Chess vs HIARCS Chess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chess
This app offers a high-quality chess experience for players of all levels, from beginners to professionals. It features a strong engine, analysis tools, and learning resources to improve your game.
- Simulated human opponents for beginners
- Top-tier chess engine for experts
- Real-time game analysis
- 1 or 2-player game support
- Opening Library and PGN Database
- Position Editor
- Rated games and progress tracking
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tChess Pro is the high-quality, critically acclaimed chess game with the richest features for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. It's perfect for every player: Beginners: Not everybody is a chess master! Most chess games are too strong or just make random mistakes at easier levels. tChess Pro has unique algorithms to simulate human opponents. Experts: tChess Pro has a top-tier chess engine. (Over 380 ELO points stronger than Caissa Chess.) Enthusiasts: tChess Pro's Analysis Mode is like having a chess master in your pocket. You can get the engine's "expert opinion" about any game or position in real-time: which side is winning, and the best sequence of moves. Just like a professional desktop chess package. More key features: - Perfect for 1- or 2-player games - Strong computer opponent - Play against any ELO rating from 500 to 2500 - Integrated "Learn Chess" e-book app (Apple Staff Favorite!) - Opening Library feature lets you explore chess opening theory as you play - PGN Database feature lets you download and view PGN files - Support for 3-stage time controls with Fischer increments - Position Editor to enter positions from books, newspapers, etc. - Save and load games; export them in standard PGN format - Use the Profile feature to play rated games against the computer and track your progress tChess Pro is developed by Tom Kerrigan, author of the TSCP and Stobor chess engines.
HIARCS Chess
This app offers a powerful chess engine for playing, analyzing, and learning chess. It provides adjustable difficulty levels and coaching features to help players of all abilities improve their game. Analyze professional games and track your progress with an Elo rating.
- World Championship winning chess engine
- Adjustable playing strengths and styles
- Advanced coaching features
- Elo rating tracking
- PGN database support
- Large tournament book
- Multiple playing modes
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HIARCS is a multiple World Championship winning chess program and the only handheld chess program in the world which has won matches and tournaments with Grandmasters. It twice won the Mercusor Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina ahead of Grandmasters with a performance of 2900 Elo, the best chess performance rating for any handheld device in history. In 1997 the World's strongest ever human chess player, Garry Kasparov, said "HIARCS is much better positionally than Deep Blue" and even the current World champion, Vishy Anand, in a recent interview when asked what chess program he uses to analyse with said "generally I use HIARCS". This power enables your iPhone to play chess like a super Grandmaster, analyse games and chess problems with you, or play at whatever weakened chess strength you want from beginner to GM strength while offering numerous features to help you learn and improve as you play with HIARCS. An advanced set of coaching features helps players of all strengths improve their chess play. HIARCS Chess has a full range of realistic weaker opponent strengths and playing styles catering for players of all abilities from absolute beginners to Grandmasters. On the weaker playing levels HIARCS will make human-like mistakes appropriate to the level of play and this together with the integrated coach advice, assessments and alerts allow you to learn and improve quickly. HIARCS also monitors your chess performance and provides you with an Elo chess rating which tracks your chess ability in every game. It can continuously adjust its playing strength to give you challenging but beatable opponents as you improve. HIARCS Chess will save battery life by using much less energy on the weaker levels, allowing more playing time on long journeys etc. HIARCS Chess supports PGN chess game databases and has all the games between Fischer & Spassky and Kasparov & Karpov for you to play through and enjoy. HIARCS has a large tournament book which is up to date with chess theory with over 235,000 variations. The book moves are displayed on screen with chess symbols and the opening variations are named and ECO coded. Key features: + Strongest chess program on iPhone and iPod Touch, genuine strong GM-level performance + Suitable for all players from absolute beginners to strong Grandmasters with many handicap levels and opponents styles and advanced coaching + Intuitive and friendly user interface with multiple high quality pieces set, colour schemes and icons including high res support for iPhone 4 and 5 retina displays + Multiple playing modes: play white, black, both sides in two player mode, continuous analysis and interactive replay + Fully adjustable Elo strengths, adaptive levels and multiple playing levels and opponents + All levels below maximum are low energy to increase battery life + Rates your chess play and gives you an Elo rating which is updated after each game + Advanced coach can provide move options, give hints, indicate move safety and quality highlights and watch your play and warn about mistakes + Transfer PGN databases to/from HIARCS chess via iTunes file sharing, email games and PGN DBs from HIARCS + Launch HIARCS from PGN email attachments + Load, save or delete games to/from PGN databases + Set up or edit a position to analyse or play from + Advanced game navigation with game move slider and VCR buttons for rapid and precise game navigation + Many selectable preset blitz, incremental and average time clock settings for timed play + Large HIARCS tournament opening book as used by the professionals! + Permanent brain for enhanced playing strength + Numerous chess display functions for showing chess moves, analysis, book moves, coach advice, move quality even legal moves, offer draws or resign + 8 Piece sets and 9 colour schemes + Integrated Html manual and help screens A discount coupon is included with a $10 USD discount on other HIARCS products on Mac and PC from www.hiarcs.com.
Screenshots
Verdict
Chess and HIARCS Chess both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 89% of Chess's written reviews are positive against 76% of HIARCS Chess's. Chess also leads on price ($7.99 vs $9.99). HIARCS Chess's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On rating, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Chess costs $7.99 and HIARCS Chess $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Chess against 4.8 for HIARCS Chess. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 250 and 204 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 89% of Chess's written reviews are positive against 76% of HIARCS Chess's.
Chess ships an update every 4 months, HIARCS Chess every 3 months. Both last shipped on October 23, 2026.
| Parameter | Chess | HIARCS Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.99 — better | $9.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (250 ratings) | 4.8 (204 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 88.7% of reviews — better | 75.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 250 — better | 204 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tom Kerrigan | Applied Computer Concepts Ltd. |
Customer experience
Chess
HIARCS Chess
User reviews
Chess
From 250 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Enjoyable and challenging
- 🚀 Plays solid openings and variations
- 👍 Thoroughly enjoyable for novice players
- 👍 Great for beginners and seasoned players
- 👍 Rated games help track progress
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes after updates
- 🐛 Inaccurate rating system
- 🐛 Bright screen background can be tiring
- 🐛 Clunky online game menu
HIARCS Chess
From 204 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Strong chess engine
- 👍 Human-like play
- 🧠 Excellent coaching/analysis features
- 🔧 Customizable difficulty levels
- 💾 Saves and loads games well
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
- 🔍 Lacks advanced features (PGN import/export, database navigation)
- 🖼️ Outdated or subpar UI/UX
- 💤 Slow move animations
- 🤖 Engine strength may be overstated
Bugs and requests
Chess
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes when creating annotations
- Zoomed-in screen issue when returning to the app
- Difficulty settings not accurately reflecting the AI's strength
Requested features
6 requests- Add chess puzzles
- Provide more board and piece style options
- Implement a resign feature and draw offer
- Add a move evaluation bar
- Improve the online multiplayer experience
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- Provide a way to organize and navigate through game databases
HIARCS Chess
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes on certain iOS versions
- Discount codes not working
- Issues with hotspot mode
Requested features
5 requests- PGN import/export functionality
- Advanced database navigation (next/previous game)
- Endgame tablebase support
- Improved UI/UX for modern devices
- More customization options
In-app purchases
Chess
No in-app purchases
HIARCS Chess
No in-app purchases








