Hiarcs Chess Explorer Video Quick Tour

The Hiarcs team recently posted two videos (one for Mac and another for Windows) to give a quick tour of their products. The Hiarcs Chess Explorer applications for both platforms virtually look the same and share the same functionalities.

I have a Mac and purchased the Mac version, and here's the quick tour:



Yet, I have to reiterate my feature requests I hope we get in the next version:

• Engine match and engine tournaments;


• Ability to publish PGN games to be replayable in HTML through javascript;

See also Hiarcs Chess Explorer for PC video tour.

Hiarcs Chess Explorer for Mac -- First Impressions

So I finally took the plunge and purchased my own copy of Hiarcs Chess Explorer for Mac, because no one wants to sponsor one for me.



And here are my first impressions:

• I've tried game analysis, the feature that I'm always looking forward to when trying out a chess software. It's working great, at least as far as with the UCI engines that I was able to use the software with.


• There's a limited number of UCI engines that are compatible only for Mac, especially free engines, as there are available for Windows. So far what I have are the stock Houdini 14, Stockfish 2.2.2 and Fruit (05/11/03).


• With the three UCI engines available for my Mac, I can't really test their playing strengths against each other because there's no engine match feature in the Hiarcs Chess Explorer software. (See update below).

This list will be updated for further impressions.

What about you? How do you find Hiarcs Chess Explorer, for Mac or even Windows?

UPDATE (September 16, 2012):

I have the following UCI engines (besides Hiarcs 14, which comes with the purchase) successfully running on Hiarcs Mac Chess Explorer:

• Critter 1.6a 64-bit;


• Fruit 05/11/03;


• Komodo64 3;


• Stockfish 2.3 64-bit;

If I missed a strong UCI engine that you think I should try out, please let me know in the comments below.

Running Fritz 12 on a Mac via Crossover

Fritz 12 is a great chess product that unfortunately has no Mac version. I've installed it on a Bootcamp partition, and it works great. But I hate rebooting to Windows everytime I need it. Besides, all my files are in the OS X partition.

I also tried running Fritz 12 in a Parallels Desktop. It works fine as well, but then I have to boot Windows on top of OS X, which in the process they're sharing the same computer's resources, which proves to be an inefficient environment to run a resource hungry application like Fritz 12. I was only able to assign 3GB of RAM out of the total installed 8GB, and the application can only utilize 1 CPU out of the total 4.

So what about Codeweaver's Crossover? Well, this is how it looks like:

[caption id="attachment_855" align="alignnone" width="500"] Screenshot: Fritz 12 on a Mac via Crossover[/caption]

Notice how the black pieces have turned into. They must be the "zombies" in the chess world. There was nothing I can do to fix it. Really, when you start playing or analyzing games, you'll get confused about the black and the white pieces.

That alone is already a total turn off. But it does not stop there: you can't activate the application to get the latest software updates. I didn't try installing additional engines, because I find it unnecessary to move forward with the setup.

So until now, there's no ideal way to run a ChessBase application on a Mac. You can try one option but you have deal with the setbacks. A huge gap to fill in -- a great opportunity for competitors to expand their market on.

Calling Hiarcs, Shredder, anyone?

By the way, it appears Stockfish UI does not work anymore in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

My setup: MacBook Pro 13-inch, Early 2011, running OS X Mountain Lion.

Hiarcs' Mac Chess Explorer is Now Available

Got a message today that Hiarcs' Mac Chess Explorer is finally available:



At last, after a very long wait, it has finally come for us to check out.

It comes bundled with Hiarcs 14 and costs US$59.95 for the single-core version, and US$99.95 for the Deep Hiarcs (multi-core/multi-processor version).

By the way, there's also the PC Chess Explorer. But what the heck, we're only interested in Mac here, right?

The Chess Explorer by Hiarcs

The Hiarcs page right now goes:

HIARCS Chess Explorer is an exciting new chess product which is under development and we hope will be available in the autumn 2011. More details on the new chess explorer application will be posted here when they are ready. We hope chess players of all chess abilities who really wish to explore and improve their chess will like the new HIARCS chess explorer software.

For me, this leaves more questions than answers:

• Is this a GUI alternative to Chessbase' Fritz 12?


• Is this thing available for Windows and Mac?


• Is this Hiarcs answer due to Sigma Chess not available to support OS X Lion?


• Can I install other competing engines?


• Will it have intuitive interface for game analysis?


• Will I become a better player with this software?


• Will this be free or shall be sold for a hefty amount?


• Do you think it can beat Houdini?

I can go on and on, even with stupid questions, but really, that page is not helping a lot. Hope Hiarcs can come up with a concrete answer and hopefully fill that bridge for a good native chess program for the Mac.

Chess on a Mac

Admittedly, Chessbase' Fritz 12 is the best program for the PC. The Fritz 12 (or even the Deep Fritz 12) engine may not be the strongest computer chess engine out there, but the Chessbase interface is able to deliver on its purpose. I use it widely when analyzing games and studying openings. I load my favorite engines like Rybka, Houdini, Stockfish, etc., to test some of the more stronger engines.

[caption id="attachment_16" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="Shredder Chess for Mac"][/caption]

 

But the problem is it's only available in PC. When oh when can they be able to make a program for the Mac? I'm a Mac convert now, and there really are a lot of Mac users who are anticipating this from Chessbase. Although I already paid for the licensed copy of Fritz 12 for Windows, I'll be willing to shell out another for the Mac -- for as long as it will natively run on the Intel Mac.