Comparison

™ Chess vs Chess King

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

™ Chess

Engage in the timeless strategy of chess on your mobile device. Play against sophisticated AI opponents across multiple difficulty levels, or challenge friends and family. Features include an undo option, board editor, and customizable themes for a personalized experience.

Highlights
  • Play against AI
  • Multiplayer matches
  • Undo feature
  • Board editor
  • Customizable themes
  • Game save/load
  • Timed games
Features
Read full description

Chess is a classic board game for quiet study, quick practice, local play, and relaxed online matches through Game Center. Play your way: - Start an online game through Game Center and play a casual no-time-limit match. - Practice against multiple AI difficulty levels. - Solve thousands of chess puzzles, including 777 newly added tactical positions. - Play local two-player games on the same device. - Save and load games when you want to continue later. - Set up custom positions with the board editor. - Customize boards, pieces, avatars, sounds, and themes. - Try timed games when you want a sharper challenge. This update also adds a seasonal football-themed board background and avatar for the 2026 world tournament season. Whether you want to train tactics, learn openings, play against AI, share a local game, or challenge another player online, Chess is built for comfortable play at your own pace.

About

Chess King

Master the game of chess with this comprehensive learning app. It offers interactive lessons, puzzles, and analysis for all skill levels, from beginner to advanced. Improve your tactics and strategy with a personal chess trainer, available online and offline.

Highlights
  • 100+ learning courses
  • Interactive theoretical lessons
  • High-quality, double-checked puzzles
  • Personal chess trainer
  • Computer analysis
  • Offline support
  • Chess tasks for kids
Features
Read full description

Don't just play chess. Train like a master. Chess King teaches the game the way strong players are actually built — with a rigorous, structured curriculum, not a random feed of puzzles. 147 complete courses take you from your first move to advanced play, step by step. WHY CHESS KING IS DIFFERENT Most chess apps let you play. Chess King trains you. Every course is a real lesson built on classical training methods refined over 30 years — the same approach behind CT-ART, the tactics trainer used by serious players worldwide. You don't just solve a position and move on. Chess King gives you hints when you are stuck, explains the idea behind the right move, and shows you the striking refutation of the mistakes you might make. That is how understanding is built — not memorized. WHAT YOU GET - 147 structured courses covering tactics, strategy, openings, the middlegame, and endgames, organized by level from beginner to master. - Chess King University: 7 guided learning paths and 44 courses that give you a clear, ordered route to real improvement — no guessing what to study next. - Interactive theory: read the lesson, then play the moves on the board yourself. Learning by doing, not just reading. - Thousands of carefully selected exercises with graphic hints and full explanations. - Play against the computer to put what you have trained into practice. - A progress report for every lesson, so you always see how far you have come. TRAIN ON EVERY DEVICE Your subscription, purchases, progress, and rating sync automatically across web, iPhone, iPad, and Android. Train on your phone on the commute, continue on the web at home — your progress follows you. TRY IT FREE Preview courses before you commit. When you are ready, choose a monthly or yearly plan, or buy individual courses to keep forever. Chess King — train like a master. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

™ Chess4 screens
Chess King4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Chess King at 78% against ™ Chess's 37%. Chess King also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). ™ Chess's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (11K vs 2.5K). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. ™ Chess sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Chess King sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chess King holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 11K and 2.5K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 37% of ™ Chess's written reviews are positive against 78% of Chess King's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

™ Chess ships an update every 4 months, Chess King every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
™ Chess versus Chess King: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter™ ChessChess King
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (11K ratings)4.8 (2.5K ratings) — better
Positive reviews37.3% of reviews78.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings11K — better2.5K
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS13.013.0
Further details — not scored
Size112 MB109 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVM Mobile TeamChess King

Customer experience

™ Chess

All ratings10,299 ratings
Positive86.2%
Neutral6.1%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews614 reviews
Positive37.3%
Neutral8.0%
Negative54.7%

Chess King

All ratings2,501 ratings
Positive95.2%
Neutral2.3%
Negative2.4%
Written reviews324 reviews
Positive78.4%
Neutral5.2%
Negative16.4%

User reviews

™ Chess

From 11K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Challenging gameplay
  • 🚀 Quick response times
  • 💡 Variety of difficulty levels
  • 🤩 Enjoyable for chess lovers

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inconsistent difficulty levels
  • 🤬 Overpowered AI on easy mode
  • 💰 Too many ads
  • 🤯 Frustrating for beginners

Chess King

From 2.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • ⭐ Best game in the world
  • 👍 Helpful for practice
  • 💡 Excellent tutorial and training content
  • 🎨 Well-chosen puzzles
  • 🧠 Improves pattern recognition and tactics

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive
  • 🐛 Crashes on iPhone and iPad
  • 🐛 Buggy after recent update
  • 🤔 Confusing interface and lack of instructions
  • 🤔 Difficult for beginners

Bugs and requests

™ Chess

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Illegal moves allowed by AI
  • Incorrect draw detection
  • Castling not functioning properly

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more difficulty settings
  • Allow under-promotion
  • Improve AI difficulty scaling
  • Reduce ads or offer paid version

Chess King

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes on M1 Macs
  • Doesnot work with iOS 13 dark mode
  • Doesnot show board and pieces in exercises
  • Cannot restore purchases
  • Doesnot sync progress across devices

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add dark mode option
  • Improve user interface and design
  • Add more opening courses
  • Provide better explanations for moves
  • Allow resetting progress
Show 2 more
  • Improve syncing across devices
  • Add online chess mode

In-app purchases

1 purchases

™ Chess

One-time1
  • Premium$3.99
10 purchases

Chess King

Subscriptions6
  • CT-ART: The Best Tactics7 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Chess King University7 Days trial$11.991 Month
  • Chess King Courses3 Days trial$11.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Chess King Maximum Pack1 Month trial$17.991 Month
  • Chess King Courses3 Days trial$89.991 Year
  • Chess King Maximum Pack1 Year trial$119.991 Year
One-time4
  • Chess: From Beginner to Club$12.99
  • Chess Tactics for Beginners$12.99
  • Chess Opening Blunders$12.99
Show 1 more
  • CT-ART 4.0 (Chess Tactics)$17.99

Questions

Is ™ Chess free?
™ Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chess King free?
Chess King is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ™ Chess or Chess King?
Chess King is rated higher. ™ Chess averages 4.5 out of 5 from 11K ratings, while Chess King averages 4.8 from 2.5K ratings.
Do ™ Chess or Chess King have ads?
Chess King shows ads; ™ Chess does not.
Which is updated more often, ™ Chess or Chess King?
™ Chess ships an update every 4 months, and Chess King every 3 weeks. Most recently, ™ Chess was updated on November 11, 2026 and Chess King on November 6, 2026.

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