HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro for Mac
Frequently Asked Questions

HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro for Mac is a very intuitive and easy to use product with a detailed searchable online manual.

  1. How do I activate HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro?
  2. As an existing customer to HIARCS Chess Explorer, am I eligible for a discount for HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro?
  3. Do you have a quick overview of the product?
  4. Which macOS does HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro work on?
  5. Does HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro support Retina Macs?
  6. Does HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro run on Apple Silicon M1/M2/M3 Macs?
  7. Which HIARCS Engine does HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro come with?
  8. Can I add another engine to HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro?
  9. Do you have a manual for HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro?
  10. What languages does the product support?
  11. Do you have help videos for the product?
  12. Can I buy HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro as a gift for someone else?
  13. I have the Deep/Premium version of HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro, how do I get Deep HIARCS 15 to use more than one thread?
  14. I have an online book subscription, can I use it in HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro?
  15. How many activations of HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro for Mac does a purchased license include?
  16. How do I connect my Millennium eBoard to HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro for Mac?
  17. How do I connect to a Millennium eBoard using Bluetooth?
  18. How do I use my Millennium eBoard so black instead of white is playing up the board?

How do I activate HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro?

When activating the product please ensure you have entered the license name and code exactly as given to you. The easiest way to do this is to use Copy and Paste. You can copy by highlighting the text to copy and using the Cmd(⌘)+C key combination. To paste click in the empty field (e.g. Code field) and use the Cmd(⌘)+V key combination to paste the code.

All our licenses are checked as valid before they are emailed to you.


As an existing customer to HIARCS Chess Explorer, am I eligible for a discount for HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro?

Yes you are eligible to a discount. The discount can only be obtained through HIARCS Chess Explorer App itself, and if you start the program up, you will be notified with a small information popup with the discount there.


Do you have a quick overview of the product?

There will be a quick overview video coming in March 2024


Which macOS does HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro work on?

HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro will work on all macOS 10.14 or later. This includes Mojave, Catalina, 11 Big Sur, 12 Monterey, 13 Ventura and the new macOS 14 Sonoma. The latest HCE Pro v1.3 series requires macOS 11 Big Sur or later


Does HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro support Retina Macs?

Yes, HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro takes advantage of Retina based Apple Macs. HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro displays chess board and piece set graphics without any loss of quality up to 5K displays. Furthermore high DPI fonts and widgets are displayed on Retina based Apple Macs


Does HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro run on Apple Silicon M1/M2/M3 Macs?

Yes, HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro runs on Apple Silicon including M1, M2 and M3 running under Rosetta2


Which HIARCS Engine does HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro come with?

HIARCS Chess Explorer will come with the HIARCS 15 series engine, which are the strongest ever HIARCS Chess Engines. HIARCS 15.3 is more than 250 Elo stronger than The World Chess Software Champion HIARCS 14 and supports up to 32 threads/cores.


Can I add another engine to HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro?

Yes, you can add any number of engines to HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro


Do you have a manual for HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro?

Yes, there is a live manual, which is regularly updated and can be found here: https://www.hiarcs.com/hce-pro/manuals/mac/hce-pro.html


What languages does the product support?

HIARCS Chess Explorer supports numerous languages. These are: English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish


Do you have help videos for the product?

The videos are in development based on the new v1.3 version and should be available in March 2024


Can I buy HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro as a gift for someone else?

Yes, you can purchase HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro as a gift, just make sure you click “Show more input fields” and untick “The Recipient or Licensee is the same as the Purchaser.”
You will then be able to enter the recipient's email and license name etc.


I have the Deep/Premium version of HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro, how do I get Deep HIARCS 15 to use more than thread?

By default Deep HIARCS 15.0 uses half the physical cores of the system. We choose this default so that most customers are able to run Deep HIARCS 15 in multiple database tabs without affecting overall system performance. You can change the number of threads used in the Analysis Explorer toolbar. That allows you to set anything from 1 to a maximum of the number of logical cores on your machine. If you want to change the default threads used for Deep HIARCS 15.0 in all database tabs please go to the Preferences->Engines dialog and select Deep HIARCS 15.0 and set the threads to your choice.
Please note HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro also has a load alert which is a red square which appears in the bottom right hand corner of the window, if you see that you can move the mouse pointer over the red square to get info on the system usage of the engines running.


I have an online book subscription, can I use it in HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro?

Yes you can use your existing or new online book subscription with HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro and HIARCS Chess Explorer (classic). Furthermore, the use of an existig book susbcription in HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro Premium edition extends the subscription by a year.


How many activations of HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro for Mac does a purchased license include?

The purchased license includes 3 activations of the product on Mac OS computers for your personal use as the licensee. This means you can activate it on both your desktop and laptop Apple Mac computers. You can also deactivate a license so you can upgrade your computer. Being a personal use license we would not expect simultaneous use in separate locations. Activations can be deactivated from the About HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro dialog and used on other machines you personally use.


How do I connect my Millennium EBoard to HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro for Mac?

Support for Millennium EBoards was introduced at HCE Pro v1.2. You can connect using either Bluetooth or USB. Below you can find details on how to connect your Millennium eBoard to HCE Pro v1.2 or later.


How do I connect to a Millennium eBoard using Bluetooth?

You can connect HIARCS Chess Explorer to your Millennium eBoard via Bluetooth as follows.


How do I use my Millennium eBoard so black instead of white is playing up the board?

Please note this answer applies to Millennium eBoards with piece recognition.
When playing with the white pieces the eBoard is normally set up so white pieces are playing up the board. However, if you want to play with the black pieces you will probably want black to be playing up the board instead. Once the eBoard is detected by HCE Pro and you have connected a database or play tab in HCE Pro to the eBoard, you can set the play direction in a number of ways:

  1. Rotate the Physical eBoard:

  2. You can just rotate the actual physical eBoard so that black is playing up the board with respect to where you are. However, this may be inconvenient due to the cabling and placement of the physical eBoard so the methods below are better alternatives.

  3. Rotate the pieces on the eBoard:

  4. You can rotate the pieces on the eBoard so black is playing up the board. For example you can set up the normal starting position with black at the bottom of the board and white at the top and HCE Pro will automatic detect you want to play with black playing up the board. Please note at any time you can rotate the pieces on the board and HCE Pro will detect your intention to play the position now rotated.

  5. Tell HCE Pro the board rotation you want:

  6. Empty the board and now use the white and black kings to signify the direction of play on the board:
    Once HCE Pro recognises the above placement on an otherwise empty board, HCE Pro will indicate with the LEDs the direction white is playing. You can use this method to set the direction of play before setting up a position for example where white is playing down the eBoard.

  7. Any time rotation:

  8. At any stage of a game in progress with HCE Pro in sync with the eBoard you can rearrange the pieces on the eBoard so they are rotated and HCE Pro will recognise the new arrangement and direction of play. For example if white is playing up the board with WKf2, WRg3, BKf5 on the board, you can replace the pieces to WKc7, WRb6, BKc4 and HCE Pro will auto sync and recognise white is playing down the board. In fact after 50% of the pieces have changed to a rotated placement HCE Pro will light the LEDS on the squares to complete the rotation. Once all the pieces have been placed on their rotated squares HCE Pro will indicate the new direction of play using the LEDs on the eBoard.