Comparison

HIARCS Chess vs Chess Score Pad

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 Score Pad

This app provides a modern, distraction-free electronic scoresheet for over-the-board chess tournament play. Record moves effortlessly, review positions, and export games in PGN or PDF formats for post-game analysis. Designed by a tournament player, it streamlines the scoring process so you can focus on the game.

Highlights
  • Effortless move recording (tap or drag)
  • Automatic game saving
  • Easy move correction
  • Step-through and slider game review
  • PGN export for analysis
  • PDF scoresheet export with diagram
  • Optional legal-move and time tracking
Features
Read full description

Chess Score Pad A modern electronic scoresheet designed for over-the-board tournament play. Record moves effortlessly and export PGN for post-game analysis. Chess Score Pad replaces paper scoresheets with a clean, distraction-free way to record your games move by move — so you can focus on playing, not writing. Designed by a tournament player with hundreds of USCF-rated games, Chess Score Pad is built for over-the-board chess and post-game review. Record games naturally • Enter moves by tapping or dragging pieces • No coordinates to write, no notation to translate • All moves are saved automatically — no “Save” button required • Easy move correction if a mistake happens Review positions and games • Step through moves one at a time • Scrub through the game with a live position slider • On iPad, view the board and notation side by side • Quickly return to critical positions after the game Export and share • Export games as PGN for analysis in your chess database • Share via AirDrop, Mail, Messages, Files, Notes, Clipboard, and compatible chess apps • Export a professional PDF scoresheet with a position diagram Built for tournament play • Start recording immediately — game details are optional • “Next Game of Event” copies event info and increments the round • Automatically place your pieces at the bottom of the board • Optional legal-move and position checking • Optional move-time tracking Flexible notation • Long or short algebraic notation • Figurine or standard notation Important note Chess Score Pad is an electronic scoresheet and does not provide analysis or engine assistance. Chess Score Pad is not currently certified for tournament use. It may be permitted at the discretion of the tournament director. More screenshots and documentation are available at the Support URL.

Screenshots

HIARCS Chess4 screens
Chess Score Pad3 screens

Verdict

The call

HIARCS Chess and Chess Score Pad both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 76% of HIARCS Chess's written reviews are positive against 65% of Chess Score Pad's. HIARCS Chess also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). On price, rating, 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

HIARCS Chess costs $9.99 and Chess Score Pad $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 — 4.8 for HIARCS Chess against 4.6 for Chess Score Pad. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 205 and 179 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of HIARCS Chess's written reviews are positive against 65% of Chess Score Pad's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HIARCS Chess ships an update every 3 months, Chess Score Pad every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
HIARCS Chess versus Chess Score Pad: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHIARCS ChessChess Score Pad
Price$9.99$9.99
Rating4.8 (205 ratings) — better4.6 (179 ratings)
Positive reviews75.9% of reviews — better64.9% of reviews
Number of ratings205 — better179
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperApplied Computer Concepts Ltd.CalcFxC, LLC

Customer experience

HIARCS Chess

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

Chess Score Pad

All ratings178 ratings
Positive91.0%
Neutral5.1%
Negative3.9%
Written reviews37 reviews
Positive64.9%
Neutral13.5%
Negative21.6%

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 Score Pad

From 179 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use for recording games
  • 👍 Great for over-the-board chess
  • 👍 Converts games to PGN format
  • 👍 Intuitive design
  • 👍 Useful for correspondence chess

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Clunky and not intuitive
  • 🐛 Screen controls are flaky
  • 🐛 Missing many features for the price
  • 🐛 Shows own pieces checking own King
  • 🐛 Does not show check to opponent

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 Score Pad

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Board not accessible to voiceover users
  • Contact option on website is broken
  • Screen controls are flaky, requiring repeated attempts
  • Cost me a tournament game due to flaky controls
  • Cannot use 'Save to Files' in iPad if the result is draw (1/2)
Show 3 more
  • Shows own pieces checking own King
  • Does not show when checking opponent's King
  • App is 32bit and may not work in the future

Requested features

16 requests
  • Make board accessible to voiceover users or allow notation entry
  • Ability to enter ??, !!, !? and ?! notations
  • Cloud support (iCloud/Dropbox)
  • Option to load a game
  • Built-in player list
Show 11 more
  • Export multiple games at once
  • Different board colors or lighter dark green squares
  • Ability to save games in .pgn format automatically
  • Get app approved for USCF tournaments
  • iCloud capabilities for syncing games
  • Enhanced time controls for correspondence matches
  • Feature to make notes and annotate games
  • Review or journal mode for inputting variations and annotations
  • Standard algebraic notation
  • More tags for app store search (e.g., PGN)
  • Move notations with time

In-app purchases

None

HIARCS Chess

No in-app purchases

None

Chess Score Pad

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is HIARCS Chess free?
HIARCS Chess costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Score Pad free?
Chess Score Pad costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, HIARCS Chess or Chess Score Pad?
HIARCS Chess is rated higher. HIARCS Chess averages 4.8 out of 5 from 205 ratings, while Chess Score Pad averages 4.6 from 179 ratings.
Do HIARCS Chess or Chess Score Pad have ads?
Neither HIARCS Chess nor Chess Score Pad shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HIARCS Chess or Chess Score Pad?
HIARCS Chess ships an update every 3 months, and Chess Score Pad every 5 months. Most recently, HIARCS Chess was updated on November 6, 2026 and Chess Score Pad on November 1, 2026.

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