Fortress Chess · Change Log

v1.42.25 Stability and bug fixes

Oct 5, 2025

Fixed a bug in the analysis screen where the pawn promotion box was not rendering properly.
Fixed a bug where some instances of draw would not show the reason (threefold, insufficency...)
Fixed a bug where the cancel a game without elo changes was not releasing the request when denied and would continue to spam the request to a user.
Finally fixed a very annoying bug that was causing premature session expirations and forcing users to log out and back in again.

v1.41.25 Stability on dashboard & improved analysis plotting

Oct 2, 2025

Improved the stability of the dashboard page. If it was left open too long sometimes it would have trouble reloading. This should be improved, but may need either a refresh or close the window and reopen if left idle for too long.
Improved the game analysis tool to make it easier to a user to plot out their thinking.

v1.40.25 UI tweaks & rematch option

Sep 29, 2025

UI enhancements on the dashboard game cards.
There is now an option to choose a rematch for your opponent after a game is complete. The rematch will send the request for the same time control, but as the opposite color.

v1.39.25 Timeout cancellation recorded as 0–0

Sep 28, 2025

Canceling a game with no ELO change now treats the game as a result of 0-0 instead of a draw 1/2-1/2.

v1.38.25 Arrow keys on PC, board color setting, richer emails

Sep 27, 2025

Per player feedback, playing Fortress Chess on the PC now support using the arrow keys to navigate through moves.
Board color is now implemented and is located in the settings.
Improved the email notifications that go out for turns. They are much more detailed than before.

v1.37.25 No-Elo cancel request, analyze layout, blocked list

Sep 26, 2025

Added a new option within the game menu to request to cancel your game with no ELO change. This option requests that your opponent accepts a game be cancled with no ELO change and if accepted, terminates the game with the results of a draw, and will not affect the ELO of either player.
Reorganized the button layout on the Analyze screen.
Added a blocked player list on the Friends & Players page so that a player can view all blocked players.

v1.36.25 Achievement categories & rebalanced rarity

Sep 25, 2025

Achievements are now organized by type.
Added even more achievements to accomplish, bringing the total to 173.
Rebalance the achievement % to better label how rare they are.

v1.35.25 Fix emails & big achievement push with rarity tiers

Sep 24, 2025

Fixed a bug where players would still receive email notification for canceled games.
Added a significant number of achievements to unlock. As of right now there are 149 unique achievements that are available to obtain.
Each achivement now has a rarity threshold tag based on the following. The achivements will need some time to balance out as players earn them.

Rarity thresholds

Common: ≥ 50% of players have it
Unique: 25%–49.9%
Rare: 10%–24.9%
Epic: 3%–9.9%
Legendary: 0.5%–2.9%
Mythic: < 0.5%

v1.33.25Minor fixes, UI, better invites & pending list

Sep 22, 2025

Minor bug fixes.
UI improvements.
Moved the flag/country selection to the settings page and eliminated the profile section, as a user can see all of this in their profile card.
Game invites now send a push notification to the invitee.
Added a refresh button to the games list so that if someone is expecting an invite you can quickly refresh the list.
The Pending Games list is not collapsed. Some players have several open invites and it was making the games list too long.

v1.32.25Fix draw/takeback loop

Sep 21, 2025

Fix an issue with offering a draw and takeback request where they would get stuck in a loop asking if a game terminated before a response was provided by the opponent.

v1.31.25AI rebalance, UX polish, better opening detection

Sep 20, 2025

Minor bugs fixed.
AI opponents has been reworked a little bit to balance their strength a bit. They were also given some customization to give a more personal feel.
The code was updated to prevent accidental long press, zoom, scrolling etc... for a more pleasant user experience.
For a more satisfying endgame result, a dialog box now appears at game termination letting a user know the result.
Significant improvement to the Opening tool. Many openings were not being labeled properly because of move transpositions. This has been resolved with dependence on both the ECO on FEN to deteremine the correct opening.
Fixed several issues with some achievements that were not unlocking properly.
Draws and takeback requests now trigger a chat message, which allows a user to see the request and view when it was requested.
Fixed a typo on the profile card.
Grayed out the buttons on the profile card for yourself.

v1.30.25Memory fix, huge Analyze upgrade, many game UX wins

Sep 18, 2025

Fixed a memory leak that was happening when a user was playing against a human oppenent on PC within a browser. The ai_engine javascript code was edited to only apply to an AI opponent and also broke out that to only function within a web worker, not directly within the page. This will prevent page crashes due to browser memory overload.
We are excited to announce significant improvement to the Replay/Analyze tool. Cleaner interface, better buttons, and you can now store potential moves in the analyze tool to remember what you were planning in advance when you come back to it.
The main game page has significant improvements in visuals, functionality, and clarity.
The ability to flip the game board around has been added.
Users can now sort captured pieces either by the order they were captured or by piece value.
The resign button now grays out at game termination.
At game completion, a user can now generate a summary of their game to see an overview of how well they played.
Chat messages in each game will show as a notification on the game dashboard to alert users of unread messages.

v1.29.25Kádas Opening achievement fix

Sep 8, 2025

Fixed the achievement for the Kádas Opening. This achievement was not properly unlocking due to the accented á based on the current code.

v1.28.25Leaderboard cleanup & “Contact Us”

Sep 4, 2025

Ensured that deleted players are removed from the leaderboard.
Modifed "Report a Bug" to be "Contact Us" to send us a message of any kind - located on the Help & Support page.

v1.27.25Policy links added to login

Aug 28, 2025

Placed Privacy Policy and Terms of Service link on the main login page so that users can easily view them at any time.

v1.26.25Captured pieces bug fix

Jul 27, 2025

Captured pieces bug fix.

v1.25.25Capture display & achievements fixes; invite time control

Jul 25, 2025

Fixed a bug where piece captures would sometimes not showing up correctly without a reload of the game screen.
Fixed some achievements that were not able to be unlocked properly.
Now added the time control to the direct game invite so a user can determine if they want to play that time control before selecting accept.

v1.24.25Head-to-head stats & AI timeout behavior

Jul 20, 2025

Bug fixes.
Added a head-to-head stats feature where you can see how many times you have played an oppenent.
To prevent abusing AI players for stats, a game that is an AI's turn will not time out, but will instead cancel. All AI oppoenents will make a move while you have the game open within approximately 5 seconds.

v1.23.25New AI player system (Stockfish 1–10)

Jul 19, 2025

Implemented new AI player system. You can now play stockfish at various levels (level 1-10 difficulties). These are seperate AI players that will retain stats and function like a real person.

v1.22.25Leaderboard UX & move confirmation option

Jul 18, 2025

Based on player feedback, improved the visuals of the leaderboard page.
Based on player feedback, when a move is made and move confirmation is enabled, the piece will stay in place until the move is locked in.
The leaderboard now displays the overall 100 players as well as all the 100 of each class.

v1.21.25Class-matching fix

Jul 16, 2025

Fixed a bug where players that select to be paired with the same class will still pair with players searching for any class, so long as they are actually the same class.

v1.20.25Default email notif off; 6-hour timeout reminders

Jul 13, 2025

Defaulted email move notifications off. Users still have the option to enable this feature, but in order to be respectful of email volume it is off by default.
Added a new feature (in place of the setting above) where if a game is 6 hours or less from timing out, an email reminder will be sent. This is on by default, but users can also opt out by disabling this feature within their settings.

v1.19.25Move confirmation, save confirmations, popups

Jul 12, 2025

Implemented move confirmation setting. A player can now choose to have move confirmation made prior to the move actually being made if they so choose.
Fixed a bug where not all settings were showing confirmation of saving changes.
Improved visuals for some pop up messages.

v1.18.25Achievement counts, icons by games, share link

Jul 6, 2025

Achievements page now shows the number of times other players have earned those for comparison.
Player icon on menu bar and on profile card is based on the following: under 100 games played = pawn, over 100 = knight, over 200 = bishop, over 300 = rook, over 400 = queen, over 500 games completed = king.
Added a link to share with others in the user profile section to play on Fortress Chess.

v1.17.25Stacked captures, nicer requests, achievements page

Jul 4, 2025

Bug fixes
Captured pieces are now stacked on top of each other to compare the captures more easily.
Requests for draw offers and move take backs now present in a cleaner request box that allows a user to still see the board so that they can make an informed decision.
Added a page that lists what achievements are currently able to be earned.
Players will become inactive after 3 years of either no login or games played. Inactive players are removed from the leaderboards but will become active just by logging in and will return to the leaderboards.

v1.16.25PGN delay, capture fix, chat filter, UI polish

Jul 1, 2025

Added a delay in sending the PGN to prevent multiple requests.
Fixed a bug where captured pieces were not showing all the time correctly.
Improved chat filtering.
Achievements are now listed in order of date achieved to improve how they are viewed by a player.
Fixed a bug that was impacting some of the opening achievements from unlocking because of variations.
Games that are actively "Your Move" now sort in order of time remaining to help a player easily see which games will time out soonest.
Improved the visuals of the game card layout on the dashboard.

v1.15.25More achievements & deeper stats

Jun 29, 2025

The achievements to play X games now only counts paired games and not pending games to earn the achievement based on pending or cancelled games.
Significantly more achievements added, primarily opening related. This now brings the count to over 100, that only the chess fanatic would be able to achieve!
Added even more to the stats page so that users can see more data about their games.

v1.14.25Game details button & ECO moved

Jun 28, 2025

Created a game details button in the options menu and provided info in there. Moved the ECO from the main game page to the button.

v1.13.25Username length, server-time centralization, ECO

Jun 27, 2025

Usernames are now limited to 18 characters.
Centralized time on server side to run off Pacific Time. There was an issue where after a server reboot games might time out when the system came back online due to different timezones.
Implemented an ECO system so that players can see the opening that they are playing

v1.12.25Three-fold fix, better daily summary & ordering

Jun 26, 2025

Fixed a bug with the Draw by three-fold repetition achievment which now properly unlocks.
Minor general improvements.
Daily Summary Email now only counts paired games as active rather than including open games that have not been matched yet.
Added even more stats to the Daily Summary Email.
Completed games are now ordered by date of completion.

v1.11.25Back button placement

Jun 24, 2025

Moved the back button on the game screen to the bottom for better layout and space utilization.

v1.10.25Last move, resign fix, summary updates, material orient

Jun 22, 2025

Last move now updates along with the turn indicator.
Fixed a bug with the resign button preventing users from terminating a game.
Updated the daily summary so that cancelled games do not count toward total games played.
Updated the material counter. The count was correct, but the advantage of + or - was not correctly tied to the board orientation.

v1.09.256-hour push, batched email, UI/UX fixes

Jun 21, 2025

Push notifications now go out at 6 hours before timeout in order to remind players to make a move.
Daily Summary Email now batches from the server in order to ease resources as the player base grows.
The menu can now be swiped close and stays locked in place when scrolling.
Fixed an issue where material count was not adding up correctly for captured pieces.
Added last move to the game screen so it's easy to identify the last move made at a glance.
For users who have not choosen a country, made N/A appear rather than a broken image icon.
Users who have not validated their email will not show up in a friends search.
Fixed a bug in the daily summary email calculations.
Updated pending games so that if a user extends a direct invite, it now shows "Waiting for X" to help determine what game is what if multiple invites are pending.
For Games that timeout, if neither side has moved, no ELO or win/loss stats will update. At least 1 player must move in order to trigger stat updates.

v1.08.25Android app prep, privacy, more polish

Jun 20, 2025

Preparation for deployment of the official Android application.
Created a privacy policy: https://www.fortress-serv.com/privacy.html
Added the ability to view your password at login for user confirmation.
Added more detail to the About Fortress Chess page.
Push notifications are now issued for game pairing and not just when it is a players turn.
Improved the layout of the options button.
Improved the look of many pages that were basic html and small.

v1.07.25Invites name fix, captured fix, emojis, daily email upgrades

Jun 19, 2025

Fixed an issue with inviting a friend where it would not property show the inviter name.
Fixed a bug with captured pieces not displaying correctly.
Fixed a bug where a user could resign after a game ended.
Updated the database to support emojis in chat.
Greatly improved the stats sent to a user if they choose to have the daily email summary sent to them.
Fixed an issue where the board will auto resize to fit a users mobile device to prevent side to side scrolling to view the board.

v1.06.25Copy public link, public view trims, favorites & replay nav

Jun 18, 2025

Added a copy button to the share a link option to publically view a game to make it easier.
Removed the chat and options buttons from public links that are created to share with other people.
Fixed a bug with how favorites were displaying some incorrect information.
Created a game summary that will appear at the top of the game board once a game has been completed.
Fixed a bug where push notifications were still being recieved after a user disabled them.
In the replay screen, added First and Last buttons for better navigation of moves.
Improved the layout of the chat box for a cleaner look
Fixed a bug where you couldn't cancel an open game invite after it was created
Updated game logic so that if a user is paired, but neither side moves, when the game times out, no rating update will be made.
Fixed an achivement bug.
Implemented a filter in chat.

v1.04-5.25 Major bugs affecting timers/outcomes fixed

Jun 17, 2025

Major bugs fixed affecting game time and outcomes.

v1.03.25 Class matching, PWA prompt, timer start on pairing

Jun 16, 2025

Implemented the ability to match a game based on another users class. Users can now pair with anyone of any rating or specifically to another player within the same rating class.
Minor bug fixes
The main url (https://www.fortress-serv.com) now prompts a user to install the application for a smoother experience.
Updated the timer to begin counting once a match is paired instead of waiting for White to move. Previously, if White abandoned the game, Black had no way to terminate the game.
Posted a Fair Play & Conduct Policy located on the Help section. By using Fortress Chess, all players abide to comply with this policy
Fixed a major bug where when delivering checkmate the result we be labelled as a draw and the ELO would not calculate.

v1.02.25 Android app interface tuning & build complete

Jun 15, 2025

Fine tuned the interface for creation of the Android application.
Finished development of the Android app. (Currently not published yet as some backend fine tuning to be done, but the URL www.fortress-serv.com will prompt a user to download the mobile app)

v1.0 Initial release, push notifications, password change

Jun 14, 2025

Initial release of version 1.0
Implemented push notifications which are controlled within user settings.
Minor bug fixes and polishes.
Added the option to change your password within your account settings.

Active Development Promotion select, UX polish, coordinates, sharing, live moves

Jun 13, 2025

Pawn promotion now allows the user to select which piece that want to promote to rather than automatic queen.
The board now freezes the page while making a move to prevent the window from sliding around when trying to make a move (primarily an issue on mobile).
Created a setting to toggle if coordinates show or not.
Daily Email Summary is defaulted on at account creation.
Added the ability to remove a game from favorites.
Added a share button in the game list where the user has the ability to make a game link public to share if they so desire. Options within the game window are disabled in public view.
Player profile icons will update through pieces based on the # of games they have play.
Updated the code so that the board will reflect live moves visible to the other player so that if both players happen to be online at the same time they can see moves being made live.

Active Development Help section, better auth/PWA, email notifications

Jun 12, 2025

Created a Help section with multiple options and references for players.
Significantly improved the login/logout experience and PWA mobile application for a smooth login experience by the user.
Created email notifications within settings for when a game is your move or a daily summary.
Many bug fixes

Active Development Achievements fixes, draw/takeback, chat indicator, replay

Jun 11, 2025

Major bug fixes and improvements to achievement system code.
Implemented the option to offer the player a draw request.
Implemented a move take back feature in options.
The chat function now has a ! indicator on the main page to indicate that a message has been received to alert a player of a new message.
View Replay now allows piece movement to utilize that board to analyze.

Active Development Block/report tools, list limits, bug fixes

Jun 10, 2025

Block player from game invites now does not show for your own profile.
Report player function now added to the game options to report people based on specific reasons.
In the games list, a limit of 25 completed games will show to help keep things responsive. Favorited games will still show, as all older games are just hidden from view.
Bug fixes.

Active Development Friend search, email PGN, invite blocking

Jun 9, 2025

A friend search feature is now implemented to allow finding another user by username or email address.
Email PGN feature now enabled within each game to send back a PGN if the user desires to save or replay their game for analysis.
Block game invite feature now added to prevent game request from an individual user.
Users can now globally block game invites if they so choose.
An update email address option has been built within settings.

Active Development Cleanup, active-only leaderboards, friends, favorites

Jun 8, 2025

Significant code cleanup and fine tuning of code to be more organized/effecient.
Leaderboards now reflect active players only. If a player is deemed active status (has logged in within a year) they are included in the leaderboards but if they are not active status they will fall off. This helps to keep the leaderboard clean and not cluttered with inactive/banned/suspended users without intervention.
Added a friends list.
Game menu/sidebar now loads in as collapsed.
Friends can now send game invites directly to a specific person.
Added the ability to favorite games for later review.

Active Development Server validation fixes, resign, replay, chat

Jun 7, 2025

Fixed bugs after implementing server side move validation.
Player profile cards [game file] are cleaner.
Created a resign button that terminates the game and logs results.
Added a replay move feature so that a player can review historical moves.
Chat functionality now added.
General bug fixes.

Active Development Dashboard cards, timer fix, pending section, validation

Jun 6, 2025

Updated game blocks in the dashboard to look cleaner and sleeker.
Fix the code to prevent a slight delay in timers appearing for each game. They now load immediately into the dashboard.
Game outcome now displays on the game card list at completion.
Pending game requests are now broke out and kept at the top of the Games list and can now be cancelled.
All moves are now validated server side to prevent any cheating or injection of an incorrect or illegal move.
Users now have the option to select black or white if they have a preference to play and the match making system will comply with that logic.
Player names are now links to a profile card.

Active Development Account status, brute-force guard, roles, flags

Jun 5, 2025

Created account status field to display a users account status.
Login page has been updated to prevent brute force of passwords and has a limit of 5 password attempts before a cooldown period is implemented.
Added player class within the profile page.
Fixed a bug where timers would continue to run after a game terminated.
Created three distinct roles: Admin, Moderator, User for the game.
Users can now select their country in their profile and display a flag, if they so choose.
Stats are now all updated accurately.

Active Development Timer double-refresh fix, ELO, persistent login, timeouts

Jun 4, 2025

Fixed a bug where the timer was double refreshing every second.
Names in the game now update to the correct position (white on left and black on right) dynamically.
Implemented ELO rating system that accurately shows a players score based on game results.
Persistent login now allows for a user to remain logged in for 365 days and with each visit it pushes that out for another 365 days before asking for a login.
Timers are not set that when a game reaches zero it will terminate the game and write the data back to the database. This is handled by a cron job running serverside to prevent a user from having to view a game.
Captured pieces and a material count is not displayed below the board.
Captured piece logic writes to the database now to persist everytime a player loads into a game.

Active Development Password reset, stop timers on completion, timeout loss

Jun 3, 2025

Added password reset via email with secure token
Timers now stop after game completion
Timeouts now trigger a loss and update the game result
Bug fixes to dashboard rendering and game result logic
PGN data is now logged in the database

Active Development Dashboard timers, opponent info, private notes

Jun 2, 2025

Games now display time remaining on dashboard
Opponent names and ratings show correctly
Private game notes modal added

What’s new in Fortress Chess

Rarity thresholds