Chess for iOS (iPhone/iPad/iPod) blog created

[Robert Flesher]

I am in total shock
I just watched both Chesstiger and Hiarcs on the Ipod CRUSH Rebel 12 on my I7 920! I had no idea these things were that strong now. I am befuddled.

Hehe, and this is just the beginning The iPad 2 (and the up to come iPhone 5 and its iPod counterpart) has an A5 chip, twice as fast and double-cored. When I said mobile devices are the future for us computer chess enthusiasts, you now see I meant it! ^^ Just like Apple does when they call them the "post-PC devices".

Other classic engines for iOS you might want to look at:
- ChessGenius
- Deep green Chess
- Fritz (but I suspect it's powered with the HIARCS engine, if I'm not mistaken). Still, good interface.
- iGrandMaster
- Shredder (on the iPad, it has the best interface of them all, by far! ).
- Stockfish (and it's free )
- Viktor 2
- tChess Pro (by Tom Kerrigan). Again, the iPad version is very good. But the iPhone one is ok too.

Other interesting chess software are the three opus of TWICFiles : a chessbase for your iPhone.

Those were only the big names, there are hundreds of others.

This is stunning!

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.03.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hiarcs Ipod Touch"]
[Black "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 {0.00/1 0.8} 2. Nf3 Nc6 {0.00/1 0.9} 3. Bb5 a6 {0.00/1 0.8} 4. Ba4 Nf6
{0.00/1 0.8} 5. O-O Bc5 {0.00/1 0.9} 6. c3 b5 {0.00/1 0.8} 7. Bc2 d6 {0.00/1 0.
2} 8. d4 Bb6 {0.00/1 0.3} 9. a4 Bg4 {0.00/1 0.8} 10. d5 Ne7 {0.00/1 0.4} 11.
axb5 axb5 {-0.26/10 1.0} 12. Rxa8 Qxa8 {-0.28/12 0.0} 13. Na3 Bd7 {-0.29/11 1.5
} 14. Qe2 O-O {-0.31/11 1.1} 15. Nxb5 Ng4 {-0.52/12 0.9} 16. c4 Bxb5 {-0.46/11
9.5} 17. cxb5 f5 {-0.42/12 0.3} 18. exf5 Nxf2 {-0.41/12 0.6} 19. Rxf2 Qa1 {-0.
54/12 0.7} 20. Qe1 Nxf5 {-0.60/12 4.5} 21. Kf1 Bxf2 {-0.40/11 2.0} 22. Kxf2
Qa7+ {-0.46/13 0.7} 23. Be3 Nxe3 {-0.49/12 2.4} 24. Qxe3 Qa5 {-0.42/13 0.7} 25.
Bd3 Qa1 {-0.33/11 8.3} 26. Kg3 Qd1 {-1.18/14 0.7} 27. Ng5 g6 {-1.47/13 0.2} 28.
Ne6 Ra8 {-2.13/12 9.9} 29. Be4 Qh5 {-2.74/11 4.5} 30. Nxc7 Rb8 {11.09/0} 31.
Ne6 g5 {-3.63/14 0.3} 32. h3 Re8 {10.03/0} 33. Nxg5 Re7 {10.05/0} 34. Ne6 Re8 {
-4.72/12 8.3} 35. Qa3 1-0

Here is another.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.03.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "ChessTiger 11 Ipod Touch"]
[Black "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Nf3 Be7 6. d4 O-O 7. Bd3 f5 8.
exf6 Bxf6 9. O-O Nc6 10. Ne2 Nb4 11. Bb5 Bd7 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13. c3 Nc6 14. Nf4
Rad8 15. Nd3 Rde8 16. Bf4 g5 17. Nfe5 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 Bxe5 19. Nxe5 Qb5 20. Qc2
Qa6 21. Rf3 Qe6 22. Raf1 c5 23. Qa4 cxd4 24. Qxd4 Rxf3 25. Nxf3 b6 26. Ne1 Rf8
27. Rxf8+ Kxf8 28. Nf3 Kg8 29. Qe5 Qxe5 30. Nxe5 Kg7 31. Nc6 a5 32. Ne7 Nf6 33.
Kf2 Kf7 34. Nc8 Ke6 35. Nxb6 Kd6 36. Ke3 Kc6 37. Nc8 Kc5 38. h3 Nh5 39. Kf3 Nf4
40. b3 Nd3 41. a3 d4 42. b4+ axb4 43. axb4+ Kd5 44. cxd4 Nxb4 45. Kg4 h6 1/2-1/2

.....And another

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.03.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Black "ChessTiger 11 IPod Touch"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 c5 4. d5 Qb6 5. Bc1 e6 6. f3 Nf6 7. c4 d6 8. e4 g6
9. Ne2 Bg7 10. Nec3 O-O 11. a4 exd5 12. cxd5 Ne8 13. a5 Qd8 14. Be3 f5 15. Nd2
Nd7 16. Be2 fxe4 17. Ndxe4 Ndf6 18. O-O Nxe4 19. fxe4 Rxf1+ 20. Qxf1 Bd7 21.
Qf2 Qe7 22. Rf1 Nf6 23. Qh4 Re8 24. Bg5 Rf8 25. Rf3 Rf7 26. Rf2 Be8 27. h3 Bd7
28. Rf3 Qf8 29. Be3 Qe8 30. Rf2 b5 31. axb6 axb6 32. Rf3 Rf8 33. Bh6 Bxh6 34.
Qxh6 b5 35. Qg5 Kg7 36. Bd3 b4 37. Na2 Bb5 38. Bxb5 Qxb5 39. e5 dxe5 40. Qxe5
Qe8 41. Qc7+ Rf7 42. Qxc5 Qe1+ 43. Kh2 Qe5+ 44. Kg1 Qxb2 45. Nxb4 Qa1+ 46. Kh2
Qe5+ 47. Kh1 Rc7 48. Qg1 Nxd5 49. Nd3 Qe7 50. Qa1+ Nf6 51. Ne5 Ra7 52. Qd4 Ra6
53. Qb2 Re6 54. Ng4 Qd6 55. Rf1 Qb6 56. Qa3 Qa6 57. Qc1 1/2-1/2

[tiger]

Actually an iPod touch is an incredible value for the money. It is far less expensive than PalmOS or PocketPC devices (back in the years) and can do so much more...

// Christophe

Yes indeed, iOS is catching the lead from Windows Mobile (6.x and former) in the small device chess league.

Thanks for the iOS Chess Tiger. Purchased it the day he came out. With this great gui it's a pleasure to play chess yourself against the elo-levels.
Well done Christophe!

Thanks. And it will get better thank to people like you, who report when something is not working and suggest improvements.

Beside the fun, got these small issues on my iPod touch 2G running iOS 4.0

- could not send a game via email. CT gui closed, but noting happens then. Same feature works like a charm with stockfish

OK, then I need more info on this one because it has never been reported before. Can you give more details?

Is Mail already configured on your iPad (I guess yes...)? Was the game very long? What kind of account are you using (we have tested it mainly with GMail accounts and do not expect any difference with other providers, but who knows)?

- after setting difficulty to 1900 fide elo, playing some moves, ending CT and coming back later, the difficulty changed always to 850 elo. OK, got some fast winnings ..

OK, got it. You are correct, it happens when the system runs other applications and kills Chess Tiger to get more free memory.

Will be fixed in the next update. Thanks.

- on the iPod 2G CT searches about 60 kNs. From the games which I played, it seems to me, that a setting of 1900 fide-elo creates an opponent playing more like 1750-1800 elo (or weaker)

Definitely not.

The strength of the trainer is absolutely not related to the speed of your processor. The trainer set at a given level does the same amount of processing on any device. It either answer instantly or absolutely instantly or even more instantly than that, so you cannot tell the difference anway.

However it is possible that the trainer levels need some calibration.

What I have done is let them play millions of games against each other (yes really) in order to establish the exact difference between them. Then I tried to calibrate the scale to match the human scale.

This is the hardest part of the process because you never get enough games to get an accurate rating.

I may be able to adjust the scale with feedback from customers.

- when finishing the setup position dialog, an option to reset the clock would be nice. Otherwise the clock counts up from the last and timing of positions gets difficult

You are right.



[quote}
- an infinite analyze time would be welcome

All the best,
Max[/quote]


Yes longer thinking times are on my TODO list. I should have expected that people would ask for them.



// Christophe

[Robert Flesher]

I am in total shock
I just watched both Chesstiger and Hiarcs on the Ipod CRUSH Rebel 12 on my I7 920! I had no idea these things were that strong now. I am befuddled.

Hehe, and this is just the beginning The iPad 2 (and the up to come iPhone 5 and its iPod counterpart) has an A5 chip, twice as fast and double-cored. When I said mobile devices are the future for us computer chess enthusiasts, you now see I meant it! ^^ Just like Apple does when they call them the "post-PC devices".

Other classic engines for iOS you might want to look at:
- ChessGenius
- Deep green Chess
- Fritz (but I suspect it's powered with the HIARCS engine, if I'm not mistaken). Still, good interface.
- iGrandMaster
- Shredder (on the iPad, it has the best interface of them all, by far! ).
- Stockfish (and it's free )
- Viktor 2
- tChess Pro (by Tom Kerrigan). Again, the iPad version is very good. But the iPhone one is ok too.

Other interesting chess software are the three opus of TWICFiles : a chessbase for your iPhone.

Those were only the big names, there are hundreds of others.

This is stunning!

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.03.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hiarcs Ipod Touch"]
[Black "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 {0.00/1 0.8} 2. Nf3 Nc6 {0.00/1 0.9} 3. Bb5 a6 {0.00/1 0.8} 4. Ba4 Nf6
{0.00/1 0.8} 5. O-O Bc5 {0.00/1 0.9} 6. c3 b5 {0.00/1 0.8} 7. Bc2 d6 {0.00/1 0.
2} 8. d4 Bb6 {0.00/1 0.3} 9. a4 Bg4 {0.00/1 0.8} 10. d5 Ne7 {0.00/1 0.4} 11.
axb5 axb5 {-0.26/10 1.0} 12. Rxa8 Qxa8 {-0.28/12 0.0} 13. Na3 Bd7 {-0.29/11 1.5
} 14. Qe2 O-O {-0.31/11 1.1} 15. Nxb5 Ng4 {-0.52/12 0.9} 16. c4 Bxb5 {-0.46/11
9.5} 17. cxb5 f5 {-0.42/12 0.3} 18. exf5 Nxf2 {-0.41/12 0.6} 19. Rxf2 Qa1 {-0.
54/12 0.7} 20. Qe1 Nxf5 {-0.60/12 4.5} 21. Kf1 Bxf2 {-0.40/11 2.0} 22. Kxf2
Qa7+ {-0.46/13 0.7} 23. Be3 Nxe3 {-0.49/12 2.4} 24. Qxe3 Qa5 {-0.42/13 0.7} 25.
Bd3 Qa1 {-0.33/11 8.3} 26. Kg3 Qd1 {-1.18/14 0.7} 27. Ng5 g6 {-1.47/13 0.2} 28.
Ne6 Ra8 {-2.13/12 9.9} 29. Be4 Qh5 {-2.74/11 4.5} 30. Nxc7 Rb8 {11.09/0} 31.
Ne6 g5 {-3.63/14 0.3} 32. h3 Re8 {10.03/0} 33. Nxg5 Re7 {10.05/0} 34. Ne6 Re8 {
-4.72/12 8.3} 35. Qa3 1-0

Here is another.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.03.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "ChessTiger 11 Ipod Touch"]
[Black "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Nf3 Be7 6. d4 O-O 7. Bd3 f5 8.
exf6 Bxf6 9. O-O Nc6 10. Ne2 Nb4 11. Bb5 Bd7 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13. c3 Nc6 14. Nf4
Rad8 15. Nd3 Rde8 16. Bf4 g5 17. Nfe5 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 Bxe5 19. Nxe5 Qb5 20. Qc2
Qa6 21. Rf3 Qe6 22. Raf1 c5 23. Qa4 cxd4 24. Qxd4 Rxf3 25. Nxf3 b6 26. Ne1 Rf8
27. Rxf8+ Kxf8 28. Nf3 Kg8 29. Qe5 Qxe5 30. Nxe5 Kg7 31. Nc6 a5 32. Ne7 Nf6 33.
Kf2 Kf7 34. Nc8 Ke6 35. Nxb6 Kd6 36. Ke3 Kc6 37. Nc8 Kc5 38. h3 Nh5 39. Kf3 Nf4
40. b3 Nd3 41. a3 d4 42. b4+ axb4 43. axb4+ Kd5 44. cxd4 Nxb4 45. Kg4 h6 1/2-1/2

.....And another

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.03.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Black "ChessTiger 11 IPod Touch"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 c5 4. d5 Qb6 5. Bc1 e6 6. f3 Nf6 7. c4 d6 8. e4 g6
9. Ne2 Bg7 10. Nec3 O-O 11. a4 exd5 12. cxd5 Ne8 13. a5 Qd8 14. Be3 f5 15. Nd2
Nd7 16. Be2 fxe4 17. Ndxe4 Ndf6 18. O-O Nxe4 19. fxe4 Rxf1+ 20. Qxf1 Bd7 21.
Qf2 Qe7 22. Rf1 Nf6 23. Qh4 Re8 24. Bg5 Rf8 25. Rf3 Rf7 26. Rf2 Be8 27. h3 Bd7
28. Rf3 Qf8 29. Be3 Qe8 30. Rf2 b5 31. axb6 axb6 32. Rf3 Rf8 33. Bh6 Bxh6 34.
Qxh6 b5 35. Qg5 Kg7 36. Bd3 b4 37. Na2 Bb5 38. Bxb5 Qxb5 39. e5 dxe5 40. Qxe5
Qe8 41. Qc7+ Rf7 42. Qxc5 Qe1+ 43. Kh2 Qe5+ 44. Kg1 Qxb2 45. Nxb4 Qa1+ 46. Kh2
Qe5+ 47. Kh1 Rc7 48. Qg1 Nxd5 49. Nd3 Qe7 50. Qa1+ Nf6 51. Ne5 Ra7 52. Qd4 Ra6
53. Qb2 Re6 54. Ng4 Qd6 55. Rf1 Qb6 56. Qa3 Qa6 57. Qc1 1/2-1/2

Another win for Hiarcs!

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.3.12"]
[Time "14:58:34"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hiarcs 12.1 Ipod Touch"]
[Black "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Result "*"]
[Opening "C43 Petrov modern attack, Symmetrical variation"]


1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-O Qh4 8.
c4 O-O-O 9. c5 g5 10. Nc3 Nf6 11. g3 Qh3 12. Qf3 Ng4 13. Qg2 Qxg2+ 14. Kxg2 h6
15. f4 Re8 16. fxg5 hxg5 17. h3 Ne3+ 18. Bxe3 Rxe3 19. Bf5 Bxf5 20. Rxf5 f6 21.
Rxd5 Be7 22. Rd1 c6 23. Rf5 Kd7 24. d5 cxd5 25. Rf2 Re5 26. Nxd5 Ke6 27. Nxe7
Kxe7 28. b4 Rc8 29. Rd6 Re6 30. Rxe6+ Kxe6 31. Re2+ Kd5 32. h4 a5 33. Rd2+ Ke5
34. a3 gxh4 35. gxh4 Rg8+ 36. Kf3 Rg1 37. h5 Ra1 38. Rd3 Rh1 39. Re3+ Kf5 40.
Re7 Rxh5 41. Rxb7 Rh3+ 42. Ke2 Rc3 43. Kd2 Rxa3 44. b5 Ra2+ 45. Kd3 Ke6 46. c6
Ra3+ 47. Kd4 Ra1 48. b6 Rd1+ 49. Kc5 Rc1+ 50. Kb5 1-0

[tiger]

(not sure if I can change the current screenshots without submitting at the same time an update to the application).

If I recall correctly (which I quite possibly don't), you can.

By the way, all the red tape surrounding iTunes connect and the App Store is in my opinion by far the most annoying thing about developing for iOS.

And Chess Tiger is definitely around 2700 elo on YOUR device.

I hope you're right, but nobody really knows. The estimates titled players give for Stockfish on the latest generation of iOS devices range from 2300 to 2700. It's possible that Chess Tiger is stronger, but I'd be surprised if it's hundreds of Elo points stronger.

At any rate, both programs are of course more than strong enough for the average chess player.

I took an estimate of the strength of Chess Tiger 2011 on PC calibrated to be compatible with the CCRL and SSDF list and scaled it according to the speed difference with the iPhone 4 because the iOS engine is identical.

I think this estimate is meaningful for people who are familiar with computer chess, and is compatible with accepted practice in the field.

If it's totally off then both the SSDF and CCRL list would also have to recalibrate. If Stockfish on iOS is really 2300 they definitely will have to.

However the little data we have about human vs computer tend to confirm that the SSDF and the CCRL are using elo ratings comparable to FIDE ratings. You can remember that Chess Tiger in 2001 running on a PIII-866MHz got a 2788 elo performance in Argentina against several Grandmasters, and Hiarcs has established a similar record recently.


// Christophe

[Robert Flesher]

I am in total shock
I just watched both Chesstiger and Hiarcs on the Ipod CRUSH Rebel 12 on my I7 920! I had no idea these things were that strong now. I am befuddled.

Hehe, and this is just the beginning The iPad 2 (and the up to come iPhone 5 and its iPod counterpart) has an A5 chip, twice as fast and double-cored. When I said mobile devices are the future for us computer chess enthusiasts, you now see I meant it! ^^ Just like Apple does when they call them the "post-PC devices".

Other classic engines for iOS you might want to look at:
- ChessGenius
- Deep green Chess
- Fritz (but I suspect it's powered with the HIARCS engine, if I'm not mistaken). Still, good interface.
- iGrandMaster
- Shredder (on the iPad, it has the best interface of them all, by far! ).
- Stockfish (and it's free )
- Viktor 2
- tChess Pro (by Tom Kerrigan). Again, the iPad version is very good. But the iPhone one is ok too.

Other interesting chess software are the three opus of TWICFiles : a chessbase for your iPhone.

Those were only the big names, there are hundreds of others.

This is stunning!

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.03.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hiarcs Ipod Touch"]
[Black "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 {0.00/1 0.8} 2. Nf3 Nc6 {0.00/1 0.9} 3. Bb5 a6 {0.00/1 0.8} 4. Ba4 Nf6
{0.00/1 0.8} 5. O-O Bc5 {0.00/1 0.9} 6. c3 b5 {0.00/1 0.8} 7. Bc2 d6 {0.00/1 0.
2} 8. d4 Bb6 {0.00/1 0.3} 9. a4 Bg4 {0.00/1 0.8} 10. d5 Ne7 {0.00/1 0.4} 11.
axb5 axb5 {-0.26/10 1.0} 12. Rxa8 Qxa8 {-0.28/12 0.0} 13. Na3 Bd7 {-0.29/11 1.5
} 14. Qe2 O-O {-0.31/11 1.1} 15. Nxb5 Ng4 {-0.52/12 0.9} 16. c4 Bxb5 {-0.46/11
9.5} 17. cxb5 f5 {-0.42/12 0.3} 18. exf5 Nxf2 {-0.41/12 0.6} 19. Rxf2 Qa1 {-0.
54/12 0.7} 20. Qe1 Nxf5 {-0.60/12 4.5} 21. Kf1 Bxf2 {-0.40/11 2.0} 22. Kxf2
Qa7+ {-0.46/13 0.7} 23. Be3 Nxe3 {-0.49/12 2.4} 24. Qxe3 Qa5 {-0.42/13 0.7} 25.
Bd3 Qa1 {-0.33/11 8.3} 26. Kg3 Qd1 {-1.18/14 0.7} 27. Ng5 g6 {-1.47/13 0.2} 28.
Ne6 Ra8 {-2.13/12 9.9} 29. Be4 Qh5 {-2.74/11 4.5} 30. Nxc7 Rb8 {11.09/0} 31.
Ne6 g5 {-3.63/14 0.3} 32. h3 Re8 {10.03/0} 33. Nxg5 Re7 {10.05/0} 34. Ne6 Re8 {
-4.72/12 8.3} 35. Qa3 1-0

Here is another.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.03.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "ChessTiger 11 Ipod Touch"]
[Black "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Nf3 Be7 6. d4 O-O 7. Bd3 f5 8.
exf6 Bxf6 9. O-O Nc6 10. Ne2 Nb4 11. Bb5 Bd7 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13. c3 Nc6 14. Nf4
Rad8 15. Nd3 Rde8 16. Bf4 g5 17. Nfe5 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 Bxe5 19. Nxe5 Qb5 20. Qc2
Qa6 21. Rf3 Qe6 22. Raf1 c5 23. Qa4 cxd4 24. Qxd4 Rxf3 25. Nxf3 b6 26. Ne1 Rf8
27. Rxf8+ Kxf8 28. Nf3 Kg8 29. Qe5 Qxe5 30. Nxe5 Kg7 31. Nc6 a5 32. Ne7 Nf6 33.
Kf2 Kf7 34. Nc8 Ke6 35. Nxb6 Kd6 36. Ke3 Kc6 37. Nc8 Kc5 38. h3 Nh5 39. Kf3 Nf4
40. b3 Nd3 41. a3 d4 42. b4+ axb4 43. axb4+ Kd5 44. cxd4 Nxb4 45. Kg4 h6 1/2-1/2

.....And another

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.03.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Black "ChessTiger 11 IPod Touch"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 c5 4. d5 Qb6 5. Bc1 e6 6. f3 Nf6 7. c4 d6 8. e4 g6
9. Ne2 Bg7 10. Nec3 O-O 11. a4 exd5 12. cxd5 Ne8 13. a5 Qd8 14. Be3 f5 15. Nd2
Nd7 16. Be2 fxe4 17. Ndxe4 Ndf6 18. O-O Nxe4 19. fxe4 Rxf1+ 20. Qxf1 Bd7 21.
Qf2 Qe7 22. Rf1 Nf6 23. Qh4 Re8 24. Bg5 Rf8 25. Rf3 Rf7 26. Rf2 Be8 27. h3 Bd7
28. Rf3 Qf8 29. Be3 Qe8 30. Rf2 b5 31. axb6 axb6 32. Rf3 Rf8 33. Bh6 Bxh6 34.
Qxh6 b5 35. Qg5 Kg7 36. Bd3 b4 37. Na2 Bb5 38. Bxb5 Qxb5 39. e5 dxe5 40. Qxe5
Qe8 41. Qc7+ Rf7 42. Qxc5 Qe1+ 43. Kh2 Qe5+ 44. Kg1 Qxb2 45. Nxb4 Qa1+ 46. Kh2
Qe5+ 47. Kh1 Rc7 48. Qg1 Nxd5 49. Nd3 Qe7 50. Qa1+ Nf6 51. Ne5 Ra7 52. Qd4 Ra6
53. Qb2 Re6 54. Ng4 Qd6 55. Rf1 Qb6 56. Qa3 Qa6 57. Qc1 1/2-1/2

Another win for Hiarcs!

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.3.12"]
[Time "14:58:34"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hiarcs 12.1 Ipod Touch"]
[Black "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Result "*"]
[Opening "C43 Petrov modern attack, Symmetrical variation"]


1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-O Qh4 8.
c4 O-O-O 9. c5 g5 10. Nc3 Nf6 11. g3 Qh3 12. Qf3 Ng4 13. Qg2 Qxg2+ 14. Kxg2 h6
15. f4 Re8 16. fxg5 hxg5 17. h3 Ne3+ 18. Bxe3 Rxe3 19. Bf5 Bxf5 20. Rxf5 f6 21.
Rxd5 Be7 22. Rd1 c6 23. Rf5 Kd7 24. d5 cxd5 25. Rf2 Re5 26. Nxd5 Ke6 27. Nxe7
Kxe7 28. b4 Rc8 29. Rd6 Re6 30. Rxe6+ Kxe6 31. Re2+ Kd5 32. h4 a5 33. Rd2+ Ke5
34. a3 gxh4 35. gxh4 Rg8+ 36. Kf3 Rg1 37. h5 Ra1 38. Rd3 Rh1 39. Re3+ Kf5 40.
Re7 Rxh5 41. Rxb7 Rh3+ 42. Ke2 Rc3 43. Kd2 Rxa3 44. b5 Ra2+ 45. Kd3 Ke6 46. c6
Ra3+ 47. Kd4 Ra1 48. b6 Rd1+ 49. Kc5 Rc1+ 50. Kb5 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.03.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rebel 12.00.01 - Rebel"]
[Black "Hiarcs 12.3 Ipod Touch"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Ba6 5. Qc2 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Nc3 c6 8. g3
Bd6 9. Bg2 O-O 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Re1 Re8 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. e4 dxe4
15. Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Rxe4 Rxe4 17. Qxe4 Rc8 18. Re1 Rc7 19. Qc2 Bb5 20. a4 Ba6 21.
Ne5 c5 22. dxc5 Rxc5 23. Qd1 Qc7 24. Ng4 h5 25. b4 Rc4 26. b5 hxg4 27. bxa6 Qc5
28. Be4 Qb4 29. Bd5 Rd4 30. Re8+ Bf8 31. Qb3 Qxb3 32. Bxb3 Rd3 33. Bc4 Rd7 34.
Kg2 g6 35. Re4 Kg7 36. Rxg4 Rd2 37. Rf4 f5 38. h3 Bd6 39. Rf3 Bc5 40. Bf1 Kh6
41. Bb5 Kg5 42. Bc4 Kh5 43. h4 Kh6 44. Bb5 Kh7 45. g4 Rd5 46. h5 gxh5 47. gxh5
Kh6 48. Be2 Re5 49. Kf1 Bd6 50. Rd3 Re6 51. Rd5 Kg5 52. a5 bxa5 53. Rxa5 Bc7
54. Rc5 Bf4 55. Rc8 Be5 56. Rg8+ Kf4 57. Rg3 Bd4 58. Rd3 Bb6 59. Rd7 Rc6 60.
Rd1 Kg5 61. Rd2 Ba5 62. Rd3 Bb6 63. Rf3 Bc7 64. Kg2 Bf4 65. Rh3 Rc2 66. Bd3 Rc6
67. Bb5 Rb6 68. Bc4 1/2-1/2

[Robert Flesher]

(not sure if I can change the current screenshots without submitting at the same time an update to the application).

If I recall correctly (which I quite possibly don't), you can.

By the way, all the red tape surrounding iTunes connect and the App Store is in my opinion by far the most annoying thing about developing for iOS.

And Chess Tiger is definitely around 2700 elo on YOUR device.

I hope you're right, but nobody really knows. The estimates titled players give for Stockfish on the latest generation of iOS devices range from 2300 to 2700. It's possible that Chess Tiger is stronger, but I'd be surprised if it's hundreds of Elo points stronger.

At any rate, both programs are of course more than strong enough for the average chess player.

Hello Tord, I just wanted to thank you and the team for Stockfish Ipod/pc ( better late than never)

Now regarding the rating issue, there is no way stockfish on an Ipod
( The ipad is even faster) touch is anywhenre near 2300 chess, it is clearly 2700+ IMHO. I based my opinion on them playing against PC software on my I7 920 that is overclocked. No 2300 player would live long. The results speak volumes! They are all VERY strong!



Regarding strength I'd say Hiarcs>Stockfish>Chesstiger, but there are many variables. *After more play this may change*

Hiarcs seems to have the best opening book, and by far the best positional, solid play. Very strong!

Chesstiger, is very strong but plays chaotic chess
( I love this as a human), that is hard to understand.
(perhaps due to the opening book, it's provocative!)

Stockfish, plays like Stockfish, very strong, and if you make a mistake, you lose!

Anyone of these engine is amazing, so I'd say, but the more, the better!

[Max]

Beside the fun, got these small issues on my iPod touch 2G running iOS 4.0

- could not send a game via email. CT gui closed, but noting happens then. Same feature works like a charm with stockfish

OK, then I need more info on this one because it has never been reported before. Can you give more details?

Is Mail already configured on your iPad (I guess yes...)? Was the game very long? What kind of account are you using (we have tested it mainly with GMail accounts and do not expect any difference with other providers, but who knows)?

Yes, mail is already configured for two accounts. Default is a Microsoft live account (which is used by Stockfish and Shredder for her email feature) and second is a gmail account. Normal (26 .. 65 moves) games length. CT ends after clicking the Send-button, but iOS email client doesn't start. You are just back on the iOS-"desktop".

- after setting difficulty to 1900 fide elo, playing some moves, ending CT and coming back later, the difficulty changed always to 850 elo. OK, got some fast winnings ..

OK, got it. You are correct, it happens when the system runs other applications and kills Chess Tiger to get more free memory.

Will be fixed in the next update. Thanks.

Unfortunately Apple didn't spend the iPod touch 2G a multitasking feature with iOS 4.x. So ending an app doesn't mean it runs in the background. Unless you have jailbroken your device.

- on the iPod 2G CT searches about 60 kNs. From the games which I played, it seems to me, that a setting of 1900 fide-elo creates an opponent playing more like 1750-1800 elo (or weaker)

Definitely not.

The strength of the trainer is absolutely not related to the speed of your processor. The trainer set at a given level does the same amount of processing on any device. It either answer instantly or absolutely instantly or even more instantly than that, so you cannot tell the difference anway.

However it is possible that the trainer levels need some calibration.

What I have done is let them play millions of games against each other (yes really) in order to establish the exact difference between them. Then I tried to calibrate the scale to match the human scale.

This is the hardest part of the process because you never get enough games to get an accurate rating.

I may be able to adjust the scale with feedback from customers.

Thanks a lot for this details.

When you are playing a human or dedicated chess computer (with an expected 1900 elo), yours and the opponent strength depends on the time frame. Why not giving CT three modes for lowered difficulty/trainer levels ? Blitz (5"/move), active (30"/move) and tournament (180"/move). It is OK that CT answers instantly, but adding the level-adequate time to it's own clock would be fine. And of course, CT trainer at 1900-fide-elo-active should be stronger than the 1900-fide-elo-blitz level.

Btw, it would be nice to prefill the pgn-headers "Event" with the difficulty setting and "Site" with the iOS device.

Thanks,
Max

[Ponti]

Christophe, is there any chance to develop CT 2011 for OS/X (i own a Macbook pro).

A. Ponti

[tiger]

Beside the fun, got these small issues on my iPod touch 2G running iOS 4.0

- could not send a game via email. CT gui closed, but noting happens then. Same feature works like a charm with stockfish

OK, then I need more info on this one because it has never been reported before. Can you give more details?

Is Mail already configured on your iPad (I guess yes...)? Was the game very long? What kind of account are you using (we have tested it mainly with GMail accounts and do not expect any difference with other providers, but who knows)?

Yes, mail is already configured for two accounts. Default is a Microsoft live account (which is used by Stockfish and Shredder for her email feature) and second is a gmail account. Normal (26 .. 65 moves) games length. CT ends after clicking the Send-button, but iOS email client doesn't start. You are just back on the iOS-"desktop".

OK, I'll have to look deeper into this.

- after setting difficulty to 1900 fide elo, playing some moves, ending CT and coming back later, the difficulty changed always to 850 elo. OK, got some fast winnings ..

OK, got it. You are correct, it happens when the system runs other applications and kills Chess Tiger to get more free memory.

Will be fixed in the next update. Thanks.

Unfortunately Apple didn't spend the iPod touch 2G a multitasking feature with iOS 4.x. So ending an app doesn't mean it runs in the background. Unless you have jailbroken your device.

- on the iPod 2G CT searches about 60 kNs. From the games which I played, it seems to me, that a setting of 1900 fide-elo creates an opponent playing more like 1750-1800 elo (or weaker)

Definitely not.

The strength of the trainer is absolutely not related to the speed of your processor. The trainer set at a given level does the same amount of processing on any device. It either answer instantly or absolutely instantly or even more instantly than that, so you cannot tell the difference anway.

However it is possible that the trainer levels need some calibration.

What I have done is let them play millions of games against each other (yes really) in order to establish the exact difference between them. Then I tried to calibrate the scale to match the human scale.

This is the hardest part of the process because you never get enough games to get an accurate rating.

I may be able to adjust the scale with feedback from customers.

Thanks a lot for this details.

When you are playing a human or dedicated chess computer (with an expected 1900 elo), yours and the opponent strength depends on the time frame. Why not giving CT three modes for lowered difficulty/trainer levels ? Blitz (5"/move), active (30"/move) and tournament (180"/move). It is OK that CT answers instantly, but adding the level-adequate time to it's own clock would be fine. And of course, CT trainer at 1900-fide-elo-active should be stronger than the 1900-fide-elo-blitz level.

Btw, it would be nice to prefill the pgn-headers "Event" with the difficulty setting and "Site" with the iOS device.

Thanks,
Max

At http://www.chesstiger.com, in the FAQ dedicated to the PalmOS version, I explain what you are saying.

However it would be too complicated to have timed trainer levels.

The most important point about the trainer levels is that they provide increasing difficulty. The player adjusts the difficulty to his current strength and thinks for how long he likes to think. He will have to think longer as the level increase, which is good anyway for improving.

I'm not sure adding more constraints to this would bring much benefit.


// Christophe

[JuLieN]

Dom asked me by PM if there's any iPhone Apps that plays crazyhouse.

Yes and no. There is one, and it's free, but you can't play against the computer, as far as I know. Only 1v1 or 2v2 human players...

It's called Chess4 and can actually play four variants of chess. Here is it's description:

Chess4 is a fun multiplayer chess game for the iPhone and can be played with 2 or 4 players. Chess4 has 4 game types built in. They are: Normal, Suicide, Crazyhouse and Bughouse. All game types are played on one device except Bughouse, which is played over a Bluetooth connection with two *iPhones / iPod Touches.

And here's the link to download it on the AppStore: http://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/chess4/id377654788?mt=8#

I guess that if you want a computer opponent, sending a supportive email to Chess4's author would be a good start.

BTW, does someone know about a program that can play bughouse or crazyhouse? I can't remember one, even on PC! Oo