First of all, your ideas about the ideal chess program for Maemo are welcome at http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33764

Now your questions with poor quoting this time (sorry):

- Is the engine stupid, or enough smart to be a challenge? Eh... maybe I need to specify myself a bit more.

The engine is tough for average hobbyist players.


- I've heard that the built-in chess game on the N900 is identical to the N810 version, but this doesn't necessarily mean it won't be any better. Even if the program wasn't rewritten (which would be unlikely, considering the Maemo 5 platform somewhat differs from earlier Maemo versions), then it'd still be stronger, because of more powerful hardware.

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't the engine is up to squeezing the CPU, not even in the N810.

- Anyway, does anyone know how strong the engine is? Is it almost impossible to beat the most difficult level, or any other levels for that matter? Does the engine make strong moves on 1 sec time controls (if time controls are allowed, that is), or for how long does the engine have to calcule to make a sensible move? What elo does the levels have (maybe this question is too chess specific for the general public)?

In short, only some Russian colleagues find the Chess game doable in the Maemo team. (yes, I know, the stereotypes. It's the GNUChess engine, so you have ways to try yourself.

- If you want to be objective, please speficy the engine's strength in elo (if you somehow succeed to find that out, good luck with that, you'll need it).

No idea.

- What are the options? Time controls? Different sets of pieces? 2D/3D view? Does the latest game save automaticly? Are the results against the engine saved? Is it possible to choose color? Is it possible to play online? Are there fictional ratings for the player as well as the engine for different levels, which depends on the results? Can you ask for draw? Are the names of the openings displayed? Are there any other options that I didn't mention?

It's very basic. Only choosing color and level easy medium expert or 2 human players. No time, no stored games.