Ok, I've surfed myself cross-eyed trying to...
A. find a good clock that I can use both for informal games and on the off-chance that I ever realize my fantasy of playing in an OTB tournament, and...
B. determine the best chess playing/analysis app for the Mac.
At this point, my respective best bets are DGT's EasyTimer Plus for the clock and Shredder 11 for the Mac. (I like Chessmaster fine, but I refuse to use a product that requires the disc to be in the drive... 😠) I'd love to hear other opinions on either front... 🙂 Thx!
Just recently started with Gambit and find it quite good: http://www.aqueoussoftware.com/
It does the analysis continually as you click through the game..then you can click on it to store the analysis move by move...I did this on some of the moves for one of your games (see below) crafty's analysis is in brackets. As far as I can tell it doesn't run analysis on a game while you pop out to the shops as you can with Fritz or Sigma. Also I haven't found a way to insert the pgn as cut and pasted from RHP...so I have been dropping the game into my copy of shredder classic...saving this as a pgn then importing to Gambit.
Another possibility is Sigma and Hiracs (both engines come together with the same interface...and you can switch between the two whilst playing) www.sigmachess.com This has more features (you can paste games straight in...leave it to analyse a game etc.) but I don't think it is as strong as Gambit - although I'm no expert on this).
Analysis below run on whites moves only from move 6 through to 19...each move was given just a few seconds to analyse ...might have improvements if run for longer.
[White "DeepGreene"]
[Black "desuetude"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C55"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. O-O O-O 6. a3 (6. d3 d6 7. Na4 Na5
8. Nxc5 Nxc4 9. Nb3 Nb6 10. Be3 {Crafty's Best Line: Score: 0.19 Depth: 10}) d6
7. h3 (7. d3 Bg4 8. Na4 Bxf3 9. gxf3 Na5 10. Nxc5 dxc5 11. Bb5 Qd4 {Crafty's
Best Line: Score: -0.01 Depth: 8}) Nd4 8. Re1 (8. d3 Be6 9. b4 Bb6 10. Bg5 a5
11. b5 Qe7 {Crafty's Best Line: Score: -0.04 Depth: 9}) c6 9. Na4 (9. b4 Nxf3+
10. Qxf3 Bd4 11. Bb2 b5 12. Bd3 a5 13. bxa5 Rxa5 14. Rad1 {Crafty's Best Line:
Score: -0.12 Depth: 8}) b5 10. Nxc5 (10. Nxc5 bxc4 11. Na4 c5 12. d3 Bd7 13. Nc3
cxd3 14. Qxd3 c4 {Crafty's Best Line: Score: -0.16 Depth: 10}) bxc4 11. Nxd4
(11. Na4 c5 12. d3 Bd7 13. Nc3 cxd3 14. Qxd3 c4 15. Qd1 Nb5 16. Nxb5 Bxb5
{Crafty's Best Line: Score: -0.10 Depth: 10}) exd4 12. Na4 (12. Na4 Be6 13. b3
Rb8 14. bxc4 Bxc4 15. d3 Bb5 16. Nb2 {Crafty's Best Line: Score: -0.35 Depth:
9}) Qa5 13. b3 (13. b3 Be6 14. Bb2 d3 15. Bxf6 dxc2 16. Qxc2 cxb3 17. Qxc6 gxf6
{Crafty's Best Line: Score: -0.52 Depth: 9}) cxb3 14. cxb3 (14. cxb3 Be6 15. b4
Qb5 16. Bb2 Qd3 17. Qe2 Qxe2 18. Rxe2 d3 {Crafty's Best Line: Score: -0.38
Depth: 10}) Re8 15. d3 (15. d3 Qe5 16. Bd2 Ba6 17. Nb2 Rab8 18. Qc2 c5 19. Nc4
Bxc4 20. Qxc4 {Crafty's Best Line: Score: -0.03 Depth: 10}) c5 16. Bd2 (16. Bf4
Qd8 17. e5 Nd5 18. Qf3 Nxf4 19. Qxa8 Nxd3 20. Re4 Nxe5 21. Qxa7 {Crafty's Best
Line: Score: 0.44 Depth: 10}) Qc7 17. f4 (17. e5 Rxe5 18. Rxe5 dxe5 19. Rc1 Nd7
20. b4 Bb7 21. Nxc5 Bd5 {Crafty's Best Line: Score: 0.27 Depth: 9}) Bd7 18. Qf3
(18. Qc2 Bc6 19. f5 Rab8 20. Nb2 Qe7 21. Nc4 Rbd8 {Crafty's Best Line: Score:
-0.27 Depth: 9}) Bc6 19. Nb2 (19. Nb2 Rab8 20. Qd1 Qe7 21. Nc4 Nd7 22. e5 dxe5
23. fxe5 {Crafty's Best Line: Score: -0.37 Depth: 9}) Qb7 20. Nc4 Rad8 21. Na5
Qb6 22. Nxc6 Qxc6 23. b4 Rb8 24. Kh1 c4 25. dxc4 Nxe4 26. f5 d5 27. cxd5 Qxd5
28. Kg1 h6 29. Bf4 Rbc8 30. Rad1 Rc3 31. Rd3 Rxd3 32. Qxd3 Kf8 33. g3 Nf6 34.
Rxe8+ Kxe8 35. Be3 dxe3 36. Qxe3+ Qe4 37. Qxe4+ Nxe4 38. g4 Kd7 39. Kg2 Kd6 40.
Kf3 Kd5 41. h4 Nd6 42. Kf4 Nb5 43. a4 Nc3 44. a5 a6 45. g5 h5 46. g6 f6 0-1
I just purchased my first Mac this year and I had the same issue. What about chess? I don't want to bother with having a Windows solution just for that. I had the same problem when using other operating systems like Linux or FreeBSD, but luckily there are better options for OS X. There are two that really stand out.
1. Shredder 11 (strongest and just released)
2. Sigma Chess with Glarung or HIARCS (second strongest)
Of course, UCI engines like Shredder, Glarung and HIARCS can be used in either GUI. Try the trial/demo versions of both and see what you like most. I chose Sigma Chess with HIARCS, but it was also the strongest at the time.
If you really want to use a Windows program too, for chess or other stuff. There are three different approaches:
1. Boot Camp: Run it natively at full speed and select it at boot.
2. Parallels and Fusion: Run it virtualized with a small speed penalty but faster boot and great integration.
3. CrossOver Mac: No need for Windows! This is a compatibility layer and the second fastest option. Only problem is that not all programs will work. However, the vat majority work without issue.
Originally posted by TyrannosauruschexNo, it's because it's an inconvenience we shouldn't have to put up with. I don't like it when companies treat me like a criminal.
Is that because it is too technical for a mac user to insert a cd?
As for Mac users not being too technical, I actually think that's a misconception and one that Apple is pushing (because it probably helps them sell computers). The truth is, most Mac users have tried Windows and sometimes other operating systems too. They know the alternatives and actually made a choice about what they prefer. Most Windows users just noticed that their computer came with Windows and didn't think twice about it. Thus, the Mac users often have a broader knowledge base and really know their way around. Moreover, OS X provides many powerful features that really have no analogue in the Windows world. One of my favorites is Automator coupled with AppleScript. Here's a video of a much older version of Automator: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4244579625536637061 It is also largely built on open source technology and that also attracts a lot of "geeks."
Originally posted by DeepGreeneThe DGT EasyTimer Plus is probably a decent choice, as long as you never plan on playing a game with multiple time controls. That clock lacks the ability to handle more than one time control.
Ok, I've surfed myself cross-eyed trying to...
A. find a good clock that I can use both for informal games and on the off-chance that I ever realize my fantasy of playing in an OTB tournament, and...
B. determine the best chess playing/analysis app for the Mac.
At this point, my respective best bets are DGT's EasyTimer Plus for the clock and Shre ...[text shortened]... disc to be in the drive... 😠) I'd love to hear other opinions on either front... 🙂 Thx!
Originally posted by toygerThanks for the link. I've looked at ChessDB and SCID previously. The difficulty I had was finding a decent starting database to which I could add information/games.
http://chessdb.sourceforge.net/
I have recently moved to Chess Base Light which I have found extremely useful as a tool for searching for games and analysing my own games. I suspect the best way is to stick with the ChessBase products and get Windows on the Apple - a bit of an oxymoron though!
Originally posted by tapestryExachess is anther Mac database (at least it was a few months ago). It is allegedly Chessbase compatible.
Thanks for the link. I've looked at ChessDB and SCID previously. The difficulty I had was finding a decent starting database to which I could add information/games.
I have recently moved to Chess Base Light which I have found extremely useful as a tool for searching for games and analysing my own games. I suspect the best way is to stick with the ChessBase products and get Windows on the Apple - a bit of an oxymoron though!
Originally posted by Mad RookHmm... good point. I guess that's potentially an argument for the DGT XL clock then.
The DGT EasyTimer Plus is probably a decent choice, as long as you never plan on playing a game with multiple time controls. That clock lacks the ability to handle more than one time control.
Thanks for the other suggestions as well. I've now downloaded Sigma/Hiarcs, Shredder Classic (same UI as Shredder 11, but free and with some features disabled), Gambit, and Vektor 3. I'm leaning strongly towards Shredder 11, despite the price tag. 😕