Comparison

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles vs Chess Tactics and Lessons

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

Head to head
About

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles

This app offers over 180 interactive chess puzzles focused on delivering checkmate in a single move. It's designed for both beginners and experienced players looking to sharpen their tactical skills. Enjoy a variety of classical puzzles with customizable piece sets and color schemes.

Highlights
  • Over 180 chess puzzles
  • Checkmate in 1 move challenges
  • Customizable piece sets and color schemes
  • Timing clock and puzzle solving times
  • Leaderboards for social comparison
  • Facebook integration
Features
Read full description

The Ultimate mate in 1 move chess puzzle app! Sharpen your chess skills with Mate in 1 Puzzles! Beginners and experienced players will enjoy solving these chess problems! This app has over 180 interactive chess problems ranging from easy to harder puzzles that will challenge you and help improve your chess skills. The object is to finish each game by forcing a checkmate in 1 move. The puzzles consist of a large number of classical puzzles collected from a variety of sources. These puzzles are fun to play and can be enjoyed at your leisure on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Mate in 2 chess problems are especially useful for learning to play chess or anyone wanting to improve their skills. New features added in Version 2.0 include: ------------------------------ - Completely revamped chess engine that is much stronger - Timing clock is displayed while you are working on each puzzle. How long you take to solve a puzzle is stored. - New options: more chess piece sets (total of 7) and more colors schemes (total of 7) including wood and marble. (Improved the options menu as well) - Social Gaming: Leaderboards to compare the number of puzzles you have solved with your friends and other players. Facebook integration - including the ability to post your progress and ask your friends for help on a puzzle. - Universal app - works on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad - high resolution graphics all around (where supported). For even more chess puzzle challenges check out these apps: - Mate in 2 Puzzles - Mate in 3 Puzzles - Mate in 4+ Puzzles

About

Chess Tactics and Lessons

Master chess strategy and openings with this app. Practice unlimited tactics, follow detailed lessons, and save your favorite openings. Create your own content and learn from a supportive community.

Highlights
  • Unlimited tactics practice
  • Detailed chess lessons
  • Opening practice and saving
  • Create custom tactics and lessons
  • Learn from mistakes with explanations
  • Community comments and discussion
  • Customizable board design
Features
Read full description

“Chess is 99% tactics” (R. Teichmann.) From beginner to expert, practicing tactics is hands-down the best way to master the game. Play 30,000+ tactics, lessons, and openings while the app adjusts to your ability as you play. Join thousands of users who improve their game with daily tactics. Beginner-friendly, even if you don't know the rules of chess yet. "This app is a must have for any chess player - student or master." -Tom Taylor, USA "This is easily the best purchase I've made since owning a smartphone." -Miles C. Samuels, USA "This app has improved my game tremendously!" - anonymous fandom on the App Store FEATURES - Tactics: Play as many tactics as you want, for free. - Lessons: Get deeper into strategy with detailed lessons including positions from Netflix's 'The Queen's Gambit' and the World Championship. - Openings: Practice makes perfect! Save and practice openings from the Grandmasters and more. - Create your own tactics, lessons, and openings for others to try. - Learn from your mistakes with solutions, explanations, and chess engine analysis. - Join the community: comment on tactics and learn from other users. New tactics are added every day, so you'll never run out. ------ Chess Tactics PRO subscriptions will be charged to your iTunes account upon purchase. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime with your iTunes account settings. See Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for more information. Privacy Policy: https://chesstacticsapp.com/privacy.html Terms of Service: https://chesstacticsapp.com/terms.html Acknowledgements: Chess Pieces by jurgenwesterhof on WikiCommons (adapted from work of Cburnett) Icons by bezier master, Cutiecon, and Shawn Wong from the Noun Project.

Screenshots

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles4 screens
Chess Tactics and Lessons4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chess Tactics and Lessons at Free against Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles's $0.99. Chess Tactics and Lessons also leads on ratings volume (5.1K vs 41) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 7 months). Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). On rating, review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Chess Tactics and Lessons is free to download; Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles costs $0.99 up front. Chess Tactics and Lessons sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles against 4.8 for Chess Tactics and Lessons. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Tactics and Lessons has 5.1K ratings behind it against 41, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 92% of Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles's written reviews are positive against 85% of Chess Tactics and Lessons's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles ships an update every 7 months, Chess Tactics and Lessons every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles versus Chess Tactics and Lessons: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMate in 1 Chess PuzzlesChess Tactics and Lessons
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating4.9 (41 ratings) — better4.8 (5.1K ratings)
Positive reviews91.6% of reviews — better85.2% of reviews
Number of ratings415.1K — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB114 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGano Technologies LLCLockwood Productions, LLC

Customer experience

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles

All ratings41 ratings
Positive97.6%
Neutral2.4%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews83 reviews
Positive91.6%
Neutral6.0%
Negative2.4%

Chess Tactics and Lessons

All ratings5,056 ratings
Positive95.2%
Neutral3.1%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews283 reviews
Positive85.2%
Neutral4.6%
Negative10.2%

User reviews

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles

From 41 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for beginners
  • 📈 Improves chess game
  • 💡 Helps recognize patterns
  • 🧠 Good for mental exercise
  • 📱 Easy to use interface

Room to improve

  • 🥱 Too easy for advanced players
  • 🔄 Repetitive puzzles
  • ⏳ Puzzles load slowly
  • 📱 Limited puzzle count
  • 📱 Interface can be clumsy

Chess Tactics and Lessons

From 5.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 😃 Great for learning tactics
  • 👍 Enjoyable and addictive
  • 🚀 Excellent training tool
  • 🤗 Helpful for improving chess skills
  • 💯 Best tactics app

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy after updates
  • 💰 Subscription model too expensive
  • 🤔 Some tactics are questionable
  • 🙄 Too many queen sacrifices
  • 😣 Difficult to navigate

Bugs and requests

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App hangs and puzzles don't load
  • App freezes up
  • Issues after puzzle 50

Requested features

10 requests
  • Mode to answer in notation
  • More setups/puzzles
  • Expert stage with advanced moves
  • Ability to turn iPad sideways
  • Dark mode
Show 5 more
  • Compete against friends with side-by-side times
  • Save previous times for progress tracking
  • Make successive games within each level harder
  • Display instances of mistakes made but solution found
  • Automatically move to the next puzzle

Chess Tactics and Lessons

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Server connection issues
  • White screen after updates
  • Inability to delete account
  • Incorrect move explanations

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to save tactics
  • Offline mode
  • Difficulty filtering
  • Improved user interface
  • More comprehensive lessons

In-app purchases

None

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles

No in-app purchases

7 purchases

Chess Tactics and Lessons

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly PRO Subscription$3.991 Month
  • Annual Pro Subscription$29.991 Year
One-time5
  • Marble Chess Board$0.99
  • Orange Chess Board$0.99
  • Remove ads$0.99
Show 2 more
  • Green Chess Board$0.99
  • Enable Saved Puzzles$1.99

Questions

Is Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles free?
Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Tactics and Lessons free?
Chess Tactics and Lessons is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles or Chess Tactics and Lessons?
Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles is rated higher. Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles averages 4.9 out of 5 from 41 ratings, while Chess Tactics and Lessons averages 4.8 from 5.1K ratings.
Do Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles or Chess Tactics and Lessons have ads?
Neither Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles nor Chess Tactics and Lessons shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles or Chess Tactics and Lessons?
Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles ships an update every 7 months, and Chess Tactics and Lessons every 5 weeks. Most recently, Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles was updated on November 6, 2026 and Chess Tactics and Lessons on November 6, 2026.

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