Chess Problems Lite vs Chess Opener Lite
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chess Problems Lite
Sharpen your chess skills with directmate puzzles. This app offers 10 interactive problems, from easy mate-in-one to challenging mate-in-four moves. It features a revamped chess engine, a timing clock, customizable piece sets and color schemes, and social leaderboards with Facebook integration.
- Directmate chess puzzles
- Mate in 1 to 4+ moves
- Revamped chess engine
- Timing clock for puzzles
- Customizable piece sets and color schemes
- Leaderboards and Facebook integration
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A lite version of the Ultimate mate in 1 to 4+ chess puzzle apps! Sharpen your chess skills! Beginners and experienced players will enjoy solving these chess problems! This app has 10 interactive chess problems ranging from easy mate in one move problems to very challenging mate in four moves. The object is to finish each game by forcing a checkmate in a given number of moves. In the full versions of this app there are a much larger 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. Chess problems are especially useful for learning to play chess or anyone wanting to improve their skills. New features added 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 1 Puzzles - Mate in 2 Puzzles - Mate in 3 Puzzles - Mate in 4+ Puzzles
Chess Opener Lite
Master chess openings with an interactive trainer and comprehensive database. Build and memorize your own repertoire, compare variations, and track your progress. Works offline and offers extensive opening exploration.
- Chess opening tree with game statistics
- Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (ECO)
- Build and edit opening repertoire
- Interactive opening trainer
- Offline functionality
- PGN export
- Progress tracking
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Features: - Chess opening tree with game statistics - The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (ECO) - Compare ECO and opening tree moves side by side in any position - Export chess openings in PGN format - Build your own opening repertoire - Add or edit comments on moves - Automatically classify any sequence of moves using the ECO system - Chess opening explorer highlights moves already in your repertoire - Chess database includes all transpositions - Interactive trainer to memorize your chess openings and variations - Train multiple variations at once against random opponent moves from your repertoire - Set up a starting position for training - Track your training progress - Customize chessboard colors and chess pieces - Supports dark mode - Works completely offline CHESS OPENING EXPLORER Search in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings or browse the chess opening tree. Swipe left or right to switch between the exploration features in any position. BUILD YOUR OPENING REPERTOIRE Add your favorite opening lines to your repertoire using the chess opening explorer. You can always edit the names of your openings and organize them in your repertoire. OPENING TRAINER A simple and efficient method to memorize variations of openings in your repertoire. You can train either white’s moves or black’s moves only or both. Optionally, you can train all variations at once. The trainer chooses the opponent’s moves randomly from your opening repertoire. Chess Opener tracks your progress and shows your stats. Upgrade to Chess Opener PRO to unlock more features: - Unlimited repertoire size - Unlimited depth of openings - 6x larger opening tree with game statistics - Database of top 100+ grandmasters’ repertoires - Powerful chess engine analysis - Import openings in PGN format
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Chess Problems Lite at 83% against Chess Opener Lite's 43%. Chess Problems Lite also leads on rating (4.3 vs 4.1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). Chess Opener Lite's advantage is update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 7 months). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Chess Problems Lite holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 17 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Chess Problems Lite's written reviews are positive against 43% of Chess Opener Lite's.
Chess Problems Lite ships an update every 7 months, Chess Opener Lite every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess Problems Lite | Chess Opener Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (8 ratings) — better | 4.1 (17 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 42.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 8 | 17 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 55 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gano Technologies LLC | Stanislav Basovnik |
Customer experience
Chess Problems Lite
Chess Opener Lite
In-app purchases
Chess Problems Lite
No in-app purchases
Chess Opener Lite
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chess Problems Lite free?
Is Chess Opener Lite free?
Which has better reviews, Chess Problems Lite or Chess Opener Lite?
Do Chess Problems Lite or Chess Opener Lite have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chess Problems Lite or Chess Opener Lite?
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