Categories
analyzethis ios

Engine vs Engine & Threats on Analyze This iOS!

Analyze This v3.2 with improved ‘Engine vs Engine’ is now available on the Apple App store! Most of these features were already in our Android version since a while. So it was about time the iOS version also got them!

Whats New

  • Improved Engine vs Engine – The earlier update could only play one side at a time. Now its easier to ask the Engine to play both sides. Just select ‘Play this Side’ once. Then after the Engine makes its move, choose the option again. The Engine will then continue to play both sides till the game finishes!
  • Share game link – With the kind of changes iOS and Android platform makes, sometimes it becomes difficult to share a pgn or text with friends. Or a pgn on WhatsApp may look fine on Android but show some weird format on WhatsApp in iOS. We cannot control that, but we can surely try and improve the experience for our users. Not if you want to share a single game, just tap the Menu – Share – Game link. This will create a link to this game. And your friends can tap on the link and it will open right in their Analyze This app! A great way for Students to exchange their game with their coach. Ofcourse, we will improve this feature to make it easier to import and share a collection of games.
  • Show threat – Say you want to understand the threats in the current position or basically understand what would happen if you are not careful, the ‘Show threat’ feature comes in handy. Just tap the engine name and Show threat.
  • iPad layout issues – In this release we also fixed layout issues on the iPad, especially in the Position Setup and Share screen.
Categories
analyzethis android

What’s new in Analyze This Android app v5.3.x

This release took a really long time to be made public due to various other high priority things. But glad this is out and brings in some interesting changes as well as important fixes.
These changes are currently only on Android but we will bring them over to the iOS app in due course of time.

Whats New

Dark theme

Every other app is riding on the dark theme frenzy. It does help save battery as well as your eyes. Some say it even improves readability. This was requested many moons ago but its finally here!

To enable dark theme, please see Menu – Settings -> Dark Theme.

Evaluation bar

Evaluation bar helps you keep an eye on the game’s evaluation without having to keep looking down at the centi-pawn numeric evaluation suggested by the Engine. Each segment of the evaluation bar is worth 1 pawn (so the full bar extends 4 pawns/sections up and 4 pawns/sections down).
When white is winning, you will see the white bar extending upwards toward the black side and similarly when black is winning, you will see the black bar coming down to the white side.
At 0.0 evaluation, both white and black colors will be in equal size. If white is winning, say 1 pawn and engine evaluates the position at 1.0, then you will see the White color of the bar extend up 1 section up)

Improved Chess 960/ Fischer Random support

During the World Fischer Random championship we noticed that Analyze This engine analysis was misbehaving, especially after a O-O (castling) move. This has been fixed.

Syzygy Tablebase support

Syzygy Tablebases help the engine in evaluating certain endgame positions, without really having to spend time searching and analyzing. You can download Syzygy tablebase files for the most commonly occuring endgames (say KP v P, KRP vs KR etc) and store them on your Device.
Then choose this path from inside the Analyze This app – Settings – Engine Options – Syzygy Path.
So whenever a matching endgame position occurs on the board, the engine will automatically start using the endgame tablebases. You will know this works when the engine starts giving very high evaluation and does not deviate much from its analysis. However, we will improve this in the near future and make this even more easier to understand.
You can download Syzygy tablebases from here. But please note these are HUGE. So only download what you need!

Bug fixes & Other Improvements

  • Bugs fixed in Auto Analysis feature. That notorious volume key behavior is now gone. Earlier it was useful for people to use the app and go through it single handedly by using the volume key. But the behavior probably was more annoying for those who just wanted to turn down the volume. 
  • Adding new line at the end of the game is now easy. This is used in cases where a game has ended, but you want to try out some moves, without changing the main line. In this case, just take back the last move, and reenter the same move on the board. This move will now be added as a sub variation!
  • Improved position setup. We think setting up a position is now faster. Say you choose a White Rook and set it on the board. Now to set up the Black Rook, you dont have to explicitly choose the Black Rook from the tray. Instead, just tap the square where you wish to place the Black Rook (it will be shown as White Rook), and then tap the square again. This will turn the Knight to Black! So the toggling works White – Black – Empty – White – Black – Empty and so on.
  • EPD support. Now along side pgn file, you can even see .epd files listed in the App’s game file browser. These are position files you may have received from other chess apps or sources.
  • Lots of other bugs were fixes and subtle improvements made under the hood.
Enjoy and please don’t forget to rate the Apps in the Play Store!

Special thanks to Al Sirutis, Atul Desai, Elaine, Henri Raben, Igor, Lucas Foreest, Miguel Gonzalez, Rahmat Ullah, Roger Davies, Tom Amlin, and others

PS. We have a brand new Forum! Be among the first ones to join and share your ideas to improve the Apps, feature suggestions, bugs or just interact with other fellow chess lovers!
https://forum.mychessapps.com

Categories
analyzethis android

Analyze This v4.2 – A 10x better PGN Manager!

v4.2.1 of Analyze This (Android) was released to the Play Store today. With this release, the App is now a much improved PGN Viewer/Writer and is thinner/sleeker/faster and comes with better performance! In fact, in our tests, PGN loading was 10x faster than the previous version!

FREE Version
PRO Version

What’s New

☆ Search Board position + Quick game search!
Now the App comes with the ability to search your pgn games for any games that match the currently loaded board position.

Or you can search for any player or even combination, filter games by result or Opening ECO codes!
☆ PGN files load faster + Quick scroll
PGN games loading is 10 times faster than the previous version! You can also quickly scroll down or up by dragging the scroll bar (right edge of the screen)
☆ Stockfish 7
Both Free and PRO versions of the App get Stockfish 7.
On first App run, the latest version of Stockfish will be automatically downloaded. Unfortunately as is known, Critter still won’t work on Android 5.0 and above.
☆ Fullscreen option


☆ Change Notation language to English (non figurine), French, Norwegian etc
Didn’t like the default Figurine Notation? You can now change that or even set the preferred language for the Notation from the Settings – Notation Options. You can also share the game in that language with your friends and coaches!

☆ Many other improvements + bug fixes!
I had lots of other features and requests, but due to delayed release I could not add them all. Hopefully another new update will follow in March!
So download now and send your bug reports/suggestions/features to me at pereiraasim(a)gmail(dot)com

FREE Version
PRO Version

Categories
analyzethis android

What’s new in Analyze This 4.0!

After a long wait, Analyze This 4.0 for Android was released today! Its a big release and I am sure you will all like it. Here is what’s new in it!

 Full Automatic Engine Analysis (with verbose commentary!) – BETA
It took me really long time to finish this feature (besides work on other Apps/features), but its finally here! Analyze This is probably the first Android App to feature a full automated analysis with natural language analysis. Yes, not only can it suggest moves, but it can also add verbose comments (in English, for now)
Moreover, the feature has been programmed to not only suggest the mistakes and bad moves, but it also marks good moves and sacrifices! Yes it can add symbols like “!”, “?!” , “??” etc

This is only the 1st version of this feature and obviously there will be some rough edges. I plan to keep improving this feature, so please send your suggestions or remarks based on your experience with this feature.
Free users can only choose between 1-5seconds per move. PRO users can choose upto 20seconds per move.

 Stockfish 6
PRO users of the App could manually download and install the latest version of Stockfish 6. Now, its available by default for all users (free and PRO)

 Engine Threads/Cores

Now you can choose the number of Threads/Cores/Processors the Engines can use. See Settings – Engine Options. 
Please note that choosing the max number of threads can improve Engine performance, but at the same time, your device may stall a bit and consume more battery. Use wisely.

 Automatic Opening recognition
The App now automatically tells you the Opening ECO, name in the Notation. The ECO will also be automatically saved when you save a game!

 Undo option in strategic places
From time to time, we all make mistakes! Accidentally deleted the wrong move? Or perhaps you cleared the board in Position setup? Don’t worry, UNDO has got you covered!
A major reason and driving force behind this was to improve the overall user experience.
Undo options have been added in multiple strategic places, so even if you make a mistake while using the App, you can undo it! 
Share board image with different arrow/highlight colors!
Now when you share the Board as image, you can choose from 4 preset colors and highlight the Squares or draw arrows with them! Makes it easy to express ideas.
Not only this, you can even directly Share board image from other Chess Apps installed on your device! Choose to export current board as FEN, and choose “Analyze This – Highlight & Share” option from the list of Apps! You are ready to highlight the board and share it!
☆ Option to hide engine arrow
For those of you who did not like the Engine revealing the solution with the arrow on the board, you may now hide the arrow. See Settings – Engine Options
☆ More space for Notation!
Some of you wanted even more space for the Notation view. Now the 2-way toggle next to the player names, can work 3-ways and provide more space for the Notation (and shrink the Board accordingly)
☆ Touch and hold the board for Quick annotation view
This was a nice feature added in the previous version which quickly helped to add annotation Symbols to the game. Earlier you could double tap on the board to view it, but some times that lead to false touches. This is now changed to long-press. So touch and hold the board to view the Quick annotation View.
In this regard, there is an additional feature in the Analysis Menu, to hide the Engine layout. When not needed, you can hide the Engines currently selected, and make more space for the Board/Notation.

☆ Bug fixes and other enhancements

This version has many bug fixes and lots of other visual enhancements and improvements under the hood!

//What could not make into this release
Unfortunately, Critter cannot run on Android 5.0 and above. I am looking for a suitable replacement, and will hopefully add it in a future release.

Meanwhile, please keep sending your bugs/feature suggestions, and I would be happy to consider them.

Categories
analyzethis

Analyze This – Understanding the Chess Engine

What is Critter, Stockfish?

Critter & Stockfish are the Top free Chess engines (aka mini Computers) that come pre-installed with Analyze This.
They are like the commercial engines Fritz, Houdini albeit free.
As of May 2013, Critter has an estimated ELO strength of 3175 while Stockfish is rated at 3164! (Carlsen is 2868!)
Newer versions of Critter and Stockfish can be downloaded from their respective sites:
http://www.vlasak.biz/critter/
http://stockfishchess.org/download/

What are the three buttons next to the Engine?

“Start/Stop”
Start or stop the engine.
 
“+”
Increase the number of “lines” that the engine shows. By default, the engine only shows the first best move it has calculated. You can press “+” to ask the engine to show the 2nd, 3rd etc “best” moves. 1st move is always the best move. More engine lines mean that the engine has to use lot of CPU power and also spend equal time analyzing the other “best” moves that it considers. The quality can degrade with too many lines.
 
“-“
Decrease the number of lines. Lesser the lines, the efficient is the engine.

What do those numbers and symbols shown by the Engine mean?

+/= (=/+)
Slight advantage: White (Black) has slightly better chances.

+/− (−/+)
Advantage: White (Black) has much better chances. It is also written as ± for White advantage, ∓ for
Black advantage; the other similar symbols can be written in this style as well.

+− (−+)
Decisive advantage: White (Black) has a clear advantage.

(6.31) Centi pawn evaluation
The engine considers the position to be equal to 6.31 pawns (winning). Negative value means the position is losing for Black by those many pawns.
In other words, the evaluation of the position in terms of pawns (where pawn = 1pt)

ex: +3.2 means white is winning with score of 3.2 pawns. -0.5 means black is slightly ahead by 0.5 pawns.

d=16 (Engine depth)
The half-moves that the engine is currently thinking ahead. Typically means that the engine is thinking 8 moves ahead (8 for White, 8 for Black). As you give more time for the engine to chew on that position, the depth will keep increasing gradually.

For more details, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_annotation_symbols

NOTE: Running more engines simultaneously or with multiple lines can severely drain device battery.

Categories
analyzethis

Analyze This – Tips and Tricks (new in v3.0)

Many features have been added in v3.0. Here are some Tips and tricks.

NOTE : When in doubt, press the Menu key (indicated by 3 vertical dots on the Top right/left of the device. On some devices, the Menu can be accessed with a physical button)!

Delete game from PGN file

Added a game to your PGN file by mistake and wish to delete it? Touch and Hold the game and you will see the Delete icon on the top right. Press the icon to delete the game. (Note : the game will be permanently deleted. Always create a backup of your important PGN files!)

Play against Mobile / Engine shootout (PRO Only)

The one important thing that Analyze This lacked was the ability for the engines to play against you or against other engine. Not anymore! Say you are practicing Endgames or just want to understand why the GM resigned in a given position; you can test your skills against the machine!
Tap the Engine name (hyperlink) and choose ‘Play this side’ and the engine will automatically make moves for that side, while you play the other. If you choose ‘Play this side’ again, then the engine will make moves for both sides and finish the game. This way, you could use any combination of engines!! (Psst: I tried to play the Shak vs Svidler Candidates game where Svidler resigned after the awesome Rg5. I played with the White pieces, but I still could only draw against the Engine!! Envy those Super GMs. Try it!)

Engine output to Notation


You can copy the engine output to the notation! There are two ways to do this:
* Clip main-line – Tap the engine name to see the option. This will copy the engine’s main line to the notation
* Touch and hold the engine line – Alternately, you can touch and hold any of the variation in the engine window and that variation will be copied to the notation.

Annotation editor

Analyze This now has the option to annotate your games. You can use the Annotation Editor to annotate multiple moves in one sitting! Just tap on the move that you wish to annotate and choose the appropriate symbols. Add a comment if you like and press ‘Apply Comment’.

Quick Annotation Palette

What if you only wish to quickly add some symbols to the game without having to load the complete Annotation Editor!? Simply double tap on any empty square on the board and you will see the above Annotate Palette. Then choose any symbol and it will be added to the move. Note the palette will auto close in 5s.

Promote variation

Touch and hold the move in the Notation window to see the option to “Promote variation”. This will make the sub-variation into the main line.

Auto-replay game (PRO Only)

A good way to go through master games is to play through them quickly, as many times as possible and as many games as possible. Analyze This now allows you to do that. Just press the green button and the game will auto-replay every few seconds. Sit back and enjoy the game!

Variation chooser

When you are reading a annotated game, its not always easy to find the sub variation and jump to it. Now, Analyze This will pop up the available variations and you can tap any of the move to jump to that variation. Bonus Tip : At the end of the sub-variation, you can continue to hit the right arrow and you will automatically jump back to the main-line!

Player lookup via Wikipedia


Note the hyperlinks on the Play names in the first picture. You can lookup the Player profiles on Wikipedia. Handy if you are browsing through some international games and wish to lookup on some favorite players or somebody unknown.

Swipe to change games

When you load a game from the games browser, you can swipe from right-to-left on the board to load the next game. Similarly, swipe left-to-right to load the previous game. (Note : Every time you launch the app, the app may show you the Games list the first time. Then subsequently, swiping will load the game)

Arrows and Highlights

Sharing Board as image with Analyze This just got better! You can now highlight squares or draw arrows. Simply touch any square to highlight it. Swipe your finger across to draw the arrow! (Thx Carlos). Coordinates are automatically added to the image, so that your readers are not left wondering which side moves up or down!

Quick access to recent PGN files

Like me, if you access multiple PGN files from different folders (Download, Dropbox folder etc), then Analyze This v3.0 has a handy little feature. It shows your last accessed PGN files at the top (in light gray) irrespective of which folder you are current in. Simply tap the file to load it!

Different ways to Paste in Analyze This

Analyze This has a single “Paste” option, but it is smart enough to know what you are actually pasting!
So you can paste a complete PGN or only the FEN string or only the moves, and Analyze This accepts them all!

Say you have received a PGN in your email or have it on a website. 
You can paste the complete PGN.
Ex:
[Event “New Jersey State Open Champion”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1957.??.??”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Fischer, R.”]
[Black “Sherwin, J.”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B30”]
[WhiteElo “”]
[BlackElo “”]
[PlyCount “65”]
[EventDate “1957.??.??”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 Nc6 4. g3 Nf6 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nbd2 Rb8 8. Re1
d6 9. c3 b6 10. d4 Qc7 11. e5 Nd5 12. exd6 Bxd6 13. Ne4 c4 14. Nxd6 Qxd6 15.
Ng5 Nce7 16. Qc2 Ng6 17. h4 Nf6 18. Nxh7 Nxh7 19. h5 Nh4 20. Bf4 Qd8 21. gxh4
Rb7 22. h6 Qxh4 23. hxg7 Kxg7 24. Re4 Qh5 25. Re3 f5 26. Rh3 Qe8 27. Be5+ Nf6
28. Qd2 Kf7 29. Qg5 Qe7 30. Bxf6 Qxf6 31. Rh7+ Ke8 32. Qxf6 Rxh7 33. Bc6+ 1-0
Or you can paste only the FEN string (frequently available in diagrams on the ChessCafe website). Ex:
 [FEN “8/4pkPp/7B/3K4/8/8/8/8 w – – 0 1”] 
or
“8/4pkPp/7B/3K4/8/8/8/8 w – – 0 1”

or you can paste only the moves from a game (from starting position)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 Nc6 4. g3 Nf6 5. Bg2

Now isn’t that one smart app!?

=======================================

//The following features were already part of v2.0.x

PGN delete and share

Now delete or share the PGN file with your coach right from within the app!
In the File Browser (via Open PGN), touch and hold the pgn file that you are interested to delete or share. You should see options to the top right as shown below.

Then you can Delete the file or Share it via Email, Dropbox, Google docs etc

Create new PGN

While saving a game, you are asked to Choose a File. You can even create a new PGN from within the app!
Press the physical menu key and choose “Create New PGN”. If your device does not come with physical menu key, then its even easier. You can simply choose the “Create New PGN” option from the drop down located at the top right of your screen (indicated with 3 vertical dots)

Long press notation/moves for more options

You can select a move from the move/notation window. Then touch and hold it and a popup should appear with more options.
“Delete this move” – Delete the currently selected move including itself. This can be even used to delete a complete variation by selecting the first move from the variation and then choosing “Delete this move”

Swipe to turn board

Wish to turn/flip the board? Now thats easy. Simply swipe your finger down the board as shown below! Turning the board was never so easy!

Tap engine analysis

Now you don’t have to manually enter moves. If you like the engine’s suggestions, then Tap on the engine move in the list and it will be played on the board!
For ex. in the image below, once you tap the variation, the first move Ra3 will be played on the board.
You can continue to tap to make subsequent moves

Tilt to move

    Give your fingers some rest. Simply tilt your device left/right to take back or move forward through the notation! I use this feature, when I am relaxing on the couch and wish to play through some recent master games. What best is that I can even use it while moving around and move back/forth through the moves with a single hand!
    Note: Tilt = move the left/right vertical edge of your device such that one edge of the device is up while other edge is down.
    Categories
    analyzethis

    Analyze This – I want a BIG board!

    Everybody wants big things in life. Why should the Chess board on Analyze This be small?
    I heard your feedback and today I have released v2.0.2 to Play Store with board size optimizations and minor enhancements for small screen phones.

    Show/Hide Notation view – This makes the board bigger!

    Just click the expand/collapse icon (^ – next to the Black player name), and you can enjoy a big board!
    Disable Sound
    You can now disable the sound from the Settings.
    Engine fixes and minor enhancements
    To the user who reported an issue with engine Robbolito; thanks, it is fixed in this release!

    Enjoy (and don’t forget to rate!)

    Categories
    analyzethis

    Analyze This in Action [Video]

    Here is a video of Analyze This app in action.

    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 MenuManage 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