Great, Great Mobile Chess Game - Shredder

peterk1

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Hmmm...not much chess discussion going on these days.
Anyways, just wanted to let everyone know about a really good option for playing chess in the subway / on the bus / out on the porch.

A few years ago, i was looking for a portable solution and with this board's help I ended up getting a little dedicated Mephisto portable.

http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?103880-Any-decent-Chessgames-for-the-Nintendo-DS/page3

It was fun at first, but the quality of the display ended up taking its toll and I stopped playing after a little while.

I bought a iPad a little while ago and decided to search for a chess program to try out on it and was pretty disappointed until I found Shredder.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/shredder-chess-for-ipad/id364900027?mt=8

This thing is amazing. It plays very much like a human, making believable mistakes every so often for you to take advantage of. It offers draws on its own initiative.

If you're training for a tournament though it would probably still be a good idea to use a different program for at least some of your training games for endgame practice. Against Chessmaster, my winning games almost always go into very stressful pawns and minor piece endgames. Against Shredder, my wins have almost always ended before those types of endgame.

Best of all, are the included puzzles. Most software and book puzzle collections I've seen tend to be the traditional mate-in-X with a surprising first move sacrifice, so you can develop some bad habits with these if you're not careful. Goals of Shredder puzzles include mates, gaining of material, making the best defensive move, or simply making the best move in a quiet position. And you don't know what type of position you will be getting before it flashes up on your screen. This develops the important ability of being able to see the soul of a position within a second or 2 of seeing it.
 

Scott Tortorice

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Thanks for the lead!

It is interesting that since I have given up 95% of my games, chess has been slowly clawing its way back into my attention. Maybe I just had to whittle down my game list to enjoy it again - I've only had 2-4 games going on for the last month or so - but I am taking an interest in it again. Or perhaps it is just that the vacuum left by the other games needs to be filled. :)
 

peterk1

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I've been on and off with chess my entire life. Don't think I'll ever stop playing it entirely though.
I tend to always get back into it, when life gets a little stressful and I'm looking for ways to relax. The Fritz puzzles are very good for that if you don't quite have enough time for a full game.
Just bought a brand new computer yesterday and the first thing I installed on it was my old copy of Chessmaster 10.

Thanks for the lead!

It is interesting that since I have given up 95% of my games, chess has been slowly clawing its way back into my attention. Maybe I just had to whittle down my game list to enjoy it again - I've only had 2-4 games going on for the last month or so - but I am taking an interest in it again. Or perhaps it is just that the vacuum left by the other games needs to be filled. :)
 
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