Great news, Magnus’s Online Chess has just been submitted to Apple for approval. Judging by the latest wait times, that should mean the app is in the app store in the next few weeks!

We’ve decided to release it as a free app with a paid update to unlock some of the features. This means that you can try the app for free and play unlimited games as a guest. If you upgrade, you’ll unlock the ability to log in as a registered user, play rated games and keep track of your rating.

Unlocking all premium features costs $2.99 (USD)

We’ve got some great beta testers who have already helped us find a few important issues. If you’re interested in reading about our progress and the feedback from the testers, check out our beta forum.

We’re hoping for around another week of beta before we submit to the app store. It’s getting close!

We’re looking for beta testers who can help us iron out the last few bugs in the app. You get to check out the app before anyone else, and you’ll get a free copy once we launch

If you’re interested, just leave a reply to this post with the following info:

1. The device you’re using (iPhone 2G, iPod touch etc.)
2. Your chess experience level (beginner, club player, grand master etc.)
3. Any other relevant qualifications that would make you a great beta tester

Thanks for your interest – we’ll be in touch!

Update: beta applications are now closed, thanks to everyone who applied! We’ve had a great response and are really happy with the people who’ve registered.

How close? Close enough for us to be getting excited! We’re aiming for release some time in October 2009 (depending on Apple’s approval process).

We’ve spent the last few months working hard, trying to make the best possible chess app for the iPhone. Here are the main things we’ve been concentrating on:

• Online multiplayer against real people
• Lots of opponents to choose from (at all skill levels)
• Powerful matchmaking
• Strong AI opponents
• Keep track of your rating / ranking
• Simple interface and beautiful graphics

It’s gonna be a massive step up from the previous version, in fact in lots of ways it’s almost like a whole new app. Keep an eye on this blog for updates!

Over the next few weeks we’ll be posting some insights into the dev process.
Keep an eye out if you’re interested in how we built the app