Comparison

Chess Prime vs Chess

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

Head to head
About

Chess Prime

This app offers a challenging chess experience for players of all levels. It features a versatile AI engine, customizable game modes, and helpful tools for beginners. Save your progress and replay games to improve your skills.

Highlights
  • One player and two player modes
  • Challenging AI with flexible difficulty
  • Start from any position
  • Save and load games
  • Show legal moves for beginners
  • Undo and redo moves
Features
Read full description

- Importance of chess - Chess is one of the ancient games in the world. Chess has become so increasingly popular that there was a time when chess was considered "Royal Game", but is now a common source of entertainment for a common man. In many parts of the world (in schools) chess has been introduced as major part of the curriculum, because chess increases the mathematical and scientific skills of the students. Chess also increases the problem solving skills, a sense of confidence, a self-worth and the communication skills. ••• Why Chess Prime? ••• Chess Prime is one of the best designed chess games for the iPad / iPhone (1,000,000+ downloads so far). It provides learning support for novice players, a real challenge for the experienced players and fun. Chess Prime supports both ‘one player’ and ‘two player’ game play, so you can play against your friends or against a challenging computer opponent. You can even start your game from different position that allows you to test your skills in different game phases, common positions, solve chess puzzles, etc. Also you can save your game and then re-load it anytime you want. If you are novice player you may take advantage of the feature that shows all legal moves for current piece. -The full list of features:- • Excellent graphics, sound effects and music • Configurable player names • Great AI engine with a flexible difficulty level that suits both novice players and experts • Versatile openings: Chess Prime AI engine plays like a human, not as a computer that always chooses the same move at the same position. It gives you opportunity to play different famous openings to gain extensive experience in chess. This feature is activated automatically in the game with high difficulty level. • SETUP game: Start the game from any desirable position with any number of pieces • UNDO function if you accidentally hit wrong piece or square. It works even if your king is checkmated. • REDO function if you missed the opponent’s move. Just press EYE button and Chess Prime will show you the last opponent’s move. • SAVE / LOAD feature gives you an opportunity to finish the game later or to play the chess puzzle which you can setup in the “Setup Game” module. • Option to show the LEGAL MOVES for current piece (very useful for novice players) • Option to ROTATE the board in ‘two player’ mode. • Option to limit ‘think time’ in ‘one player’ mode to 5, 15 or 30 seconds • Option to switch on / off sound effects and / or music • Automatically saves the current state of the game, so the game state would be automatically restored if you quit the application • Universal app (supports iPad / iPod touch / iPhone) If you love playing chess in landscape mode and in 3D, then download and try out our new Chess Prime 3D app! Enjoy!

About

Chess

Engage in classic chess matches, honing your strategy and tactics. This app offers adjustable AI difficulty, a two-player mode, and daily challenges with puzzles. Enjoy customizable boards and graphics while learning the game's intricacies.

Highlights
  • Play against AI with 10 difficulty levels
  • Two-player local multiplayer mode
  • Daily challenges and classic chess puzzles
  • Customizable boards and pieces
  • Hint and undo functions
  • Automatic save function
Read full description

Chess is an excellent board logic game that can train your strategy and tactics. The game is played on an 8×8 chessboard with two players. Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The objective is to checkmate the opponent's king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. With our game you will learn the basics and the best moves thanks to the hint option. You can also select the difficulty level suit to you. Whether you are a beginner or a chess master, you will absorb the knowledge and find the joy of playing chess. Play against the AI or with your friends and develop your skills even without the chessboard. FEATURES: - You can play with your friends! (Two player mode) - Daily Challenge and Classic Chess Puzzles! - Awesome graphics - Customized Board and Chess! - Outstanding AI engine with 10 levels of difficulty - Undo function - Daily Challenge and Classic Chess Puzzles! - Automatic Save Function

Screenshots

Chess Prime4 screens
Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Chess Prime at none against Chess's shown. Chess Prime also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 8 months) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chess Prime holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 71 and 46 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Chess Prime's written reviews are positive against 67% of Chess's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Prime ships an update every 2 weeks, Chess every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Chess Prime versus Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess PrimeChess
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (71 ratings) — better4.2 (46 ratings)
Positive reviews83.6% of reviews — better66.7% of reviews
Number of ratings71 — better46
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 8 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size44 MB74 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVinta GamesAged Studio Limited

Customer experience

Chess Prime

All ratings71 ratings
Positive85.9%
Neutral7.0%
Negative7.0%
Written reviews55 reviews
Positive83.6%
Neutral9.1%
Negative7.3%

Chess

All ratings45 ratings
Positive75.6%
Neutral11.1%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews27 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral11.1%
Negative22.2%

In-app purchases

None

Chess Prime

No in-app purchases

None

Chess

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chess Prime free?
Chess Prime is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess free?
Chess is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Chess Prime or Chess?
Chess Prime is rated higher. Chess Prime averages 4.4 out of 5 from 71 ratings, while Chess averages 4.2 from 46 ratings.
Do Chess Prime or Chess have ads?
Chess shows ads; Chess Prime does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess Prime or Chess?
Chess Prime ships an update every 2 weeks, and Chess every 8 months. Most recently, Chess Prime was updated on November 1, 2026 and Chess on November 3, 2026.

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