PGNs on iPhone (iOS)

Surfing through the previous threads on PGN viewers for iPhones, I haven't seen anything concrete, except the suggestion of an app called "tchess."  (Feel free to remark on that app, if you've experienced it.)

I'm looking for an app that is similar to the Perfect Chess Trainer for Android.  I would like to, at the very least, be able to create a pgn on my iPhone and email (or other transfer method) it to myself.  Analysis aspects of the app are a huge bonus, but not absolutely necessary.

Any suggestions on such a PGN reader with a means of transferring the PGN to my laptop?

David,

For Android, my go-to pgn program is PGN Master (with Analyze This). Perfect Chess Trainer has the promise of openings training, but I think the best for that sort of thing is Chess Arsenal for iOS devices. For generally exploring openings on iOS I like Chess Openings Pro, though the most recent interface update doesn't seem like an improvement to me. For pgn viewing you can try CBase Chess, or just use an engine with pgn capabilities such as Hiarcs or Stockfish. Chess-wise definitely has some cool feature's, but it's also missing standard things you might want. To share pgn's on all platforms I use Dropbox.

Thanks, Bob.  I'm going to dig around and read up on these to see what's best for me.  These sound like what I might be looking for.  I forgot to mention that I'm looking for an app to help practice and review openings, so I appreciate the mention.  I have heard of someone using Dropbox to move PGNs between their iPhone and laptop, so I'll have to look into how to do that.  I'm assuming that it is listed as a share option, once you have the Dropbox app uploaded onto the phone.

David,

On Android you get a share option, yes. And File Manager lets you do that too. But going in that direction with iOS is a bit more complicated, if I remember (switched to Android now). Email is sometimes easier on iPhone, as I recall. But either platform makes it pretty easy to go from Dropbox to the app.

If you put PGNs in Dropbox and have Dropbox on your phone, you can open those files with any suitable program on your phone.

I've used tChess Pro and CBase Chess as well as apps like Hiarcs and Stockfish to open PGN databases. CBase works best if there are annotations. They all work for games without annotations. I personally like Hiarcs' opening book, so use it when I want to use a mobile device for opening study. 

Stockfish can definitely do it. It's not a feature I ever particularly use but it's very simple to share a pgn file via iTunes and then open it in the app. Conversely, you also can make a pgn within the app, save to clipboard and then it's ready to paste into your email (without needing iTunes). Chessbase of course does it as well, but if that's the only feature you're wanting then Stockfish is free. It's a very powerful opponent as well.

I didn't know Hiarcs had an opening book.  Good to know.

I use the following iPad apps (of the many I've tried, these are the best in my opinion).

1.  Goodnotes is excellent for study material in PDF format, you can edit and annotate.

2.  Dropbox, which I use to keep synced my PGNs between my ipad and laptop.

3.  Hiarcs chess is my favourite for non-annotated PGN files.

4. Chess studio is a good new app for annotated PGN files with analysis and branching structure, you can read the annotations/text on the right of the screen while following the game on the left (or top bottom in the other view mode) while choosing which analysis tree to follow at each branch.  I use if for reading, for example, Chess Informant PGN files.

5. Chess Opening Trainer is an excellent (if unfortunately, non PGN) database to store opening trees in and then test yourself.  I find it excellent for learning/refreshing openings.

https://www.facebook.com/chessopeningtrainer

6. Openings is a good opening book database, although I preferred the previous version's interface - I find the new one a little irritating.

Thanks for the suggestions.  Is #5 the "Chess Openings Pro?"  I saw it has great reviews, and it doesn't bother me that it is not pgn formatted, so long as I can add opening lines to it.  Is it possible to add opening lines to it?

David,

Unless it has changed in the most recent version, the answer is No. Chess Openings (Pro) lets you peruse the openings, see win %'s, and is very good at naming the openings. But at least in the last version in which I used it you couldn't make any changes or additions. (It's also harder to read with the lastest update.) What I think makes Chess Arsenal so good on iPhone (wish he'd port it to Android too) is that it not only lets you set up your own openings, but you can import pgn's to do this. For example: buy an Everyman book on your favorite opening in pgn format, import it to Chess Arsenal, study the stuff, fix it to suit your own opening tastes. You can also mark your repertoire moves so that you can keep lots of lines while distinguishing which ones you prefer. And then it will quiz you on those openings. One of the only weaknesses is that you can't have multiple repertoire files. You can export your rep then back to pgn format. This app handles transpositions!!! (but not really in the export pgn of course.) Did I say I wish he'd port that to Android?

Wow, so it even does what my Chess Position Trainer on my laptop does.  Sounds like a winner, then.  Thanks for the info.

I should add that there's an app also which is called Chess Opening by Gaussian Knights. (This gets confusing as there are a few apps which have names sort of like this.) This app will let you add your own lines, but I didn't find the app overall as easy to use. You might want to try it yourself though. And it's available on both iOS and Android.

Chess Opening Trainer is the full name of the app for training in your opening rep. It has the advantage of being able to save multiple 'books' of your different openings, which you have to key in by hand. You can share books but its a proprietary format. I really like the app, but just for practicing my repetoir. 

https://www.facebook.com/chessopeningtrainer

EDIT: I see from the above link that you can convert PGNs to this app's COT format and import them. 

I just got way more apps than I probably need, but Chess Arsenal is an absolute winner.  

For those who use Chess Position Trainer: I just bought a Windows 10 tablet with keyboard at Wally World for $78 and it will run CPT! (still testing, so I can't yet tell you if it will be fast enough not to be annoying)

I love that software, Bob. I've been able to memorize so, so much theory in a painless sort of way. It's one of my favorites of any kind of training software.

At a glance this seems to work fine. You can keep your CPT file in the cloud for easy access. However, you cannot move the pieces with your finger using the touchscreen (though everything else seems to operate with your finger fine) so you'll probably want to get/use a bluetooth mouse for that (though it is possible to get by using the trackpad on the included keyboard). All in all a very handy way to take your CPT with you for a very cheap price.