I love playing chess, so I thought I’d do several iPhone chess app reviews and run some app vs app games to see which one performs best. This morning I ran Glaurung, which is a pretty powerfull free chess app for the iPhone (free; direct iTunes link), against HIARCS ($9.99; direct iTunes link), which just arrived for the iPhone yesterday for $9.99 and is supposed to be rated at 2850 ELO.
Note that this is not a review, but just a first look at a first game in a series. I plan on running several of these to see if one app always dominates or if it varies back and forth. Also, much thanks to everyone on this Chess.com forum thread[archived], who got me started on the idea for doing this set of reviews.
On the first round of Glaurung (white) vs HIARCS (black), HIARCS won:
UPDATE: So far, I have Glaurung, HIARCS, Shredder, ChessGenius, tChess Pro, and Deep Green apps lined up for this line of comparative iPhone chess engine reviews. I think I’ll hold a little virtual tournament.
Also, thanks to Ted Summers, in the comments below, for pointing out that I left out important details about the time settings for the match:
“30+5 was the time limit with both apps set at their highest rating, and I simply switched back and forth between each app, moving for the other one. I also kept permanent brain off, as I wasn’t really keeping the app open for any real amount of time besides when it was actively thinking and moving. HIARCS had about a minute and 56 seconds left on the initial 30 when it achieved checkmate. Glaurung had closer to 3 minutes left.
The full pgn of the game is pasted below.
[Event “?”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “Aug 29, 2009”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Glaurung”]
[Black “HIARCS”]
[Result “0-1”]
[DisplayPlyCount “204”]
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O Bb6 7. Bb3 Ne7 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. Nc4 Ng6 10. h3 Qe7 11. Re1 Be6 12. d4 h6 13. Bd2 c5 14. d5 Bc8 15. Nxb6
axb6 16. Bc4 Bd7 17. a4 Ra7 18. b3 Rfa8 19. Rb1 Ra5 20. Bf1 R5a7 21. Nh2 Kh7 - Bd3 Kg8 23. Rb2 Rf8 24. Bc1 Re8 25. Qe2 Raa8 26. Be3 Kh7 27. Ng4 Nxg4 28.
hxg4 Qh4 29. f3 Nf4 30. Bxf4 exf4 31. Rd1 h5 32. Qd2 Qg3 33. gxh5 Re5 34. Qf2
Qg5 35. Re1 Qh6 36. Kf1 Rxh5 37. Ke2 Kg8 38. Kd1 Qg5 39. Rd2 Rh2 40. Kc2 Ra5 - c4 Ra8 42. Qg1 Rh6 43. Kb1 Qe5 44. Rc2 Kh7 45. Rcc1 Rh8 46. Qf2 Kg8 47. Qd2
Rh2 48. Kc2 R8h3 49. Re2 Rh6 50. Rce1 R6h5 51. Rg1 f6 52. Qe1 Rg5 53. a5 bxa5 - Qxa5 Kf7 55. Qd8 Bh3 56. Qb6 Rhxg2 57. Rgxg2 Bxg2 58. Qc7+ Qe7 59. Qxe7+
Kxe7 60. Rf2 Rg3 61. Be2 g5 62. Kd1 f5 63. exf5 Kf6 64. Kd2 Kxf5 65. Bd3+ Kf6 - Re2 Bh3 67. Rf2 g4 68. fxg4 Kg5 69. Bc2 Bxg4 70. Rh2 f3 71. Ke3 Rg2 72.
Rxg2 fxg2 73. Kf2 Bf3 74. Kg1 Kf4 75. Kf2 Ke5 76. Kg1 Kd4 77. Bf5 Kc3 78. Bd7
Kxb3 79. Bb5 Bxd5 80. cxd5 c4 81. Kxg2 c3 82. Bd3 c2 83. Bxc2+ Kxc2 84. Kf3 b5 - Ke4 Kc3 86. Kf5 Kd4 87. Ke6 Kc5 88. Kf5 Kxd5 89. Kf4 b4 90. Ke3 Kc4 91. Kd2
b3 92. Kd1 d5 93. Kc1 d4 94. Kd1 d3 95. Kc1 Kc3 96. Kd1 b2 97. Ke1 b1=Q+ 98.
Kf2 d2 99. Kg3 Qe4 100. Kh3 Qf4 101. Kg2 d1=Q 102. Kh3 Qdf1#
0-1
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