I’m at Barnes and Nobles, checking out the color Nook. I already own a Kindle. So, the cute young sales woman was more than happy to teach me the great mysteries lurking inside this expensive gadget.  I didn’t mind the attention one bit.

1. She told me I can download as many books as I want for free, full versions, and read to my heart’s content. Who needs to buy one?

2. She showed me how to browse, and I said, “You mean the internet?” “Yep.” “Cool.”  I went to chess.com and there it was, in splendid living color.

3. “Do you think I can log onto my account here at the store?” “Yep.” “No way!” “Way.”

4. Having logged onto my account, I asked, “I wonder if I can enter a move in one of my Turn-Based games?” She said, “I don’t see why not. ” “Cool.”

5. It’s a touch screen interface, and the screen can be adjusted like an iPhone, by using two fingers to change the size.

6. The move I needed to enter was 0-0-0. That was a bit tricky at first, but the touch screen interface was intelligent enough to know that after I selected e8, then c8, 0-0-0 followed. I then clicked submit and got the confirmation message! It was like magic.

7. So, for free, at Barnes and Nobles, I fooled around with this cute…I mean an expensive gadget, with no data charges, I read a few pages from NEW chess books with crystal clear chess diagrams and fonts, entered a Turn-Based chess move and then played a game of chess using a preloaded app. I played 1.e4, the color Nook played 1.e6, the French Defense. Pretty cool. This gadget knows book moves.

8. It’s a Brave New World. The End.

Question – Is anyone using the chess.com iPhone app yet? Does it work? Can you enter Turn-Based moves? Dare I say, can you get in a few Live Chess blitz games at work?

If I was up on technology enough I would respond to that but I am at the level where I presume "Nook" is a misprint of "Book".  The one question that is bugging me though - in your picture, which one are you?

I might be even further behind than you are.  When I read nook I was looking for crannies.

I use the iPad app, which must be similar to the iPhone app. It's designed well for turn-based games, tactics trainer, play against the computer (something I do not use), and video lessons (too limited at my membership level). However, with a bit of exploring, I found that despite claims to the contrary, I CAN play blitz in my favorite coffee house with Wi-Fi via the iPad. I lag more (they have a lot of customers logged in) and play slower than with a rodent, so I've lost a few one-minute games from winning positions at move fifty or so.

Blitz in my favorite coffee house. The atmosphere!

For those still stuck in the Mesozoic Era, it is spelled Nook, not book.

If I can play chess on a nook, guess I'm giving up my Kindle!

Like I said, it's a brave new world, and some members are having too much fun taking chess.com mobile on a smart phone, Nook, iPhone and iPad. Has anyone tried playing Live Chess on an iPhone?

I press the wrong buttons too often on my Samsung touchscreen cell phone. The Nook is larger than a cell phone, but smaller that an iPad, so playing Live Chess, if there is an app, may be a stretch. It was hard enough for me to enter a Turn-Based move until I got the hang of it, but I did it.

The best part about this new mobile technology is that I get to stay married.

When my wife wants company at the shopping mall, we always end up at Barnes and Noble, where she looks at REAL books for hours. While she is doing that, I could be playing Live Chess. Now that is progress! 

Is anyone playing Live Chess on the tablet below? Is there an app?

Motorola XOOM With Wi-Fi 32 GB - Android 3.0 1 GHz

I've been using the iPhone app a lot lately. For the things that it does do, it's pretty great. I can enter moves in turn-based games, play some tactics if I have a few moments of downtime (sometimes while I eat breakfast at the dining hall :D), and it has a computer, but I don't use that because I also have the shredder app. There's an option to view chess.com videos, but I haven't even bothered to try that. It can't play any live chess as far as I know, but someone else here seems to have figured it out on the iPad. You have to have to be precise because the screen is small enough that the squares of the chess board are difficult to touch if you aren't accurate.

My problem with it is that if I'm on a wifi network and I leave and go somewhere else, the iPhone has to disconnect from the wifi network once it's out of range and go back to 3G. It seems to confuse the app if I'm trying to use it when it makes that switch. I'll suddenly get messages saying I've exceeded my daily limit for tactics trainer even though I have unlimited access to that and it won't let me make moves in my games. The only way to fix it that I can figure is to log out and log back in, but even that doesn't work every time. It's just a bug that they have to work out, it's not the first bug that the app has had and it won't be the last. I commend the tech department (or whomever develops the apps) for working through the bugs as they've come up.

Yes, I play live chess on my phone sometimes.  When I first found it I played for about 2 hours straight on my phone (which ran out it's batteries).

Of course given the choice I'd much rather play in person, but it's great if you're stuck in line somewhere or at an airport, makes the time really fly.

Live Chess on your phone? How do you get your finger to only press only one square out of 64?

No matter. The thought of being able to play Live Chess anywhere (wifi) with a phone is mind blowing.