chess puzzle server ?

[Daniel Shawul]

Are there chess puzzle servers that I can connect to (like an ICS) instead of bundling a collection of test positions with the application? I googled and found chess tactics server but that doesn't seem to be program accessible , or is it ?

Another question:
What exactly is not allowed regarding highlighting on ICS games. I know automatic moving is considered as assistance but am not sure about highlighting.

Thanks

[tano-urayoan]

chesstempo
ideachess

[Daniel Shawul]

Thanks but what I need is a server where its database is accessible for free using programs I write. Chess tempo seems to have a big database but they are only accessible through their own widgets. Embedded daily puzzles and pgn viewer are availabe for those who wish to embed them in a website. The latter seems to have an android app but again I am not sure if it is freely available for all.
Thanks.

[tano-urayoan]

This page is from the Austrian chess federation I don't know if it help your needs.

Maybe this , altough is labeled as a chess problem database server.

http://www.chessproblems.com/ here registration (free) is required so I do not venture anymore.

The site Ideachess also has an android application. Here is the link for the app https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... Y3RpY3MiXQ

I also found this other application https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... 5jaGVzcyJd
It has puzzles and training positions.

[Daniel Shawul]

Thanks a lot Tano! I have seen some of them, and they work by dowloading a set of test positions from a webserver. I was thinking there would be a dedicated server to log into and get puzzles from, pretty much like ICSs work. Maybe even a simple SQL server would have sufficed. But there doesn't seem to be one, but anyway I got almost million EPD positions from Dann Corbit, so I am going to put some of them in the app itself. Then have the option to download sections of it from a website when needed.
Thanks again.

[Edmund]

Thanks a lot Tano! I have seen some of them, and they work by dowloading a set of test positions from a webserver. I was thinking there would be a dedicated server to log into and get puzzles from, pretty much like ICSs work. Maybe even a simple SQL server would have sufficed. But there doesn't seem to be one, but anyway I got almost million EPD positions from Dann Corbit, so I am going to put some of them in the app itself. Then have the option to download sections of it from a website when needed.
Thanks again.

The second link Tano provided seems to be exactly what you are looking for.

Windows PDB
Windows PDB is a Windows program which allows to download problems from the Internet PDB in order to query and study problems without an active Internet connection. You can also enter new problems and upload these problems to the Internet PDB.
Windows PDB has been developed by Gerd Wilts and is distributed by Die Schwalbe.

In other words there has to be some sort of interface.

[Daniel Shawul]

I wonder if it is possible to make a tcp connection. What I have right now uses files either downloaded or locally stored to test the user ( human or engine) with those puzzles for fixed time say 30s / position. So I need a continuous feed of positions for that to work. Right now I am doing this part using a local "puzzle server" engine. Later on I could make it a remote server to use the million positions Dann provided without downloading the whole file. An SQLite engine can provide randomly selected positions of mate in N. I think the interface will be simple to add it to an existing server such as FICS. They already serve PGN games so why not EPDs too. Maybe it is because practising with set of test positions instead of playing games is not that popular..

[tano-urayoan]

The thanks should go to you Daniel for all the work you do in computer chess.

Chess.com and chessok.com also has set of puzzles available in their websites but again it is not what you need.

Chess.com (an ICS) also has an android platform https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chess which has puzzles within the application.

I do not know if collaboration between different developers in android market is practiced. So maybe you could try exchanging information with them so you could "borrow" their tactics databases.

Good luck with your project(s).

[Daniel Shawul]

I was hoping there would be a free server so that I don't have to worry about the database management. Most use embedded test suites, some download it from a website. I am not sure if there is a free server that you can connect to using tcp and continually request for Positions to test the users skills.I have now a million position to upload on a website so the database is there. But anyway we have surveyed the available options so I wll decide which method to use.

[jdart]

If the goal is just to fetch FEN positions, that is going to be very lightweight to support over HTTP. You could host your own server that would do that and it would have to have many thousands of users before you'd have any load issues, I would expect.

--Jon