Comparison

Simple Chess vs Doctor Chess

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

Head to head
About

Simple Chess

This app makes learning chess easy for children and adults with a friendly coach that explains piece movements and dangers. It offers step-by-step lessons on all pieces and special rules, with options to play against a friend or a beginner-level robot. The interface is designed for kids with clear visuals and no ads or data collection.

Highlights
  • Interactive coach explains piece movements
  • Visual cues for safe and dangerous moves
  • Step-by-step lessons for each piece and special rules
  • Play against a friend or a beginner robot
  • Undo moves and automatic game saving
  • Kid-friendly interface with large pieces
Features
Read full description

Simple Chess is the easiest way for children (and grown-ups) to learn chess. A FRIENDLY COACH Tap a piece and the coach explains how it moves. Dots show where it can go, and a red ring warns you when one of your pieces is in danger. Stuck? Tap Hint and an arrow shows a good move, with a short explanation of why. LEARN EVERY PIECE Short lessons for the pawn, knight, bishop, rook, queen and king, each with a little board to try it out yourself. Special rules like check, castling, promotion and en passant are explained step by step. PLAY TOGETHER OR AGAINST THE ROBOT Play with a friend on one iPhone or iPad, or practice against a friendly robot that makes the occasional mistake. Undo a move whenever you like. Your game is saved automatically. MADE FOR KIDS • Big, clear pieces and four cheerful board colors • Works in light and dark mode • iPhone, iPad and Mac • No ads, no accounts, no data collected

About

Doctor Chess

This app offers a comprehensive chess experience adhering to official FIDE rules, including special moves and draw conditions. Play against AI at various skill levels or challenge friends online without any sign-up or ads.

Highlights
  • Full FIDE rule set enforcement
  • Five AI difficulty tiers
  • Online 1v1 matches via Game Center
  • No sign-up required
  • Ad-free and tracking-free
  • 40 language support
Features
Read full description

Doctor Chess brings the full FIDE rule set to your phone and tablet — castling, en passant, promotion, threefold repetition, the 50-move rule, and insufficient material draws are all enforced. • Single player — local pass-and-play plus five AI tiers (Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced / Expert / Master) • Master tier uses iterative-deepening alpha-beta search with quiescence, null-move pruning and late-move reduction • Online 1v1 — turn-based matches via Apple Game Center, no sign-up required • Friend invites through the system Game Center picker • OS-native leaderboards and achievements • 40 languages — Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified/Traditional), Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese, and many more • Tap or drag to move, automatic promotion dialog, last-move highlight, legal-move dots No sign-up. No ads. No tracking. No in-app purchases.

Screenshots

Simple Chess3 screens
Doctor Chess3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Doctor Chess at every 5 weeks against Simple Chess's every 11 months. Doctor Chess also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simple Chess ships an update every 11 months, Doctor Chess every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Simple Chess versus Doctor Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimple ChessDoctor Chess
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB20 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLeon van der LindenLim Sangjin

Customer experience

Simple Chess

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Doctor Chess

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Simple Chess

No in-app purchases

None

Doctor Chess

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Simple Chess free?
Simple Chess is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Doctor Chess free?
Doctor Chess is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Simple Chess or Doctor Chess have ads?
Neither Simple Chess nor Doctor Chess shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simple Chess or Doctor Chess?
Simple Chess ships an update every 11 months, and Doctor Chess every 5 weeks. Most recently, Simple Chess was updated on November 3, 2026 and Doctor Chess on October 31, 2026.

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