Sidius Nova vs Chess Coach
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sidius Nova
Lead your species to survival after a homeworld destruction. Collect resources, build ships, and engage in epic space battles. Choose to play as humans or an alien armada, unlocking new ships and strategies as you conquer galaxies.
- Resource collection
- Ship building
- Epic space battles
- Playable factions (humans/aliens)
- Unlockable ships
- Galactic conquest
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by Stefan Schmitt and Ben Jelter -YOUR HOMEWORLD HAS BEEN DESTROYED- Your remaining motherships are the only way to guarantee the survival of your species. Collect resources to build ships for epic space battles. "has the same 'one more turn oh god one more turn' hook that its grander siblings on the PC have" -KOTAKU Also featured on Space Sector! HOURS OF STRATEGIC DEEP SPACE GAMEPLAY Sidius Nova is a strategy game designed from the ground up to provide a deep and satisfying experience on your iOS device. PICK A SIDE Play as the last humans alive or an alien armada. UNLOCKABLE SHIPS Earn new ships as you play! Conquer entire galaxies and expand your fleet by researching new units. New units dramatically expand the gameplay by offering new defensive and offensive strategies. Follow @sidiusnova on twitter to find out more and give us feedback!
Chess Coach
Enhance your chess skills with instant move analysis and clear explanations. Learn tactics, openings, and endgames through structured lessons and practice with unlimited puzzles. Play offline and review every game for improvement.
- Instant move grading
- Free hints with explanations
- Structured chess lessons
- Opening trainer
- Tactics puzzles
- Full game review
- Board scanning
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Learning chess? Start here. ChessCoach is built for players who want to actually get better — not just play. Every move you make is graded instantly by Stockfish, a real chess engine, so you know right away whether it was good, and a free hint explains why in plain English. No jargon, no guessing. LEARN, DON'T JUST PLAY New to chess or stuck at the same level? Structured lessons walk you through tactics patterns, endgame basics, and the ideas behind common openings — the "why," not just the "what." IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK ON EVERY MOVE Play a move and instantly see how it graded: brilliant, good, inaccuracy, mistake, or blunder. No more finishing a game and wondering where it went wrong — you find out the moment it happens. FREE HINTS, EVERY TURN Stuck on what to play? Get the engine's best move and a one-line explanation of why — completely free, no daily limit, no paywall. It's like having a coach look over your shoulder. PLAY OFFLINE, ANYTIME The engine, hints, move grading, puzzles, and lessons all run right on your device — no internet connection needed for any of that. Practice on a plane, on the subway, anywhere. (Board scanning and the Pro written coach do need a connection.) MASTER YOUR OPENINGS Learn opening names live as you play, then build a real repertoire with the Opening Trainer — understand the plans behind the moves you've been copying. SHARPEN YOUR TACTICS WITH PUZZLES Solve curated puzzles pulled from real games, drill checkmates, and race the clock in Puzzle Rush — free, with no daily cap. SCAN ANY BOARD, ANYWHERE Photograph a physical chessboard mid-game and pick up play instantly — no manual setup, no re-entering every piece. REVIEW EVERY GAME After each game, get a full move-by-move breakdown: your blunders, your brilliancies, and exactly where the game turned. WHY IT'S DIFFERENT Most "AI chess coach" apps are chatbots that guess at good moves. ChessCoach is built on Stockfish, a real chess engine that calculates millions of positions per second — every hint and grade comes straight from what the engine actually found, running on your device. No hallucinated analysis. FEATURES • Instant move grading, every move — free, works offline • Free best-move hints with a plain-English "why," every turn, no daily limit • Structured lessons: tactics, endgames, and opening ideas for beginners through intermediates • Opening Trainer and live opening names as you play • Puzzle Rush and curated tactics/checkmate puzzles, no daily cap • Full post-game move review with blunder detection • Photograph any physical board and play from it instantly • Adjustable engine strength — play from beginner to grandmaster level • Clean, distraction-free board with light and dark themes ChessCoach Pro adds a written coach on top of the free engine grading — unlimited chat, board scanning, and puzzle packs — for players who want to go even deeper into why they're winning or losing.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Sidius Nova at 4.4 against Chess Coach's 3.7. Sidius Nova also leads on ratings volume (49 vs 3) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.0). Chess Coach's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 months). On price, ads, 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. Sidius Nova sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Chess Coach sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Sidius Nova holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sidius Nova has 49 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Sidius Nova ships an update every 3 months, Chess Coach weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sidius Nova | Chess Coach |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (49 ratings) — better | 3.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 84.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 49 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 190 MB | 89 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Stefan Schmitt | CORDOC LLC |
Customer experience
Sidius Nova
Chess Coach
Bugs and requests
Sidius Nova
Reported bugs
5 issues- Occasional crashing
- Repeated crashing during combat
- Crashing when fighting mothership
- Game progress not syncing between devices
- App leaves residual files after uninstallation
Requested features
16 requests- Add multiplayer/hot seat/skirmish
- Add longer single player campaign
- Add more frequent dialogue
- Add meaningful player-driven plot choices
- Add 'back' button for dialogue
Show 11 moreShow fewer
- Option to skip mothership death animation
- Rework research point system
- Add bonus for multiple fleets
- Improve mothership strength/abilities
- Add iPad version/support
- Add iPhone 5 screen support
- Add Game Center support
- Add cloud saving system
- Add endless mode
- Add asynchronous multiplayer
- Add fast forward button
Chess Coach
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Sidius Nova
- Genius (RP earned x2)$0.99
- Laboratory (8,000 RP)$1.99
- Singularity (Unlock Everything)$3.99
Chess Coach
- ChessCoach Pro Weekly$3.997 Days
- ChessCoach Pro Monthly$8.001 Month
- ChessCoach Pro Annual$59.001 Year
- Review Plan$9.99







