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Showing posts from May, 2019

Chess for Android: UCI Engine Options

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The UCI engine setup dialog in Chess for Android was developed a long time ago when there were not many chess engines available for Android. As a result, I opted for a simple dialog that featured a few, commonly used UCI engine options only (such as hash table size, number of threads, endgame tablebases). However, the options that I picked almost ten years ago no longer serve the wide variety in options of the many chess engines available for Android. Therefore, I decided to re-implement the UCI engine setup and do what the UCI protocol specification actually intended: the GUI should parse all options and build a dialog that allows the user to change them. For engines with only a few options, this yields a concise dialog, as illustrated below with BikJump v1.8. For engines with many options, this yields a more elaborate, scrollable dialog, as illustrated below for Leela Chess Zero. In any case, however, the new implementation gives the user full access to all options! Expect

Karpov 2294

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And another blast from the past. The Karpov 2294, the strongest dedicated chess computer that I own. It is rich in features, such as time control, infinite analysis, and many levels. It also features a very elegant magnetic chess piece set.

Autobridge Device

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My grandfather handed this autobridge device down to me in the early eighties, a few years before I got my first chess and home computers. Autobridge was invented in the 1930s for self-teaching bridge, both the bidding and the playing. I date mine around 1959, since that year appears in the manual and on all the inlay cards. The device has no date, but a serial number (so perhaps one could find out). Does anyone else remember these? I could play for hours with this. Amazing how times have changed....