HIARCS Chess Software for PC Windows, Apple Mac and iPhone/iPad Palm Comparison
World Championship winning computer chess software program & downloads for chess database, analysis & play on PC, Mac and iPhone

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Palm PDA Chess Programs: A Comparison

If you are looking for the strongest and best Palm chess program you have probably been looking at HIARCS, Chess Tiger and Chess Genius. HIARCS is not only the clear strongest chess program on the Palm, but it also has the best features and it has been this way since June 2004!  The stronger the Palm PDA chess software, the better it is able to teach and help you learn and improve your chess. Furthermore it will consume less battery life to reach the chess strength you want. This means Palm Hiarcs can offer a full range of energy saving levels. Now HIARCS Palm Chess Pro has arrived the features possible on the Palm has increased to a new level.

The official computer rating list called SSDF is acknowledged world wide as the best indication of computer chess strength. It's 2006 rating list has Palm HIARCS over 200 Elo stronger than Chess Genius and Chess Tiger. That means you could expect Palm HIARCS to win more than 3 out of 4 games against Chess Genius or Tiger. In reality there is no comparison.

The following comparison table will help you understand why HIARCS is head and shoulders above its competitors in both features and chess strength.

Feature HIARCS Palm Chess Pro 12.1 Palm Chess HIARCS 9.7 Palm Chess Genius 2.31 Palm Chess Tiger 15.1
Chess Strength* on 400Mhz PDA (est. SSDF Elo, add 200 for USCF) 2700 Elo (provisional) 2586 Elo 2447 Elo*->2352 Elo 2293 Elo*->2191 Elo
ARM native engine for latest PDAs Yes Yes Yes No
Learns from the games it plays:
Book and positional learning
Yes Yes No No
Full time controls and playing levels Yes (incl. Fischer Clock) Yes (includes Fischer Clock) No Yes (but no Fischer Clock)
Training levels with Elo rating to measure progress Yes - Full range 750 to 2700 Elo Yes - Elo 750 to Elo 2600! No Elo measurement No Elo measurement
Built in Coaching Yes Yes, on ALL levels Yes No
Aids opening book study & learning Yes, largest, most up to date books and clearly the strongest. Display of book moves and symbols. Yes (with huge choice of books and styles) No No
Analysis including next best moves Yes Yes No No
Automatic Mistake Analysis Yes Yes No No
Opening Names Yes, Full ECO No Yes, small selection No
Resign, Offer Draw, Adjudicate Yes No No No
Supports Shuffle Chess Yes Yes No No
High Res 320x320 colour graphics support Yes Yes Yes No
Edit Positions Yes Yes Yes Yes
Game Variations/Branches Yes No No No
Games Database, Load, Delete, Save Yes Yes No No
Game Database Select, Delete Yes, many databases No No No
Load Next Database Game Yes No No No
PGN Import/Export Yes via memo pad Yes via memo pad Yes via memo pad Yes via memo pad
Supports Extended PGN Yes Yes No No

*Information from Chess Tiger and Chess Genius own web sites for chess strength on Palm Tungsten T3. Results show these claims are 100 Elo higher than reality.
HIARCS for Palm rating based on published test results of 1062 games including many matches against Tiger and Genius.

If you are not familiar with the Elo rating system you might ask what would happen if HIARCS played Chess Tiger and Chess Genius? You can see the actual results on our Palm chess results pages.

Here are some example positions which illustrate the power of our Palm Chess Hiarcs 9 series product:

    
This first position is difficult even for the fastest desktop computers!
HIARCS finds the key move 1. b6+!! in a mere 145 seconds on a Palm Tungsten T3.
The amazing main line found by HIARCS is: 1. b6+!! Kxb6  2. Nd7+ Kc6  3. Qa6+ Kxd7  4. e6+ Ke8  5. Qa8+ Qd8  6. g6!! Qxa8  7. g7 Qf3  8. g8Q+ Qf8  9. Qg2! wins. No other PDA software will come close to this performance.

    
This position appears on the Chess Genius website as an example of how fast Genius is. We compare the performance of Genius 2.1 and HIARCS 9.41 on this position:
Genius 2.1 on a Tungsten T3   44 seconds
HIARCS 9.41 on a Tungsten T3  4 seconds!


This position illustrates how fast HIARCS is in king attacks. In this position HIARCS 9.41 finds the key move Rxc3+! in 4 seconds on a Tungsten T3. For reference Pocket Fritz 2 on a 590Mhz Dell Axim took 30 seconds and Chess Genius on the same 590Mhz hardware could not see it after 4 minutes!?


This position shows how efficient HIARCS is in taking the initiative by sacrificing material. HIARCS 9.41 finds the best move 1. Rxd4! in only 14 seconds on a Palm Tungsten T3.


This position shows HIARCS tactical speed and compares it with some other programs below:
HIARCS 9.41 on Tungsten T3             1 second!
Chess Genius 2.1 on Tungsten T3   109 seconds
Chess Tiger 15.1 on Tungsten T3    203 seconds


HIARCS finds the sacrafice 1... Nxf2! for the attack in a mere 8 seconds on a Palm Tungsten T3.


In this position HIARCS finds the winning key move Nf6+! instantly on a Palm Tungsten T3.

 

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"generally I use HIARCS." - Five time World Chess Champion Vishy Anand, in a recent interview when asked what chess program he uses to analyse with
 
"HIARCS is much better positionally than Deep Blue." - Garry Kasparov 1997 (after game 5 of the rematch)

World Chess Champion, Vishy Anand, used "Powerful" HIARCS machine in preparations for his 2010 & 2012 world title matches

"This level of service is one other big reason to buy HIARCS." - John Jackson

† Highest performance reached depends on computer used. Computer Chess Software with world class chess engine playing strength.
HIARCS is designed and developed by Mark Uniacke in England.

*VAT and local sales tax may be applicable. Prices given in GBP, USD and EUR are subject to change without notice.
Other currencies are subject to conversion rates from GBP.

HIARCS is a trademark of Applied Computer Concepts Ltd. All other product trademarks acknowledged.
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