™ Chess vs Chess King
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
™ 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.
- Play against AI
- Multiplayer matches
- Undo feature
- Board editor
- Customizable themes
- Game save/load
- Timed games
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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.
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.
- 100+ learning courses
- Interactive theoretical lessons
- High-quality, double-checked puzzles
- Personal chess trainer
- Computer analysis
- Offline support
- Chess tasks for kids
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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
Verdict
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
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.
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.
™ 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.
| Parameter | ™ Chess | Chess King |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (11K ratings) | 4.8 (2.5K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 37.3% of reviews | 78.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 11K — better | 2.5K |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 112 MB | 109 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | VM Mobile Team | Chess King |
Customer experience
™ Chess
Chess King
User reviews
™ Chess
From 11K App Store ratingsWhat 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 ratingsWhat 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 moreShow fewer
- Improve syncing across devices
- Add online chess mode
In-app purchases
™ Chess
- Premium$3.99
Chess King
- 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 moreShow fewer
- 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
- Chess: From Beginner to Club$12.99
- Chess Tactics for Beginners$12.99
- Chess Opening Blunders$12.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- CT-ART 4.0 (Chess Tactics)$17.99
Questions
Is ™ Chess free?
Is Chess King free?
Which has better reviews, ™ Chess or Chess King?
Do ™ Chess or Chess King have ads?
Which is updated more often, ™ Chess or Chess King?
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