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My last article, here on dotTech, was about a game development software, that provides the tools to create amazing new games, called Unity. But what about old school board games like Chess (more like ancient school, I know); where does it stand in this modern world of today? The good people at Chess.com gave some thought about that and came up with Chess Apps that allows you to play chess on your mobile phone and on the biggest social network of the world, Facebook. Let’s give a closer look at the latter one.
JOIN THE CHESS MADNESS
Can you guess the name of Chess.com’s Facebook page? Exactly, facebook.com/chess (what else, right?). Over there you can install the App on your profile and/or page, read chess articles, and watch chess videos to improve your game or to start learning how to play it.
Once installed, the App will show up on your profile’s Apps list just like any other app.
Click on the App to run it and the following options will show up — Play with Friends (online friends, not the cast from the sitcom), Blitz Chess, Tournaments and Get Better!.
Choosing Tournaments or Get Better! will take you to the Chess.com website either to put yourself to the test by joining free online tournaments or to improve your game skills by, for example, watching videos, taking online lessons with a mentor, or even by choosing a Personal Chess Coach.
The third option, Blitz Chess, is all about real time live chess action. You can join tournaments or simply watch others play while the Alerts box feed keeps you updated with the latest info available.
And finally, my personal favorite, Play With Friends allows you create or to accept games created by others. These games can take days, weeks, or even months to reach a conclusion; it all depends on the time frame you choose (or has been chosen) for the match.
The beauty of Play With Friends is that you don’t need to be online at the same time as your opponent. Once the game begins you just need to make your move before the deadline and submit it so that your challenger can make his/her own move and keep the game going. Failing to meet the deadline represents loosing the match.
To help you make informed moves while playing, you have useful tools at your disposal such as Moves History, which logs all the previous moves, a Chat Box (to let your opponent know your most profound feelings about him or her), the Details of the match, and a personal notebook to keep your Notes about the current game. In addition, there are the control buttons that let you browse trough all the previous moves. Until you hit the Submit Move button everything is allowed but the second you hit it… case closed.
And that’s pretty much it. You can start/play as many games as you like. All games are shown to you in a list in the Chess App Home page with etails such as Time Left and Status. You can play rated (ranked) games if desired which will see you either climb up or down the chess ladder after every concluded game.
One last thing, to remove the ads and get full access to all the features of you need to Upgrade — here are the prices and plans available:
(To deal with the ads you could also block ads.)
TO SUM UP
Chess.com’s Facebook app is a great way to play chess no matter what level of the game you at; it’s fun, easy to start and continue games, and the fact that you can engage a game with any of your Facebook friends as easily as poke them makes it definitely worth a try. Feel free to challenge me to a steel metal cage chess match anytime. Ashraf can referee.
Start playing right now by following the links below:
