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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 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

Categories
analyzethis

AnalyzeThis just got Stronger, Better & Prettier

Today’s AnalyzeThis update brings the most powerful open source engines, Stockfish 2.2 and Critter 1.6, at your finger tips!

What’s new in v1.2
Critter & Stockfish just became even more stronger! Critter upgraded to 1.6 and Stockfish upgraded to 2.2.


Start/Stop engines. Now you have the power to simply turn off one engine, while the other engine is digging deeper into the position. Lesser battery, better results!


Increase/Decrease engine primary variations/lines. Wish to try some more variations from the engines? Just press + and the engine will provide you with additional primary variations.


Edit board added. Now you can set pieces manually

Copy game as PGN. 
Future versions will have direct PGN Load/Save support. Till then, you can manually Copy the game as PGN using this feature and paste in your favorite program.


Takeback and move Forward buttons! Yes, yes I know. The existing method was not always intuitive and would also cause false touches. Now, you have dedicated buttons that get out of your way (hide themselves), so that you can just focus on the position!


Other enhancements and stability fixes. Show/Hide board coordinates. See App Settings.

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!