ChessGenius logo Powerful, compact and fast
for the Palm Computing® Platform     Written by Richard Lang
 
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ChessGenius is a world championship winning chess program for the Palm Computing® Platform. Superb playing strength and packed with features for beginners and experts. It runs on all Palm devices including all LifeDrive, TX, Z22, Tungsten, Zire, Treo, Tapwave and Sony Clie devices.

Version 2.2 with new full screen display for all 320x480 devices.  Play on a big chessboard and see full game information!  Still compatible with all older devices. This is a free update for all registered users. Install over the previous version. No need to enter License Key again.
  • Download
  • Try before you buy! Download ChessGenius 2.2 and try it out for free.
    Click here to download ChessGenius.zip now  Version 2.22. Size 117 KB

    Mac users may prefer a '.sit' file
    Click here to download ChessGenius.sit now  Version 2.22. Size 121 KB

    Note for Tungsten T3 owners. If ChessGenius does not use the full 320x480 screen see the second question on the FAQ page

  • Buy now (register)
  • Please buy to unlock the full features. Click an icon below then click "Check Out" and complete the form. ChessGenius costs U.S. $25.
          
    You will be sent a License Key by email, usually within a few hours. 

    To buy by post send a cheque for $25 drawn on a U.S. bank or pounds £15.50 (U.K. bank) payable to "Lang Software Ltd" to:
       Lang Software Limited
       31 Clifton Road
       Poole
       BH14 9PW
       United Kingdom   

    We can accept PayPal payments. Log onto your PayPal account and make payment of $25 to the email address support@chessgenius.com . Please state the HotSync User Name of your Palm device in the "Note" field. You will be sent a License Key by email, usually within a few hours. 


Actual Screen Shots

Portrait mode


Awards:


at
PalmGear


rated by
ZDNet
ChessGenius 1.0 was one of just five finalists in the 'Palm OS: Games catagory' in the '2000 ZDNet PDA SoftwareAwards competition'


rated by
Tucows

"If you're looking for the strongest handheld chess program available, buy ChessGenius." Chris Kantack's LCD Chess Information Site. [More]

 
Comments by users:

I must say, I don't think I really appreciated my 320x480 and 480x320 screens until seeing how you've added support for them in ChessGenius. Maybe not quite a life-changing event, but certainly an event that changed the way I think about the larger screens, and just  what it means to really give them proper support.

One of the very best Palm chess programs, and my personal favorite. Now the strongest Palm chess program for those with a Zire or Tungsten and PalmOS 5.0, thanks to the ARM engine option.

"And man oh man... 25,165
positions/sec  That's nuts for a Palm unit! Love it, love it, love it."

"Chess has never been this much fun... Educational, occasionally exciting and useful. Every feature you've ever wanted from a chess game is here... plays a very strong game." (Palmtop User magazine issue 1)

"Your Palm chess program is quite incredible. A really good example of how to get a ship into a bottle! I can see that all of my future train and 747 journeys will be much brighter."

"This is one of the tightest programmed applications I’ve used, in terms of making the interface well-integrated with the purpose. Awesome!"

"This is not by a long shot the first chess program I used, but it is the most impressive. It is small enough to download quickly and takes up little space and whips me at chess consistently. It is humbling to have something I can hold in my hand be smarter than me."

The only feature I need now is a higher IQ."

"Site after site has heaped praise on this program, and with good reason – it is the only alternative for the serious player who wants to play chess with his/her Palm device." See the full review

"I just wanted to say that I am a registered user of ChessGenius for the Palm, and I love this product. Rarely do developers succeed in creating powerful applications that are both simple in their execution and elegant in their interface. The full board view is beautiful!"

"Chess Genius has a good pedigree. It plays very well too, even on the faster levels. It impresses hugely, with a range of features that would fit well on a commercial desktop game."
(PalmUser magazine issue 3)

New features of ChessGenius 2.2
  • New full screen display for all 320x480 models from Palm, Sony and Tapwave in landscape and portrait mode.
    Play on a big chessboard and see full game information!
  • Buttons for commonly used game functions.
  • Show last move option.
    Display of the last move made can now be disabled
  • Now easier to play a game with the black pieces.
New features of ChessGenius 2.1
  • New color graphics. The old piece set is still available as an option. Thanks to Bryan Whitby for the new set.
New features of ChessGenius 2.0
  • ARM native chess engine
    OS5 devices can optionally use the new engine which supports hash tables. On a Palm Tungsten T3 with 400Mhz Intel XScale processor it runs 20 times faster than previous versions. It is around 400 ELO stronger. The original world champion engine is also included for full compatibility with older Palm devices. 
    Note: OS5 or higher is required to run the ARM engine.)
  • Ability to switch between engines. (OS5 only)
  • Auto-off time can be adjusted.
  • Setup position allows castling rights to be set.
  • Option to view position count and positions searched per second
Features of ChessGenius for the Palm
  • Free updates
    Buy ChessGenius once and all future updates will be free.
  • Incredibly strong play
    Excellent play even on the 'instant' level
  • Forty playing levels (standard engine)
    Ten easy levels. ChessGenius makes deliberate mistakes
    Ten time based levels. Instant, 1 sec, 2 sec, 3 sec, 5 sec, ... 3 mins
    Ten Blitz levels. Whole game in 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 5 min, .... 120 min. The Chess Clocks count down in these levels. You lose if you run out of time
    Ten Problem solving levels. Solve newspaper checkmate in x moves problems
  • Thirty additional playing levels (ARM engine)
    OS5 Palm devices support the ARM native engine. This has 30 playing levels. Ten Easy, ten time based levels and ten Blitz levels.
  • Game information
    The last moves of the game
    Chess Clocks. Total White and Black time and move time
    Main line. For example, the line may show:
    "1.03 05 cxd4 Nxd4 Nc6 Bb5" This means that:
    ChessGenius is winning by 1.03 pawns. Search depth = 5, and line of moves. ChessGenius is planning cxd4 and expects Nxd4 in reply etc
  • Set-up position
    Any legal position can be entered
  • Take back and Step forward
    Take back moves to start of game and Step forward to end of game. Easy take back and step forward with the 5-way Navigator/ Jog dial / scroll up/down buttons
  • Hint
    Let ChessGenius suggest your move
  • Players
    Play against ChessGenius, against another player or watch ChessGenius play itself
  • Analyze game
    Like 2 player mode but ChessGenius calculates continuously and shows its thinking. Useful for replaying games to see where mistakes have been made or for playing over an imported PGN Master game.
  • Infrared play option
    Play against another player who has ChessGenius installed on a Palm device using the infrared port
  • Rules of Chess
    Understands all the rules of Chess including, en-passant, under promotion, castling, draw by repetition and the 50 move rule.
  • Save and Load games
    Games can be saved and loaded as (PGN compatible) memo's. Games can be transferred between Palm and Desktop PC. For details see the FAQ page
  • Permanent brain option
    ChessGenius assumes that the human player will play the hint move and calculates its reply whilst waiting. It will play stronger.
  • Tutor option
    ChessGenius will warn if a blunder / weak move is played and give the option of take back.
  • Three board views
    Choose between three chessboard sizes
  • High-Resolution Support
    ChessGenius supports high resolution on Sony Clie's and on all Palm OS5 devices. It also supports the Handera 330
  • Show legal moves option
    If this option is enabled tapping a piece will show all the squares the piece can move to. If the piece has no moves all pieces that can move are indicated.
  • Championship
    The word 'Championship' is displayed on the small board view if you have not used Hint, Taken back moves or viewed the Main line. Can you beat ChessGenius without help?
  • Board coordinates option
    Coordinates can optionally be displayed on the chessboard.

Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft corporation in the United States and / or other countries. Palm is a registered trademark of Palm Computing, Inc., 3Com, or its subsidiaries. Other product and brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

This page last modified October 19, 2005
Copyright © 2002-2005 Lang Software Limited. All rights reserved