ChessPad 2.1
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ChessPad 2.1 for Palm
06/04/01
On a regular basis, I see people asking about a chess database program
for their Palm pilot or Windows CE device on USENET. Up until
recently, there has been nothing of the sort available for all those
die-hard chess junkies. However, with this latest program from Solutions in
Hand, Palm users now have an answer to their prayers.
As many of you are aware, programs running under the
Palm OS are somewhat constrained in terms of the amount of RAM and
other resources that they use. So you cannot expect that a program
like Chesspad will support the same features as Chessbase on the PC.
That means there are no large databases or game searches, and no chess
engines for analysis.
However, there is one very important chess task you can
accomplish with the program, and that is the annotation and manual
analysis of games. Indeed, this program comes at a sort of nexus in my
chess development. It has recently been hammered into my consciousness
that thorough human analysis of one’s own games is an important
tool for chess improvement. This little program provides the ability
to accomplish this analysis whenever I have my PDA handy.
Ok, what exactly can you accomplish with this program?
Well, you can insert variations into a game score, along with text
comments, positional evaluations
(=,unclear,+/=,-/=,+/-,-/+,+-,-+,=/unclear) and diacritical marks (!,
!?.,?,?!,!!,??). There are none of the more esoteric informant
symbols, but the program supports 90% of what most people will use. Of
course, you can also follow games as well, which can be imported into
the program using an external converter (windows program), or internal
Palm program.
The interface for the program is decent. The board is
not incredibly attractive, but the pieces are easy to differentiate. I
found the implementation of annotation functions to be very easy to
figure out (for example, evaluations, choice of variations and
diacritic marks are handled by popup menus). There are handy buttons
for going back to the last branching point in a variation, as well as
all the normal VCR-like controls for stepping through a game.
There are also a couple of unexpected extras in the
program. For instance, languages besides English are supported, and
you can also print games (with the assistance of optional third-party
software). I also looked at an early beta of version 3.0, and saw that
it had support for the DGT board. Once again, I did not look at this
feature, but it will allow users to record games on their Palm OS
organizer using the serial port on the DGT (and of course, a serial
cradle).
The only problem I found with the program was that
there was some trouble importing PGN produced by the application into
Bookup and Chess Assistant. However, Chessbase lite was able to import
these games without any trouble. So I was able to use CBLite to
produce readable games for the other programs. I believe the problem
has to do with the fact that the converter program inserts both a
period and three additional periods for black variations. I have
notified the program author regarding this incompatibility, and
hopefully, it will be addressed in the next version. In the mean time,
users of CA or BOOKUP can use CBLight in an intermediate conversion
step.
I would recommend that serious players take a look at
this program, since it offers a capability that is not found
elsewhere. The program is quite easy to use, and I had no trouble
entering in an entirely new opening repertoire for black (with a host
of variations and evaluations) for personal study. So I am confident
that this program will able to accommodate even those that wish to
write a small dissertation on a particular game.
Copy Protection
Must obtain registration code from manufacturer.
