Comparison

SmartGo One vs Uncommon Chess

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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/

About

Uncommon Chess

Experience chess with unique animated duels for every capture. Learn the game with interactive tutorials, play against AI or friends, and explore fun novelty modes. Dive into a study of chess games with clear explanations.

Highlights
  • Animated capture duels
  • Interactive learning tutorials
  • AI and local multiplayer
  • Online 1v1 and 2v2 modes
  • Novelty game modes
  • Chess game study and analysis
Features
Read full description

Chess, but the pieces fight for the square. Every capture in Uncommon Chess is a hand-animated duel between two original characters — the ivory Bone Court against the blued iron of the Iron Court. Thirty-five of them, one for every attacker and defender pairing, each choreographed separately. A pawn taking a rook does not look like a queen taking a pawn. LEARN TO PLAY A whole screen for somebody who has never played. How each piece moves, shown on a real board, plus the rules that look like exceptions — check, checkmate, stalemate, castling, en passant, promotion. The diagrams are played by the game's own rules engine, so they cannot be wrong. SEE IT YOUR WAY Turn the board, tilt it, zoom in. Watch the fight from wherever you like. PLAY HOW YOU LIKE Against the computer at four strengths. Two players passing one device. Four players, two a side. Or online through Game Center — 1v1 and 2v2, with your turn waiting for you whenever you pick the phone up. FUN MODES Optional novelty rules for a single match. Anoint a Champion that survives the first attack on it, a Berserker that strikes twice, or a Phantom that slips through anything in its way. Strict chess is the default, is complete, and costs nothing. THE MATRIX A real study of 162,000 games between two engines, and — unusually — a plain explanation of what its numbers mean. What a margin of error is. Why more games help only slowly. What the experiment cannot tell you. Written for a child and true for everybody. No account. No subscription. No data collected.

Screenshots

SmartGo One4 screens
Uncommon Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Uncommon Chess at none against SmartGo One's 47. Uncommon Chess also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). SmartGo One's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (2K vs 1). On price, update cadence 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. SmartGo One sells 47 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Uncommon Chess asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Uncommon Chess holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SmartGo One has 2K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
SmartGo One versus Uncommon Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSmartGo OneUncommon Chess
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (2K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings2K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size154 MB46 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperSmart Go, Inc.TAMAS HALASZ

Customer experience

SmartGo One

All ratings1,950 ratings
Positive95.6%
Neutral2.3%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews167 reviews
Positive76.6%
Neutral8.4%
Negative15.0%

Uncommon Chess

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Uncommon Chess

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

47 purchases

SmartGo One

Subscriptions2
  • SmartGo One Pro – Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Pro Games and Features14 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time45
  • Just Enough Japanese 1Free
  • Key Concepts in Life and Death$2.99
  • Go Problems Master Collection$3.99
Show 42 more
  • 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
None

Uncommon Chess

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SmartGo One free?
SmartGo One is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Uncommon Chess free?
Uncommon Chess is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SmartGo One or Uncommon Chess?
Uncommon Chess is rated higher. SmartGo One averages 4.8 out of 5 from 2K ratings, while Uncommon Chess averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do SmartGo One or Uncommon Chess have ads?
Uncommon Chess shows ads; SmartGo One does not.
Which is updated more often, SmartGo One or Uncommon Chess?
SmartGo One ships an update every 2 weeks, and Uncommon Chess every 2 weeks. Most recently, SmartGo One was updated on October 16, 2026 and Uncommon Chess on October 7, 2026.

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