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Old 11-24-2010, 03:54 AM   #1
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Working Chess on Kindle 3

Yesterday I tried about a dozen of online chess providers (both "against human" and "against computer" functionality) and discovered that all of them (except ONE!) had one of the following two problems which prevented them from being usable on Kindle:

1. Written as a Flash animation. This is critical because Flash is not (and is unlikely to ever be) supported on Kindle platform.

2. A minor easily correctable glitch in the interface: instead of registering the move by clicking on a piece and dragging it to a new square, they should change the move registration to one of the following two methods:

a) click on a piece and then click on the new square it should go to.

b) enter algebraic notation (like "e2e4") in some entry box and then click on some "play" button or press "enter".

Ah, there were so many beautifully designed boards+pieces which looked GREAT on Kindle but, alas, were unusable due to this minor glitch.

Now the GOOD NEWS --- there was one provider which used BOTH of the abovementioned methods for inputting the move and here is the URL:

http://postcardchess.com/computerchess.html

I confirm that it works fine on Kindle 3. One minor inconvenience is that you have to reset zoom to 150% after each move (or play in landscape mode).
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Old 11-24-2010, 10:07 AM   #2
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I once wrote human-to-human chessboard (for playing chess or checkers with other human being on one device) for Onyx Boox - but it works on Kindle too. You should use it in landscape mode though.

http://ereaders-apps.wieza.org/ - here - there are: chessboard, solitaire and a balls games. The chessboard is only a board when you can move pieces. There is no computer player or anything.

Last edited by Magnesus; 11-24-2010 at 10:13 AM.
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Old 11-24-2010, 10:45 AM   #3
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As we're talking games, anyone know of a free Scrabble which will work on a K3?
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Old 03-07-2011, 03:44 PM   #4
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Both the basic and advanced chess games here are playable on my K3.
http://ben-games.com/kindle/index.html

I zoom it in a bit, and this site does stay zoomed in for the whole session.

I'm thinking of trying the new $2.99 Kindle Chess app, but perhaps the web version will tied me over until and improved version of the app is released. I hate buying anything 1.0.
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Old 03-07-2011, 07:58 PM   #5
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i think amazon has a chess game/active content for kindle, although at the moment, games and active content are only available in the US
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Old 03-07-2011, 09:32 PM   #6
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i think amazon has a chess game/active content for kindle, although at the moment, games and active content are only available in the US
Yes, that would be the app of which I speak. I wonder why apps are US only.
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Old 03-07-2011, 09:34 PM   #7
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Yes, that would be the app of which I speak. I wonder why apps are US only.
yeah. i hope they it available to other regions soon it would really be great.
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Old 03-07-2011, 09:57 PM   #8
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There is a chess game for Kindle WiFi marketed by Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Chess/dp/B004K...9552866&sr=1-1

It has 10 levels. I am rated 1350 in online chess and I lose all the time at Level 4 and win some of the time on Level 3.

Plus, it saves boards and time clocks when one goes back to the main menu and can be continued at a future time.

I use it every day after I do my ebook reading.
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Old 03-08-2011, 09:03 AM   #9
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Yeah.that's the same app. I guess we'll exhaust every possible way to reference it. ;-)

I'm glad to hear you like it. That will probably make me plunk down the $3 to try it. It got some mixed reviews, and I was kind of waiting to see if the creators, Oak Systems, would come out with an update, but for the price, I guess there is no point in hesitating.

This past weekend, I just taught my 7 year old son how to play and he's very excited about it, so having a chessboard ready on the kindle, even if just for "pass-and-play" 2 player mode, is probably worth it.

BTW, after only a few games, my son now plays almost as well as I do. Which is "very poorly."
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Old 03-08-2011, 01:01 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sirmaru View Post
There is a chess game for Kindle WiFi marketed by Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Chess/dp/B004K...9552866&sr=1-1

It has 10 levels. I am rated 1350 in online chess and I lose all the time at Level 4 and win some of the time on Level 3.

Plus, it saves boards and time clocks when one goes back to the main menu and can be continued at a future time.

I use it every day after I do my ebook reading.
I don't particularly like the chess game - it's one of the worst I've ever used, and it does not know the rules of chess.

For example, it will not allow you to promote a pawn to anything other than a queen, and does not understand it is a draw when there's insufficient material to checkmate, or when 50 moves have been made without an exchange. Eventually it will stumble into repetition of position draw, but sheesh.

There is no way to view the entire move list (short of taking back all the moves), or save it for future reference, and it is not in a standard notation. At least at the lowest levels, it always plays the same opening moves. I'd like a more efficient move selection UI (5way alone does not let you move the cursor diagonally - keyboard shortcuts could help a lot).

That said, it is the best chess app on the Kindle (because it is the only such app) and yes, it can beat me (but that's not saying much..). I just hope it is not the last one.
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Old 03-08-2011, 01:11 PM   #11
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>>and it is not in a standard notation<<

I saw all those points raised in the reviews, which is part of my hesitation, despite the fact that those things are unlikely to bug me at my ability level personally for some time.

The notation in the screen shot looks to be standard algebraic notation. What is nonstandard about it?

BTW, I realize it's the rules, and I've heard mention of some odd situations where one might want to choose to promote a pawn to a knight, but why on earth would anyone ever choose a rook or bishop over a queen? That seems rather pointless.

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Old 03-08-2011, 01:36 PM   #12
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>>and it is not in a standard notation<<



The notation in the screen shot looks to be standard algebraic notation. What is nonstandard about it?

BTW, I realize it's the rules, and I've heard mention of some odd situations where one might want to choose to promote a pawn to a knight, but why on earth would anyone ever choose a rook or bishop over a queen? That seems rather pointless.

ApK
While the notation is 'algebraic', it is not even close to being 'standard'. See
Algebraic Chess Notation on Wikipedia.

There are (rare) situations where promoting to a queen would result in stalemate rather than a win, because doing so denies the opposing side the ability to move anything. But the point is, the rules permit a choice of promotion, so the game should allow it.

I imagine they have dumbed things down in an attempt to appeal to a broader audience, and save a few days of programming and testing, but it seems a little lazy and dismissive of those of us who have a less casual interest in chess.
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Old 03-08-2011, 02:36 PM   #13
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While the notation is 'algebraic', it is not even close to being 'standard'. See
Algebraic Chess Notation on Wikipedia.
Wow. I see. I must say, just giving the start and end square locations as they do in the app seems much clearer. I've been using that way for some reason for years and just assumed it was standard. (I must have just inferred it at some point when reading my first chess primer: "Ah, Battleship coordinates...got it, I'll stop reading now." )

Quote:
There are (rare) situations where promoting to a queen would result in stalemate rather than a win, because doing so denies the opposing side the ability to move anything.
Ah yes, I can see that now. Thanks!
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But the point is, the rules permit a choice of promotion, so the game should allow it.
Indeed. I was just always wondering why anyone would. Now I know!

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I imagine they have dumbed things down in an attempt to appeal to a broader audience,
Perhaps true on the notation.
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and save a few days of programming and testing,
Almost certainly true for the other issues. Get it out there cheap, fast and first. As a developer, I understand that completely.

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but it seems a little lazy and dismissive of those of us who have a less casual interest in chess.
I've written to the company via their website to ask if they expect to continue development and offer updates. I'll post if they respond.

So, do you think it's worth the $3? Or just play on line and wait for the next Chess app?

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Old 03-15-2011, 06:28 PM   #14
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I just got a reply from Oak Systems. Probably no updates coming to the existing Chess app unless a major bug surfaces, but it is ON SALE for 99 cents right now!
For $0.99, it's certainly worth trying for me!

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Old 03-15-2011, 10:55 PM   #15
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Yes, that would be the app of which I speak. I wonder why apps are US only.
It does seem a little strange, doesn't it?
I mean it's not like there should be publisher restrictions like with books.
Meh..

Thanks OP, good thread.
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