New 'Chess Fan' App for Android!

We at NexM Software (the Company I co-founded earlier this year), are happy to announce the release of our latest Chess App: "Chess Fan". We have been very busy in developing Chess Apps that you will love! (psst, recently Follow Chess App was released on iOS!). Hope you would like Chess Fan app too!

What does the App do?

If you are somebody who likes to closely follow your Chess idols, then this App is for you! No longer do you have to keep checking what your favorite Chess player has to say. Let the App do it for you! You will get notified when he/she Tweets (even if you DONT have a Twitter account. No Sign-in required!). Or you can even see what other people talk about your chess hero. If you want, you can retweet/favorite right back from the App!

Not just that, the App will also notify you of any News articles/interview about your idol!

Screenshots

The main screen where you can see the list of available players. Tap on the heart icon to subscribe!

Read Tweets of your favorite Chess player!

And News too!

No sweat! You just get notified when a Tweet/News is available!

and there is more!!

Go download the FREE App now!

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

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.

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.

New version of iChess - Chess puzzles released to Google Play Store!

iChess 4.0.2 has been publicly released (Google Play Store)! Thanks to all who helped with the Testing. Please let me know if you spot anything odd.
I hope you all like it the way I enjoyed adding these new features!
Ofcourse, there is still lot of work to be done and I plan to add new features (Sync, etc!)

In due course of time, I hope to get these changes on Amazon (sooner) and on iOS (couple of months)

iChess 4.0 BETA ready for testing!

iChess 4.0 BETA is ready for Testing!
Its a big release and some things may have been inadvertently broken on some devices. Please help me test the App and report bugs/crashes!

//How to Test:
1. Either join the
MyChessApps G+ community https://plus.google.com/communities/108010145398500180406
or
Google Group https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/my-chess-apps
2. Visit the below link depending on the Free or Pro version of the App you have
Free:-  https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.pereira.ichess
Pro:-  https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.pereira.ichess.paid
3. Click 'BECOME A TESTER'. It should say "You are now a tester"
4. Click 'Download iChess from the Play Store' at the bottom of the page.
5. Test and let me know if you see any bugs/problems!

//What's new
* New material design!
* Mark puzzle as Favorite
* Improved Random puzzle function
* Option to hide Hint button (to remove temptation!)
* Sort puzzle icons by Title or Last Opened
* Auto open last puzzle file
* and more...