Comparison

ESL speed readings vs ChessClues

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

Head to head
About

ESL speed readings

Enhance your reading comprehension and speed with a collection of short stories. Practice with quizzes to check understanding and track progress. Improve your English reading skills with graded vocabulary levels.

Highlights
  • Increase reading speed
  • Improve comprehension
  • 140 short stories
  • Graded vocabulary levels
  • Comprehension quizzes
  • Progress tracking
Features
Read full description

This app will help you increase your reading speed. When you read faster, you understand better, and reading is more enjoyable. Also, speed reading can increase other skills (Elley & Mangubhai, 1979). A good speed to read is around 250 words per minute (Nation, 2005). THE STORIES ---------------------- This app has 140 short stories. Each story is written using easy words. For example, the stories at the elementary level are all written using the 500 most-frequent words in English. This level is easier than the intermediate level because the stories at the intermediate level were written using the 1000 most-frequency words in English. There are a variety of stories. These stories have been collected over many years. Some are famous stories from around the world. The stories are grouped into books. Each book contains twenty short stories. Each story has a set of questions to answer after reading. Answering these questions makes it easy to check that you are speed reading effectively. You should try to get 70% on the quiz. The more stories you read, the more you will increase your reading speed. The stories were written by Sonia Millett. Emmy Quinn and Paul Nation wrote the first version of one of the reading books. FEEDBACK ------------------ The app measures how long it takes you to read each story. To do so, it uses standard words per minute. It also checks if you are speed reading correctly by giving you feedback. This feedback helps you to continue to practicing speed reading effectively. For more information: https://eslspeedreading.tjuggles.com REFERENCES --------------------- - Elley, W. B., & Mangubhai, F. (1979). A research report on Reading in Fiji. Fiji English Teachers Journal, 15, 1-7. - Nation, P. (2005). Reading faster. Pasaa, 36, 21-37.

About

ChessClues

Features
Read full description

Every opening has its own tactics. In the Italian, royal forks turn up four times more often than in chess as a whole. In the Caro-Kann, it is Boden's mate. ChessClues shows you the tactics, patterns and mates that happen in the openings you play, and teaches you how to win with them. Tactics trainers teach patterns in isolation. Opening trainers teach moves. ChessClues connects the two: pick your openings, and see which patterns turn up in them more often than in chess as a whole, ranked from real club games. SEE THE TACTICS IN EVERY OPENING • The Pattern Atlas for each opening: its signature tactics, ranked by how often they appear there. • Each pattern explained in plain words: what to look for, and why it works. • The typical pawn structures of the opening, with a plan for each. • The main named lines, and the traps club players fall into, move by move. LEARN TO WIN IN YOUR OPENING • A learning path for each opening: a pattern tour, its traps, its top tactics from easiest to hardest, then a final test. • 36 interactive courses, 216 short lessons where you play the moves: one course per opening, plus checkmates, tactics by name, finishing the game, and pawn and rook endgames. • Your teacher, Finn or Nia, talks you through every lesson. THE MATES THAT HAPPEN IN YOUR OPENING Smothered mate, back-rank mate, Légal's mate, Boden's mate and dozens more, each shown in the openings where it really happens. PRACTISE ON REAL POSITIONS More than 140,000 puzzles from real games in your openings, at three levels: • Spot: one move wins it. • Set-up: one forcing move first, then the payoff. • Deep: three moves and beyond. Spaced review brings back the patterns you are still missing. Recognise trains your eye: ten real positions, five seconds each. 13 OPENINGS As White: Italian, Ruy Lopez, Scotch, Vienna, Bishop's Opening, Four Knights, Queen's Pawn Game (London setup). As Black: Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, Scandinavian, Philidor, Queen's Gambit Declined. EVERY DAY • A daily drill of 5 puzzles from your openings. Free. • Trap of the day and pattern of the day. • A blind-spot grid: your openings against their top patterns, by mastery. • Across your openings: the patterns they share, to learn first. • Search a pattern by name (smothered mate, royal fork) and see which openings produce it. • Tactics tree and Endgame Atlas: the same patterns under their textbook names, and the endgames each opening tends to reach. MADE FOR 800–1600 PLAYERS Choose your openings and rating; change them any time in Settings. OFFLINE, NO ACCOUNT Everything ships inside the app and works offline. No sign-in, no ads, no analytics. Progress stays on your device. The app goes online only for purchases. Two-pane layout on iPad and Mac. FREE AND ALL ACCESS Free, the same for everyone: the daily drill; 100 Spot and Set-up puzzles in every opening; 10 in every pattern and mate; the top three patterns of every opening in the Atlas; five traps in every opening; the first two lessons of every course. All Access opens every level including Deep, every trap, all 216 lessons, the full Atlas, and everything added while you have access. Choose a yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime unlock; the store shows the price before you buy. Restore purchases and manage your subscription in Settings. All Access yearly renews automatically at the end of each year unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends; payment is charged to your Apple ID and you can manage or cancel it in Account Settings. Terms of Use: https://happyheadsapps.netlify.app/chessclues/terms. Privacy Policy: https://happyheadsapps.netlify.app/chessclues/privacy.

Screenshots

ESL speed readings4 screens
ChessClues4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ESL speed readings at none against ChessClues's 2. ESL speed readings also leads on iOS requirement (12.4 vs 15.0). ChessClues's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price 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. ChessClues sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. ESL speed readings asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
ESL speed readings versus ChessClues: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterESL speed readingsChessClues
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS12.4 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB58 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperThomas BoutorwickSantosh Hegde

In-app purchases

None

ESL speed readings

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

ChessClues

Subscriptions1
  • All Access — 1 Year$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • All Access — Lifetime$24.99

Questions

Is ESL speed readings free?
ESL speed readings is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ChessClues free?
ChessClues is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ESL speed readings or ChessClues have ads?
ESL speed readings shows ads; ChessClues does not.

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