Bobby Fischer would like Chess Elite

by Eric March on August 3, 2009 at 1:43 pm

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	App Name:	Chess Elite
	Developer:	99Games Online Pvt. Ltd.	Version:	1.0
	Publisher:	99Games Online Pvt. Ltd.	Size:	5.0 MB
	Category:	Strategy Games	Price:	$3.99

I can say that because Bobby Fischer is a fictional character, even if he’s based on a real person.  So there are quite a few games of chess on the App Store to go with the thousands that exist for other platforms throughout computing history, to say nothing of history’s most fabled dedicated chess machines like IBM’s Big Blue or Sirius Cybernetics’ Garry Kasparov.  Chess Elite goes a little bit beyond your average single-player chess game though.

To start with the basics, Chess Elite features a strong single-player chess engine with adjustable difficulty to allow you to customize the game to your skill and/or patience level; the stronger the engine, the more deeply it thinks of its next moves and the longer it takes to make its move.  Of course, if you’re a chess fan, patience is your virtue of choice.  Furthermore, for those who like to customize their aesthetics, Chess Elite also features 3 distinct chess board themes to choose from, each with 3 different colour variations, so you can play chess and look cool doing it.

But while the strong chess engine is a good draw, the standout feature in Chess Elite is the ability to do a digital version of “chess by mail.”  This calls back to the days when certain turn-based games were played by regular snail mail.  Yes, yes, I know.  It’s almost unfathomable in this day and age of digital delivery and instant gratification, but yes, people actually used to play turn-by-turn through the mail.  They also used to walk ten miles to school through three feet of snow every day.  Uphill.  Both ways.  Barefoot.  But I digress.  Chess Elite allows you to view who’s playing online and challenge them to a game.  So challenged, you can exchange moves with the other person back and forth at your leisure; you’re notified when the other person has made a move so you can go into the game and play yours.  You can even have multiple games with multiple people going at once, and the next version of the game will feature push notifications for OS 3 users with push notifications enabled who want to be notified of new moves without having to load the game.

The chess genre in the App Store is pretty competitive, and there are some really strong alternatives to choose from, each with a variety of options — in fact, even 99Games have Chess Pro, which has its own distinct features.  However, very few feature asynchronous in-app online play (Caissa Chess only plays by E-Mail, Chess With Friends is online only with no single-player option, and Chess Wars only works with Facebook), so for now at least, Chess Elite stands as one of the best online chess players with a strong single-player engine.

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Posted in Games: Strategy, Paid Apps