Tag: follow chess

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android followchess ios

Follow Chess App is now on iOS!!

After a long wait (and some anxious moments with Apple [read at the bottom of this post!]), Follow Chess is finally on iOS!
I am personally pleased and happy with the End product.

The Story!

On Android, the App received a very warm response and I have loved reading the kind feedback and suggestions from everybody. It was also personally very satisfying, since I could learn lots of new Technologies along the way and do some cool things. But what could be more gratifying than a Tweet from your Chess idol!!?

@asimpereira will do.. use your app a lot almost the best way to follow chess

— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) November 2, 2014

Consequently I started receiving more and more responses for an iOS version! Then began the hunt for a iOS Developer who could help! In fact I even received some cheeky remarks from Android fans, that the App be kept exclusive to Android, since thats one thing which the iOS guys would not be able to enjoy!

The iOS project which started with one developer in Q2 of this year, ended with another Developer completing it couple of weeks back (Developer #1 quit in between!)! It was a very interesting journey and I couldn’t have been more happy to see the App finally on iDevices!

What’s in v1.0?

Many Live tournaments – Follow Chess aims to cover as many top international (and National) tournaments as possible! So besides the mega European Team & Showdown in Saint Louis, it also covers the Indian Women’s Premiere, MaxEuwe Matches (ft veterans vs young guns) & TCEC Superfinal (Komodo vs Stockfish)

 And ofcourse, there are many other tournament games to follow; tourneys which got over in the recent past or as old as the 2014 World Rapid and Blitz!

  • Multi-boards in the same screen – With Follow Chess, you can keep a tap on all the LIVE games of a tournament, on a single screen! So you don’t need to keep changing the boards or screens!         

  • Make your own moves – When you choose any individual game to view, you can even play out your own moves in a sub-variation to understand what could have happened if the player had chosen a different path (in the same screen!) And not just that, the App is smart enough to know when an actual move is made in the Live game and gently inform you, so you can get back to following the action! Now what better way to learn from the Masters!!
  • Follow your country-men (women) – Follow Chess was really built with the intention of making it easy to follow and watch games that you may like. So if you choose your country (in the first popup or via Settings), Follow Chess will smartly show games of your country men on top! So you don’t have to scroll down looking for them.
  • Standings | All Games – Ofcourse there are lots of things you can do with Follow Chess. The App can show you the latest standings (and even highlight where your country-men is placed!). You can also play through games from the Previous rounds and all the old tourneys available in the App! (Sorry some features are PRO only)
  • You also get to see when the next round of each Tourney starts, in your local time!

However, this is only the first version and many exciting features (some of which are already in the Android version), will be added soon (but definitely at a much faster rate than what I have been able to do with iChess for iOS & Chess Book Study for iOS). Yes, but all Apps will get their due share of Upgrades and features which the Android counter parts have been enjoying all these years!

Go download now or tell your Chess buddy! Please do leave your feedback in the App Store, or drop me an email with your suggestions/feedback!




PS. Why I dislike Apple!

The App should have been available 7 days ago, but for Apple’s difficult-to-comprehend App Approval process. They wanted that the App Description in the App Store should have the below lines related to Subscriptions, which I think not many users would really bother to read anyways. But hey, please please read this, for Apple’s sake!!

AUTO-RENEWING SUBSCRIPTIONS:

You can purchase the Pro version of the App with a monthly or yearly Subscription. This entitles you to the current PRO features (View All games from previous rounds, Remove Ads, View All Standings) as well as any PRO features that may be added in the future.

– Subscription can be for a Month or Year
– Price (USD 0.99 for a Month, USD 5.99 for a Year). Local price may vary
– Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period
– Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period (USD 0.99 every month & USD 5.99 every year. Local prices may vary)
– You can manage the Subscriptions and turn-off auto-renewal by going to the Account Settings after purchase
– You will not be able to cancel the current subscription during the active subscription period

Privacy policy : http://chess32.in/privacy_policy_followchess.html

Categories
android followchess

Whats new in Follow Chess v1.7

Follow Chess (Android) is now faster and better! Although its not a very big release; its an important one!

  • New Tourney Notification – The App will now automatically notify you when a new tourney starts, so you don’t have to keep checking for your favorite Chess tournaments. The App smartly notifies you of tournaments which may be of interest to you (default Setting). However, you can always change this behavior from the App Settings, and choose to either receive ALL new tourney notifications, or none!

3 settings for new tourney notifications
  • Faster & Better – The older version of the App would sometimes show stale standings or games, till the App was relaunched or till a certain time had elapsed. Now with this new version, the App is equipped to receive real-time updates from the Server. Consequentially, you should get to view the up-to-date Standings, Tourney Status and other important stuff. This should improve the overall experience
  • Enhancements & Bug fixes – There are some other enhancements (orientation handling while watching video and in Analysis board screen etc) under the hood and bug fixes

Already Purchased?

With this release, you now have the ability to convert to the Full version (Pro) by subscribing on a monthly or yearly basis. So you could just turn Pro for the duration of a month when your favorite tournament is in play! However please note the following:
  • All your purchases and subscriptions are available for use on multiple Android devices (linked with the same Google account). You DO NOT have to purchase again on other Android device.
  • If you have already purchased the Pro version (either monthly, yearly or lifetime), the Follow Chess App on your other Android devices should also automatically convert to Pro for that duration (monthly, yearly or lifetime). However, sometimes it takes time for Google to sync this purchase information. If you still see Ads or free version, please restart your device. This helps the App get latest purchase information from Google.
  • The monthly and yearly charges are recurring (Google dictates that!). So if you wish to unsubscribe, you may do so from the Play Store app – My Apps – SUBSCRIPTIONS screen
PS. Follow Chess tries its best to cover as many international tournaments as possible. This in turn means more recurring Server charges. There are also many cool features (past, present, future!) that take a lot of time and effort. This is the reason for the change in the billing model, compared to the previous version of Follow Chess.
Special thanks to Sathish S for his help with this version.
Categories
followchess

What’s new in Follow Chess App!?

In the month of August, Follow Chess App got few nice updates:

All Games | Tournament Standings | Follow your country-men!

Tap on the arrow at the right, to see these hidden goodies!


ALL GAMES
Missed games from the earlier rounds? No problem! You can check out All Games from previous rounds too!
PS. Pro users can view ALL these games. Free users can view only some of them.

TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
View tournament standings after every round!


FOLLOW YOUR COUNTRY-MEN
Follow Chess makes it easy to follow games and progress of your country-men. Simply set your country and Follow Chess will highlight their Standings. Also their live games will be shown at the very top for quick access!
(You may have been asked to choose your country the very first time you launched the App. Or you can set it from the Settings too!)

As promised, more goodies are coming!!

DOWNLOAD : Follow Chess App

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!

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