Comparison

HIARCS Chess vs Chess Tiger Pro

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Chess Tiger Pro

Master chess with interactive lessons and Grandmaster-level move suggestions. Learn rules effortlessly, play real games, and analyze your performance with detailed feedback. Suitable for beginners and experts alike, this ad-free app helps you improve your game at your own pace.

Highlights
  • Ad-free learning experience
  • Introductory chess lessons for beginners
  • Grandmaster-level move suggestions
  • Game analysis with move feedback
  • Strong chess engine for experts
  • Supports PGN import and game saving
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Beginner or advanced, become a chess master, without ever being disturbed by ads. Do you want to master the most prestigious, the classiest game ever, while having fun? It's EASY! For starters, there are no ads to distract you. There's no account to create, and you don't even need to be connected to the Internet. So, how does it work? If you are a beginner, let yourself be guided by the introductory lessons included. The lessons are SHORT and EASY. Right from the start, you begin playing by moving pieces, and you learn the rules of the game while having fun. The first 40 lessons are free. Once you know the rules, you start playing real games! The coach shows you the moves a Grandmaster would pick. Not just one move, but THE 4 BEST MOVES. Sounds too simple? But think about it... How did you learn to speak as a child? Did you take grammar and spelling lessons? Of course not. You listened to the adults talk and then you went for it! Because that's how you learn! This app allows you to do just that, AND IT WORKS! From the very first games, you start learning effortlessly. You immediately enjoy playing, and after a while you notice that the right moves come to mind naturally, as if they were obvious. Gradually, you deactivate the suggestions and play by yourself. At the end of each game, the coach shows you the good and bad moves you've made. You can better understand what happened, and you can even try out other moves to improve. If this sounds unbelievable, you should read the user reviews for our app. It has one of the highest satisfaction ratings on the App Store, in all countries. FOR BEGINNERS, THIS APP... • contains introductory chess lessons that are suitable even for children. The first 40 are free. • shows you all the possible moves of a piece when you touch it. • explains why certain moves are forbidden. • can suggest 4 to 6 excellent moves at any one time. The green button lets you show or hide these suggestions. • can tell you when you can mate your opponent, so you can look for the winning move by yourself. • can warn you when your opponent is about to play a dangerous move. • provides 50 trainer levels of increasing difficulty. • analyzes your games and shows you how to improve. FOR EXPERTS: • Both USCF and FIDE rating scales are supported. • Chess Tiger Pro has one of the strongest chess engines for mobile devices (3040 USCF Elo). • On current devices, as incredible as it sounds, it plays at the world champion level. • You can set up any position. • You can save your games and replay them later. • You can exchange games with your friends very easily by email. • You can import game collections in PGN format. • The chess engine displays its thinking, up to 20 moves ahead. • You can analyze a game by replaying it. Chess Tiger Pro indicates bad moves by coloring them red. The 4 best moves in each position are shown in green. • Chess Tiger Pro supports variations: you can test other moves and then return to your original game. OTHER FEATURES INCLUDE: • The coach can comment on the game as you play (optional). • When the game is over, the coach can analyze it and show you how to improve. • 19 beautiful visual themes are included, which you can customize. • 10 styles of chess pieces are available. • You can choose from 20 chessboard styles (marble, blue marble, wood, metal, stone, …). • A collection of over 10,000 famous games by the greatest players of all time is included. For example, the entire career of Magnus Carlsen, since 2001, is available. • 4 playing styles are included, from «cautious» to «suicidal», which you can combine with all available levels. • Includes an opening book of more than one million moves. • Many customization options are available (graphics, sounds, engine output…). • ...and much more... privacy policy: http://www.chesstiger.com/iphone/About_privacy_en.html terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

HIARCS Chess4 screens
Chess Tiger Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: HIARCS Chess at none against Chess Tiger Pro's 1. Chess Tiger Pro's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (24K vs 205). On price, rating, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

HIARCS Chess costs $9.99 and Chess Tiger Pro $9.99 up front. Chess Tiger Pro sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. HIARCS Chess asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for HIARCS Chess against 4.9 for Chess Tiger Pro. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Tiger Pro has 24K ratings behind it against 205, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of HIARCS Chess's written reviews are positive against 94% of Chess Tiger Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HIARCS Chess ships an update every 3 months, Chess Tiger Pro fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
HIARCS Chess versus Chess Tiger Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHIARCS ChessChess Tiger Pro
Price$9.99$9.99
Rating4.8 (205 ratings)4.9 (24K ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.9% of reviews94.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings20524K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank—#182 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB44 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperApplied Computer Concepts Ltd.Christophe Théron

Customer experience

HIARCS Chess

All ratings199 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral1.0%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews220 reviews
Positive75.9%
Neutral5.9%
Negative18.2%

Chess Tiger Pro

All ratings23,597 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral1.4%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews833 reviews
Positive94.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative3.2%

User reviews

HIARCS Chess

From 205 App Store ratings

What 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

Chess Tiger Pro

From 24K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for learning and improving chess skills
  • 🚀 Smooth gameplay and clear interface
  • 💡 Customizable difficulty levels and game settings
  • 🚀 Extensive library of grandmaster games
  • 👍 Helpful coaching features and move suggestions

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional issues with game analysis and move suggestions
  • 🐛 Crashes or freezes reported after some games
  • 💡 Could use more advanced analysis and explanation of moves
  • 💡 Desire for more openings and endgame training
  • 💰 Some users feel the app is a bit expensive

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

Chess Tiger Pro

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inconsistencies in the 'Analyze My Game' feature
  • Occasional crashes or freezes, especially on older devices
  • Issues with the app not remembering purchased upgrades

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add ability to export games in PGN format
  • Improve the 'Analyze My Game' feature to provide more detailed explanations
  • Incorporate more openings and endgame training
  • Allow customizing the computer's playing style beyond just difficulty level

In-app purchases

None

HIARCS Chess

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Chess Tiger Pro

One-time1
  • Learn chess$4.99

Questions

Is HIARCS Chess free?
HIARCS Chess costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Tiger Pro free?
Chess Tiger Pro costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, HIARCS Chess or Chess Tiger Pro?
Chess Tiger Pro is rated higher. HIARCS Chess averages 4.8 out of 5 from 205 ratings, while Chess Tiger Pro averages 4.9 from 24K ratings.
Do HIARCS Chess or Chess Tiger Pro have ads?
Neither HIARCS Chess nor Chess Tiger Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HIARCS Chess or Chess Tiger Pro?
HIARCS Chess ships an update every 3 months, and Chess Tiger Pro fortnightly. Most recently, HIARCS Chess was updated on October 31, 2026 and Chess Tiger Pro on November 1, 2026.

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