5 Best Chess Apps for iPhone and iPad You Must Try

Chess is a famous strategy-board game that two-player use to play against each other. The history of chess is about 1500 years old but this classic game hasn’t lost its shine. Also, it is one of the popular strategy game among all age groups. Teenagers love to play this game without even counting the hours. As time passed, this strategy game went through numerous changes. From playing Chess with a life-like piece to trying various Chess apps on your iPhone, you might have also experienced this evolution.

According to Wikipedia, a survey happened in 2012. In this survey, they found that almost 605 million adults play chess on regular basis. World Chess Federation also published statistics on percentage numbers which was conducted by YouGov. For instance, 12% of players are British, 15% are Americans, 23% are Germans, 43% are Russians, and 70% are Indian people.

Now in this technology era, this game evolved more and gained a lot more popularity. It attracted lots of iPhone users to install it and enjoy this traditional game on their iPhones. Moreover, you’re away from a single search “Chess app” in your App store. And masses of Chess apps will pop up in front of you. Although you’ll be confused by seeing this multiplied amount of results. Also, after the installation, you’ll see some chess apps without useful features and a proper environment to enjoy thoroughly. But don’t worry, I’m here. And today I dedicated this post to find a perfect and ideal chess app for your iPhone. So you can enjoy a chess game with a satisfied smile on your face.

So let’s get started.

Things to Consider Before Choosing a Chess App

As we already know there are dozens of Chess apps out there. And you want to choose the best out of it. Now, how you’ll look over and determine which app will suit you best. That’s why I already created a list of a few things which you can consider before installing a Chess app on your iPhone. However, you won’t know what an app consists of until you test it at least for a few minutes or hours. Still, these steps will give you an idea of what kind of app or what you’re looking for in an app.

1. User Interface: A chess app should come with an easy to use and simple interface. Some of the apps come with irritating floaters and tons of ads in them. Just beware of them. Also, it should not have other fillers that are promoting other apps from the same developer. Moreover, it shouldn’t be much fancy with gaudy color templates to make it more complex. However, it depends on your personal choice but the simpler it’ll be, the better experience you’ll get from it.
2. Game Modes and Options: This step will tell you what kind of gameplay you’re expecting from a Chess app or what are the modes you want it to have. For example, are you interested to play an online chess match? Or you want to challenge an offline match to one of your offline friends. Or you might want to participate in a 7 days long online tournament or you want every game mode I have mentioned above for different occasions. Now choose the modes and gaming options and then lookout for a chess app that has all of them.
3. Safety: You can’t ignore the safety factor while doing things online. Yes, even if you’re going to use a simple chess app on your iPhone. Also, this step is mandatory if you’re searching for a chess app for your children. This includes the data an app is receiving from us and storing it in their database. Meanwhile, you can see if an app supports extra security features to hide your personal information such as photos, location, chats, etc.

5 Best Chess Apps for iPhone and iPad in 2021

There are lots of things to consider but it depends on your preferences. However, you can apply these points on almost every app. To make your search easy, I also created a list of the 5 best chess apps for your iPhone and iPad. Just open the app’s link, check out its features, and enjoy happy gameplay.

So let’s started with the number 1

1. Chess.com- Overall best Chess app for iPad and iPhone

This is the app you’ll see everywhere when you do a single search query such as the best chess app for iOS. I also checked similar questions on Quora and everyone is recommending the same app. Obviously, it’s the top chess game to run on your iPhone and iPad.

UI of Chess app is simpler, cleaner, and intuitive than ever. Moreover, you can easily change the color and style of this app by customizing its theme options. If you want to try a couple of options related to chess, then this is the one. This game supports 7 interesting options available to checkout. The list consists of play online, a versus computer match, daily puzzles, vision trainer, videos, and articles. Also, you’ll find different skill level in it to play according to your present skill set.

Furthermore, you’ll also see an extended menu with extra options. For example, if you learn a new trick, or feeling stuck somewhere, or want to discuss chess, you can do it in forums. I would consider it as a bonus especially for beginners who want to expand their knowledge horizon of chess. Also, this game supports a play-by-play review feature. This feature keeps an eye on your every single move while you’re playing a match. And after finishing the match, it’ll tell you about all your moves and the improvement you can make. This feature also helps you to learn new techniques and strategies to upgrade your performance. Meanwhile, if you love learning about Chess, this app makes sure to keep you updated with all the happenings around Chess.

This Chess app is literally best for the people who’re serious about their performance and knowledge growth of Chess games. You’ll get over 65,000 Chess-board problems to solve in the puzzles feature. And, the solo Chess mode gives you an interesting experience by giving a series of tasks. You just have to capture a piece with every move. The game starts with two pieces and becomes more interesting with an increasing number of pieces. Also, this app motivates the new learner and intermediate level players by offering a reward for every win.

This Chess app is free and available for iPhone, iPad as well as Apple Watch. However, you can access premium features by purchasing a Gold Membership which starts from $4.99. But for a normal user, you won’t need it.

Click here to download Chess.

Also read: PS5 vs Xbox Series X: Best next-gen console for the Apple user

2. Shredder Chess

After looking for the number one chess app, I searched another query on Quora which was what are the best chess apps for iPad? If you check by yourself, you will see most of the answers are recommending Shredder Chess as the best app for iPad. However, Apple also launched the iOS version of Shredder but most users have still loved it as an iPad app.

Shredder was made for the first time in 1993. And, It’s known as one of the best Chest programs that you can use to sharpen your Chess skills. In this span of time, Shredder has become Computer Chess World Champion 19 times. You can simply play Chess against Shredder. It will explain your performance from bad to great by analyzing your every move. Besides, Shredder can mimic a human chess player with different playing skills. Also, it is designed to intentionally make some regular human mistakes at these levels. It is packed with 1000+ chess puzzles to crack while it will track all your performance. Alongside, you can ask for advice when you need otherwise it will also give you hints to make your next good move. Plus, you’ll get a warning such as this move could go wrong when you’ll be going to make a wrong move.

Furthermore, if you want to play with Shredder, you will have two options. Either you can set the playing strength of Shredder accordingly or you can set this setting automatically. In this setting, it will automatically measure your strength and will play against you according to the measured strength.

Meanwhile, Shredder also has a responsive and simple UI to give you a smoother experience. You can also try different types and designs of boards and pieces to not get bored by using the same set of boards. Also, you can choose a different playing style from passive to aggressive according to your preferences. And there will be an opening book always available for you where you can explore over 1 million moves. Later you can save and load games with different tags such as name, date, etc. Also, you can send these games to your friend or opponent via email. The shredder team will also be there to give you support for Voiceover and accessibility if you will get stuck by a single problem.

Click here to Download Shredder Chess.

3. Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf- Best Chess app for Learning

Although all the famous and best Chess app games help you to learn and improve your Chess game. Still, if your sole purpose or you made up your mind to spend 80-90% of your time only on learning Chess, then you can’t ignore Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf.

It’s a Chess app specially designed for people who want to learn Chess from scratch or serious about leveling up their performance. Also, it has an interactive and class style UI in a sepia color that gives you a feel of old knight times. It also comes with three coaching sessions which are absolutely free. After these sessions end, you can subscribe to them by paying a minimal fee of $ 4,99/per month or $ 34,99 for a year.

Dr wolf will explain every step you just made or what are the steps you can make to improve your winning chances. Besides logging into a subscription plan, you can use twenty-five in-depth free lessons to clear the basic Chess concepts. Also, you’ll be guided to get some great opportunities to better-guided practice.

Even if you want to use this Chess app to clear your Chess fundamentals such as opening, attack move with each piece, or to defend hanging pieces on the board. Developers of Dr Wolf made it a classic, simple, gentle, and witty chess app. Anytime you’ll return, you’ll be introduced to a new concept with almost every return. Moreover, the gameplay experience much good to keep your gaming on without giving you a boring vibe.

Also, it stores your stats and the achievement you’ve gained through your gameplay. That’s helpful to track your progress compared to previous months. At last, Dr. Wolf is the best Chess app to get started with Chess. You can start with the free version of it. Meanwhile, you can subscribe to its monthly package to reach a further level.

Click here to download Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf.

Also read: Best Mac Games You Can Play Right Now For 2020

4. tChess Pro

After the Shredder the best Chess app for an iPad is tChess Pro. However, it’s also available on iPhone. This Chess app is one of the critically acclaimed chess game. And, it comes with high quality and a feature-rich UI for iPhone, iPad touch, and an iPad.

Furthermore, tChess Pro is a Chess app that works great for every user. From a beginner to a professional, this game consists of something interesting for every player no matter what kind of skillsets and experience he has. Also, it works on some unique algorithms that help it to read its human opponent’s moves. After that tChess Pro use this data to gives you a competition with your chosen difficulty level. This feature will work great for you if you’re a player with beginner or intermediate level skillsets.

On the other hand, if you’re an expert, you also can take some benefits from tChess Pro’s top-tier chess engine. It consists of 380+ ELO points which makes it way stronger than Caissa Chess. Moreover, tChess Pro is a Chess app that acts like a Chess master when you use “expert opinion” for a single game move. This feature will tell you which move is a winning one or a losing one.

tChess Pro is best for 1 or 2 player games and if you want to have a strong computer opponent. You can also play against any ELO rating from 500 to 2500 in it. Alongside, you’ll get an integrated e-book app that you can use to improve your Chess skills. Also, you can explore chess opening theory every time you play via the Opening Library feature. PGN database allowing you to download and view PGN files is amazing too.

Moreover, you can position Editor to enter positions from books and newspapers too. Also, you’ll get support for 3-stage time controls alongside Fischer increments. Meanwhile, you can save and load games to play or continue them at a particular stage. Exportation of saved games in PGN format is also a great feature to share a certain level.

You can also use its Profile feature to play different games against the computer. Also, you’ll be able to track your progress in a while. Moreover, tChess Pro is developed by TSCP and Stobor Chess Engines author- Tom Kerrigan.

Click here to Download tChess Pro.

5. Chess- One of the Straightforward Chess apps 

All the time, we just talked about Chess apps that can help us to improve our performance and knowledge related to Chess games. Well, these apps are the best for a particular audience. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a Chess app with straightforward gameplay, checkout this “Chess” app.

This Chess app is best for people or Chess players who just want to play a game right at the moment. Moreover, this app has a traditional and classic wood like a brown color theme that makes your gaming experience more captivating. And, you’ll feel like playing Chess on a traditional chessboard while using this chess app on an iPad. Furthermore, this app features intuitive and simpler options than ever. All you’ve to open this app, choose the mode according to your preference. After that, you can choose the difficulty level and you’re ready to play a game. No complicated options and extra modes to choose from and make things complicated for you.

Moreover, every time you move a piece, you’ll notice a real-like marble sound and feel, especially if the piece hits the bottom of the Chessboard. Alongside the iPad, you can run this Chess app on an iPhone too. In case, if you’ve to leave your game in between because of some urgency, you can easily save your gaming progress. And, you can continue the game from the point where you left it. You’ll also love the graphics and the sound effects of this app.

Moreover, this app will be available to you without paying a single dime. At some point in time, you’ll also experience the ads that developers are using to pay their expenses. Also, you might get jaded by looking at the same brown-beige color theme, but remember your goal, if you’re in hurry and want to challenge someone, download this Chess app.

Click here to download Chess.

Final Words: Best Chess Apps for iPad or iPhone

Whenever you’ll search for a Chess app for iPhone and iPad, you’ll get a couple of options to try out. But it depends on your preference and your personal goals. For instance, if you want to learn chess and you’re a complete beginner, install Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf. On the other hand, if you want tons of features alongside learning resources to enhance your learning, you can pick Shredder or Chess.com.

Furthermore, you can try to choose another Chess app too. But as far as I have researched, these are the best Chess apps I saw. So there were the best 5 Chess apps you can try on your iPhone and iPad. Let’s know in the comments which Chess app you find the best. Also, don’t forget to share this post with someone who is still looking for the best Chess apps for his/her iPhone or iPad.