Comparison

Chess Problems Lite vs Chess Puzzles & Tactics

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

About

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

Enhance your chess skills with an extensive collection of puzzles and tactical exercises. Tailor your training by customizing puzzle difficulty and Elo ratings to target specific weaknesses and accelerate improvement, suitable for players of all levels.

Highlights
  • Infinite chess puzzles
  • Tactics training
  • Customizable puzzles
  • Elo rating adjustment
  • All player levels
  • Extensive tactic list
Features
Read full description

Solve interactive chess positions on the board and find the correct continuation. Train tactics, mating patterns, and endgames. Choose the categories or motifs you want to practice, then set a puzzle Elo range or difficulty that fits your target session. Built for chess players from beginner through advanced. Practice familiar ideas such as forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, sacrifices, promotion, and zugzwang. Develop pattern recognition and calculation through focused puzzle practice.

Screenshots

Chess Problems Lite4 screens
Chess Puzzles & Tactics4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chess Problems Lite at none against Chess Puzzles & Tactics's 1. Chess Problems Lite also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). Chess Puzzles & Tactics's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 7 months) and ratings volume (485 vs 8). On price, review sentiment, monetization model 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

Both are free to download. Chess Puzzles & Tactics sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chess Problems Lite asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chess Puzzles & Tactics holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Puzzles & Tactics has 485 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 83% of Chess Problems Lite's written reviews are positive against 76% of Chess Puzzles & Tactics's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Problems Lite ships an update every 7 months, Chess Puzzles & Tactics weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Chess Problems Lite versus Chess Puzzles & Tactics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess Problems LiteChess Puzzles & Tactics
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (8 ratings)4.5 (485 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews — better75.7% of reviews
Number of ratings8485 — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB89 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGano Technologies LLCSajed Nahian

Customer experience

Chess Problems Lite

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews24 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative8.3%

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

All ratings485 ratings
Positive85.8%
Neutral4.3%
Negative9.9%
Written reviews37 reviews
Positive75.7%
Neutral5.4%
Negative18.9%

Bugs and requests

Chess Problems Lite

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • Unable to login
  • Application resets to starting value (1000elo)
  • History/review chapters remain unlocked
  • In-application feedback not functioning
  • Rating feature broke
Show 13 more
  • Ability to control puzzle strength broke
  • Scanning thing after opening app continues forever
  • App resets ELO to 1000
  • Undo button disappears
  • Tapping to select a piece stops working
  • Analysis breaks
  • Viewing history doesn’t work
  • App crashes
  • View History tab page never loads
  • App forgets login and starts from ELO = 0
  • Analysis button messed up
  • App hangs after pressing 'log in'
  • Puzzles freeze, no way of moving pieces

Requested features

4 requests
  • Option to mute sounds
  • Ability to disable audio
  • Allow loading custom puzzle sets
  • Better interface and cable

In-app purchases

None

Chess Problems Lite

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

One-time1
  • Ad-Free Forever$3.99

Questions

Is Chess Problems Lite free?
Chess Problems Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Puzzles & Tactics free?
Chess Puzzles & Tactics is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess Problems Lite or Chess Puzzles & Tactics?
Chess Puzzles & Tactics is rated higher. Chess Problems Lite averages 4.3 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Chess Puzzles & Tactics averages 4.5 from 485 ratings.
Do Chess Problems Lite or Chess Puzzles & Tactics have ads?
Chess Puzzles & Tactics shows ads; Chess Problems Lite does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess Problems Lite or Chess Puzzles & Tactics?
Chess Problems Lite ships an update every 7 months, and Chess Puzzles & Tactics weekly. Most recently, Chess Problems Lite was updated on September 21, 2026 and Chess Puzzles & Tactics on October 17, 2026.

Other comparisons