This article covers

computer software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

designed to solve, or assist people in creating or solving,

chess problem A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle created by the composer using chess pieces on a chessboard, which presents the solver with a particular task. For instance, a position may be given with the instruction that White is t ...

s –

puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...

s in which pieces are laid out as in a game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, and may at times be based upon real games of chess that have been played and recorded, but whose aim is to challenge the problemist to find a solution to the posed situation, within the

rules of chess The rules of chess (also known as the laws of chess) govern the play of the game of chess. Chess is a two-player Abstract strategy game, abstract strategy board game. Each player controls sixteen chess piece, pieces of six types on a chessboar ...

, rather than to play games of chess from the beginning against an opponent. This is usually distinct from actually playing and analyzing games of chess. Many chess playing programs also have provision for solving some kinds of problem such as

checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

in a certain number of moves ( directmates), and some also have support for

helpmate A helpmate is a type of chess problem in which both sides cooperate in order to achieve the goal of checkmating Black. In a helpmate in ''n'' moves, Black moves first, then White, each side moving ''n'' times, to culminate in White's ''nth'' m ...

s and

selfmate A selfmate is a chess problem in which White, moving first, must force Black to deliver checkmate within a specified number of moves. Selfmates were once known as sui-mates. Example The problem shown is a relatively simple example. It is a sel ...

s. Software for chess problems can be used for creating and solving problems, including checking the soundness of a concept and position, storing it in a

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

, printing and publishing, and saving and exporting the problem. As such they can not only solve direct mates, helpmates and selfmates, but at times even problems with fairy pieces and other

fairy chess Fairy chess is the area of chess composition in which there are some changes to the rules of chess. It may involve changes to the board, pieces, or rules to express an idea or theme impossible in orthodox chess. An altered piece used in fairy ...

problems. There have also been some attempts to have computers "compose" problems, largely autonomously.

Software

Alybadix

First developed in 1980 by Ilkka Blom, ''Alybadix'' is a suite of chess problem-solving programs for

DOS DOS (, ) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible syste ...

and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

. Alybadix supports solving classical problems: selfmates, reflex mates, series mates, Circe, maximummers, and many Fairy types. It comes with a large problem collection and supports quality

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

.Alybadix official website
In 1993, Schach und Spiele magazine considered Alybadix to be six times faster than other playing machines including the RISC 2500.

Popeye

Popeye is a chess problem-solving software accommodating many fairy chess rules and able to investigate set play and tries. It can be used with several operating systems and can be connected to several existing graphical interfaces since it comes with freely available source code, cf. . Since its origin, Popeye was designed as a general-purpose, extensible tool for checking fairy and heterodox chess problems. The original author of Popeye was Philippe Schnoebelen who wrote it in Pascal under

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

around 1983-84. In 1986 the code was donated in the spirit of the

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

movement. Elmar Bartel, Norbert Geissler, Thomas Maeder, Torsten Linss, Stefan Hoening, Stefan Brunzen, Harald Denker, Thomas Bark and Stephen Emmerson, converted Popeye to the

C programming language C (''pronounced'' '' – like the letter c'') is a general-purpose programming language. It was created in the 1970s by Dennis Ritchie and remains very widely used and influential. By design, C's features cleanly reflect the capabilities of ...

, and now maintain the program. A good graphic interface "AP WIN" a freeware, for using with

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

has since been developed by Paul H. Wiereyn. Using this one can create diagrams and use Popeye for solving problems directly from the diagram.

Chloe and Winchloe

Chloe (DOS) and Winchloe (proprietary software) are 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 sized chessboards (up to 250 by 250 squares). It comes with a collection of more than 300,000 problems that can be updated via the Internet. Christian Poisson also maintains the Web site Problemesis.

Natch and iNatch

Natch and iNatch are freeware programs written by Pascal Wassong for DOS and Linux. Natch solves

retrograde analysis In chess problems, retrograde analysis is a technique employed to determine which moves were played leading up to a given position. While this technique is rarely needed for solving ordinary chess problems, there is a whole subgenre of chess pr ...

problems by constructing a "

proof game A proof game is a type of retrograde analysis chess problem. The solver must construct a game starting from the initial chess position, which ends with a given position (thus proving that that position is reachable) after a specified number of mo ...

" - the shortest possible game leading to a certain position. Natch is a command line utility, but there is a

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

based graphical interface. iNatch also provides moves with fairy conditions: monochrome chess, Einstein chess, vertical cylinder.

Problemist(e)

Problemist
is a shareware program written by Matthieu Leschamelle for Windows and Windows Mobile. Problemist solves direct mates, helpmates, selfmates and

reflexmate A reflexmate is a chess problem in which White, moving first, must force Black to deliver checkmate within a specified number of moves against their will – with the added condition that if either player can give checkmate, they must. If this c ...

s. It can rotate positions, print diagrams and much more. With Problemist come two TrueType chess fonts, and from its web page one can download more than 100,000 problems. Problemist is the first chess problems exchange format.

Jacobi

Jacobi is a program to solve fairy chess proof game problems by François Labelle. It is written in JavaScript and run from browse

In 2003, Labelle already developed chess-related programs and published computer-generated chess problem

Chest

Chest was created by Heiner Marxen in 1999. It is written in C, and distributed as source code .Chest home page
/ref> It solves direct mates, self mates, and help mates (as well as stalemates for self- and help mates). A UCI adapter (written by Franz Huber) is also available, allowing Chest to be used as solving engine in any UCI-capable chess GUI.

Stelvio

Stelvio
is a freeware program written by Reto Aschwanden devoted to solving orthodox shortest proof games. It is written in Java and can therefore run on various platforms.

Databases

Chess Problem Database Server

Chess Problem Database Server
is online

of all types of

s, maintained by Gerd Wilts, hosted by Die Schwalbe. Database incorporated John Niemann collection and the work of a lot of contributors. Database has 428,703 problems (as of November 2019). Problems are represented graphically with solutions and commentary.

Other

LaTeX Diagram Style

Diagram is a style file for

LaTeX Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

for typesetting chess diagrams. The style was originally created by Thomas Brand and further developed by Stefan Hoening, both based on ideas of a

TeX Tex, TeX, TEX, may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname * Tex Earnhardt (1930–2020), U.S. businessman * Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer ...

package from Elmar Bartel. The style is used to produce the German problem chess magazine Die Schwalbe.

References

External links

Chess Problem Database Server
{{DEFAULTSORT:Software For Handling Chess Problems Chess problems Chess software