Chess apps and die hard habits

As any chess lover/ proselytizer should, I prefer and recommend that chess be played mano a mano, live in the flesh – rather than over the internet.

But, in reality, a ready and willing opponent, can be hard to find. It's understandable therefore that nowadays most chess gets played on a glowing screen.

Truth be told, I also play most of my chess on my phone, and were it not for the convenience and accessibility afforded by chess apps, the noble game would likely have stayed as only a feature of my childhood.

Thankfully, chess apps breathed new life into my love affair with chess; allowing me to go toe to toe with opponents all over the globe without so much as having to leave the comfort of my toilet seat. And therein lies a sticky problem. 

In the past, to play chess with a human being, you either had to be diligent in your arrangements. Otherwise, you simply had to go along with the schedule of your local club.

Nowadays, however, anytime we get the itch, us chess heads will simply whip out our phones and get our fix via any one of the superabundance of chess apps. Where previously we had to make do with playing against computer opponents (often too easy, or near impossible to beat) – the era of mobile phone chess delightfully allows a chess head to quickly and reliably find a soul mate of somewhat equal ability – thus providing a constant stream of giddy games.

Great, right? Not necessarily so – the ‘good thing’ is also the proverbial ‘too much of’. Playing chess can be addictive – and like any addiction, the lows can be crushing – oh, but the highs, the highs can be ecstatic. I hear on reliable authority (*cough* me *cough*) that one can easily get trapped in a chess loop of back to back to back games. 

In fact, some have even admitted to the chess fix being a reliable feature of their day - click here to see legendary pugilist, Lennox Lewis being playfully exposed by his better half.

My dear wife too will testify that on occasion chess fever has had its iron grip on me. In fact, a kindred spirit I met at the Casual Chess Café recently told me that his girlfriend wrote him a break up letter in which she cited his excessive chessing on his phone as one of the reasons why they had to go their separate ways.

The moral of the story: one must chess responsibly.

And now, here are 3 chess apps I like:

1. Chess.com

The good: A one stop shop for all things chess related, delivered within a classy and intuitive interface. Whether you want a quick, blitz game, a rapid tournament or a deluge of tactical puzzles to sharpen your chess wits - this is your app!

The bad: Many of the additional services require a subscription fee. But, to be fair, you can hardly begrudge this when you get so much for free.

The interesting: The Chess.com logo and the site design in general is aesthetically quite tasty. There's an interesting backstory on how the logo came about which you can find out about here 

2. Lichess

The good: Lichess is like chess.com's twin brother - just as feature and service packed. However, where Chess.com has embraced the capitalistic way with its subscription based, business model - Lichess has instead opted to operate by an idealistic ethos of caring and sharing.

Wikipedia sums it up succinctly : 

"Lichess is a free, non-profit Internet chess server. Its primary aim is to enable a free, "world-class" chess experience for anyone, anywhere. It does not require registration; anyone can play anonymously. All features are available for free, with the exception that one may earn an honorary badge of patron status through regular donations"

The interesting: The good folks at Lichess have made the source code for the site available; which I understand means that software developers are allowed to tinker and make use of it as they see fit. For example, you can embed the game functionality in your own website, no quibble, no charge.

3. The Foolish King

The good: This is the website/ app I recommend especially for young, casual players and those new to chess. The app is complimented by a children's book by the same name. It will teach you the basics, it has a league that can be broken down into age groups and there's no chat function so you don't have to worry about kids being exposed to inappropriate language or bullying. The design and graphics are clearly geared towards kids, but can be appreciated and enjoyed by all.

The bad: The cartoon design of the pieces takes some getting used to at first and there's currently no android version of the app - although I understand one is on the way.

The interesting: Anyone slightly familiar with children's book will notice that the cartoons look very much like those found in the Horrible Histories series of books.  Lo and behold, the illustrations are done by one and the same, Martin Brown!