Best iphone chess app?

maybe shredder is better but the games should be without agresive mode because the playing style is very important for the strength.

@Ousland: True. The playing style is very important for any chess software, but the strongest style will always be the "normal" or "default" one. Forcing a program to play more aggressive will only make it vulnerable against a defensive, counterattack strategy from the opposition. So, if someone wants to test these engines he should use the normal playing style and the permanent brain option set on. I just bought Shredder but I didn't play against it yet. It lacks a lot of features, so for the moment Glaurung remains the best chess app overall...

I have tChess, Shredder, Chess Genius, and Glaurung.

tChess is the only one that allows you to set a time limit. when I set tChess to think 600 seconds per move (10 minutes) it has so far stomped the others (except shredder which I just bought and am now pitting against tChess), but I've yet to play each one several times against tChess to see if its a flux.

What do you guys think?

my thoughts are that it doesn't matter if the other programs are a bit better at finding good moves in a shorter time, if tChess can be set to unimited amount of time, and the others can't. I can set the others at their top levels and then thats it. meanwhile I can keep upping the amount of time tChess can think until it can crush all the others.

So for me at least so far, this makes tChess the best app on the iPhone, but shredders ability to estimate your playing ability and adjust accordingly is really cool. tChess can't do that.

erik will help you

I'm at move 37 with the inaugural tChess vs Shredder game. Shredder is impressive. its holding its own even though its thinking for a few seconds (game is at 2400 ELO setting) while tChess is thinking ten minutes per move.

Shredder is losing however. unless tChess blunders, it will prevail. I'm gonna keep the game to going to see how it goes.

I used to have tChess Pro.  Good app.  I find your point that tChess trumps the competition by having a potentially unlimited think time interesting.  And I hope you post this game.  :)

I'm just not sure how much practical advantage I would derive from this one difference.  I'm not going to wait 10 minutes for my hand-held opponent to move when I know it could move in a matter of seconds and pound me senseless.  So the question becomes whether or not I'd use my iPhone app to do 'deep' analysis on a position while I eat dinner or take a nap - and to me, that sounds like a job for Shredder 11 & the MacBook.

Practically speaking, the ability to have the engine think forever is just an option in the interface.  If it's relative engine strength we're interested in, then the settings should be as parallel as possible for both apps.  And to me, that's more meaningful because no matter which app I fire up, my opponent is sure as heck going to be moving in under 10 seconds.

Wait... you've been making moves for two iPhone/Touch devices for over six hours now? 

nope one iphone. I open one app, tell it what move the other app did, and when it moves, I close it, open the other and do the same, back and forth.

the game has been going since last night. I haven't been setting constantly doing it. 

I'll post the game for you.

but until then, I hope you enjoy this game of tChess vs Chess Genius. 

winner, tChess.

[Event "tChess prevails"]

[White "tChess"]

[Black "Genius"]

[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O O-O 9. Nb3 Qb6 10. f3 a6 11. Be2 Qc7 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Qxd6 Qxd6 14. Rxd6 Be5 15. Rdd1 b5 16. a4 Bxc3 17. axb5 Bxb2+ 18. Kxb2 axb5 19. Bxb5 Ne5 20. Rd4 Bb7 21. Ra1 Rxa1 22. Nxa1 Rc8 23. c4 h5 24. Kc1 Bc6 25. Nc2 g5 26. Rd6 h4 27. h3 Kf8 28. Ba6 Rc7 29. Rd4 Ke7 30. Kd2 Ra7 31. Nb4 Be8 32. Kc3 f6 33. Rd2 Bd7 34. c5 Rc7 35. Kd4 Ra7 36. Ke3 Rc7 37. Rc2 Ba4 38. Ra2 Be8 39. Ra5 Ra7 40. Kd4 Rd7+ 41. Kc3 Ra7 42. Ra1 Rc7 43. Kd4 Ra7 44. Rb1 Ng6 45. Ke3 Nf4 46. Kf2 Rc7 47. Rc1 Ra7 48. Rc3 Ng6 49. c6 Kd6 50. Bb7 Ne7 51. Rd3+ Kc5 52. Na6+ Kc4 53. Rd6 Bxc6 54. Bxc6 Rxa6 55. Bd5+ Nxd5 56. Rxa6 Nf4 57. Rd6 Nd3+ 58. Kg1 Nf4 59. Rd7 Kc3 60. Kh2 Kc4 61. Rf7 Nh5 62. Rh7 Nf4 63. Rh6 Kd3 64. Rxf6 Ke3 65. Kg1 Ke2 66. Rf8 Ke1 67. Rxf4 gxf4 68. g3 fxg3 69. f4 Ke2 70. f5 e5 71. f6 Kf3 72. f7 Kxe4 73. f8=Q Ke3 74. Qh6+ Kd4 75. Qxh4+ e4 76. Qxg3 e3 77. Qg4+ Kc3 78. h4 Kd3 79. h5 Kd2 80. Qd4+ Kc2 81. Qxe3 Kb2 82. h6 Kc2 83. h7 Kd1 84. h8=Q Kc2 85. Qec3+ Kd1 86. Qh5+ 1-0 

I'll post the results of the tChess vs Shredder game tomorrow. I don't know if it will be over tonight. 

okay results are in.

[White "tChess"]
[Black "Shredder"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 c6 8. d5 e5 9. dxe6 Bxe6 10. Qd3 Na6 11. Ng5 Qe7 12. Bf4 Rad8 13. Rad1 Ng4 14. Nd5 Bxd5 15. cxd5 Nc5 16. Qc4 b5 17. Qb4 h6 18. Nh3 g5 19. dxc6 gxf4 20. Nxf4 Kh7 21. b3 a6 22. Qa5 Rc8 23. b4 Ne6 24. Nxe6 Qxe6 25. Qxa6 Qxe2 26. Rxd6 f4 27. Qb6 fxg3 28. hxg3 Rb8 29. Qc5 Ne5 30. c7 Rbc8 31. Bb7 Nf3+ 32. Bxf3 Qxf3 33. Rd7 Qe2 34. Re7 Qxa2 35. Qxb5 Qd2 36. Qe5 Qg5 37. Qe2 Qf5 38. Rd1 Rf7 39. Rxf7 Qxf7 40. Qd3+ Qg6 41. Qc4 Qf6 42. Rd7 Kh8 43. Qd3 Qf8 44. b5 Rxc7 45. Rxc7 Qf6 46. b6 

at this point Shredder resigned.

then it rated tChess with an ELO of 2800. how accurate is its ELO rater?

if its right, tChess (at 10 minutes per move on the iphone 3G) is 51 points below kasparav! (his wiki article has him at 2851)

I´m a Glaurung fan but I have to admit that shredder AI limited elo is very well done, this makes very fun to play against shredder, shredder has many user friendly GUI ideas (ie elo changes to fit your level). Overall I preffer glaurung playing style.

Interesting game (I haven't had a close look at it yet).  I wouldn't put a lot of stock in that Elo estimate, but who knows.  If the estimation capability is strong, it's still only one game.  I would also imagine that Shredder's estimation "assumes" a more even playing field (think-time-wise, for instance) than you provided. 

First of all, let's make it clear that the best program is the one able to make the best moves in the shortest time span. It's like an IQ test. If a genius can find the right answer for 90 out of 100 problems in a 1-hour span and you can score 100% after 24 hours of thinking, it doesn't mean you're better, right? Kasparov would still be able to beat Rybka with double or triple time span to think.

Second, I was very dissappointed by Shredder Chess as I easily made a quick draw while I was preparing my meal... You know, I was ok with the lack of features as long as it could play strongly, but for a 10 bucks famous brand this app sucks, really. You cannot set time control, cannot see the patherns, cannot see by how much one player leads, doesn't have multiplayer and so on... I deeply hope for some dramatic improvements in the future.

About it's Elo ratings, I don't know how accurate that feature is. In fact, nobody is actually using the same mathematical formula introduced by hungarian scientist Arpad Elo during the 70's, not even FIDE itself. It's a complicated formula that has been modified in a various ways, but I can tell you one thing. The rating is modifying dramatically only during the first 20 or so games, then increases or decreases much more slowly. For example, if you make a draw in the first game, you will have your rated opponent's rating; I have now 2400 Elo after the draw against Shredder, but I could have had 2800 Elo in case of a win. It's clearly not real, but after more than 20 games the rating becomes much more accurate anyway. It also depends by how accurate the program itself had been rated and I would not give it more than 2100 - 2200 Elo.

Which means that Glaurung still rules in all possible aspects at this time! Tord did an awesome job with his free app, we should really build him a statue for that...

I'm gonna pit Glaurung against Shredder later today with them both at the top level, and try to get Glaurung's thinking time close to shredders. yo can't adjust shredders, and it can't be thinking for more than a few seconds per move.

I'll post the game when its done. 

well I played the game...

[[White "Glaurung"]
[Black "Shredder"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 Bb4 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 g5 8. Bg3
Ne4 9. Qc2 Bd7 10. Bd3 Nxg3 11. hxg3 dxc4 12. Bxc4 g4 13. Nd2 Na5 14. Bd3 f5
15. a3 Bd6 16. d5 exd5 17. Nxd5 Be5 18. Kf1 c6 19. Nf4 Qf6 20. Rb1 b5 21. e4
O-O 22. b4 Nb7 23. exf5 Nd6 24. Ne4 Nxe4 25. Bxe4 Bxf5 26. Bxf5 Qxf5 27. Qxf5
Rxf5 28. Rxh6 Bxf4 29. gxf4 Rxf4 30. Rxc6 Rd8 31. Rb2 Re4 32. Rc1 Rd3 33. Ra2
Kg7 34. Re1 Rxe1 *

and at this point in the game, Glaurung crashed and deleted the whole game.

I'm no chess expert but it looks like they were evenly matched.

I had Glaurung on the level 100, 30 seconds per move setting and Shreder at its 2400 ELO setting.

Glaurung (being free software) has an outstanding AI, but it looks like its got some kinks to iron out. LOL!

I'm not gonna bother with trying again.

tChess wins points with me me with its ability to adjust levels of ply, and amount of time to think, but shredder is my favorite now, because of its auto level adjuster. I can always have a challenging game to help me improve but not get so utterly smoked that I don't know what happened and learn nothing. and I for one am not good enough to make an easy tie at its top level. 

* makes not not to play chessmasterfire until getting MUCH better at game. 

I agree with this. We have to send Tord many postcards (Glaurung is postcardware :) )

There is another chess app for iPhone - Fritz (link)

Yes, I picked this one up yesterday and played with it a bit last night.  Here are some thoughts I already posted in the iPhone/iPod touch Owners Group forum:

"It's pretty, and I assume the engine is good, but it's not as rich in features as Glaurung, Genius or Shredder.  You can play untimed, blitz or long games against a simple menu of levels (400, 500, 700, 850, 1000, 1200, 1500, 1800, 2100, 2210, & 2320 ELO).  It has the usual coaching features, and can show legal moves, threatened pieces, standard opening moves, etc.

It can't show analysis, which I find quite surprising.  It also doesn't give you any means to get a game off the device (no email, no upload).  You can't change the style of play.  It doesn't do adaptive level selection based on your play.  There's no position editor.

In short, although the ChessBase logo is on the splash screen, it doesn't feel like a ChessBase product.  I'd guess that Gammick just borrowed some version of the Fritz engine and wrapped it in a nice-looking game for casual chess-players (casual meaning they don't care that there's no analysis, board set-up, or easy way to transfer PGN).

The game does have its own selection of music you can listen to during the game, so that's something original.  You can even choose between jazz, electronic and "concentration" (whatever that means).  I haven't tried the music yet, so I can't attest to the quality of Fritz's musical stylings.  :-)"

In short, a good-looking app with a great engine, but it's missing some features I consider pretty essential.  Maybe we'll see those added in future versions, which would be great.

Oh... that's bad...

I was hoping that it has 18MB because of unusually large opening book, not in-game music O_o

Thanks for review!

I tried it too, and promtly deleted it and gave it one star rating. I think it sucks.

Glaurung is everything that game has (which is not very much a all) and alot more and its free.

but I'm willing to pay for tChess because of its ability to set level of time and ply, a gimmick I wish all the games had, and Shredder because it estimates your ELO and automatically adjust its own power to match. that alone makes it worth having. if Glaurung were to ad these two features, it would be the perfect game. (hey Tord, you gonna add these features.) purty please?

Yes, all three apps (Glaurung, tChess Pro and Shredder) are worth having. Every one has some unique features.

As for automatic ELO adjustment it should be quite easy...

1 - play mobile Glaurung (at levels 0-100, say 10 times at every 10th level) vs any desktop engine (Rybka, Glaurung)
2 - measure ELO of mobile Glaurung with ELOstat 1.3
3 - calculate level vs ELO curve for Glaurung
4 - measure "per event" rating for every human vs mobile Glaurung play (link) so it can "adjust" (in practice: dynamically adjust level with respect to the pre-computed curve and "new ELO ranking" of human player)

... actually I am trying to prepare such a "level vs ELO" curve for Glaurung now because I wanted to do such a thing manually and check if it works... but it takes some time...

I like pitting programs against each other to see which is stronger.

I did a rematch between tChess and Shredder, letting tChess have one minute to move, and shredder at 2400 elo. (it thinks between 5 and 30 seconds, usually about 15)

shredder is cearly the better engine, even if it doesn't have the ability t set the time as long as tChess can. but then you can use the analyis mode to let shredder think for 10 minutes if you wanted too! LOL!

[Event "rematch between shredder and tChess"]
[Site "iPhone 3G"]
[Date "2009.04.06"]
[Round "2"]
[White "tChess"]
[Black "Shredder"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 Bb7 8. d4 d6 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Qxd8 Rfxd8 12. Nd5 Rd7 13. Nxe7+ Rxe7 14. c3 h6 15. Bc2 Rd8 16. Be3 Red7 17. Bc5 Nh5 18. Red1 Nf6 19. Rxd7 Nxd7 20. Be3 Nf6 21. Re1 a5 22. Re2 Kh7 23. Rd2 Rxd2 24. Bxd2 g5 25. Be3 b4 26. Bd2 Kg7 27. h3 Nd7 28. Ba4 f6 29. cxb4 axb4 30. Be3 Nf8 31. Bb3 Na5 32. Bc2 Ne6 33. Nd2 Ba6 34. Ba4 Nd4 35. Bd7 Kf8 36. h4 Ke7 37. Bg4 Kd6 38. f3 Bc4 39. b3 Bd3 40. Kh2 Nb5 41. Bf5 Nc3 42. Bg6 Nxa2 43. Bf7 Nc1 44. Nc4+ Bxc4 45. bxc4 Nd3 46. hxg5 hxg5 47. c5+ Nxc5 48. Bd2 Nd3 49. Ba2 c5 50. Bb1 Nb2 51. Be1 Nac4 52. Ba2 Na3 53. Bd5 Nd3 54. Bd2 c4 55. Kg1 b3 56. Bc3 b2 57. Bxb2 Nxb2 58. Kf2 c3 59. Bb3 Kc5 60. Ke2 Nb5 61. Ke1 Nd4 62. Bd1 Nxd1 63. Kxd1 Kc4 64. Ke1 Kd3 65. Kf1 c2 66. g3 c1=Q+ 67. Kg2 Ne2 68. Kh3 g4+ 69. Kxg4 Qg5+ 70. Kh3 Qxg3# 0-1

now I have also pitted shredder against chess genius and shredder won, and chess genius tied when I pitted it against Glaurung. (sadly I didn't think to save these two games)

anyway its my humble opinion, that shredder has the best engine. (or at least can easily hold its own) combine that with its auto level thing and I vote it for best iphone chess game.