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Best Chess App?

jrbdmb

jrbdmb

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 19, 2008
454
49
USA
Any suggestions for the best iPhone/Touch Chess app?

There are three I've found in the Apps store:

Versus Chess is an online-only app to play others. *Edit: you can also play a chess-bot (online only) if no human opponents are available.

Chess Classics and Caissa Chess are your standard play-vs.-machine Chess games.

Or you could just play the Shredder web application:

Tom Castle said:
Here is a great chess program for the iphone. Check it out!!

http://www.shredderchess.com/iphone
Click to expand...
 
C

chrisb3

macrumors regular
Jul 12, 2008
118
0
Brooklyn, NY
Caissa Chess has the stronger chess engine. If you're a 1900+ player, it might not pose too difficult a challenge, but it's still stronger than the other chess game.
 
jrbdmb

jrbdmb

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 19, 2008
454
49
USA
chrisb3 said:
Caissa Chess has the stronger chess engine. If you're a 1900+ player, it might not pose too difficult a challenge, but it's still stronger than the other chess game.
Click to expand...
I am leaning towards the Versus Chess and playing against human opponents, but my concern is that the "support" website is totally empty - it makes me wonder what type of server is used and whether the program becomes useless if the developer doesn't maintain this server.

Second choice would be Cassia.
 
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ianegordon

macrumors newbie
Aug 11, 2008
3
0
Versus Chess support site

Sorry about the lack of a decent website.

We are currently rolling out the corporate website, but there have been some stumbles along the way. Apparently developing a website that looks good on all the major browsers & the iPhone is an ordeal. The web shop has promised us it will be done by the end of the week.
 
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ioffe

macrumors newbie
Jan 1, 2008
12
0
Jersey City, NJ
http://www.caissa.us

Caissa chess v 2.1 is submitted for Apple's review now. From our past experience, it takes about 10 days to hit the store.

It leverages online features as well as capability of playing offline.

vienna.png


P.S. Hello Ian, hope sales are good :p
 
mcdj

mcdj

macrumors G3
Jul 10, 2007
8,964
4,214
NYC
I bought Caissa last night. One big gripe I have with it is that they've implemented an odd touch method. You touch the piece you want to move, but if you tap where you want to put it, you quickly discover that they've added a buffer zone around the piece, almost like putting the piece on an invisible stick. If you try to tap where you think it should go, you get an illegal move message. I guess this is so your finger doesn't cover the piece, but those of us used to touch screens know that's part of the deal, and we automatically compensate. Moving the Caissa pieces is awkward.
 
asphyxiafeeling

asphyxiafeeling

macrumors regular
May 31, 2008
199
0
Cali baby!
I'd go with Caissa Chess over Chess Classics.

gameloft has been kind of nasty with their supposed fake reviews, as well as lashing out against their competitors.
 
I

ioffe

macrumors newbie
Jan 1, 2008
12
0
Jersey City, NJ
mcdj said:
I bought Caissa last night. One big gripe I have with it is that they've implemented an odd touch method. You touch the piece you want to move, but if you tap where you want to put it, you quickly discover that they've added a buffer zone around the piece, almost like putting the piece on an invisible stick. If you try to tap where you think it should go, you get an illegal move message. I guess this is so your finger doesn't cover the piece, but those of us used to touch screens know that's part of the deal, and we automatically compensate. Moving the Caissa pieces is awkward.
Click to expand...

Thanks. So let me provide you support right on the spot. Go to options and switch drag&drop toggle control to position off. It will switch the interface to the mode you used to.

Let me explain the logic behind drag&drop.
You can play chess with one hand. When you use drag&drop you don't have to leave big thumb off the screen while moving pieces. When you use tap-tap your phone balances on two fingers and may slip. While using drag&drop, you always provide grip between big thump and index finger. Please give it a try for another day and you will never go back.

Caissa Chess underwent through several iterations of industrial UI design. The interface is very slick. Team of 4 developers put over 10 month of work in it. You will enjoy it :rolleyes:
 
mcdj

mcdj

macrumors G3
Jul 10, 2007
8,964
4,214
NYC
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5B108 Safari/525.20)

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately I see no such setting in Options. Are you using a version that isn't on the app store yet?
 
Daremo

Daremo

macrumors 68020
Jul 3, 2007
2,176
307
Chicago
ioffe,

I've been waiting for a great chess game, and you talked me into buying yours tonight. With the addition of online play coming, that was the key. Hopefully, this will be a good $9.99 spent!
 
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cc999

macrumors 6502
Jul 15, 2008
477
190
Versus Chess is awesome

Just purchased Versus Chess and it works perfectly! I love the fact that I am playing live against a REAL opponent. Plenty of people online to play. I played several games with no problems, works perfectly. if you are a chess player this is a MUST BUY.

Another cool thing is that you can play a bot (computer) player at different levels, so it does have a computer opponent for those who wish to play solo. The bots are also found online.

Charlie C
 
I

ioffe

macrumors newbie
Jan 1, 2008
12
0
Jersey City, NJ
Daremo said:
The current touch method drives me insane. You offered instant support for the fix, and no one seems to have this version. Is this the update coming?
Click to expand...

Sorry. I was under impression that it was included in 2.01.
It will be in version 2.1 release, which can happen any time now. Sorry we have no control over release management process.
 
Daremo

Daremo

macrumors 68020
Jul 3, 2007
2,176
307
Chicago
ioffe said:
Sorry. I was under impression that it was included in 2.01.
It will be in version 2.1 release, which can happen any time now. Sorry we have no control over release management process.
Click to expand...

Any word on this update yet?
 
mcdj

mcdj

macrumors G3
Jul 10, 2007
8,964
4,214
NYC
Yeah, what gives? If 2.1 was submitted as of the developer's post on 8/11 then there is no reason the update shouldn't be there by now.

I did notice there seem to be a bunch of bugs being tracked here.

A word from the dev?
 
I

ioffe

macrumors newbie
Jan 1, 2008
12
0
Jersey City, NJ
mcdj said:
Yeah, what gives? If 2.1 was submitted as of the developer's post on 8/11 then there is no reason the update shouldn't be there by now.

I did notice there seem to be a bunch of bugs being tracked here.

A word from the dev?
Click to expand...

2.1 was turned down by apple. So we had pull certain things out. There are even few more features being integrated into 2.1.1 release.
Caissa 2.1.1 edit video
 
mcdj

mcdj

macrumors G3
Jul 10, 2007
8,964
4,214
NYC
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5C1 Safari/525.20)

Good grief. What is up with Apple? What could a flippin chess game possibly do that they don't approve of?
 
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