and created a PGN. Thought it will be useful for others too.

Now I can sit back and play through the games using my Analyze This Android app!

Download Best 10 games of 2012.pgn

“Top-10 chess games in 2012 according to Natalia Pogonina:
1. Volokitin – Mamedyarov. I had very few doubts about the first place. This is a fantastic game.
2. Kramnik – McShane. I believe this was Kramnik’s supreme masterpiece in 2012. A great example of a sacrifice of an exchange.
3. Carlsen – Caruana. Magnus is known for his remarkable endgame technique. This game is a living proof of how good he is.
4. Gelfand – Anand. Gelfand took full advantage of the light-squared bad bishop. The fact that this game way played in the WCC match adds to its importance.
5. Bodnaruk – Javakhishvili. A great game by Anastacia Bodnaruk. White sacrificed two rooks and slaughtered the Black king.
6. Gustaffson – Kramnik.  A wonderful journey of the a-pawn 🙂
7. Ivanchuk – Vachier-Lagrave. The sacrifice on d5 is standard, but it never gets old. Especially when accompanied by such a nice move as 26.g3.
8. Carlsen – Topalov. A wild duel with fireworks. I love replaying this game over and over again 🙂
9. Aronian – Morozevich. A lot of splendid games have been played at Tal Memorial, but I decided to pick this one. Both sides has their chances, but in the end Black prevailed.
10. Rodriguez – Veskovi. An impressive attack on the king.”

BTW, the complete list of 38 games is here

Categories
analyzethis android

Analyze This v2.0 released – your Android Chess experience just got better

I am very excited and proud to release v2.0 of Analyze This. This is my first major release after quitting my day job and going full-time and I am personally very happy with this release.

    What’s new?

    • New innovative feature: Simply tilt your device (left edge up or down) to move forward/backward through the moves! Now give your fingers some rest! See Settings to enable/disable. Or you can even use the Volume button/keys of your device
    • Install UCI engine of your choice! Hide some or all engines
    • Load and Save PGN games including variations. Touch and hold move in the notation view for more options
    • Refreshing new look, smoother interface plus board colors
    • Share game/position with other Chess apps or via email/twitter. Can even share the current board position as image!
    • Tap engine analysis to play the first move on the board
    • Stockfish upgraded to latest 3.0 version
    • Delete and Share your PGN files right from within the app
    • Many bug fixes and improvements

    THIS upgrade was made possible by the kind feedback and suggestions from many invisible friends! (whom I have never met and may never get a chance to meet!)

    Arne | Artem | Benzi | Carlos | David | Dom | Joseph | Justin | Kevin | Mehmet | Raymond

    IMPORTANT
    Both free and paid apps have Critter and Stockfish by default. If you only see one engine, then please re-install the app and start the app once. 
    Edit: Issue fixed in v2.0.1

    Categories
    analyzethis android

    Analyze This – Install new UCI Chess engine

    Starting with Analyze This v2.0, you can now install a compatible UCI Chess engine of your choice!

    To install a new engine:
    1. In Analyze This, click Menu – Manage Engines
    2. Click “Install Engine” at the top right.
    3. Download the UCI engine zip from the link at the bottom. Locate the UCI engine you just downloaded. (If you downloaded a zip file, then YOU need to unzip it first.)
    4. Analyze This will run some quick tests to see if it is a valid UCI engine and show it in the list. Your engine will be pre-selected and ready for use. (For best results, deselect the engines that you are not interested. This will give you better performance and bigger board)

    Note: Analyze This app does not limit the number of engines you can run simultaneously! However, running more engines will severely drain your device battery.

    DOWNLOAD
    What are you waiting for? Go ahead and download some UCI engines from below link:
    https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5UN6Nh9m6BjMFNYOG95azdLZEU&authuser=0

    (Download and extract the UCI zip to your device. Then launch Analyze This and choose any engine from the UCI folder/<enginename>.

    Other good resources for Android Chess engines:
    http://www.aartbik.com/MISC/eng.html
    http://chesstroid.blogspot.in/search/label/Engines

    Categories
    android chessbookstudy

    Read Google Books using Chess Book Study Android app

    Chess Book Study v2.0.1 now has a full built-in browser based on Zirco, the open-source browser.
    With this the good news is that you can use the browser to read Google Books!
    Here is how you can do it:
    Step 1: Click “Open Web” and type http://books.google.com in the URL bar as shown below.

    Once the page is loaded, click “My Library“. If you are on a Phone or other small screen device, you may need to scroll to the bottom of the page to see “My Library”

    Step 2: Once you click “My Library”, Google will ask you to enter your username and password to sign-in. Enter your details and click “Sign in”. You can choose the “Remember password” option if you like. Once you are logged in, you can select your book from the “My Books on Google Play” list.

     Step 3: Once you choose a book above, it would load the book details. Now click on the Book Icon (highlighted below). In some cases, you would see a “Read Now” option to the left. If not, simply click the book image.

    Step 4: The book will be loaded and you can move through the book.

    In the coming months, I shall improve the experience of reading books online.

    (Edit Apr 28) Note 0: The app may crash on some devices while trying this method. I am working on it!
    Note 1: Google Books are proprietary and closed source. Hence it is not easy for the app to read the books offline.
    Note 2: Unfortunately, Amazon Kindle books are not supported since Amazon currently only supports a limited set of browsers.

    Categories
    android

    Chess Book Study v2.0 released!


    Chess Book Study has graduated to v2.0 with lots of features and improvements and I am very excited with this release.

    What’s new?
    ☆ EBookDroid has been upgraded to 1.5.6. CBS now supports all the features of ebookdroid like Auto Crop, Split, Search etc.

    ☆ Works well with other Chess apps. Now “Copy PGN” can immediately open the position in Chess for Android or DroidFish apps. You can save the PGN from that app.
    ☆ Quick access to Board options. No long press required.
    ☆ Improved “Open Web” feature. Now incorporates a full fledged open source zirco browser (with some minor changes)
    ☆ Book and Board positions can be swapped. See Board Settings. Also has a left handed mode!
    ☆ Hold the left/right arrows to jump to start or end board positions.
    ☆ Many other UI and experience improvements like bigger coordinates, board background, always-on arrows, new Edit Board layout
    ☆ Bug fixes. May they RIP!

    NB. Incase if the app crashes after upgrade, then simply uninstall and re-install both the apps.

    Get it from the Play Store or download the Free version from my Google docs.

    Edit. Chess Book Study v2.0.1 released with a bug fix in Edit Board screen in landscape mode (Thx Abel)
    EBookDroid (Chess) v1.5.6.2.3 released with bug fix related to menu options on some devices.  (Thx Karlo)

    Categories
    android

    How to use ‘Talk to Move’ feature in ‘Chess Book Study’ app

    Why ‘make’ the move when you can speak the move!?

    Chess Book Study is the ONLY Chess app for Android that has a ‘Talk to Move’ feature.
    You simply hold the mic and speak out each move.

    Steps:
    1. Enable ‘Talk to Move’ setting from the app settings.
    2. Hold the on-screen mic, speak one move and release the mic
    Speak piece   square    OR     source square   destination square

    Sample moves:
    e4 = hold the mic, say e4 OR pawn e4 OR e2 e4, release the mic
    Nf3 = hold the mic again, say knight f3 OR g1 f3, release the mic
    0-0 = say king g1 OR e1 g1
    0-0-0 = say king c1 OR e1 c1
    Bxf6 = say bishop f6 OR g5 f6

    Note:
    * Only English algebraic notation supported. Let me know if you need more.
    * No Internet connection required. All offline!
    * This is an experimental feature and may occasionally cause the app to freeze/crash. Disable this feature if you face any issue.

    Categories
    analyzethis android ichess

    New ‘Analyze This’ app and updates to iChess & Chess Book Study

    Today, I am happy to release my 3rd Chess app for Android devices, ‘Analyze This’.
    Its a unique app which gives you the power of two Chess engines, simulataneously!

    As soon as you fire the app, Stockfish and Critter, two well known strong open source engines, start chewing the position and provide instant analysis.
    If you find an interesting position while reading a chess blog, just paste the FEN notation in ‘Analyze This’.

    Note: It is NOT an app for playing against the mobile.

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pereira.analysis

          ‘iChess for Android’ and ‘Chess Book Study’ apps have also been updated. These two apps now have engine support via Analyze This.

    Just long press on the board and click Analyze This option. Stockfish and Critter will start providing you instant analysis.

    iChess for Android finally has landscape mode support aaand a new app icon!