HIARCS Chess for iPad vs Openings Mastermind
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Extremely strong chess engine
- Suitable for all player levels
- Advanced coaching features
- Multiple playing modes
- Adjustable Elo strengths
- PGN database transfer
- Large tournament book
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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
Openings Mastermind
Master chess openings with this app. Import studies, explore with advanced engines, and practice specific lines through repetition. Track your progress and improve your game.
- Import Lichess Studies or PGNs
- Explore openings with Stockfish 15
- Practice openings by repetition
- Smart practice queue
- Track learning progress
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Get ready to take your chess game to the next level with Openings Mastermind, the ultimate chess opening app! Some of the features include: - Import Lichess Studies or custom PGNs - Explore openings with Stockfish 17 and the Lichess position database - Practice openings by repetition against your own custom openings database - Take advantage of the smart practice queue and improve your learning - Observe your learning progress in different openings With our app, you can take your opening game to the next level by practicing against the specific lines you want to master. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced player, our app is the perfect tool to help you improve your opening moves and become a better chess player. Planned Features: - Continue against engine, after study line ends - Analysis of your games from Lichess and Chess.com compared to your openings database
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Openings Mastermind at Free against HIARCS Chess for iPad's $9.99. Openings Mastermind also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 months). HIARCS Chess for iPad's advantage is review sentiment (86% vs 50%) and rating (4.7 vs 4.3). On 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
Openings Mastermind is free to download; HIARCS Chess for iPad costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
HIARCS Chess for iPad holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HIARCS Chess for iPad has 195 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of HIARCS Chess for iPad's written reviews are positive against 50% of Openings Mastermind's.
HIARCS Chess for iPad ships an update every 5 months, Openings Mastermind fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HIARCS Chess for iPad | Openings Mastermind |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (195 ratings) — better | 4.3 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 85.8% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 195 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 88 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Applied Computer Concepts Ltd. | Christian Heise |
Customer experience
HIARCS Chess for iPad
Openings Mastermind
Bugs and requests
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
Openings Mastermind
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
HIARCS Chess for iPad
No in-app purchases
Openings Mastermind
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is HIARCS Chess for iPad free?
Is Openings Mastermind free?
Which has better reviews, HIARCS Chess for iPad or Openings Mastermind?
Do HIARCS Chess for iPad or Openings Mastermind have ads?
Which is updated more often, HIARCS Chess for iPad or Openings Mastermind?
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