Comparison

Chess vs HIARCS Chess for iPad

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

HIARCS Chess for iPad

This app offers a powerful chess engine for playing and analyzing games. It caters to all skill levels, from beginners to Grandmasters, with adjustable opponent strengths and coaching features to help you improve your game. Explore classic matches and learn from a vast opening theory database.

Highlights
  • Extremely strong chess engine
  • Suitable for all player levels
  • Advanced coaching features
  • Multiple playing modes
  • Adjustable Elo strengths
  • PGN database transfer
  • Large tournament book
Read full description

HIARCS is a multiple World Championship winning chess program and the only handheld chess program which has won matches and tournaments with Grandmasters. It twice won the Mercusor Cup tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina ahead of Grandmasters, the last time with a performance beyond 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 ex World champion, Vishy Anand, in a recent 2011 interview when asked what chess program he uses to analyse with said "generally I use HIARCS". HIARCS Chess for iPad harnesses this chess power to enable your iPad 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. You can transfer PGN game databases to and from HIARCS Chess and load/save your chess games in PGN format, it even has databases of 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: + Extremely Strong chess program, genuine beyond 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, iPad tailored, user interface supporting all four screen orientations with multiple high quality piece sets, colour schemes and icons + 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 coaching provides move options, hints, move safety and quality highlights and watches your play to warn about mistakes + Transfer PGN databases to/from HIARCS chess via iTunes file sharing, load/save PGNs, email games and PGN DBs from HIARCS + Set up or edit a position to analyse or play from + Advanced game navigation with 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 + Integrated Html manual and help screens

Screenshots

Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chess at $7.99 against HIARCS Chess for iPad's $9.99. HIARCS Chess for iPad's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Chess costs $7.99 and HIARCS Chess for iPad $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Chess against 4.7 for HIARCS Chess for iPad. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 250 and 195 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 89% of Chess's written reviews are positive against 86% of HIARCS Chess for iPad's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess ships an update every 4 months, HIARCS Chess for iPad every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Chess versus HIARCS Chess for iPad: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChessHIARCS Chess for iPad
Price$7.99 — better$9.99
Rating4.7 (250 ratings)4.7 (195 ratings) — better
Positive reviews88.7% of reviews — better85.8% of reviews
Number of ratings250 — better195
Update frequencyEvery 4 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPad
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTom KerriganApplied Computer Concepts Ltd.

Customer experience

Chess

All ratings251 ratings
Positive92.0%
Neutral3.6%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews415 reviews
Positive88.7%
Neutral6.3%
Negative5.1%

HIARCS Chess for iPad

All ratings192 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral3.1%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews155 reviews
Positive85.8%
Neutral5.8%
Negative8.4%

User reviews

Chess

From 250 App Store ratings

What 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 for iPad

From 195 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful chess engine
  • 👍 Adjustable playing strength
  • 👍 Realistic human-like play
  • 👍 Excellent coaching and analysis features
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Small and hard-to-read text
  • 🔍 Cluttered and outdated UI design
  • 💰 Expensive compared to other chess apps

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
Show 1 more
  • Provide a way to organize and navigate through game databases

HIARCS Chess for iPad

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Compatibility issues with iOS 8 and newer
  • Graphical issues with move quality display
  • Inability to resign or stop the game clock

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to view and navigate variations
  • Improve visibility and placement of game clocks
  • Implement FEN clipboard/email import function
  • Add back/forward buttons to navigate games
  • Increase font size and readability of text

In-app purchases

None

Chess

No in-app purchases

None

HIARCS Chess for iPad

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chess free?
Chess costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is HIARCS Chess for iPad free?
HIARCS Chess for iPad costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Chess or HIARCS Chess for iPad?
HIARCS Chess for iPad is rated higher. Chess averages 4.7 out of 5 from 250 ratings, while HIARCS Chess for iPad averages 4.7 from 195 ratings.
Do Chess or HIARCS Chess for iPad have ads?
Neither Chess nor HIARCS Chess for iPad shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chess or HIARCS Chess for iPad?
Chess ships an update every 4 months, and HIARCS Chess for iPad every 5 months. Most recently, Chess was updated on November 6, 2026 and HIARCS Chess for iPad on November 1, 2026.

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