Great app, but…
I’m enjoying the puzzles and the no-nonsense interface, but I cannot upgrade to no-ads or buy more puzzles.
Great app, but…
I’m enjoying the puzzles and the no-nonsense interface, but I cannot upgrade to no-ads or buy more puzzles.
Great app
Excellent set of 1000 initial puzzles and hundreds more for purchase. Great integration with “Analyze This” (or is it Analyze That 😀) to try alternative lines. I would have given it 5 stars except I was unable to upgrade and the developers have not responded to my emails or in-app feedback.
Thoroughly enjoy it
I have used this app for at least a year. The division of the puzzles by difficulty is perfect for me. I’ve learned some tactics even from the “easy” puzzles especially when combined with Analyze This. I don’t play chess anymore—I don’t have any inclination to memorize openings. But I like chess puzzles and this app has provided many hours of enjoyment.
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Mostly great, sometimes puzzles defy analysis
Using the linked analysis occasionally shows that your opponent mad a bad move which you couldn’t possibly predict. Master puzzle 35 is an example. If you can’t understand a puzzle solution
Customizable Tactics!
Best part about this app is that you can load your own tactics PGN files into it and use those. It’s great! Would love it if the computer would randomly play secondary variations sometimes. Either way this is just a great tactic app.
Great with one problem
Love the app, huge fan. Only problem is I can’t restore my previous purchases. Worked one time to install the puzzles but every time I play it, the app crashes. 😞
Great chess puzzles
Works well. I like choosing the level (normal to harder). Excellent integration with Analyze This app, which helps to understand puzzles.
I’d like to review puzzles I missed, but that information is not available. Maybe color the puzzle number with red instead of green for missed puzzles in Bird View?
The numerical score isn’t very useful. Maybe give an estimated ELO number instead? I think lichess does that.
I’d like to review puzzles I missed, but that information is not available. Maybe color the puzzle number with red instead of green for missed puzzles in Bird View?
The numerical score isn’t very useful. Maybe give an estimated ELO number instead? I think lichess does that.
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Great practice
You get a lot of practice here with a wide variety of positions for free.
iChess vs Chess Tactics Pro
Both are excellent at helping study tactics for improvement!
Both allow you to purchase more puzzles but iChess leads by a huge margin. The interfaces are simple and attractive, Chess Tactics more so. To continue game play after a puzzle is finished, Chess Tactics has a built in chess engine of modest strength and iChess integrates with the free “Analyze This” app using the powerhouse Stockfish 8 chess engine. It is accessed with a simple click on a screen icon. Analyze This is a powerful, feature-rich chess app and provides depth analysis for up to 10 lines play and allows variations. Using Analyze This has tremendous value.
Both track your progress with Chess Tactics providing a FIDE rating “guess”. Unplayed puzzles - Chess Tactics shows small game boards with the puzzles’ number and a check mark if played versus iChess displaying a large table of numbers (marked green if played). Both have reset buttons available.
I use both, BUT tend to use iChess much more because - 1) it has more specialized puzzles, 2) Analyze This can be used for analysis and is so easy to access, and 3) iChess starts you with a huge number of puzzles.
Both allow you to purchase more puzzles but iChess leads by a huge margin. The interfaces are simple and attractive, Chess Tactics more so. To continue game play after a puzzle is finished, Chess Tactics has a built in chess engine of modest strength and iChess integrates with the free “Analyze This” app using the powerhouse Stockfish 8 chess engine. It is accessed with a simple click on a screen icon. Analyze This is a powerful, feature-rich chess app and provides depth analysis for up to 10 lines play and allows variations. Using Analyze This has tremendous value.
Both track your progress with Chess Tactics providing a FIDE rating “guess”. Unplayed puzzles - Chess Tactics shows small game boards with the puzzles’ number and a check mark if played versus iChess displaying a large table of numbers (marked green if played). Both have reset buttons available.
I use both, BUT tend to use iChess much more because - 1) it has more specialized puzzles, 2) Analyze This can be used for analysis and is so easy to access, and 3) iChess starts you with a huge number of puzzles.
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Not good for big PGN file
I have a 1.5m PGN file, including 5000 puzzles. But iChess can’t open it and exit without warning. Hope you can improve this App.
Fun learning tool
I'm not an experienced enough chess player to say whether or not the puzzle solutions are the best of all possible moves, but they seem solid to me.
I like the puzzles because they are from all stages of the game, not just endgames. The thing I struggle with the most is recognizing the best moves in early/mid games (especially at the transition between the two) - this app is a fun learning tool.
I like the puzzles because they are from all stages of the game, not just endgames. The thing I struggle with the most is recognizing the best moves in early/mid games (especially at the transition between the two) - this app is a fun learning tool.
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Awesome chess app
I just loved it.
Mr
Great app, thanks.
This app makes you a better player
I use this app while I'm at work throughout the day and I have seen a huge improvement in my games. My only complaint is that there is no option to remove the red dots that tell you where the piece can move.
Response from developer
Thank you for your feedback. We will surely add an option in the next update to turn off the dots! Please feel free to send your suggestions/feedback to pereira.asim@gmail.com Regards, Asim.
Stupid
There have been several instances where MUCH better moves were available and could have been made, but the player and developer of the app couldn't find them and thus considered them failed moves. It's clear that the developer isn't too good with chess, himself.
Response from developer
Hi there, we go to great lengths to ensure that the puzzles have a unique solution and other better moves don't exist. However we might have missed some here and there. Could you please let me know the puzzle numbers via email at pereiraasim@gmail.com and I can surely fix them. Thanks, Asim!
Excellent tactics trainer
All the puzzles are from real games, which makes them practical, not fanciful. The task is: "Find the best move for White [or Black]," which is THE best way to present puzzles since that is always your task in a game. That way there's no hint. (Unless you ask for it.) Sometimes the best move yields mate; sometimes just a piece, an Exchange or a pawn. This app interfaces seemlessly with Analyze This, which has the strong Stockfish8 engine. I'm a fairly strong player, but unlike "Stupid" -- whose argument-by-assertion review should be discounted as useless -- and one other reviewer, I have NOT found many instances where there is a "much better move" than the answer move. If I think that's happened, a bit more examination on my part -- sometimes with Analyze This -- reveals why the answer move is more efficient, or more direct, or at least more elegant -- or why (😣) my move was just plain wrong. Usually, it's the latter, confirmed by the computer. There are instances where there are more ways to win than one, but Asim can pick only one, and he picks arguably the best, being the shortest, clearest or most elegant. I don't care a whit about my "score," just that my pattern recognition, and therefore my tactics, are improving -- and they have been, definitely.
The "bird view" lets you keep track of which puzzles in a set you have done successfully and which you've missed. You can reset the whole set and retry everything, or just redo the ones you missed.
With iPhone 6S or smaller, if you care about your score (as I said, I don't), be careful not to inadvertently touch the wrong square while moving.
This is a very satisfying app that you can easily use and learn from for hours at a time -- or even for just a few minutes while you're waiting in line. It can't help but improve your pattern recognition and therefore your tactics game. The app operates smoothly and stablely. It's VERY generous with free puzzles, and the ones you can purchase are very reasonably priced. This is a super app. [Edit 2016-11-5: JeffyBear mentions an error in puzzle Normal 273 involving a bishop, but there is no bishop in that puzzle. So either JeffyBear erred or Asim substituted a new puzzle already, which speaks very well about Asim's dedication to this app.][Edit 2016-11-12]
The "bird view" lets you keep track of which puzzles in a set you have done successfully and which you've missed. You can reset the whole set and retry everything, or just redo the ones you missed.
With iPhone 6S or smaller, if you care about your score (as I said, I don't), be careful not to inadvertently touch the wrong square while moving.
This is a very satisfying app that you can easily use and learn from for hours at a time -- or even for just a few minutes while you're waiting in line. It can't help but improve your pattern recognition and therefore your tactics game. The app operates smoothly and stablely. It's VERY generous with free puzzles, and the ones you can purchase are very reasonably priced. This is a super app. [Edit 2016-11-5: JeffyBear mentions an error in puzzle Normal 273 involving a bishop, but there is no bishop in that puzzle. So either JeffyBear erred or Asim substituted a new puzzle already, which speaks very well about Asim's dedication to this app.][Edit 2016-11-12]
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Good app
I like doing these puzzles and they have improved my chess. They really make you think! I have found a few errors where there is an equally good alternative line or a refutation of the official solution. (Example: in the 273 Normal puzzle black takes the bishop but playing Qf3 instead prevents the checkmate.) But those errors are very rare. So just enjoy the puzzles for training and fun. Don't spend too much time on any one puzzle if you can't find an answer and don't worry too much about your score.
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The best tactics app
The best tactics app out there, especially with the import-your-own PGN feature add-on. Also, the developer has been quick to respond to my reports of bugs and problems.
The Best
This app is the best... All from this developer rock
