Chess - Play & Learn

I’ve been using this Chess app for about three or four years. It has a lot of additional features like tactics puzzles, videos, and preset predicaments to challenge you and help you set up future moves to create the best situation for your pieces. There is also a play-by-play review of your games which critiques your moves and tells you what you could’ve done better. A couple things that need improvement though. Often the app will fail to notify me when it’s my turn after my opponent has moved, requiring me to open the app and navigate to my active games to manually check if it is my turn. The other issue is that sometimes I will try to start a new game with a friend with the “Play A Friend” option and the app opens the “active connection countdown” when I’m not trying to play a live game. I’m sure there is a way to create a new game with a friend without creating an active challenge, but I am not sure how. If this feature exists, it just needs to be integrated in an easy to find menu. (This review is based on my use from a Samsung Galaxy S5). EDIT: I have an iPhone X now and I am able to successfully use the “Play A Friend” option to create a daily game without the app opening the “Active Connection Countdown” so the issue I stated previously may already be resolved.

I had started playing chess around three years ago, but stopped playing after a while because me sister wouldn’t have time for it anymore. I also didn’t know all the weird stuff or the stuff that is secluded, like castling, stalemate and the difference between check and checkmate. And so I gave up on chess. But three years later, in 7th grade we had a chess tournament in our contest math class. I was very unpleased and upset to have found out that I lost in the second round! I watched the finals match, and watched one of my good friends get bashed and checkmated in around five to six maybe seven minutes. At that moment, I wanted to be like that guy who defeated my friend so badly. So I started forcing my sister to play chess with me. But however at one point she got tired of it. So then I had to find a good chess app or website to play on. After lots of asking people what the best chess apps are, I finally got this one!!! And I must say I love it! There is however, a minor issue. I found out there is now multiplayer! The other player must have an account and you have to invite them. Anyway, other than that, it’s all cool!!!

I want to offer simple design improvements that would engage users to a whole other level. This is so far a chess app / website that allows you to just play chess but severely lacks an actual chess community to the degree in which I see its potential. We want to find professional players / engage and keep up with chess news. People don’t want to read articles that’s boring. When I go to a professional chess players page all I see is comment spam from random people and no actual comments or video updates from the chess player them self. It needs to have Facebook comment design prioritizing the users comments at the top and then the most like comments after. They should also be able to add photos that could be commented on and liked. Secondly there are SO MANY sections that are not grouped up accordingly. People love simplicity. There should be a (Play) (Learn) (Watch) (News). Instead, all the categories that should be located inside each drop box are scattered outside these categories and are extremely ugly and overwhelming. Besides that to somehow promote twitch engagement would be huge and lastly, getting borders for your advertisements would help you look like s more high quality website. I just love chess so much and this app. I want this app to be successful and the chess community to grow.

This chess app is amazing and feels like it has everything you can possibly need. The chess AI can play at an extremely high level when you want it to and Ive learned many things from the AI! Also the live matchmaking system has a wide variety of options you can choose from, my favorite being the 10 minute matches because they are quick and fun, and it matches you up with other players in mere seconds. I would recommend this app to any chess player, whether it be just starting out or a great player because the matchmaking will set you up against opponents of equal skill level and the AI can be set to any rating as well. For beginners there are videos and a bunch of resources available to help you to become a great chess player as well! One last thing I want to point out is that the developers are phenomenal, they are quick to address any problems you may have and really care about the app and want it to be the best it can be. If you have problems or concerns I would highly suggest trying to reach out to them!

Having known not much more than the basic rules, I find this app extremely helpful in helping me understand different moves and tactics. I now win almost all of my friendly games and I also compete in some casual tournaments in my community. Most of my more advanced learning has come through this app, and it’s super handy. It gets your through the very basics quickly and brings you right in to the good stuff. That, along with some of the daily puzzles, offer a new experience every day. I do not use premium but it seems that it would be worth it. You get so many more puzzles, which is one of the best way to master your moves and analysis of the game. The videos and streams are also convenient and not too bulky and very user friendly; the chess teachers are welcoming to viewers and keep a lively environment to keep me from getting bored. I can easily spend 20-30 minutes a day or more without ever getting bored or tired of it. A fantastic app all around, free or paid.