review of the new hiarcs explorer

[ozziejoe]

Hello folks,

I thought i would offer my first impressions of Hiarcs explorer. I use a Mac so as you might imagine, I have been rather desperate for good chess products.
Just to put this in context, I have used Shredder (MAC), Rybka Aquirium (PC), chessbase (PC), sigma (pc?), and arena (PC). My main focus is on playing chess, exploring GM games, exploring openings, and analyzing games. I don't do so much engine versus engine matches.

Ok, my first impressions.

Hiarcs Chess explorer is extremely easy to use and fairly robust. there are no computer slowdowns or odd crashes like I saw in early Aquirium versions. It is easy to install and use UCI engines like stockfish. All the key features--handicap game play, opening exploration, game analyses, database search--work extremely well and intuitively. Some things i love: The tabbed view allows you to open multiple windows. You can start analysis in one window and then explore games in another window. Player explorer is awesome too. You select a player and see all that person's stats and games from the database.

The analyses features are not as detailed as Rybka aqiuriam, which uses interactive deep analysis and tree building etc. It also doesn't have the massive database capabilities of chessbase. However, after using chessbase and aquarium for some time, I've concluded that the active chess player does not need all those features. There is no substitute for the active player using his own concentration and effort to assess positions (and then checking in with the computer). I think we chess players too often look for gimmicks and technology to substitute for hard work.

I have just a couple of minor wishes for explorer. I wish it was a little easier to take a position in my game and search for similar games in the database (you can do it but it takes a bit of effort. I would prefer a single step that allows me to find all GM games that utilized the particular opening variation that is currently open in one of my tabbed views). Second, i wish the database was a bit larger (35431), and updated regularly.

These are very minor qualms. If your a mac user, I reckon hiarcs explorer is the best GUI out there and well worth the money.


Can anybody recommend a good, large PGN database?

[tomgdrums]

Hello folks,

I thought i would offer my first impressions of Hiarcs explorer. I use a Mac so as you might imagine, I have been rather desperate for good chess products.
Just to put this in context, I have used Shredder (MAC), Rybka Aquirium (PC), chessbase (PC), sigma (pc?), and arena (PC). My main focus is on playing chess, exploring GM games, exploring openings, and analyzing games. I don't do so much engine versus engine matches.

Ok, my first impressions.

Hiarcs Chess explorer is extremely easy to use and fairly robust. there are no computer slowdowns or odd crashes like I saw in early Aquirium versions. It is easy to install and use UCI engines like stockfish. All the key features--handicap game play, opening exploration, game analyses, database search--work extremely well and intuitively. Some things i love: The tabbed view allows you to open multiple windows. You can start analysis in one window and then explore games in another window. Player explorer is awesome too. You select a player and see all that person's stats and games from the database.

The analyses features are not as detailed as Rybka aqiuriam, which uses interactive deep analysis and tree building etc. It also doesn't have the massive database capabilities of chessbase. However, after using chessbase and aquarium for some time, I've concluded that the active chess player does not need all those features. There is no substitute for the active player using his own concentration and effort to assess positions (and then checking in with the computer). I think we chess players too often look for gimmicks and technology to substitute for hard work.

I have just a couple of minor wishes for explorer. I wish it was a little easier to take a position in my game and search for similar games in the database (you can do it but it takes a bit of effort. I would prefer a single step that allows me to find all GM games that utilized the particular opening variation that is currently open in one of my tabbed views). Second, i wish the database was a bit larger (35431), and updated regularly.

These are very minor qualms. If your a mac user, I reckon hiarcs explorer is the best GUI out there and well worth the money.


Can anybody recommend a good, large PGN database?

Nice review!

I do know one feature that is not in the Hiarcs explorer as yet and that is material search! It is in Chessbase and Scid vs Pc and I have found it extremely helpful when searching for study positions! Mark has said it is on the to do list for Hiarcs Explorer! So that is cool.

Oh and I just use either Chessgames.com or 365Chess to find games. I don't even need a large database when there is so much stuff to find online.

But I have heard that the million base (by Ed Schroeder?) is good and free.

[styx]

thank you for your review. i still hope for a video review of the GUI which shows all the main features. maybe there will be a product video from the authors, since i don't believe there will ever be a demo version.

here is a link to a vast PGN database. it's not chessbase quality (e.g. locations and occasions are missing and some entries are duplicates), but its free

http://icofy-blog.de/icofy-base/

[Peter Skinner]

To be quite honest, I really like the new Chess Explorer interface.

No where near as bloated as the Chessbase interface, and loads pretty much any pgn file I throw at it. Overall I find the features very easy to use, interface is nicely laid out, and setup was nice and small. (I really appreciated the installer being under 100MB in size)

Out of all the interfaces out there, I could see this one replacing all others on my machine, except Winboard which I use for online play. If there was an option for ICS play, it would be even better.

Mark did a terrific job on this project. In reality I expected nothing less than a polished product from him, and got more than I expected. Definitely worth the wait.

Peter

[Peter Skinner]

thank you for your review. i still hope for a video review of the GUI which shows all the main features. maybe there will be a product video from the authors, since i don't believe there will ever be a demo version.

here is a link to a vast PGN database. it's not chessbase quality (e.g. locations and occasions are missing and some entries are duplicates), but its free

http://icofy-blog.de/icofy-base/

I was thinking of doing a view review of Chess Explorer while I am running the FICS Standard Championships Final this Sunday. People need to see just how feature rich this interface is.

For the everyday chess enthusiast, this will hit a home run. For advanced users, there may be a feature or two missing, but Mark is terrific at listening to customer input and would expect in a very short time frame to be added.

Once I am done doing the review, I will post the link to it here.

Peter

[ozziejoe]

I have been playing a few handicapped games with coach on and I can say that these are two excellent features. On the lower levels, Hiarcs sets up some realistic tactical shots against itself, and the coach will alert you if you miss them. It plays reasonably human like (as well as a computer can do).

And everything works so simply

[Amstaff]

Nice review. I just got the hiarcs explorer and like it also. Imported a few uci engines in like houdini but can't get them to use any of the GUI's opening books.
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance,Gerald[/list]

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Is there an engine vs. engine tournament option in the GUI

I'll purchase it at once if so

[MM]

Is there an engine vs. engine tournament option in the GUI

I'll purchase it at once if so

Hi Doc,

http://www.hiarcs.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5021

Best Regards

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Is there an engine vs. engine tournament option in the GUI

I'll purchase it at once if so

Hi Doc,

http://www.hiarcs.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5021

Best Regards

Thanks