Chess for Android

Aart Bik

About this game

Chess for Android consists of a chess engine and a GUI. The application accepts moves through the touch screen, trackball, or keyboard (e2e4 pushes the king pawn, e1g1 castles king side, etc.). An optional "move coach" highlights valid user moves during input and last played engine move. Full game navigation enables users to correct mistakes or analyze games. Games import and export as FEN/PGN to and from the clipboard or via sharing, load and save as file, or are set up through a position editor. A draw by stalemate, insufficient material, the fifty move rule, or threefold repetition is recognized. The engine plays at various levels (including random, against itself in auto-play, or free-play, where the game can be used as a "magnetic chessboard"). The user can play either side and, independently, view the board from the perspective of white or black.

The application supports the Universal Chess Interface (UCI) and Chess Engine Communication Protocol (WinBoard and XBoard), which allows users to play against more powerful third party engines or even play tournaments between engines. Engines are imported in Android Open Exchange format (OEX), in Android Chessbase compatible format, or directly from SD card. Engine setup features time control, pondering, infinite analysis, hash tables, multiple threads, endgame tablebases, and opening test suites.

The application connects to an external electronic chessboard (Certabo, Chessnut, ChessUp, DGT, House of Staunton, or Millennium) and supports online play on FICS (Free Internet Chess Server) or ICC (Internet Chess Club).

Online manual at:
https://www.aartbik.com/android_manual.php

PERMISSION NOTES:
You can freely disable permissions you don't want to grant, the rest of the application will continue to work:
+ Storage (Files and Media): only required when you want to load and save games to SD Card
+ Location: only required if you want to connect to DGT Pegasus/Chessnut Air, which requires a Bluetooth LE scan

Ratings and reviews

Good chess player with lots of levels. Good 2D graphics and a range of board colours. I'm not bothered about having a 3D display as it doesn't affect the quality of the play.

Terrible AI & Pacing: The "Level 10" bot plays erratic, nonsense moves and traps the game in endless piece-shuffling loops, all while making you wait up to 3 agonizing minutes per turn. Verdict: Completely unplayable and broken—skip this app entirely if you want a smooth, fast chess experience.

I am using this program to connect to DGT electronic boards by USB. For this purpose it works well. I can connect to my mobile phone with powered and unpowered DGT boards. I need to disconnect the engine during tournaments to avoid suspicion of cheating. Overall my experience is good.

What’s new

Manya Cynus Robot support