Comparison

Chess ∙ vs Chess Sudoku

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

Head to head
About

Chess ∙

Experience a visually appealing and engaging chess game on your iPhone and iPod Touch. Play against friends or a customizable AI opponent with features like undo and automatic saving. Enjoy a free, ad-supported experience.

Highlights
  • 1 and 2 player gameplay
  • Challenging computer opponent
  • Great graphics and sound
  • Configurable difficulty
  • Undo function
  • Automatic save
Features
Read full description

Are you tired of playing chess games that look like they were designed for a Commodore 64 instead of an iPhone? We've got the antidote for you. Chess Free is the best chess game for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and it's free! Chess Free supports both 1 player and 2 player gameplay, so you can play against friends or test your skills against a challenging computer opponent. Chess Free offers a host of exciting features, including: * Great graphics and exciting sound effects * Configurable player names and score tracking * Outstanding AI engine with configurable difficulty level * Board rotation for two player games * Undo function * Automatic save when you get a phone call or exit the application Chess Free is supported by unobtrusive banner advertising. Chess Premium is the same great app without the ads.

About

Chess Sudoku

This app combines classic Sudoku with chess-inspired logic. Solve puzzles where digits cannot repeat in rows, columns, or boxes, and also adhere to specific chess piece movement rules for added challenge. Earn stars by solving puzzles to unlock more.

Highlights
  • Knight Sudoku puzzles
  • King Sudoku puzzles
  • Queen Sudoku puzzles
  • 100 crafted puzzles
  • Human-tested hints
  • Star-based progression
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

***** AUGUST UPDATE ***** 15 new King puzzles, all 100 puzzles are out now! ------------------------------------- Presented by Cracking The Cryptic, YouTube’s most popular Sudoku channel, comes a new game that connects two of the world’s biggest mind games: Chess and Sudoku! How does Chess Sudoku work? Well we’ve taken the classic sudoku game everyone knows and loves and created puzzles with chess-related twists! There are three different types of puzzles in the game: Knight Sudoku; King Sudoku and Queen Sudoku. In Knight Sudoku, in addition to the normal rules of sudoku (no repeated digit in a row/column/3x3 box) a digit must not appear a chess knight’s move away from itself. This simple extra restriction introduces lots of clever additional logic that makes the puzzle even more interesting! King Sudoku and Queen Sudoku work the same way: ie it’s always normal sudoku but, in King Sudoku a digit must not be a single diagonal move away from itself; and, in Queen Sudoku, every 9 in the grid acts like a chess Queen and must not be in the same row/column/3x3 box OR diagonal of any other 9! As with their other games (‘Classic Sudoku’ and ‘Sandwich Sudoku’), Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe (the hosts of Cracking The Cryptic) have personally crafted the hints for the puzzles. So you know that every puzzle has been play-tested by a human being to ensure that the sudoku is interesting and fun to solve. In Cracking The Cryptic’s games, players start with zero stars and earn stars by solving puzzles. The more puzzles you solve, the more stars you earn and the more puzzles you get to play. Only the most dedicated (and cleverest) sudoku players will finish all the puzzles. Of course the difficulty is carefully calibrated to ensure lots of puzzles at every level (from easy through to extreme). Anyone familiar with their YouTube channel will know that Simon and Mark take pride in teaching to be better solvers and, with their games, they always craft the puzzles with the mindset of trying to help solvers improve their skills. Mark and Simon have both represented the UK many times at the World Sudoku Championship and you can find more of their puzzles (and lots of others) on the internet’s biggest sudoku channel Cracking The Cryptic. Features: 100 beautiful puzzles from the Knight, King and Queen variants Hints crafted by Simon and Mark!

Screenshots

Chess ∙4 screens
Chess Sudoku3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chess ∙ at Free against Chess Sudoku's $4.99. Chess ∙ also leads on ratings volume (207K vs 148). Chess Sudoku's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (84% vs 56%). On update cadence, in-app purchases, chart position 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

Chess ∙ is free to download; Chess Sudoku costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chess Sudoku holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess ∙ has 207K ratings behind it against 148, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 56% of Chess ∙'s written reviews are positive against 84% of Chess Sudoku's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess ∙ ships an update every 4 months, Chess Sudoku every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Chess ∙ versus Chess Sudoku: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess ∙Chess Sudoku
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating4.5 (207K ratings)4.9 (148 ratings) — better
Positive reviews56.3% of reviews84.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings207K — better148
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supportedFree — better
Best chart rank#68 — better#183
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS12.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size84 MB71 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOptime Software LLCNick Carney

Customer experience

Chess ∙

All ratings204,953 ratings
Positive87.8%
Neutral5.4%
Negative6.8%
Written reviews2,611 reviews
Positive56.3%
Neutral7.0%
Negative36.7%

Chess Sudoku

All ratings148 ratings
Positive97.3%
Neutral2.0%
Negative0.7%
Written reviews64 reviews
Positive84.4%
Neutral12.5%
Negative3.1%

User reviews

Chess ∙

From 207K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fun to play everyday
  • 👍 Good free game
  • 👍 Nice little game
  • 👍 Very good practice
  • 👍 Addictive

Room to improve

  • 🐛 AD crazy
  • 🐛 Major glitches make the game impossible
  • 🐛 Force draw
  • 🐛 Issues, needs fixing but has potential
  • 🐛 Disappearing Pieces

Chess Sudoku

From 148 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great puzzles
  • 💡 Innovative chess constraints
  • 👍 Intuitive interface
  • 👍 Helpful hints
  • 👍 Smooth gameplay

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Queen move puzzles have errors
  • 🐛 Puzzles lack variety
  • 🐛 Difficulty ratings are odd
  • 🐛 App can be boring after finishing puzzles
  • 🐛 High power consumption

Bugs and requests

Chess ∙

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Rook being able to move diagonally
  • Stalemate glitch where it will preemptively call stalemate before it even happens
  • Call stalemate when only the king can't move, and the other pieces can still move
  • Pieces move too fast
  • Doesn't allow en-passant moves by pawns
Show 5 more
  • Refuses to allow legitimate win, claims draw instead
  • Doesn't recognize stalemate
  • Doesn't recognize checkmate
  • Pieces disappearing
  • Illegal moves by the AI

Requested features

6 requests
  • Undo from stalemate
  • Highland opponents last move in green and my last move in blue
  • Allow a third level of zoom to fill the screen
  • Display a numeric value when difficulty slider is moved
  • Ability to turn off safety where you can't move king to where it would get taken out
Show 1 more
  • Ability to turn off draw by stalemate rule

Chess Sudoku

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • Queen move puzzles have errors/contradictions
  • Puzzles sometimes have multiple solutions
  • Queen puzzles sometimes appear as plain sudoku
  • Queen sudoku has errors forcing restraint breaks
  • iPad app doesn't allow 180-degree orientation change
Show 7 more
  • iPad app doesn't allow landscape play (initially)
  • Highlighting colors difficult to toggle
  • Buttons are too small and confusing
  • Queen rules not followed in some puzzles
  • Queen puzzle 1 has incorrect entries/solutions
  • Queen sudoku has numbers on the same diagonal
  • Queen sudoku has numbers within a king's move

Requested features

17 requests
  • Larger number buttons
  • More puzzle variety
  • More puzzles overall
  • Cloud saves
  • Landscape mode for iPad
Show 12 more
  • More color options for cell painting
  • Tutorial for notation
  • Consolidate apps into one with IAP
  • Remember last opened puzzle
  • Button to clear markings from selected cells only
  • Indicator for relevant hint cells
  • Tool to notice current mode (Knight, King, Queen)
  • More colors for notation
  • Option to disable beginner tools
  • Improved corner note alignment
  • Option to play horizontally on iPad
  • Better button optimization based on frequency of use

In-app purchases

None

Chess ∙

No in-app purchases

None

Chess Sudoku

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chess ∙ free?
Chess ∙ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Sudoku free?
Chess Sudoku costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Chess ∙ or Chess Sudoku?
Chess Sudoku is rated higher. Chess ∙ averages 4.5 out of 5 from 207K ratings, while Chess Sudoku averages 4.9 from 148 ratings.
Do Chess ∙ or Chess Sudoku have ads?
Chess ∙ shows ads; Chess Sudoku does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess ∙ or Chess Sudoku?
Chess ∙ ships an update every 4 months, and Chess Sudoku every 2 months. Most recently, Chess ∙ was updated on October 29, 2026 and Chess Sudoku on October 29, 2026.
Which is more popular, Chess ∙ or Chess Sudoku?
Chess ∙ currently peaks at #68 in the App Store charts, and Chess Sudoku at #183. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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