Chastity's Chess Challenge

Tag: artificial-intelligence

  • Chaste Tris Repository Update 2026

    For the past 5 years, I have had the repository of my Chaste Tris game hosted on GitHub. However, the code has been out of date compared to my local machine, and also very badly organized. I have taken a bit of time this weekend, besides doing school work, to organize the repositories for the 3 games I have made: Chaste Tris, Chaste Puyo, and Chaste Panel.

    The reasons for this are many. First of all, having the code Open Source does nobody any good if it is too confusing for them. Also, I included the GPL3 license in all the repositories so that it is clear that this is Free Software. The repositories for these three games are below.

    https://github.com/chastitywhiterose/chastetris
    https://github.com/chastitywhiterose/Chaste-Puyo
    https://github.com/chastitywhiterose/Chaste-Panel

    Recently, I have been reading and watching a lot of content about the terms Open Source vs. Free Software and why these terms are usually, but not always, the same thing. Following an email conversation I had with Richard Stallman, I believe I can make some analogies that will help the average person understand it better.

    When something is Open Source, it means the source code is available for you to read, but it may have a license restricting you from using it to modify or fork from the Software to make your own version. Just having the source available does not do much good if you are restricted legally from making the best use of it.

    Free Software, on the other hand, is concerned with the Freedom to use the Software as you wish. I believe this section from the GPL3 makes it very clear.

    *When we speak of free Software, we are referring to Freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the Freedom to distribute copies of free Software (and charge for them if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the Software or use pieces of it in new free programs, and that you know you can do these things.

    To protect your rights, we need to prevent others from denying you these rights or asking you to surrender the rights. Therefore, you have certain responsibilities if you distribute copies of the Software, or if you modify it: responsibilities to respect the Freedom of others.

    For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must pass on to the recipients the same freedoms that you received. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.

    To make the difference between Open Source and Free Software even clearer. Consider that some people think of Veganism as a diet that involves not eating animals, but don’t understand the ethical reasons for this. They might think it is a healthy diet to eat only plants, which is true, but it is not the primary motivation. These people may still buy or wear fur or leather, hunt animals for sport, or breed puppies to sell them. Their diet may be Vegan but their mindset is not.

    Free Software advocates who care about the Freedom of people to control their Software are like ethical Vegans who are trying to communicate clearly what it is all about. Just as an ethical Vegan like me is concerned with avoiding hurting animals, a Free Software Advocate cares about users controlling their Software in terms of performance, portability, privacy(as in not being spied on by Microsoft or Apple), and the ability to choose which Software they want to use, and if they are smart enough, invent their own.

    As someone who has been working with Free Software for many years, I care about this distinction as much as Richard Stallman, but I also know that many people are using Open Source and mean the same thing. I don’t believe that these people should be shamed for using the terms they have learned to use. I just believe we need to hold people accountable when they advertise something as Open Source but then restrict users in a way that makes the source closed to being used in the way that people like me have always meant when they said Open Source.

    Also, fun fact, did you know that the source code for Chaste Tris has always been included in the Steam release? You have to navigate to the installed files, but the source is always there.

    https://store.steampowered.com/app/1986120/Chaste_Tris/

    My Tetris game was never meant to compete with existing Tetris games, but it contains all of the elements required to make a cross-platform game. I still dream of making a small original game, unlike anything the world has seen before. Just like Chaste Tris, it will also be Free as in Freedom, just like all of the best Software has been.

  • Should you buy a Chess program to study?

    Analysis of different Chess GUIs available

    One of the great things about Chess is that you can play for free either online or over the board if you have a local friend willing to play.

    Most of the time, a person doesn’t need to spend any money at all on the game of Chess. However, I am not a normal person but someone who wants to know everything about Chess.

    The official website for stockfish (the world’s strongest Chess engine) has a convenient list of the best Graphical User Interfaces and how to install and use them along with the stockfish engine.

    But if you are a new Chess player or you are looking for serious advice on how to improve at the game, I have a serious warning.

    Computers don’t play Chess like humans do. They look ahead and make a move that may make a different 50 moves later. Therefore, playing against the computer or even using a computer to analyze a game can mislead you into thinking a move is bad when it may actually help you win, or maybe it will tell you a move is good but not have the means to tell you why in the same way a human can.

    Therefore, when analyzing which GUI you want to use, I will be talking about which of them helps you better analyze your own games with human reasoning. I will present 4 options. 2 of which are free and 2 of which are programs you can buy.

    Free programs

    What I find myself using the most lately is a free and open source program called En-Croissant. It lets you automatically download a database of the rated games you have played on either chess.com or lichess.

    Frank Willow, the creator of the program published a blog post on lichess.org about it.

    Another great program is liground. It allows using the computer to analyze not only Chess but also variants like Crazyhouse, Shogi, Xiangqi, and many others. If you only play standard Chess you probably won’t make use of it but if you are someone like me who loves all games that are similar to Chess, you may find it helpful just as I have.

    Paid

    The stockfish site I linked to earlier recommends 3 different programs you can buy: Chessbase, Shedder, and Hiarcs. Of these options, only Shredder and Hiarcs are that good.

    Shredder is mostly for playing against the computer. It can keep track of your games and even assign you a rating that goes up or down depending on how you win or lose. However, it’s not that special beyond this. Perhaps if you are looking for a nice program to play against customized strength stockfish and want to download something because you don’t have a reliable internet connection, it’s pretty good. The interface looks really nice and it does let you import and export PNG files of individual games.

    Hiarcs is the better option for me because I don’t use it to play against the computer. I prefer to use it by downloading my own databases of games from lichess and stepping through them. The same can be done with En-Croissant, but the fact that you can open different PGN files and have them in different tabs is a huge bonus. Another thing that is a selling point for me is that it allows me to type in the hex codes for exactly what color squares I want the light and dark squares of the chessboard to be. This is important for someone like me who cares about the appearance of the chessboard for streaming and recording videos.

    I will mention that there is a program called Chessx which is similar to Hiarcs that is free and open source, but the user interface leaves much to be desired. I think you might want to start with it and then if you like it, you might want to buy Hiarcs because it just looks way nicer and does not have trouble loading larger database files.

    Conclusion

    These are my current recommendations for programs serious Chess players might want to use if they have a PC. The open-source free options also work on Linux too if that is important for you.

    Both Shredder and Hiarcs also have mobile app versions too, but I find them to be not as great as the desktop PC version.