PGN WorkBench -- ChessX
Professionally, before becoming a writer, I started out as a Systems Admin/Programmer many years ago. And I was big with the Open Source movement that sprang up in the 90s. It was all a Free Life style and Linux back then. Sunshine in.
When I first started this chess journey, I knew where to go to seek out open source chess programs. I found several. Some of them good, some of them not so much. To share the wealth I'm going to introduce you to them.
ChessX is the first one I came across and I'm glad it was. It's a bit sharp on the edges, but it handles PGN files with zero issues. It also sets itself up as the primary software program that handles the PGN files. What this means is you can download a game from lichess.org or chess.com, then double click it and ChessX will open the file up and set the board with the game.
ChessX has all of the analytics and functionality found on the chess website. Opening Trees, and tools for digging into your game included.
It is also fairly well documented in the Help area. Opensource projects are famous for their lack in this area... putting out documentation is boring, they just want to code. When I volunteer it is normally to help with the Help and HOWTO files.
ChessX excels at game collection management. It has a great Annotations feature. You can play against the engines -- it works with stockfish, Greko, Ic0 and others. As long as they work with UCI, they will work in ChessX.
A site called SourceForge.org is where you download it. Download, double click and follow the install directions. Choosing the defaults is probably best unless you know what yo are doing.
One of the benefits with OpenSource programs is you have many eyes going through the code looking for bugs and issues. It is rare that viruses or backdoor functions are in the program. Very rare.
This is where I annotate and study my games. It feels like a work bench. A place for serious thought and a place where I can explore and write the notes from what I find.
This is ChessX Download from
http://chessx.sourceforge.net
The database is a PGN file with other PGN files inside. The fastest way to get started and explore, is to get your games off of Chess.com or Ischess.org using the functions ChessX has for that need. In the Menu Ribbon you'll find a Blue Pawn (chess.com) and Iichess's Knight logo. Clicking on one of those, putting in your user name, and sending, will download your database. Then you can play around with your games.
To start a new game, go to Game->New
ChessX uses the Clipboard as a temporary database, so you can mess around without creating a long of test files and garbage. Once the Clipboard has reached a cluttering that is bugging you, click on the menu Database->Clear Clipboard
If the Clipboard has games you want to save, you can go to File->Create New Database.
Then copy (right click on the game you want to save) and Copy the file. Then choose your new database and your copy is made.
If you are looking for a PGN workbench then this might be worth looking into.
There are at least three others I plan on posting about over the next week to ten days. What do you look for in a Chess Program? What is a feature that is important to your chess study?
