Comparison

Fide Chess Elo vs OpenChess

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

Head to head
About

Fide Chess Elo

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The application helps to follow either your own, chess club friend's or your favorite professional chess player's Fide Elo points. What is FIDE? The Fédération Internationale Des Échecs (or World Chess Federation) is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world and acts as the governing body of international chess competition. (www.fide.com)

About

OpenChess

Master chess openings by playing against a specialized AI. Explore specific defenses or move sequences, and gain insights into positional advantages and piece values. Improve your game from the very first moves.

Highlights
  • Learn specific chess openings
  • Play against AI focused on opening lines
  • Analyze positional advantages
  • Evaluate piece values and mobility
  • Understand pawn structure
  • Track defended and attacked pieces
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Learn chess openings with OpenChess: An Opening Explorer. Play against the computer, or play as both sides, and be shown the lines that are within any opening that you are interested in learning. Want to learn the Sicilian Defense or the Queen’s Gambit? Choose that category and play against that a computer that only follows lines within that opening category. Wany to focus on learning all of the openings that start with a specific move, such as pawn to “e4”? This category can also be selected, and you can play against a computer that only plays lines that start with “e4”. The chess engine in this app is not Stockfish, and it does not look very far ahead. It is meant to provide a decent base evaluation and allow the majority of the reason behind the evaluation of the current position to be shown to the user. The following information can be shown to the user: • Positional advantages for each piece type (pawn, knight, bishop, rook, queen and king) • Piece value advantages for each color • Mobility scores for each piece where mobility plays a big role (bishop, rook, queen, king) • Pawn advantages and disadvantages (passed pawns, isolated pawns, backwards pawns, doubled pawns) • Total value of pieces attacked by each color as well as total value of pieces defended by each color A lot of chess games are won and lost within the opening moves, this app was designed to help players learn solid openings that either help them gain a winning advantage out of the opening, or at the very least help them not lose due to the opening moves played. Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Fide Chess Elo4 screens
OpenChess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Fide Chess Elo at none against OpenChess's 10. OpenChess's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.0). 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. OpenChess sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Fide Chess Elo asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Fide Chess Elo ships an update every 3 months, OpenChess fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Fide Chess Elo versus OpenChess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFide Chess EloOpenChess
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB57 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGabriel MinarikDavid Bryant

In-app purchases

None

Fide Chess Elo

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

OpenChess

One-time10
  • Tarrasch Defense Opening$0.99
  • Trompowsky Attack Opening$0.99
  • Scandinavian Defense Opening$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Three Knights Opening$0.99
  • Zukertort Opening$0.99
  • Van't Kruijs Opening$0.99
  • Vienna Game Opening$0.99
  • Ware Opening$0.99
  • Opening Explorer$4.99
  • OpenChess Premium$19.99

Questions

Is Fide Chess Elo free?
Fide Chess Elo is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is OpenChess free?
OpenChess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Fide Chess Elo or OpenChess have ads?
Neither Fide Chess Elo nor OpenChess shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Fide Chess Elo or OpenChess?
Fide Chess Elo ships an update every 3 months, and OpenChess fortnightly. Most recently, Fide Chess Elo was updated on October 26, 2026 and OpenChess on October 15, 2026.

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