Chess for Android 2.4.1

I just released version 2.4.1 of Chess for Android with the following changes:
  • Ability to install application on SD card
  • Moved navigation buttons down
  • Few improvements to UCI engine support
To verify that UCI engine support works for third party engines as well (not just for BikJump), I downloaded sources of ZCT0.3.2500 (by Zach Wegner) and Crab1.0Beta (by Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba, Joona Kiiski, Adam Kleng) and compiled these "natively" for Android. Importing and playing the engines work fine.

As before, instructions on setting up an UCI engine are given at UCI for Android.


Comments

jhoravi said…
When rotated to Landscape, does it hide the status bar in-order to maximize the board-size?
jeantend said…
thx for your games !
May we have an option for 2 players game ?
thanks
Jean
Aart Bik said…
To hide the status bar, select Menu=>Options=>Full Screen. Without the status bar, the board size is the same in both landscape and portrait mode.

To select 2 player mode (on the same phone), select Menu=>Level=>Free Play, and take turn making a move. If you mean 2 player mode "over the network", then sorry, not supported :-)
Anonymous said…
where can I get crab compile for android?
Anonymous said…
The computer seems to have a problem with not actively avoiding three fold reps. Otherwise I love this app, great job!
cliff said…
I have enjoyed chess, however, I would like to know why the game was programmed to allow the computer to use the king to take my queen, but when in the same position, I am put into checkmate and unable to take the computers queen with my king. There are no other checkmate in place or that would be created by taking the computers queen with my king.
Aart Bik said…
Cliff,
I can only guess the situation was not the same, for example defended vs. undefended queen. However, in cases like this, please send me the actual game (long press notation window, then copy game as PGN and paste this into an email). Only then can I really comment on the situation. I obviously did not program the computer to cheat :-)
Unknown said…
Thanks for the updates, your computer player is a punk! I also haven't played in a long time.

I play on a 7" epad android tablet, and it runs flawless in the landscape mode. I would have sold this piece of junk by now, if it wasn't for your game.
Unknown said…
hello aart.
i love your program and have a question and a comment. the numerical notation to the right in the format [4/9] -128: what is this exactly? I've surmised that the right side number displays who has the relatively stronger position. (positive for black, negative for white) what is the ratio on the left? i find that knowing the relative strength of my position is an effective learning tool in playing out different lines and is much better than a suggested move hint.
my only grievance is that if i switch to a phone call durning the game and i return to the program, i have lost my game and all the default options have been reset. perhaps i am missing something or maybe it can be fixed.
again, thank you for the great program.
rusaln
Aart Bik said…
Hi Ruslan,
The output "[d/sd]: score" denotes, respectively, the search tree depth "d" (say, the number of half-moves the engine has looked ahead), the selective search depth "sd" (say, how many half-moves the engine has looked ahead for wild combinations), and the "score" in centipawns from white's perspective (e.g. +100 means white is ahead by a pawn, -300 means black is ahead by a knight). As for saving state, the game and options should all be preserved when exiting the game, even through a phone call (as happens in all my tests). Does it always happen for you, are only in particular scenarios (and on what type of phone/Android version)?
Sarika said…
hi aart
in pocket fritz4 is possible to see
the openingbook
http://www.chessbase.com/shopd/product.asp?pid=572&user=&coin=
can you do it the same into your
very good chessprogramm
thanks
charly
Anonymous said…
There seems to be a bug in the chess play:

1 Ng1f3 Ng8f6
2 Nb1c3 Nb8c6
3 d2d4 d7d5
4 Bc1f4 h7h5
5 e2e3 Ra8b8
6 Nf3e5 Nf6e4
7 Nc3xe4 Nc6xe5
8 Ne4c3 Ne5c6
9 Bf1b5 Qd8d7
10 Qd1d3 h5h4
11 h2h3 a7a5
12 Nc3a4 e7e5
13 d4xe5 Bf8e7
14 e3e4 d5xe4
15 Qd3xd7+ Bc8xd7
16 O-O Nc6xe5
17 Bf4xe5 Bd7xb5
18 Be5xc7 Rb8c8
19 Bc7xa5 Bb5xa4
20 Rf1d1 Rc8xc2
21 Ra1c1 Rc2xc1
22 Rd1xc1 Ba4d7
23 Rc1c7 Be7d8
24 Rc7c5 Bd8e7
25 Rc5e5 Bd7e6
26 g2g4 h4xg3

The last move is illegal.
Aart Bik said…
Anonymous, that is a valid move, called en-passant. Please have a look at this posting.
Unknown said…
Thanks for the game Aart. :)

I'm a complete chess novice and wanted to use your program to help me learn to play. Unfortunately however I've got a quad-core tablet and it's too strong for me to get a competitive game even on the one second setting.

So just wondering if it is possible to adjust the computer play strength any other way than simply using the number of seconds thinking time?
Aart Bik said…
Hi Jeneric,
Thanks for your kind words. Couple of suggestions. Play a few moves in 'random' and when you are ahead in material, switch back to a normal level and try to win. Or, download one of the weaker engines and import these rather than the built-in engine (see http://www.aartbik.com/MISC/tour13.html for a rating list). Hopefully your game will improve soon!
Aart

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