ChessBase Mobile Chess vs ChessIconic
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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/
ChessIconic
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Master chess faster: analyze your games, study iconic matches, and train tactics. ChessIconic gives players of every level free game analysis, hundreds of puzzles and tactics, plus a curated library of commented master games so you learn why moves work, not just what to play. Study the greats by era, each collection teaches a different part of chess thinking: • Romantic era: Daring tactics, bold sacrifices, and attacking principles. Learn the spirit of decisive, creative play. • Classical era: Sound development, central control, and technique. Perfect for understanding strategic foundations. • Soviet era: Deep preparation, systemic thinking, and endgame mastery. Focuses on structure, planning, and precision. • Modern era: Practical opening systems, engine-influenced ideas, and prophylaxis. See how modern theory and psychology shape practice. Each game is commented to highlight key moments, plans, and mistakes so you can learn patterns and apply them to your own games. • Free game analysis to review mistakes and improve decision-making • 30+ commented master games • 300+ puzzles and 400+ tactics for daily training • Learn from your mistakes: puzzle generated from your games • Opening explorer, coordinate trainer, and chess timer • Learn chess endgames: essential checkmate patterns every player must know • Analyze your chess games with the latest version of stockfish Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned player, ChessIconic explains why moves succeed so you can improve faster. Upgrade to ChessIconic PRO to remove ads, unlock every iconic game, and the full puzzle & tactics library. Terms & Conditions https://chessiconic.com/terms.html Privacy https://chessiconic.com/privacy.html
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Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ChessIconic at 5.0 against ChessBase Mobile Chess's 2.9. ChessIconic also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 6 months). ChessBase Mobile Chess's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (18 vs 1). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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. ChessBase Mobile Chess sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per month and ChessIconic sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $20.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
ChessIconic 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.
ChessBase Mobile Chess ships an update every 6 months, ChessIconic every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ChessBase Mobile Chess | ChessIconic |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.9 (18 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 40.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 18 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 72 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ChessBase GmbH | Menes Buccino |
In-app purchases
ChessBase Mobile Chess
- ChessBase Premium (Monthly)$3.991 Month
ChessIconic
- Unlock all the features$20.991 Year
Questions
Is ChessBase Mobile Chess free?
Is ChessIconic free?
Which has better reviews, ChessBase Mobile Chess or ChessIconic?
Do ChessBase Mobile Chess or ChessIconic have ads?
Which is updated more often, ChessBase Mobile Chess or ChessIconic?
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