Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) Hack 2.06 + Redeem Codes

I always return to this app for tactics. Probably the best engine in the store for analyzing your games. 5 stars because even with what I explain below, it is better than all the others.

If I could give one improvement, it would be to report tactic bugs. I have ran into 2 out of hundreds so this is a small thing) where there was an equal move, or only worked because the wrong move was played during the sequence by the app. For instance, #50 of the easy set. The queen moving to f5 after you play the bishop capture allows you to mate with rook. A much stronger move for black would be bishop to f5, black loses the queen, but after bishop takes rook black is only down 3 points. Running the engine allows another 40 moves before a forced mate by white.

Anyway, good job devs. Overall 5/5

A lot of the puzzles are really straight forward and good for beginner and intermediate players. What frustrates me the most about the puzzles is that several of the hard puzzles have more than one winning solution; backed by computer analysis. Sometimes you can play a move that absolutely wins, but it’s not the “best” line. Let’s be honest, if one line is +10, and I go with the line that’s +8, they’re both winning. In my mind, a puzzle should only have one “winning” solution. Additionally, there are some puzzles that are mate in x, and you can be wrong if you choose a mating line that takes more moves than the intended solution, i.e., The puzzle may be a mate in 3, but you choose a line that’s mate in 4. It really doesn’t matter. Checkmate is checkmate.

I really like this app and have been using it for a long time; I don’t want my frustrations to dismiss that fact. It would beneficial (in my opinion) to introduce alternative correct moves that give the user a chance to find the best solution rather than flat out calling it wrong.

I have not encountered a better app-based tactical tool. Easy to use in spare moments (when one does not have enough time for a match). And one can spend a fair amount of time using this app and feel consistently challenged. Its navigation is perhaps not quite as fluid as it would be after some improvement. And I join others in hoping that bugs are fixed relating to scenarios when one can mate in a single move as opposed to the prescribed six, as just one of several examples. I do not write many reviews, but I do so in this instance to echo that a very, very good app could be made even better.

I have kept this app on my iPhone for a few years now, coming back to it from time to time. This is a very solid app. First of all, it does not require an internet connection, like many of the other apps do. Most of the problems are correct, i.e. I do not run into bugs too often. I removed one star for the embedded chess engine - not sure what it is, since the name is never mentioned anywhere, but I get the feeling the engine it truly archaic (self made?). Not sure why in all these years the author chose not to upgrade to something like the most recent Stockfish version. And another star was lost due to the combination of minor cosmetic issues:
* some minor errors, i.e. the program does not always respond with the best possible move
* the board color schemes choice could be a bit better
* the board sound is quite strange, more like a click, not very realistic

Of all the chess tactics apps this one is very straight forward and a pleasure to use. (Some of the others out there can get very convoluted with their features.) My only gripe with some of these puzzles is that not all of them contain the most important feature in Chess combinations and that is: The Forced Move. The reason I’m writing this review, was because I just did one of their daily puzzles (nice feature) and after white takes black’s Bishop, the answer for black was to take the bishop with a pawn? Thus exposing the lonely Rook on the back file to be taken with white’s Rook... resulting in mate. Well… any decent player knows that you shouldn’t take that bishop. I find puzzles like this sometimes, but not all the time. Perhaps they need a better chess editor on board? Overall, not a bad app. Definitely worth having.

I like this a lot, but the only thing that is driving me seriously nuts, is that I'm a beginner, and I'm going through easy and I don't necessarily know what the goal of the next step is everytime. For example, I did puzzle 15 on easy, it ended with me taking the bishop, but that wasn't necessarily checkmate. Maybe I'm missing something or im such a beginner that im missing something, but this definitely scratches my chess itch without having to play a whole game. Hope you check out my criticism and respond! Thank you!

I’ve played a bunch of the puzzles now, and there have been a bunch of times where it says I made a move incorrectly, when in reality it was wrong. There was a time where I could have checkmated the king by sacrificing my bishop, and it said it was wrong. The correct move wasn’t even checkmate. I continued to go through the problems even after I “solved” them, and found that the king could avoid checkmate 3-5 moves later. It was pretty annoying. But the difficulty was good. Although some puzzles are rated as “easy” they are definitely not beginner, and improved my game quite a bit.

I really enjoy the puzzles. I’ve played chess thousands of times, and even had a PC chess training program around twenty years ago, but I’ve never been very good.
I’m on puzzle #36 in the intermediate level, and I was just thinking today that I noticed this method has actually improved my game. The two-four move challenges are not daunting enough to discourage, and I find it hard to not say, “Just one more, just one more...” Each “baby-step puzzle is like a bite-sized candy. Pretty soon you’ve eaten the whole bag! I’m gonna finish them all !!

All of the puzzles are challenging and helpful. Each tactic poses its own problem and teaches you something that will improve your chess playing ability at any level. Your desire to play will increase since you learn how the game really works and gain confidence in your game as you get better at analyzing each tactic. You will get better at choosing your moves at every stage of the game. This is a wonderful app, and you can buy additional puzzle sets, too.

I enjoy sitting down and doing chess puzzles. Even thought, it’s A great app for chess puzzles. It’s very hard to understand how it helps in the position. I hope that there would be A explanation bar on the side, or something.

So I’m able to understand the position more. Otherwise this app is A great, it’s helpful to see patterns in real games. Also it’s easy to use. Unlike most apps, this actually has puzzles, that’s good.