Studies

A study is not a game: it has a title, notes, a starting position and the moves you try on it, with comments, symbols, arrows and the engine, as in the editor. It has no players, tournament or result, and it stays out of everything that counts games: collections, search, statistics, the explorer, duplicates. For the same reason the engine is there only live: automatic analysis, which judges the moves of two players, does not start on a study.

Creating one

• File › New study (⌃⌘N), or the + button in the toolbar → New study: the editor opens with the window to set up the starting position.
• The magnifying glass under a board → New study from here (also in the Board menu): it starts from the position you have on the screen, of a game or of another study.
• Import from lichess…: the chapters of online studies become studies of yours (see Importing games).

In the editor, in place of the players there are Title and Notes. The starting position is changed with Set up position… as long as the study has no moves; after that it stays. A study saved without a title takes “Study” and the date. Like the moves, the starting position, the title and the notes are undone with ⌘Z.

It is saved with Save (⌘S), like a game: nothing saves itself, and closing with changes the app asks what to do with them. A new study that starts from a set-up position, from the magnifying glass or from Set up position…, asks whether to keep it even without moves: the position is already something to save.

The list

Studies, in the sidebar, shows the studies in place of the list of games: the most recent at the top, with the thumbnail of the starting position, the number of moves and the last change. On the right the board, with the title and notes of the selected one in place of a game’s header; ↑ and ↓ go from one to the next. With no studies, the list offers Import from lichess…, which is also on the right click on the Studies row of the sidebar.

They are selected like games: ⇧-click, ⌘-click, ⌘A. With the right click:

• Open (or a double click, or ⌘O) opens the study in the editor;
• Print… prints the study or saves it as a PDF (Printing and PDF, Pro);
• Export… writes the selected studies to a PGN file: a single study gives its title to the file’s name, and a notice confirms it;
• Delete (or ⌫ or ⌘⌫) deletes them, after you confirm.

There is no search, sorting or statistics here.

What they do not do

A study does not become a game, nor a game a study. To study a position from a game, New study from here takes its position, and the game stays as it is.

Free and Pro

Studies are free and without limits. Only printing them belongs to Pro, like all printing.