Chess Moves - Resume your game and with Spanish translations especially for the blind!

Chess Moves v2.6 was released and with this we bring two important changes to enhance your App experience while playing against the AI.

WHATS NEW

♟ Resume AI Game

Earlier, you could not resume an AI game and had to either abandon it or resign. Now you can simply leave the game. The App is smart to know and will present the same game the next time you choose to play vs AI so you can continue where you left off!

We have also added the ability to abort an AI game, provided you do so in the first few moves.

♟ Translations

Our aim is for everybody to play chess and have fun, irrespective of language and whether you can see the App or not. Thats why our Apps (the only Chess apps?) are 100% blind friendly.

A blind user from Spain requested us that the App be available in Spanish. And thanks to my good old friend Carlos Granados, the App is now translated to Spanish!

As always, your feedback is most welcome. (You can do so via the App - Menu - About - Feedback)

Goodbye Chess, Hello Future!

It started in 2007/8 when I started working on simple Chess apps. Back then, apart from a couple of Apps, there was nothing much. So for my personal amusement and training, I started developing Apps! These personal projects because a passion, and passion my business! Fast forward, 2018, and there are so many Chess Apps out there.

When I started this journey, I didn't know what to expect. But one by one, we ended up building some amazing products! From the World Champion to newcomers, everybody loves and uses the Apps we have built with so much passion and dedication. It feels good!

From being awestruck with my first face to face meeting with a Chess world champion, to receiving emails and talking to popular Grandmasters; it was any chess player's dream. Along the way I got a chance to meet so many amazing people and experience life in a very different way, than a regular salaried IT guy!

But now, Chess no longer interests me. I hardly play OTB events. I don't follow much of live games of my favorite players or events. And me playing online or studying Chess with a book has become as rare as a blood moon. Its usually a sign that its probably time to look for something different, something more exciting, something that solves a bigger problem! And really, there is so much that mankind needs!

So I am looking to the future, looking to solve bigger problems. Looking to use these God-given gifts and abilities for something better! You will continue to hear from me. Thanks for all your support!

Hello Future!

Your Move correspondence chess app for iPhone/iPad!

Your Move Android was the only mobile App for correspondence chess on the official Chess Servers (ICCF, SchemingMind, AICCF, ChessMoon, MyChess.de, ChessOK)

Now, Your Move app is also on iOS (for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch...)! This is our 7th Chess App on iOS and we couldn't be more proud!

1. You can make your moves in your games on any of the aforementioned chess web servers. Please note that ICCF is the official chess body for correspondence chess, which entitles you to official rating, Titles etc.
2. Multi-login. The App supports multiple logins, especially for those who play simultaneously on different servers
3. One tap position analysis with Analyze This iOS App (PRO only)

NOTE : The App only serves as a conduit/client app to get list of your games and make moves in your ongoing games. The App currently does not have any API (from the servers) to get list of users or issue challenges. Who knows, maybe in the future!

Check out all the other iOS Chess Apps from us!

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 that side by those many pawns.
In other words, the evaluation of the position in terms of pawns (where pawn = 1pt)

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.

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

Your Move App updated - now make your move on ChessOK and mychess!

What's new in Your Move 1.2.1

DOWNLOAD

* Added support for mychess.de and ChessOk correspondence servers

* Multiple Logins - Now you can login to your ICCF, Scheming Mind, ChessOK & mychess.de accounts, all on a single device, using a single App!

* [PRO] Export the game (ongoing or finished) via Email/FB/Twitter or send it to other Chess Apps installed on your device

* Minor enhancements and bug fixes

Your Move - Android app for Correspondence Chess players

It gives me immense pleasure to announce 'Your Move', my new Android app for Correspondence Chess players of ICCF & SchemingMind.

I joined ICCF in 2012 with the aim of improving my Chess skills. But not having an easy way to make moves from my Phone/Tablet was bit discomforting, especially to the developer in me!
So I developed one!

Now, you can easily make your move!

VIEW IN PLAY STORE

Features
♟ Make move, Offer/Accept draw, Resign (See menu), Message your opponent and do all the important stuff
♟ Bring up the position and analyze it even while on the road or on train with no Internet
♟ Analyze your finished games with the power of two Chess engines and save to database (uses Analyze This app)
♟ Supports standard Chess (does not support Chess 960 or variants, yet)
♟ Launch app directly by clicking the hyperlink in the email you receive from ICCF/SM

Your Move is supported with Ads and they can be permanently removed for $0.99, right from the app. (See Menu in the Board window)

VIEW IN PLAY STORE

Analyze This in Action [Video]

Here is a video of Analyze This app in action.

Analyze This v2.0 released - your Android Chess experience just got better

I am very excited and proud to release v2.0 of Analyze This. This is my first major release after quitting my day job and going full-time and I am personally very happy with this release.

What's new?

• New innovative feature: Simply tilt your device (left edge up or down) to move forward/backward through the moves! Now give your fingers some rest! See Settings to enable/disable. Or you can even use the Volume button/keys of your device
• Install UCI engine of your choice! Hide some or all engines
• Load and Save PGN games including variations. Touch and hold move in the notation view for more options
• Refreshing new look, smoother interface plus board colors
• Share game/position with other Chess apps or via email/twitter. Can even share the current board position as image!
• Tap engine analysis to play the first move on the board
• Stockfish upgraded to latest 3.0 version
• Delete and Share your PGN files right from within the app
• Many bug fixes and improvements

THIS upgrade was made possible by the kind feedback and suggestions from many invisible friends! (whom I have never met and may never get a chance to meet!)

Arne | Artem | Benzi | Carlos | David | Dom | Joseph | Justin | Kevin | Mehmet | Raymond

IMPORTANT
Both free and paid apps have Critter and Stockfish by default. If you only see one engine, then please re-install the app and start the app once. 

Edit: Issue fixed in v2.0.1

Whatt a "Knightmare"

So I had the worst nightmare a Chess programmer and fan could ever have.

Me and Vishy Anand were at some tourney (he was probably giving a simul)
I thought of showing him the latest features that I had added to my Android Chess apps.
But my phone would simply not respond. It had become terribly slow.
Even my Nexus 7 tablet refused to oblige.
In the end I could not show him anything!

Luckily I woke up then...lol

A programmer's nightmare..demos never go without hiccups!!

Chess reading for the week - April 1st

Here are some interesting chess posts for the week:

From wired.com : Chess Boxing Demands a Rare Breed of Human: The ‘Nerdlete’
    "What makes a better chess boxer, a boxer who can think strategically or a chess player who can throw a punch?

     The rules in chess boxing are simple. There are 11 rounds and players alternate between boxing and chess. The boxing rounds last three minutes and the chess rounds last four. You win by knockout or checkmate. If neither of those is achieved, the boxer with the highest number of points wins.
Chess boxing partly appeals to the same white-collar people who are drawn to things like fight clubs — mild-mannered professionals that need to let out their angst."

From NPR : Chess for Success
You can either listen to the 12min podcast with GM Maurice Ashley here or read the transcript here. Its funny!
    "The "Frankenstein-Dracula," the "King's Indian" and the "Fried Liver" are all famous ways to do what? As this week's V.I.P., International Grandmaster of chess Maurice Ashley, knows, they're all strategies to begin a chess match. In this episode, Ashley divulges his own chess-playing strategy that combines Zen-like meditation with CIA-like mind games."

From chessprofessionals.org : ACP Tournament of the Year
Not sure if tournament organizers have any incentive to figure their tournament in this list, but its a good start and hopefully will improve the quality of tournaments; for players, spectators and the fans worldwide.
    "ACP Tournament of the Year 2012 Tata Steel Chess, Wijk aan Zee
     Best Round Robin event of 2012: Tata Steel Chess, Wijk aan Zee
     Best Open event of 2012: Tradewise Gibraltar Festival
     Best official event of 2012: World Chess Championship Match Anand-Gelfand, Moscow"

From chessbase.com : A Game of Chicken: Ivanov rides again
The controversy just doesn't seem to die. In fact, this will not be the last, till some tighter controls are in place.
    "In the last weeks of 2012 he wowed the chess world with a 2700 performance. Two months later the new Bulgarian star FM Borislav Ivanov finished 88th in the Plovdiv, this time with a performance of 1970. Then came another enviable achievement, a clear win at the Villava rapid (again with a 2700 performance). What is going on? Alex Karaivanov speculates, with new video analysis by Valeri Lilov."

From BBC : A Point of View: Chess and 18th Century artificial intelligence
A different point of view!
    "Now, the Turk fascinates me for several reasons. First, because it displays an odd, haunting hole in human reasoning. Common sense should have told the people who watched and challenged it that for the Turk to have really been a chess-playing machine, it would have had to have been the latest in a long sequence of such machines. For there to be a mechanical Turk who played chess, there would have had to have been, 10 years before, a mechanical Greek who played draughts."

♔ Awesome cartoon!

Grischuk caught on camera

While watching the Grischuk - Kramnik post match interview video (see below), I could not help but notice Grischuk's body language in the beginning of the video.
What must be going through his mind?



Even more interesting is the below video during his game with Kramnik. In the dying stages, he looks at the clock maybe every second or two (losing precious seconds in the process!). If he glances at the clock so often, how would he even be calculating the position.

(Please forward the video and watch from 2hrs 48mins onwards till he makes his move around 02hrs 50mins)

And finally, the most amazing off-the-board blunder by a Chess player I have ever seen. Probably Grischuk's worst move ever!

(see what happens when Grischuk arrives at the board)

(If the embedded video does not work, you can watch it on Youtube)

Chess reading for the week - March 22

Here are some interesting chess posts for the week:

From Chessvibes.com : Open letter: "Please store and publish games including times"
I personally support this idea. It would nice to study master games knowing what was "home-cooked" and what came out of the grey matter.
"For instance the recent played game Ivanchuk-Svidler in the 3rd round of the London Candidates: Ivanchuk ran out of time at an early stage in the game and although his position wasn't lost, he eventually lost on time. Who would recall these circumstances when reenact the game from a database that doesn’t provide clock time information? Technically it should be possible"

From chess-news.ru : Hikaru Nakamura's Open Letter Vis-a-Vis the Grand Prix Series
Open letter sent by the manager of GM Hikaru Nakamura.
"It is with great disappointment that the chess world has recently learned, indirectly, that Agon is unable to fulfill its obligations in finding the funding for the Lisbon leg of the Grand Prix. Whether or not the funding has been found for further stages of the Grand Prix is ​​unclear as well."

From chess-news.ru : Andrew Paulson: "I Found It Particularly Absurd That the Player Would Publish an Open Letter"
Paulson's theory over using the outrageous red color pieces is frankly absurd. Also has his comments about the above open letter from GM Nakamura.
"Historically, chess pieces were made of ivory and coral – traditionally they were red and white. So from a purely historical point of view we can say there’s some justification here. Making the pieces red was necessary in order to make them stand out from black and white; my feeling at the moment is that on the tablets, on decent computers they’re perfectly readable as long as the screen has a good resolution."

From polygon.com : Ex-convict creates chess-based puzzle game to teach children to make better choices
"I'm trying to spark the idea into anyone else who comes from my circumstances that they can do anything they put their mind to," Brown said. "If you disguise learning with fun, a child will return for more.
Brown was arrested in 1999 after robbing two men of $110 and their driver's licenses, and began serving his 10-year sentence the following year. During that time he focused on playing chess to keep himself out of conflict with the guards and other inmates. While in solitary confinement, he and other prisoners would draw chess boards on the floor and call out moves between cells in order to play. Two years before he was released, Brown sent his mother detailed blueprints of what eventually would become Chess King."

From The Indian Express: India back in reckoning to host World Chess Championship
Take this news with a tspoon of salt. Going by past history, it can cause severe heart break if you are an Indian chess fan.
"The WCC final was one of the topics on the agenda when FIDE vice president Ali Nihat Yazici met Singh earlier this year. Yazici also confirmed the possibility. "The main subjects (of discussion with the minister) as you may guess were CIS (FIDE's Chess in Schools program) in India and the World Championship match. For me it looks like India may host the next World Chess Championship match between WCC GM Anand and his challenger. Let's wait and see," he said."


♔ Magnus on why he comes 10-15mins early for the round: "Honestly, I'm just dead nervous about the zero tolerance rule."

Revisiting Linares 1998

Today is the day when Anand won his first Linares title in 1998 (yeah Carlsen was just 8 years old!). Anand again won Linares nearly a decade later in 2007 and 2008!
The "Wimbledon of Chess" was played from 22-Feb-1998 to 9-Mar-1998.

XV Ciudad de Linares (ESP), 1998 --------------------------------------------------------------- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 --------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Viswanathan Anand g IND ** 1= 0= == 1= =1 =1 7½ 2 Alexei Shirov g ESP 0= ** == =1 10 10 11 7 3 Garry Kasparov g RUS 1= == ** == == == == 6½ 4 Vladimir Kramnik g RUS == =0 == ** =1 == 1= 6½ 5 Peter Svidler g RUS 0= 01 == =0 ** 10 =1 5½ 6 Vassily Ivanchuk g UKR =0 01 == == 01 ** 0= 5 7 Veselin Topalov g BUL =0 00 == 0= =0 1= ** 4

Here are some interesting games from each round.

Round 1 - Shirov 0-1 Anand, rest drawn

Shirov - Anand, 0-1

A rare concentration of heavy pieces around a pawn!

Shirov - Anand, 0-1

Final winning position

I consider this a model game where the two Rooks nicely outplay the White Queen.

Round 2 - All games decisive. Anand 1-0 Svidler. Ivanchuk blunders!

Ivanchuk - Shirov, 0-1

Position after Ivanchuk's 30.Rf3??

Black to play and win (solution at the bottom)

Round 3 - Kasparov defeats Anand, Ivanchuk blunders again!

Svidler - Ivanchuk, 1-0

Position after Ivanchuk's 47...Nb7

White to play and win

Round 4, 5 - All games drawn

Round 6 - Shirov on fire, rest drawn

Shirov - Svidler, 1-0

Position after Black's 25...g6

White to play and win

Round 7 - Topalov wins his first, Ivanchuk loses his 3rd

Ivanchuk - Topalov, 0-1

Position after Black's 51...Kg5

Ivanchuk chose the fastest way to lose and
played 52. Rxh4 and resigned immediately

Round 8 - All drawn
Round 9 - Ivanchuk defeats Shirov, rest drawn.

Shirov - Ivanchuk, 0-1

A position that could have been!

Round 10

Topalov - Shirov, 0-1
How did Shirov choose to end the game?

Black to play and win

Ivanchuk - Svidler, 1-0

Can White stop the Black pawn on a3?

White to play and win

Round 11 - Svidler 1-0 Topalov, Shirov 1-0 Kramnik

Round 12 - Kramnik 1-0 Svidler, Anand's master piece!

Ivanchuk - Anand, 0-1

Can you find a win for Black?

Black to play and win

Round 13 (last round) - Svidler 1-0 Shirov, Anand 1-0 Topalov

Anand - Topalov, 1-0

Position after Black's 27...c5

After Anand's Nb6+, Topalov gave up his Queen
and went on to lose 50 moves later

And thus Anand edged out Shirov to win Linares 1998!

Tid bits

• Mighty Kasparov (2825) could only win one game and drew the rest of them to remain undefeated!
• Shirov (placed 2nd) won the most games (five)

Solutions

Ivanchuk - Shirov

30... Rxe4 0-1

Svidler - Ivanchuk

48. Qxe5 dxe5 49. Rxd7 1-0

Shirov - Svidler

26. Bd7 Rd8 27. Be6 Re8 28. Qg5 1-0

Topalov - Shirov

47... Bh3! 48. gxh3 Kf5 49. Kf2 Ke4 50. Bxf6 d4 51. Be7 Kd3
52. Bc5 Kc4 53. Be7 Kb3 0-1

Ivanchuk - Svidler

47. Bc8 Kf7 48. h6 a2 49. Bxe6+ Kxe6 50. h7 a1=Q 51. h8=Q
and White went on to win in few more moves 1-0

Ivanchuk - Anand

21... Bxd5 22. exd5 Rxc2!! 23. Kxc2 Qxa2 24. f4 Rc8+
25. Kd2 Bxf4+ 26. Ke2 Qxb2+ 27. Kf3 Rc1 0-1

Download these games

Read Google Books using Chess Book Study Android app

Chess Book Study v2.0.1 now has a full built-in browser based on Zirco, the open-source browser.

With this the good news is that you can use the browser to read Google Books!

Here is how you can do it:

Step 1: Click "Open Web" and type http://books.google.com in the URL bar as shown below.

Once the page is loaded, click "My Library". If you are on a Phone or other small screen device, you may need to scroll to the bottom of the page to see "My Library"

Step 2: Once you click "My Library", Google will ask you to enter your username and password to sign-in. Enter your details and click "Sign in". You can choose the "Remember password" option if you like. Once you are logged in, you can select your book from the "My Books on Google Play" list.

 Step 3: Once you choose a book above, it would load the book details. Now click on the Book Icon (highlighted below). In some cases, you would see a "Read Now" option to the left. If not, simply click the book image.

Step 4: The book will be loaded and you can move through the book.

In the coming months, I shall improve the experience of reading books online.

(Edit Apr 28) Note 0: The app may crash on some devices while trying this method. I am working on it!
Note 1: Google Books are proprietary and closed source. Hence it is not easy for the app to read the books offline.
Note 2: Unfortunately, Amazon Kindle books are not supported since Amazon currently only supports a limited set of browsers.

Which country has the most Titled (GM, WGM, IM etc) Chess players after Russia?

♚ Strongest Nations (by Avg rating of the Top 10 players of that country)

	Country	Avg rating
1	Russia	2747
2	Ukraine	2704
3	China	2669
4	France	2663
5	Hungary	2661
6	Armenia	2661
7	United States of America	2654
8	Azerbaijan	2653
9	India	2639
10	Netherlands	2636

as of 2-Mar-2013

♚ Countries with most GMs

	Country	Avg rating	GMs
1	Russia	2747	216
2	Ukraine	2704	80
3	Germany	2629	80
4	United States of America	2654	77
5	Hungary	2661	52
6	Serbia	2587	52
7	France	2663	47
8	Spain	2589	41
9	Israel	2623	39
10	Poland	2633	35
11	England	2620	35
12	Bulgaria	2614	35

as of 2-Mar-2013

♚ Trivia: Which country has the most Titled (GM, WGM, IM etc) Chess players after Russia?

	Country	Avg rating	GMs	IMs	Total Titled
1	Russia	2747	216	501	2178
2	Germany	2629	80	233	1198
3	United States of America	2654	77	121	583
4	Serbia	2587	52	106	550
5	Ukraine	2704	80	197	493
6	Spain	2589	41	107	491
7	Hungary	2661	52	108	420
8	France	2663	47	95	357
9	Poland	2633	35	101	332
10	Netherlands	2636	30	78	293

as of 2-Mar-2013

I was quite surprised to see that after Russia, Germany has the most Titled players. And Germany has double the number than that of 3rd placed USA!

Germany's top player is Arkadij Naiditsch who is #39 in the rankings. Go Germany!

PS. The number above seem to include non-active players too

Source: http://ratings.fide.com/topfed.phtml

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.