Software for handling chess problems

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Software for handling chess problems is a category of software intended for handling chess problems, as distinct from "chess playing and analyzing" programs. Chess problems are based on the rules of chess, but "problemists" have little use for ordinary chess playing programs. Many chess playing programs also have an option for solving direct checkmates, some of them also having support for helpmates and selfmates.

Chess problems software can be used for creating and solving problems - checking soundness of a concept and position, storing it in a database, printing and publishing, and saving and exporting the problem. It can solve direct mates, helpmates and selfmates and even problems with fairy pieces and other fairy chess problems. There have also been some attempts to "compose" problems with computer.

1 Alybadix
2 Chloe and Winchloe
3 Explorer
4 MateMaster
5 MatPlus Librarian (MPL)
6 Natch and iNatch
7 Problemist(e)
8 Popeye
9 Problem Data Base
10 Retractor
11 VKsach
12 External links

[edit] Alybadix

Alybadix is one of the oldest software programs for chess problems. It is one of the fastest chess programs, written by Ilkka Blom. It is proprietary software, written for DOS with a free, independent Windows interface. Alybadix supports solving classical problems: direct mates, helpmates, selfmates, many fairy pieces, and fairy piece conditions. It comes with a large problem collection. It also supports quality printing.

It can be found at this Alybadix chess solving programs page.

[edit] Chloe and Winchloe

Chloe (DOS) and Winchloe (proprietary software) are excellent and extremely fast solving programs written by Christian Poisson. Winchloe not only supports classical problems: direct mates, helpmates and selfmates but also many fairy pieces and conditions with different size chessboards (up to 250x250). It comes with a large problem collection (more than 230,000). Christian Poisson also maintains the Web site Problemesis. Web pages:

[edit] Explorer

Explorer (for DOS) or Windows version called Chess Explorer is a shareware program written by Jan Nowakowski. It solves problems with mate, selfmate or helpmate. It has the interesting option of creating #2 or #3 problems. It can also solve 8 queen and similar problems.

Web page: ChessExplorer Program for Chess Problems

[edit] MateMaster

MateMaster is Windows free software ware written by Frank Schindler. MateMaster solves conventional mate problems. The board position can be copied and saved as a bitmap graphic.

Web page: MateMaster:...your mate for checkmate

[edit] MatPlus Librarian (MPL)

MatPlus Librarian is written by Yugoslav problem grandmaster Milan Velimirović. It is a kind of a shareware (is not a freeware program, though it can be used unregistered without any restriction). MatPlus Librarian is able entering the chess positions, solving with its own module or other programs (Alybadix, Popeye, Chloe), it has powerful database module with dynamic creation of indexes of themes, authors or sources etc. It is possible to import and problems from chess problem bases Problemiste, export position to Windows Bitmap, export to HTML format for Web pages design; print out in various formats with selectable layout and size of diagram and font. MatPlus Librarian also include "books" with more than 5000 problems from articles published in Mat Plus chess magazine (1994-1999), Anthology of 2345 Problems (2345 problems) and many more problems.

Web page: http://www.matplus.org.yu/mpl/Mplib.htm

[edit] Natch and iNatch

Both are freeware written by Pascal Wassong for DOS/Linux. Natch solves retrograde analysis problems by constructing "proof games" - the shortest possible game leading to a certain position. Natch is a command line utility, but there is a Java based graphical interface iNatch which also provide playing moves with fairy conditions: monochrome chess, Einstein chess, vertical cylinder.

Web page: http://natch.free.fr/

[edit] Problemist(e)

Problemist is shareware by Matthieu Leschamelle, run on Windows and Windows Mobile. Problemist solves direct mates, helpmates, selfmates and reflexmates. You can rotate positions, print diagrams and much more. With Problemist come two true type chess fonts, from web page you can download more than 100.000 problems. Problemist is actually the first chess problems exchange format.

Web page:

http://www.problemist.com

[edit] Popeye

Popeye is probably the most widened chess problem solving software. By itself, Popeye has no graphical interface, but it can be used in DOS, Windows, Linux, MAC and many OS other since it comes with source code in C programming language which can be compiled. Popeye is one of the best solving programs. It can solve problems with many fairy pieces and conditions, and can output to LATEX. The original author of Popeye was Philippe Schnoebelen; the first version was written in COMAL (around 1989). Later a group of people converted and rewrote the code to C and now are in charge of maintaining new versions; the main contributors were Elmar Bartel, Norbert Geissler, Thomas Maeder, Torsten Linss, Stefan Hoening, Stefan Brunzen, Harald Denker, Thomas Bark and Stephen Emmerson.

Web page:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephen.emmerson/popeye

There are many Windows interfaces for Popeye.

[edit] EGChessPro

EGChessPro is freeware by Salvador Bosch Pérez (DOS/Windows). EGChessPro work like interface for the Crafty, Popeye or Chest using the right syntax. It does not work with Windows NT or Windows 2000.

Web page: http://egchesspro.sourceforge.net/

[edit] Fancy

Fancy is shareware written by Marek Kwiatkowski. It is basically Windows interface for Popeye, it can read his own file format but also Problemiste (PBM) format. It comes with FancyPub for publication problem, uses 1echess. ttf TTF made by Christian Poisson.

Web page: http://www.free.of.pl/c/ccintorun/g/fancy.htm

[edit] Popeye Windows Shell

Popeye Windows Shell is basically freeware Windows interface for Popeye written by Thomas Bark, it has only German interface.

Web page: http://www.blanco-y-negro.de/

[edit] Windows Popeye Shell

Popeye Windows Shell is freeware Windows interface for Popeye written by Christian Mathes, it has only German interface.

Web page: http://www.christian-mathes.de

[edit] Problem Data Base

Problem Data Base is an interactive database of chess problems with 140.000 problems maintained by Gerd Wilts. Problems are represented also graphically with solutions and commentary.

Web page: http://www.softdecc.com/pdb/index.pdb?langt=EN&langn=EN

[edit] Retractor

Retractor is freeware (Win 95/NT) by Chad Whipkey and Theodore Hwa. Program is proposed only for solving retractors and composing retrograde chess problems.

Web page: http://www.stanford.edu/~hwatheod/Retractor