Chess ∙ vs Remote Chess
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.
Remote Chess
Play classic chess against a remote opponent over a network connection. The app synchronizes moves in real-time, ensuring both players see the same board state. Features include automatic move validation and pawn promotion to Queen.
- Remote multiplayer chess
- Real-time move synchronization
- Automatic move validation
- Automatic pawn promotion to Queen
- Check alerts
- End game functionality
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This is the classic Chess game, designed to be played by two remote players, using two network connected iPones or iPads. The players can be in different places, towns, and even different countries. The general rules are well known, so they will not be repeated here. Only application specific features are exposed. One player will deal with white pieces, and will see the chessboard from his white side; the opponent will deal with black pieces, ad will see the chessboard on the opposite side. Once both players have started a game, the white move first. When it's your turn to make a move, you will see a disk of your color on the upper left corner of the screen, and the prompt: "Make your move" on the upper side. When it's the opponent's turn to move, you will be prompted to "Wait for opponent's move" and a disk of the opposite color will be shown on the screen. To move a piece you must touch it, drag it to the destination cell, and release it. If the move is valid, you will hear a 'tok' sound, and the moved piece will take place in the new seat; the move will be transmitted to your opponent's device, and will be automatically executed on his board, too. Then, the move turn is passed to the opponent. So, both players will always see the same piece distribution, exactly as they were playing on opposite sides of the same board. The move transmission time can vary, depending on the quality of the network connection, from a fraction of second to some seconds. If you make an invalid move, the piece will automatically be brought to its starting place, and you have to try a different move. If you want to castle, you have to move your king two steps aside (left or right); if the castling is valid, the rook will be automatically moved to the other side of the king. If a pawn reaches the opponent's base row, it is not possible to choose the type of promotion: it is immediately and automatically promoted to Queen. If your move exposes your king to check, the move is automatically canceled as invalid. If the opponent's move threatens your king, you are alerted: "CHECK TO THE KING !". If you realize that your game is lost, and you haven't more valid moves, you can close it, pressing the "End Game" button. You will be prompted to confirm, and in this case your opponent will be informed; both chessboards will be reset for a new game.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Chess ∙ at 57% against Remote Chess's 0%. Chess ∙ also leads on price (Free vs $0.99) and rating (4.5 vs 1.0). Remote Chess's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On 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; Remote Chess costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Chess ∙ holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess ∙ has 205K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Chess ∙'s written reviews are positive against 0% of Remote Chess's.
Chess ∙ ships an update every 4 months, Remote Chess every 9 months. Both last shipped on September 26, 2026.
| Parameter | Chess ∙ | Remote Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | 4.5 (205K ratings) — better | 1.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 56.9% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 205K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 9 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #79 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 12.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 84 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Optime Software LLC | Luigi Fonti |
Customer experience
Chess ∙
Remote Chess
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
Remote Chess
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Chess ∙
No in-app purchases
Remote Chess
No in-app purchases








