Comparison

Chess Premium vs Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)

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

Head to head
About

Chess Premium

Enjoy a classic chess experience without ads or internet. Play against a challenging AI with adjustable difficulty or a friend offline. Features stunning visuals, instant auto-saves, and undo support for uninterrupted gameplay.

Highlights
  • No ads or internet required
  • Adjustable AI difficulty levels
  • Offline two-player mode
  • Stunning Retina display visuals
  • Instant auto-save
  • Undo support and score tracking
Features
Read full description

Chess Premium — The Chess Game Your iPhone Deserves No ads. No internet required. Just chess, beautifully designed for your iPhone and iPad. Whether you're picking up chess for the first time or looking for a worthy opponent at 2am, Chess Premium delivers. Play against a sophisticated AI with adjustable difficulty — from patient teacher to ruthless opponent — or hand the phone to a friend for a classic two-player match. What makes it Premium: • Stunning visuals built for Retina displays — not ported from another era • AI engine that actually challenges you, with difficulty levels that grow with your game • Offline play, always available — no Wi-Fi, no account, no nonsense • Auto-saves instantly when you take a call or switch apps • Undo support, configurable player names, and full score tracking No subscriptions. No ads. Buy once, play forever. Download Chess Premium and play your first game in seconds. ———— Love classic games? Optime makes a full suite of board and card games — including Backgammon Pro, Checkers Premium, and Sudoku. Search ""Optime Software"" to see them all.

About

Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)

Sharpen your chess skills with a vast library of puzzles for all levels. Practice daily, offline, or track your progress with adaptive challenges. Analyze your moves with a built-in engine and customize your experience with various themes.

Highlights
  • Daily puzzles
  • Offline puzzle packs
  • Progress mode with Elo rating
  • Puzzle analysis engine
  • Bookmark puzzles
  • Multiple board themes
Features
Read full description

Improve your chess tactics with this large collection of chess puzzles for all levels! This tactic trainer lets you practice in 3 different modes : - Solve daily puzzles - Solve offline puzzle packs - Use the "Progress" mode to get random problems of your level and know your Elo rating All puzzles are of a high quality and are guaranteed to have a unique solution. The difficulty ranges from beginner to advanced (2000+ Elo). Other features : - A free powerful engine to analyze the puzzles - Level history - Bookmark puzzles - Several board themes - Optimized for both phones and tablets - A simple and intuitive interface, with no useless stuff, and no weird problems

Screenshots

Chess Premium4 screens
Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) at Free against Chess Premium's $9.99. Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) also leads on review sentiment (90% vs 80%). Chess Premium's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). On rating, ratings volume, update cadence 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 Tactics Pro (Puzzles) is free to download; Chess Premium costs $9.99 up front. Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Chess Premium asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Chess Premium against 4.7 for Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles). Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5.4K and 3.7K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of Chess Premium's written reviews are positive against 90% of Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Premium ships an update every 3 months, Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Chess Premium versus Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles): the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess PremiumChess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (5.4K ratings)4.7 (3.7K ratings) — better
Positive reviews80.4% of reviews90.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.4K — better3.7K
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#41 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.6
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOptime Software LLCEmmanuel Mathis

Customer experience

Chess Premium

All ratings5,179 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral3.4%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews504 reviews
Positive80.4%
Neutral6.2%
Negative13.5%

Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)

All ratings3,685 ratings
Positive95.7%
Neutral1.8%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews332 reviews
Positive90.1%
Neutral4.5%
Negative5.4%

User reviews

Chess Premium

From 5.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for practicing chess
  • 🚀 Fast gameplay
  • 💡 Adjustable difficulty levels
  • 👍 Simple and intuitive interface
  • 👍 No ads in premium version

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🐛 Issues with detecting checkmate
  • 🐛 Pawns moving incorrectly
  • 🐛 Pieces disappearing from the board
  • 🐛 Slow performance in premium version

Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)

From 3.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 🚀 Offline functionality
  • 💡 Wide variety of puzzles
  • 🎯 Helpful for improving tactics
  • 🕰️ Daily puzzles of varying difficulty

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Some puzzles have flawed or ambiguous solutions
  • 🤔 Difficulty levels not always accurate
  • 📊 Lack of explanation for best moves
  • 🔀 Inability to accept alternative winning solutions

Bugs and requests

Chess Premium

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Incorrect checkmate detection
  • Pawns moving in illegal ways
  • Pieces randomly disappearing
  • Slow performance after upgrade
  • Ads still showing after purchase

Requested features

6 requests
  • Option to turn off stalemate
  • Ability to save and load games
  • Notation or move history display
  • More board and piece theme options
  • Tutorials or strategic tips
Show 1 more
  • Ability to play against friends

Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Occasional crashes or freezes
  • Incorrect move validation in some cases

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add option to see captured pieces
  • Provide more context and analysis for puzzles
  • Improve difficulty categorization of puzzles
  • Allow for user feedback on puzzle issues

In-app purchases

None

Chess Premium

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)

One-time10
  • Easy mates$1.99
  • Intermediate mates$1.99
  • Hard mates$1.99
Show 7 more
  • Easy tactics$1.99
  • Intermediate tactics$1.99
  • Hard tactics$1.99
  • Mates in 2, 3 and 4 moves$1.99
  • Intermediate Tactics - Vol. 2$1.99
  • Hard Tactics - Vol. 2$1.99
  • All-Access Pass$9.99

Questions

Is Chess Premium free?
Chess Premium costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) free?
Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess Premium or Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)?
Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) is rated higher. Chess Premium averages 4.7 out of 5 from 5.4K ratings, while Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) averages 4.7 from 3.7K ratings.
Do Chess Premium or Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) have ads?
Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) shows ads; Chess Premium does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess Premium or Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)?
Chess Premium ships an update every 3 months, and Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) every 2 months. Most recently, Chess Premium was updated on October 31, 2026 and Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) on November 1, 2026.

Other comparisons