[NewsPoster]

The thing with chess apps is that they have to look good. That's the real trick. Forget whether they can find and beat Bobby Fischer, forget whether their chess engine can rival Deep Blue, concentrate on what the graphics are like. In other words, we can't deeply assess how strong tChess Pro 1.8.3 is, but it beats us, we like it, and while the graphics aren't brilliant, they're good.

If it sounds shallow to concentrate on how this app looks, it is. We are. Some MacNN staff are significantly better at chess than others, but some are also so weak that they don't even know they're being insulted when they're called woodpushers.

Much as some people choose paintings to color-coordinate with their furniture, we have an iPad Pro with the single most beautiful screen in the world, and we wanted a gorgeous chess app to run on it. In fact, we wanted tChess Pro -- or rather, the chess game that's featured on its icon. Oh, that is so nice. The icon shows glass pieces on a glass chessboard and, okay, maybe it wouldn't be the clearest version to play, but it looks great. Our sole disappointment with tChess Pro is that it doesn't feature any glass at all. The board can be wood, marble or just a blue diagram; the pieces can be diagram-like, or a facsimile of the standard Staunton set. You can also choose 2D or 3D. We tried them all, and settled for experiencing our defeats on a 3D Staunton board.

It could be crisper: it doesn't look like tChess has been updated for the iPad Pro. Yet it's somehow better-looking than other apps that have yet to be updated; Facebook and Netflix, for instance, look comically old-fashioned and blotchy on the iPad Pro's large screen, but tChess is fine. You might not want a chess game to be fine, you might want it to be a demon. Given that we're rubbish at the game (though we've had two victories and one stalemate in the 30 games we played trying this out, give us some credit) we're not in a position to rate the gameplay. Except that we can say that tChess has an ELO range of 500 to 2,500, and we can say that with authority because it tells us so right here. This makes tChess a good opponent for your average casual player, and if you're weaker than that, then it also features a good Learn Chess section that takes you right from what a chess board is up through what the horsey does. This Learn Chess section is also available as a separate, free e-book and there's a tChess Lite for $1 that's just a weaker player. We should've gone for that one.

The full tChess Pro is a universal app that requires iOS 8.0 or higher, and costs $8 in the App Store. It also really, really requires a glass board like it has in the icon, but it hasn't got one. The weaker tChess Lite is $1, and the separate Learn Chess e-Book is free there. Who is tChess Pro chess for: Casual to mildly serious players. There's a Learn Chess feature that also makes it good for true beginners, but it's probably not going to knock a single sock off a grandmaster. Who is tChess Pro not for: If you know that ELO doesn't always stand for Electric Light Orchestra, and especially if you play at club level, this is a good app but not one that'll stretch you. -- William Gallagher (@WGallagher) Readers: do you have an app that you'd like to see us review? Developers: do you want us to take a look at your app? Send your suggestions to our Tips email.

[Sjakelien]

There is just one real app, and that is Chess from chess.com. It looks terrible, the UI sucks, but it is invaluable to any chess player, be it a novice or a pro. With tutorials, live chats, computer chess, puzzles, the whole thing. Backed by a huge community.
Most other chess apps are just an open source chess engine with a nice skin around it.
I really think the author of this piece is not a chess player.

[Sjakelien]

There is just one real app, and that is Chess from chess.com. It looks terrible, the UI sucks, but it is invaluable to any chess player, be it a novice or a pro. With tutorials, live chats, computer chess, puzzles, the whole thing. Backed by a huge community.
Most other chess apps are just an open source chess engine with a nice skin around it.
I really think the author of this piece is not a chess player.