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Obsidian Chess Studio integrates chess engines (like Stockfish) to provide deep analysis of your games and positions.

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Running Engine Analysis

1

Open a Game or Position

Load a game from your database, open a PGN file, or set up a position on the analysis board.
2

Enable Engine

Click the Engine toggle in the analysis panel to start the chess engine.
3

Configure Analysis Settings

Adjust engine parameters:
  • Threads: Number of CPU cores to use (more = faster analysis)
  • Hash: Memory allocated for the engine (larger = better)
  • MultiPV: Number of best lines to show simultaneously (1-5)
  • Depth: How deep the engine searches (higher = slower but more accurate)
4

Navigate Through Moves

As you move through the game, the engine continuously evaluates each position showing:
  • Evaluation score (centipawns or mate distance)
  • Best move(s)
  • Principal variation (PV) - the expected continuation
  • Depth reached

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Understanding Evaluations

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Evaluation Bar

The evaluation bar on the side of the board shows:
  • White advantage: Bar favors White (positive scores)
  • Black advantage: Bar favors Black (negative scores)
  • Equal: Centered position (around 0.00)

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Centipawn Values

ScoreInterpretation
0.00Equal position
+0.50Slight White advantage
+1.50Clear White advantage
+3.00Winning advantage for White
+6.00+Decisive advantage
-0.50Slight Black advantage
-1.50Clear Black advantage
-3.00Winning advantage for Black
-6.00+Decisive advantage

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Mate Scores

When the engine finds a forced checkmate:
  • M5: Checkmate in 5 moves
  • M1: Checkmate in 1 move (immediate mate)
  • -M3: Black has checkmate in 3 moves
The number indicates moves (full moves, not half-moves/plies). “M5” means 5 moves for the side to move.

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Viewing Multiple Lines (MultiPV)

MultiPV shows alternative best moves:
1

Enable MultiPV

In engine settings, set MultiPV to 2, 3, 4, or 5.
2

View Lines

The analysis panel shows multiple variations ranked by evaluation:
1. +0.45  Nf3 Nf6 Nc3 d5
2. +0.32  e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6
3. +0.20  d4 d5 c4 e6
3

Add to Game

Click any line to add it as a variation in your game notation.
Higher MultiPV values (4-5) can significantly slow down analysis, especially on weaker hardware.

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Analysis Features

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Evaluation Listener

The evaluation listener automatically:
  • Updates the eval bar as you navigate moves
  • Shows the engine’s top move with an arrow on the board
  • Displays the principal variation in the analysis panel
  • Highlights blunders, mistakes, and inaccuracies

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Move Annotations

Analysis can automatically annotate moves:
  • !! Brilliant move
  • ! Good move
  • !? Interesting move
  • ?! Dubious move
  • ? Mistake (evaluation drop of ~1.00)
  • ?? Blunder (evaluation drop of ~2.00+)
1

Analyze Full Game

Enable the engine and let it evaluate all positions.
2

View Annotations

Annotations appear in the move list based on evaluation changes.
3

Save Annotated Game

Save the PGN file with annotations included.

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Variation Tree

Explore different move options:
  1. Main line: The actual game played
  2. Variations: Alternative moves you or the engine suggest
  3. Sub-variations: Variations within variations
Navigation:
  • Click any move to jump to that position
  • Right-click to promote a variation to the main line
  • Delete variations you don’t need

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Engine Management

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Adding Engines

Obsidian Chess Studio supports any UCI-compatible engine:
1

Navigate to Engine Settings

Go to Settings > Engines.
2

Add Engine

Click Add Engine and locate the engine executable:
  • Windows: stockfish.exe or other .exe file
  • macOS/Linux: Stockfish binary or other UCI engine
3

Configure Engine

Set engine-specific options:
  • Default threads and hash
  • Engine-specific parameters (if supported)
4

Set as Default

Mark your preferred engine as default for analysis.

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Switching Engines

You can switch between engines during analysis:
  • Each engine may have different playing styles
  • Useful for comparing evaluations
  • Some engines specialize in certain positions (tactical vs. positional)

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Deep Analysis Techniques

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Cloud Analysis

For critical positions, you can:
  1. Copy the FEN (position notation)
  2. Paste into Lichess Analysis Board or chess cloud engines
  3. Get multi-engine consensus or deeper analysis

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Analyzing Critical Moments

Look for:
  • Large evaluation swings (mistakes/blunders)
  • Complex tactical positions
  • Critical endgame positions
Let the engine run longer (higher depth) on these positions for more accurate analysis.
Review positions where you were in time trouble:
  • Did you make mistakes under time pressure?
  • Were there simpler winning moves?
  • Could you have simplified earlier?
Analyze your opening games:
  • Find where you deviated from theory
  • Identify weak moves in your repertoire
  • Build better preparation lines

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Annotation Workflow

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Manual Annotations

Add your own analysis:
1

Navigate to Position

Go to any position in the game.
2

Add Comment

Click the annotation icon and type your comment:
This position is critical. White should play Nd5 to
dominate the outpost and restrict Black's pieces.
3

Add Glyphs

Assign symbols:
  • !, !!, ?, ??, !?, ?!
  • Position assessment: +=, =+, +-, -+, =
4

Draw Arrows and Shapes

Use the board drawing tools:
  • Arrows: Show tactical threats or plans
  • Circles: Highlight key squares
  • Different colors for different themes

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Combining Engine and Manual Analysis

Best practice:
  1. Run engine analysis first
  2. Review engine lines and understand why moves are good/bad
  3. Add your own explanations in comments
  4. Draw arrows for key tactical ideas
  5. Create variations for instructive alternatives
  6. Save the fully annotated game

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Performance Optimization

Adjust Threads

Use fewer threads on older computers to avoid lag. Modern CPUs with 8+ cores can use 4-6 threads.

Limit Depth

For casual analysis, depth 18-22 is sufficient. Deeper analysis (25+) is slower but more accurate.

Reduce MultiPV

MultiPV 1-2 is faster. Use higher values only when exploring multiple options.

Increase Hash

More hash memory (512MB-2GB) improves analysis speed and accuracy on powerful machines.

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Troubleshooting

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Engine Not Starting

  1. Verify the engine path is correct in Settings
  2. Ensure the engine file has execute permissions (macOS/Linux)
  3. Check engine logs for error messages
  4. Try a different UCI engine

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Slow Analysis

  • Reduce threads if CPU is maxed out
  • Lower MultiPV to 1 or 2
  • Close other applications using CPU/memory
  • Consider upgrading to a faster engine (newer Stockfish versions)

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Inconsistent Evaluations

  • Different engines may evaluate differently
  • Increase depth for more stable evaluations
  • Some positions are genuinely unclear to engines
  • Compare with cloud engines for complex positions

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Best Practices

1

Start with Engine Overview

Run the engine through the entire game quickly to identify critical moments.
2

Deep Dive on Key Positions

Spend more time analyzing positions where the evaluation changed significantly.
3

Understand, Don't Memorize

Don’t just copy engine moves. Understand the plans and ideas behind them.
4

Compare Your Thinking

Before checking the engine, analyze the position yourself. Then see how your analysis compares.
5

Save and Review

Save annotated games and review them later to reinforce learning.

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