Simple chess board vs Chess Widget
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 Widget
This app brings chess puzzles and games directly to your Home Screen. Solve daily puzzles, play against AI, analyze historical games, or even play multiplayer with friends nearby, all without an internet connection.
- Home screen chess puzzles
- Play against AI
- Analyze historical games
- Board editor mode
- Offline multiplayer
- Daily new puzzles
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Chess is always close by when you feel like playing, learning something new, or taking a break with a good puzzle. Add Chess Widget to the Home Screen of your iPhone or iPad. Solve puzzles, learn openings, play with friends, and review your games — all at your own pace. MAKE A LITTLE TIME FOR CHESS More than 11,000 puzzles help you practice calculation and spot beautiful combinations. Start with a position in the widget, then open the app to find the solution. Need a hand? Take a hint, then try the puzzle again on your own. UNDERSTAND THE OPENINGS YOU PLAY The Learning section offers 15 opening courses, from the Italian Game and Ruy Lopez to the Sicilian Defense and King's Gambit. Read the explanations, try moves on the board, and discover the ideas behind them. Step-by-step practice, move reviews, and key-position challenges help the lessons stick. Your progress is saved, so you can pick up where you left off whenever you like. PLAY YOUR WAY • Against the computer — choose your side and difficulty, try out ideas, and use hints while you practice. • Online through Lichess — find opponents, play rated or casual games, and choose your time control. • With friends — send challenges, share invitation links, and arrange a rematch. • Side by side — connect two devices and enjoy local multiplayer without an internet connection. Online mode also includes chat, your Lichess profile, ratings, and recent games. LEARN FROM YOUR OWN GAMES Coach mode helps you understand where a game turned and what you could have done better. Open a completed Lichess game, see how your moves were assessed, and find inaccuracies, mistakes, and missed opportunities. Return to a key moment and try to find the best move yourself. Take a hint if you need one, explore a continuation, or keep playing from that position. Evaluation and time-spent charts help you see the whole game. DISCOVER THE MASTERS' GAMES Explore more than 100,000 games by outstanding chess players, from historic classics to games by today's grandmasters. Choose a favorite player, find games by year and opening, and go through them move by move or turn on automatic playback. CREATE YOUR OWN POSITIONS Use the board editor to explore an idea or a position from a book. Arrange the pieces, import and copy positions in FEN format, then play from the position against the computer. MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME Choose a board color theme and turn sounds on or off. Switch to Zen Mode for a quiet game with fewer distractions. Keep a puzzle or a position from your selected mode close at hand in the widget. A puzzle over coffee, a new opening in the evening, or a game with a friend — find your own reason to come back to chess. Questions or feedback? Write to me at oleg.v.soloviev@gmail.com Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Chess Widget at none against Simple chess board's shown. Chess Widget also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 10 months). Simple chess board's advantage is review sentiment (88% vs 67%) and ratings volume (68 vs 14). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 and Chess Widget sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Simple chess board against 4.5 for Chess Widget. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 68 and 14 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 88% of Simple chess board's written reviews are positive against 67% of Chess Widget's.
Simple chess board ships an update every 10 months, Chess Widget fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Simple chess board | Chess Widget |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (68 ratings) | 4.5 (14 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 88.2% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 68 — better | 14 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 47 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Luis Lopez | Oleg Soloviev |
Customer experience
Simple chess board
Chess Widget
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 Widget
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Simple chess board
- Remove ads$0.99
Chess Widget
- 1 coffee$4.99
- 2 coffees$9.99
- 5 coffees$24.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- 10 coffees$49.99
Questions
Is Simple chess board free?
Is Chess Widget free?
Which has better reviews, Simple chess board or Chess Widget?
Do Simple chess board or Chess Widget have ads?
Which is updated more often, Simple chess board or Chess Widget?
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