Chess Tactics and Lessons vs Encyclopedia 1 by Informant
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chess Tactics and Lessons
Master chess strategy and openings with this app. Practice unlimited tactics, follow detailed lessons, and save your favorite openings. Create your own content and learn from a supportive community.
- Unlimited tactics practice
- Detailed chess lessons
- Opening practice and saving
- Create custom tactics and lessons
- Learn from mistakes with explanations
- Community comments and discussion
- Customizable board design
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“Chess is 99% tactics” (R. Teichmann.) From beginner to expert, practicing tactics is hands-down the best way to master the game. Play 30,000+ tactics, lessons, and openings while the app adjusts to your ability as you play. Join thousands of users who improve their game with daily tactics. Beginner-friendly, even if you don't know the rules of chess yet. "This app is a must have for any chess player - student or master." -Tom Taylor, USA "This is easily the best purchase I've made since owning a smartphone." -Miles C. Samuels, USA "This app has improved my game tremendously!" - anonymous fandom on the App Store FEATURES - Tactics: Play as many tactics as you want, for free. - Lessons: Get deeper into strategy with detailed lessons including positions from Netflix's 'The Queen's Gambit' and the World Championship. - Openings: Practice makes perfect! Save and practice openings from the Grandmasters and more. - Create your own tactics, lessons, and openings for others to try. - Learn from your mistakes with solutions, explanations, and chess engine analysis. - Join the community: comment on tactics and learn from other users. New tactics are added every day, so you'll never run out. ------ Chess Tactics PRO subscriptions will be charged to your iTunes account upon purchase. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime with your iTunes account settings. See Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for more information. Privacy Policy: https://chesstacticsapp.com/privacy.html Terms of Service: https://chesstacticsapp.com/terms.html Acknowledgements: Chess Pieces by jurgenwesterhof on WikiCommons (adapted from work of Cburnett) Icons by bezier master, Cutiecon, and Shawn Wong from the Noun Project.
Encyclopedia 1 by Informant
This educational tool offers systematic chess combinations for players around ELO 2000. It provides interactive lessons, hints, and explanations to improve tactical skills and game knowledge. The app includes a free section for testing before unlocking more advanced topics.
- Systematic chess combinations
- Interactive lessons and explanations
- Hints and mistake refutations
- Theoretical sections with interactive play
- Progress monitoring (ELO rating)
- Offline play
- Tablet optimized
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Encyclopedia of Chess Combinations vol. 1 (ECC vol. 1) is the ultimate educational tool with systematic, carefully selected content for player with ELO 2000. The material is based on the latest edition of the eponymous bestselling book released by Chess Informant. This volume contains chess combination of Basic Level (ELO 2000) for solving, all hand-picked and sorted by theme to provide the most exciting and efficient training experience possible! Unlike disorganized, basic tactics you can learn all over the Internet, this Chess Sphinx will challenge you consistently and systematically, unveiling new intricacies right when you decide you have mastered that particular tactic. This course is in the series Chess King Learn (https://learn.chessking.com/), which is an unprecedented chess teaching method. In the series are included courses in tactics, strategy, openings, middle game, and endgame, split by levels from beginners to experienced players, and even professional players. With the help of this course, you can improve your chess knowledge, learn new tactical tricks and combinations, and consolidate the acquired knowledge into practice. The program acts as a coach who gives tasks to solve and helps to solve them if you get stuck. It will give you hints, explanations and show you even striking refutation of the mistakes you might make. The program also contains a theoretical section, which explains the methods of the game in a certain stage of the game, based on actual examples. The theory is presented in an interactive way, which means you can not only read the text of the lessons, but also to make moves on the board and work out unclear moves on the board. Advantages of the program: • High quality examples, all double-checked for correctness • You need to enter all key moves, required by the teacher • Different levels of complexity of the tasks • Various goals, which need to be reached in the problems • The program gives hint if an error is made • For typical mistaken moves, the refutation is shown • You can play out any position of the tasks against the computer • Interactive theoretical lessons • Structured table of contents • The program monitors the change in the rating (ELO) of the player during the learning process • Test mode with flexible settings • Possibility to bookmark favorite exercises • The application is adapted to the bigger screen of a tablet • The application does not require an internet connection The course includes a free part, in which you can test the program. Lessons offered in the free version is fully functional. They allow you to test the application in real world conditions before releasing the following topics: 1. Annihilation of defence 2. Blockade 3. Clearance 4. Deflection 5. Discovered attack 6. Pinning 7. Demolition of pawn structure 8. Decoy 9. Interference 10. Double attack
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Chess Tactics and Lessons at 5.1K against Encyclopedia 1 by Informant's 49. Chess Tactics and Lessons also leads on update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 3 months). Encyclopedia 1 by Informant's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 85%) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, 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. Chess Tactics and Lessons sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Encyclopedia 1 by Informant sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Chess Tactics and Lessons against 4.9 for Encyclopedia 1 by Informant. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Tactics and Lessons has 5.1K ratings behind it against 49, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of Chess Tactics and Lessons's written reviews are positive against 100% of Encyclopedia 1 by Informant's.
Chess Tactics and Lessons ships an update every 5 weeks, Encyclopedia 1 by Informant every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess Tactics and Lessons | Encyclopedia 1 by Informant |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (5.1K ratings) | 4.9 (49 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 85.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5.1K — better | 49 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 114 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Lockwood Productions, LLC | Chess King |
Customer experience
Chess Tactics and Lessons
Encyclopedia 1 by Informant
Bugs and requests
Chess Tactics and Lessons
Reported bugs
4 issues- Server connection issues
- White screen after updates
- Inability to delete account
- Incorrect move explanations
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to save tactics
- Offline mode
- Difficulty filtering
- Improved user interface
- More comprehensive lessons
Encyclopedia 1 by Informant
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Chess Tactics and Lessons
- Monthly PRO Subscription$3.991 Month
- Annual Pro Subscription$29.991 Year
- Marble Chess Board$0.99
- Orange Chess Board$0.99
- Remove ads$0.99
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- Green Chess Board$0.99
- Enable Saved Puzzles$1.99
Encyclopedia 1 by Informant
- Full Course$9.99
Questions
Is Chess Tactics and Lessons free?
Is Encyclopedia 1 by Informant free?
Which has better reviews, Chess Tactics and Lessons or Encyclopedia 1 by Informant?
Do Chess Tactics and Lessons or Encyclopedia 1 by Informant have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chess Tactics and Lessons or Encyclopedia 1 by Informant?
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