Best iphone chess app?

ichess!

Hi all,

I hope Glaurung 1.0.1 will show up on the App Store soon: It should be a lot more stable and reliable than version 1.0.  It's frustrating to have to wait for Apple to review and approve the app before it becomes available to users. :(

For those who are interested, the source code for the 1.0.1 version is now available from my web site:

http://www.glaurungchess.com/iphone-src.tar.gz

@Severn: Thanks for the Chess Quest screen shot. Coordinates like that would indeed be possible, but I can't promise anything yet.  It would have to be an option (because many people, myself included, think the board looks better without the coordinates), and I want to avoid having too many options, because it makes the interface more awkward to use.

@Fynall: Hints were not supposed to be available in analysis mode at all (the mechanism I use to obtain hints just don't work there), I but I had forgotten to disable them, therefore you get these silly bogus moves.  In version 1.0.1, you get a popup message saying that "Hints are not available in analyse mode" when you ask for a hint in analyse mode.  I think hints in analyse mode are not very interesting for most people anyway, because they just look at the first move in the engine analysis output.

Yes, I guess you are right, hints in analysis mode aren't so useful. But I still think that it would be cool if you could take back moves the engine made in computer vs human mode and overwright them with different moves, kinda like in chess genius and being able to switch roles at any time, for exemple if I overwrite a black computer move, then he responds with white, and then if I overwright that white computer move, he switches back to black and responds. Also the move back and move forward is way better in chess genius. However, if you could improve these 2 things and the crushes/bugs, this engine is definitly the best out there in every other aspect.

With regard to play roles, would you like the behavior found in many programs (including Chess Genius) where the game mode automatically changes from "computer plays black" to "computer plays white" when you take back a move? I always found that behavior strange and counter-intuitive, but I don't mind using it if that's what most users prefer. It would only take a couple of lines of code to implement.

I doubt that I will change the method for taking back and move forward, though. I find the method used in Glaurung to be vastly preferable: It's faster, and consumes less space on the screen.  I don't want to push one or two buttons just to take back a move.  Based on the feedback I have received from users so far, most of them seem to agree with me.

Most of the crashes and bugs are gone in version 1.0.1, which seems rock solid on my iPhone (this is no guarantee that nobody else will encounter problems, of course). This version is submitted to Apple, but still hasn't appeared on the App Store.  I hope it won't take too long...

Apparently, I have missed something in Chess Genius because I've never seen the app switch sides when I take back a move.  In any case, that's not a behaviour I would want to see!

Also, I *love* the way Glaurung handles moving back and forward through the move list with left or right finger-swipes in the move-list area.

Looking forward to 1.0.1, although my problems so far have been minor (sometimes the app crashes on start, but I just start it again and it's usually fine; it has never forced me to reboot the device).

Hello

5 days intensive use of Glaurung last beta (betatester) without any crash!!! 

Thank you Tord!!

It's available now, at last (free upgrade from the App Store). I recommend everyone to upgrade as soon as possible.

Tord

Thanks for the update Tord - works brilliantly!

My top correspondence app is also Chess with Friends, however the latest 2.0 version is so bugged it won't even open! Really hope they sort it out quick...

Looking forward to chess.com app (hopefully with no daily move restrictions..)

I'm running chessmaster through a gameboy emulator :)

Cool.  Does that somehow allow you to convert an emailed text into the .pgn format?  Go Vikings.  I was born in Minnesota.  Moorhead, specifically.

Are you talking about the emailed games from Glaurung here?  If you are, I am a little bit confused about the question.  The e-mailed games are already in PGN format, no conversion is necessary.  Just save the text with a .pgn extension, and you should be able to open it in any chess program with PGN support.

In some chess programs (at least in my own Mac OS X version of Glaurung, and I am sure many other authors have implemented the same feature), it is also possible to open games from PGN text with cut and paste.  Highlight the entire body of the e-mail, choose Edit->Copy, switch to your favorite chess program, and choose Edit->Paste.  Whether this works depends on what program you are using, of course.

Tord

Using Edit->Paste in Chessmaster 9000 was the secret.  I also was not highlighting and copying the entire text.  I was just highlighting and copying the moves, not the Event, Site, Date, etc.

Man, what an awesome feature.  Thanks so much.  I love this.  I have been wanting a way to do this for so long. 

Thanks Tord.  Also, my grandfather was born in Norway.  You and Magnus Carlsen are making me proud.

@Tord,

I'm curious if you're still getting feedback about instability.  I've installed the 1.0.1 update (on a 1st generation 16GB iPod Touch), and the app still crashes on start-up as often as not (although it has never required me to reboot the device itself).  It's worth the occasional repeated attempts to get it running, though.  :-)

without a doubt ChesswithFriends.

It seems like the topic of chess on the iPhone is a hot topic. As such, I've created an iPhone / iPod Touch group on Chess.com. You can read the group description here. Feel free to join! If you're a developer of a chess application for the iPhone / iPod Touch, PM me and I'll make a dedicated Sticky in the forum for your app.

now i just need to buy an iphone, lol

Did anybody try the new 7,99 Euro Shredder App? If so, please contact me for a Shredder vs. Glaurung test game, I'm really curious which one is better now, as ChessGenius and tChess Pro are clearly out of question. The winner would stand as the best iPhone Chess app...

I have played shredder vs glaurung in maximum playing strength and 15 mn time for glaurung in aggressive mode for both .

and 4-0 for shredder ,really better . good elo  strengh to..