- Update 1.36 Stats - 29 April 2026
Stats:Tutorials and Find the Move now have a dedicated stats screen where you can see your progress. I will probably improve this later and show stats for each individual game as well.Find the Move:Updated Bobby Fischer's games.Added more explanations, moves to find and variations.ExhibitionAdded more variety to the default engine, so it won't always play the same move in the same position.MenusMade more menus work with light mode.AnalyticsAdded completely anonymous analytics, to keep track of general player stats.The things I track:-Tutorials/Find the moves games completed-Number of Give ups, correct and wrong moves-Game started, checkmate and stalemate.-Which game modes are opened and closedNo information is stored about any user.
- Update 1.35 Exhibition Improvements - 1 April 2026
Here are some quality of life improvements to Chess ToolsI've updated some aspects of the exhibition mode:Added an undo move buttonAdded a review game button permanently thereAdded arrows under the game logAdded a preview for the position and variant to the play menuAdded a way to play from a custom positionAdded some default options to play from certain openingsYour last ten games in standard chess will be saved automatically.You can then access them in the analysis board under "Recent Games".They will overwrite the oldest game if you already have 10 games saved.Added a toggle for the coordinates in Coordinate Practice.So you can practice without any guide from the sides of the board.Bug fixes:Fixed a rare bug where castling would be attempted by the default engine and fail in chess 960Fixed coordinate practice breaking when set to 3d modeFixed Duck Chess not allowing a first duck move…
- Update 1.34: Alekhine - 17 December 2025
-Added 20 new games from Alexander Alekhine-Reviewed and updated Mikhail Tal's games-Added new classical 3d piece set:-New controls:Hold alt and right click to draw squares without draggingWASD - moves the camera in 3d modeQ - moves the camera up in 3d modeE - moves the camera down in 3d mode
- Update 1.32 Analysis Board Rework - 24 June 2025
As many use this feature, I decided to postpone working on Alekhine's games and instead spend a week upgrading the Analysis Board. The old code bad to say the least, so I basically redesigned everything from scratch. I made a new UI entirely:New features:Multiple engine lines are now Supported:Edit:As of now, Stockfish 17.1 is now bundled Chess Tools. I previously didn't do it for legal reasons because you need to make your source code public under their license. However if you simply link the exe externally and don't modify the code, you can simply link to where to get Stockfish and not have to make your whole game source code open source.So in analysis you have the option to use Stockfish 17.1 or your custom engine of choice, say if you want to use Leela or something. In Play mode, you will still go against my engine but I might make stockfish an option in the future too.Game ReviewTh…
- Update 1.31a: Hikaru Game Review - 13 June 2025
Reviewed and added more moves, comments and variations to Hikaru Nakamura's games:Before total moves to find: 144Now total moves to find: 375
- Update 1.31: 3D - 9 June 2025
Chess Tools is now optionally 3D!Simply press 2d and 3d buttons to switch between them.I thought I would maybe add this feature when I had nothing left to add but I did some experimenting and it wasn't too difficult to implement. What most publishers would do these days is create a completely different version of Chess Tools and call it Chess Tools 3d and charge way more for it. I'm not like that and want to give people as much value for money as possible. So this is just a free update, as they have all been.Tools and everything still work as normal.I also added a 1950s soviet style chess set.There are 4 cameras angles in 3d mode, use Tab to cycle through them. There are also settings to turn off shadows or make the lighting more simple, if your computer isn't good enough but it's shouldn't be too graphically demanding.On top of this:Anand Game Review:Went through all of Anand's game in…
- Update 1.3a - Carlsen game review - 31 May 2025
Reviewed and expanded upon the games of Magnus Carlsen in Find The Move: -Added more move explanations, moves to find and variations to all games Moves to find change breakdown: Game 1 before 12, after 14 Game 2 before 4, after 25 Game 3 before 3, after 10 Game 4 before 4, after 15 Game 5 before 3, after 11 Game 6 before 5, after 13 Game 7 before 7, after 13 Game 8 before 6, after 19 Game 9 before 5, after 13 Game 10 before 3, after 21 Game 11 before 3, after 20 Game 12 before 5, after 26 Game 13 before 8, after 19 Game 14 before 8, after 23 Game 15 before 5, after 16 Game 16 before 7, after 12 Game 17 before 3, after 10 Game 18 before 5, after 21 Game 19 before 5, after 20 Game 20 before 4, after 20 Totals: Before: 105 total moves to find After: 341 total moves to find Still to do, review of: Anand, Nakamura and Caruana games.
- Update 1.3 Masters of the Past - 26 May 2025
Find the Move additions: -20 Famous Games from Paul Morphy -20 Famous Games from Jose Raul Capablanca -Added notification for when you have to find a move Coming soon: -20 Famous Games from Alexander Alekhine -20 Famous Games from Emanuel Lasker Settings Panel: -Added validation to custom engines When you set a custom engine URL, the game will now try open the exe. If it fails, the URL won't be set and you will get an error notification with what went wrong. -Added help button for instructions on how to set up a custom engine URL
- Update 1.29b Minor Puzzle Update - 5 May 2025
-Added 40 new checkmate puzzles -Fixed puzzle bug where the pool of puzzles was limited by the amount of puzzles selected and not the total puzzles. Puzzles will shuffle completely randomly now. Coming soon: 20 Games of Jose Raul Capablanca
- Update 1.29a - Morphy - 8 February 2025
-Added 20 games from Paul Morphy -Improved the engine slightly and made default game review threaded
- Plans for Update 1.3 - 13 January 2025
I've started working on update 1.3 - Masters of the past. I plan to include games from: Paul Morphy Jose Raul Capablanca Alexander Alekhine Emmanuel Lasker As this is 80 games and a lot of work, I will break this up into smaller updates when I finish each set of games. So the next update will include be: Update 1.29a - Morphy -20 games from Paul Morphy -A review of Nakamura and Carlsen games, to add new moves where possible -Some new opening tutorials
- Update 1.2b Find The Move Game Review - 10 November 2024
Find the move: Went through the games of Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov and expanded the amount of moves you need to find. Comparison: Kasparov - Before: 90 total moves to find - Now: 206 total moves to find Karpov - Before: 69 total moves to find - Now: 238 total moves to find Next updates I will go through the added games from the Modern GM Update. Small fixes: Resolution and Fullscreen settings will now be saved and loaded and remain the same between scenes.
- Version 1.2a Opening and Puzzle Update - 6 September 2024
Opening Tutorials: Openings are now separated into 4 separate menus: -General -Beginner -Intermediate/advanced -Gambits Added 8 Gambit tutorials: -The King's Gambit -The Stafford Gambit -The Smith Morra Gambit -The Danish Gambit -The Budapest Gambit -Evan's Gambit -The Urusov Gambit -The Vienna Gambit Puzzles: Created a separate puzzle menu There are now 240 total puzzles, 40 for each category: Opening, Fork, Discoveries, Checkmate, Defensive moves, Endgame You can choose to play any kind or a specific category Find the move: Reviewed the games of Mikhail's Tal's and Bobby Fischer, made improvements and added extra moves to find. Tal's games - Added 67 more moves to find Fischer's games - Added 89 more moves to find Coming in Version 1.2b: -Review of Kasparov's and Karpov's games. -More opening tutorials: Ponziani, Dutch Defence, Grunfeld Defence, The Wing Gambit etc. -More puzzle categ…
- Plans for Update 1.2 - 27 August 2024
Coming soon: Version 1.2: Opening Update Opening gambits: Guides to many popular gambits such as: The Danish Gambit, The Stafford Gambit, The King's Gambit, The Vienna Gambit and more. More openings: Guides to the Catalan Opening, The Grunfeld Defence and the Four Knights. Puzzles: I will add a lot more puzzles, about 40 per category. It will also be randomised, so not the same puzzle order each time. Categories: Forks, discoveries, Openings, Defensive moves, Checkmate, Pins and a mixture Find the move notes: I've had a suggestion to increase the number of moves to find in these famous games. The main reason sometimes some games don't have many moves to find is that I tried to pick positions where there is only one winning move. It's a little unfair to have someone try to find one specific move in a position when they are three good options. Lots of move choices depend on style and play…
- Version 1.1: Modern GM Update - Patch Notes - 16 June 2024
Find The Move: Add 80 more games: 20 games from Magnus Carlsen 20 games from Vishy Anand 20 games from Hikaru Nakamura 20 games from Fabiano Caruana -Replaced the old button layout with a new preview for every game -Menus will now save your previous scrolling position when going in and out of games Tutorials: -Updated some tutorials -Added 6 new tutorials: Never Play f6 - Should you really never play f3 or f6? Tempo in Chess - the importance of time in Chess and how to gain it Looking for better - When you find a good move, look for a better move The Scotch Opening - A great opening for beginners to learn The Caro-Kann opening - A solid opening defence for black Theoretical Draws - Positions that are known to be draws. -Menus will now remember your last scroll location when starting and ending tutorials General fixes / additions: -Added a new light theme option that will make the backgr…
- Engine and game review hotfix - 19 May 2024
Default Engine: Increased the speed it selects moves in play mode Game review: -Increased the speed and accuracy of the default when reviewing games -Increased the speed of custom engine when reviewing games
- Version 1.0 Hotfix - 17 May 2024
Find the move: -Checked all the games for mistakes and typos -Added some text showing when the game goes into a variation that wasn't seen in the game Extras: Added a small new game mode to help practice the coordinates of the chess board. Find it in extras on the main menu.
- Plans for Future Updates - 15 May 2024
Here is a breakdown of planned of Future updates: Tutorials: -General bug fixes, typo fixes and improvements -Make more tutorials: More openings: Scotch, The Catalan, Karo-Kann etc. Opening gambits: The King's Gambit, Smith Morra Gambit, Urusov Gambit etc. Middle Game: Space advantages, Poisoned pawns and other ideas. Find the move: -General bug fixes, typo fixes and improvements -Add games from modern players -Add games from more historical players -Save more statistics: Currently I only save if you've completed a game or not. I'd like to have a statistics page to show: Percentage of games completed, times given up, correct moves found etc. Steam Achievements Game Review Improve default engine: Currently game review with the default engine can be inconsistent and slow. I need to make it more consistent and improve the engine's speed. Customizable game review: Currently I have a set val…
- Small bug fixes - 13 May 2024
Patch Notes: Tutorials: Updated and Improved all opening tutorials Fixed typos Move Highlighter: Fixed many bugs associated with this tool for example: -If only an enemy king was defending a piece but two friendly piece were attacking it, it would be marked as a bad capture (red highlight). This will now show a good capture (green highlight). -If only a pawn was defending then it would always be marked as a bad capture even it was attacked multiple times. Now it will show a good capture (green highlight) White and black check tool: Fixed a bug where a possible check would be shown when a pawn wasn't on its starting square but a check was being shown 2 moves away. Import PGN: Fixed a bug that would make some PGN imports not work. It was associated with how I didn't specify a white or black piece. Upcoming fixes: Improving and checking all other tutorials.
