Comparison

Play960 vs ChessBase Mobile Chess

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

Head to head
About

Play960

Generate random Chess960 positions for over-the-board play. You can view positions by number, reverse lookup using a piece keyboard, and customize the display. Easily copy FEN notation to other apps.

Highlights
  • Generate random Chess960 positions
  • View positions by number
  • Reverse lookup with piece keyboard
  • Customizable display options
  • Copy/paste FEN notation
  • Full-screen mode
Features
Read full description

This is a Chess960 (Freestyle Chess, a.k.a. Fischer Random) position generator for over-the-board (OTB) play. With this app you can: • Generate a random Chess960 position. • Show position as white, black, or FEN. • Find a Chess960 position by entering a number between 0 and 959. • Reverse Lookup: Use a piece keyboard to obtain the position number. Select each piece, or use the "1" or fast-forward button to randomize either the next square or remainder of the position. • Full Screen Mode: Show the position for both white and black in setup or board view. • Configure the display: Auto full-screen, square colors, figurines or letters, FEN castling symbols. • Copy/paste the position or FEN into another app.

About

ChessBase Mobile Chess

Access a vast chess game database, save and analyze your own games, and practice openings. This app offers advanced notation and sharing features, with a free tier and optional premium upgrades for more extensive cloud storage and search capabilities.

Highlights
  • Access 13+ million chess games
  • Save and sync personal game databases
  • Analyze games with built-in engine
  • Live opening book statistics
  • Create and practice opening repertoires
  • Advanced game notation and sharing
  • PGN file compatibility
Features
Read full description

ChessBase Mobile is the training, playing, and analysis platform for chess players who track their progress by the numbers. ChessBase Mobile is built by ChessBase, the company behind the standard desktop software used by world champions and club players alike for over 30 years. Solve tactics puzzles rated by difficulty and watch your Elo rise or fall with every attempt. No participation trophies, your rating reflects exactly where you stand. The tactics database draws from positions in real games, not synthetic exercises, so the patterns you train are the patterns you encounter at the board. Puzzle Fight puts you head-to-head against another player in a timed series of 24 tactical positions. Both players solve the same puzzles simultaneously. The one who solves more, faster, wins - and gains Elo. Structured competition, not a casual minigame. Play live games in Blitz and Rapid formats against opponents worldwide. Premove support, clean interface, no clutter. The ChessBase Online Database contains over 14 million games. Search by player, position, or opening. Review grandmaster games, study endgame structures, track opening trends - the same database used by professionals, accessible from your phone. Cloud analysis with several engines, including Fritz and Lc0. Basic cloud analysis with Fritz is free. For deeper analysis, scalable cloud servers are available, from Large to Gargantuan, paid per minute in ducats. Lc0 brings neural network evaluation for positions where classical engines struggle. The engine panel shows evaluation, depth, and principal variation. Build and maintain your opening repertoire in the cloud. 300 opening overviews with repertoire suggestions help you get started with new systems. A live opening book provides up-to-date statistics for every position. Three practice modes let you drill your variations until they stick. Annotate your games with comments, symbols, variations, arrows, and markings. Save games and analyses in cloud databases that synchronise across all your devices. Share positions and games via link, image, GIF, FEN, QR code, or PGN. Upload and download PGN files for full compatibility with desktop software. AI Kibitzer provides live commentary during games and puzzles — with personality. Chess-legend anecdotes, opinions, the occasional bad joke. Like a friend with too much chess trivia sitting next to you. Audio output included. Available in 27 languages. Customisable board colours, piece sets, and notation display. Light and dark mode across all screens, or set to follow your device preference. No ads. No energy systems. No artificial gating. Open the app, train, close the app. Free to use, all functions are available at no cost. ChessBase Premium unlocks expanded cloud storage and unlimited database search results. Free: search the online database (max 50 games displayed), up to 10 cloud databases (10 MB total), cloud clipping for up to 10 games. Premium: unlimited database search, up to 200 cloud databases (500 MB total), cloud clipping for up to 400 games. Privacy policy: https://en.chessbase.com/pages/security Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Play9604 screens
ChessBase Mobile Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Play960 at 5.0 against ChessBase Mobile Chess's 2.9. Play960 also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). ChessBase Mobile Chess's advantage is ratings volume (18 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. ChessBase Mobile Chess sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per month. Play960 asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Play960 holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ChessBase Mobile Chess has 18 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Play960 ships an update every 3 months, ChessBase Mobile Chess every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Play960 versus ChessBase Mobile Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPlay960ChessBase Mobile Chess
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better2.9 (18 ratings)
Positive reviews—40.6% of reviews
Number of ratings118 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperClaude BantaChessBase GmbH

Customer experience

Play960

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

ChessBase Mobile Chess

All ratings18 ratings
Positive44.4%
Neutral5.6%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive40.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative59.4%

In-app purchases

None

Play960

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

ChessBase Mobile Chess

Subscriptions1
  • ChessBase Premium (Monthly)$3.991 Month

Questions

Is Play960 free?
Play960 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ChessBase Mobile Chess free?
ChessBase Mobile Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Play960 or ChessBase Mobile Chess?
Play960 is rated higher. Play960 averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while ChessBase Mobile Chess averages 2.9 from 18 ratings.
Do Play960 or ChessBase Mobile Chess have ads?
Neither Play960 nor ChessBase Mobile Chess shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Play960 or ChessBase Mobile Chess?
Play960 ships an update every 3 months, and ChessBase Mobile Chess every 6 months. Most recently, Play960 was updated on October 5, 2026 and ChessBase Mobile Chess on October 18, 2026.

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