Learn with Forward Chess vs Gutenberg Reader + Many Books
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Learn with Forward Chess
This app is an interactive reader for chess books, allowing users to play through chess lines directly within the book. It offers a vast in-app store with over 100 chess eBooks and a growing collection of opening theory periodicals via subscription.
- Interactive chess book reader
- Play through chess lines
- In-app chess eBook store
- Subscription for opening theory
- Tactics training
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Forward Chess is an Interactive reader of chess books. Play through the lines in the book, or try your own, it's like having a chess board and a chess book in the palm of your hand. Forward Chess includes the ability to purchase over 100 chess eBooks through our In-App Store. Check it out. Our collection is growing weekly! Forward Chess also contains the following subscription options - ChessPublishing's monthly periodical for the latest in opening theory - We offer a choice of 4 different auto-renewing subscriptions - 1 Section for 1 Year @ $19.99 USD - 3 Sections for 1 Year @ $39.99 USD - 6 Sections for 1 Year @ $69.99 USD - 12 Sections for 1 Year @ $99.99 USD - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase - No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period - Links to Your Privacy Policy and Terms of Use - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication. Forward Chess takes your privacy seriously See our privacy policy here: https://forwardchess.com/privacy-policy and term of use here: https://forwardchess.com/terms-of-service
Gutenberg Reader + Many Books
Access over 100,000 free public domain eBooks from Project Gutenberg. Enjoy a customizable reading experience with features like text-to-speech, auto-scrolling, and note-taking. Download books for offline reading on any device.
- Unlimited eBook downloads
- Customizable reading experience
- Text-to-Speech (TTS) mode
- Auto-scrolling mode
- Bookmark, highlight, and notes
- Offline reading
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Gutenberg Reader – The Ultimate Free eBook & Classic Book Reader Discover 100,000+ Free eBooks with Project Gutenberg If you love books, novels, and classic literature, this is the perfect eBook reader for you! With Gutenberg Reader, you can access over 100,000 free eBooks from Project Gutenberg, including timeless classics, historical texts, philosophy, poetry, and more. Enjoy reading legendary works from Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Victor Hugo, Emily Brontë, and many others—all legally available in the public domain. What is Project Gutenberg? Project Gutenberg is the largest digital library of free public domain eBooks, offering a vast collection of literature, philosophy, history, and poetry—completely free and legally accessible. Whether you're interested in classic novels, educational texts, famous speeches, or timeless stories, you'll find endless reading material at your fingertips. Top Features of Gutenberg Reader ・ Unlimited eBook Downloads – Download books for offline reading anytime. ・ Customizable Reading Experience – Adjust fonts, themes, colors, margins, and more. ・ AUDIO: Text-to-Speech (TTS) Mode – Listen to your favorite books while reading along. ・ Auto-Scrolling Mode – Hands-free reading without flipping pages. ・ Full-Screen Mode – Distraction-free reading with an immersive experience. ・ Bookmark, Highlight & Notes – Save quotes, mark passages, and take notes. ・ Big & Bold Fonts – Ideal for easy readability and accessibility. ・ Smart Resume Feature – Pick up reading right where you left off. ・ Optimized for All Devices – Works smoothly on both phones and tablets. Popular Free Books Available in Gutenberg Reader Discover a vast collection of classic literature, novels, and timeless books, including: ・ Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen ・ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll ・ The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain ・ A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens ・ The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People – Oscar Wilde ・ The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman ・ Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ・ Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain ・ A Doll's House – Henrik Ibsen ・ Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka ・ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle ・ Moby-Dick – Herman Melville ・ Dracula – Bram Stoker ・ Grimms' Fairy Tales – Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm ・ The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde ・ Great Expectations – Charles Dickens ・ Ulysses – James Joyce ・ Emma – Jane Austen ・ Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad ・ Jane Eyre: An Autobiography – Charlotte Brontë ・ The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas ・ Siddhartha – Hermann Hesse ・ Dubliners – James Joyce ・ Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson ・ Les Misérables – Victor Hugo ・ Leviathan – Thomas Hobbes ・ Peter Pan – J.M. Barrie ・ Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen ・ The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoyevsky ・ Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman ・ The Souls of Black Folk – W.E.B. Du Bois ・ Beyond Good and Evil – Friedrich Nietzsche ・ Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë ・ A Study in Scarlet – Arthur Conan Doyle ・ Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky …and thousands more free eBooks! Why Choose Gutenberg Reader? With Gutenberg Reader, you can carry a massive digital library of classic books, novels, and free eBooks wherever you go. Whether you love fiction, history, philosophy, poetry, or educational texts, this app gives you unlimited access to some of the greatest literary works of all time—without ads and completely free! Start Reading Today! Download Gutenberg Reader now and explore the world’s greatest free eBook library. Whether you're a book lover, student, researcher, or casual reader, this app is your gateway to endless knowledge and literary adventures—all from the palm of your hand. Happy Reading!
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Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Learn with Forward Chess at 4.8 against Gutenberg Reader + Many Books's 3.6. Learn with Forward Chess also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (75% vs 45%). Gutenberg Reader + Many Books's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 71). On price, ratings volume, update cadence 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. Learn with Forward Chess sells 69 one-off in-app purchases. Gutenberg Reader + Many Books asks for nothing beyond the download.
Learn with Forward Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 334 and 116 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of Learn with Forward Chess's written reviews are positive against 45% of Gutenberg Reader + Many Books's.
Learn with Forward Chess ships an update fortnightly, Gutenberg Reader + Many Books every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Learn with Forward Chess | Gutenberg Reader + Many Books |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (334 ratings) — better | 3.6 (116 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 74.8% of reviews — better | 44.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 334 — better | 116 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 188 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Forward Chess, LLC | Haven Tran |
Customer experience
Learn with Forward Chess
Gutenberg Reader + Many Books
Bugs and requests
Learn with Forward Chess
Reported bugs
5 issues- Login issues when changing devices
- Books not properly filing into libraries
- App crashing when trying to add books to libraries
- Losing current position when switching between full screen and normal view
- Inconsistent behavior when navigating through a book
Requested features
7 requests- Allow users to upload their own book PDFs
- Implement spaced repetition learning program within books
- Improve search and filtering options in the book store
- Add more language support beyond English books
- Provide better syncing of purchases across devices
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- Improve text formatting and readability
- Implement highlighting, bookmarking, and note-taking features
Gutenberg Reader + Many Books
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Learn with Forward Chess
- True Lies in ChessFree
- Simple Attacking Plans$9.99
- Simple Chess$10.99
Show 66 moreShow fewer
- The Power of Pawns$12.99
- My System: FastTrack Edition$12.99
- Play the Mackenzie!$12.99
- 1001 Ways to Checkmate$12.99
- My System$13.99
- The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book$14.99
- Openings for Amateurs$14.99
- Modern Chess Strategy$14.99
- Techniques of Positional Play: 45 Practical Methods$15.99
- American Dream$16.99
- Zurich Chess Tournament, 1953$16.99
- Chess Endgame Calculation 1$16.99
- Chess Strategy for Club Players$16.99
- 100 Endgames You Must Know$17.99
- Capablanca the Great Minimalist 1$17.99
- Attacking Chess for Club Players$17.99
- Openings for Amateurs - Vol. 3$17.99
- Capablancas Best Chess Endings$17.99
- The Most Instructive Games$17.99
- Improve Your Chess Pattern Recognition$17.99
- Steps to Giant Improvement$19.99
- Perpetual Chess Improvement$19.99
- Playing 1.e4 e5 - A Classical Repertoire$19.99
- Amateur to IM$19.99
- The Complete Manual of Positional Chess$19.99
- Chess Tactics from Scratch$19.99
- COR: The London System$19.99
- Attacking the English/Reti$19.99
- COR: Accelerated Dragon$19.99
- Mastering Chess Exchanges$19.99
- Study on Your Own Workbook 3$19.99
- OR: Strategic Play with 1 e4$19.99
- Playing 1.d4 d5$19.99
- Reimagining 1.e4$19.99
- Beating the QG – Indian Style!$19.99
- Endgame Studies You Must Know$19.99
- Pawn Endgames$19.99
- 100 Tactical Patterns$19.99
- 100 Tactical Patterns Workbook$19.99
- Drill Your Chess Strategy!$19.99
- Thinking Inside the Box - Grandmaster Preparation$19.99
- Chess Imbalances - a GM Guide$21.99
- The Modernized Colle-Zukertort$21.99
- Ding Liren's Best Games$22.99
- Winning Chess Middlegames 2$22.99
- Dream Moves$22.99
- Rock Solid Chess: Volume 3$22.99
- Positional Decision Making in Chess$23.99
- Pump Up Your Rating$23.99
- Chess Structures - A Grandmaster Guide$23.99
- The Woodpecker Method$23.99
- Mastering Chess Defence$23.99
- Associative Thinking$23.99
- The Philosopher&the Housewife$23.99
- The Real Paul Morphy$23.99
- 50 Mistakes You Should Know$23.99
- The Woodpecker Method 2$23.99
- Chess Informant 158$24.99
- A Killer Guide to Attacking Chess$25.99
- School of Future Champions 1$25.99
- Chess Informant 161$26.99
- Vasily Smyslov: Volume II$27.99
- Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual$27.99
- Akiba Rubinstein (UCC Series)$29.99
- Pushing Horizons$29.99
- OR for Black after 1...e6$29.99
Gutenberg Reader + Many Books
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Learn with Forward Chess free?
Is Gutenberg Reader + Many Books free?
Which has better reviews, Learn with Forward Chess or Gutenberg Reader + Many Books?
Do Learn with Forward Chess or Gutenberg Reader + Many Books have ads?
Which is updated more often, Learn with Forward Chess or Gutenberg Reader + Many Books?
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