Category: Reviews Page 2 of 4

Product Review – Kindle Voyage

On April 7, 2016

Note: As of the date of this post, Amazon.com is offering a temporary discount for Amazon Prime customers on the entire line of Kindle e-readers. $30 off Kindle makes it $49.99, $30 off Kindle Paperwhite makes it $89.99, and $50 off Kindle Voyage makes it $149.99

Chess is a double-edged sword for book lovers. There are countless chess fanatics out there whose personal book collections rival some of the greatest libraries around the world and that assessment often does not include the assessment and inventory of digital materials storage on hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, and cloud servers. My personal collections straddles the line somewhere between print and digital with most of my collection belonging to the Kindle family of e-readers and Chessbase. As kind of a present to myself for completing my Masters Degree in March, I decided to finally retire my Kindle Paperwhite that has served me faithfully for many years and replace it with a Kindle Voyage, which is the most recent edition of Amazon’s e-reader.

The King of Electronic Books

It is hard to argue that Apple is the undisputed king of technology, Netflix is the king of streaming media, and Amazon.com is the king of digital books. The original Kindle device was high-priced, low memory, and low on production count. It sold out in record time and remained unavaialable due to inventory problems for months! Fast forward from 2007 to 2016 and the current edition of Amazon’s high-end Kindle is called the Kindle Voyage and it is much more than anyone could ever have expected in a digital book experience.

Kindle Voyage showing a Capablanca game (Credit: Campfire Chess)

Kindle vs. Kindle Voyage: How Far We Have Come

The original Kindle sold on Amazon.com for $400 and came with a whopping 250MB of onboard storage capacity, but that capacity could be upgraded using an expandable SD-card slot. On a sidenote, László Polgár’s epic Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games clocks in at a whopping 292MB in its Kindle edition, which would eat up around 97% of the storage capacity on the first edition.

In contrast, the Kindle Voyage comes with 4GB of onboard storage, which allows for László’s work to sit comfortably on the device without limiting the amount of other material that can be carried along with it. For chess players whose libraries grow almost daily, this is excellent because the increased storage space means more room for chess more chess books! Personally, I liked the almost nondescript design of the Kindle Paperwhite, which is one of the reasons that it stuck with me as a personal reading device for so long. However, the Kindle Voyage takes the engineering advancements of the Paperwhite to create a near-perfect reading experience.

Crisp, high-definition e-ink display. (Credit: Campfire Chess)

As you can see from the screenshot above, the text is incredibly crisp and has a much clearer contrast than the Paperwhite. In addition to the traditional touchscreen controls introduced in the Kindle Touch, the device comes with buttons on each side of the screen for turning the page. Before the device arrived and I was able to start using it, these were one of the design features that made me nervous. However, these controls are something that have to be used to be appreciated. Although they are not buttons in the traditional sense, pressing on them creates a brief vibration in the device before turning the page. This haptic feedback sensation is unusual at first, but became comfortable very quickly and I think it is an excellent feat of engineering because it helps to reduce fingerprint buildup on the screen over time and also gives the user a real sense of control of the content as the book progresses.

I hope she’s reading Campfire Chess… (Credit: Amazon.com)

Although I highly recommend it, the Kindle Voyage is more of a luxury device tailored to avid readers or people who need a larger amount of storage space on their Kindle. For chess readers, it is a perfect device because the crisp display, long battery life, and large storage space combine to create a space to build an extensive portable chess library without having to lug a laptop around or depend on the limited battery life of an iPad, iPhone, or other tablet device. The Kindle Voyage currently runs for $199 on Amazon.com, although recent discounts and promotions seem to indicate that the Kindle line is mere days away from being refreshed.

Additional Reading:

Fans to Amazon: Leave Perfect Kindle Alone! (link)
Kindle Voyage vs. Kindle Paperwhite: Which Amazon e-reader should you buy? (link)

Chess Lessons Can Be Murder

By Commander Exorcist

On November 19, 2015

In Reviews

Chess and murder: do they go hand-in-hand? Hollywood has produced several films in which chess plays the central role in a murder mystery. Books of the same type or a little harder to come by. That is why I was excited when I came across Even Dead Men Play Chess by Michael Weitz. Caution, there are spoilers ahead!

Opening Moves Ray Gordon leads a simple life. He is a chess teacher and is on his way to give a lesson to his good friend Walter Kelly. Walter is a man gifted with woodworking skills whose affinity for chess has grown in his later years. Ray agrees to teach Walter in exchange for the promise of a customized wooden chessboard. Walter’s death brings the chessboard out earlier than expected and leads to a revealed secret on par with the hidden mysteries of The DaVinci Code or National Treasure.

Middle Game Ray Gordon is not a detective. The tools of the chessboard are his weapon against the injustice of the world. This was my favorite part of the character and flow of the story. Ray is someone within reach of the average person, chess player or not. Many people have felt the burning urge to ignore conclusions of accidents or natural death because the circumstances were too unusual to ignore. Ray is a conduit for the average person (and chess player) to journey along on a thrilling and dangerous mission.

In addition, the author’s brilliant use of chess terminology and analogy makes the story especially engrossing for students of the game. One of these is the inclusion of a classic game known in popular chess culture as The Evergreen Game. Evergreen was played by Adolf Anderssen and Jacques Dufresne in 1852 Berlin. It was not initially recognized as an exceptional game but gained notoriety over the years with commentary and annotations by various grandmasters. Here is the game in its entirety:

Endgame Chess puzzles and human puzzles emerge to answer the questions surrounding Walter’s death and to expose a web of lies and betrayal. Mystery stories and chess books can be hard to pull off, but Michael Weitz pulls it off with a powerful discovered checkmate in Even Dead Men Play Chess.

Check it out on Amazon in paperback and Kindle format.

Chess Informant 125 is a Game Changer

By Commander Exorcist

On October 7, 2015

In Literature, Reviews

Chess Informant is a publication that I look forward to getting in the mail several times a year. Yesterday after clearing up some delivery problems (forgot to update my address when we moved over the summer) I received the latest volume: Chess Informant 125 Enigma. Also known as Informant, this periodical is not like any other chess magazine out there. It skips the drama and the social elements that surround the fame of being a top chess player and focuses attention to the action on the board. Various articles cover topics such as openings, tactics, strategy, and key moments in the top tournaments from around the world.

Informant 125 introduces some small changes that many people might not notice, but those of us who relish in the advancement of the digital chess age appreciate them. For Informant, one of its main selling points with customers is the universal nature of access to its information. It is available in print form (pictured above), download in Chessbase and PGN formats, or a combination of the two. The Chessbase format enables users to browse the articles and play through the games using many of the same tools utilized in Chessbase Magazine. The PGN files open up the articles to any platform with a basic PGN viewer. For me, that is perfect because I enjoy reading in each of the formats, but the mobile nature of my work makes reading the articles on iOS much more convenient for me. Why is CI 125 so different? It all has to do with the formatting…

In previous editions, all of the games and articles came in a single PGN file which required foreknowledge of the magazine’s layout. In CI 125 the creative minds in Serbia have divided the digital edition into multiple PGN files that are separated exactly like the content in the print edition. This may not seem like much, but it completely eliminates the guesswork for anyone wanting to access CI 125 from a standard PGN reader. In addition, the Chessbase version has also been subdivided into categories that mirror the print edition.

Because Informant carries so much information it can be overwhelming at times. These small changes are effective game changers because it subdivides the information into digital categories that make it much easier to access, analyze, and digest.

Personally I enjoy reading the print edition and playing through on my travel set, but playing along in Chessbase or a PGN viewer is a great way to quickly explore variations or to try new ideas along with the professional analysis in the magazine. For the digital chess fan CI 125 is a great way to get started with the periodical. The universal access of the information eliminates many of the proprietary boundaries that limit the audiences of publications like Chessbase Magazine.

Pawn Sacrifice – A Movie Review

By Commander Exorcist

On September 29, 2015

In Famous Players, History, Movies, Reviews

The Bobby Fischer biopic Pawn Sacrifice debuted this week in theaters across the United States. The film stars Tobey Maguire as the venerable chess prodigy Bobby Fischer and Liev Schreiber as the pillar of Soviet Cold War chess dominance Boris Spassky. A couple of years ago when I heard that Zwick, Maguire, and Schreiber were working on a film based on Bobby and the 1972 World Chess Championship I was very excited to see chess returning to the silver screen. Although I had high hopes for the film I was skeptical that it could usurp my favorite chess movie of all time: Searching for Bobby Fischer. The story of Pawn Sacrifice‘s production is almost as dramatic as the story it tells. For the entire production and a long time after its conclusion there were only two promotional photos made available online to promote the film. When it was completed, there was a time when the film rode into festivals without a major distributor. However, Bleecker Street Media picked up the film and distributed it to audiences around the United States starting on September 24th of this year following a special presentation in Saint Louis after the conclusion of the Sinquefield Cup.

The Story

Robert James Fischer was one of the most electrifying personalities in 20th century chess. He taught himself to play chess when his mother left him alone for hours on end in their Brooklyn apartment overlooking Ebbets Field. At age 15 he became the youngest grandmaster in the history of the game and the youngest candidate to ever emerge for the World Chess Championship. The young boy from Brooklyn quickly took the chess world by storm and soon started winning the hearts of people outside the chess world for the way that he not only destroyed his opponents on the board, but also for the psychological damages he often caused. Bobby Fischer played chess at a time when the Soviet Union poured a significant amount of its national budget and effort into producing some of the world’s top grandmasters. Chess was seen as proof of Soviet intellectual superiority over the United States and its allies and the results of countless Chess Olympiads and World Championships seemed to validate that claim. However, Bobby’s emergence brought to light what had been known in secret for many years: the Soviet Union had been intentionally drawing games to stack the deck against players from other countries. The result was that key Soviet grandmasters were virtually assured a shot at the FIDE World Championship title, which was often played against another Soviet grandmaster. The player who had the most favor with the state at the time was allowed to win the title and hold it as long as it was beneficial for the sake of the Soviet system.

Bobby’s distate for the Soviet chess machine was put on prominent display in his now famous Sports Illustrated article in 1962, The Russians Have Fixed World Chess. If he was not a target of the red chess machine and the KGB, this article propelled him into the international spotlight and aired the dirty secrets of Soviet chess for the entire world. The rest of the story is pretty well known. Bobby went on to defeat some of the most powerful grandmasters of the day and win a chance to challenge Russian World Champion Boris Spassky in the 1972 championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. Yet, throughout the tournament and in the years leading up to it Bobby was plagued by a growing sense of paranoia and mania. He was obsessed with the Russians and convinced that they were tracking his every move. While its true that the KGB was keeping close tabs on Bobby, the fear and paranoia he was experiencing grew out of control and damaged practically every relationship he had. When the match was over Bobby emerged victorious over Spassky and the Soviet chess machine. After that he disappeared and was largely unheard from until his 1992 rematch with Spassky in Yugoslavia.

Pawn Sacrifice covers much of Bobby’s life from his adolescence through some of his prominent chess appearances up to the 1972 World Championship match. For much of the film the chess takes a backstage to Bobby’s growing paranoia and personal struggles. When it begins, the World Championship match in Reykjavik is a powerful backdrop for what is often seen as Bobby’s final battle to maintain his own sanity. Tobey Maguire’s portrayal of Bobby as the self-confident Da Vinci of modern chess is a perfect recreation of the man that many watched throughout the years on television and in tournaments around the world. In contrast Liev Schreiber is a silent, towering man who more closely resembles a football star than a chess champion. There is a heavy sense of Bobby’s personal desire to beat Spassky than of Spassky’s desire to beat Bobby. At least, until Bobby fails to show for the 2nd game of the match and risks losing the championship to Spassky by forfeit. Spassky agrees to play Bobby in the back room away from the audience because winning the match by forfeit would rob him of a true victory against Bobby. The film’s climax comes in game 6, which is widely known as the best game of the match and one of the greatest chess games ever played.

The Good

There is a lot to love about Pawn Sacrifice for chess and non-chess fans alike. For the non-chess fan, the acting in the film is superb and the way in which it portrays Bobby’s descent into paranoia is well done. Some have complained that Bobby spent much of his time in the film yelling at people around him and this is certainly not what is portrayed in much of the archival footage of him. However, this is consistent with the testimonies of his friends and family. Bobby Fischer drove away pretty much everyone that ever stepped forward to care for him. The paranoia, which was grounded in truth, simply became too much for him to handle. Even the greatest chess player in history had a breaking point.

Although the chess itself takes a backseat to the story of Bobby and his struggles again himself and the Soviet chess machine, I was deeply impressed by the quality of the chess presentation. The producers painstakingly recreated the 1972 World Chess Championship with precision right down to the design of the Reykjavik chess set used in the match. In addition, the film does a great job of creating an authentic look and feel of the late 1960s and early 1970s without overdoing it with excessive hippies and peace symbols.

The Bad

Just as there is a lot to love, there is a lot to dismiss, loathe, or simply forgive and forget about the film. Obviously I have already discussed the use of incorrect notation in an earlier post. In addition to this, there was the general choppiness in the first half of the film as the producers struggled to fit so much of the story into such a little block of time. Given the depth of material I think that the producers did a decent job providing the audience with enough information to follow the nuances of the story without becoming overwhelmed by minutia. However, there were some elements that were unusual and seemed out of place given the pace and direction of the film narrative. The biggest example I can think of is Bobby’s brief obsession with the Worldwide Church of God in which he listened to countless recorded sermons prophesying the end of the world. Bobby became disillusioned with the church and it was a major portion of his life, but the focus of Pawn Sacrifice made Bobby’s brief time spent listening to the sermons seem out of place. There was never a noticeable change in his behavior, whether verbal or nonverbal, that would have enabled the hint of his religiosity to benefit the story.

I also could not help but notice that Michael Stuhlbarg who played Bobby’s friend Paul Marshall in the film was wearing a standard issue US Air Force blue overcoat during much of the movie.

Finally, I could not help but laugh when my wife poked me in the side at the end of the film as Bobby rode away in his car from the tournament at Reykjavik. When he has cleared the crowd of people he reaches into his pocket and unzips a pocket chess set. And, this is not just any chess set…its a Chessmate Wallet! My wife recognized it because its from the same company that makes the Chessmate Ultima that I reviewed back when I first started this site.

The Final Verdict

Pawn Sacrifice is a solid psychological drama and a great historical pic about one of the greatest moments in chess history. Despite its few flaws and creative liberties taken by its creators, it stands on its own as a powerful representation of the tormented world of Robert James Fischer who, despite having his ELO eclipsed by other chess players, remains the greatest and most influential chess player in history.

Product Review – Pinewood Chess Set

By Commander Exorcist

On July 26, 2015

In Reviews

It has been a long time since I wrote a chess set review, but this one is just too good to pass up! A few weeks ago as I was scrounging the internet for stock chess photos to use on this site, I came across the image of an amazing chess set cut from pine wood. When I clicked the image to bring up a larger version, the internet gods redirected me to Etsy where this this one of a kind chess set was for sale! After some haggling with the wife and the unfortunate realization that it was destined to become another maybe for Christmas long shot, I shelled out $150 and ordered it.

As longtime readers and friends know, I am a big fan of wooden chess boards. Sometimes its nice to have a novelty set made of metal or other material, but I believe that playing chess on a wooden board with wood pieces really goes back to the historical elegance of the game. I was excited when the package arrived with this new chess set and could not wait to get it inside to open up and run through its first game. It came well packaged with the pieces secured in a plastic container separate from the rest of the board. At first, I was shocked at the size of the individual pieces; they looked much larger than I had envisioned them. The image that inspired me to purchase the set was shot at such an angle that it made the set look much smaller than it actually is. When I finally set it up and got my first chance to really soak in the aura of this incredibly unique set, I realized that the pieces are perfect for establishing the set’s delicate balance.

If there was ever a chess set out there that embodied the spirit and aesthetic feel of Campfire Chess, it is this set! Each chess piece is burned into a wooden coin that is cut from sanded and whitewashed pine. As you can tell from the photos, each of the chess piece images on the coins is carefully burned into the wood to create a one-of-a-kind set. For me, a big plus to this set is the fact that the pieces do not move around very much when I had to pick the board up and move it to a new location. Wood on wood (without fuzzy pads) is a perfect combination for creating a board that is somewhat mobile in the event that whoever is playing the game needs to relocate the board. The chess board itself is quite sturdy and does not have that cheap plywood feeling that comes from many other wooden boards. The colors and contrast are beautifully matched across the entire set, almost as if the set was cut and molded all from the same tree.

This chess set is available for purchase on Etsy from Ty’s Wood Shop, which is run by Tyler Krzeszewski of Saint Charles, Illinois. I reached out to Tyler shortly after my purchase to ask him some questions about how the set was made and whether he makes them regularly or if this was the only set he has ever made. I asked these questions partially for my own chess interest, but also because his Etsy shop only lists 1 available set. Tyler kindly responded and explained that my chess set is only the 2nd that he has produced! The sets are built on demand because of the enormous amount of time and resources required to make them. He said that it can take 13-15 hours to build a single chess set!

It is easy these days to get out on Amazon.com and to purchase a novelty chess set with swords and wizards or civil war heroes, or whatever. Even some wooden and tournament chess sets lack the sense of attention to detail and care that goes into the final product. The love and care that Tyler put into this chess set shows in every piece. There is a special quality about it that goes beyond its aesthetic beauty. It has a presence of peace and of a return to nature. Chess is often called the Game of Kings but it is also a great equalizer. The poorest of the poor man can play chess the same way a King or a Queen can play in their hillside castle. Tyler Krzeszewski’s beautifully hand-crafted chess set is a beautiful product that is worth every penny of the $150 it will set you back because it is the work of someone dedicated to their craft and is a worthy tribute to the game that knows no boundaries.

Name: Handmade Wooden Chess Board Set
Price: $150
Campfire Rating: ♟♟♟♟♟
Purchase from Ty’s Woodshop on Etsy

What the Pawn Sacrifice Poster Says About Chess Players

By Commander Exorcist

On June 12, 2015

In Famous Players, History, Movies, Personal Reflection, Reviews

I am one of those guys who spends most of his life wishing that he could go to film festivals to catch the latest and greatest independent films from across the globe. Instead of actually going to these festivals, however, I am most likely doomed to tracking the films that interest me as they spend years in distribution limbo awaiting a mainstream theatrical release. This has especially been the case with the movie Pawn Sacrifice, the upcoming biopic about the 1972 World Chess Championship between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. I remember hearing about it for the first time and was filled with excitement! That was over a year and a half ago, with Pawn Sacrifice just now preparing for its theatrical debut. In any case, I digress.

For most of the time that the public has been aware of the existence of the movie, the only real promotional material available for it was a publicity photo showing Tobey McGuire and Liev Schreiber in their respective roles as Fischer and Spassky. Of course, the initial reviews of the movie from the premier festival have not been great although these days it is impossible to trust most movie reviews, especially the ones coming from independent film festivals. Yet, I still held on to my hope until the official poster for the film was finally revealed.

The Mind of Robert J. Fischer

At first, it struck me as a fairly standard piece of modern poster art. Earth tones are all the rage in Hollywood’s digital arts factories. I guess that it is because faded browns and grays increase the audience’s sense of the character’s pain and struggles. I also like the subtle complexities of the picture. There is much for the audience to discern from the look on Bobby Fischer’s face and the chess notations coming out of his head. For the people who knew, played with, and experienced the real Bobby Fischer, the notations coming out of his mind represent the whole of who he was as a human being and as a chess player. Bobby lived his life only to play chess. When he played, he was the best that the world had ever seen, but the darkness of his dichotomous existential paradigm eventually took him from the game, and eventually…sanity itself.

Just a hint of emotional struggle…

I did not give the poster much thought until I started seeing the reactions from other chess players on Chess.com and on various Facebook chess groups. Where most people might decry a lack of creativity in Hollywood these days or the overemphasis on brown colors, but instead, chess players know exactly what is most important in life, and that is the accuracy of the chess!

You see, the chess notation coming out of Bobby’s head in the poster is historically inaccurate. Although Bobby might have annotated some of his games in algebraic notation (shown in the poster), it is a well known fact that he exclusively used descriptive notation when playing in tournaments. This might not seem like mich of a big deal to the casual observer, but to a chess community flustered and running out of patience with Hollywood’s inability to even set a board up correctly, it means everything in the world. I realized that I saw the commenta as petty and obnoxious mainly because I am a huge Bobby Fischer fan and I have been looking forward to the film for quite some time. However, after some introspection and examination of the poster, the trailer, and the comments from others within the chess community, I came to the conclusion that:

1) It is historically inaccurate.
2) It does not matter to 99% of the audience that will see the film.
3) It does not change the film at all.
4) It does matter to the remaining 1%, who are those of us that go to bed at night and solve tactical positions in our sleep.

I regret my initial impressions of the response to the poster in some sense. Yes, perhaps the complaints (if taken seriously) are a bit on the obnoxious side, but those comments represent the passion of a community that has dedicated itself to the game. For us, chess is not just a game…it is our game. At this point, I am willing to attribute the algebraic notation to simple human oversight since watching the trailer reveals that a key shot of the chessboard that actually reflects a position from the original tournament. Perhaps these small details will make up for the algebraic notation in the minds of most chess players, or perhaps it does not really matter at all. Even great historic films like Schindler’s List and Amadeus are filled with historical inaccuracies, but the small details did not effect the overall quality of the final product.

Despite the initial reviews, I am hopeful that Pawn Sacrifice will be an excellent re-telling of one of the Cold War’s defining moments. Tobey McGuire might be the best Bobby Fischer to ever hit the silver screen, or he might be the worst. The character of Bobby Fischer himself was so unique and so far off of the charts of what we would consider normal that I think it is practically impossible to find anyone who could play him in a way that truly expresses the torment he lived with.

Ultimately, any criticism of Pawn Sacrifice’s historical inaccuracies demonstrates that for those of us who live their lives in the world of chess, it will always be more than a game.

For some excellent analysis of the movie and some of the issues I discussed here, check out FM Mike Klein‘s awesome article on Chess.com. Pawn Sacrifice will be arriving in theaters this September. Check out the official trailer here.

The Perfect Chess Machine for Mac Users

By Commander Exorcist

On March 20, 2015

In Reviews

Not too long ago I wrote an entry on how chess is in such disarray on the Mac platform. Sure, there are options such as HiARCS and Shredder, but nothing beats the power and utility of ChessBase. Unfortunately, ChessBase remains exclusively a Windows-based system and there is no indication that the company plans to port its database software to Apple hardware anytime soon. This sucks for chess players on Mac because it requires us to maintain some kind of Windows installation whether it is on a virtual machine such as Parallels Desktop and VirtualBox or have a separate computer to exclusively run Windows and ChessBase.

As I wrote in my previous article, I had found that running ChessBase under Microsoft Windows using VirtualBox os OS X was a sufficient workaround that enabled me to conduct my Mac-specific work while maintaining access to my chess library. I eventually found that there were some problems related to Windows Media Player and VirtualBox that corrupted much of the playback for videos in the ChessBase DVDs and ChessBase Magazine, so I decided to go with the external system approach. In December my wife got me a dedicated chess laptop, an HP Stream 14 which I immediately set to use as my primary chess study machine.

Suffice to say that the excursions with the HP Stream 14 did not last long. The laptop turned out to be much too slow and unresponsive to get any serious chess work done, so I began looking for yet another option. That is where I found something interesting: the HP Stream 7.

No, the HP Stream 7 (herein referred to as HP7) is not a 7-inch laptop. Instead, it is the 7-inch version of Hewlett-Packard’s Windows 8.1 tablet line. In the past I have tried using a Dell Venue Pro 8 with Windows 8.1 and had less than stellar results, but I purchased the HP7 with the sole intention of migrating my chess library from the standalone laptop to the new tablet. It only took a few minutes with this beauty to realize that it is a true blessing in disguise:

Setup was straightforward as Microsoft has eliminated much of the Frankenstein-like features of Windows 8 in its updates and restored desktop functionality. With a 7-inch tablet, the desktop is small, but definitely functional. After taking a few minutes to load ChessBase and Deep Fritz 14 on the system, I simply transferred my SD card from my laptop to the HP7’s SD-card slot, which is hidden under the back cover, and presto! Due to faults of my own, it took some time to get ChessBase 12 and all of my FritzTrainer applications properly activated, but once they were up and running, it became apparent that the HP7 ChessBase tablet was the idea that I had been looking for.

So, you might be wondering why I would recommend buying ANOTHER machine simply to run ChessBase. It is true that for most people it might seem kind of silly to do such a thing, but I think that most chess lovers will understand the thought process behind the purchase. You see, the HP7 comes in the Microsoft Signature Edition on Amazon.com, which eliminates all of the 3rd-party crapware from the device before shipping, for only $91! The SSD included with the tablet is only 32GB, but that should be more than enough for most people to install core applications and to utilize external SD-Card storage for data. In my case, I simply transferred my Windows Documents location to the SD-Card and ChessBase took care of the rest. Now, any updates are made to the SD-Card and I am left with about 15 GB of free space on the SSD for other applications. For the price, the HP7 makes an exceptional ChessBase tablet that allows me to carry the database software, the MegaBase 2015, and countless DVDs and training products in one small package.

Unusual Drawbacks

As with anything, there are some drawbacks to using ChessBase on the HP7. Some people may not prefer the small size of the screen. In these instances, HP also offers an 8″ version of the tablet with the same features, although it is a little pricer at $149. However, the screen size is certainly not a show-stopper for most people. I have found it to be almost perfect for keeping next to a book or magazine when reading through a chess game and exploring line variations.

Another strange drawback seems to be limited to the ChessBase software on touch hardware: right click does not work. I am uncertain if this problem is limited to the HP7, but it was impossible for me to activate a right click within ChessBase 12, ChessBase Reader, or Deep Fritz on the HP7 running Windows 8.1. However, there is a workaround available by connecting a Bluetooth mouse to the tablet. Once connected, a traditional mouse pointer becomes available and right click works like normal. I used this option briefly to set some configuration options and to prepare my copy of ChessBase for first use. Since then, most (if not all) tasks have been accessible to me through the toolbar and other options.

In my opinion, this is nothing more than a minor annoyance. It really does nothing to inhibit the function of the tablet as a reliable chess computer. In all, the HP Stream 7, especially the Microsoft Signature Edition is an exceptional little piece of technology that makes ChessBase portable in its purest form.

Fawning Over The Chess.com App

By Commander Exorcist

On March 15, 2015

In Computer Chess, Personal Reflection, Reviews

Several months ago I wrote an article where I examined some of the best that iOS has to offer in the way of chess apps. One of those was the official app for Chess.com, where I spend much of my time reading and learning as much as I can about chess. At the time of that article, the Android app had spent quite a long time ahead of its iOS counterpart. Now, Apple users can rejoice because after months of beta testing, the official app has been updated to reflect changes that have been in the works for Chess.com for the past year.

The User Interface

First and foremost, the app’s user interface has been updated to take advantage of Apple’s gorgeous retina displays and includes some beautifully crisp themes to spice things up. The individual themes and the ability for the user to mix and match elements of each theme has been a major selling point for the Chess.com V3 project since it was announced over a year ago. Standards these days for presentation are quite high on mobile devices and it is apparent that Chess.com has taken this into account when implementing the user interface. When a user installs the new update, the default theme is used which is the traditional gray background and green/tan or brown/tan chessboard. I am partial to the default colors, so the opportunity to change the themes seems like something that I would rarely use.

In the previous app version, there were only a few navigation options available whether you were a free or a premium member of the site. These options were essentially limited to live chess, correspondence (online) chess, and video lessons. In this update, most of the functions available on the main website are now available to mobile users. This is a huge benefit for iOS users since the limitations of the app effectively eliminated many of the site’s premium features. Now, the app is set up to feature the same feature and navigation elements of the homecoming site redesign.

The navigation setup is very straightforward and makes accessing the massive database of features on Chess.com much more intuitive. All of the app features are stored on the left navigation bar. After selecting the desired function, the user is directed to a new screen where additional functions are available depending on the user’s subscription level and the function of the feature. Overall, the revamped user interface makes the official Chess.com app the most comprehensive and aesthetically pleasing chess apps on the App Store.

The Content

Content is one of the features that has made Chess.com once of the best and most popular chess sites on the web. Sure, the site boasts a census of eleven million members, but while many of those accounts are most likely zombie or abandoned accounts, something other than a place to play chess has to draw in the crowd. With the new app, these content elements are all made accessible to native iOS users. Video lessons by some of the world’s top Grandmasters are regularly posted as well as written lessons and weekly articles. The articles and puzzles are free while the video lessons are benefits of site membership.

When users first open the app they are greeted with a home screen that enables them to complete the daily puzzle and to engage in training lessons that represent their skill range. With a few short clicks, the user can access live or correspondence (online) chess. As games are completed, the site maintains an exceptional record of those games that can be converted into detailed statistical analysis reports for premium members.

The Chess

The chess interface on the new app is its most beautiful and fulfilling feature. AfteAfter all, playing chess is the whole reason that the app (and this blog) exists. In the redesigned app, the live chess board takes on the visual and auditory characteristics of whatever theme the user has selected in settings. For screenshot examples on this review, I decided to include shots of the default dark theme and the beautiful nature theme.

Chess can be played against the site’s online engine or live against players from all around the world. I prefer playing against human opponents since it is better practice for tournament play and also because the online engine has made some incredibly unrealistic moves and seems rather worthless at times. The app algorithm will select an opponent of comparable strength based on variables the can be customized by the user. Once a match is made, the user is taken to the main chess screen and the game begins. This is another area that Chess.com excels in general over other chess sites. The average time to obtain a suitable match for a game is extremely short compared to other chess websites. On sites like Playchess I have had to wait up to 2-3 minutes for the server to obtain an appropriate opponent, but rarely do I wait more than a few sections for one on Chess.com either using the web-based interface or the app itself.

In short, playing chess on the new Chess.com app is a wonderful experience. The new themes add long overdue customizable options to the program and allow users to take greater control over the aesthetics of their chess experience.

Not All Moonlight and Roses

Unfortunately, not everything about the Chess.com app on iOS is as elegant and worthwhile as the live chess and articles. As with any software package there are some inherent flaws that make the experience unpleasant and sometimes completely useless. In the case of the new app, the only area that I found to be essentially worthless were the chess video lectures when used on a retina iPad or iPad Mini. Although Chess.com has updated the app to take advantage of retina display technology, the videos are still rendered in low-resolution and are immensely blurry, which makes them almost impossible to follow during the lectures. Perhaps the designers could have alleviated some of these problems by creating a display page similar to what is used on the main Chess.com web interface to encapsulate the videos and reduce their size. The full-sized, low-resolution videos are downright horrible and take away significantly from the learning experience.

The bottom line with the new app is that Chess.com has done an excellent job of finally bringing its iOS mobile software product in line with its Android app and upcoming site redesign. The app itself is free to download and requires a Chess.com account, which is also free. I am definitely looking forward to more innovation as Chess.com’s designers design and implement new features in the future.

More screenshots…

Of Low Blows and Low Standards

By Commander Exorcist

On February 16, 2015

In Famous Players, Reviews

Without a doubt Garry Kasparov is one of the best chess players in modern times. His famous rivalry with Karpov through the eighties and nineties evoked memories of the epic battles between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. Yet, where Bobby Fischer was feared by his opponents, Kasparov has enticed a certain scorn and cynicism among chess players and journalists. In recent times he is probably more well known for his opposition to the Russian Federation and his attempts to unseat Kirsan Ilyumzhinov who has been the Führer of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) since the mid-nineties. Because of his temper, overt grandiosity, and transformation from World Chess Champion into political crusader, Kasparov has become the punchline of countless chess and political jokes. In the spirit of poking fun at Kasparov, authors Tibor Károlyi and Nick Aplin authored a parody of Kasparov’s penultimate book series Kasparov on Kasparov called Kasparov: How His Predecessors Misled Him About Chess.

For amateur players looking to improve their chess, losses are invaluable assets to a chess portfolio because they provide opportunities to improve one’s game. Yet, Grandmasters rarely publish books composed exclusively of losses, so the idea was unique and intriguing. Unfortunately, the idea itself is the only thing intriguing about the book. As a fan of Kasparov and his books I thought that it would be an enlightening experience to see how professionals attempting to channel his spirit would analyze and interpret some of his losses.

In the book, the authors present the text as if it were written by Kasparov himself. The intention is to present a defiantly humbled player who has decided to present some of his losses along with other key games as excuses for why he lost those games. The idea itself is pretty funny because chess players in general prefer to blame losses on a number of factors including the environment, the quality of the board, time trouble, or distractions caused by other players. Rarely will they look to themselves and simply say that the other player was better than they were. This book continues that tradition in the attempt to show what Garry Kasparov would have to say if he were trying to explain himself to the world.

As far as humor, this is about as far as the book goes. The blows are low and lack any true substance or depth. As far as the chess and analysis, it is even worse. This example is from the game Karpov vs. Markland, Hastings 1972 as presented in the book:

Position after 33…Bb5

44. Bxa7 Finally the ripened fruit drops quietly from the tree. White wins the pawn and so the rest is simple. 44…Ne7 45. Bb6 Nc8 46. Bc5 Kg6 47. a7 Nxa7 48. Bxa7 e5 49. d4 exd4 50. Bxd4 Kf7 51. f4 g5 52. fxg5 hxg5 53. Kg3 Kg6 54. Kf3 Kf5 55. g3 Karpov won this game in impressive style. This plan was implanted in my brain and I was just waiting for an opportune moment to carry it out in one of my own games. Quiet incredibly I had my chance against Karpov himself. 1-0¹

Here is the complete, unannotated game, which shows the prevalence of missed opportunities for deeper Kasparov analysis:

As far as the games go, they are highly educational pieces of chess history, but the commentary and analysis offered throughout the book simply does not warrant inclusion in a compilation or serious consideration by aspiring or current chess players. The book’s commentary throughout is much similar to the example above. Kasparov will offer a one to two line comment before making a statement such as The rest is obvious or The rest is simple and present 20-30 moves. For most players, ChessBase or an online database would be necessary to play through most games since little analysis is presented throughout.

I rarely write scathing reviews of chess books, but this one was incredibly disappointing. For the person who might be interested in chess history or an obsessive fan of Kasparov himself, having these games in a single collection might be appealing, but all of them are freely available online or in the ChessBase databases. In addition, there is more intriguing commentary for many of them available than what is presented in the book. Instead of being misled by this book, consider spending your money on the real deal and check out Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors or Kasparov on Kasparov.

Tibor Károlyi and Nick Aplin, Kasparov: How His Predecessors Misled Him About Chess (London, UK: Batsford Chess, 2009), Kindle, Location 184. ↩

Exploring the Master Class – Bobby Fischer

By Commander Exorcist

On January 18, 2015

In ChessBase, Computer Chess, Famous Players, History, Literature, Personal Reflection, Reviews

Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen hold much higher ELO ratings and have won more World Championships than he ever did, but Bobby Fischer is still considered one of the greatest chess players in history. This is due in large part to his absolute domination of the chess world and his single-handed defeat of the Soviet chess machine in 1972. Some of us, who grew up hearing the stories of Bobby and watching the world as the Cold War came to an end attribute the fall of the Soviet Union to cultural icons such as Bobby Fischer and Rocky Balboa to winning the war more than politics or diplomacy. Bobby’s victory that year in Iceland was as much a Cold War event as the Cuban Missile Crisis because the honor and intellectual supremacy of each nation. These days, you would be hard-pressed to find a hobby or club-level chess player that has not studied Bobby’s games and game theory. His depth of knowledge on openings and his talent in the endgame remain legendary among the world’s top players. His book My 60 Memorable Games (download games: PGN | ChessBase) is a staple in most chess player’s libraries.

To take things to the next level, ChessBase has a special DVD called Master Class: Bobby Fischer. Featuring five hours of video instruction from world-class chess players such as GM Dorian Rogozenco, GM Mihail Marin, IM Oliver Reeh, and GM Karsten Mueller. The DVD covers almost ever aspect of Fischer’s games including extensive insight on opening preparations, tactics, strategy, and deep analysis of his endgame. As with all ChessBase DVDs, the course is interactive with a responsive chessboard and notation to keep the viewer engrossed in the world of Bobby Fischer’s chess. The tactics on the DVD are presented as interactive puzzles that provide responsive feedback to help sharpen your game and bring Fischer’s games to life.

The Good

There is a lot to love about this DVD. ChessBase has long been a pioneer in developing interactive software and the integration with the ChessBase database software or the reader software is excellent. I use ChessBase 12 for my analysis and DVD play, but the free ChessBase Reader software will allow anyone with a windows computer to use Master Class: Bobby Fischer without having to own the full ChessBase Software.

The instruction on the DVD is first-rate. There is a wealth of information ranging from the cross tables and tournament information to a full biographical history on Bobby Fischer. All of this comes together to bring the user a comprehensive picture of Bobby Fischer as a man and as a chess player. In addition to the training, there is an exclusive database included with the software that holds all of Bobby Fischer’s games along with many additional cross tables and annotations. Perhaps one of my favorite features in the software are the trees. Fischer’s games as black and white have been divided into two book trees that can be reviewed and analyzed using the ChessBase software. This is a valuable resource for someone wanting to explore the themes in Bobby’s games.

The Bad

Because of the diverse nature of the chess world, I try to give as much leeway as possible when reviewing a product. Therefore, many things that others may call annoyances or problems with a piece of software, book, or DVD, can often be attributed to a simple cultural, language, or other variation. In Master Class: Bobby Fischer, the only drawback I could find comes in the form of the opening analysis with GM Dorian Rogozenco. Although that part of the DVD is supposed to be an in-depth look at Bobby Fischer’s openings, GM Rogozenco skips most of the moves and proceeds directly to where the opening transitions more into the middle game. He does comment on the fast moves in these game reviews by stating that these are easy moves and that they have been made hundreds of times, but dismissing many of these opening moves, regardless of how mundane it may seem, does devalue the lesson in some respects. Bobby Fischer was a master of chess openings and I believe that more attention should have been paid to why he chose to play certain openings and opening variations.

Back to Class

Master Class: Bobby Fischer is an excellent product for anyone interested in chess history, the story of Bobby Fischer’s games and his life, or a person looking to expand their knowledge and skill at chess. This five hour DVD includes some invaluable knowledge and insight into Bobby’s thinking that could possibly change the way that you view and play the game of kings.