What server does instant chess use, that has so many opponents available? I haven't looked at them at all, but is there a chance they're using bots to speed up the matches? Other than chess.com, ICC and FICS, there aren't that many other really high traffic live chess servers that I know of.
"Instant Chess" app for iPad
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Check out the site for more info (player stats etc), also found this review: http://www.reviewstream.com/reviews/?p=41573. It may be that it's more appropriate for someone around my level (1600) but even though I suspect there are more people on FICS this app is consistently faster for finding a game.
iChessPack HD now saves seek settings when playing on FICS. This is a major improvement and will tempt me back to FICS over Instant Chess as iChessPack HD also allows me to email myself PGN's on a game by game basis whereas with Instant Chess I have to visit their site to do this. I'm very fickle!
A couple of weeks on an it's time to report back on the Instant Chess server. My rating has increased to just above 1800 which is higher than I should be (I estimate that I'm more around 1600) and I suspect this is due to the lack of quality and depth of the players on the server. To top it off, my instant games aren’t so instant anymore as many 1500 – 1600 players (who play like the around 1300 – 1400) cancel the game and I can go through this process a few times before I get a game. I will be heading back to iChessPack HD’s FICS server for some more serious chess but I still love the idea and will keep an eye open for any developments.
Perhaps chess.com will initiative live chess on the chess.com app?
I've used this app before on the iPod touch and noted that it is now available on the iPad so I thought I'd check it out.
At the moment I'm using the Chess.com app for correspondence games and (up until this weekend) iChessPack HD for live games on FICS but I'm always keen to try out a new chess app…
For those who haven’t used the app before; Instant Chess essentially finds you a game against online opposition as soon as the app loads (hence the title “Instant”). You literally touch the icon for the app and then you are playing an live game a few moments later (with no settings to go through, no other buttons to touch etc).
One major change from the previous version is that you now just get two free games a day so if you want to play more then you will need to pay either £3.95 for a 100 games or sign up for £4.95 a month. I saw that I could charge the 100 games through my iTunes/Apple account so I thought I’d give it a go and I’m glad I did.
Of course if you’re only looking to play two online games a day then this wont be a problem but for £3.95 I got to go on the site and set-up my seeks so that now my instant games are always 15min (you can also set opponent lever etc). I can go also to the site and email myself a collection of my games in PGN format. These two features as well as much improved graphics for the iPad provide for a very satisfying live chess experience.
iChessPack HD (for FICS) is free (not the app of course but the FICS games) so I suspect that some people wont be able to justify the extra expense, however, I think I am (although I will play out my 100 games and then go from there)!
One major improvement over FICS on iChessPack HD is that Instant Chess is much more stable. If you happen to disconnect then you have up to a couple of minutes to re-connect and get back into your game and the app can re-sync clocks etc so you don’t loose any time.
Another improvement is the number of games going at any one time, I can post a seek for 15 min rated game on FICS and sometimes wait up to 10 minutes before I get a game (or find one that I’m looking for). Instant Chess is, well, still pretty much instant and setting up the seek on iChessPack HD is a little fiddly!
So, if you have an iPad and want to play on a live chess games (instantly, without fuss) then £3.95 (which is the price of a decent iPad App anyway) is probably worth the expense to check it out and see how you get on with it, in my opinion anyway! Otherwise, stick with iChessPack HD for FICS!
Ben