Comparison

zenchess vs Chesswise

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

Head to head
About

zenchess

Enhance your chess skills with puzzles, visualization exercises, and tactical training. Practice blindfold chess, analyze your games, and track your progress with personalized coaching. Offers offline play and integration with online chess accounts.

Highlights
  • Blindfold puzzles and visualization
  • Tactical puzzle modes (Classic, Blink, Glyph)
  • Daily challenges with leaderboards
  • Online chess account integration
  • Targeted training games (Coordinates, Memory)
  • Opening study and analysis
  • Personalized coaching and analytics
Features
Read full description

House of all chess training. Train your mind to see the board. zenchess builds chess vision through blindfold puzzles, visualization exercises, and focused practice. PUZZLE MODES โ€ข Classic โ€“ Solve tactical puzzles from a highly curated list โ€ข Blink โ€“ See the position for a few seconds, then solve with the board hidden โ€ข Glyph โ€“ Position shown as notation only (PGN or piece list), solve without seeing the board Each mode has its own rating system. DAILY CHALLENGE One puzzle per day across all three modes. Global leaderboard and 14-day completion tracker. Streak tracking. PLATFORM INTEGRATION Link your favorite online chess account to track ratings directly inside zenchess. Monitor your blitz, rapid, and bullet ratings as they update. View recent games. Set improvement goals based on your real rating and track your progress over time. TRAINING GAMES โ€ข Coordinates โ€“ Identify squares quickly โ€ข Memory โ€“ Recall piece positions โ€ข Knight vs Queen โ€“ Endgame practice with optional blindfold mode โ€ข Colors โ€“ Square color recognition Leaderboards and statistics for each game. OPENING TRAINER Browse openings by ECO category. Filter by color. Interactive board for studying lines. COACHING Personalized training tasks based on your performance data. Identifies weaknesses and suggests what to work on. Goal tracking with progress visualization. ANALYTICS Rating history, tactical theme breakdown, activity tracking, and detailed performance insights. PROGRESSION Unlock new pieces by ranking higher, levels, achievements, and global leaderboards. ADDITIONAL FEATURES โ€ข Offline mode โ€ข No ads โ€ข Free tier with daily limits โ€ข Premium for unlimited access, coaching, and full analytics Terms of Use: https://zenchess.app/terms

About

Chesswise

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AI Chess Coach is a focused chess app for learning while you play. Play against a Stockfish-powered opponent, choose your side, adjust engine strength, and get help from an AI chess mentor when you need it. The AI mentor can explain the current position, suggest plans, and highlight immediate threats using the board state, move history, and engine recommendation. Features: - Play as White or Black - Adjustable engine difficulty - Stockfish-powered move generation - AI mentor explanations

Screenshots

zenchess4 screens
Chesswise3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chesswise at none against zenchess's 4. zenchess's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly) and device support (3 vs 1). On price and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. zenchess sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Chesswise asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

zenchess ships an update weekly, Chesswise fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences ยท 4 level
zenchess versus Chesswise: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterzenchessChesswise
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews100.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyWeekly โ€” betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
MonetizationFreemiumโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 โ€” better26.1
Further details โ€” not scored
Size125 MB93 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerata kaan bulutCuong Nguyen

In-app purchases

3 purchases

zenchess

Subscriptions3
  • Monthly Subscription$4.991 Month
  • Annual Subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription1 Year trial2 variants$29.991 Year
None

Chesswise

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is zenchess free?
zenchess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chesswise free?
Chesswise is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do zenchess or Chesswise have ads?
Neither zenchess nor Chesswise shows ads.
Which is updated more often, zenchess or Chesswise?
zenchess ships an update weekly, and Chesswise fortnightly. Most recently, zenchess was updated on October 24, 2026 and Chesswise on October 25, 2026.

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