SmartGo One vs Chess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SmartGo One
Learn, play, and improve at the ancient game of Go. This app offers adjustable board sizes, a strong AI opponent, and tools to study professional games and solve Go problems. It's designed for players of all skill levels, from beginners to masters.
- Adjustable board sizes (9x9 to 19x19)
- Strong KataGo game engine
- Study professional game records
- Solve Go problems and tutorials
- Pattern matching for move suggestions
- Territory estimator
- Game recording and annotation
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SmartGo One is the only Go app you’ll need, whether you’re just getting started or already a seasoned player. Learn, play, study, and improve with SmartGo One. Experience the ancient game of Go on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac in a whole new way. Also known as igo (囲碁), wéiqí (围棋), or baduk (바둑), Go begins with an empty board that gradually fills as players surround territory and capture stones. Start with a 9x9 board and move up to 13x13 and 19x19 as your skills grow. SmartGo One adapts to your strength, automatically adjusting handicaps so games remain competitive and enjoyable. And when you’re ready for a serious challenge, the powerful KataGo-based engine delivers strong, rewarding play. But SmartGo One is far more than a way to play Go. Read interactive Go books while replaying the moves they describe to deepen your understanding. Explore a collection of more than 138,000 professional game records spanning both modern and historical masters. Improve your reading and decision-making skills with a growing library of Go problems and tutorials. Want to know how a master would handle a position on your board? SmartGo’s pattern matching technology compares your game with historical pro games and shows how strong players approached similar situations. No matter your level, SmartGo One helps you continue improving. Features include: • 9x9, 11x11, 13x13, and 19x19 board sizes • Powerful KataGo-based engine • Fast and responsive gameplay • Manual or automatic handicap adjustment • Record, annotate, and edit your games • Territory estimator • Hints and move analysis • Undo and replay controls • Tutorial with over 100 problems • Extensive user manual We value your privacy and only collect the minimum information necessary to make our apps work well for you. Learn more at https://smartgo.com/privacy.html. This app is licensed under Apple’s standard Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Chess
Play chess against AI or other players online. Features adjustable difficulty, hints, and multiple game modes. Save your progress and develop your strategy to become a chess master.
- Selectable board skins
- Adjustable game difficulty
- Hint function
- Endgame mode
- AI mode
- Two-player mode
- Save game progress
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Are you a chess master? Or just a beginner? It doesn't matter! Our chess game absolutely is one of the well-designed chess games, and it has designed for both behinners and advanced players. Download our game, play it, and enjoy the happy time! -Selectable board skin and game difficulty -Hint function is available - Endgame mode, AI mode and two-player mode -Save game progress - Intelligent AI with nationality and unique characters You can develop your chess strategy and chess tactics, meet the challenge and become a chess master immediately! Subscription notice:Payment will be charged to your account at confirmation of purchase.Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period.Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period.Auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. Privacy Policy:https://pub.wedobest.com.cn/us/privacy/index.html Terms of use:https://pub.wedobest.com.cn/us/terms/index.html Thank you for your support of our product.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: SmartGo One at none against Chess's shown. SmartGo One also leads on review sentiment (77% vs 46%) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 4 weeks). Chess's advantage is ratings volume (6.8K vs 2K) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, 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. SmartGo One sells 47 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Chess sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. 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 SmartGo One against 4.9 for Chess. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2K and 6.8K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 77% of SmartGo One's written reviews are positive against 46% of Chess's.
SmartGo One ships an update every 10 days, Chess every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SmartGo One | Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (2K ratings) | 4.9 (6.8K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.8% of reviews — better | 46.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2K | 6.8K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Every 4 weeks |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 156 MB | 282 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Smart Go, Inc. | Wuhan Dobest Information Technology Co, Ltd. |
Customer experience
SmartGo One
Chess
User reviews
SmartGo One
From 2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Awesome app
- 👍 Great for playing and learning Go
- 📚 Excellent integration with Go books
- 🔍 Powerful analysis and review features
- 💻 Seamless experience across devices
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues
- 🤔 Unintuitive user interface for beginners
- 💰 Paywall for full 19x19 board and some features
- 🤖 AI too strong for novice players
Chess
From 6.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Excellent online play
- 🎮 Good computer play
- 🎉 Very fun game
- 🤩 Amazing and super good
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy and glitchy online play
- 💤 Freezes and crashes mid-game
- 🔍 False advertising (not 3D as shown)
- 🕰️ Stalemate issues with AI
- 🔒 Privacy concerns with data collection
Bugs and requests
SmartGo One
Reported bugs
3 issues- Illegal move detection issues on certain board positions
- Problems with missing variations or incorrect answers
- Inconsistent behavior when passing moves
Requested features
5 requests- Add read-only mode
- Improve move suggestion explanations
- Introduce difficulty settings for AI
- Integrate online play functionality
- Provide more randomness in AI moves
Chess
Reported bugs
4 issues- Pieces making impossible moves
- Touch screen becoming unresponsive
- Game declaring draws on clear checkmates
- Disconnections and network issues
Requested features
3 requests- Add online multiplayer with friends
- Option to disable stalemate rule
- Improve AI's understanding of checkmate
In-app purchases
SmartGo One
- SmartGo One Pro – Monthly$4.991 Month
- Pro Games and Features14 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Just Enough Japanese 1Free
- Key Concepts in Life and Death$2.99
- Go Problems Master Collection$3.99
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- Go Problems Add-on 2: Medium$3.99
- Go Problems Add-on 1: Easy$3.99
- Go Problems Add-on 3: Hard$3.99
- Counting Liberties$4.99
- The Monkey Jump$4.99
- Double Digit Kyu Games$5.99
- Go: A Complete Introduction$5.99
- How Not to Play Go$5.99
- Encyclopedia of Go Principles$5.99
- Want to Play Go? Level 1$5.99
- Black to Play 30-25 Kyu$5.99
- The Workshop Lectures 1$5.99
- Rethinking Opening Strategy$6.99
- Learn to Play Go 1$7.99
- Learn to Play Go 2$7.99
- Learn to Play Go 3$7.99
- Correct Joseki$7.99
- “The Theory of Go”$7.99
- Learn to Play Go 4$7.99
- Buddhist Philosophy Game of Go$8.99
- Graded Go Problems 1$9.99
- Graded Go Problems 2$9.99
- Want to Play Go? Level 2$9.99
- Basic Techniques of Go$9.99
- Graded Go Problems 3$9.99
- Get Strong at Life and Death$9.99
- Mastering Mini Go by Mark Tomlinson$11.99
- Fuseki Revolution$11.99
- Fundamental Principles of Go$11.99
- The Basics of Life and Death$11.99
- Joseki Revolution$11.99
- Life and Death$11.99
- A Survey of the Basic Tesujis$11.99
- Tesuji$11.99
- Tesuji for Beginners$14.99
- AlphaGo to Zero, vol. 4$14.99
- Trouble Master, volume 2$14.99
- Trouble Master, volume 1$14.99
- AlphaGo to Zero, Vol. 2$14.99
- Invincible$24.99
- Essential Go Proverbs$24.99
- Pro – Lifetime Unlock$99.00
Chess
- VIP Per Week$0.997 Days
- VIP Per Month$1.991 Month
- VIP Per Month$15.991 Year
- Hint*30$0.99
- Remove Ads B$0.99
- Badge*120$0.99
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Analysis*15$0.99
- Hint*65$1.99
- Badge250$1.99
- Chess Online-Remove Ads$2.99
- Analysis*75$3.99
- Badge*500$5.99









