Chess ∙ vs Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 1 and 2 player gameplay
- Challenging computer opponent
- Great graphics and sound
- Configurable difficulty
- Undo function
- Automatic save
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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.
Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles
Engage in over 1000 interactive chess puzzles designed to sharpen your tactical skills. Force checkmates within 4 to 8 moves, with a revamped engine and timing features to track your progress. Compete with friends on leaderboards and share your achievements.
- 1000+ interactive chess puzzles
- Force checkmate in 4-8 moves
- Revamped, stronger chess engine
- Timing clock and solve time tracking
- 7 chess piece sets and color schemes
- Leaderboards for social comparison
- Facebook integration for sharing and help
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The Ultimate mate in 4 moves chess puzzle app! Sharpen your chess skills with Mate in 4 Puzzles! Experienced players and anyone looking for a good challenge will enjoy solving these chess problems! This app has 1000 interactive chess puzzles that will challenge you. The object is to finish each game by forcing a checkmate in 4 to 8 moves. The puzzles consist of a large number of classical puzzles collected from a variety of sources. These puzzles are fun to play and can be enjoyed at your leisure on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Mate in 4+ chess problems are especially useful for more advanced chess players or anyone wanting to improve their skills. New features added in Version 2.0 include: ------------------------------ - Completely revamped chess engine that is much stronger - Timing clock is displayed while you are working on each puzzle. How long you take to solve a puzzle is stored. - New options: more chess piece sets (total of 7) and more colors schemes (total of 7) including wood and marble. (Improved the options menu as well) - Social Gaming: Leaderboards to compare the number of puzzles you have solved with your friends and other players. Facebook integration - including the ability to post your progress and ask your friends for help on a puzzle. - Universal app - works on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad - high resolution graphics all around (where supported). For even more chess puzzle challenges check out these apps: - Mate in 1 Puzzles - Mate in 2 Puzzles - Mate in 3 Puzzles
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Chess ∙ at Free against Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles's $0.99. Chess ∙ also leads on ratings volume (208K vs 5) and chart position (#63 vs unranked). Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (86% vs 56%). On update cadence, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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
Chess ∙ is free to download; Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess ∙ has 208K ratings behind it against 5, 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 86% of Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles's.
Chess ∙ ships an update every 4 months, Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess ∙ | Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | 4.5 (208K ratings) | 4.8 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 56.3% of reviews | 85.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 208K — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #63 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 84 MB | 28 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Optime Software LLC | Gano Technologies LLC |
Customer experience
Chess ∙
Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles
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
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- 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
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- Ability to turn off draw by stalemate rule
Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Chess ∙
No in-app purchases
Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chess ∙ free?
Is Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles free?
Which has better reviews, Chess ∙ or Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles?
Do Chess ∙ or Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chess ∙ or Mate in 4+ Chess Puzzles?
Other comparisons
