Thursday, May 29, 2008

Phone chess game

So I downloaded a phone chess game to play with, to battle boredom in helpless moments such as waiting for a train. It is fairly amazing to download something on the phone! Phone no longer just make phone calls and send text.

The game is called "Ultimate Chess". NICE graphics for a small phone. But it has only 1 set of chess graphics. I wish there are more to choose from. But at just a handful size of 76.1K, you can't ask for too much. Chess algorithm must be a very interesting topic to study. I wish I can find a book or so on it. How did they pack all that graham (um, code)?

About the game: watch out! No undo! (Suggestion 1, how about an undo option?) Must be careful! Ok, needing to undo is a bad chess habit. Fortunately you can save a game. (but just one game)

About difficulty, there is easy level all the way to grand master. I used to have another chess game on my older phone, it was ridiculously easy even at the so called hard level. For Ultimate Chess, the normal level seems to be fairly easy but not outright naive. I was able to beat the Hard level! (not very consistently though) Ok, maybe I was just lucky. I suppose it is a strong opponent at higher settings, won't attempt unless I beat Hard level consistently. (I am a very amateur player.)

(Suggestion 2) I am named "Player" How come I can't rename myself?

You can play an easy game, almost going to win, save the game. Beat it! That increases your rating. Load again! Win again to increase more rating! You can increase indefinitely! (Is that a bug? Suggestion 3, how about fixing that?)

This game even has a puzzle mode! I can solve the Mate-in-1 puzzles. The Mate-in-2 puzzles are VERY difficult! I can't solve any yet!

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