Comparison

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles vs Chess Notation Trainer Pro

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 Notation Trainer Pro

Features
Read full description

Serious about chess? But struggling to identify the squares, remembering sequences and following notations? Well, you just landed on the perfect app! This training app is designed to dramatically uplift your mastery over chess squares. There are 5 training sessions. A small dose of regular practice will make you: 1. Spot a square as soon as you hear/see its coordinate 2. Translate a sequence of moves into their notation at ease 3. Immediately identify the color of a square 4. Stay oriented regardless of you facing white or black 5. Follow along with chess tutorials, books or any discussion without a board 6. Massively speedup your thought process on any calculation 7. Finally, start playing blind chess! There are well thought out features everywhere, like different time controls for training, untimed practice mode, hints and tips during gameplay, achievements and milestones, global leaderboards and a complete visualization of your records. Don't be surprised if you see a sudden surge of rating simply increasing your strength on square reading. This is a beautiful and satisfyingly addictive way to your square mastery. Caution: If you are rated below 1500, this app is probably not gonna be as useful for you, and tactics training is something you should prioritize.

Screenshots

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles4 screens
Chess Notation Trainer Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Chess Notation Trainer Pro at every 6 days against Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles's every 7 months. Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles's advantage is price ($0.99 vs $4.99) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.6). On ads, in-app purchases 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

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles costs $0.99 and Chess Notation Trainer Pro $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles ships an update every 7 months, Chess Notation Trainer Pro every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles versus Chess Notation Trainer Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMate in 1 Chess PuzzlesChess Notation Trainer Pro
Price$0.99 — better$4.99
Rating4.9 (41 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews91.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings41 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGano Technologies LLCNishat Majid

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 Notation Trainer Pro

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles

No in-app purchases

None

Chess Notation Trainer Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles free?
Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Notation Trainer Pro free?
Chess Notation Trainer Pro costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles or Chess Notation Trainer Pro have ads?
Neither Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles nor Chess Notation Trainer Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles or Chess Notation Trainer Pro?
Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles ships an update every 7 months, and Chess Notation Trainer Pro every 6 days. Most recently, Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles was updated on September 20, 2026 and Chess Notation Trainer Pro on September 7, 2026.

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