Chess

Chess is a classic board game for two players, popular for centuries. You command your army of 16 different pieces and need to checkmate your opponent’s King, so it has no place to hide. At the same time, you need to protect yours. Chess is also the base for multiple problems and etudes with various missions.

From all options to download Chess by seems one of the most reasonable due to its decent engine, cute design and various game modes.

In fact, for a reason explained below, it’s a two-app set, sharing common design and controls. So the review covers both of them, except for feature distribution between them. We recommend you install both, one after another, to enhance your experience or learn from the beginning.

Graphics 4/5

The designers didn’t try to make the design 3D. Instead, they concentrated on really useful features. The pieces are easily distinguished. After your opponent’s move, you see what piece was moved and from what square. It helps in analyzing the position, especially if you’ve been distracted.

There are several board themes, but they’re very much similar. One of them can only be unlocked by inviting four people to the game.

The most annoying thing in design is ads. There’s no way to pay to get these ads away. And sometimes it gets on your nerves.

Gameplay 5/5

The gameplay of chess is quite a common knowledge. The app is meant for experienced players who don’t need explanations like how a pawn moves, what “promotion” means and why castling can’t be done after any of the pieces have made a move. So the developers moved the tutorial to the same secondary app that enables playing online. It supports Facebook authentication with access to your friends you can challenge.

While playing, you can set the times from 2-minute game to infinity. You and your opponent have to make your move before the time is over. If you can see the outcome clearly, you can surrender or offer a draw by special menu. All the menu buttons are under the board.

You can make your game easier using hints. But the number of hints at your disposal is limited, and to get more you’ll have to purchase some. There is an Undo feature, available in AI matches only.

There are exotic modes like endgame solving or daily missions. These missions can include playing a certain number of matches or winning with no hints.

It would have been great to have two player mode in the app, to play against a human opponent, using the app as a virtual chessboard. Alas, the developers offer this in neither app.

Controls 4/5

On touchscreen devices, it seems quite obvious. You touch the field where your piece stands, and then you tap the square you want to move it to. Just like you do on the real board.

Sometimes the developers offer some unobvious methods. The Back button (if your device has it) won’t help with quitting menus; you need to use the dedicated icon in the upper left corner. Luckily, that’s the only flaw in it.

Replay Value 5/5

As we see from the history, there have been numerous warnings about “Draw Death”, and the chess is still alive. Though AIs have proven their supremacy in calculating variants, the chess is still fun for protein players, and we play it against machines or versus each other. So the game is probably one of the most replayable in human history.

As for this installment, it’s flexible enough in its settings to provide the Goldilocks level of difficulty, and its online feature offers you unpredictable online rivals.

Conclusion

What we didn’t understand in this Chess review is why not have all these features in the same app. Yet if you only need chess as a puzzle, confronting the AI, you’ll be good with the basic one. The secondary can be downloaded right from within the first.

Maybe it’s not the most advanced chess in either graphics, engine, or gameplay modes, but this game is quite balanced, still good for old devices, and easy to make out.