2017-03-23

Chess for Android

Chess for Android, written by Aart Bik, is a standalone chess application for Android. The application is available for free at the Android Market [1] or as direct download [2] and consists of a chess engine (a Java version derived from the UCI engine BikJump that is written in C++) and a GUI. The application accepts moves through the touchscreen, the trackball, or through the 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 buttons enable users to correct mistakes or analyze games. Games import and export as FEN/PGN to and from the clipboard, load and save as file, are set up through a position editor, or import as application/x-chess-pgn MIME type on startup. 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 also supports the Universal Chess Interface (UCI) and Chess Engine Communication Protocol (often simply called WinBoard or XBoard protocol), which allows users to play against more powerful third party engines or even play tournaments between engines. Engine setup features pondering, infinite analysis, hash tables, multiple threads, endgame tablebases (Nalimov , Gaviota, Scorpio, Robbobases), and opening test suites. Chess for Android recognizes all ChessBase compatible engines that are installed on the same device.