Comparison

™ Chess vs Glow Chess

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

Glow Chess

Engage in the classic strategy game with adjustable difficulty levels and helpful features. Practice tactics and strategy to become a Chess Master. Offers puzzles and a two-player mode for interactive play.

Highlights
  • 5 difficulty levels
  • Chess Puzzles
  • Game Assistant
  • Undo move
  • Hints
  • 2 player mode
Features
Read full description

Hi Players, As you know, Chess is one of the oldest strategy games in the world. Chess is an excellent board logic game that develops such skills as tactics, strategy and visual memory. I'm trying to create an application that allows a player of any level to enjoy the game. Play Chess, unlock levels and be Chess Master! Chess pieces: - The pawn moves to one field forward or two fields at the first move of this figure; beats diagonally to one field forward. - The king moves to one field in the vertical, horizontal or diagonal. - The queen moves to any distance vertically, horizontally or diagonally. - The rook moves to any distance vertically or horizontally. - The knight moves to the field two fields along the vertical and one horizontally or one field vertically and two horizontally. - The bishop moves to any distance diagonally. Important Chess situations: - Check - the situation in chess when a king is under immediate attack by opponent's pieces - Checkmate - the situation in chess when the player whose turn it is to move is in check and has no legal move to escape check. - Stalemate - the situation in chess when the player whose turn it is to move has no legal move and is not in check. (draw) The goal of the game is to checkmate the other king. Two special moves in Chess: - Castling is a double move, performed by the king and the rook that never moved. - En passant is a move in which a pawn can take an opponent's pawn if it jumps over a field under the pawn's blow. Features: - 5 levels of difficulty - Chess Puzzles - Game Assistant (Helper) - Ability to undo a move - Hints of moves - 2 player mode - Realistic graphics - Sound effects - Small size If you want to play good Chess, you can help me make the app better. Please write your feedback and suggestions here; I will read them and improve the quality of the application! Thank you.

Screenshots

™ Chess4 screens
Glow Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: ™ Chess at none against Glow Chess's shown. ™ Chess also leads on ratings volume (10K vs 39). Glow Chess's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.5). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 Glow Chess sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Glow Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ™ Chess has 10K ratings behind it against 39, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

™ Chess ships an update every 4 months, Glow Chess every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
™ Chess versus Glow Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter™ ChessGlow Chess
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (10K ratings)4.8 (39 ratings) — better
Positive reviews37.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings10K — better39
Update frequencyEvery 4 months — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size112 MB78 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVM Mobile TeamPhuong Ta

Customer experience

™ Chess

All ratings10,299 ratings
Positive86.2%
Neutral6.1%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews614 reviews
Positive37.5%
Neutral7.8%
Negative54.7%

Glow Chess

All ratings24 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.3%

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

Glow Chess

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

™ Chess

One-time1
  • Premium$3.99
1 purchases

Glow Chess

One-time1
  • No Ads$3.99

Questions

Is ™ Chess free?
™ Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Glow Chess free?
Glow Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ™ Chess or Glow Chess?
Glow Chess is rated higher. ™ Chess averages 4.5 out of 5 from 10K ratings, while Glow Chess averages 4.8 from 39 ratings.
Do ™ Chess or Glow Chess have ads?
Glow Chess shows ads; ™ Chess does not.
Which is updated more often, ™ Chess or Glow Chess?
™ Chess ships an update every 4 months, and Glow Chess every 6 months. Most recently, ™ Chess was updated on October 19, 2026 and Glow Chess on October 14, 2026.

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