Database Update

A significant update is rollling out today, focused on the backbone of Caïssa Board: the Database and Import systems.

⚠️ Important: This update is currently available on the Unstable Channel only. it will stay there until the network code is finalized. To access it:

Right-click Caïssa Board in your Steam Library.

Select Properties -> Betas.

Select the unstable branch from the dropdown.

Here is what’s new in this version:

Database & Performance

Toggle Collections: You can now disable specific game collections. Doing this for large databases significantly speeds up application startup, reduces RAM usage, and excludes them from position searches.

Live Connection: You can connect and disconnect from PostgreSQL without needing to restart or leave the application.

Faster Lookups: We have introduced the ability to pre-cache positions. Since the first 5 moves take the longer time to be searched, and do not take that much space, for a large database it is a good compromise between speed and space.

Search Fixes: Significant fixes have been applied to Filters and Position Search.

New Content: 2 Million Games A collection of 2 million games has been added. These are official games from various chess events and tournaments. So, if you are a rated player there is a good chance that you can find some games of your next opponent here (heh heh heh...).

Instant Access: These games are pre-cached for the first 20 moves. While this cache occupies about 4GB (around 160 million positions), it has been transferred to the server for near-instant lookup. Searching within the first 20 moves is immediate, and searching beyond that remains very fast.

Importing Improvements

Format Support: Multiple fixes for PGN, KIF, and UBB imports. The database has been prepared to support multiple notations per variant in the future (for example for importing PGN Xiangqi or Shogi games)

Better Feedback: The import progress bar is now more accurate since it computes the parsed data count and compares it with the total size of the files to import.

Interface: The import window no longer closes automatically upon completion. The "Cancel" button transforms into "Close," allowing you to review the import results and copy them to the clipboard if you wish before dismissing.

UI & Localization

Games Display: The interface has been simplified, and the game list is now sortable.

New Font: We have switched to Noto Sans to support a wider range of languages.

New Languages: We have added support for Chinese Simplified, Spanish, Hindi, Ukrainian, and Japanese (Experimental).

Cosmetics: Various visual fixes to the Help and News sections.

What’s Next?

This update will move to the public channel once the Network fixes are completed. After that, our next major roadmap item is the Audio update.

Thank you for your support and feedback!