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I play chess regularly, about 1600 rated. Sometimes I want to play chess on my phone (Android). The chess app I use, Chess free, is strong enough. However, it does not play regular openings, so when I am preparing for a regular match, it is quite useless.

Does anyone know any good apps that play regular openings and are otherwise also decent overall?

It's kind of a broad question, but I thought it's worth a shot here,

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  • If your phone can handle large apk of Alien Chess and you have time to learn such a big program, you might enjoy it later. Many functions for opening training including playing against opening book, strategy info for every book position etc... – hoacin Oct 9 at 12:05
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what is regular opening(are you going to study 1.E4 C5 2. Na3 because Magnus Carlsen played it)? and any app that supports opening book (chessbase, arena, chessmaster, etc) will play whatever you set in the book. also if you are 1600 - you should study chess, learn strategy, position evaluation and there will be enough opening information for you how to start game if you just read trough good book of 400-600 chess miniatures - they very well show and emphasize what are bad moves in opening that lead to quick loss and also you will learn what are good moves and approach in the opening. At your level opening is not the problem definitely! (My highest ELO was 2650 and I never studied openings explicitly - I always got them as side effect from the other studies)

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  • Thanks for your comment. I understand your point. However, I would still like to play some games against the computer, where there is a reasonable chance that the situation might actually be on the board in my regular games. I know lots of great resources on the opening, but that's another story. – SQL_M Oct 9 at 10:18
  • And by regular I mean openings that are often played, not some grandmaster novelty that appeared in a few games. – SQL_M Oct 9 at 10:20
  • as I wrote - any descent app has opening book and its settings - I mentioned few, but there are many more – Drako Oct 9 at 12:23
  • Sorry, I Misunderstood that part. I am not familiar with opening book as a feature in a chess App. I will try chessmaster. Thanks! – SQL_M Oct 9 at 12:26
  • some apps even mobile let you set position and play against engine - so you can make desired first moves and play both colors with engine from same position - that would make sense in learning, but still - I strongly advice - focus on chess and not opening learning at your current level, and do openings when you reach at least 2000-2200 – Drako Oct 9 at 12:30
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In the chess.com app, you can play in human-vs-human mode and at any time replace one of the human players by a computer. This way, you can play the first moves yourself, for the two players, and then once the opening position you want is achieved, you switch one of the players to a computer, and it will do its best for there.

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From my experience Chess Genius (for Android and iOS) plays rather mainstream openings, if that's the meaning of your question.

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