Comparison

ChessFirst vs Chess Visualization

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

Head to head
About

ChessFirst

Features
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ChessFirst helps to learn playing chess

About

Chess Visualization

Enhance your chess calculation and visualization skills with over 1.1 million offline puzzles. Train to see moves ahead, master tactics, and improve your endgame play. Learn from mistakes and track progress with a unique reward system.

Highlights
  • Visualize up to 25 moves ahead
  • Over 1.1 million offline puzzles
  • Rating ladder for skill progression
  • Tactical themes and mating patterns
  • Endgame practice against engine
  • Mistake review and training
  • Progress tracking with badges
Read full description

Chess Visualization is a complete training gym for the skill that decides many games: seeing the position before it appears on the board. THE BLUNDER CURE Many games are not lost to brilliance. They are lost to a piece left hanging. How can you blunder a piece next move when you have trained yourself to see many moves past it? Blunders are failures of sight, not knowledge — build the habit of looking further than your opponent and they quietly disappear from your games. SEE FURTHER THAN YOUR OPPONENT Visualize from 2 moves ahead up to 25, with audio read-back of every move so you can train your calculation with your eyes off the board. OVER 1.1 MILLION PUZZLES, ALWAYS OFFLINE The entire puzzle library lives on your device. Train at 35,000 feet, on the beach, or anywhere without a signal. FIND YOUR LEVEL AND CLIMB Rating ladder groups serve up random puzzles sorted into 200-point Elo bins, from under 600 all the way past 3000. Find your level, train slightly above it, master it, and move up. Difficulty also scales across five presets: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert and Titled Player. TACTICS AND MATING PATTERNS Advanced tactical themes including collinear moves, deflection, interference and many more. Plus 19 distinct checkmating patterns and mate-in-1 through mate-in-5 challenges. ENDGAME MASTERY Many pre-defined endgame categories such as "King + 3 pawns vs. King + 2 pawns" or "Rook + 2 pawns vs. Rook + 3 pawns". Optionally play them out against the built-in engine until the technique is automatic. ENGINE ANALYSIS A built-in chess engine lets you analyze any position after you solve it, so you understand not just the answer but the reason behind it. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES Every puzzle you miss is automatically collected in a dedicated group for review and repeated training, so weaknesses become strengths. STAY MOTIVATED A unique badge reward system tracks your progress and keeps you coming back to train. MAKE IT YOURS Customize your home view and pin only the puzzle sets you care about for instant access to your favorites. Download Chess Visualization and start calculating like a stronger player. Chess Visualization is free to use, with 10 puzzles to solve every day, indefinitely. An optional Premium subscription removes the daily limit. Privacy Policy: https://rfbroadband.github.io/Chess-Visualization-Legal/PrivacyPolicy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

ChessFirst4 screens
Chess Visualization4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ChessFirst at none against Chess Visualization's 5. ChessFirst also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). Chess Visualization's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs monthly). On price 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. Chess Visualization sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. ChessFirst asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ChessFirst ships an update monthly, Chess Visualization every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
ChessFirst versus Chess Visualization: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChessFirstChess Visualization
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—3 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB616 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOleg BorkinOliver Werther

In-app purchases

None

ChessFirst

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Chess Visualization

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Premium Annual$49.991 Year
One-time3
  • Ambassador AccessFree
  • Titled Player 12 Months Pass$0.29
  • Titled Player 6 Months Pass$0.29

Questions

Is ChessFirst free?
ChessFirst is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Visualization free?
Chess Visualization is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ChessFirst or Chess Visualization have ads?
Neither ChessFirst nor Chess Visualization shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ChessFirst or Chess Visualization?
ChessFirst ships an update monthly, and Chess Visualization every 2 days. Most recently, ChessFirst was updated on October 10, 2026 and Chess Visualization on October 7, 2026.

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