Download PocketGrandmaster 4.0beta

New features:

Full support for WVGA (HTC Touch HD) and square screen devices.
Play online on the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) and the server of the Internet Chess Club (ICC).
If you're new to ICS/FICS, please read their introduction for new users before playing there. PocketGrandmaster supports
- Playing games at different timecontrols (standard chess rules).
- Observing other games played on the server.
- Posting seek ads.
- Selecting a seek ad posted by another player and challenging him for a match.
- Adjourning games.
- Viewing text sent to channels.
- Basic ability to chat with other players.
Some hints for playing on a server
- Make sure your Pocket PC has a working internet-connection before logging in.
- Use the FICS guest login for a quick start. On FICS, guests can use most features, except playing rated games.
- In case of problems, you can send commands directly to the server in the "chat"-window.
Support for cut&paste. Note that cut&paste can serve as a workaround when you encounter any troubles with the virtual keyboard (SIP).
Mosts lists (games in a database, observable games, seek-ads) can be sorted by a tap on the colum header now.
The WVGA-layout saves previous PVs by the engine in a listbox.
forward 10 moves and backward 10 moves now stop, when a variation branches in a position. This allows to switch between variations easily.
Added missing PGN-symbols (+-, etc.).
New option "Enable SIP Button" on the Options/Playing-page to work around some problems with the SIP (standard input panel, virtual keyboard) on some devices.
PocketGrandmaster 4.0 fixes some small bugs of 3.x.

Known limitations of the current beta (7.12.2008):

The help does not yet explain the new features, but the online help does.
The beta does not support Windows CE 3.0. If the beta does not start on your device, please email me and I'll send you a version compiled for Windows CE 3.0.
The list of players on ICC is incomplete. This is a hard-to-work-around limitation of ICC. Also, browsing a list of thousands of players in a small listbox doesn't work well anyway.
There is no german version yet.
If you get a "key too old"-message when registering, please ask us for a new key.

Feedback wanted!
We're looking for feedback on a few details of the new version:

What information would you like to see in the information-lines below the board when playing/observing games on ICC/FICS?

What information would you like to see in the window-title when playing online? Currently it shows your handle when logged in.

How should PocketGrandmaster display the current mode of playing (playing on a server/observing a game/waiting for a challenge/stalled)? Or isn't it that important?

Which menu-items would you like to have to access the new features? How would you name them?

How important is timeseal to you?

...

If you have any suggestions or if you encounter any problems/bugs, please let us know!
Mail to info@pocketgrandmaster.com. Thanks in advance for your help!