Chess Middlegame III vs ChessPrep
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chess Middlegame III
Master chess middlegame strategies with interactive lessons and practice problems. This app offers theoretical explanations and tactical exercises to improve your game, with features like hints, refutations, and ELO rating tracking.
- Interactive theoretical lessons
- Practice problems with hints and refutations
- ELO rating tracking
- Play positions against the computer
- Structured table of contents
- Offline play
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Chess Middlegame III course composed by GM Alexander Kalinin is aimed at teaching a student much of the middlegame methods and intricacies through a theoretical section. Openings: Sicilian defense (Closed System and 3. Bb5 var.), Scandinavian defense, Grünfeld defense, Queen's Gambit Accepted, Reti opening and others. This course is in the series Chess King Learn (https://learn.chessking.com/), which is an unprecedented chess teaching method. In the series are included courses in tactics, strategy, openings, middle game, and endgame, split by levels from beginners to experienced players, and even professional players. With the help of this course, you can improve your chess knowledge, learn new tactical tricks and combinations, and consolidate the acquired knowledge into practice. The program acts as a coach who gives tasks to solve and helps to solve them if you get stuck. It will give you hints, explanations and show you even striking refutation of the mistakes you might make. The program also contains a theoretical section, which explains the methods of the game in a certain stage of the game, based on actual examples. The theory is presented in an interactive way, which means you can not only read the text of the lessons, but also to make moves on the board and work out unclear moves on the board. Advantages of the program: • High quality examples, all double-checked for correctness • You need to enter all key moves, required by the teacher • Different levels of complexity of the tasks • Various goals, which need to be reached in the problems • The program gives hint if an error is made • For typical mistaken moves, the refutation is shown • You can play out any position of the tasks against the computer • Interactive theoretical lessons • Structured table of contents • The program monitors the change in the rating (ELO) of the player during the learning process • Test mode with flexible settings • Possibility to bookmark favorite exercises • The application is adapted to the bigger screen of a tablet • The application does not require an internet connection The course includes a free part, in which you can test the program. Lessons offered in the free version is fully functional. They allow you to test the application in real world conditions before releasing the following topics: 1. Petrov defense 1.1. Petrov defense 1.2. System with 3.Nxe5 1.3. System with 3. d4 2. Ruy Lopez 2.1. Ruy Lopez 2.2. Marshall counter-attack 2.3. Anti-Marshall system 3. Scandinavian defense 3.1. Scandinavian defense 3.2. Variation with 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bd2 3.3. System with 5. Nf3 Bg4 3.4. System with 5. Nf3 c6 3.5. System with 2. exd5 Nf6 4. Sicilian defense 4.1. Sicilian defense 4.2. Closed Variation 4.3. Systems with Bf1-b5. 5. Queen's gambit accepted. 5.1. Queen's gambit accepted. 5.2. 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. 0-0 5.3. 3. e4 6. Grünfeld defense 6.1. Grünfeld defense 6.2. System with 7. Bc4 6.3. 7.Nf3 0-0 8. Rb1 6.4. 3 Variations 6. ...c5 7. Bb5 and 6. ... Bg7 7. Bb5 6.5. Variation 7. Nf3 c5 8.Be3 7. Queen's pawn opening 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 7.1. Queen's pawn opening 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 7.2. 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 7.3. 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 8. Réti opening 8.1. Réti opening 8.2. 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 8.3. 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 8.4. 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 9. King's fianchetto opening 9.1. King's fianchetto opening 9.2. 2. ... d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. g3 Nf6 9.3. 2. ... d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. g3 g6 9.4. 2. ... c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. 0-0 Nge7
ChessPrep
Enhance your chess strategy with a powerful companion app. Build your repertoire from grandmaster moves, analyze opponent responses, and master tactics using a strong chess engine and spaced repetition.
- Build repertoire from grandmaster moves
- Analyze opponent responses by elo
- Stockfish 16 chess engine
- Spaced repetition system
- Position analysis and variation calculation
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ChessPrep is the ultimate chess companion designed to enhance your strategic prowess and elevate your game. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned player, ChessPrep empowers you to: Build Your Repertoire: Choose from a curated list of masterful moves played by grandmasters. Opponent Insights: Analyze the most common responses from opponents in your elo range, giving you a strategic edge. Stockfish 16 with NNUE: Access a powerful chess engine directly within the app to analyze positions, calculate variations, and refine your understanding of the game. Spaced Repetition: Master your chosen moves through an intelligent spaced repetition system, ensuring optimal retention and application during your games. ChessPrep is not just an app; it's your key to unlocking a deeper understanding of chess and outplaying your opponents.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Chess Middlegame III at 4.9 against ChessPrep's 3.0. Chess Middlegame III also leads on ratings volume (14 vs 2) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 12.0). ChessPrep's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 4 months). On price, ads, 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
Both are free to download. Chess Middlegame III sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and ChessPrep sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Chess Middlegame III holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Middlegame III has 14 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Chess Middlegame III ships an update every 4 months, ChessPrep every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess Middlegame III | ChessPrep |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (14 ratings) — better | 3.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 14 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 44 MB | 109 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chess King | Stephen Papadatos |
Customer experience
Chess Middlegame III
ChessPrep
In-app purchases
Chess Middlegame III
- Full course$7.99
ChessPrep
- ChessButler Monthly Sub$0.991 Month
- ChessButler Yearly Sub$9.991 Year
- ChessButler Lifetime Premium$19.99
Questions
Is Chess Middlegame III free?
Is ChessPrep free?
Which has better reviews, Chess Middlegame III or ChessPrep?
Do Chess Middlegame III or ChessPrep have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chess Middlegame III or ChessPrep?
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