Chess Premium vs Chess Prime 3D Pro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
Chess Prime 3D Pro
Engage in 3D and 2D chess matches against AI or other players worldwide. Master your skills with hundreds of puzzles, customizable game setups, and helpful learning tools for all levels.
- 3D and 2D chess gameplay
- Online multiplayer with friends or random players
- Hundreds of chess puzzles
- Adjustable AI difficulty
- Customizable board setup
- Legal move highlighting for novices
- Save and load game states
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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 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 play in 2D • Option to change the piece’s color • 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 • 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 price: Chess Prime 3D Pro at $1.99 against Chess Premium's $9.99. Chess Prime 3D Pro also leads on update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.6). Chess Premium's advantage is chart position (#30 vs unranked) and ratings volume (5.4K vs 942). On rating, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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 Premium costs $9.99 and Chess Prime 3D Pro $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Chess Premium against 4.6 for Chess Prime 3D Pro. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Premium has 5.4K ratings behind it against 942, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of Chess Premium's written reviews are positive against 85% of Chess Prime 3D Pro's.
Chess Premium ships an update every 3 months, Chess Prime 3D Pro every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess Premium | Chess Prime 3D Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (5.4K ratings) — better | 4.6 (942 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.4% of reviews | 84.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5.4K — better | 942 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 4 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #30 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Optime Software LLC | Vinta Games |
Customer experience
Chess Premium
Chess Prime 3D Pro
User reviews
Chess Premium
From 5.4K App Store ratingsWhat 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 Prime 3D Pro
From 942 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great game and graphics
- 🎨 Customizable board and pieces
- 🧠 Helpful puzzles and learning tools
- ⚙️ Flexible difficulty settings
- 🕹️ Smooth gameplay and controls
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
- 🕰️ Long wait times for online matches
- 🔊 Inability to disable background music
- 🔄 Lack of board orientation options for multiplayer
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
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- Ability to play against friends
Chess Prime 3D Pro
Reported bugs
3 issues- Pawn capturing horizontally
- Inability to exit or pause games
- Upgrade issues causing data loss
Requested features
4 requests- Online leaderboards and player statistics
- Ability to save and replay game histories
- More diverse and challenging puzzle sets
- Improved online matchmaking and connectivity
In-app purchases
Chess Premium
No in-app purchases
Chess Prime 3D Pro
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chess Premium free?
Is Chess Prime 3D Pro free?
Which has better reviews, Chess Premium or Chess Prime 3D Pro?
Do Chess Premium or Chess Prime 3D Pro have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chess Premium or Chess Prime 3D Pro?
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