Comparison

Chess Tactics and Lessons vs Chess Puzzles

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

“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.

About

Chess Puzzles

Enhance your chess skills with adaptive tactical training. Solve millions of real-game puzzles to build pattern recognition and increase your rating. The system adjusts to your level, offering structured sessions for steady progress.

Highlights
  • Adaptive puzzle difficulty
  • Millions of real-game chess puzzles
  • Themed tactical training (forks, pins, etc.)
  • Engine-supported analysis
  • Rating growth and accuracy tracking
  • Structured training sessions
Features
Read full description

Turn every puzzle into progress. Train with 5M+ puzzles from real games, personalized to your level. When you make a mistake, understand why - and learn from it. That’s the idea we built this app around. Solving more puzzles is useful, but we wanted training to be about more than getting a position right or wrong. We wanted every puzzle to teach you something - about the move you missed, the pattern you didn’t recognize, or the way you calculated the position. There are more than 5 million puzzles from real games. But the number itself isn’t really the point. What matters is finding the right positions for you, at the right difficulty, and helping you learn from them. When you make a mistake, you can understand why. Use hints, explore better moves, get coaching, and look deeper into the position instead of simply moving on to the next puzzle. Over time, your training starts to reveal which tactical patterns give you the most trouble. You can practice across 64 motifs and patterns - forks, pins, sacrifices, checkmates, endgames, and many more - and spend more time on the ideas that need it. You can also see how your training develops over time: your rating, accuracy, training time, and performance across different patterns. And when you’re ready for something truly advanced, there are more than 300,000 composed chess problems from solving competitions. They’re difficult, precise, often beautiful - and solving them can be one of the most satisfying forms of chess training. We’ve also tried to make this a place you’ll actually want to come back to. Solve a few puzzles when you have five minutes. Sit down for a longer session when you feel like training seriously. Build a streak, reach a milestone, or simply keep showing up. Whether you’re new to tactics or have been playing chess for years, the goal stays the same: Learn something from every puzzle. Play better chess. And we’re here to help you along the way. Privacy Policy: https://chess.phd/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://chess.phd/terms/

Screenshots

Chess Tactics and Lessons4 screens
Chess Puzzles4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Chess Puzzles at every 4 days against Chess Tactics and Lessons's every 5 weeks. Chess Puzzles also leads on review sentiment (95% vs 85%) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). Chess Tactics and Lessons's advantage is ratings volume (5K vs 240). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Chess Tactics and Lessons sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Chess Puzzles sells 20 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Chess Tactics and Lessons against 4.8 for Chess Puzzles. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Tactics and Lessons has 5K ratings behind it against 240, 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 95% of Chess Puzzles's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Tactics and Lessons ships an update every 5 weeks, Chess Puzzles every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 21, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Chess Tactics and Lessons versus Chess Puzzles: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess Tactics and LessonsChess Puzzles
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (5K ratings)4.8 (240 ratings) — better
Positive reviews85.2% of reviews94.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5K — better240
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size114 MB112 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLockwood Productions, LLCSergei Tovmasian

Customer experience

Chess Tactics and Lessons

All ratings4,985 ratings
Positive95.2%
Neutral3.0%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews283 reviews
Positive85.2%
Neutral4.6%
Negative10.2%

Chess Puzzles

All ratings240 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral0.8%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews19 reviews
Positive94.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.3%

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

Chess Puzzles

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Chess Tactics and Lessons

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly PRO Subscription$3.991 Month
  • Annual Pro Subscription$29.991 Year
One-time5
  • Marble Chess Board$0.99
  • Orange Chess Board$0.99
  • Remove ads$0.99
Show 2 more
  • Green Chess Board$0.99
  • Enable Saved Puzzles$1.99
20 purchases

Chess Puzzles

Subscriptions20
  • Premium Weekly3 Days trial$3.997 Days
  • Chess.PhD Weekly Access3 Days trial$3.997 Days
  • Chess.PhD Premium (1 Week)$4.997 Days
Show 17 more
  • Premium Weekly3 variants$4.997 Days
  • Chess.PhD Weekly Premium3 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Chess.PhD Monthly Premium$6.991 Month
  • Chess.PhD Monthly Access$7.991 Month
  • Chess.PhD Premium (1 Month)$9.991 Month
  • Premium Monthly3 variants$9.991 Month
  • Premium Annual$29.991 Year
  • Chess.PhD Annual Access$39.991 Year
  • Chess.PhD Premium (1 Year)7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Chess.PhD Premium (1 Year)3 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Premium Annual2 variants$49.991 Year
  • Premium Annual3 Days trial2 variants$49.991 Year
  • Premium Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Premium 1 Year3 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Chess.PhD Annual Premium$49.991 Year
  • Premium Annual7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Premium Annual3 Days trial$79.991 Year

Questions

Is Chess Tactics and Lessons free?
Chess Tactics and Lessons is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chess Puzzles free?
Chess Puzzles is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess Tactics and Lessons or Chess Puzzles?
Chess Puzzles is rated higher. Chess Tactics and Lessons averages 4.8 out of 5 from 5K ratings, while Chess Puzzles averages 4.8 from 240 ratings.
Do Chess Tactics and Lessons or Chess Puzzles have ads?
Neither Chess Tactics and Lessons nor Chess Puzzles shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chess Tactics and Lessons or Chess Puzzles?
Chess Tactics and Lessons ships an update every 5 weeks, and Chess Puzzles every 4 days. Most recently, Chess Tactics and Lessons was updated on October 21, 2026 and Chess Puzzles on October 21, 2026.

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