Kasparov is back for some blitz

It's got nothing to do with computer chess except for a never-to-forget match he'd played against Deep Blue in 1997. Anyway, this news is something to be aware of for all chess lovers.

He retired on top and choosed to speak with statements rather than killer chess moves, so that no one could forget about him. I'm one of those who think he was way more succesful on the board while thinking about a miracle move rather than speaking around.

After a campaign for FIDE presidentship which failed at the end, he recently appeared for a blitz match vs his old rival and his later mate Nigel Short. He played much more in style beyond expectations and won 8.5 to 1.5!

Now GK comes back for a more serious encounter against three strongest GMs of the US. Can he win this "human vs younger human" challenge?

To be honest, it's hard to guess because one can easily find out how unpredictable he could be during his career. I must hereby admit that this unpredictability mostly refers to unbelievable successes he achived many times during his career.

Read more about it at Chessbase and the official tournament site.

Android UCI/XB engine update: Danasah 6

A few days ago, i'd posted the random move version of Danasah, an engine written by Pedro Castro. He ended up releasing more variants of his engine, in order to compare the time usage under Arena on a PC as well as under Chess for Android on Android.

The comparisons showed that CfA needs a fix regarding Fischer clock with UCI protocol.

What's left on the engine side is 3 more engines which offer different usages for different purposes. 

Read what Pedro said about them:

"I have introduced UCI from version 6. Version 5.07 is not compatible with UCI. Yesterday I tried the JA version 5.07 and had some problems (with time?).

If you want to try I think I have a version 6 that plays well xboard and uci.

* danasah6.arm7 --> version with full strength

* danasah6_ls.arm7 --> version with limit strength (0 and 2300-2500)

* danasah6_rnd.arm7 --> version with random move (this version is part of the limited version , but for GUI's without complete options for uci. I recommend changing the old executable by this).

* danacfg.txt --> configuration file for full and limitstrength xboard version. It must be in the same folder as the engine.

Opening books are not included.

The Elo should be similar to version 5.07 ( + -20 ), I've changed only a little time management and search."

All 4 files can be downloaded: HERE

CEPA updated to 3.3

Another nice GUI that i've been warned about and i've posted HERE in Chesstroid was Chess Engines Play Analyse (CEPA).


After CfA, Hawk Chess and Acid Ape, CEPA is the fourth GUI which makes engine to engine games possible under Android. That's good news because more alternatives speed up the overall variety of possibilities and they are always welcome.

According to the developer, the update to v3.3 offers the following improvements:
* Now you can change some parameters of the engines!
* several official stockfish engines are installed. install newer versions
* added analysis engine
* fixed bug new game
* fixed bug to accept postion of edit board
* revised several bugs reported by users
* fixed bugs when keep calculations.

Now, download and try CEPA via GOOGLE PLAY.

..and as always, don't forget to share your comments with me.

Acid Ape Chess: Beta 8 brings better XB engine support

If you have read my previous POST about Acid Ape Chess, you must remember that Chess for Android by Aart Bik is not the unique GUI to support Xboard engines anymore.

Now, the Beta 8 version of Acid provides you with more options including better handling of the engine options and more compatibility with xboard engines.

The improvements and additions offered by the update are:
* Tactical puzzles have been implemented: a collection of quality puzzles are shipped with Acid Ape Chess, and additional puzzles can be imported from PGN files.
* Chess960 support has been added.
* Blindfold mode has been added.
* Engine-specific options can now be configured.
* CECP engine compatibility has been greatly improved. This allows to ship Scorpio again.

As a long time fan of CfA across many devices i've been using for engine tournaments, i may not be fair enough with another GUI because of the extreme familiarity thanks to around 70000 games played between engines. So, it looks like a hard habt to break for me.

But this is only my situation and yours may be different.

So why wouldn't you give a try on something competitive, attractive and promising after CfA, CEPA and Droidfish? Just try Acid Ape Chess via GOOGLE PLAY.

New Android UCI/XB engine: Danasah 6 Random

Pedro Castro, the author of Danasah, has kindly compiled a specific random mover version of his engine Danasah 6.

As the name suggests, the main purpose of this version is to play "any" legal move without thinking. By definition, such logic of play should be the weakest possible one, unless there's an algorithm which tries to get checkmated.

Although all measurements usually get inaccurate at lowest levels due to lack of stable weak opponents around, we can roughly predict that Danasah-random will float around 200 ELO when ranked in Rapidroid.

To add some speculative fun, we can also state that with faster time controls, its ELO will probably rise. And for some more, expect the peak level at something like 1"+0.01".

The engine works well with uci and xb protocols and it plays instantly, which is normal.

Let DanaSah roll the dice: HERE   

Chess for Android 5.2.2: Better time controls for XB engines

Compatibility with XB engines is known to be one of the significant features of Chess for Android, the application that we may simply call "the most engine-tester friendly GUI available for Android". After all, as a user focused on nothing but the outcome, CfA has always been the most useful, if not the most beautiful one to me since the day i've been involved in chess on smartphones.

Now, with the new 5.2.2 version, XB engine manangement takes a step further with improved time control abilities. Frankly said, we'll not be limited to "fixed time per move" setting anymore and Fischer (blitz) clocks will start to run between xb engines too.

XB engines (probably most of them) which could not handle so far this most common time control setting are now expected to become compatible thanks to a simple trick, just by sending the clock values to the engines with all commands that require engine thinking.

If you wanna read the discussions and comments about the issue, read the relevant forum thread: HERE.

* Chess for Android 5.2.2 is available at GOOGLE PLAY with the standard version.

* An apk copy can also be downloaded via my repository: HERE

* Wait, it's not over: In case you wanna use the remote controlled PC engines, you may prefer to download the network version: HERE

Cheers!

P.S.: Then what happens with thousands of games already played for Rapidroid? Um, well, this is some kind of complicated situation in which it becomes quite difficult to evaluate all available solutions due to the fact that the frequency of future engines updates may be conflicting... bla bla bla... = I don't know yet what to do but i'll figure out something.

Carlsen finally makes it clear

DW: "Would you participate in a public game against a computer in the near future - or is that not an option for you? The last one I remember was Vladimir Kramnik against Deep Fritz in 2006."

MC: "I personally never wanted that. I find it much more interesting to play humans. And also, of course, now that they have become so strong in a game like that, I wouldn't stand a chance."

The reigning world champ Magnus Carlsen finally gives a clear answer to tons of past speculations about his chances against Stockfish or Komodo in a human vs machine match.

We knew such match would never happen.

So, would you still think that his statement "never wanted that" is just past tense and therefore doesn't apply to the future? Or would you still predict that a huge prize for losing such a match would push him to change his mind?

Read the interview made by Deutche Welle: HERE