Please implement null moves

would be quite cool to have null moves in analysis and studies

With the browser extension LiChess Tools you can type /skipmove in analysis and it generates 5 moves (where possible) to ge to the same position, but with the other side to play.

I am afraid null move implementation would be too complex and too niche to be a priority.

It's neither complex nor niche.

There are a lot of places where code assumes there will be moves. Complex it is. And in two years maybe a handful of people asked for this.

You confuse "Nullmove" with no move.

Typically, a nullmove is implemented as a special move. So you only need to change the parts that make moves. It's just a move that doesn't alter the position (or more specifically the position of the pieces).

Sure, there will be quite some places where changes would need to be done - depending on how the code is designed. But it is no magic, and not very complex.

Dealing with it from the UI point of view and explaining it to users is probably the hardest part.

But Nullmoves have been around in chessbase for decades, and they are basically the standard way of asking "what's the threat". So it might be useful in more than one regard.

"But it is no magic, and not very complex."

I'm glad to hear it's not very complex. Will you be writing the code, then?

I don't think so.

But having worked on multiple chess related codebases in the past, including some with nullmove support, I just wanted to point out that it is usually not rocket science to add, and you don't need to rebuild everything from scratch.

But as I said, that doesn't mean it doesn't come with challenges, and it needs to be evaluated if it is worth it, how to present it to users, and still someone has to put in the hours.

And yes, it is more complex than changing the color of a button... but most chess related things would not need to be touched at all.

A question from a non-programmer:
If in the PGN there is an indicator to determine which side is to move, couldn't I add a command to switch the current PGN in the analysis board with a PGN that is having the opposite side to move?

PGN typically has moves, but the FEN has not. FEN is part of the PGN for custom setups.

@Newman_Ran said in #8:

couldn't I add a command

Add it where?

When you have the position open in a study already, you can add a chapter, go to "FEN", and either edit the FEN by changing w or b near the end, or click the editor and change the sides.

@nadjarostowa said in #5:

But Nullmoves have been around in chessbase for decades, and they are basically the standard way of asking "what's the threat". So it might be useful in more than one regard.
For the record, once you enable the engine analysis on analysis page, in game analysis or in a study, there is a "show threat" icon next to the cogwheel icon which does exactly this, i.e. analyses current position as if it were the other player's move.