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The Tarrasch Chess GUI - new version: Tarrasch 3.10c

Tarrasch is an extremely easy to use free chess program for Windows.

Tarrasch comes with free chess engines, so you get everything you need to enjoy computer chess with one simple free download.

Tarrasch is designed to to make it as easy as possible to perform some basic chess activities; Play a game against a chess engine, with either color, from any position, with a time handicap if desired.
Setup an arbitrary position and get the engine to analyse that position. View and play through the analysis provided by the engine.
Create and edit .pgn files (standard chess documents). Enter variations easily (just make moves anywhere). Enter and edit comments easily (just click anywhere and start typing). Promote and demote variations and even comments (so comments can change to moves and vice-versa – great for picking text off a website)..


News - Tarrasch 10
Tarrasch V3.10c
Another maintenance release. Fixes an ugly crash bug that would happen since V3.10a if the user loads a second instance of Tarrasch, and follows the advice of the message that pops up if they try to use the database, which is not loaded in these circumstances. (The crash occurs if you try and force load a database in these circumstances). My apologies for the necessity of this release.

Tarrasch V3.10b
A maintenance release to fix one annoying problem in the previous release. Sometimes (often?) after a database search Windows was stealing the focus from Tarrasch and giving it to another program (often Chrome). Possibly an undesirable artifact from the improved resizability of the database window. Tarrasch now (re)asserts focus after a database search. My apologies for the necessity of this release.

Tarrasch V3.10a
The first release for a long time, and the culmination of a lot of development effort. Includes an updated Kingbase Lite (but bundled engine versions not updated just at the moment). Here is a list of all changes (expect a period of more frequent releases with less changes ahead)

Optional .pgn file extension association now multiple instance behaviour is improved (see below)
Refine command line parameter behaviour. If argument is a valid file, pass it to another instance if running and exit. But allow multiple instances in other circumstances.
If another instance is already running, dont automatically load the database to save memory (show db: (not loaded)) - but inform user whats happening and allow them to manually load it
Allow File > Open of .tdb files, hopefully this will improve user understanding of the database concept
Games dialog size and position now persists across sessions
Games dialogs now much more usefully resizable
Introduce two extra fields in status line at bottom. Db: indicates database file and status plus draw counts show approaching threefold and 50 move rule draws
Change to normal file open behaviour - cancel does dismisses game selection dialog but leaves file open - fixes something that has always been confusing and annoying
Switch to saved file after save game as - this is more consistent and less annoying than the previous behaviour
Implement three engine priorities, selectable in engine dialog
Improve click on destination square popup move menu, move cancel to end of popup menu, so a single click makes expected move
Squeeze up option dialogs to reduce chance of options not fitting on small displays
Allow user to select text font size (instead of just normal/large)
Show full version info in title
Change UI tab name from Suggestions to Start
Allow cancelling database loads now, so user can work with partial database loads if they are impatient.
Allow user to cancel database append when loading the database to be appended
Select current database doesn't need to wait for an initial database load
Add new copy FEN to system clipboard command to edit window
Removal legacy SQL database support (only affects datbase files made by the Alpha version of V3)
Human v Computer refinement, hurry engine a little by telling it it has slightly less time than it really has - trying to avoid time loss by brinkmanship combined with slightly out of sync clocks and communication delays between gui and engine
Add transparent panels to Linux icon, ensure pasted text is ascii (fixes Linux crash), tweak games dialog to avoid Linux squeezing up chessboard
Support desktop Tarrasch icon under Linux (and Mac?) using xpm graphics
Add slighly more height to kibitz window, avoids vertical scrollbar in Linux
Linux port fixes by John Cheetham on Github
Upgrade from WxWindows 3.1.0 to WxWindows 3.1.1
Upgrade to Visual Studio 2017
This version does not work on Windows XP (email me if this is a problem for you)
Fix important bug: We were forgetting to announce result of human-computer games!
Fix bug: We can now restore size and position from last session on either display in multidisplay setups.
Fix bug: Dont pass thru keys if some text is selected unless all the text is within a single comment
Fix bug: spin control min,max,init parameters were in wrong order, so move count editing was improperly restricted
Fix bug: threefold repetition check - we were using naive castling/enpassant check (so sometimes we needed four repetitions!) - refinement conditions these details accurately
Fix bug: Allows windows document directory can be a root directory
Fix bug: Abnormal text line endings in db duplicate file
Fix bug: initialise Roster fen (r.fen) properly if not normal start position - how did anything work without this?

Bug fixes for slightly improved database performance from Martin Strunz on Github


All files (games, tables and engines) - download from page

Tarrasch Chess GUI download
 

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