Best Chess Programs for Android Smartphones

I was thinking about buying an Omnia 2 i920 from verizon wireless but the video quality is poor.  I wanted to know if there were many good mobile chess programs for the Motorolla Droid.  I know pocket shredder and pocket fritz are compatible with windows mobile what about android operating systems?

There is one called "chess for android" it's the only I've tried TBH. 

It's your normal PPC chess game, i.e. varying levels with multiplayer support. It doesn't analyse your games or anything, it's ok for chess on the move.

There are a couple that I haven't tried which play in PGN format, which then allows you to upload to Fritz etc on your PC.

join our android group to get access to the Chess.com Android App!

http://www.chess.com/groups/view/chesscom-android-phone-app-group

Please try the new ChessDroid App. It is designed only for offline play and based on my chess engine Carballo.

http://www.alonsoruibal.com/chessdroid/

There is a Free Lite version avaiable on the android market.

Thanks

>sigh< I'm still holding out for Pocket Fritz 4 on iPhone---only when iPhone is offered by Verizon!

Latest selection of best and free Android chess apps:

http://www.chess.com/download/view/android-chess-apps

There is an Android version of Shredder. 

Another great one is DroidFish.  It uses the Stockfish v1.9 engine.  Even the old version of Stockfish is second only to Rybka 4 here: http://computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/

There is a program called Chess Genius for Android.

Many years ago, in the era of 100MHz PCs, my chess coach, who was an international master, admitted that Chess Genius 3, which was probably the best engine of its time, used to give him a lot of trouble until he figured out exactly the type of position the program misevaluated.

The current android app is based on that engine (or a later version of it), so it should be pretty decent (though I haven't tried it yet, the Lite version is free, but limited to Instant or Easy level after move 20, and the payed one is $4.99 and I'm evaluating other options like you and DroidFish looks like a really good free solution).

I use Shredder on my iPad, and it is available for the Android. I also connect to chess.com via the iPad app more often than through my desktop and notebook computers.

I usually use Chess.com app on my droid.  I also have found\written some chess puzzles that have been fun\educational.

• The Legend of Chess -Chess arcade type game to have fun and practice knight moves. (disclaimer: I wrote it)
• BC Take - Chess Puzzles where you have to capture all of the pieces on the board with one piece captured per turn.
• Solitare Chess - Quick fun chess puzzles.

All are worth a look even if they are not your traditional game.

Shredder for Android is awesome. 

chessbase has an app to keep up with recent tournament play by the top chessplayers in the world.....great for keeping up with the now in chess...

Let us update this information to May 1, 2012.

Best Android Chess platform today is,by far, the DroidFish 1.41 program, based on the Stockfish 2.2.2. It supports UCI options, has MP capabilities ( up to 4 cores), and integrates the Gaviota ending tablebases( 6.54 GB). It also admits huge opening books ( Polyglot and .ctg).

After several testing weeks, I think on my new Asus Transformer Infinity 700 quad-core ( Tegra 3 at 1.6 GHz) tablet, it exceeds 2.900 Elo points. Astonishing.

No other mobile chess platform is so complete: multiple opening book options, UCI and MP capabilities(pioneer in this last one) and EG tablebases. It has ALL the items of the best big brothers.

There are other very good platforms/programs, but not so good and complete.

The only exceptions might be Hiarcs and Houdini , the best two programs in the circuit now. Houdini for Android will be released in September , together with its big brother for Windows ( 3.0). And Hiarcs for Android will also be released after summer, together with its big brother Hiarcs 14( current Software World Champion), included into the new  exceptional Chess Explorer platform. Come on Mark!!.

So, at the end of the year, the triad  Houdini- Hiarcs - DroidFish, will rule the Android chess field. And on a second level we have Shredder 1.2.2 and ChessGenius 2.5.0, being the latter my favourite for the general public.

Chess for Android 3.1.8, Chess(jwtc) 8.1.9, Chess.com v.1.9851, ChessBase Online 2.0.6, Chess at ICC 1.4.3, Rival Chess 1.1.3, Scid on the Go 1.28  , Mobialia v. 4.1.6 , Chess Game 2.1 and AMobile Chess 1.0, among others, are also in my list of worthy Android chess programs/platforms.

I include here an exhaustive list of other interesting Android chess programs to have a look at, which you will find in Google Play :

Chess ( AI),Ajedrez Chess Live ( Italy games),Ajedrez V, Chess-presso,Yafi-Internet Chess, Chess Free ( Tojo),Chess On line ( Cloudroid), Chess Time-Multiplayer Chess, Chess ( Vivian Aranha),Chess : Battle of the Elements, Black Knight Chess, Chess Mobile ( AppMe), Grandmaster Chess, Chess Online ( Resonos), Chess ( Bluesky Studio), Ajedrez Online (keyja.com),Chess By Post Free, Spark Chess HD Lite, RedHotPawn Chess Client, Chess Mates ( Aptitude Labs), Chess Grandmaster (Aceraps),Chess with 9 levels,Honza´s Chess, Z- Chess-101, Dalmax Chess, Kids Chess Logic Puzzles, Chess Defense, Genesis Chess Beta, Losing Chess, Chess Elite, Ajedrez Alfil,Chess Mates Free ( Epic Pocket software), Chess Puzzle ( Goodie),Chess News ( Cubic Soft), Crazy Chess ( Expedition 107), Jester Chess, Minimardi Chess, Tablet Chess for 2 Free,Legend of Chess, Chess Companion, Poket chess for android ( Kobi), Vs. Games: Chess Free, Azuki Chess, Chess ( BAW), Chess Letter, 8 Queen Puzzle ( there are several but I prefer Amita´s version), Chess Mobile ( SHIZZ), ChessPad , Knight Moves ( there are also several and I prefer SUM´s), Chess Free ( Optime Software),Grandmaster Chess ( Ivan Savu), Chess Strategy Videos ( FWT),Chess Book Study ( Asim Pereira), Chess Grandmaster ( Acerapps), Dalmax Chess, Chess Openings ( Huge Fans),Droid Chess ( Adam & Franco), Chess with Mobile (Canary Technologies), Free Online Chess ( SteveaJoseph), Chess with Chess 960 & Variants, Chess Puzzles ( Yan Levesque), Chess PGN Viewer, Estimación ELO, Live Chess App Free ( Cheta), Online Chess ( Software Studios), Recruitment Chess, Multichess, M Chess PAD,Chess Andersynth Free, Chess Glossary ( Deep powder Software), Chess History and Reminiscence, Chess Trivia Pro, Campeones del Mundo de ajedrez ( Pondar), Multiplayer Chess ( Kodfabrik), and finally Chess Q. 

In terms of UCI engines, I wish to include the following ones : Komodo 4 ( not yet available), Critter 1.4, Stockfish family ( 2.1x and 2.2x), ArasanX, DarkKnight ( for Android 3.0), Ivanhoe-999947c, Robbolito 0085e4l, Gnuchess-5.07.173b and CuckooChess, by Peter Österlund, the author of the fantastic DroidFish platform.

For further UCI engine information, go to Aart Bik´s webpage, author of  other first level chess platform:Chess for Android ( CFA).

This is the year of the quad-core devices, either in tablets or in smartphones. Together with the above software, they shall create a terrific tandem.

Smartphones such as HTC One X, LG Optimus 4X HD, Huawei Ascend D Quad (with the revolutionary K3V2 micro), ZTE Era and the so expected Samsung Galaxy SIII, presented on May 3rd  in London, the best smartphone in the market now ( Exynos 4 quad-core micro at 1.4 GHz, 4.8" Super Amoled Plus display, 1 GB Ram, 8 MPx camera, among other specs).

In the quad-core tablet field we will have the triangle formed by the Asus Transformer family ( series 300, Prime and Infinity 700) working on the Tegra 3 ( 1.2/1.3/1.6 GHz), Samsung Galaxy Tab family ( with the micro Exynos 4 Quad), and Huawei MediaPad 10.1, also incorporating their native K3V2 micro.

Interesting perspectives for this year.

And by  Q4 of 2012 and during 2013, there will be two crucial highlights concerning Mobile Chess: the entrance of Microsoft with its Windows 8 in this segment and the appearance of the new generation Cortex-A-15 micro, within different versions: TI OMAP 5, Samsung Exynos 5, Nvidia Tegra 4 ( Wayne), Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 ( Krait), Huawei KxVx, all together with the new Intel Medfield generation ( Z 2460, 2580 and 2000).

Live Chess App lets you follow live broadcasted games on your android smart phone.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chessapp.ui.chess

Which is the best chess analyser for android?

Just to be brief,the best Android engine now is the new Stockfish 2.3 UCI version ( go to its web and download it) to include into the DroidFish 1.44 platform( go to Play Store and download it for free).

There will be soon another three reference engines on Android: Hiarcs, Houdini and Komodo.

If you need further information, please let me know.

Alex541

DroidFish 1.44 now includes StockFish 2.3.1 engine, so there is no need to download them separately.

Alex541, thanks for your detailed post with the exhaustive list of chess apps. How could you test so many of them? Wonderful work.