HIARCS Chess Explorer Review

I've just finished a review of HCE. That's all there is on my new site at the moment.

http://www.zfchess.com/hiarcschessexplorer.html

Its a very nice program. Its basically a commercial variant of ChessX ( Macintosh version of chessX at www.box.com/chessX ) with many additional features including a very nice Opening explorer and a much better player explorer as well as adding the ability to play against the computer.

Currently HIARCS Chess Explorer is the best chess application for the Macintosh. The PC version is pretty much identical to the macintosh version  except with a windows look and feel.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about HIARCS Chess Explorer is how solid it is. I have been using it every day since it came out and it hasn't crashed once. Compare that with Chessbase which admittedly has many more features but which crashes regularly.

I read your very good review and would like to add two possible areas for improvements.

1. using the scrollwheel to go to previous and next moves is unusable with the Apple magic mouse. One is constantly accidently switching to different moves.  The current version of chessX ( www.box.com/chessX ) has a sensitivity adjustment for this feature.

2. Reduce wasted space, The move indicators and borders are too wide. On smaller monitors it is critical to allow the user to display as much usable information as possible. This is another area where chessX does a much better job.

Hi zfchess. If you haven't, I suggest you to send your review link to the developers of Chess Explorer. The product is still version 1.0, and I am sure they are looking for feedbacks from users.

I completely agree with JamesCoons's first point about scrolling. I use a trackpad for scrolling, but this is quite unusual. (I told this to the developer. They chose this style apparently because they thought most users prefer this way.)

They're linking to the review on their site. I'm sure they'll make many improvements in updates and new versions.

Well I'll be!  I've been waiting for Hiarcs 14 to come out and apparently it's not advertised under that name.  Too bad it isn't Chessbase compatible anymore. 

It is still compatible with Chessbase. You can load the Hiarcs engine in any GUI that will run a uci engine.

I get a message that Safari cannot find the server when I click on this link.

I see that post is two years old. Is HIARCS still the best for Macs?

I like this impromptu interview with HIARCS' creator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQX_PxKAMTE