Chess Problems Lite vs iPlay Chess
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
iPlay Chess
Engage in chess matches against powerful AI engines with customizable difficulty and playing styles. Enhance your skills with opening books, move hints, and detailed play statistics. Enjoy a personalized experience with custom boards, pieces, and sounds across multiple devices.
- Play against 6 top chess engines
- Customizable boards, pieces, and sounds
- Variety of opening books for all levels
- Adjustable opponent playing style
- Move highlights and hints
- Play statistics tracking
- iPad split screen support
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Play against 6 of the best chess engines, including Stockfish 13 and Leela Chess Zero. More engines will be added with next updates. Great interface for all platforms with custom boards and pieces, sounds and spoken moves. A variety of opening books for all levels can help you improve your game. You can customize your opponent's playing style by adjusting various options like engine strength, move time and increment, opening books variations. Other features: - highlights and hints for moves - support for multiple opening books - play stats - iPad split screen Constant updates will bring more features. Discover the planned roadmap in settings.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Chess Problems Lite at none against iPlay Chess's shown. Chess Problems Lite also leads on update cadence (every 7 months vs every 25 months) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). On price, rating, ratings volume 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for Chess Problems Lite against 4.2 for iPlay Chess. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 5 respectively.
Chess Problems Lite ships an update every 7 months, iPlay Chess every 25 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess Problems Lite | iPlay Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (8 ratings) — better | 4.2 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months — better | Every 25 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 200 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gano Technologies LLC | BEYTEK MUHENDISLIK SANAYI VE TICARET ANONIM SIRKETI |
Customer experience
Chess Problems Lite
iPlay Chess
In-app purchases
Chess Problems Lite
No in-app purchases
iPlay Chess
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chess Problems Lite free?
Is iPlay Chess free?
Which has better reviews, Chess Problems Lite or iPlay Chess?
Do Chess Problems Lite or iPlay Chess have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chess Problems Lite or iPlay Chess?
Other comparisons
