Simple chess board vs ! Chess !
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Simple chess board
This app provides a digital chessboard with unrestricted piece movement and a configurable chess clock. Save and load board positions, undo/redo moves, and even use checker pieces. It's ideal for analyzing games or setting up custom scenarios.
- Free piece movement
- Undo/Redo functionality
- Board rotation
- Checker piece option
- Save/load positions
- Configurable chess clock
- Tweet current position
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A simple chess board and a chess clock without movement restrictions. Free movement as a real board. Current features are: • Move pieces freely, add or remove them. • Undo/Redo last movement. • Rotate board and/or pieces. • Use checkers game pieces. • Save/load positions for later use, or delete them when you don't need them anymore (swipe over them). Starting positions for chess and checkers are available. • Use a chess clock where you can configure initial time, move time increment, increment after a number of movement, hourglass time, ... • Set time independent for black and white if required. • Save/load time settings for later use. Already available some common times. • Tweet your current position.
! Chess !
Engage in a classic game of strategy with a powerful AI engine and a comprehensive tutor to enhance your skills. Enjoy daily challenges, various difficulty levels, and customizable themes for an immersive experience.
- Powerful Chess AI engine
- Chess Tutor for skill improvement
- 6 difficulty levels
- Daily challenges
- Various 3D themes
- Intelligence hints
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Chess King is the best Chess game. Touch the screen, move and drop the pieces, checkmate, Win! Powerful Chess AI engine, super Chess Tutor, amusing challenge mode, increase your ranking and become a Master of Chess. Features： - 6 difficulty levels（Practice -> Expert）, easier for the beginners. - Chess Tutor, improving your Chess skill. - Intelligence hints analyze every move. - Update the endgame of chess everyday. - Daily challenge. - Various 3D themes. - Support Tablet perfectly. Download the best Chess game now!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ! Chess ! at none against Simple chess board's 1. ! Chess ! also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 10 months). On price, rating, review sentiment 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
Both are free to download. Simple chess board sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ! Chess ! asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Simple chess board against 4.6 for ! Chess !. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 68 and 212 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 88% of Simple chess board's written reviews are positive against 85% of ! Chess !'s.
Simple chess board ships an update every 10 months, ! Chess ! every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Simple chess board | ! Chess ! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (68 ratings) | 4.6 (212 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 88.2% of reviews — better | 85.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 68 | 212 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 7.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 48 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Luis Lopez | 肖见 陈 |
Customer experience
Simple chess board
! Chess !
User reviews
Simple chess board
From 68 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and straightforward
- 👍 Great for study and practice
- 👍 No restrictions or 'help' functions
- 👍 Allows setting up custom positions
- 👍 Useful for playing through games
Room to improve
- 🤔 Pieces not bound by rules
- 🤔 Graphics can be distracting/ugly
- 🤔 Aggressive board colors
- 🤔 Clocks take up screen space
- 🤔 Pieces can shift unexpectedly
! Chess !
From 212 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 User-friendly interface and easy to learn
- 🧠 Great for chess skill development and practice
- 🤖 Strong and challenging AI opponent
- 💡 Helpful hints and suggestions system
- 📊 Multiple difficulty levels with smooth progression
Room to improve
- 🐛 Game freezes or crashes frequently
- ⏱️ Rapid window closing after game completion
- 🚪 Immediate exit without reviewing final moves
- 🐢 Slow gameplay and piece animation
- 📍 Difficult piece placement accuracy
Bugs and requests
Simple chess board
Reported bugs
7 issues- Keyboard not appearing to enter text/save
- Cannot figure out how to save position
- Pieces shift on their own
- Kings and queens on wrong squares initially
- Save position fails with 'You must insert text' error
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- App froze mid-game
- Write a review tab has trouble
Requested features
20 requests- Add scoresheet functionality
- Export game for analysis
- Move counter
- Portrait view on iPad
- Board expansion to fill screen
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- Ability to turn board around
- More board color options
- Option to hide timers
- PGN save and import facility
- PGN export
- Chess notation feature
- Larger board size (optional timers)
- Change chess set for better viewing
- Fix 'write a review' tab issue
- Delete saved games/setups easily
- Better graphics
- More realistic piece movement enforcement
- Improve piece dragging and selection
- Make piece representations larger
- Add variations
! Chess !
Reported bugs
9 issues- Game freezes after ads play
- Freezing at end of game
- Rapid board window closing preventing move analysis
- Game exits immediately upon loss
- Daily Endings Challenge feature doesn't open
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Occasional failure to credit wins after checkmate
- Always starts with horse piece
- Piece placement one square short
- Inconsistent turn indicator display
Requested features
9 requests- Custom starting position option
- Keep board window open after game completion for analysis
- Explain reasoning behind suggested moves
- Game move history and replay functionality
- Adjustable animation speed
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Online multiplayer capability
- Castling tutorial or clarification
- Ability to resign when losing is inevitable
- Daily Endings Challenge fix
In-app purchases
Simple chess board
- Remove ads$0.99
! Chess !
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Simple chess board free?
Is ! Chess ! free?
Which has better reviews, Simple chess board or ! Chess !?
Do Simple chess board or ! Chess ! have ads?
Which is updated more often, Simple chess board or ! Chess !?
Other comparisons
