Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Aquarium Update 3.1.0



Links

ChessOK.com
Patch Notes

Patch 3.1.0 Notes

Major features
=======================
* New, more convenient, 'Paint-like' way of editing color markers in the game and in the tree.
* You can read Aquarium i-Books. Editing possibilities are limited, they'll be enhanced in futher update. However, if you are not afraid of writing a Wiki-formatted text, you can edit/create new i-Books.
* You can run Game Analysis from the Sandbox.

Major bugfixes
=======================
* Fixed occasional header fields loss when pasting a game into the database game.
* 'Remove before' no longer cripples games that stared from non-initial positions.
* Randomizer match dialog is now displayed correctly.
* Engine evaluations are now printed correctly.

Minor features
=======================
* Added a popup menu for changing tree configuration in the Tree window header.
* Added possibility to view only main tree moves in a tree configuration.
* Smart Input is now 'even smarter': you can right-click (with left button pressed) to cycle through available moves.
* You can manually edit opening book play probability for each move in the tree configuration.
* You can set clocks during the game in Play mode (double-click the clocks).
* Allowed playing against Fritz via Auto232 network protocol (works OK on all our computers, but not tested much).
* Using Ctrl+move to exclude moves from infinite analysis now changes the analysis pane display.
* There is a clearer indication of which window has focus. Helps to determine whether we are browsing tree or notation.
* New feature: opponent move to limited depth. After reaching this depth the engine switches to normal analysis.
* Ribbon double-click minimization is more convenient now.
* Board sounds now active in the Sandbox and database game view.
* Export options dialog changed slightly to be more logical.
* Newly created database is added to the Recent list.
* When loading a EPD string, the leading and trailing spaces are now ignored.

Minor bugfixes
=======================
* Fixed memory leak issue in analysis chart.
* Display options dialog: checkbox for 'Show board navigation' is consistent with 'Material imbalance'.
* Fixed occasional clearance of game header by Game Analysis.
* Improved hit detection when clicking on the game flag in the games list.
* Fixed tree window reappearing after it was hidden by the user.
* Selected cell in Games list is no longer made gray.
* Ctrl+move in Two clicks input mode now works as well. If it's done during IA it excludes the move from the search, otherwise it adds a variation.
* Using Ctrl+move to exclude moves from infinite analysis works with Smart move too.
* Fixed occasional incorrect conversion of PGN NAGs to 'Long after' comments.
* Tree options dialog: advanced controls no longer peek out of the bottom of the window.
* Notation position change after switching to another application and back is partially fixed.
* 'Insert deleted moves to clipboard' option works now.
* Fixed smart move inability to drag the pointer from destination to the source square.
* Cursor is position correctly after 'Delete variation'.
* Fixed occasional mouse pointer disappearance when editing the game header.
* Analysis pane is no longer cleared when the mate score is achieved.
* Engine match view now respects board cursor settings.
* IDEA display now respects board orientation.
* Game Analysis now respects 'Show coordinates' and 'Show board navigation' settings.
* Fixed diagram display in HTML export.
* Fixed absence of sampled search display after switching to Rybka 3 from another engine.
* Fixed small bugs in tree custom coloring.
* Finished Engine Competition date is no more reported as 30/12/1899.
* Fixed some issues in CTG book handling.

What's next:
We are going to enhance the editing possibilities for Aquarium i-Books, so that you can easily write such books yourselves. This, and some more minor fixes and features, will make a 3.1.1 update.
Then it'll be time for another 'large' project. Maybe it'll be IDEA this time, but I don't know yet.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been thinking about purchasing a chess software in the price range ~50-100$, so your review was very helpful. I'd be curious what other software you're using and for which aspect of the game, and how frequently. Can Aquarium access Chessbase-files at all?

jrobi said...

Great question Christian. Prior to using Aquarium, I was utilizing several different programs for a variety of things.

Since I started using Aquarium, I primarily get what I need done within it. I do use ChessPad to create PGN's for my forums and website because it makes universally accepted PGN's that can be opened "as designed" in any viewer, and I am working on building a large database in ChessDB because I haven't really experienced the larger and more expensive database management software yet.

For the $50.00 range, nothing I have tried comes close to the ease of use and power of Aquarium. And it can also be upgraded with very low cost upgrades like the new Aquarium Rybka 3 opening book by Jeroen Noomen. I haven't tried the opening book yet, but from what I can see it looks very interesting for opening research.

And finally, of course, is the support for Aquarium shown from the developers. To this date, never in the chess world has this much communication and support for a chess product been shown from a retail package. Worth the investment in and of itself. Check out the Aquarium support forums at http://rybkaforum.net to see what I mean.

Hope that helps. =)