Comparison

Шахматы vs ChessView

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

Head to head
About

Шахматы

Learn chess by studying 50 commented games from a World Champion. Solve interactive tasks within each game to test your understanding and improve your strategic vision and combination skills. The app offers detailed progress tracking and a biographical section.

Highlights
  • 50 commented games by Alexander Alekhine
  • 320 interactive tasks
  • Detailed statistics and progress tracking
  • Alexander Alekhine's biography
  • Two language options (Russian, English)
Read full description

Welcome to the series of educational chess applications! You have to study 50 commented games of the first World Chess Champion-Alexander Alekhine. In each game, there will be tasks where it is necessary to find a move or the whole variation of the great Maestro, "to play like Alekhine". This is one of the most effective exercises for learning chess. You do not just study the chess heritage of the great champions, but also regularly check your knowledge by completing tasks. At the end of the course You: ① Explore Alexander Alekhine's chess heritage ② Improve combination vision ③ Enhance strategic understanding of positions ④ Touch the basics of chess analysis Features: ● 50 commented games by Alexander Alekhine ● 320 tasks for guessing moves in the game ● Detailed statistics on tasks and overall progress ● Own "Hall of Fame" ● System of Levels "Order of the King" ● Alexander Alekhine's biography ● Available in two languages: Russian, English

About

ChessView

Scan chess positions from photos, books, or screenshots and instantly play them out on a digital board. Analyze PGN files, import your online games, and explore classic matches. Offers optional AI commentary for deeper insights.

Highlights
  • Scan positions from photos/screenshots
  • Import PGN and FEN files
  • Replay and branch off game moves
  • Full move validation
  • Import Chess.com games
  • Built-in classic games
  • Optional AI commentary
Features
Read full description

See a chess position anywhere — in a book, on another screen, on the table in front of you — and have it on a board you can play with, in seconds. ChessView is a study tool, not another place to play. Scan a position with the camera or from a screenshot, open a PGN file, or pull in your Chess.com games — then replay them, branch off, and work out what actually happened. Free, offline, no account, no ads, no tracking. SCAN A POSITION FROM A PHOTO Point the camera at a real board, or choose a screenshot from Chess.com, Lichess or a chess book. ChessView reads the position and puts it on your board. Anything it misreads, you fix in the position editor — then start playing it out. PLAY IT OUT ON A REAL BOARD Full move validation: legal moves, en passant, castling, promotion. Drag the pieces, step back and forth through the whole game, flip the board, and branch off wherever you want to see what would have happened. OPEN PGN AND FEN FROM ANYWHERE PGN files from Files, Mail, Messages or any app that can share them. Paste a FEN string and it loads. Export any position or game as PGN, FEN or a PNG image, and share it in one tap. YOUR CHESS.COM GAMES, OFFLINE Type your username, pick a month, and your games are in the library — ready to replay any time, with or without a connection. STUDY THE CLASSICS Famous games come built in — Byrne–Fischer, Morphy, Short–Timman, Lasker–Thomas — so there is always a position worth looking at. SEE THE EVALUATION Evaluations and main lines come from the Lichess cloud database: free, fast, no account needed. For positions the database doesn't know, ChessView offers a sensible continuation of its own. OPTIONAL: COMMENTARY IN PLAIN WORDS Add your own OpenAI API key and ChessView will explain a position or a whole game in sentences — the plan, the key ideas, the moment it turned. Entirely optional: everything above works without it. Your key is stored in the iOS Keychain, used only from your device, and never sent to us. PRIVACY, ACTUALLY No account. No ads. No analytics. No tracking. Your games and your settings stay on your iPhone and iPad. WHY I BUILT IT Getting a chess position onto my phone used to be absurdly hard. A diagram in a book, a screenshot from a game, a FEN string someone sent me — none of it could just be opened and played through on an iPhone. PGN files were worse. So I built the app I wanted: open anything, put it on a real board, move the pieces. — Pavel, solo developer Designed for iPhone and iPad.

Screenshots

Шахматы4 screens
ChessView4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ChessView at 5.0 against Шахматы's 3.0. ChessView also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). Шахматы's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 weeks) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 26.0). On price, ratings volume, 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. Шахматы sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ChessView asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ChessView holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Шахматы ships an update every 2 days, ChessView every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Шахматы versus ChessView: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterШахматыChessView
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (2 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS9.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size153 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAndrey CherenkovPavel Gnatyuk

Customer experience

Шахматы

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

ChessView

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

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Шахматы

One-time1
  • Full version of app$3.99
None

ChessView

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Шахматы free?
Шахматы is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ChessView free?
ChessView is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Шахматы or ChessView?
ChessView is rated higher. Шахматы averages 3.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while ChessView averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Шахматы or ChessView have ads?
Neither Шахматы nor ChessView shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Шахматы or ChessView?
Шахматы ships an update every 2 days, and ChessView every 2 weeks. Most recently, Шахматы was updated on October 11, 2026 and ChessView on October 14, 2026.

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