After a tremendous work Paul H. Wiereyn (NL) has completed APwin v2012 - the first APwin version,
which supports also the popular free chess problem solving program Popeye!

-APwin v2012 works in co-operation with Alybadix and Popeye so that Alybadix or Popeye can be used as solving 'engine'.
-Converts chess problems very quickly between Alybadix and Popeye formats.
-Compatible with Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7.
-Easy to enter chess problems with normal and fairy men/conditions.
-Menus and Help in 3 languages: english, german and dutch (the Popeye part in english only).
-Includes much help about  fairy rules and fairy piece moving rules etc.
-Supports near all Alybadix / Popeye options.
-Nice display of the solving moves.
-Preview of printing.
-Prints diagrams and solutions on different printer models installed in Windows.
-Loads and saves chess problems in Alybadix / Popeye text format.
-Easy to exchange chess positions with other chess programs via file or Windows clipboard
  in epd/fen/pgn/yaml/Fritz formats.
-Versatile Search options with Duplicate test .
-Very quick Duplicate/Plagiarism testing.
-Huge chess problem collection added (v2010-).

APwin v2012 is freeware!

Contents:

2. Example of APwin v2005, Show solution screen
(click mouse left on the diagram for viewing the normal size)

3. Example of APwin v2005, Print preview screen
(click mouse left on the diagram for viewing the normal size)

4. Information regarding APWin/Popeye 2012  (by Paul H. Wiereyn)

After installing APwin 2012 the newest info files are found in 3 languages in the folder c:\aly\apwin. The file names are:
infoAPWin2012-English.doc, infoAPWin2012-Deutsch.doc and  infoAPWin2012-Nederlands.

FIRST A REQUEST

APWin has been developed in the course of more than 10 years. To include Popeye was, however, a tremendous and very complicated task.
Popeye has many fairy-rules and pieces. It was also a time consuming task to collect all required info. Again APWin is free, but you would oblige me,
to send me (Paul Wiereyn) a postcard, or E-mail whether you like it (or not).
Bug reports are also very welcome (nothing is perfect in this world, and certainly not a program of nearly 6 MB).

A1. NEW FEATURES OF APWIN 2012

- ATTENTION

It is essential that the instructions in the part C. INSTALLATION are executed exactly!

The present Popeye screen is based on Popeye-version 4.55. Shortly before I finished APWin 2012, Popeye-version 4.59 was published,
with to 2 new pieces: db = doublebishopper and dk = doublerookhopper. Also 2 new conditions, i.e. contraparrain and football were included.
Since it is very tricky to change a program in the last minute, above new features have not yet been added to APWin 2012.
However, the 2 new conditions can be filled in in the conditions-field by yourself.
Please note that Vaclav Kotesovec does not recommend this new Popeye version, since it contains many bugs according to him.
He advises to use the stable version 4.55. I observe, however, that many old errors are corrected in the new version.

- 6-DIAGRAMS

It is easier now to make a page with 6 diagrams, since you can select the displayed problems in practically all screens.

- CONVERSIONS

Conversions between problems in various formats take place automatically. Alybadix has 7 formats. PGN, EPD, FEN, YAML
and Popeye text files also can be opened in APWin.

- HELP

Help screens are no longer displayed IN APWin, but next to the screens. Further the headings in the help text are dark blue for a better overview.

- PIECES

Some Fairy pieces with combined powers have been redesigned. Since many fairies are represented by the same picture,
an abbreviation of 2 (= Popeye abbreviation), 3 or 4 characters is added on the board.

- POPEYE

New screens regarding the free solving engine POPEYE have been added, so Alybadix and Popeye are united in one GUI.
Both programs have their own strengths and together practically all (fairy) chess problems can be solved.
In this version the POPEYE screens are ONLY in the ENGLISH language.
In case your knowledge of English is not sufficient, I advise to select the relative text, press Ctrl + C and then Ctrl + V in the website: translate.google.com/#

Re downloading Popeye see C. INSTALLATION.

- SCREEN RESOLUTION

All screens of APWin are larger now, since the monitors have become larger in the last few years.
The lay-out is still more logical and the colours of the chess board are a little different to give APWin a new fresh look.
The resolution of the monitor should at least be 1280 x 1024 (or better). Ideal is: 1920 x 1080.
The absolute vertical minimum resolution is 768.
The absolute horizontal minimum resolution is 1152.
Further must the ratio vertical/horizontal be in accordance with the size of your monitor.When a vertical resolution of 768 is used,
then the drawback will be that the printing of a page with a diagram + solution is limited to short solutions.
Further only 4 diagrams on 1 page can be printed instead of 6.

- SEARCH

After (automatic) conversion of a file with many Popeye (or YAML) problems, the search screen of APWin can be used to look for certain problems,
or to find all possible duplicates.In the Popeye solution screen a simple search-screen is available with which e.g. a problem can be found with a certain text part, or move.

- SOLUTIONS

Solutions can be executed in the Popeye solution screen move by move (also including twins, grids, or a revolving board).
Moves of reborn Circe-men are shown on the solution board with a light blue line. The normal moves are – as usual – shown with a dark blue line.
Solutions of Alybadix/Popeye problems can be printed in 1, 2 or 3 columns (incl. the diagrams).

- YAML-FILES

Problems in YAML-format can also be opened in the Popeye screen.

From the site http://www.yacpdb.org/#searchhelp your can download a YAML-file with more than 300,000 problems
(already partly included in the collection, mentioned elsewhere). Opening of this huge file (contains also the solutions) is
only possible at the moment, when it is split in 2 parts (the maximum file APWin can open is about 315,000,000 bytes).
A small part consists of Cyrillic characters, which cannot be shown in APWin. I intend to make a translation in due course (with the help of Google translate).

A2. NEW FEATURES OF APWIN 2011

1. A new option has been included in the File-menu, with which a file with new problems can be compared with an opened collection of problems.
APWin then produces 2 files, viz. one with duplicate problems and one with new problems, which do not occur in the existing collection.

2. The solution screen (normal format) was always situated in the middle of the monitor automatically. Now it can be placed everywhere on the monitor
and it remains there. This is easier when you are working with several programs at the same time.

3. Three extra buttons have been added in the solutions screen, i.e. “Arena”, “Nalimov-test (max. 6 men)” and “FEN pos. to clipb.”.

4. During the opening of files with problems a delaying message was displayed. This message was required to give the computer sufficient time to save
a temporary file. Now another method was devised, so this message no longer is required. Hopefully this works for ALL computers.

5. During the conversion of PGN- to Alybadix-problems, now setplay is set when black starts.

6. During the duplicate-tests a.o. a file is produced with the removed duplicates. Now the name of the author, who published this problem before,
is stated in each duplicate (incl. year + place). You can add this file to the collection again, if wished, because everybody now can see that these problems were composed before.

7. Two extra buttons have been added in the solutions screen, i.e. “show problem nr...” and “show selection nr...”. With these buttons you can jump to numbered studies.

8. All buttons, with which the previous, or next problem can be shown, now have the extra property, that shift + click left, jumps 100 problems further and shift + click right 1000.

A3. NEW FEATURES OF APWIN 2010

1. How (fairy) men move can be shown on the board, when you click on a man.

2. A new search screen has been developed, in which a.o. one or more men can be put on the board and then all positions in a collection,
which fulfil the conditions are found very fast. Many other search-possibilities are also present.

3. The search for duplicates in Alybadix- or PGN-format in a big collection has become 80x faster than in the former version of APWin.
Mirrored and turned positions are also found. These can automatically be removed (several files are saved to document each ‘cleaning’).
In this way many wrong and/or plagiarized problems can be discovered. Duplicates with different stipulations are saved separately,
so wrong stipulations can be discovered very fast.

4. PGN-files containing solutions or games can be played in the solution screen.
Conversions between PGN- and Alybadix-format are possible. Duplicates can also be found in problem collections in PGN-format.

5. When a file with PGN-endgame-studies has been opened, APWin can connect to Nalimov-tables in the Shredder-site (max. 6 men)
on the internet and see if the present position is solvable. APWin can also start Arena (= a free chess-program), after which the present
position can be solved by an engine in Arena. Of course you must first download Arena from the internet. (see C. INSTALLATION)

In Arena you can best use the free engine Houdini 1.5a, that is one of the strongest in the world at the moment (ELO about 3400)! (Houdini 2.0 costs money).

B. HUGE PROBLEM-COLLECTION

In the internet several free problem collections can be downloaded. These are in CMG-, CSV-, PBM-, PBZ-, and PGN-format
(the website re PBZ-problems no longer exists). APWin converted these problems to Alybadix-format.

You can download the following text-files from Ilkka Blom's site:

1. Aly.txt dated 11.6.2010 ad 10,228 KB with 31,899 problems.

These problems were collected from sub directories, which are normally included with Alybadix.

2. CMG.txt dated 11.6.2010 ad 17,150 KB with 69,371 problems.

Downloaded from the site of Peter Vogel in the format of ChessMaster 5000.

3. Vogel.txt dated 11.6.2010 ad 12,191 KB with 52,856 problems.

These were originally included in the CMG-file, but I split this file, because many positions are simple exercises, so not real chess problems.
Further many problems appear to be duplicates, made by different authors, but above which problems Peter Vogel put one of the following
names:Pevo, Peter Vogel, Chessmaster, Player or Spieler. This is in my opinion plagiarism. You can decide for yourself,
whether you will add these problems to the huge collection.

4. FIDE.txt dated 11.6.2010 ad 4,307 KB with 17,209 problems.

Contains problems from a number of FIDE-albums, which are typed in Alybadix-format by Ilkka Blom.

5. PBM.txt dated 11.6.2010 ad 15,205 KB with 57,914 problems.

Downloaded from the site of Matthieu Leschemelle, in the format of the program Problemist. 51 endgame studies are included,
of which a number of retro’s (can be selected on ‘skip’).

6. PBZ.txt dated 11.6.2010 ad 3,877 KB with 10,741 problems.

Downloaded from the site of Milan Velimirovic in the MatPlus-format.

This site no longer exists.

7. Sadier-new.txt dated 18.2.2011 ad 10,289 KB with 40,011 2-movers.

See for the latest update of his collection in PGN-format, the website:

http://sites.google.com/site/edusadier/theartofdirectmateintwomoves

8. Wiereyn.txt dated 11.6.2010 ad 22 KB with 88 problems.

My own problems.

9. YACPDB.txt dated 12.6.2010 ad 69,732 KB with 284,080 problems.

Downloaded from the YACPDB-site in CSV-format. This collection also contains 20,677 endgame studies (search on ‘white wins’ and ‘white draws’).
Also about 4,000 ‘unsound’ (without a solution) problems are included (search on ‘unsound’).

In total 564,169 problems! All, as far as needed, converted to the Alybadix- format. However, see the next explanation re the removal of duplicates.

When these files (with exception of Aly.txt, FIDE.txt and Wiereyn.txt) are tested with APWin's duplicate program in the search screen, then you will see
how many plagiarized and/or duplicate problems exist in those collections. After each test click the 'save' button and a new file without the double/plagiarized
problems is saved. Moreover several files are made to assist you in cleaning the collection. When duplicates exist with different stipulations, these are saved
in 1 file (name e.g. PBM1DiffStip.txt). After solving them with Alybadix, you can judge, whether these are different problems (e.g. belonging to 1 problem),
or problems with wrong stipulations. Do not remove, however, unsolved problems with e.g. retro-contents (e.p., castling possible?). Some turned problems
can belong to 1 problem, so are no duplicates. When positions contain Pawns, turned/mirrored positions are mostly no duplicates.
Also pay attention to (unsolved) endgame studies (white wins, or draws; ‘#1’ is stated as stipulation).

After all these tests you will have 9 ‘clean’ collections. Add them to 1 file with the aid of APWin, or a text-editor and then clean this big collection again with the 8 duplicate-tests.
When you have done your job correctly, you will have a collection of more than 352,000 chess problems (incl. Vogel.txt)!
APWin can also test collections in PGN-format. In the endgame studies collection (67,691), sold by Harold van der Heijden, APWin found 428 duplicates and/or plagiarized studies.

WARNINGS

1. When you would combine all 9 collection to one file with 562,766 problems, so without removing the duplicates first in each collection,
much memory would be required when opening these problems and then it may happen that your system runs out of memory when duplicate
tests are performed. Therefore follow the order of testing as described before.
A memory of 3GB is probably the minimum for this huge collection.

2. In the path where solutions are saved or opened, there may not be a sub directory with more than 8 characters (in connection with the limitations of the DOS-program AP.exe).
Therefore C:\Program files\Sol\ is not allowed. However, C:\Aly\APWin\Demo\Sol\ is allowed.

3. Alybadix is a 16-bit program, that CANNOT run in a 64-bit system. However, APWin can be used in a 64-bit system,
since it is 32-bit, but solving is not possible. However, with Popeye now!

4. In January 2012 Ilkka Blom made 32-bits versions of AR.EXE and AW.EXE. Now SOL-files can also be opened on a 64-bits-system! (solving not yet possible).

C. INSTALLATION (3 PARTS!)

- APWIN

For APWin version 2012, a completely new set-up must be executed. The following steps must be taken:

a. The file SetupAPWin2012 must be unzipped in a new subdirectory C:\TempAP. In case you unzipped it on another drive,
unzip it as yet in the subdirectory \TempAP on drive C (essential!).

b. First study the part re – SCREEN RESOLUTION, whether your monitor can support APWin.

c. Start SetupAPWin.exe (click on the picture in the second screen, to start the set-up (do not change the sub directory).
First your sub directory c:\Aly (when present) will be renamed to c:\AlyOld12. Then all APWin files will be copied to the right
subdirectories and at the end the required system-files will be installed.
Should a warning appear, just follow the instructions. When APWin starts, the set-up was OK.

d. After the set-up a subdirectory “Temp” in the Program Files may be present. It aided with the installation and can be deleted
(if wished) through the Configuration screen of Windows.

e. New users can create a short-cut in the normal way (click right on APWin.exe etc.) and copy it to the desk.

Should the new version of APWin not work to your satisfaction (perhaps the resolution of your monitor is not right for APWin),
it is easy to change to the former situation, by removing the subdirectory Aly. After this subdirectory AlyOld12 should be renamed to Aly.

- ARENA

Go to http://www.playwitharena.com and download Arena Chess GUI 3.0. Unzip the files in c:\Aly\Arena\ (no installation is required).
Arena can be started with a command button in APWin.

- POPEYE

Go to http://popeye-chess.sourceforge.net and download the latest version of Popeye (at this moment 4.59-windows.zip, 550 KB of December 2011).
Unzip this file in c:\Aly\Popeye\ (no installation required). Rename pywin32.exe, or pywin64.exe (depends whether your system is 32-, or 64-bits),
to py.exe. Now APWin will be able to use Popeye for solving.

D. AUTHOR

APWin is FREEWARE and has been developed by:

Paul Wiereyn
M. Nijhoffstraat 202
1382 TW Weesp
Holland

E-mail: p.wiereyn@hccnet.nl
telephone: 0294-410722

Please report bugs to above mentioned E-mail address and an update will be sent to you by E-mail.

It is meant to be used as a Windows front for the DOS solving programs AP.exe (= Alybadix/ Fairybadix) and Popeye.
AP.exe is since many years the standard for solving chess problems (inclusive fairy conditions/men).
The set-up program of APWin contains a free demo program of AP.exe (for new users). This has, however, certain limitations.
If you want the complete solving program, you can buy it from Ilkka Blom. who developed it.

Ilkka Blom
Salmikatu 27 A 16
FI-65200 Vaasa
FINLAND

E-mail: iblom@saunalahti.fi
Website: http://alybadix.wippiespace.com/

5. Installing APwin v2012 + Popeye

Please at first read this installation info above by Paul H. Wiereyn!

5a) Full installation of APwin v2012 + Popeye  (+ Alybadix demo)

Obs. A bug in the instructions fixed 2012-04-05: Below the folder SetupAP renamed to the correct TempAP!

a) APwin 2012 must be installed in the folder c:\Aly\APWin! If you already have Alybadix installed
in drive c, folder Aly, you can rename Aly to AlyOld12 before installing (although APwin installing
is generally able to do this automatically)!

b) Make (temporary) empty folder TempAP to hard disc drive c. Thus its path will be c:\TempAP.

c) Download setupapwin-2012.zip (4775 kB, updated 2012-03-30).

d) Extract (use Winzip or PKzip or WinRAR etc) all files of the downloaded zip-file to this folder c:\TempAP.

e) Open the folder TempAP and run APwin installing program SetupAPWin.exe.

f) Setup suggests installing APwin to the (temporary) folder Program files\Temp. Accept this - do not change!

g) After successful installing apwin.exe will situate in the folder c:\Aly\apwin. Also the 3 document
files situate in the same folder. Make a shortcut icon from the desktop to apwin.exe in the normal way as follows:
Click Mouse-right on apwin.exe icon -> Send  to -> Desktop.

h) If you have not the full Alybadix version already installed in c:\Aly, APwin installs Alybadix demo
solving engine (renamed from apd.exe to ap.exe) instead.
If you already have Alybadix demo solving program installed (folder Apdemo generally),
you will find there many short example problems, which can be solved using this demo program.
Also the huge Sadier 2# collection can be solved with the help of Alybadix demo program (see below)!

i) If you already have the full Alybadix version installed in some other than c:\aly partition, copy ap.exe
from there (or from Aly-CD or Aly-USB) to c:\aly!

j) Popeye.
Download popeye-4.59-windows.zip.
Windows 32  bit: Unzip the file pywin32.exe to the folder c:\Aly\Popeye.
Windows 64  bit: Unzip the file pywin64.exe to the folder c:\Aly\Popeye.
Rename the unzipped file to py.exe.
Also you can download the newest Popeye files from the Popeye Homepage here: http://popeye-chess.sourceforge.net

k) At last you may delete the temporary installing folders and files:
c:\TempAP. Delete this by mouse in a normal way.
Program files\Temp. Via Windows Control Panel -> Uninstall a program (Temp).
Uninstalling is recommended since these folders may cause problems, when/if you make the full APwin installing again later!

5b) Update APwin v2012 to a newer version

a) If this is the first installation of APwin v2012, the full installation is needed before updating. See 5a) above!

b) Download apwin-v2012-03.zip  version 2012.03. (Updated 2012-05-10!).

c) Unzip apwin.exe to the folder c:\aly\apwin. This will replace the old apwin.exe.

5c) Huge chess problem collection

Go to the begin of this page                                 Home