Chess ∙ vs Chess Prime 3D
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.
Chess Prime 3D
Engage in classic chess with stunning 3D graphics and versatile play modes. Challenge yourself with puzzles, play against AI or friends online, and learn with helpful move indicators. Save games, customize the board, and master openings.
- 3D and 2D board views
- Single player and two player modes
- Online multiplayer with chat
- Hundreds of chess puzzles
- Adjustable AI difficulty
- Legal move highlighting
- Board setup and save/load
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Chess Prime 3D is one of the best designed 3D chess games for the iPad / iPhone. It provides learning support for novice players, a real challenge for the experienced players and fun. Swipe in any of four directions to view the board from any angle and play the chess game in 3D / 2D. Chess Prime 3D supports both ‘one player’ and ‘two player’ game play, so you can play online with your friends or with millions of players around the world, or against a challenging computer opponent with adjustable difficulty level. Master your chess skills by solving hundreds chess puzzles. You can use hints if you get stuck. You can even edit the board and start the game from any predefined position. That allows you to test your skills in different game phases, common positions, solve chess puzzles, etc. Also you can save your game and then re-load it anytime you want. If you are a novice player you may take advantage of the feature that shows all legal moves for the current piece. -The full list of features:- • Excellent 3D graphics, sound effects and music • Configurable player names • Option to change the piece’s and board color • Option to play in 2D • Great AI engine with a flexible difficulty level that suits both novice players and experts • 200 ‘Mate in 2’ / ‘Mate in 3’ puzzles with stats, rewards and hints. • LIVE CHESS - invite your friends and play online. Or just play with a random player. Three difficulty levels, four time control settings, rating system, statistics and more. Confirm your move before submitting. Communication options - In-Game Chat, Rematch, Undo Move, Offer Draw, Resign, Postpone Match. • Versatile openings: Chess Prime AI engine plays like a human, not as a computer that always chooses the same move at the same position. It gives you an opportunity to play different famous openings to gain extensive experience in chess • SETUP game: Start the game from any predefined position with any number of pieces • UNDO function if you accidentally hit wrong piece or square. It works even if your king is checkmated • REDO function if you missed the opponent’s move. Just press EYE button and Chess Prime will show you the last opponent’s move • SAVE / LOAD feature gives you an opportunity to finish the game later or to play the chess puzzle which you can setup in the “Setup Game” module • CENTER function to align the board to the center • Option to show the LEGAL MOVES for current piece (very useful for novice players) • Option to ROTATE the board in ‘two player’ mode • Option to change the perspective angle, adjust the piece size, rotate knights • Help button with instructions for En Passant capture / Castling (activated automatically) • Option to limit ‘think time’ in ‘one player’ mode to 5, 15 or 30 seconds • Option to switch on / off sound effects and / or music. You can also listen to own music. • Automatically saves the current state of the game, so the game state would be automatically restored if you quit the application • Universal app (supports iPad / iPod touch / iPhone) If you love playing chess in portrait mode and in 2D, then download and try out our Chess Prime app! Enjoy!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chess ∙ at none against Chess Prime 3D's 1. Chess ∙ also leads on chart position (#65 vs unranked) and ratings volume (207K vs 63K). Chess Prime 3D's advantage is review sentiment (81% vs 56%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months). On price, rating, ads 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
Both are free to download. Chess Prime 3D sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chess ∙ asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Chess ∙ against 4.6 for Chess Prime 3D. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 207K and 63K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 56% of Chess ∙'s written reviews are positive against 81% of Chess Prime 3D's.
Chess ∙ ships an update every 4 months, Chess Prime 3D every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.
| Parameter | Chess ∙ | Chess Prime 3D |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (207K ratings) | 4.6 (63K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 56.3% of reviews | 81.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 207K — better | 63K |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #65 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 84 MB | 61 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Optime Software LLC | Vinta Games |
Customer experience
Chess ∙
Chess Prime 3D
User reviews
Chess ∙
From 207K App Store ratingsWhat 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 Prime 3D
From 63K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great app, easy to use
- 👍 Versatile with customization options
- 🎨 Excellent 3D graphics and visuals
- 💡 Helpful for learning and improving chess skills
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional connection issues and glitches
- ⏱️ Frustrating timer and move registration problems
- 💰 Ads can be intrusive and disruptive
- 🤖 Difficulty levels can be unbalanced and overly challenging
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
Chess Prime 3D
Reported bugs
3 issues- Pieces not moving as expected
- Game freezing or crashing during play
- Incorrect move registrations and stalemate issues
Requested features
4 requests- Online multiplayer with chat functionality
- Ability to save and review game history
- Option to play background music from device
- Improved matchmaking and difficulty balancing
In-app purchases
Chess ∙
No in-app purchases
Chess Prime 3D
- Remove Ads$2.99









