Best iphone chess app?

im looking for a chess app that allows you to create a position on the board and offers best move/strategy for black or white

As I have written above virtually any chess app allows to input custom position and analyze it. Of course not every chess app in AppStore allows to enter and analyze custom position.

So apps worth to mention are:

- Glaurung - strong and free, allows to enter and analyze custom position

- Fritz - the strongest engine in AppStore (or just afrer 1.3.1 update will be out, as for version 1.3 analysis is useless because it hangs on "mate in x" and just shows random blunder)

- Chess Genius - strong, has some unique features (like importing PGN base from the internet)

- tChess Pro - first chess app in AppStore that allowed to input and analyze custom position

- Shredder - strong but fast engine, yet it seems to be a bit buggy (like can't force mate in some situation)

Personally I would recommend to start with Glaurung (for free!). If it would be "not enough", then depending on what you need you should try:

- for better interface and the strongest engine - Fritz

- for importing PGN databases and watching engine to play against engine (for example to see how endgame should go, or how particular custom position can be played) - Chess Genius

[edit] or just wait a few days for ultimate chess app:

http://www.hiarcs.com/iHiarcsChess.htm

I am pleased to announce that after various delays Hiarcs for Iphone is now available. After http://www.hiarcs.com/Games/Mercosur2009/mercosur09.htm this performance recently on a Pocket PC I am sure Hiarcs for Iphone will be the strongest available. If anyone has any questions I will try to answer them here or you can post them on our forum at www.hiarcs.net

Best Wishes,

Harvey

Thanks everyone for this thread. I've been reading it for a while now and am doing a comparative set of reviews of various iPhone Chess apps now. I'm currently running HIARCS vs Glaurung at the highest settings. Will run a few matches. I'm currently only into move 23 in the first with Glaurung playing White:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O Bb6 7. Bb3 Ne7 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. Nc4 Ng6 10. h3 Qe7 11. Re1 Be6 12. d4 h6 13. Bd2 c5 14. d5 Bc8 15. Nxb6
axb6 16. Bc4 Bd7 17. a4 Ra7 18. b3 Rfa8 19. Rb1 Ra5 20. Bf1 R5a7 21. Nh2 Kh7
22. Bd3 Kg8 23. Rb2 Rf8

I noticed several Chess for iPhone developers are on this list. I've already emailed most of you, but if you see this and would like your app included in a round of Chess for iPhone reviews that I'm writing on my blog (http://www.sampletheweb.com) you can reach me via ck at sampletheweb dot com to get me a review copy of your app. I currently have Glaurung, HIARCS, and Chess Genius to review and will be doing a full roundup comparison of the apps on Obsessable.com, where I am one of the editors, once I am done.

More details here about my reviews here:

http://www.sampletheweb.com/2009/07/04/dear-iphone-app-developers/

Also, if you play on Chess with Friends and you ever want to play, I'm cksample there and I'm always up for a game.

Cheers,

C.K.

Here's the first game with HIARCS winning as black:

Hello! I bought HIARCS yesterday and I was able to achieve a relatively easy draw in 47 moves, by threefold repetition, though I admit I had to take bake 3 moves during the game. Beside the kings, there were only 2 dark bishops and a couple of pawns left on the board at the end. I played the hardest level (2600 Elo), time control 30'/5", permanent brain set on, "active" style. The platform was an iPhone 3G, but HIARCS would have been considerably stronger on a 3GS. Unfortunately there's a bug keeping me from emailing the PGN, but I'll write down the file myself and post the game here soon. Cheers!

P.S. I posted several comments on this topic as ChessMasterFire, but I closed that account by mistake and I had to make a new one.

tChess Pro vs Shredder. Shredder won. tChess Pro actually resigned in move 116, but I had it continue to finish the game to its gruesome end.

Thanks for these games, cksample!  So far, no big surprises for me.

Anything else planned?  ..Like a Hiarcs vs. Fritz battle?  Shredder vs Genius?  :)

HIARCS vs Fritz will be interesting, also Genius seems to be strong

Yeah, for sure.  I would bet that Hiarcs and Fritz are the top two for pure strength (but I can't guess which is #1 and #2). 

Likewise, I would think that Shredder and Genius are next in line (but again, which one is #3 and which is #4 is harder to estimate).

I believe that Genius is stronger than Shredder, but it is hard to make both play against each other on one iPhone ;]

I plan on running a tournament between all the leading iPhone chess apps before writing up reviews of each app on my site. I'd love to do HIARCS vs Fritz, but I'm still awaiting a review copy of Fritz from the Fritz team (they say they'll send me one with the next update).

It's not that difficult. You simply switch back and forth between the apps, playing for the other app.

I think I'm going to run Shredder vs Genius next. Then Hiarcs vs whoever wins.

Guys, I did it! I beat HIARCS in only 59 moves yesterday evening, which is quite incredible as it was only my second attempt, the first one ending in a draw. It's weird that I was able to win this easier than I was able to hold the draw in the previous game.  I still can't say which engine is stronger, HIARCS or Fritz, but the fact is that I couldn't get past Fritz yet. One thing is for sure, though: HIARCS has the best and largest opening book I have ever seen on a mobile device in my all life. Here is the game!

Nice one!    Maximum strength I presume.  Permanent brain on?

Yes, I played the hardest level (2600 Elo), time control 30'/5", permanent brain set on, active style and with tournament book. I had to take back a couple of moves during the endgame, but not before obtaining a fair-and-square advantage of +2,5. As I was trying to finish the game faster, I did some not-very-accurate moves and my advantage decreased a bit. I'm not so good in endgames anyway. I felt that I could win as early as the 18th move, or at least I was sure the computer wouldn't be able to get more than a draw from that position.

I still couldn't email the PGN for the draw, but I'll try to write the moves myself before the end of this week.

 Also Bereg Chess: http://appshopper.com/games/beregchess

 I've tried once (when Glaurung came out - Glaurung vs tChess Pro) and it's very tiresome...