HIARCS Chess vs ChessLink App
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
ChessLink App
Connect your electronic chessboard to play chess games on Lichess or against a local partner or engine. LEDs on the board display opponent moves, providing an authentic over-the-board experience. Setup is quick and easy.
- Play on your physical chessboard
- Connects to electronic boards
- LEDs indicate opponent moves
- Play on Lichess
- Local playing partner option
- Chess engine integration
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Online chess that feels like real chess. Connect your electronic chessboard and play on Lichess, against a local friend, or the built-in engine — on your real board. Your opponent's moves light up on the board via LEDs, so your eyes stay on the game. WHAT'S NEW: A LOCAL CHESS ENGINE • Get hints in 2-player mode • Play against the engine — works fully OFFLINE, no internet needed • Free Analysis: set up any position, the engine shows best lines and gives a full evaluation — the spirit of the classic TASC R30/40 chess computer FEATURES • Free online play on Lichess — millions of opponents worldwide • 2-player mode with hints on one board • Free analysis with evaluation and best-move lines • Authentic over-the-board experience: real pieces, no screen-watching SET UP IN MINUTES Pair your board, launch the app, start playing. COMPATIBLE BOARDS Supreme T2, Supreme Boards, Exclusive Boards, Performance Boards, eONE. MORE INFO • Supreme T2 – computerchess.com/Supreme-T2/M880 • eONE – computerchess.com/eone/M841 • ChessClassics Exclusive – computerchess.com/en/chessgenius-exclusive-2/ • The King Performance – computerchess.com/the-king-performance/M830
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: HIARCS Chess at 76% against ChessLink App's 0%. HIARCS Chess also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (205 vs 9). ChessLink App's advantage is price (Free vs $9.99). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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
ChessLink App is free to download; HIARCS Chess costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
HIARCS Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HIARCS Chess has 205 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of HIARCS Chess's written reviews are positive against 0% of ChessLink App's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HIARCS Chess | ChessLink App |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (205 ratings) — better | 4.4 (9 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 75.9% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 205 — better | 9 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 35 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Applied Computer Concepts Ltd. | Juergen Precour |
Customer experience
HIARCS Chess
ChessLink App
Bugs and requests
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
ChessLink App
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
HIARCS Chess
No in-app purchases
ChessLink App
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is HIARCS Chess free?
Is ChessLink App free?
Which has better reviews, HIARCS Chess or ChessLink App?
Do HIARCS Chess or ChessLink App have ads?
Which is updated more often, HIARCS Chess or ChessLink App?
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