Chess vs Chess Prime
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chess
Engage in the classic game of chess with customizable graphics and multiple difficulty levels. Play against AI or a friend, with features like move undo, hints, and time controls. Enjoy a rich chess experience with detailed game history and board customization.
- HD graphics
- 5 difficulty levels
- Hint option
- Play against computer or friend
- 2D and 3D themes
- Unlimited undo moves
- Time control options
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Chess is #1 popular game in the world. According to FIDE, about 600 million people play chess and it is the most widespread game on the planet. "The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions..." (Benjamin Franklin, scientist) Game features: - HD graphics for iPhone 5 and the new iPad retina display - 5 levels of difficulty - hint option to find out the best next move - play either white or black - play against the computer or a friend - 2D and 3D themes for chess pieces - unlimited ability to undo moves - AI quick response time - time control (5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes) - animated moves - highlight legal moves - easy to use interface design - ability to go back to any previous position in the game - auto-save when exit or phone ring - view captured pieces - full game history with chess notation - change the appearance of the board - ability to listen music in background Play one of the oldest and most enjoyable games in the world!
Chess Prime
This app offers a challenging chess experience for players of all levels. It features a versatile AI engine, customizable game modes, and helpful tools for beginners. Save your progress and replay games to improve your skills.
- One player and two player modes
- Challenging AI with flexible difficulty
- Start from any position
- Save and load games
- Show legal moves for beginners
- Undo and redo moves
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- Importance of chess - Chess is one of the ancient games in the world. Chess has become so increasingly popular that there was a time when chess was considered "Royal Game", but is now a common source of entertainment for a common man. In many parts of the world (in schools) chess has been introduced as major part of the curriculum, because chess increases the mathematical and scientific skills of the students. Chess also increases the problem solving skills, a sense of confidence, a self-worth and the communication skills. ••• Why Chess Prime? ••• Chess Prime is one of the best designed chess games for the iPad / iPhone (1,000,000+ downloads so far). It provides learning support for novice players, a real challenge for the experienced players and fun. Chess Prime supports both ‘one player’ and ‘two player’ game play, so you can play against your friends or against a challenging computer opponent. You can even start your game from different 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 novice player you may take advantage of the feature that shows all legal moves for current piece. -The full list of features:- • Excellent graphics, sound effects and music • Configurable player names • Great AI engine with a flexible difficulty level that suits both novice players and experts • 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 opportunity to play different famous openings to gain extensive experience in chess. This feature is activated automatically in the game with high difficulty level. • SETUP game: Start the game from any desirable 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. • 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 limit ‘think time’ in ‘one player’ mode to 5, 15 or 30 seconds • Option to switch on / off sound effects and / or 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 landscape mode and in 3D, then download and try out our new Chess Prime 3D app! Enjoy!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chess Prime at none against Chess's 4. Chess Prime also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks) and review sentiment (84% vs 70%). Chess's advantage is ratings volume (39K vs 71) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). On price, 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 sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Chess Prime asks for nothing beyond the download.
Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess has 39K ratings behind it against 71, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 70% of Chess's written reviews are positive against 84% of Chess Prime's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Chess ships an update every 6 weeks, Chess Prime every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess | Chess Prime |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (39K ratings) — better | 4.4 (71 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 70.5% of reviews | 83.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 39K — better | 71 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.4 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 65 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Vintolo Ltd | Vinta Games |
Customer experience
Chess
Chess Prime
Bugs and requests
Chess
Reported bugs
3 issues- Incorrect stalemate detection
- Pieces disappearing or moving incorrectly
- Compatibility issues on older devices
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to replay puzzles
- Undo/redo move functionality
- Online/multiplayer mode
- More advanced AI difficulty
- Improved stalemate detection
Chess Prime
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Chess
- 10 hints$4.99
- 45 hints$19.99
- 125 hints$49.99
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- 200 hints$69.99
Chess Prime
No in-app purchases









