Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf vs Plain Chess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf
This app provides personalized chess coaching with interactive lessons and audible guidance. It helps beginners and intermediate players understand strategies, correct mistakes, and learn chess vocabulary. Choose from different coach personalities for a tailored learning experience.
- Personalized AI coaching
- Audible explanations
- 50+ interactive lessons
- Mistake correction
- Multiple coach personalities
- Adaptive difficulty
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Looking to learn how to play chess? Meet Dr. Wolf, the ideal chess coach and companion. Dr. Wolf explains everything to you step-by-step, points out strategic ideas, and alerts you to your mistakes. Whether you are a chess beginner eager to learn the basics or an intermediate player looking to refine your strategy, Dr. Wolf tailors the learning experience to your individual needs, offering over 50 comprehensive chess lessons and interactive guidance at every step. **Why Choose Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf?** - **Personalized Coaching:** Experience the unique teaching method of Dr. Wolf, who not only instructs but also plays alongside you, providing insights into every move. He will introduce topics to you as you play chess, ensuring you grasp the “why” behind each move. - **Audible Coaching**: Dr. Wolf speaks out-loud. Actual audio! Experience the unique advantage of having Dr. Wolf speak to you while you look at the board, offering clear, spoken explanations for every move. - **A Comprehensive Chess Curriculum:** Engage with an extensive suite of over 50 interactive chess lessons. Starting from foundational concepts, you'll progress through to advanced strategies and tactics, all structured to enhance your understanding and performance in chess. - **Mistake Correction and Practice:** Learn from your mistakes in a constructive environment. Dr. Wolf remembers all your moves and goes over them again with you so you don’t make the same mistakes again. - **Diverse Coaching Personalities:** Choose from four distinct coach profiles, each with a unique voice, teaching style and personality. You’ll be sure to find the right chess coach for you. - **Gradual Learning of Chess Vocabulary:** Expand your vocabulary and understanding of key terms and concepts at a comfortable pace. - **Adaptive Difficulty Level:** Choose from a variety of skill levels, ensuring you're always challenged but never overwhelmed. - **Multilingual Support**: Available in English, Spanish, French, and German. **Learn the game and how to win.** "Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf" blends comprehensive lessons, personalized feedback, and interactive learning, offering a standout experience for those new to chess or aiming to enhance their skills. Whether your goal is to understand chess better, win more games, or simply enjoy this timeless strategy game more deeply, Dr. Wolf is here to guide you every step of the way. --------------------------------------------- Dr. Wolf will coach you for free for 3 games of chess so that you can appreciate his style of in-game teaching. Then, to continue learning, you can subscribe to Coaching. With Coaching, Dr. Wolf teaches while you play chess, pointing out good moves and bad — both yours and his — and the reasoning behind them. At times, he'll gently suggest you reconsider a move, or ask a question at a critical moment. Plus, you get unlimited hints, unlimited undos, and unlimited access to our Lesson Library, with over thirty lessons in Dr. Wolf's unique style. Whether or not you choose to subscribe, Dr. Wolf will always play with you. He loves chess too much to turn down a good game. ** TERMS & DETAILS ** Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged the same amount for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage your subscription and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Account Settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a Free Trial, if offered, is forfeited when you buy a subscription. Prices may vary by location. Terms of Use: https://www.learnchesswithdrwolf.com/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://www.learnchesswithdrwolf.com/privacy-policy
Plain Chess
Enjoy offline chess matches on your iPhone without ads or accounts. Play against the computer, a friend, or use the AI Coach for strategic advice. Perfect for learning, practicing, or quick games.
- Offline chess play
- Play against computer
- Pass-and-play multiplayer
- AI Coach explanations
- Saved games
- No ads or account required
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Chess without the stress. Play for free as often as you like, learn from a coach that explains your games, and play the people you know. FREE TO PLAY Play Fern, a friendly rival, as often as you like, or pass and play with someone on one iPhone. Your first three games come fully coached, with hints, threat checks, takebacks, coach notes and a full review in games against the rivals and the computer. Solve the daily puzzle, start the lesson library with How Chess Works, and accept any friend's invite. The coach and rival voices are free for everyone. SIX RIVALS WITH REAL PERSONALITIES From Pip, a beginner learning one move at a time, to Nova, an expert who loves to attack, each rival plays at their own level and talks like themselves. Choose how chatty they are: quiet, friendly or spicy. Every rival is an AI and always labeled as one. Fern is always free; the other five come with Plain Chess Coach. LEARN AS YOU PLAY 55 short, hands-on lessons take you from how the pieces move to tactics, checkmates, endgames and your first openings. Each one shows the idea on the board, then lets you find the move yourself. PLAY THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW Play friends through Game Center: a daily game, with up to three days a move, or a live game with a clock. Accepting an invite is always free. Inviting friends, and Play online, which finds a player near your level or one of our AI rivals when nobody's around, come with Plain Chess Coach. No chat, just six friendly reactions. PLAIN CHESS COACH Become a member for everything else: • All six rivals and the classic computer • Coach notes, and unlimited Hint, Threats and takebacks, in games against the rivals and the computer • A review of every game against a rival, the computer or another player online: where it turned, your best move and every mistake, explained in plain words and read aloud if you like. Play any moment again from the review • The full lesson library, 85 opening lessons, and nearly 5,000 checkmate puzzles on a path through ten lands • 300 AI Coach answers a month: ask about your position, typed or out loud • Invite friends and play online • My Games: every game you finish, synced with iCloud Choose Yearly, with a 7-day free trial for eligible new members, or Monthly. Family covers up to six people through Family Sharing, with 50 AI Coach answers a month for each person. Prices vary by country; the app shows your price before you buy. Plain Chess Lifetime, $99 once, includes everything except AI Coach answers. AI Coach answer packs (25, 75 or 250 answers) are available to Lifetime owners, original buyers and members who use up their monthly answers. Already a member, or bought Plain Chess early? You keep everything you have, and your price stays the same while your membership is active. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase. A membership renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Deleting the app doesn't cancel a membership. AI Coach needs an internet connection and can make mistakes. No ads, no account to create. Privacy: https://cerebraenterprises.com/plain-chess/privacy Terms: https://cerebraenterprises.com/plain-chess/terms Apple Standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf at 27K against Plain Chess's 6. Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf also leads on monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs paid) and chart position (#106 vs unranked). Plain Chess's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks) and review sentiment (100% vs 82%). 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
Both are free to download. Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Plain Chess sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf against 4.8 for Plain Chess. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf has 27K ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf's written reviews are positive against 100% of Plain Chess's.
Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf ships an update every 3 weeks, Plain Chess every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf | Plain Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (27K ratings) — better | 4.8 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 27K — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #106 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 111 MB | 117 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chess.com | Cerebra Enterprises, LLC |
Customer experience
Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf
Plain Chess
Bugs and requests
Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf
Reported bugs
2 issues- Freezing or crashing when switching between apps
- Subscription status not syncing across devices
Requested features
5 requests- More detailed explanations for suggested moves
- Additional difficulty levels between beginner and expert
- Ability to practice specific openings
- Option to review full game history
- Accessibility features for visually impaired users
Plain Chess
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf
- Dr. Wolf Coaching - Monthly14 Days trial$5.991 Month
- Dr. Wolf Coaching - Monthly7 Days trial$5.991 Month
- Dr. Wolf Coaching - Individual7 Days trial$5.991 Month
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- Dr. Wolf Coaching - Monthly7 Days trial$6.991 Month
- Dr. Wolf Coaching - Yearly14 Days trial$39.991 Year
- Dr. Wolf Coaching - Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
- Dr. Wolf Coaching - Individual14 Days trial$39.991 Year
- Dr. Wolf Coaching - Yearly$49.991 Year
- Dr. Wolf Coaching - Family14 Days trial$49.991 Year
- 30 Days of Coaching$4.99
Plain Chess
- Plain Chess Monthly$4.991 Month
- Plain Chess Annual7 Days trial$39.991 Year
- Plain Chess Family$69.991 Year
- 25 AI Coach Answers$2.99
- 10 AI Coach Credits$2.99
- 75 AI Coach Answers$7.99
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- 30 AI Coach Credits$7.99
- 250 AI Coach Answers$19.99
- 100 AI Coach Credits$19.99
- Plain Chess Lifetime$99.00
Questions
Is Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf free?
Is Plain Chess free?
Which has better reviews, Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf or Plain Chess?
Do Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf or Plain Chess have ads?
Which is updated more often, Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf or Plain Chess?
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