Its price has resulted a lot of attention and customer reviews, and, for most casual players, it’s a painless investment. This app seems basically well done, but doesn’t have any amazing kudos. In terms of the options, they’re minimal but adequate for casual chess. It might lead a casual user to suspect it can e-mail PGN files. The options icon is a tool box, but it looks like a mailbox with a red flag. The Done button bumps you out of the Help page completely. Also, once you go into a section, there’s no Back button. I liked the completeness of the in-app documentation, but noted the graphic cosmetic problem shown above. I liked the selection of board designs and pieces, but a classic Staunton design remains missing. I liked the icons at the bottom, actually, better than tChess. In the games I played, I didn’t encounter any such problem. Some users have complained about problems with the soundness, accuracy or legality of the chess engine. There are some things to like about Chess. Finally, the Help page graphics seem to be hosed cosmetically. The app has an option to show its own thinking process, but I didn’t see it on the display. One of my readers thinks it’s “Gromit” by Frank Schneider. For example, maybe it’s an older chess engine, one the developer had ready access to. Because the developer didn’t assist with the review, I can only conclude there’s something to hide. The problem there is that the tournament by that name hasn’t been played since 2001 (replaced by the WCCC), and the developer doesn’t even name the year. The developer claims that this engine came in 4th in the World Microcomputer Chess Championship. Why not throw up one of those neat gold lines from the attacking piece to the forbidden square as a visual cue? However, if you try to make an illegal move, say, a King into check, there is stony silence from the app, an inscrutable lack of visible UI and refusal to allow the move. One is a nifty gold line from the origin square to the destination square. The app has some options for how the last move is displayed.
This is what I mean by a little rough around the edges. Rd1 not knowing that it needed to disambiguate the two Rooks’ ability to move to the d1 square. (Rook on f1 to d1) However, the app notated this simply as: 32. In the first diagram above, a game in progress I had with the app, my next move was 32. For 99 cents, you get to entertain yourself with a strong app, but it’s not for serious players. This casts the app into the airport waiting lounge category. So if you’re practicing for a tournament, you won’t be able to gauge your playing level. That’s a major strike against this chess app.Īlso, unlike other apps created by experienced chess professionals, this app describes the computer playing strength in terms of time to make the move rather than the ELO rating.
User games can be saved and loaded, but not e-mailed. Regrettably, it’s missing the ability to import and export PGN files. They should also take advantage of iOS graphics to, for example, show legal (and illegal) moves, the last opponent move, etc. They should look pretty good on an iPad, have lots of options for board and piece design, keep a log in PGN format, export and import those PGN files, support a chess clock, have a user definable ELO rating, a rich opening library, and provide hints and move takeback. Modern iOS chess apps really have to live up to a minimum standard. I should note here that I contacted the developer, but the company declined to respond. So the question is, really, do you get your money’s worth? With caveats, the answer is yes. Now we have simply “Chess” from Mastersoft, and it’s only 99 cents. Shredder and Stockfish are pretty good as well. The modern standard against which I compare other iOS chess programs is tChess Pro, previously reviewed. I have been reviewing computer chess apps for a long time. However, even at version 1.43, it feels a little rough around the edges.
It’s a good chess app bolstered by a low price. Mastersoft Mobile Solutions has a fairly new program for iOS, simply called Chess.
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