Aart's Blog

Because not all Android devices support the Android Market yet, I decided to made my Android applications available as direct downloads: Chess for Android Checkers for Android Reversi for Android After the download completes, simply click the apk to start the install (make sure to check "unknown sources" under settings=>applications).

I ran an engine-engine match between Michel Van den Bergh's two latest GNUChess engines in Chess for Android , playing 100 games (50 fixed book opening lines from both sides) on a Nexus One (1GHz Snapdragon), one second-per-move, Hash 16MB, TB cache 8MB, complete 3- and 4-piece Gaviota endgame tablebases on SD card (only  5.07.170.7b  supports Gaviota).              1   GNU Chess 5.07.153.3b-32        +42/-33/=25 54.50%   54.5/100 2   GNU Chess 5.07.170.7b-libgtb-3  +33/-42/=25 45.50%   45.5/100

Several folks who use Chess for Android to play against another human have requested a feature to auto rotate pieces towards the side to move, so that they can use the phone or tablet as a chess board without constantly having to pass the device around. I have added this feature and also made cautious steps towards some animation in the application. The following clip shows the results. Expect this feature in an update soon. Comments welcome. Auto Rotation Clip

Version 2.6 of Chess for Android adds some choices of board colors and piece sets. To change, press menu, then options, and select either board color or piece set. This brings up another dialog with the choices in colors or piece sets.

I got a couple of requests to improve the graphics in Chess for Android, especially now that tablets are becoming more widespread. I found a public domain chess piece set that looks nice and increased the resolution of the wood texture (really just a picture of my coffee table!). I also added a few more board colors. This is how it looks now (click for the full resolution picture). And this is how it may look soon (again click for the full resolution picture). Comments welcome, of course.