Want to study Chess, but just want something light while on the go? Each time you load this program, it will randomly choose a game from its collection of over 15,000 top-level games to show you (including over 3,500 World Championship games and 11,500 other games by grandmasters). Just tap play, sit back and relax as a Chess game unfolds in front of your eyes. Soon you will start to recognize patterns that will improve your own play.
The game moving too fast? Just tap the screen to advance one move at a time. The slider at the bottom can be used to jump to any point of the game. When you get tired of one game, just tap New and watch another random game.
Note: you cannot play Chess on your device using this app. It will only let you watch professional Chess games at random from its collection. Just a nice intellectual way to pass the time when you’re bored somewhere. I hope you will enjoy it!
Great program! Just a quick suggestion – 1 – a searchable database
2 – an opportunity to upload .pgn files or download to program
I would be willing to help compile a list of .pgn database files on specific players (kasparov etc.) and email to you.
It would be an awesome feature to have an organized catalog of games that are searchable.
It would even be great if the user could create there own .pgn files and be able to add to the database.
Maybe if it was doen where there was a menu to allow the opportunity to choose the individual .pgn
Thank you so much for this program! All others have lacked this capability for the iTouch! Nice job!
Let me know if there is anything I can do to support.
(I have Chessbase 10 with the Huge databse etc. that i can easily pull and save grouped .pgn by player etc.)
Thanks again!
A great idea and a great program.. and the same suggestion: a searchable database first and the possibility to upload files.
I have 2 more suggestions which you may not have heard already.
Firstly, rather than allow moves to be played back automatically, I prefer to hit the Next Move button, as some positions are obvious and some positions need to be studied. So, I am constantly hitting this button with my finger. Unfortunately, it is rather close to the slider which goes from the start of the game to the finish. And accidentally, I often place my finger a little too far to the right and put the game back to move one. This is an annoyance, because then I have to use the slider to figure out where I was, and go from the there. It happens to me all the time, and I think it could be avoided if only the space between the Next Move button and the beginning of the slider was increased slightly.
Secondly, while I agree with everyone that it would be much better to be able load my own pgn file, I have a comment to make about the database of games you are currently using given that – from a developers point of view – it would be much easier to change that database then it would be to develop the functionality of loading your own. Personally, I don’t think the database is all that great. While there are definitely a number of brilliant games in there, and certainly all the WC games (whether draws or wins) are necessary entries, there are many games that are neither particularly interesting nor played by anyone of note. A great number seem to have been played in Toronto – not exactly a world haven for chess masterpieces. So, I think that the selection of games in the database could be improved immensely, and that it would be relatively easy to do so, given that there are freely available collections of great games from famous players, tournaments and championships on the Internet.
In any case, I look forward to the next version of the program, which otherwise I like very much and which, at least for the moment, for me, is filling the main gap missing from all the other currently available iPhone chess apps. Good luck and thanks for the great program.
Adam Becker
Hi Adam,
Thanks for your suggestions. First of all, you will probably be pleased to know that if you tap anywhere on the screen it will advance one move. I have however added your wish to make more space between the FF button and slider to my planned features to add to the next version.
As I explained to Allen above in a private email, it is very hard to upload a file to an iPhone program due to technical restrictions Apple has placed on the device. I’d either have to connect to a WiFi network for migrating files or find an online service where it can download the files into the application. If you know of a good service for this, I would be interested. Are there any sites that you let you keep your own collection of chess games on them? That I think would be the ideal solution.
I have recently gotten a collection of Kasparov games which I plan to add to the next version, but as for all the free collection, I’m a bit worried about copyright issues, thus why not all of the games in the application are top-quality as you might wish. In any case, when I get around to updating Chess Player (most likely by early December), I’ll look carefully into these areas to see what I can improve.
One more thing, if you run across a game that was not particularly interesting, if you tap the About button, you can get the game’s filename. If you keep a collection of these and send them to me, I can find a pattern and realize which games aren’t worth keeping in future editions. I realize though this could be a lot of work, so only do it if you want.
In any case, thank you very much for your support and I’m glad you enjoy the app!
Chuck Smith
I love this app.
My wish list echos some of the others. I’d love to be able to upload my own pgn database, and be able to search through it for games to replay.
I’d pay again for that!!
Just read your reply above. I would choose my home wifi for uploading.
Again – thank you for the great application – I look forward to the update – as far as i have been able to research about any copyright issues there are none – games get published l the time in databases and magizines – I believe they become open to the public.
Anyway, thanks again!
Allen
Annotations are subject to copyright; raw game scores are not.
A searchable database is essential, ideally with entries categorized by the feature/highlight of the game (if such a thing is possible). As for uploading pgn databases, that would be cool, too. What would be really cool is enabling Chess Player users to upload pgn databases to your website, so that others could download them. That would reduce your effort (you don’t have to worry about improving the database, and instead can focus on developing the uploading mechanism for the app) while improving the quality of the app.
I really like the idea of allowing people to upload their own high-level games! I’ll look into this and see how easy it is to set up.
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Hi, why would you have so many games available [a great feature] and only allow picking them at random? That’s what stopping me from bying it, i want features..
1)I want to pick which games i want to see
2)I want to see a list of previous/future moves
that’s not a big deal to ask, but is a big deal when it’s missing…
Hi Robert,
I believe that most people just want to get to a great game as quickly as possible, thus I made this app work like a shuffle. Having said that, I still plan to add search to this app: by players, opening, etc.
What do you mean exactly by wanting to see a list of previous/future moves? I had someone else request something similar, but the iPhone screen is so small…
Chess player is a good app that needs to be updated for the new apple OS. It glitches repeatedly now, very annoying. This app is now unplayable until this is fixed. Shame.
Really? It works fine for me and I’m running iPhone OS 3.1.2 on an iPhone 3G. What problems do you have with it? I’d like to fix them.