Comparison

Chess ⁺ vs Encyclopedia 2 by Informant

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

Head to head
About

Chess ⁺

Enhance your chess abilities with this comprehensive training application. It offers a vast array of puzzles, tactical exercises, and learning modes for players of all levels. Track your progress with live statistics and enjoy a visually engaging experience.

Highlights
  • 2D & 3D chess pieces
  • Hundreds of levels
  • Thousands of exercises
  • Tactics training
  • Opening and endgame practice
  • Checkmate puzzles
  • Learning mode with hints
Features
Read full description

The most advanced chess training app. Improve your skills, learn tactics and strategies. Chess + was created with the goal to improve chess skills of every player. This app is perfect for any amateur or professional. Difficulty of tasks is dynamically adjusted to the skills and previous performance. Features: ● 2D & 3D chess pieces ● Hundreds of levels ● Thousands of exercises ● Tactics training ● Opening and endgame training and practice ● Checkmate puzzles ● Time and move limit puzzles ● Learning mode with best move hints ● Play chess in infinite rematch fights ● Live chess statistics and leaderboards ● Game boosters ● Mistake preventing (Learn how to play without mistakes in your chess games) ● Amazing 3D chess world, with cartoon graphics. ● No advertising Chess + is an offline application. You don't need internet to play online, but you can switch to online play using our other app. Play chess and learn various strategies and compare your results with friends. Chess + is completely free to play app, but you can purchase some optional in-game items. Download this free chess game and let the journey begin!

About

Encyclopedia 2 by Informant

This educational tool offers systematic chess training with intermediate-level combinations sorted by theme. It provides interactive lessons, hints, and explanations to help players improve their tactical skills and understanding of the game.

Highlights
  • Systematic chess combinations
  • Intermediate level training (ELO 2200)
  • Themed sorting of tactics
  • Interactive theoretical lessons
  • Hints and mistake refutations
  • Play against computer
  • Rating monitoring
Features
Read full description

Encyclopedia of Chess Combinations vol. 2 (ECC vol. 2) is the ultimate educational tool with systematic, carefully selected content for player with ELO 2200. The material is based on the latest edition of the eponymous bestselling book released by Chess Informant. This volume contains chess combination of Intermediate Level (ELO 2200) for solving, all hand-picked and sorted by theme to provide the most exciting and efficient training experience possible! Unlike disorganized, basic tactics you can learn all over the Internet, this Chess Sphinx will challenge you consistently and systematically, unveiling new intricacies right when you decide you have mastered that particular tactic. 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. Annihilation of defence 2. Blockade 3. Clearance 4. Deflection 5. Discovered attack 6. Pinning 7. Demolition of pawn structure 8. Decoy 9. Interference 10. Double attack

Screenshots

Chess ⁺4 screens
Encyclopedia 2 by Informant4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Chess ⁺ at 2.9K against Encyclopedia 2 by Informant's 15. Chess ⁺ also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months). Encyclopedia 2 by Informant's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 85%) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 11.0). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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 7 one-off in-app purchases and Encyclopedia 2 by Informant 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

Encyclopedia 2 by Informant holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess ⁺ has 2.9K ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of Chess ⁺'s written reviews are positive against 100% of Encyclopedia 2 by Informant's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess ⁺ ships an update every 2 months, Encyclopedia 2 by Informant every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Chess ⁺ versus Encyclopedia 2 by Informant: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess ⁺Encyclopedia 2 by Informant
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2.9K ratings)4.9 (15 ratings) — better
Positive reviews85.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2.9K — better15
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size57 MB44 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperEntertainment 4Media AGChess King

Customer experience

Chess ⁺

All ratings2,866 ratings
Positive92.0%
Neutral5.3%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews184 reviews
Positive85.3%
Neutral6.0%
Negative8.7%

Encyclopedia 2 by Informant

All ratings15 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Chess ⁺

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • AI freezing and not making moves
  • Game progress and achievements being reset
  • Connectivity issues with login and cloud sync

Requested features

3 requests
  • Ability to analyze and save past games
  • Option to play against other users online
  • More advanced training modes and challenges

Encyclopedia 2 by Informant

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Chess ⁺

One-time7
  • 10 Gem Pack$0.99
  • Starter Pack$1.99
  • 50 Gem Pack$4.99
Show 4 more
  • 100 Gem Pack$9.99
  • 250 Gem Pack$19.99
  • 500 Gem Pack$36.99
  • 1000 Gem Pack$69.99
1 purchases

Encyclopedia 2 by Informant

One-time1
  • Full Course$9.99

Questions

Is Chess ⁺ free?
Chess ⁺ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Encyclopedia 2 by Informant free?
Encyclopedia 2 by Informant is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess ⁺ or Encyclopedia 2 by Informant?
Encyclopedia 2 by Informant is rated higher. Chess ⁺ averages 4.7 out of 5 from 2.9K ratings, while Encyclopedia 2 by Informant averages 4.9 from 15 ratings.
Do Chess ⁺ or Encyclopedia 2 by Informant have ads?
Neither Chess ⁺ nor Encyclopedia 2 by Informant shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chess ⁺ or Encyclopedia 2 by Informant?
Chess ⁺ ships an update every 2 months, and Encyclopedia 2 by Informant every 4 months. Most recently, Chess ⁺ was updated on October 19, 2026 and Encyclopedia 2 by Informant on October 21, 2026.

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