Tag: tactics

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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
ichess

iChess – Chess puzzles Tips & Tricks

  • Swipe to move back and forth through the puzzles

          Review previous puzzle – Swipe left to right
          Load next puzzle – Swipe right to left

  • Jump to a puzzle number

          Load Bird view and tap on any number to load that puzzle

Categories
ichess

iChess FAQs

How does the Scoring work?


For each puzzle solved = 10 points
Failed =  minus 5 points
Hint = minus 5 points
Total score = Total Solved – Total Failed – Total Hints taken

What do the Bird view colors mean?

Green = Solved
Red = Failed
Amber = Puzzles that you find difficult.

I do not want the app to automatically load the next puzzle. I want to review the current puzzle after I solve it. How do I do that?

Its in the Settings! Open iChess Settings > deselect “Solve and Load Next“. Now iChess will stay on the same puzzle once you solve it so that you can analyze it further.

Why does the Hint button change color?

The Hint button changes color according to the side to move. This should make it is easier to recognize the side-to-move than reading the “White/Black to move” text on top of the board.

If I choose to “Remove Ads”, do I have to pay again for other devices or if I re-install or reset?

No! Once Paid, your purchase remains with you forever, just like the Paid app! So even if you buy a new device or reset the existing device or uninstall-reinstall iChess Free again, you should no longer see Ads.
(IMPORTANT: You should be using the same primary email account on your device with which you made the purchase, else it wont work.)

Categories
ichess

How to practice Chess Openings with iChess

iChess v3.1.3 was released today with several bug fixes and stability improvements.

As you know, iChess is great for solving the pre-shipped puzzles as well as any PGN-puzzle file that you may have.
One minor unplanned feature, which was released in v3.1.3 is the support for studying Chess openings.
You make moves for the winning side while iChess plays the other side.

Here is how you can do it:
1. Prepare a PGN file with your favorite opening lines. This will be your opening repertoire.
It is better to have each variation as a separate game in the PGN. For your preferred side, mark the game as won, in the PGN. Say you like to play the Kings Indian with Black. Then save the full or partial game and mark it as 0-1 (in the game header). 
(This is the most important step for any serious Chess player and once you have your repertoire PGN ready, it can be used for many other functions within Chessbase PC software.)


2. Open the puzzle file in iChess.
3. Now just like regular puzzles, iChess will ask you to make the best move. One additional feature is that, if the game result it 0-1 (Black wins), then iChess will automatically make the first move for White. You make the best move for Black.

Ofcourse, you can use a Hint and all other iChess goodies!

This can be a good opening workout and imprint your favorite variations in memory. (Note: Even the top players need to “memorize” their opening lines”)

This nice little feature can also be used for Solitaire or Guess the Move kind of Chess. Load a PGN with master games and try to guess the moves for the winning side!

Note: Currently, iChess does not give points for every move you make, but only for the complete game.

Categories
ichess

iChess v3 released!

iChess v3 has been released!
This is a major release with lots of new features and design.

☆ Buy new Puzzles from within the app. Currently KID Saemisch & Tactics from July 2012 are on offer. More coming soon.
☆ Good alternate moves are no longer marked as failure. Uses Analyze This app in the background.
☆ Redesigned UI plus fritz style board theme.
☆ 3 move limitation removed. Now make all moves OR only the first.
☆ Some existing puzzles did not make sense and have met their end. They have been replaced.
☆ Reset scorecard option added. Now nobody can see how much you suck in Tactics.
☆ Other bug fixes and enhancements.

Note: The new permission READ_PHONE_STATE is required to secure the In-App purchases using the unique device id. NO phone data is accessed!

Categories
android ichess

iChess v1.7 released!!

Finally, I am happy to release v1.7 of iChess for Android.

Whats new in this release?
☆ Open puzzles file in PGN format from SDcard! (thanks to user Brandon)
Note that your PGN file should have a move for every puzzle so that iChess can provide you hints or assess your move.
Bird view is also supported!
☆ Added nearly 150 positions from recent GM tournaments played in the last 2 months featuring top GMs like Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik, Aronian, Ivanchuk, Morozevich, Polgar, Svidler, Nakamura etc
☆ Shows game information like White/Black/Event and Date.
☆ Corrected moves for some positions (thanks to user Ulrike)
☆ Added extra moves to positions which previously had only one move

Note: If you are upgrading from v1.6 to v1.7, your Master level (ONLY) Bird view will be reset. Sorry!
This is because of a bug in v1.6 which is now fixed.
Bird view from Normal and Advanced level will be maintained

Categories
ichess

Why the name iChess?

Some users think “iChess” is too Appleish.
True it is, and for that matter any English word that starts with an ‘i’!

I chose this name for several reasons:
1. ‘i’ is the reverse of ‘!’ which as a chess player knows stands for a good move.
2. Many app publishing websites do not allow special characters like ‘!’.
3. ‘i’  also sounds similar to ‘eye’; and training your tactical eye is the main focus of this app!

Categories
android ichess

iChess for Android v1.5 released!!

Proud to announce the release of v1.5.
I consider it to be a major release and hence the version bump from 1.1 to 1.5!!

New Features:

  1. Share puzzle via email/twitter/facebook etc!!
  2. No more boring board color!. You can now choose from Aqua, Blue, Brown, Gray or Green!
  3. Setting to automatically move to next puzzle OR stay on current position and review it
  4. Tablet optimization

Go grab it from the market! http://goo.gl/vK88o

    Categories
    android ichess

    iChess for Android v1.1 released!

    v1.1 was released to the Android market today.
    It is a minor upgrade and has the following improvements:

    • Arrow in ‘Analyze Previous’ mode helps notice piece movement
    • Updated Title – Shows the Total # of games in each level
    • Automatically move to next level if last puzzle in previous level is solved or skipped
    • More than 50 puzzles added from recent tournaments:
      • 39th GM Dortmund, Germany
      • 98th British Chp
      • 8th World Teams, China
      • AAI GM, New Delhi
      • 39th World Open, USA
      • Commonwealth, South Africa
      • 1st China Rapid Prelim
      • Biel ACCENTUS GM
    Categories
    android ichess

    iChess for Android update coming soon

    I am working on an update for my iChess Android app.
    It will include minor enhancements and International games  in the last couple of months including Dortmund, Biel, World Teams etc!

    Stay tuned!