Last updated on January 15th, 2026 at 11:06 am
Chess – tChess Pro – Board Game Review
Chess – tChess Pro is a Board/Entertainment/Strategy game from Tom Kerrigan, first launched in 5th November 2008.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 247+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Chess – tChess Pro Stand Out
tChess Pro is the high-quality, critically acclaimed chess game with the richest features for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. It's perfect for every player:
Beginners:
Not everybody is a chess master! Most chess games are too strong or just make random mistakes at easier levels. tChess Pro has unique algorithms to simulate human opponents.
Experts:
tChess Pro has a top-tier chess engine. (Over 380 ELO points stronger than Caissa Chess.)
Enthusiasts:
tChess Pro's Analysis Mode is like having a chess master in your pocket. You can get the engine's "expert opinion" about any game or position in real-time: which side is winning, and the best sequence of moves. Just like a professional desktop chess package.
More key features:
- Perfect for 1- or 2-player games
- Strong computer opponent
- Play against any ELO rating from 500 to 2500
- Integrated "Learn Chess" e-book app (Apple Staff Favorite!)
- Opening Library feature lets you explore chess opening theory as you play
- PGN Database feature lets you download and view PGN files
- Support for 3-stage time controls with Fischer increments
- Position Editor to enter positions from books, newspapers, etc.
- Save and load games; export them in standard PGN format
- Use the Profile feature to play rated games against the computer and track your progress
tChess Pro is developed by Tom Kerrigan, author of the TSCP and Stobor chess engines.
This Board game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Chess – tChess Pro is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 29th November 2025
Recent improvements include:
- Updated for the latest version of iOS
- Changed the engine to keep searching until it finds the shortest possible checkmate
- Fixed a bug where the animations would become jerky if the app was open for a long time
- Fixed a bug where the saved games would sometimes become invisible
Download & Availability
Chess – tChess Pro is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Chess – tChess Pro on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Plays solid openings and a lot of variations. We enjoy it immensely.
As a long-term novice, we play to help relax and step away from the rigors of life. We understand that most others can provide a much more detailed review, but we are just thankful for the time and effort taken to provide this for us. Its simple to navigate and adjust the settings and we find it suits us quite nicely. Thanks again.
Many years ago, we had an issue with some saves and got an immediate response. The developer is kind and brilliant. Out of all the chess games we play, Xbox, PC, iPhone, this is by far our favorite. We love the 3D modeling as well.
The board looks great. Plays quick but not mechanical. Easy to adjust difficulty. Love this app.
Its skill graduation helps one not to feel like an idiot and want to practice.
We love the app and play it each day.
This game is a staple of ours, and we just love its numerous features. Great for beginners as well as seasoned players as the games are rated.
All these years, even with all these dazzling chess apps that now exist. TChess Pro is one of the original first premium chess games on iOS, it was highly praised during the nascent era of chess games on iOS. To this day, its still real good, pgns are here, you can even play your puzzle pgns.
We have been using t chess for 11 yrs, we play two games/day! T-chess beats us 90% of the time but we love the game and t chess! Thank you t-chess.
Chess puzzles are the only thing that is hindering tchess pro from being 100 percent perfect PLEASE we Beg you To Add them please.
TChess Pro is our favorite chess app, Ive been using it for many years. The interface is well designed and crisp looking. Its a pleasure to use.
During the pandemic, TChess fulfilled part of social need. Like a clever speed chess player in one moment and a thoughtful executor of complex combinations in the next, we were always challenged and it had helped our game against all humans we have since encountered. Love the 3D especially on our iPad.
Computer plays consistent game. Has really helped us improve our game.
Plays solid openings and a lot of variations. We enjoy it immensely.
Excellent. Best chess app on the App Store.
We have been using/playing two games a day for 10 yrs on iphone/ipad! That says alot!! We love tchess.
Provides several responses to the same strategy and is constantly challenging and povides levels that are way beyond our ability. Helps keep us sharp.
This game is really wonderful! We wish it was available on the Mac so we could play it on a larger screen! Thanks for a swell game! The only thing that we dont like is that it is too easy to get a draw. We also wish there was a way to graph our rating. We play everyday to help our brain wake up. We hope that tChess Pro gets ported to Big Sur soon! SupperDAD.
We have been using this app for several years and have been very satisfied with it. All of our important games are stored in the app and we constantly am looking up games – usually to share with someone. We use the game analysis feature a lot when we want a quick analysis of a game. We would recommend this app to anyone.
If we want to play chess in 3-D, t-Chess is the clear champion! Its Interfaces appearance is equal to any other (and we have 9 chess apps on our iPad). Second great feature is its Rated Game mode, ACCURATE and we find ourselves playing as hard against t-Chess Pro as against any human opponent. Its After Game graph is a big plus as it highlights shifts of fortune during a game and allows you return to those key positions for further analysis. No other chess app has an interface as elegant and clear to the player, and modifiable. With 9 chess playing apps, t-Chess Pro is used about 1/3 of the time. The Rated Game feature with 3-D play draws us back.
Hello. This is one of the better chess apps but it crashes quite often and we see the last update was two years ago. We hope you havent abandoned this app.
TChessPro lacks only one feature that we need. That is an evaluation bar on the side of the chessboard. Whether for OTB play with the computer or for analysis. This is really a must for a 2024 program.
Great chess app. For some reason the last updated erased all of our saved games.
A great app for studying and practicing games played.
Best qualities: ease of use and quick.
How much we like this app depends greatly on whether we win or lose.
If youve ever played chess against your processor (CPU) you know how hard it is to gain the edge against your opponent. But this well thought out chess app (one of the best that Ive ever seen ) makes it all challenging, fun and easy. It is seamless. And you can save games for future reference. Keep up the good work t chess Pro in your updates. As we said, one of the best games! Period.
This is the best Chess app Ive found so far. Lots of great features and updated and supported. Also, Pro version is very reasonably priced. Love it.
We dont know how this app could be better. The graphics are solid, its totally challenging, the developer keeps it updated … Ive been playing it for years and have no complaints. Highly recommended.
Ive had this app for years now and it is still the best chess app we have come across. It still receives regular updates and Ive not had to worry about any ads, data collection, or additional purchases for the pro version. Great work, Tom.
It took us 64 years to become interested in learning chess. After researching available apps we chose this tChess Pro, and Im happy we did. We knew absolutely nothing about the game, but within an hour or so we were playing beginner matches against the app. Theres a great tutorial section that explains the pieces and how theyre moved (we took lots of notes which we refer to while playing). Ive played close to two dozen games and am hooked. Ive actually beaten the app several times ( it must know its playing a newbie). The bottom line- great app, great game….and it only took 64 years.
This app has been our friend for years playing games on the subway. We just started studying and this has been a powerful tool to practice. You can even set up a problem and play it out. We like to record our in person games on it to play back like a movie at the end of the game and to see what could have happened if other moves were made.
Most chess programs have major issues with how the difficulty scales. You can select beginner and itll sac its queen turn 2 and you figure ok thats a bit too beginner and so you select medium and it plays like Karlsons better grandpa. Then you play a few games and it varies wildly in ability at the same setting. This game was once that way years ago but seems to have leveled off and become very good in that regard. Enjoyable and well worth the download.
We have been using tchess pro for about 9 yrs, and it makes us a stronger player. We love the app.
We are a mid range player, rated about 800. We find this chess game extremely helpful in improving our skills. The replay feature is wonderful And most helpful. Highly recommend this app. JP.
This game is really wonderful! We wish it was available on the Mac so we could play it on a larger screen! Thanks for a swell game! The only thing that we dont like is that it is too easy to get a draw. We also wish there was a way to graph our rating. We play everyday to help our brain wake up. We hope that tChess Pro gets ported to Big Sur soon! SupperDAD.
Ive been using this app for 10 years or so. The computer ratings are definitely off in this game. The computer plays a lot stronger then the given rating – our guess is probably 300-400 rating points stronger. Wish the developers would fix this.
Game is awesome, but it crashes waaaay too often. Esp after new ios update. Pls fix.
Love how the rated game system works. Play against engine that scales, analyze losses. Nice design.
We havent played in years and of course, that Netflix show sucked us back in. We ordered a real set to teach our wife but we wanted an app for ourselves to play on our iPad. This seems to be a solid app with some good options and no subscription or in app purchases. Ive quickly beat the computer a number of times in the dunce setting and really like the 3D model. Well worth the bucks so far.
We love this chess App. We have already years and still love it.
This is probably the best chess app in the App Store. We appreciate how the developer maintains it frequently and has added support for game center and other features. We also like looking at and studying the database of famous matches.
Amazing app… Learning the game more and more.
We love this app! It's intuitive, has lot's of options, and is robust (doesn't freeze, crash, etc). And, it's playing strength is sufficient for various tasks scenarios. Nitpick: Please CHANGE THE PIC on the app! It shows a BLACK SQUARE in WHITE'S right hand corner.
Get the free chess app that works way better than this paid chess app. The $7.99 is not a lot of money for us. However, this app only have 2500 ELO. It says 3800 ELO thats why we purchased. The app we have beat it easily. Im the free small fish that has 3300 ELO. We just install it but we are going to delete it. Its useless. Improve it to 3800 per your description. Then we will purchase it even for $28. For now, we want our $7.99 refunded. BTW it takes time to think despite we set it for zero 0 time please fix it.
Wonderful chess app. Great features. We highly recommend it.
We used to play this game nightly, but after a recent update the screen background is so bright that it is no longer relaxing. We havent played in weeks and now Im looking for another game.
Its like having a coach and chess engine with you around the clock. T-Pro took our chess game to another level. Thanks, to Tom and Apple for a great product.
Always a great challenge and trains you to be more strategic, to consider consequences more clearly and to always think ahead.
We had loads of chess apps and this is our favorite, so we started deleting all the others. Its our main go to chess app.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 2.0.1
- Size: 7.39 MB
- iOS: 26.0 or later
- Languages: EN, FR, DE, JA, KO, ZH
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Tom Kerrigan
Last updated: 29th November 2025 | Genre: Board, Entertainment | Developer: Tom Kerrigan