Amazon Fire Tablet - Install Lichess, Aimchess, and more.

 I have a Amazon Fire 7 9th generation. Amazon's app store is void of key chess apps. See my article on installing Chess.com on a Fire 7 (click here). Today I installed Lichess and Aimchess apps on my tablet.

First you will need to install an apk downloader in your browser (Google's Chrome). 

Also I use Dropbox to transfer to the tablet. Dropbox is available in the Amazon App Store. 

Find the chess app in the Google Play store. Run the apk downloader. Select your device configuration as close as you can. Download it to Dropbox.

Open Dropbox on your tablet and run the apk. You may have to try a several versions to find one that works. I had to use Aimchess version 1.3 instead of the latest 1.7. I don't know the difference. I think they are just a way of connecting to the website anyway.

So I've installed Chess.com, Everyman Chess Books Viewer, Lichess, and Aimchess using this method. They all work on my tablet. I hope this helps someone. Be sure to follow the blog if you like the content. Also let me know if you have another technology issue. I'll try to find a solution. 

Chess Books Still A Great Study Resource

 I admit it. I love chess books. However I find them hard to follow. So I really like the Everyman Chess books. You can buy and download a book as an ebook, Kindle book, Chessbase format, and PGN file. This gives you options to view the material and have a board to move through the variations. The ability to go off on variations and jump back to the main line. Also you can check the evaluation of a line with a chess engine. Here is a link to Everyman's guide to the various formats.

There is just one problem. They don't actually sell the hard copy of the books any more. So I wanted a couple of books to work on an opening repertoire. I found them at Thriftbooks.com and Abebooks.com. 

So now I have these two books in every format. Here are some screen shots of the books in various viewers.

Kindle Book

Chessbase

As a pgn file in SCID vs PC a free chess database program.

I hope this helps you rediscover chess books and using them to study. Let me know if I can provide any additional information. 

Aimchess The Computer As Coach!

 Aimchess Review

A data driven Chess Coach. My favorite feature is Aimchess will pull your games from Chess.com and/or Lichess.com and use them to develop study plans for you. Find your weak moves and pose them in the form of a puzzle.

You can have Aimchess pull games from as far back as you want. It will analyze them and give you data driven charts on your weaknesses and strengths.    

Then Aimchess develops a daily study exercise plan to improve your play.

Their video is wild but buried in there is the info they want to share.

Check it out at Aimchess.com. I think this is a game changer (pun).

The analysis board has tabs that link to Videos and Courses as well as the Notation. They appear to be geared to the position on the board. Nice!

Chessquid

I decided to get a refund for now. Chessquid is promising but largely in development. In my opinion they shouldn't be offering it for sale yet.    

I recently purchased Chessquid Pro. It's in development. I hope they get more of the database features working soon. I'll edit this post to include a review of the software soon. Here is a quick game I played against the program. It does have a big selection of opponents tuned to different playing levels.

Chess In The Times

 I am a New York Times subscriber. Recently I found a really fun and educational chess feature. Chess Puzzles. It allows you to play a puzzle position from a famous players game. It does cost $1.25 a week extra. I did a trial example. It appears to be well done. Do you know of other places where chess is a feature? 

  Click this link https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/chess-puzzles.

Finding The Best Move

 What goes into making the best chess move? Well it's not just the move. It has to be part of a plan. I decided to try to mind map the process. Strongly influenced by the book "How to Reassess Your Chess" by Jeremy Silman.   What do you think? Did I miss anything? Click the picture to make it bigger. If you like the content be sure to comment and follow.

Chess Class

I taught a basic class on how to play chess. It took the students from beginner to an introduction to advanced ideas. I created a mindmap to organize my thoughts while creating the class. I'm posting it here in case it can help someone. Also I'm thinking of creating a new mindmap of how to approach the game.