Comparison

ChessX vs Active Chess

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

Head to head
About

ChessX

This app transforms chess into an RPG adventure, allowing you to collect heroes, uncover their stories, and learn chess through engaging gameplay. It offers live matches, daily puzzles, and boss fights for a fun learning experience.

Highlights
  • Collect and customize heroes
  • Uncover hero backstories
  • Learn chess through RPG gameplay
  • Daily puzzles and boss fights
  • Real-time online matches
  • Fast matchmaking
Features
Read full description

Never played chess? Perfect. ChessX turns chess into a colorful RPG adventure. Collect Heroes, uncover their stories, and win live matches to learn real chess as you play. Free to start – your first Hero is waiting! MEET & COLLECT HEROES • Discover a growing cast of colorful characters, each with their own personality and play style • Start with your first Hero and build a roster that's all your own – no two the same! UNCOVER STORIES • Every Hero hides a story waiting to be revealed • Play, win, and level up Heroes to unlock new skills and secrets in a role-playing world LEARN CHESS THE FUN WAY • No chess experience needed! ChessX is an adventure that teaches you real chess as you go • Sharpen your skills with daily puzzles, tournaments, and Boss Fights through many Worlds PLAY LIVE • Real-time matches with fast matchmaking • Sign in easily with Apple, Google, or Email Free to download and play. Includes optional in-app purchases and ads. Download ChessX and start your chess adventure today!

About

Active Chess

Experience a unique chess variant with randomized starting positions and modified rules for dynamic gameplay. Develop your strategic thinking and planning skills in this engaging board game.

Highlights
  • Randomized starting positions
  • Modified chess rules
  • Strategic gameplay
  • Cognitive skill development
  • Choice of board sizes
  • Play against a chess bot
Features
Read full description

Playing chess regularly develops human cognitive abilities, such as: logical thinking, attentiveness, memory, ability to analyse and plan. However, in classical chess there is one drawback that does not contribute to the interest in the game on the part of millions of potential players. For thousands of years of the existence of chess, all combinations, the so-called openings, that can appear on the chessboard at the beginning of the game, have been developed and well studied. A professional player who knows several of these openings will certainly gain an advantage over an ordinary player, even if his cognitive abilities are obviously lower. Active Chess got its name because it excludes the use of different preliminary preparations in different game situations, especially at the beginning of the game. In active chess, there is no well-known traditional arrangement of pieces, and this precludes the use of a library of openings. From the first moves of the game, an active game begins, the result of which depends on the player's cognitive abilities, his ability to think and a bit of luck. The luck factor is associated with the formation of the starting position randomly for each player. But in order not to depend on capricious luck, the player can independently form his position on the board. At the same time he does not know what position his opponent will have. This gives a special sharpness of the game. In Active Chess, almost all the rules of classical chess are followed with a few exceptions: • Rule for castling of kings is absent since a player, when creating an initial position, can place his king in that part of the board and among other pieces, where he will be in the greatest safety. • Chess pieces can be placed on the first three ranks of each side in the order that suits the player. • A special mark is applied to the image of the pawns of the first move, which disappears after the first move. • Bishops can be of the same color field or different color fields at the choice of the player. Active Chess has to a choice of two options for boards 8x8 and 8x10. In the current version of the application, only a game with a chess bot is available. The application has ads are shown after the end of the game. The winner does not see ads! You can remove all Ads and limit of preset positions by subscription. Enjoy Game! Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: http://books.virenter.com/policy.php

Screenshots

ChessX4 screens
Active Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: ChessX at weekly against Active Chess's every 39 months. On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. ChessX sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Active Chess sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 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 — 5.0 for ChessX against 5.0 for Active Chess. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ChessX ships an update weekly, Active Chess every 39 months. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
ChessX versus Active Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChessXActive Chess
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better1
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 39 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size89 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChessX, Inc.Alexey Polunin

Customer experience

ChessX

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Active Chess

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

10 purchases

ChessX

One-time10
  • 10000 coins$0.99
  • Espresso$1.99
  • 52500 coins$4.99
Show 7 more
  • Americano$9.99
  • Super Pass$14.99
  • Cappuccino$19.99
  • 230000 coins$19.99
  • Large Latte$49.99
  • 600000 coins$49.99
  • Pizza Party$99.99
3 purchases

Active Chess

Subscriptions3
  • Unlimited Positions 1 Week$0.997 Days
  • Unlimited Positions 1 Month$1.991 Month
  • Unlimited Positions 3 Month$4.993 Months

Questions

Is ChessX free?
ChessX is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Active Chess free?
Active Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ChessX or Active Chess?
ChessX and Active Chess are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 2 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do ChessX or Active Chess have ads?
Neither ChessX nor Active Chess shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ChessX or Active Chess?
ChessX ships an update weekly, and Active Chess every 39 months. Most recently, ChessX was updated on November 3, 2026 and Active Chess on November 3, 2026.

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