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Looking for Chess and Go apps

J

jraggio

Member
The two apps I miss most from my windows mobile are chess and go. I've found some for the droid, but they are not that good. I am hoping that better ones are out there or on their way.

1) For Go I'd simply love a version of pocket gnu go for the Droid. This had a very usable UI and decent engine to play against. Also allowed me to play against a human. Might be tricky since the droid does not use a stylus.
Pocket GNU Go Maybe this one can be ported?

2) I really liked Pocket Grandmaster and Pocket Fritz on windows mobile. I haven't seen anything like this for the droid yet. In particular I'd love a chess app that would allow me to play a human or computer and also allow me to do analysis. I loved the winmo apps as they were great for doing "what if" analysis including showing the point value of a position, like white +4.3 etc. Do any of the droid apps do that? The few I've tried do not.

Thanks,
John
 
I feel like I tried it a while back when I first got my Droid, but I don't think that it allowed one to play against the computer. The version I had for windows mobile was great. I enjoyed playing quick games against the computer to kill time or in boring meetings.

John
 
jraggio said:
The two apps I miss most from my windows mobile are chess and go. I've found some for the droid, but they are not that good. I am hoping that better ones are out there or on their way.

1) For Go I'd simply love a version of pocket gnu go for the Droid. This had a very usable UI and decent engine to play against. Also allowed me to play against a human. Might be tricky since the droid does not use a stylus.
Pocket GNU Go Maybe this one can be ported?

2) I really liked Pocket Grandmaster and Pocket Fritz on windows mobile. I haven't seen anything like this for the droid yet. In particular I'd love a chess app that would allow me to play a human or computer and also allow me to do analysis. I loved the winmo apps as they were great for doing "what if" analysis including showing the point value of a position, like white +4.3 etc. Do any of the droid apps do that? The few I've tried do not.

Thanks,
John
Click to expand...

I've bought a Foldable Board Magnetic Standing Game of Go Set a few days ago. It's an attractive decoration and an exciting pastime at home. Usually, my sister play this game with me once I returned home from school.
 
vicky86 said:
I've bought a Foldable Board Magnetic Standing Game of Go Set a few days ago. It's an attractive decoration and an exciting pastime at home. Usually, my sister play this game with me once I returned home from school.
Click to expand...

Ok, I am really confused. I'm talking about android software. This has nothing to do with a real board. I actually have a folding set like this one and also have a real wood board and stones.

john
 

Ok, ive just uploaded a Beta version of my Go (Weiqi, Baduk, igo) android app, its free (but only for 20 days or so), after that it will be a paid app but only a small amount. Currently games can only be played at the moment and not observed, but i will be uploaded upgrades every couple of days to try and get a decent functional version.

If anyone encounters any bugs or has any suggestions for improvement then please let me know (there is an email link in the app), this is aside from GNU go port which i know everyone wants! :)

Its called ' Goigo ', i would put a QR link on here but i have no way of testing it at the moment. It should work on 1.5+ and any screen size / density.

Enjoy!

Dori

ps, i really would appreciate any feedback, weather good or bad!
 
Are there new developments on either chess or go apps? I'd like a go app like gnu go for wwindows mobile that lets me play against the computer and a good chess app for doing analysis that shows the current board evaluation - + 3.4, -12.1 etc. I like to what if and vranches and see what the computer evaluates the position to. It helps me analyze games I've played or watched. Import and export of pgn would be good too. Pocket Fritz on windows mobile let me do all of this.

Thanks,
John
 
Guess I am just talking to myself here, but wanted to post an update. i found some new go apps last night after googling around. It appears that there are a few new ones that include the gnu engine.

Many are covered here:

Sensei's Library: Android

I tried godroid and gobandroid yesterday and prefer the UI on GoDroid. I think both wrap the gnu engine. i am going to try some of the android apps that play online next. There are some free ones and some paid. I am sure the KGS client is probably pretty good as their PC app was cool. I'm not sure $15 is worth it though. I don't play online that much really and wanted a simple gnu app to kill time or play during boring meetings. ;-)

John

John
 
@jraggio: thx for that link. It sounds as if GoDroid actually comes with a GnuGo engine to train against an AI. Can anybody confirm that? Unfortunately I dont have an Android phone right now.
 
Mr_N1ce said:
@jraggio: thx for that link. It sounds as if GoDroid actually comes with a GnuGo engine to train against an AI. Can anybody confirm that? Unfortunately I dont have an Android phone right now.
Click to expand...

GoDroid does come with gnu. Nice looking UI too. I am leaning towards using this one and uninstalling the other one. I have to figure out if it has features not in GoDroid or not.

Foudn some cool chess apps today via google etc. There is a good one from chess.com and another called Mobialia. The UI on both is really polished. Neither seems to offer analysis, but Mobialia does offer hints which includes an evaluation and a preferred line. Maobialia supports playing on FICS and chess.com supports playing on their server.

John
 
Hi John,

I've only just spotted this thread, or would have replied sooner.

As a big chess fan, I haven't seen anything on Android yet that looks good. I'd also like to see something like Chessmaster, Hiarcs or Fritz for Android. Even a winboard client with the option for running UCI engines would be great. As it's becoming a more popular OS, the publishers will hopefully take more notice and we'll see something soon.

Go is one of those games I'd love to learn, but never seem to have the time, or a good teacher. I know it's far more complex than chess and so it really appeals to me. Thanks for tracking down a couple of versions for Android, I'm going to try them out and see if I get anywhere.

The post from vicky86 above looks like spam to me. One post, off topic and containing an advert link to another site. Hmmm.

Cheers,
Jim
 
Learning to play Go is a lot of fun. I stopped playing, but hope to find time again. Passing time against the computer is fun, but it not nearly as good as playing another person. I highly recommend playing on KGS. The pc client is great and there are many people there that will review your games with you when you are done to discuss your good and bad moves etc.

I learned a lot by reading at the Sensei's wiki linked above and by reading some books. I liked the books by Janice Kim. They are available online and in many brick and mortar shops too. The books by Davies were also good, but start with the Kim books (at least vol 1 and 2). I enjoyed Davie's Tesuji book.

John

jim_h said:
Hi John,

I've only just spotted this thread, or would have replied sooner.

As a big chess fan, I haven't seen anything on Android yet that looks good. I'd also like to see something like Chessmaster, Hiarcs or Fritz for Android. Even a winboard client with the option for running UCI engines would be great. As it's becoming a more popular OS, the publishers will hopefully take more notice and we'll see something soon.

Go is one of those games I'd love to learn, but never seem to have the time, or a good teacher. I know it's far more complex than chess and so it really appeals to me. Thanks for tracking down a couple of versions for Android, I'm going to try them out and see if I get anywhere.

The post from vicky86 above looks like spam to me. One post, off topic and containing an advert link to another site. Hmmm.

Cheers,
Jim
Click to expand...
 
Hello,

If you are looking to play go online please check out my Go app. I mentioned it above, it's called 'Goigo' and is an IGS (pandanet) client. It costs
 
jraggio said:
The two apps I miss most from my windows mobile are chess and go. I've found some for the droid, but they are not that good. I am hoping that better ones are out there or on their way.
....
Thanks,
John
Click to expand...

Hello John and everybody!

You can play the GO game (aka igo, weiqi, baduk) on IGS server and also review over 44,000 professional games from the SGF Database in one application only. The free app (ad supported) is named AndroidNoGo Lite and was developed by us for Android OS 1.6 and higher.

Please let us know your thoughts!
Any feedback would be much appreciated.

The IQoid Team
 
John,
I've got the books you mention on my wanted list (birthday coming in May!) and I'm also looking at what Go games there are available for the PC. There seem to be quite a few seemingly suitable for the beginner. I'm really keen to learn it now.
Cheers,
Jim

Dori - I'll give your app a try once I feel confident I can actually play a game against an opponent, on or offline. I'm happy to pay for something half decent.

iqoidco - As the Hero is currently stuck at v1.5, it's a no go for me, but thanks for posting. At least people have some choices.
 
i'm still searching for a chess app like the one you mentioned. WinMo has Pocket Fritz, which is great for analyzing positions. Put the game state in it, start up the engine, and just let it crank away various lines. Pocket Hiarcs is available for iphone.. perhaps one day it will be ported to android.
 
jraggio said:
GoDroid does come with gnu. Nice looking UI too. I am leaning towards using this one and uninstalling the other one. I have to figure out if it has features not in GoDroid or not.

Foudn some cool chess apps today via google etc. There is a good one from chess.com and another called Mobialia. The UI on both is really polished. Neither seems to offer analysis, but Mobialia does offer hints which includes an evaluation and a preferred line. Maobialia supports playing on FICS and chess.com supports playing on their server.

John
Click to expand...

I just checked out the chess app from Mobialia... looks like a great package. Will be making a purchase shortly :D
 
Bazman76 said:
Are there any games that will help you to improve your game? I know the basic rules etc but it would be nice to learn som estrategy.
Click to expand...

Well, there are MANY puzzles that you can practice and learn new tactics with, but strategy comes from either playing, watching or studying (either by video or books). You can go online and watch some very good players play and that can help you learn, but the game itself is very sold and has lots of features.
 
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