Shredder Chess

Shredder Chess is stunning. The visual is perfect and the layout is great. I especially like the trainer it provides. It's like having a 'master'. I am sure there will be more updates to make this app superb. Thanks to the dev.

Shredder Chess is a great Chess app. I am not a rated player, but have played against many (generally losing). The options available are phenomenal and all the features really make this app standout. Most complete chess I have come across of many chess apps for the iPhone and Palm platforms.

Totally awesome, Shredder is the absolute best Chess-App outthere, not only on the iPhone!
I tried a lot Chess-Apps yet and this one makes it really easy for beginners to get some interesting looks into chess and the experts will have a real strong opponent.
The inbuilt trainer does a very good job too.

It's amazing.

Absolutely fantastic ! It's a real pleasure and a good challenge to use it. Nothing to say more : simply amazing !

Fantastic chess game application.A lot of possibilities and helps to learn playing this beautiful game.

I am 1800 elo and it really plays very even with me and feels more 'human' even than shredder desktop progs

I bought another chess program for my I-Phone and it sucked ... Too weak. Then Shredder became available and that was that -- I grabbed it! It plays at a 2400 clip and though I beat it every time it's still a great analytical tool when I'm on the road. Of course, it will wipe the floor with 99.999% of the players in the world so you will never need another chess engine for your phone. A must buy! (and yes, I'm a chess pro).

The graphics are smooth and userfriendly, strong, human-like engine. 6/5

A little clunky in the use but most iPhone apps are. Great app that's actually worth the $10.

Very strong engine, board graphics are crisp and nice (much better graphics than HIARCS). and the best user interface that I used for the iPhone. Can you please add Paste capability, so I can load games from email to Analyze???

I heart Shredder Chess. At least a half hour per day.

this game is very good, much better han other equal price chess games i've seen. Really good stuff you got there shredder.

This engine makes very poor decisions when pressured. I would not waste any money on it.

Im an amateur yet avid chess player. I've tried a few chess apps. This one is great. The computer is tough but will help improve your game.

I think I have played and or own most chess apps for the iPhone. This one consistently gives me the most challenging and human like game of them all. It's never about engine strength, all of them can beat most of us. It's about how easily the game engine adapts to the player. This one wins hands down in that dept. and hence is the most fun.

Great application (overall best chess app I have tried so far although I also like fritz and deep green). My favorite feature are puzzles - most of them are not trivial where you have to find check mate in few moves but instead focus on more realistic scenarios where you want to win a piece or improve your position. I hope they keep adding more puzzles and make them even harder.

I absolutely love the program. The only thing I don't understand is why it doesn't have a multiplayer system. It seems like it would be very easy to add an iphone to iphone feature which wouldn't require them to invest in any servers or anything

I have been pretty pleased with this app. Does everything I would expect for the price. Would be nice to be able to flip the board at any time.

App is great. I use it almost every day. I like to solve puzzles and also I like to use a Setup Position option.

This is an excellent app and is well worth the money. I particularly like the fact that the app changes it's Elo rating to more closely match your own. This makes the games challenging, but not impossible. I also enjoy the puzzles that are available; some are easy, but many are challenging (for me anyway; I'm a "casual" player).

I love it. Only one problem. When I temporarely sac a piece aginst it (1900 strengh) it want's me to take it back. 3 moves later I force it to lose a rook. Please fix this anoying thing.

This is a must get for chess lovers. Shredder adjusts well to any playing strength, so beginners and experts can both enjoy. It's easy to use, has great graphics and sound, and lots of nice features. I really like how it rates the current position so I can learn from even my small mistakes. It still needs an opening database, ending database, and classic games. But that won't stop me from rating this 5 stars!

Your phone bill cost more than this get it now. The ai adjust to your level after every game. It tells you if you made a bad move. Flawless

This app is terrific, the best I've played thus far. I really appreciate the automatic level adjustments after a game to match my rating level. Very well engineered, and very playable. The only thing that would make it even more perfect would be a small collection of famous games in the library (classic Fisher matches come to mind) .... Great job, I highly recommend this app for all chess lovers.

This app is great. Love the board sounds, doesn't crash, and the engine is awesome. Sooo glad there's in depth analysis and it shows the annotation. Landscape mode would be cool, and a few more features like mate in 2 and 3 and online play in the future. Chessbase needs to make a "playchess.com" app already!

First off, this is a first rate chess game. Extremely professional and well written. But my complaint is with the chess puzzles.

I don't know much about chess, and when I had my Palm Pilot I downloaded a Chess Puzzles game which helped me learn how to get a little better. Now that I have an iPhone I wanted to download a chess puzzle app to try to get back into the game and become more than a basic novice. Unfortunately, this doesn't do it.

Each puzzle has you 'find the best move'. I was initially thinking that the goal was to capture the king. But in reality, they are just showing a random place in the game (beginning, middle or end) and asking you for the best move of all possible combinations. Many times this has nothing to do with getting a checkmate. Interesting idea. I just wasn't used to this, but I like it.

However, the winning move is never explained. Many times it shows the mid-game and I have no idea what to do next. So I'm clicking on various pieces trying to do what I think is best and failing. And then, viola, I moved the correct piece! And I'm looking at the board and I have no idea why! It doesn't give me any indication why this was a good move and often times it feels like a worse move than the other ones I did earlier. Sometimes the 'best move' is to give up the rook or the queen. While I understand this in some circumstances, since the puzzle doesn't tell me anything, I'm left to my own imagination as to why this was the best move in this circumstance. I feel like I'm watching a foreign movie without subtitles: I have no idea what's going on or what they are doing. I learned nothing.

The other quirk is that when I move the wrong piece, and it tells me so, then I have to watch the mini animation of the opening move again. Although this only takes a few seconds, I get frustrated pretty quickly when I keep getting it wrong and watching the same stupid animation over and over again. It's much worse when the piece that needs to be moved is the queen and she has over a dozen possible places on the board that she can go, so I have to watch the animation for every one of these possibilities. Argh!!!! I assume that to play this game they are assuming that the user is somewhat intelligent (except me obviously), and if so, then why do they think that we have zero short term member and have to watch this animation over and over? Plus, they have the moves listed in the bottom right hand corner anyway. So if I was that dumb, then I could always look there to see what the move was. I really hope in a future release that they get rid of repeating the animation every time because it drives me crazy.

Overall, this is a great game of chess. But the chess puzzle aspect is why I downloaded it and I'm just frustrated to no end. Unfortunately, there aren't any decent chess puzzles on the app store yet (ChessQuest is much worse than this one) so I'll have to wait till the company that wrote the Palm Pilot chess puzzle app learns how to write iPhone apps.

Am i missing something here ? Strength is good .... Playing modes limited...

What a fantastic application! Definitely worth the price.

Nice!

this is the best chess software for ipod ouch ever, the 2400 Elo, multiplayer, the exercises... everything from this is exelent i DO NOT regret to have spent 10 dollars on it. Totally worth it!

This game is awesome. If you like chess, get this one.

I own 4 of the premium chess apps on iPhone and I have to say Shredder is by far the best and the closest to a computer chess program. The move and game analyses are awesome, and all the puzzles are a great added bonus. Would be great to have an Openings library to study if I was going to offer a suggestion (but no chess apps have this), or a famous games library. But those are wish lost items, this is the chess app to buy!

The Ai ajusting to your skill level is the reason that I purchased the game. That alone keeps me playing challenging games based on my skill level. I emailed the developer once, and they responded the next day.

There are no clock modes.
Auto strength only adjusts after a game, not within.
ELO rating not very well tuned.
No navigation menu for the puzzles (at least, I'm unable to find it!)
There is no board visual preview when loading games.

There are good free options you can try before.I will give them four stars if they fix all of that.

I BELIEVE it's the best chess application for iPhone so far.
I would just love to be able to rename the games I'm playing, in order to identify them in the future. but then I found out that you could just put whatever you like in their comment field, which is more than lovely!
worth every penny! 5 stars :))

Nuff said!

I really like this app. I just wish that you could play with timers, and that it had a database of games.

The magic is in its self-adjusting strength. After each game, it measures your ELO and makes itself into an approximately equal opponent. Finally, after trying many computer chess games, this feels like I'm playing a person. It's FUN! The puzzles and the beautiful interface and other features are all very pleasant and I look forward bringing my own game back, to getting my mind involved. Previously when playing a computer, I just couldn't care very much. Now I do. The psychology of what makes a great gaming experience is very complex and subtle -- this has it just right. In this case, it's something to do with an appropriate level of play combined with knowing that it's going to judge how well I'm doing. As you can see from other reviewers, I'm not alone in treating Shredder as something special. It's given me back my love of a good game of chess.

I love playing chess ok the go. This game helps you learn plus has puzzles. As you get better it ups your rank and level.

The game play, puzzles and flexibility make this a near perfect chess app. I have no complaints

I am a USCF rated "Strong Club' player. I own Shredder for the Mac and Windows as well as two other chess programs for the iPhone.

Shredder has the best method of setting the strength of the computer when you are playing against it. This is done by setting the ELO rating of the Shredder. It also seems very efficient in calculating the computer moves to save your battery. I like how it will automatically adjust the rating of the computer based on the results of your games against the computer.

Besides practice games against the computer I like to use it to follow annotated games in chess books that I am reading. For this, iPhone Shredder now has the "Enter Moves" mode that most other programs have.

Another way I use iPhone (or Palm) chess programs is to enter the moves of a game between rounds of a tournament. This way I have an accurate score of the game while it is fresh in my memory or I can review it with my opponent. Shredder is useful for this since I can email the game after I enter it. Then from the email I can copy it in to my database of games on my Mac for review.

Shredder for the iPhone has the best "Setup Position" screen of any chess program that I have used, iPhone or desktop. It lets you drag the pieces of an existing position. It also does some analysis to determine if it is legal to castle and presents some nice graphics on the board.

Update for 1.1: Now I can enter moves and have the tap-tap move entry and can save games. Also, after using it for a while I really like how the ELO rating adjusts. I'm increasing my rating from 4 to 5 stars.

Shedder plays more like human than most chess engine I have played. Sometimes I forget I am playing computer. It adjusts it strength per game. So each game is different and doesn't feel like a game I have played before.

Without a doubt, this is the best chess app in the store, and worth every cent. If you're serious about chess, hesitate no longer and get Shredder.

No need to say more other than ... ADD ONLINE PLAY!

I have own most major chess app on of. This little one is the most enjoyable. Adjust to your strength,blunder alert,even have a little arrow show which side is better after each move. It is very fast and reliable. I really do not care about fancy board and endless menu items on those pc software, this one just get out of your way and let you do what you love to do which is play a good game of chess and have fun. I did not even mention 1000 puzzles come with it. Best thing ever happen to my iPhone since, well iphone. Keep up the great work!

Great game environment, the look of board and pieces
*especially ability to pick board/pieces look
*either drag a piece or tap from/to!!! such a great feature to have - no setting for that, so you can move one way once, the other way on the next move
*Puzzles are great - it times you, you get 10points to start if you get it right away by making the right moves, you lose 1 point after some seconds go by, around 3 points for a wrong move... then in "Rating" page you see you got "73% in 21 puzzles", "71% in last 10puzzles" -- great!!

Now for improvements (and their support team is responsive through email to my emails, a great benefit):
- show statusbar in game, time/battery/etc is important to see
- show my Rating/Name just like you show "Shredder: 1745 Elo" at the bottom of the screen
- make a Rating for my Puzzles solved, not just percentage.. also based on which puzzles i got/didn't get

*** As a future add-on app, I wish you could have "Famous Games" or "Classical Chess Games" by some big names like Fischer, Alekhine, Kasparov... and have that be a standalone for simply viewing, or a plugin into Shredder for some more control....... and if you added their Ratings at the time of the game, that would be great

*I am giving this app 4 stars but when i see the StatusBar in the next update, that will make me add 1 star for perfect rating, because that is quite important the info in the StatusBar... and my other suggestions i think are reasonable too.
*Update: I have now gone through all of the chess engines, and this one is the best, even if it has a few shorcomings like the lack of StatusBar and not being able to see a Puzzle again after solving it. CaissaPro crashes, making it the worse, t Chess Pro is usable but has a bare look and no Puzzles, and Chess Genius [haven't tried] has no Puzzles while Fritz seems to have some issues too [haven't tried]. Shredder has nice piece and board and nice feel to the movement of pieces, and just.. elegant :-).

If you have actively studied chess and learned the basics of strategy, tactics, and positional play, this app will delight you. The ELO rating and auto-adjustment to your measured ELO is a superb feature. It's also very fast; no waiting on the program a long time like so many other chess programs.

Terrific strength, great feature to adapt strength to player and all one could expect of a chess engine.

I love this thing; I use cyberchess to play over fics/Icc on my iPhone and now this program has made my iphone replace my pc with respect to chess software(i have deep fritz 8 on pc) the puzzles are good too

Well worth the money. I would enjoy the ability to store variations.

Together Chess Genius , this app has the most powerful machine on the app store. The advantage is that the app calculates your chess ability, Thanks for incorporating the save/load feature. Expensive game, but it worths the money, although it can improve adding new features in the next updates, like adding more backgrounds and an optional musical feature that helps you to get a better ambiance and improve your concentration

Shredder is an excellent value despite lacking online play. I am a casual player (1400-ish) who owns a lot of chess software on a variety of platforms and operating systems. And chess software can be expensive! Surprisingly, I find myself reaching for the iPhone to play Shredder instead of firing up the desktop/laptop when I want a great chess experience. This is easily one of the best five purchases I have made for my iPhone.

This app is perfect,I love it,if this had online playing I would gladly pay 20 bucks for it. If you like chess this is fun and really improves your game. Buy it.

Beyond compare. A great chess engine for novice, grandmaster, and all of us in between. The UI is intuitive and sleek. I need more stars!! Looking forward to the updates.

V1.1 fixed all the important issues. Now one can load/save locally, advance through games by holding down buttons, enter moves using 2 players mode without activating analysis, & 2-click move control... Adding the 1000 puzzles (you can play through each puzzle to checkmate!) and pre-existing nice features in v1.0 make shredder simply the best iphone chess right now without a doubt. It's truely a joy to play it, well worth $9.99. Developer remain highly responsive through last month!! I am sure it will continue to improve. Minor wishes include a button to go back and replay previous puzzles. A less generous/ more precise auto ELO rating that disables endgame change as soon as hint or take back are used. Ability to load pgn off Internet like chessgenius would be nice. And maybe a game clock, time based mode. -----old review----- Shredder is a top notch program even in V1.0. Below is a quick summary comparing Shredder against ChessGenius, which was leader of iPhone chess: Advantage of Shredder:: - Elo rating estimate - very cool; - Outstanding board setup with drag and drop-the best I have seen! - Auto computer Elo level adjustment; - Stronger and flexible chess engine; - 1000 built-in puzzles; - Great customer support. Developer give feedback within hours. Disadvantages: (chessgenius has all listed below) - No game save in iPod/iphone! (have to email pgn list right away or the game is lost); - No local or internet game loading; - No 2-player mode without using analysis; - Cannot jump to the beginning or the end of the game without clicking each step through the game... No local database save/load on ipod touch would have been a deal breaker for me had I known it. This and other cons above make it difficult to record and analyze games on the go using shredder on ipod, say, at a tournament. ChessGenius works well for that. But the developer is very responsive. I look forward to seeing updates adressing the weakness ASAP, and will upgrade my rating to 5 stars when that happens. At that time, this will be the undisputed best chess program on iPhone.

It's better than I expected. However, the latest update has already caused it to crash once (at the very end of a game).

I played Shredder Chess as a tap link before the app store opened, and always hoped for an application, HERE IT IS! Shredder boasts a strong chess engine, and adjustable challenge ratings. With the latest update, they have also added the ability to save games, and added 2 player games. I would love to see a larger variety of pieces / boards, but that is like asking for extra icing on your cake. Shredder is a great app at a worthy price. Keep up the good work!!!

The best chess app I have ever used. I like this app so much that I purchased the full desktop app for my Mac (Deep Shredder). And now with the ability to save games in the latest update, this chess app is even better.

I am a very casual player (Elo 1200ish). The lack of a save/load feature is really inexcusable in a $10 app. Otherwise the best chess program and engine for iPhone. I purchased this because I was going to buy Shredder 11 for my PC anyway, and the rebate on that made the iPhone version free.

I like Chess, but like so many of us today, I don't have enough time to play. I just bought this App and tried the Puzzle feature. This is going to allow me a chance to enjoy Chess for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Cool. Just right. Thanks.

I was going to write my own chess program for the IPhone, but now that Shredder is out I will have to do something else.

The intuative features are just what any person needs to improve his game if chess. I have personally purchased 3 chess games for iphone and this by far is one that will train you. Chess rating, puzzels and coach leave all the others behind in the dust.

Strong chess engine, amazing analysis function, great puzzles, love the "blunder alert" feature

It's like fritz for iPhone excellent app worth 10 bucks points your mistakes n helps you learn. Overall the best chess game for iphone. If you want a cheaper chess game try Tchess which is also excellent but not the best.

I have every good chess app on my iPod, and this is the best I have played so far because it is the smartest for the following reasons:

1) It adjusts the difficulty rating by playing a few games against you. I find this very useful because it will provide a uniquely challenging game that you actually have a chance to beat. For those of you that still want to change the rating, that option is available to you as well.

2) As you get better, the chess rating goes up to adjust to you playing ability. This is a very nice touch because it shows you how you are improving over time, and it keeps each game challenging and new

3) The coach (which you can turn on and off) can be very helpful for those that don't know much about chess. Actually, I have found it helpful on occasion when playing games at a higher level than usual (I like a good challenge).

4) The graphics are nice but still usable. I think some other chess games (which I won't mention in this review) go a little too over the top with graphics. This chess game is right up there in graphics to my other games, but it plays so much better that I have actually deleted my other chess games.

5) This games does more to help people that really want to learn chess with its difficulty adjustment (for those that don't understand chess ratings), built-in chess puzzles (there are whole separate games for this), coach, and analyze mode.

If you really love chess, I think Shredder Chess is a must buy. If you like chess, this is the best chess app you can buy to learn. I highly recommend!

Great chess program, great engine - but it's missing time controls... not a big deal for some, but it is for me.

It's ability to auto adjust the level of play is a great feature. I love that the game calculates your rating.

Great features and coaching. Adjustable playing styles and puzzles.

So polished for a 1.0 release!!!!!

I have to start by saying I prefer Shogi to Chess, but I bought this app because of the Self-Adjustment in the description. I can't say how great the game is for me because of this self-adjusting feature alone! The game has perfectly set itself to my level, making it very fun to play against it. Because it's like playing against someone of your own ability. So I keep coming back to play it, even though I've never been that much a fan of Chess (vs. Shogi). The coach and hint features teach me as I play. The UI is great. I haven't even tried the puzzles, but the app is well worth the price even without them. Highly recommended.

Shredder for the iPhone is definitely worth the $9.99 price tag. I own Shredder for the Mac, Fritz 11 and Chessmaster 11 for the PC. I use each program for different purposes. Shredder for the iPhone is great when I don't feel like pulling out the laptop or when I'm not at home and want to have a quick game or just do a few puzzles. My FIDE rating is a 1580 and I would recommend this program to everyone regardless of their rank. I think the programmers did a great job on their first release and I'm sure the program will only get better as time goes on. Like other people mentioned there is a little room for improvement, but not much. If you enjoy chess spend the money on this program and you won't be sorry.

The playing program is excellent. I am rated 1800 and still find it challenging at mid difficulty level. But the chess puzzles are not very good. For a better learning experience buy ChessQuest!

I am an amateur player (somewhere between beginner and intermediate) who just wants to be better at playing chess for my own personal satisfaction. I enjoy playing chess, but I always find it hard to read and follow chess books. I am very bad at memorizing the names of all opening styles, much more memorize what moves each one comprises. I'm one of those people who learn best by playing against a slightly better opponent and from the games we play learn what works and what doesn't. (You want your opponent to be slightly better than you so you can learn from him, but you don't want your opponent to be too far good that he crushes you and takes the fun away from playing chess.) When Shredder's strength is set to Auto Adjust it plays chess exactly in this way. Plus the Coach feature is a good way of letting you know that there's a better move than the one that you're currently thinking of, so it gently prods you to think a little bit more and go look for that better move.

Another feature I enjoy a lot is the puzzle feature. I think it's a very good training device. Plus it's fun. It takes me a long time to solve the puzzles that I've tried so far (because I'm not a good player yet), but when I solve a puzzle it gives me a good sense of achievement and satisfaction. So it's really a good learning tool for people who really want to improve on their chess playing ability (while having fun at the same time!).

Lastly, what makes Shredder very attractive to me is the availability of a simple and clean looking chess piece set (it's the second from the left in the Pieces setting) on a clean looking gray board (it's the rightmost in the Board setting). It lets me concentrate on the play instead of getting distracted by garishly colored pieces or boards (which, I understand, some people do prefer). At any rate, to me a simple and clean yet beautiful board and chess piece set is just as important in setting my mood right to play well. (For those who are wondering what it looks like, it looks exactly like the pieces on http://shredderchess.com/iphone/play-chess.html)

I've waited almost a year for Shredder Chess to arrive in native form on the iPod Touch. I'm so happy it's available already as a native iPod Touch application. It's worth so much more than the money you pay for it.

I do wish for some improvements in the next version upgrade. One, I'd like to see digital Fischer clocks being made available, although I myself can't seem to find space anywhere on the screen for them. Also, it might help as a visual cue if, in the process of dragging a piece, the current square where the piece would get dropped on is being highlighted in some way. I'd prefer a simple bluish-white glow around that square. No garish colors please.

Thanks very much to Stefan Meyer-Kahlen for an excellent chess program, and thanks very much too to Eiko Bleicher for developing the native port to the iPod Touch.

I have been playing the online version for a long time, chess puzzles and their full games are great online. This is a welcome addition, and many more great features. I strongly recommend this app. I have emailed with them a few times, and they have always responded quickly and kindly, I have a very high opinion of the people behind shredder.

I really like shredder on the mac, and this is a great mobile version of it that I was waiting for since I got my iPhone. I have only a few minor UI requests that I hope will be addresed in an update.

I began a bit biased, I admit, since I have the regular full version of Shredder on my PC. The program is great, the interface is beautiful, and the engine is world class. Now we have the App version and it was worth the wait. After strong playing strength which is a given with Shredder, the most important thing for me is how the pieces look and feel when interacting with the board. The shredder team has obviously been working on this since the App software went public because everything is beautiful. It is also fast to move, responsive to touch and commands, and logically layed out. And the puzzle feature is a great bonus feature. This program is brand new as I write this and I've only had a few hours to test it, but I love it and highly recommend it.

Shredder Chess has been available for Macs for a while and has an outstanding engine. The problem-solving feature in the engine is an outstanding tutorial and has gotten me out of many a jam. I played the web application before the App Store became available and cursed every time I lost a connection in the middle of a good game. I begged them to submit a native application. This application is solid. It does not crash. It features much of the same engine as runs on your computer. Heck, they are even offering a discount on the computer application with the purchase of the iPhone application. Shredder will rank your play. You can gauge yourself and grow with the game. You can see your rank improve. The game can be set to emulate human mistakes. It can also vary the skill of your opponent. If you regularly play chess and want to improve, Shredder is better than most chess books. If you are a beginner and want to learn basic strategy, Shredder will help. This game is long-anticipated and recommended. This is _the_ chess game to get for your iPhone.

Shredder will be replacing tChess Pro as my primary chess playing app.

Strong chess engine, beautiful pieces and boards, built-in chess puzzles, make it a winner. Plus it's Shredder!!!

Great first version attempt, and I am confident it will get even better as time goes on.