Or, to be safe, chess is a strategy game where two warring players - one black, one white - control their army and aim to dominate the other player's King. It's an ultimate game of logic, thinking, and strategy. There is no hidden information; all pieces are laid out before both players. There is no element of chance; everything that happens does so as a direct result of moves by either player. Pieces have their own special moves, and all is orderly. It is straightforward enough to pick up the rules, but every game is unique. In fact, there are more possible variations of chess games than there are atoms in the observable universe.

No matter whether you want to learn chess, practice chess against a computer, or challenge yourself to increasingly more difficult computer-based players, Gamovation's Chess Club game is for you. It is available on Google Store: Chess Android and Apple Store: Chess iOS.

What's terrific too, is that it is absolutely free to download and play. It is ad-supported, but you can choose to pay an in-app purchase to remove ads. The ads aren't intrusive and it means you get a great chess game with no barrier to entry. In fact, there's no reason not to download it and play it right now.

The graphics are attractive, and you can change between 2D and 3D chess pieces in the settings. You can also opt to play against a range of different difficulties, as either white or black, or let the game randomly assign you a colour. You can also turn on or off helpful aids like highlighting available moves for the selected piece and highlighting pieces with available moves. With the former turned on (which it is, by default) you choose a piece and the game helpfully illuminates the chess board squares you can move to, which may show you options you hadn't otherwise thought of. With the latter turned on (which it is not, by default) you can see all pieces you can play with at that time - or, conversely, see which pieces are trapped and help you understand you need to do something about it.

So whether you're an expert or a beginner or anywhere in between, Gamovation Chess Club really does bring you a great chess game that can match your level of skill and continually push you to greater capabilities.

You may need to experiment to find the skill level right for you. In my first game, against the most basic difficult level I won without a great deal of difficulty. The computer player varied between scaring me that they were up to something, to then bemusing me when it moved its own pieces into danger. Even so, it still took me a little while to fully checkmate the opponent's King. See my final board here:

Things definitely ramp up as you move through the difficulty, all the way from beginner (level 1) to champion (level 10).

Once you've honed your skills against your phone, you can then play a two-player game on the same device. After each turn, the board flips so you see the board the correct way despite which end of the phone you're sitting at. Further, there are a series of puzzles to test your thinking against a series of pre-constructed chess boards where you must solve a challenge like "win in one move."

Check out the trailer here, and when you're done head straight to the app store for your phone, and download either Google Store: Chess Android or Apple Store: Chess iOS today.