I need an advice about PGN editor for iPad

Hi chess folk!

I am about to leave the city for my vacation and going to have Dvoretsky's "Endgame manual" and an iPad with me. I'd love to continue studying the book with the help of the tablet, so I need an iPad PGN viewer/editor capable to create game positions and keep sub variations. Something like PC's Kvetka I am satisfied with absolutely. I do not expect WiFi there, so it has to be an offline app, free if possible. Any suggestions, please?

There are a couple groups who are iPhone/iPad/Apple themed.

Here's one:

http://www.chess.com/groups/view/apple-iphone--ipod-touch--ipad-owners

You might find more help there?

Thanks, Captain :) I'll check this group for sure. Failed to google it on my own.

Just for the history: even with the help of iP* owners group (GeorgeBlackChess123 personally) I was unable to find suitable PGN editor. This was not an issue: my son left me no time to study a thing.

I know it's too late for your vacation now, but you might like Chess Genius to see if it works on the iPad. I'm happy with the iPhone version although I'm not sure about creating and editing subvariations (can't verify it right now because my iPhone is out of commision due to water damage). Also, it costs $5 or $10 but it's a serious app.

You probably already tried this, but searching 'chess pgn' in the app store seems to work well.

Hi, Doctor! Thanks for the response.

I have checked AppStore for 'chess PGN' and 'pgn editor' certainly. Sub variations make difference, if it were not I could use Stockfish I installed long time ago :)

Any text editor should be able to do the job. You just have to know the Forsyth-Edwards notation system:

http://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com/Forsyth-Edwards+Notation

Nice old school approach, captain) I'd prefer something more comfortable, if I can find that something.

Have you looked at the PGN viewer/editor on this site?  I use it all the time & you can set up positions either by selecting & moving pieces or loading in FEN strings or PGN files. It looks like this...

Here's a quick link...

http://www.chess.com/analysis-board-editor

It's also on the 'More' drop-down menu. For instructions on how to use it see..

http://support.chess.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/148/2/how-do-i-use-the-analysis-board--editor

You need to select the Game Editor mode to view & play around with positions, games etc. but Position Setup allows you to paste a FEN string or design a position from scratch.

This topic would not exist if I can rely on Internet. And yes, Chess.com Analysis board fits in all the rest aspects.

You can get Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual for e+Chess Reader. The reader is free, and the book is about $20. That allows you to play through the variations in the book on a board, but does not meet your specific request for an editor. I have not found an app that permits entering variations, although several can read PGN files that have variations.

Ziryab, thank you!

e+ Chess Reader looks like almost perfect solution.

Stockfish Chess can open and edit PGN files.

I could find no subvariations edit option in Stockfish version I use. Should I check it again?

tChessPro is my prefered software on iPhone - I hope it is just as good on iPad. Subvariations have been recently added to latest release.

Just noticed that tChess Pro claims editing functions for PGN in updates just released. Will test and comment again.

I have no idea, I would never buy an iPad/iPhone, or pretty much everything which is a synonym of proprietary/ non free.

There is also a Chessbase for iPad, which costs money, and also is extremely limited compared to the Windoze version.

uri65, thank you. According to the description tChess Pro has all the functions I need.

Ziriab, thanks again. I shall wait for you tChess overview with impatience.

Where have you been 3 weeks ago? :)

I have not bought it either, it is a gift :) Meanwhile both my home and work computers run under Linux, Ubuntu and Arch respectively.

The ChessBase app is useful for accessing the online database and going through games found there. I don't recall paying for it, however.

It is not comparable to ChessBase software.

Those who believe that tablets will be replacing computers any time soon need to think long and hard about everything one can do with ChessBase 12, and then note that even one simple task--entering a game with variations--may have been impossible on the iPad prior to this week.

Since buying my iPad three years ago, a month before a trip to England, I have used it daily. It has not replaced my laptop, but it has significantly reduced the occasions when I take my laptop to work, it has cut down on my printing and filing costs for my notes to long PowerPoint presentations (I save them as PDFs on my tablet), and it has reduced the weight of books that I carry in my teaching bag.

This summer, I bought a iPhone.

Needless to say, my iOS app reviews on my blog are read by many: http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2013/08/correspondence-chess-on-iphone.html is one. The tag iOS/iPhone/iPad links to 47 more articles.