iPhone - 'Chess With Friends' would be great for Chess.com

http://www.macworld.com/article/137620/2008/12/chesswithfriends.html

This "Chess With Friends" application for the iPhone sounds very similar to Chess.com's 'online' play. Wouldn't it be great if the NewToyInc.com deveopers and Chess.com developers collaborated to build an 'online' chess.com interface for the iPhone/iPodTouch ?

Would be cool... in the meantime, I posted about anyone's experiences using some of the chess apps on iTunes: http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/iphone--ipod-chess-apps

Not too much response, though.

I don't really like any chess apps, so my dislike of all the available iPhone chess apps probably isn't very representative.

Another vote for a decent chess.com port for iPhone, please!

Basically we need to default to a board that automatically fits to the screensize with a 'submit move' icon underneath and a scrollable list of games in progress at a font size that doesn't require an electron microscope. Some clever adaptation of Game Explorer would also be nice.

we know! :D

Coincidentally, 'Chess With Friends' was just picked 'Best Free App' by whoever picks these things.

http://bestappever.com/awards/2008/gfre

I just emailed with the folks at NewToy (for "Chess With Friends"), and they said they have a minor update coming out that allows you to send messages to your opponent now with each move made.  This update isn't out yet, but has been submitted to Apple, and is awaiting final approval by them.  This is a cool free little app, definitely worth the download for the price.  Here is the email I got from them, dated 01/01/09:

"Good news! The chat feature you're itching for will indeed be rolling out soon with our next patch!

As for the timing of the patch release: it's hard to say exactly when that might come out, because we have to wait on Apple to approve of it first. We're hoping it will go live in the next couple weeks!

"

Yes! Chess with Friends is great. Send me a message and we can hook up to play there too.

Also... I just found another app "Versus Chess" (not free). Which seems pretty good for speed chess. Looks like it's set at 7 minutes plus an undetailed delay per move.

Between Versus Chess and Chess With Friends, I have the both speed and turn based chess options on the iPod Touch.

Chess with friends would be better if the Random opponent didn't hook me up with someone rated below 1200 every time.  It needs ratings.

There are also two apps that interface with FICS, "Online Chess" and "Cyber Chess". "Online Chess" seems a little buggy. "Cyber Chess" works very well and is only 99 cents. If you play blitz, you will mostly be playing against people on computers who can move a lot faster than you.

I discovered later that Cyber Chess has no way to call 'flag' or set autoflag. Perhaps if you are playing with a registered account(as opposed to Guest) , you can set autoflag in your profile? For fast play, I prefer Versus Chess, but there are not that many players on the server and it's blocked by my corporate firewall (Cyber Chess can play on port 23 :). Cyber Chess also has a built in Chess engine which variable skill levels. It's a great value for $.99

I am now playing a game with Zugzwang on Chess with Friends

There is another iPhone/iTouch App that interfaces with FICS "Online Chess". It seemed buggy the first time I tried it, but there was an update for it this weekend and now seems more stable. It appears to communicate with FICS over port 23. It has the advantage over "Cyber Chess" of being able to call "flag" or "offer draw" during a game. Chat capability is very limited. There are a few items you can say like "Hi!", "I'm on an iPhone", "Nice Move!", "Sorry, No Take-backs". If you chat in the game, it may disable you ability to make your next move.

I still find playing on FICS to be a little too hecktic on the iPhone/iTouch. I prefer "Chess with Friends" or "Versus Chess", though those services need to cultivate a larger base of players.

Chess.com on iphone will rock.

There are two other iPhone FICS clients in addition to Cyber Chess and Magnus's Online Chess.  iChess Pack is one, free, and a good interface.  I forget the other but remember being unimpressed with it.

None, however, let you confirm a move before it's sent, and on a touch screen that's more important to me than saving a little time.  I shouldn't have to rely on having a forgiving opponent to let me "take back" a "mouse slip".

Chess with Friends and Chess Elite have a huge flaw in that there's no web interface, so you're limited to playing only iPhone users.  Caissa does have a web interface, but even so rarely has enough players logged in.  Also, there's a big difference between real-time and correspondence chess - no game timer in the latter.  I like longer (30-60min) games, but not days-long.  Maybe one of these days the chess.com app will work with their real-time games.