There are a lot of options for chess engines. The icons for the pieces need an upgrade here. I found only one of six appealing. Two have lo res graphics, which is unacceptable for a premium priced app. One set is ugly, and the Russian set is two shades of grey, without enough contrast. The list of captured pieces is nice, and surprisingly missing from a lot of other apps.

It’s working good. Nice platform and image. But it’s about time just to refresh and update. PLEASE! I’m giving it 5 stars now, because it’s still very good.

This is my 3rd hand held chess application, 1st on the iPhone. The graphics are great, and the set up very efficient. My only complaint is that I did not know the game title was a prerequisite for the buyer!By that I mean, the levels of play are not scaled to allow progressive learning; you must be a chess whiz to stay in the game at any level. Even at the lowest level ("0-Easiest") the chess engine knows some pretty sophisticated maneuvers, i.e. "en passant" with a pawn, and it never makes the sort of mistake a human beginner (or intermediate!) would make. True, you can take back moves, and the game will even tutor you with the advice that a move was a bad one. BUT, by the time you get that warning, the only way to stay in the game is to surrender the controls to the engine for every single subsequent move. You are already backed into a corner where the master has calculated every permutation. Accept the advice to take back the bad move, then make any move on your own in a following step, and you will just be slammed in a different way.So any but the most proficient chess player will end up not just defeated, but crushed by a master over and over again, an experience that does not help teach an advancing player.I found the PocketChess for Palms, and even Apple's iChess instructive. I lost many early games, but each was a "close" game, and I eventually worked up to become a better player, occasionally beating the engine, and then setting it for a higher level of play. With this engine, every game is a loss to the best. Just too darn advanced.

Hands down the best chess related thing you can have on your phone. When used thoughtfully this is a powerful learning tool that world champions would kill for back in the day. A must purchase for chess enthusiasts.