Pulsar Chess Engine

Name: Pulsar Chess Engine
Price: 1.99 USD
Rating: 4.3 (12 reviews)
Author: Michael Adams

Multilevel Chess Program

$1.99

12 Ratings
Age Rating

4+
Years
Category

Board
Developer

Michael Adams
Language

EN
+ 4 More
Size

11.9
MB

The Pulsar Chess Engine plays Chess and six variants all with multiple levels. The variants are Chess960, Crazyhouse, Loser's, Atomic, Three Checks and Giveaway. Rules included in-app. In addition, there is also a review mode to look at the user's log file with analysis available for non variants. 10 game collections of classic and modern master games are included to look at including Kasparov, Fischer, Carlsen, Capablanca and Morphy 1858 collections. These collections and the log file are searchable. Pulsar values mobility and active positions. In app there is an article with more on its playing style and how to train against it. With the variants, each has its own style. Chess960, Three Checks and Crazyhouse are the more chess like variants and adoptable to learn to play for anyone with interest. The rules of all games are in app. Pulsar has levels of play from beginner too advanced. Games with a time control are the hardest though Pulsar doesn't call the player's time. The time is more to handicap Pulsar's strength, but users will have a clock and can see if it's gone negative if they want to play the time control. The game button - configure game menu item, lets the user control the variant and difficulty. It defaults to Chess at Easy(lowest level) but remembers the current settings when the App restarts. There are choices of pieces and board color schemes. The Pulsar program was originally developed by me for computers starting in 1998 and came to mobile for the first time in 2014. Pulsar's board is accessible to the blind using Voice Over, a screen reader. Tap on a square and it will say whats on it and double tap to move or choose from three move methods. A screen reader can normally read anything with text like a button, but a board is a collection of images. To make it accessible, text must be returned to Voice Over when a tap is in the area of a square. Pulsar began as a chess program and later learned variants. It ran extensively on two servers for many years both at chess and variants. The ratings on the board reflect strength I saw in rated play on handicapped bots. They are not 100% exact but generalizations I made from the various bots I ran at different settings. If in the new game selector, Play vs. Computer is unchecked the user can move for both sides. This is to allow two people at same location to use the App as a board for a game and have the app enforce move legality and results for whatever variant is selected.

Ratings & Reviews

4.3

out of 5

12 Ratings

Good game and engine
08/21/2021
BubblesRFL
I am enjoying playing this app after the recent update. The features are simple and easy to use and everything I want from a computer sparring partner. On issue I found is with the PGN, especially after queen promotions. In one file after 48…b2b1=Q, every subsequent move was listed as a pawn move even if a piece moved, and every black move had =Q, for example 49…f7f6=Q. Also, I try not to use undo/revert move feature, but it would good to have those moves recorded in braces.

Developer Response
I thought it was a good idea for people's future self to know if they used undo/revert in a log file game. For now I add "unrated" in latest update to game string in games view if retract move was used. Like "Pulsar Chess Easy unrated". First two moves can still be undone without that being added to let people change the opening. I may have to update it later if people are confused because we don't actually rate. games, but for now i thought that was easier to read than adding something like 'retract move used". Stuff with moves and problems with move display has to wait for now. Maybe at some point in future the actual moves with retract move can be marked.
Good game and engine
08/21/2021
BubblesRFL

I am enjoying playing this app after the recent update. The features are simple and easy to use and everything I want from a computer sparring partner. On issue I found is with the PGN, especially after queen promotions. In one file after 48…b2b1=Q, every subsequent move was listed as a pawn move even if a piece moved, and every black move had =Q, for example 49…f7f6=Q. Also, I try not to use undo/revert move feature, but it would good to have those moves recorded in braces.
Developer Response 08/24/2021
I thought it was a good idea for people's future self to know if they used undo/revert in a log file game. For now I add "unrated" in latest update to game string in games view if retract move was used. Like "Pulsar Chess Easy unrated". First two moves can still be undone without that being added to let people change the opening. I may have to update it later if people are confused because we don't actually rate. games, but for now i thought that was easier to read than adding something like 'retract move used". Stuff with moves and problems with move display has to wait for now. Maybe at some point in future the actual moves with retract move can be marked.
Game works and is fun
09/25/2022
Andrew Roller
I played the iPad version of this, on my iPad. The game worked very well. I enjoyed it. It would be nice if the game would tell me when my king is in check. I thought that the game had frozen. In fact, my king was in check. It is a fun and worthwhile game on the iPad.Suggestions to the Author:1. Please create a “Baby” level. “Easy” is too hard! Your game is relentless. It covers every piece that it advances.2. When an enemy piece moves, please make this happen slowly. Your enemy pieces move so quickly that I can’t tell what happened. This is especially irksome when I think the enemy captured one of my pieces.3. Please tell me when I’m in “check”. 4. A clearer statement of “check mate” would be helpful.Thank you.
Game works and is fun
09/25/2022
Andrew Roller

I played the iPad version of this, on my iPad. The game worked very well. I enjoyed it. It would be nice if the game would tell me when my king is in check. I thought that the game had frozen. In fact, my king was in check. It is a fun and worthwhile game on the iPad.Suggestions to the Author:1. Please create a “Baby” level. “Easy” is too hard! Your game is relentless. It covers every piece that it advances.2. When an enemy piece moves, please make this happen slowly. Your enemy pieces move so quickly that I can’t tell what happened. This is especially irksome when I think the enemy captured one of my pieces.3. Please tell me when I’m in “check”. 4. A clearer statement of “check mate” would be helpful.Thank you.
No Frills, Great Features!
11/23/2020
World's Foremost Expert
Deceptively primitive at first glance, this is a really solid chess app, with loads of useful features, and a very straightforward interface. I got it specifically for the Chess 960 variant, but it quickly became my favorite out of several, and I'm still exploring and learning. Kudos to the developers for adding value to the internet!
No Frills, Great Features!
11/23/2020
World's Foremost Expert

Deceptively primitive at first glance, this is a really solid chess app, with loads of useful features, and a very straightforward interface. I got it specifically for the Chess 960 variant, but it quickly became my favorite out of several, and I'm still exploring and learning. Kudos to the developers for adding value to the internet!
Excellent for Chess960 and other variants!
12/01/2021
Zandaxar
A nice surprise was when you win at a higher difficulty level it unlocks example professional player classical games.
Excellent for Chess960 and other variants!
12/01/2021
Zandaxar

A nice surprise was when you win at a higher difficulty level it unlocks example professional player classical games.

Fix for broken Game menu in iOS 27

Version 2.50 Sep 15

Data Not Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Accessibility

Information

Seller: Michael Adams
Size: 11.9 MB
Category: Board
Compatibility: Requires iOS 15.6 or later.

iPhone
Requires iOS 15.6 or later.

iPad
Requires iPadOS 15.6 or later.

iPod touch
Requires iOS 15.6 or later.

Mac
Requires macOS 10.15 or later.

Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
Languages: English and 4 more

English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Age Rating: 4+

4+

Learn More