Comparison

Chess Middlegame V vs Openings Mastermind

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

Head to head
About

Chess Middlegame V

Master chess middlegame strategies with interactive lessons and over 400 exercises. Learn typical plans and methods in popular openings, with hints and refutations to improve your game. Track your ELO rating as you progress through structured content.

Highlights
  • Interactive theoretical lessons
  • Over 500 games/lectures
  • 400+ problem-solving exercises
  • Hints and refutations for mistakes
  • ELO rating tracking
  • Offline play capability
  • Tablet optimized
Features
Read full description

Chess Middlegame V course composed by GM Alexander Kalinin is aimed at teaching a student much of the middlegame methods and intricacies through a theoretical section which includes over 500 games/lectures each of them illustrating typical plans and methods in the following openings: Petroff defense, Ruy Lopez, Sicilian defense, Queen's Gambit, and etc. More than 400 exercises for a user to solve, giving refutations of the wrong moves as well as numerous hints to help you find the correct answer. 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. Open games 1.1. Vienna game 1.2. Four knights game with 5.Bb5 1.3. Ruy Lopez 2. Semi-open games 2.1. Caro-Kann 2.2. Sicilian defense 3. Closed games 3.1. Queen's gambit 3.2. Nimzo-Indian defense 3.3. Queen’s Indian defense 3.4. Trompowsky attack 4. Open games 4.1. Ruy Lopez 4.2. Vienna game 4.3. Four knights game with 5.Bb5 4.4. Scotch game 4.5. Petroff 5. Semi-open games 5.1. Caro-Kann 5.2. Sicilian defense 6. Closed games 6.1. Queen's gambit 6.2. Nimzo-Indian defense 6.3. Queen’s Indian defense 6.4. Variation with 4. g3 6.5. Trompowsky attack

About

Openings Mastermind

Master chess openings with this app. Import studies, explore with advanced engines, and practice specific lines through repetition. Track your progress and improve your game.

Highlights
  • Import Lichess Studies or PGNs
  • Explore openings with Stockfish 15
  • Practice openings by repetition
  • Smart practice queue
  • Track learning progress
Features
Read full description

Get ready to take your chess game to the next level with Openings Mastermind, the ultimate chess opening app! Some of the features include: - Import Lichess Studies or custom PGNs - Explore openings with Stockfish 17 and the Lichess position database - Practice openings by repetition against your own custom openings database - Take advantage of the smart practice queue and improve your learning - Observe your learning progress in different openings With our app, you can take your opening game to the next level by practicing against the specific lines you want to master. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced player, our app is the perfect tool to help you improve your opening moves and become a better chess player. Planned Features: - Continue against engine, after study line ends - Analysis of your games from Lichess and Chess.com compared to your openings database

Screenshots

Chess Middlegame V4 screens
Openings Mastermind4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Openings Mastermind at 50% against Chess Middlegame V's 0%. Openings Mastermind also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months). Chess Middlegame V's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and ratings volume (20 vs 6). On price, ads 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 Middlegame V sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Openings Mastermind asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chess Middlegame V holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 20 and 6 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 0% of Chess Middlegame V's written reviews are positive against 50% of Openings Mastermind's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Middlegame V ships an update every 4 months, Openings Mastermind fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Chess Middlegame V versus Openings Mastermind: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess Middlegame VOpenings Mastermind
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (20 ratings) — better4.3 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews50.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings20 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS8.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size44 MB88 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChess KingChristian Heise

Customer experience

Chess Middlegame V

All ratings20 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%

Openings Mastermind

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Chess Middlegame V

One-time1
  • Full course$7.99
None

Openings Mastermind

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chess Middlegame V free?
Chess Middlegame V is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Openings Mastermind free?
Openings Mastermind is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Chess Middlegame V or Openings Mastermind?
Chess Middlegame V is rated higher. Chess Middlegame V averages 5.0 out of 5 from 20 ratings, while Openings Mastermind averages 4.3 from 6 ratings.
Do Chess Middlegame V or Openings Mastermind have ads?
Neither Chess Middlegame V nor Openings Mastermind shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chess Middlegame V or Openings Mastermind?
Chess Middlegame V ships an update every 4 months, and Openings Mastermind fortnightly. Most recently, Chess Middlegame V was updated on November 4, 2026 and Openings Mastermind on November 3, 2026.

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