ChessBotX 1.5.8 - What's new?

ChessBotX 1.5.8 "The Coach Edition" is a big update of the chess bot, released in October 2020. It contains several cool new features, many improvements and a few bug fixes. So let’s take a look.
ChessBotX 1.5.8 - Coach edition
ChessBotX 1.5.8
First of all, there are a few changes in the interface. As you can see - "Engine strength" and "Voice" tabs was removed.

Now you can control strength of the engine straight on the "Main" tab. You also may have noticed the track bar, which will allow you to change depth or time in a more convenient way.

If you want to change the calculation mode, just press the "settings" button on the panel. And then just select the mode: "play by depth", "play by time" or "fixed time per move".

Yes, there is a new playing method. In the "
Fixed time
" mode the chess engine will analyze each move for a strictly specified amount of time. It's pretty useful for the analysis purposes. Both, advisor and automatic chess bot, can use this mode.
New mode: fixed time per move
If you need to setup the calculation method more precisely, you can select
"Custom value" checkbox
. This will work for all three basic modes.

For the "Play by depth" mode you will be able to set value above 20 or turn on "Floating depth" feature.

For the "Play by time" you can set any time control you want with the increment. And also - turn on or turn off pondering feature (also known as "permanent brain").

For the "Fixed time" mode you also can set the precise value in milliseconds.
Custom depth configuration
Custom time controls with pondering
And one more cool thing here are the hotkeys for changing depth. Now you can press
"NUMPAD +" or "NUMPAD -" to control depth
even during the game!
New hotkeys for changing depth
Now a few words about the
"Play by key"
feature. For those who forgot - this option allow bot to play each move only after you press a specific key on the keyboard (
by default now it is button "9"
).

So in ChessBotX 1.5.8 this option
will affect
not only automatic mode, but
ALL modes
, including "Advisor" and "Coach". For example, advisor will not show the current move until you press the "9" key. It's pretty useful for training games!


New PlayByKey mode
Now let's talk about the "Advisor mode". Press the "Settings" button to open the advisor configuration window.

Aaand yes! As you can see advisor now support "MultiPV" option.


This option force the chess engine to output not one, but several best lines (or PVs - "principal variations") when searching. You can set up to 5 lines to show on the board. Also, you can change the color of the marks for each line and the size of the marks. And you can also see the score for each line.

Also, as you may see, the "Voice-over" feature now moved here. Enable it, if you would like to hear the moves.

The last, but not the least - the recognition delays. These delays allow to recognize moves properly, especially if the website has moves animation. You can try to lower these values to speed up the advisor. But if chess bot became unstable and shows the strange or impossible moves on the board, then increase these values back. Also, it is strongly recommended to turn off moves animation on the website.
MultiPV feature
Example of several lines on the chessboard
___________________________________
And here is the brand new feature of the ChessBotX 1.5.8 - THE "COACH MODE"!


This mode has several options, but the main rule - bot will NOT show you the best moves. Instead, you play the game by youself and "Coach" will evaluate each of your moves, evaluate whole position, show current threats and even play a couple of cool and funny games with you.

Let's take a closer look.

"
Moves evaluation
" feature. When this option is active, chess bot will show you - was your last move good or bad. Straight on the chessboard!

I don't know why, but I am personally really like this feature. It's really awesome, you should try it! There are 5 grades: excellent, good, ok, mistake and blunder. You can also choose which moves should be evaluated - yours, your opponent or both. Cool, isn't it?
Moves evaluation feature
Moves evaluation example
Moves evaluation settings
Next. "
Thermometer
".

With this option ChessBot will evaluate a current position on the board and show score as black-and-white bar (also know as thermometer). You can configure size and initial position of it. Also, you can drag it with you mouse.

You can use it in your own games or while watching some match of grandmasters.
Thermometer feature
Thermometer settings
Thermometer example on chess.com
"Show threats"
option.

This feature allow you to see what moves of your opponent are threat you in the current position.

For example, here (see screenshot below) opponent will take your Queen on the next move, if you will not move it.

You can ask bot to show up to 3 threats. If you like to hang your pieces, you will definitely find this feature useful!
Show threats feature on chess.com
Show threats option
Show threats option settings
You can combine the listed options or even enable them all at once.

Next two features, however, will work separately.

Now a few words about games, which you can play with the bot.

First game is called
"Hand and Brain"
. How do you play this game? It's simple. Chess bot says the name of the piece. And you should find and play the move that bot has in mind.

For example, ChessBotX says "Rook" in some position. You should analyse position and find out what move with the rook engine has in mind. After you play the move - program will immediately show whether it was right or not. More info about "Hand and Brain" game here.

The second game is similar. Chess bot will show you several variants of the next move on the screen straight in your game. But only one of them - suggested by the engine. Others are just random moves. You need to choose and play on the board the move suggested by the ChessBot.

After move is done, program show you whether it was correct or not. You can configure difficulty of the game, by selecting the number of the variants, which will be shown on the chessboard. More info about "Choose the right move" game here.

It is strongly recommended to play these games in a longer time controls for better experience (5 minute Blitz, 10 min Rapid or even classic time controls).



Brand new games
And one more important button at the "Coach" tab - online analysis chessboard.

Here you can set up any position on the board by dragging pieces. Press "Calculate" button to see next move suggested by the Stockfish chess engine.

You can add or remove pieces at any moment or setup position using FEN string. If you need stronger calculation, you can increase thinking time for the engine. This tool is easy to use and absolutely free.

So this was ChessBotX the new "Coach" mode. Learn chess in a fun way! Hope you'll enjoy it.

___________________________________
Now move on to the "Advanced" tab.

There is one more new hotkey:
CTRL + B
. This hotkey turn on/turn off the "battle mode". Always use “battle mode”, when playing automatically against other computers - chess bot will be a bit faster.
New hotkey for battle mode
The next feature -
“Engine Manager”
.

Now you can create a list of your favorite chess engines and change them quickly in 2 clicks. You can do it even during the game (but in that case - you need to stop the bot first).

Anyway, it is much more convenient.
Engine Manager
ChessBotX 1.5.8 - Advanced tab
"Simulate human moves"
feature now has much more levels of speed. Also new
"Extra smooth"
option will allow bot to move cursor even more gently.

One more thing here - the
"System settings"
button. Here you can configure some specific settings like "Coach strength" or alternative images for evaluation marks. Please note that these settings are for advanced users only.
New simulate human moves options
New system settings
You think that's all? Nope.

Take a look what else ChessBotX 1.5.8 has on board:

- support for playchess client app (auto+advisor+coach)
- chess.com variants coach / advisor support (960, three-check, king of the hill)
- new chess.com (beta) interface support including puzzles, games, puzzle rush, etc.
- anti-detection for lichess in automatic mode
- lichess.org variants coach / advisor support (crazyhouse and three-checks - only automatic mode. Other variants - auto+advisor+coach)
- advisor mode and CFP supports "floating depth" now
- "continue from position" support "play by time" now
- fixed schacharena.de
- fixed 1chess.org
- fixed crazyhouse at lichess.org
- faster in automatic mode
- reduced delays
- click instead of drag'n'drop for some websites
- smart board recognition (fixed bug with the first highlighted square)
- parsing and displaying moves to mate (+M5, -M3, M0, etc.)
- parsing and displaying multiple lines
- lots of minor improvements

- old bugs fixed
- new bugs added

Well, now I guess it's all, guys. Hope you will enjoy the new version.

Play chess and have fun!

PS. See the video overview of the 1.5.8 version below (it's with comments).
chess cheat bot
ChessBotX - real-time next best move calculator
CHESS BOT - NEXT BEST MOVE | 2024