May 30, 2017

Lichess 4.13

GET latest Lichess for Android at GOOGLE PLAY.

WHAT'S NEW (27-May-2017):

New features/improvements:
- Ability to import OTB games directly to lichess
- You can now see who is speaking in spectator chat
- Timeline is displayed before leaderboard on home
- Removed Google Analytics
- More visible user games filters dropdown
Bug fixes:
- Fix encoding in tournament page

May 27, 2017

Chess Tournament 0.6.2 by Javiolo

Javiolo's tournament manager keeps improving and there are already plenty of users enjoying it. The latest version is available for download at GOOGLE PLAY.

Test it with your tourneys and share your opinions with Javiolo on Google Play and with me here.

WHAT'S NEW (25-May-2017)
v0.6.2
* fix bug default Tournament name
* Now support Opening pgn file

Android UCI engine update: Stockfish dev't 2017.05.24.ACH

Here's the latest development version available for Android, compiled by Alexei.

GET Stockfish 2017.05.24.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: McBrain 2017.2.4a.ACH

Thanks to Alexei for compiling this latest McBrain. McBrain is a tweaked Stockfish, maintained by Micheal Byrne. You can read more about it HERE.

GET McBrain 2017.2.4a.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Nayeem 10.1.ACH

This is the PGO (profile guided optimization) version of the Stockfish derivative Nayeem, ported by Alexei Chernakoff to Android. The previous build shared here was made by Aprijal, using the same source. It's up to you to decide which version meets more your needs.

GET Nayeem 10.1.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Aristides 1.0.ACH (pgo version)

According to what i've read in release notes, THIS is a new build by Alexei, using PGO optimizations, thus faster than the previous one, by 10% approx.

Aristides is a C port of the Stockfish chess engine, forked from Cfish by Michael Byrne.

It includes play by UCI_LimitStrength (play by ELO rating), UCI Move Delay, Fast Play when mate is found, Study option (from Matefinder), Hide Info ( some information output may be skipped to reduce output) and various search tweaks.

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: McBrain 2017.2.4.ACH

Only for collectors since there's the 2.4a version which followed quickly. McBrain is a tweaked Stockfish, maintained by Micheal Byrne. You can read more about it HERE.

GET McBrain 2017.2.4.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Acid APE Chess Beta 14.6

APE is a challenging chess GUI's for Android, a serious competitor to Chess for Android by Aart Bik and Chess Tournament by Javiolo.

WHAT'S NEW (23-May-2017):
Beta 14.6:
- The appearance of the opponent ELO selector has been fixed.

Download latest version from GOOGLE PLAY.

New Android UCI engine: Tiny Chess 1.4.6.ACH

Tiny Chess is an original UCI compatible chess engine written in the C++11 programming language by Kelvin Yang. The engine observes all rules of chess, including castling, en passant, draw by threefold repetition, etc.

It's quite a newborn engine not yet rated in CCRL. The playing strength is expected to be between 1900 and 2100 ELO.

GET Tiny Chess 1.4.6 for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Sting 8.1.ACH

Sting is a Stockfish derivative forked from v2.3.1 a long time ago and maintained by Marek Kwiatkowski.

I hope below build prepared by Alexei Chernakoff will perform much better than the last Android port of v7.3 by Aprijal in Rapidroid. I expect it to be around 3150 ELO. 

GET Sting 8.1.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

New Android UCI/XB engine: Marvin 2.0.0.ACH (fixed)

Marvin is a UCI and CECP (Chess Engine Communication Protocol aka Xboard) compatible chess engine by Martin Danielsson, written in C.

Marvin was originally developed in the early 2000s until 2005, released in May 2004 and January 2005 as closed source engine.

After ten years "out of business", Martin Danielsson restarted the development in 2015. The completely rewritten Marvin 2.0.0 was released as open source engine under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL3) in March 2017.

Thanks to Alexei Chernakoff for bringing yet another new engine to Android. I've installed and loaded it into my MTK-6752 arm8 device without problem but didn't yet play any game. I hope it will run well with Chess for Android. Marvin is expected to hit 2400+ ELO in Rapidroid.

GET Marvin 2.0.0 for arm7

...Or you'd better prefer THIS fixed build due to very low perfo of the first one.

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Chess Online 11.0.2 by Miroslav Kisly

WHAT'S NEW (21-May-2017)
v11.0.2
* Increased ELO
* Accessibility fix for 5.0-7.1 androids (TalkBack)

Download Chess Online from GOOGLE PLAY.

Chess Engines Collection 1.1 by APE Studios

The developers of Acid APE Chess have released an OEX installer which comes with 2 engines Hakkapeliitta 3.0 and Stockfish 8.0. Following the first version of the app (that i may have skipped somehow), this is now v1.1 coming to add Senpai 1.0 into the package. This makes 3 alternative builds for us.

The builds are OEX compatible, so they will be automatically recognized by all compatible GUIs, like CfA and Droidfish.

The app is available for download at GOOGLE PLAY.

Android UCI engine update: Stockfish dev't 2017.05.16.ACH

Just for collectors once again. More recent versions are already available.

GET Stockfish 2017.05.16.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Stockfish dev't 2017.05.15.ACH

This build by Alexei is just for collectors. More recent versions are already available.

GET Stockfish 2017.05.15.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Cfish 2017.05.17.ACH

THIS is the latest version of Cfish available as of today. It's made by Alexei for arm7. Enjoy the slightly boosted fish thanks to the effective simplicity of C language.

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Cfish 2017.05.16.ACH

Given that newer versions are already available, i'm obviously late enough to share THIS version of Cfish dated May,16th made for arm7 by Alexei, recently the most active build maker for Android.

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Corchess 1.3.20170516.ACH

Thanks to Alexei for porting a newer version of CorChess to Android:
GET Corchess 1.3.20170516.ACH for arm7

Below description of the engine is taken from its homepage:

"Corchess is a clone of Stockfish source code maintained by Ivan Ivec for better performance on long time controls, trying at least partially to fill the gap between regular tests and demands of correspondence players.

The idea is to improve the following scalability of Stockfish 8.

Starting from version b3, all patches are first tested at 200+2 time control (1 thread, 64 MB hash, 1000-2000 games) and then tested with 10000 games at 40+0.4 time control (1 thread, 16 MB hash). To minimize statistical errors, all patches will be tested against Stockfish rather than against previous version."

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

May 15, 2017

Wanna weigh your fish? Get Stockfish Bench for Android!

It's all about a great utility written by Alexei which will come handy for all those in need of comparing the performance of the Stockfish engine across their devices and also against their PCs.

The usage is simple: Just GET THIS APK first, transfer it into your device and run it. A DOS-like command line interface will appear for you to enter a command using: bench [hash] [threads] [depth]. Simple, isn't it?
My trials on the "oldie but goldie" quadcore Exynos 4412 showed accurately 915K as expected, using the command like BENCH 128 4 13. Now it's time to repeat for yourself.
The app is using the Stockfish build dated 03-May-2017, so if you want to compare it to a PC engine make sure it's a build from the same date.

Android UCI engine update: Cfish 2017.05.12.ACH

The latest Cfish is recently ported to Android by Alexei, following the trend of the latest months with development builds raining almost every day.

If you ask me, i think it's somehow a waste of energy while many other engines are still not available for Android, ie: introducing Amoeba,  Booot, Carballo, ChessBrainVB, Minko, Octochess, updating Dirty, Laser, Nemorino, Senpai arm7.pgo, Toga 3 SMP...

But without any doubt, you also have the option to ask me nothing at all and to enjoy a few more ELOs. For this, GET Cfish 20170512.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from PC, use your mobile or refer to THIS POST.

May 14, 2017

Stockfish dev't 2017.05.10 OEX installer by Javiolo

Javiolo has updated his Stockfish OEX installer app with recent builds made from source code of May,10th.

WHAT'S NEW (12-May-2017):
new release Stockfish 8 20170510 Open Exchange protocol
old release Stockfish 8 20170326
this chess engine app need a chess board, see app description
Now, this app has a layout
Other Stockfish derivatives
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.packs.chessenginesotherfishpack
for more engines see Chess Engines app

You can download Stockfish OEX installer PIE for modern devices from GOOGLE PLAY.

Note that owners old devices will have to wait a while for the same update to be implemented in the specific noPIE app.

You can also install these builds manually from this ARCHIVE, in case you don't need OEX feature or you wish to keep backups available after a future update of this app.

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Chess Tournament 0.6.1 by Javiolo

Javiolo's new app is becoming a candidate to replace Chess for Android when it comes to play engine tournaments on a mobile device. The latest version is available for download at GOOGLE PLAY. So, test it with your tourneys and share your opinions with Javiolo on Google Play and with me here.

WHAT'S NEW (10-May-2017)
v0.6.1
- You can already buy the app. We hope you like it.

Android UCI engine update: Stockfish dev't 2017.05.08.ACH

In the absence of Jim Ablett and Aprijal Pasaribu, all porting efforts seem to be focused on daily updates of Stockfish and derivatives. The one in the subject is the fish code dated May,8th, ported to Android by Alexei. Enjoy!

GET Stockfish 2017.05.08.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Symphysodon 2017.05.09.ACH

It's the new version of Sym-phi-do-so... Cool but difficult to say! Simply said it's the Stockfish derivative by Jose Perez that i still don't know well. So, i'd prefer to share once again the short script by the author taken from a very old forum post:

"I must THANK those who are helping me to the project by testing the engine derived from SF and using it in different game servers, that I am only learning and that every day I hope to increase the strength to the engine and the speed / agility of search and to find an optimum point . I just started, I hope you do not demand that I be the number 1, it's just the beginning. Thank you."

Thanks go to Alexei Chernakoff for compiling the update.

GET Symphysodon 2017.05.09.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: McBrain 2017.2.3.ACH

McBrain is a tweaked Stockfish, maintained by Micheal Byrne. You can read more about it HERE.
Michael Byrne
GET McBrain_2017.2.3.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Zurichess Luzern

After Jura, Zurichess stopped at Luzern on to way from A to Z in Switzerland. This build is compiled by the author Alexandriu Mosoi as usual. Its estimated strength is somewhere around 2730 ELO in Rapidroid scale, calibrated vs CCRL. As Jura was 2773 in CCRL's last ranking dated May,13th, i guess Luzern will climb a little bit higher.

GET Zurichess Luzern for arm

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

May 7, 2017

Android UCI engine update: Cheese 1.9

Patrice Duhamel updated Cheese to v1.9. Its previous version is rated 2602 ELO in last Rapidroid ranking. I hope 1.9 will add at least what the author measured on Windows:

CPU: i5-2500 K
Versions: 64 bit
TC: 10" + 100 ms
Hash: 128 MB
Openings: Adam-Hair-8moves-100133.pgn

Rnk Name       Elo + - games sco drw
1   Cheese 1.9  26 4 3 10000 58% 41%
2   Cheese 1.8 -26 3 4 10000 42% 41%


Remember that the Xboard protocol is recognized too by Cheese although it's not mentioned in the filenames. I never tested Cheese with Xboard yet, since UCI works pretty well.

This time there's a 64-bit build included too. Bon appetit!

Version 1.9 - May 6th 2017
* fix possible crash : not initialized variable for castling
* fix rare crash in very long games
* reduce pawn hashtable structure size
* change main hash table structure
* remove early queen move penality
* remove lost castling penality
* more reduction in LMR based on move count and depth
* null moves pruning reduction based on depth
* use config.ini for default values in UCI mode
* add logfile option
* rewrite move ordering and generation
* reorganize search code
* release armv8 version

GET Cheese 1.9

You can also visit CHEESE HOMEPAGE for more info.

May 6, 2017

Android UCI engine update: McBrain 2017.2.2.ACH

This is the second ACH build coming after the build by Javiolo posted previously. I should have skipped the first ACH based on McBrain 1.3 somehow, so i'm sharing both builds by Alexei below.

McBrain is a tweaked version maintained by Micheal Byrne. You can read more about it HERE.
Michael Byrne
Last one:GET McBrain_2017.2.2.ACH for arm7
Previous one: GET McBrain_2017.2.2.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Stockfish dev't 2017.05.03.ACH

The fish code of May,3rd, ported to Android by Alexei. Enjoy!

GET Stockfish 2017.05.03.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: SugaR XPro1d.ACH

This SugaR build by Alexei is made on May,2nd. Only 32-bit.

GET SugaR XPro1d.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

May 5, 2017

Android UCI/XB engine update: DanaSah 6.50

This is an update i'd skipped at first according to Pedro Casto's request to rating list maintainers about not using v6.5 in updated lists. I'd thought that is was somehow related to experimental features implemented, not really targeting an ELO increase but more functionalities, mainly the limit ELO strength.

Now that it's been waiting long enough, i won't keep myself from sharing the last version :-)

GET Danasah 6.5 for arm7

I'm not sure whether below accessories bundled with v6.1 are still supported by v6.5. Check and see:

* You may download both sub versions and the optional xb config file: HERE

* One last thing to notify is the book format which switched to polyglot (.bin). You may download the new DanaSah book HERE and copy it in a preferred folder on your device. The full path to the book must be set in engine configuration box of Chess for Android or via engine settings screen of Droidfish in case it's your GUI.

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST

May 2, 2017

Certainly not a clone if not exactly the same

No, i'm not referring to a chess engine clone. Just figured out that countless posts taken from Chesstroid are floating around the web since a while, probably in parallel to the popularity increase of this modest source about mobile chess engine releases.

Now that Chesstroid reached more than 320K hits after more than 3 years without using embarrassing ads or speculations on chess forums to attract undeserved attention, it's still not understandable why web spamming finds it interesting.
Graph of Blogger page views
So, i'm laughing when i read this not-a-clone which says:

CorCfish is an try to support Cfish, similarly to what used to be achieved with Stockfish to procure CorChess. Despite the fact that the purpose is also no longer extactly the similar intimately, the process seems to be identical. I do not know what the end result is however you’ll be able to take a look at it to expose your opinion.
GET link to my repository given here CorCfish Extended 20170423.ACH for arm7

In case of hassle downloading out of your PC, use your cell instrument or discuss with THIS POST (http://--------.com/2016/11/download-problems-with-box-boxed-bugs.html).

And below is the original text:

CorCfish is an attempt to improve Cfish, in a similar way to what was done with Stockfish to obtain CorChess. Even though the aim may be not extactly the same in detail, the method looks similar. I don't know what the outcome is but you can test it to reveal your opinion.

GET CorCfish Extended 20170423.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

As you can easily notice, the text is not exactly the same. So we can force ourselves to think they are not cloning. No, certainly not...

Android UCI engine update: CorCfish Extended 2017.05.01.ACH

If i may repeat the description of the derivative: "CorCfish is an attempt to improve Cfish, in a similar way to what was done with Stockfish to obtain CorChess. Even though the aim may be not extactly the same in detail, the method looks similar. I don't know what the outcome is but you can test it to reveal your opinion."

GET CorCfish Extended 20170501.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

New Android UCI engine: Vajolet2 2.3.1.AP

Vajolet2 is a strong engine written by Marco Belli. As it was never ported to Android, the build made by Aprijal is truly a nice surprise. It has the SMP feature working well too. Thus, we can predict a new entry into Top-20 of Rapidroid with an estimation of 2900+ ELO.

First test games showed that Vajolet plays all games without any unusual termination. It seems the build is totally healthy.

GET Vajolet2 2.3.1 for arm7 and arm8

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST

Android UCI engine update: Stockfish dev't 2017.04.29.ACH

Another regular update ported to Android by Alexei. Enjoy!

GET Stockfish 2017.04.29.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Stockfish dev't 2017.04.27.DDugovic by ACH

This is a multi variant version of the Stockfish development version. The fork is maintained by Daniel Dugovic. Just for dedicated fans.

GET Stockfish 8.0.2017.04.27.Ddugovic.ACH for arm7

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.
"So, this must be the way to make the fish play multi variant"

Android UCI engine update: Cfish 2017.04.28.ACH and AP

What you'll see below is based on probably the same source compiled by two different experts. It's up to you to decide which one suits your needs better. If you ask me, i'd say it doesn't matter too much. Among two compiles from AP, b2 is the second build made the same day.

GET Cfish 20170428.ACH for arm7
GET Cfish 20170428.AP for arm7 and arm8
GET Cfish 20170428b2.AP for arm7 and arm8

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Ethereal 8.13

Good news from Andy. There's a new Ethereal in the ring!

WHAT'S NEW:
- Slight modifications to Rook and Queen PSQT tables
- Now tracking MoveHistory with [colour][from][to] instead of one array with a slot for each possible uint16_t
- Updated the build to simplfy adding new .c files
- Tested under the name History14PSQT (AndyGrant/TestEngines)
Passed after 31460 games on [0, 5]
WDL = (10003, 11812, 9645)
Delta = 3.95 +- 3.84 (Z = 1.96)

GET Ethereal 8.13 for arm7 32-bit pie

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Android UCI engine update: Protector 1.9.0.AP

After Jim Ablett, Aprijal has also prepared a build of Protector 1.9.0 for Android recently.

Although the feedback is often positive, unfortunately my last opinion is desperate because of the symptoms similar to Jim's builds. The build works okay with Droidfish but in tournament mode of Chess for Android, Protector hangs on move during the second game of any pairing, somewhere between move 11 (first move to play after PGN opening) and move 16.

This makes it impossible to be rated via automated gauntlets. Rapidroid is still unlucky because the correctly played games show a trend toward 3000 ELO already.

I guess there may be an issue related to either shutting down all threads or clearing the hash when first game is finished. I can't prove that Protector hangs only with black because when i stop and restart the second game, no matter what color is played, Protector plays to the end.

No matter what, you can use this build for anything other than automated engine games for sure. So, do it!

GET Protector 1.9.0.AP for arm7 and arm8

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST

Android UCI engine update: Nayeem 10.1.AP

This is the new version of the Stockfish derivative Nayeem, ported by Aprijal to Android.

GET Nayeem 10.1.AP for arm7 and arm8

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

New Android UCI engine: Hawkeye 1.03.AP

Not all derivatives come from Stockfish seas! This one is based on Gull source and is maintained by Micheal Byrne. Use it if you wanna taste a slightly modified bird. Thanks to Aprijal for bringing it to Android.

GET Hawkeye 1.03.AP for arm7 and arm8

In case of trouble downloading from your PC, use your mobile device or refer to THIS POST.

Chess Tournament 0.5.6 by Javiolo

Javiolo released an update to his promising new app, available for download at GOOGLE PLAY. Test it with your tourneys and share your opinions with Javiolo on Google Play and with me here.

WHAT'S NEW:
v5.6 (29-Apr-2017)
- solved error at start app in some devices
- now games 6 engines 6
Chess Engines Tournament (only)
see app description
There may be problems on the first start, restart, restart without internet

Rival Chess 2.1.2

There's a new version but we don't know what are the changes as the description remained the same.

WHAT'S NEW (28-Apr-2017):
Version 2 : *** Major update ***
* 24 Engine levels now (including easier starter levels),
* Save games, and share PGNs,
* UI modernisation,
* Improved sound effects,
* Swipe games to delete them.

Rival Chess can be downloaded from GOOGLE PLAY.

Android UCI engine update: Komodo 10.4

The Android port of Komodo 10.4 is finally available on GOOGLE PLAY after some delay. Android equals Windows in terms of the released version, once again.

What i hope is that this build recovers the huge gap behind SF8, caused by 10.3.