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Skybird · 11-13-14, 11:09 AM

Today'S a break, and I take the opportunity to introduce some chess apps on Android OS.

I use a Samsung Galaxy 10.1, so all screenshots I took represent that huge display, not small telephone displays.

Skill and difficulty is no argument for the ordinary chess player anymore when choosing chess engines - almost all of the better contenders are of a competence by now that they will be able to pose a challenge to almost everybody. You need options indeed that do not optimise but tune down the engine's skill levels without letting it look like intentionally fumbling.

The chess program I play most with on tablet, is SHREDDER. That is for three reasons. The important one is that Shredders offers a self-adapting skill mode. That is the more games you played, the more stabile the software's estimation of your skill level becomes, by your scoring. After each match it adapts its own skill level, and the more matches you have played, the closer to your skill level it becomes, and the smaller the later changes will be. Especially for the occasional players, this is a very convenient and useful feature, for it makes the computer opponent more accessible and guards against too much frustration. The second reason is that Shredder is one of the former top titles on PC, winning the world championship for chess engines several times. The code of the Android version bases on earlier versions of Shredder, still comes from one of the most skillful and knowing chess coders out there, so you deal with an engine that you can really set to play quality chess, if that is desired, both on tactical and strategical/positional level. The third reason is that Shredders includes several options for the visual appearance of the board and symbols, and amongst them is a set of pseudo-3D pieces that different to many other chess apps indeed is accessible and playable, I like to play with using that set. Just a recent update finally added the landscape (widescreen mode) to the Android version (ipad version had it for longer time already). The amount of secondary information displayed, as well as the huge bars on top and at the bottom, are a bit sub-optimal. Still, the app does what it should do, and it does that very well. It is payware, but imo absolutely worth its price. As an additional gimmick that allows some "chessing" when there is too little time for a whole game, it includes a library of I think one thousand chess problems.

Shredder Android

And a closer look at the set with pseudo-3D pieces

The second chess-playing app I introduce, is FREEWARE (!), and it is great, also one of the best chess apps around. DROIDFISH CHESS offers some features for serious analysts that most other chess apps on Android are missing. It comes free with an earlier version of Stockfish, which in its latest version on PC currently is ranked on the SSDF list as the world's strongest chess engine is (means: it is one of the very best there are

). Visually, board and pieces are less fragile and detailed than Shredder, but it offers plenty of additional data at the bottom on the screen that other apps often lack. Also, the app allows export of played games, import of opening libraries in the much-used chessbase-format as well as polyglot and internal format standard, allows PGN import and export, the program also offers the usual range of edits and tunigns for visual appearance of board and pieces and what info additionally gets displayed, it allows blind chess by using either checker pieces or no pieces at all (!), you can add third party UCI engines (haven't tried that though) and even edit their parameters, as well as additional table bases. Considering that all this comes for zero cash, this app is not only a steal - it is a must-have.

Droidfish Chess

And a third engine I introduce because it is a legend, was done by a legendary programmer, (Richard Lang), and should be included if only for the fact that it still features a very high standard for playstyle quality: CHESS GENIUS. There is not much to say about it, it comes with the usual standard options and the way they sorted the elements on the display reminds of the other two apps above. It is payware, but still costs only half of what Shredder costs. Genius is around since long, but still the program gets updated, which shows that the author really cares for it. It is offering skill adjustment by traditional, somewhat old-fashioned skill-levels, of which there are ten. I would not say it is a must have like Shredder and Droidfish, but still it plays a chess that has so much quality that one should give it serious consideration. I got it mainly because I know Lang-programs since so long time now, since the golden age of chess computers in the 80s. How I miss that time of promise and magic!

Chess Genius

All three apps can be found in appstores, where you can also see more screenshots showing other board and pieces graphics and colours, and how the display is arranged on smaller and telephone displays.

Chess computing is not complete without Chessbase. The German company is global market leader for chess databases and promotion of chess-related software. Their Android app accessing their game database is a bit steep in pricing (for Android standards), and costs more than any chess engine for Android, but for me finally with their latest update became stable and reliable. This is no engine,k, but only a GUI for accessing their database of played tournament matches. You can search and filter the database, to find the match(es) or players that you want, the game then gets presented via the well-known Fritz-graphics which imo set the standard for chess software in beauty and detail, on PC their 3D sets are fully usable, indeed I use them frequently instead of a board, or additional to a board when doing analysis. I just like them nice graphics.

Most games in their database from daily and ordinary tournament practice are without comments, but highlights, classical games and high profile-matches come with comments and options. Then it could look like this, for example ( I still think the interface needs more optimization, I do not need the list of available entries constantly displayed on the left).

Chessbase App

And that's it for today. In one of the coming days, I will lose some info on free chess options on the PC. Play on, and if the king has the wrong colour: mate him!

LOL

11-13-14, 11:09 AM	#8
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,702 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	Today'S a break, and I take the opportunity to introduce some chess apps on Android OS. I use a Samsung Galaxy 10.1, so all screenshots I took represent that huge display, not small telephone displays. Skill and difficulty is no argument for the ordinary chess player anymore when choosing chess engines - almost all of the better contenders are of a competence by now that they will be able to pose a challenge to almost everybody. You need options indeed that do not optimise but tune down the engine's skill levels without letting it look like intentionally fumbling. The chess program I play most with on tablet, is SHREDDER. That is for three reasons. The important one is that Shredders offers a self-adapting skill mode. That is the more games you played, the more stabile the software's estimation of your skill level becomes, by your scoring. After each match it adapts its own skill level, and the more matches you have played, the closer to your skill level it becomes, and the smaller the later changes will be. Especially for the occasional players, this is a very convenient and useful feature, for it makes the computer opponent more accessible and guards against too much frustration. The second reason is that Shredder is one of the former top titles on PC, winning the world championship for chess engines several times. The code of the Android version bases on earlier versions of Shredder, still comes from one of the most skillful and knowing chess coders out there, so you deal with an engine that you can really set to play quality chess, if that is desired, both on tactical and strategical/positional level. The third reason is that Shredders includes several options for the visual appearance of the board and symbols, and amongst them is a set of pseudo-3D pieces that different to many other chess apps indeed is accessible and playable, I like to play with using that set. Just a recent update finally added the landscape (widescreen mode) to the Android version (ipad version had it for longer time already). The amount of secondary information displayed, as well as the huge bars on top and at the bottom, are a bit sub-optimal. Still, the app does what it should do, and it does that very well. It is payware, but imo absolutely worth its price. As an additional gimmick that allows some "chessing" when there is too little time for a whole game, it includes a library of I think one thousand chess problems. Shredder Android And a closer look at the set with pseudo-3D pieces The second chess-playing app I introduce, is FREEWARE (!), and it is great, also one of the best chess apps around. DROIDFISH CHESS offers some features for serious analysts that most other chess apps on Android are missing. It comes free with an earlier version of Stockfish, which in its latest version on PC currently is ranked on the SSDF list as the world's strongest chess engine is (means: it is one of the very best there are ). Visually, board and pieces are less fragile and detailed than Shredder, but it offers plenty of additional data at the bottom on the screen that other apps often lack. Also, the app allows export of played games, import of opening libraries in the much-used chessbase-format as well as polyglot and internal format standard, allows PGN import and export, the program also offers the usual range of edits and tunigns for visual appearance of board and pieces and what info additionally gets displayed, it allows blind chess by using either checker pieces or no pieces at all (!), you can add third party UCI engines (haven't tried that though) and even edit their parameters, as well as additional table bases. Considering that all this comes for zero cash, this app is not only a steal - it is a must-have. Droidfish Chess And a third engine I introduce because it is a legend, was done by a legendary programmer, (Richard Lang), and should be included if only for the fact that it still features a very high standard for playstyle quality: CHESS GENIUS. There is not much to say about it, it comes with the usual standard options and the way they sorted the elements on the display reminds of the other two apps above. It is payware, but still costs only half of what Shredder costs. Genius is around since long, but still the program gets updated, which shows that the author really cares for it. It is offering skill adjustment by traditional, somewhat old-fashioned skill-levels, of which there are ten. I would not say it is a must have like Shredder and Droidfish, but still it plays a chess that has so much quality that one should give it serious consideration. I got it mainly because I know Lang-programs since so long time now, since the golden age of chess computers in the 80s. How I miss that time of promise and magic! Chess Genius All three apps can be found in appstores, where you can also see more screenshots showing other board and pieces graphics and colours, and how the display is arranged on smaller and telephone displays. Chess computing is not complete without Chessbase. The German company is global market leader for chess databases and promotion of chess-related software. Their Android app accessing their game database is a bit steep in pricing (for Android standards), and costs more than any chess engine for Android, but for me finally with their latest update became stable and reliable. This is no engine,k, but only a GUI for accessing their database of played tournament matches. You can search and filter the database, to find the match(es) or players that you want, the game then gets presented via the well-known Fritz-graphics which imo set the standard for chess software in beauty and detail, on PC their 3D sets are fully usable, indeed I use them frequently instead of a board, or additional to a board when doing analysis. I just like them nice graphics. Most games in their database from daily and ordinary tournament practice are without comments, but highlights, classical games and high profile-matches come with comments and options. Then it could look like this, for example ( I still think the interface needs more optimization, I do not need the list of available entries constantly displayed on the left). Chessbase App And that's it for today. In one of the coming days, I will lose some info on free chess options on the PC. Play on, and if the king has the wrong colour: mate him! LOL __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.