Comparison

ChessHut vs Play Chess & Master Games

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

Head to head
About

ChessHut

Features
Read full description

Chess for everyone. No account, no ads, and it works offline. PLAY THE COMPUTER Eight opponents with their own personalities, from a gentle beginner to the toughest boss. Beat one to unlock the next, and win without hints or take-backs to earn all three stars. Take-backs never run out, and you get 3 hints every game. 300 PUZZLE LEVELS Start easy and climb through 300 levels, from first checkmates to master tactics, earning up to three stars on each. A new daily puzzle every day, from over 8,000 puzzles in the Lichess open database. LEARN FROM EVERY GAME After each game, see your key mistake explained in plain words, step through it on the board and practice the idea with a puzzle. PLAY A FRIEND Two players on one device, with an optional clock from 3 to 30 minutes. MAKE IT YOURS App themes including a dark mode, board styles and piece sets. In 14 languages, on iPhone and iPad. CHESSHUT PRO: ONE PAYMENT, NO SUBSCRIPTION - Unlimited puzzles (free players get 5 a day, plus the daily puzzle) - Unlimited hints, each with the idea behind the move - Beat the Clock: solve as many puzzles as you can in three minutes - Every puzzle theme: forks, pins, sacrifices, endgames and more - Live coaching that rates every move you make - Every theme, board and piece set Your games and progress stay on your device. ChessHut collects only anonymous usage statistics, never your moves or personal details. Puzzles come from the Lichess.org open puzzle database, released into the public domain. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Play Chess & Master Games

Play chess against a customizable engine or study the games of chess legends. Features include engine analysis, an opening explorer, and offline play. Unlock unlimited access with a one-time purchase.

Highlights
  • Play against 8 skill levels of Pulsar engine
  • Study games of 20 chess masters
  • Over 800 World Championship games
  • Engine analysis and opening explorer
  • Offline play, no sign-up required
  • Searchable game lists
Features
Read full description

Play chess against the custom Pulsar engine with 8 skill levels (approximately 1200–2100). Explore the games of 20 of history's greatest chess masters during their peak years, including over 800 World Championship games. Includes engine analysis, an opening explorer, searchable game lists, and autoplay. No sign-up, no ads, and works offline. The playing program is one i've designed and tested at different levels on internet chess servers in order to come up with the ratings on the board. Users get 12 plays and can view 30 chess games for free. These are separate counters. There is a single one time in-app purchase to unlock both unlimited chess play and viewing. There are about 400 games per player on average with fully searchable lists. Just search world when viewing a player for the world championships. Chess masters included are Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik, Kapsparov, Karpov, Korchnoi, Fischer, Spassky Petrosian, Smyslov, Tal, Keres, Botvinnik, Fine, Alekhine, Capablanca, Lasker, Pillsbury, Steinitz and Morphy. Played games are logged and can also be viewed/analyzed. When reviewing master or player's games, users can override the moves and start making their own moves. The engine analysis has a move now option for users to test their moves against the engine. Back up to main line to undo. After a few moves, the opening name is given. When reviewing there is an opening explorer and engine analysis options on the board. The explorer is built from over 600k high rated, mostly over the board games. The full game's text/moves can be seen and copied to the clipboard to share with others apps when viewing Moves.

Screenshots

ChessHut4 screens
Play Chess & Master Games4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Play Chess & Master Games at 15.6 against ChessHut's 17.0. On price, update cadence, ads 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. ChessHut sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Play Chess & Master Games sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ChessHut ships an update weekly, Play Chess & Master Games every 5 days. Both last shipped on November 8, 2026.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
ChessHut versus Play Chess & Master Games: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChessHutPlay Chess & Master Games
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB59 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDharmaraju PilliMichael Adams

In-app purchases

3 purchases

ChessHut

One-time3
  • Small Tip$1.99
  • Big Tip$4.99
  • ChessHut Pro$9.99
1 purchases

Play Chess & Master Games

One-time1
  • Play-Watch-Unlimited$0.99

Questions

Is ChessHut free?
ChessHut is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Play Chess & Master Games free?
Play Chess & Master Games is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ChessHut or Play Chess & Master Games have ads?
Neither ChessHut nor Play Chess & Master Games shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ChessHut or Play Chess & Master Games?
ChessHut ships an update weekly, and Play Chess & Master Games every 5 days. Most recently, ChessHut was updated on November 8, 2026 and Play Chess & Master Games on November 8, 2026.

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