Comparison

MindChess vs Hardcore Blindfold Chess

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

Head to head
About

MindChess

This app offers daily chess training designed to enhance mental visualization and blindfold play. It features mini-games that improve calculation, memory, and concentration, inspired by grandmaster training methods. Practice exercises focus on board elements without needing a physical board.

Highlights
  • Mental visualization training
  • Blindfold chess practice
  • Calculation and memory improvement
  • Concentration exercises
  • Mini-games inspired by grandmasters
  • Progress tracking
Features
Read full description

MindChess is a daily chess gym and a study companion. Train board vision, memory and calculation in 60-second sessions, sharpen your tactics, play bots, and take what you learn to your own games. THE GYM • Thirteen short drills: Square Color, Coordinates, Same Color, Same Diagonal, Bishop Captures, Two Knights, Collision, Memory, Mate in 1, Fork Finder, Piece Snapshot, Knight Distance and Opening Flash. • Timed mode (60 seconds, Game Center leaderboards) and Training mode (3 lives). • A daily challenge and a daily streak, with streak freezes and an optional reminder. • 39 achievements: badges at 10, 50 and 100 games of every drill, also in Game Center. TACTICS • Themed puzzles in four modes: Rated, with your own tactics rating; Practice, with free hints; Streak, until your first miss; and Time trial, 3 or 5 minutes with 3 lives. • Pick one of 24 themes or Mix, and review the puzzles you miss. PLAY BOTS • Nine characters with their own style, from beginner to advanced, plus Stockfish at the strength you choose. • Download the free Maia-2 model and some bots play like people at their level. Everything runs on your device. YOUR GAMES • Connect your Lichess or Chess.com account and import your games. • Game databases, PGN import and a viewer with variations, notes and marks. • Analysis: Stockfish 19 on your device, offline, with an evaluation bar and the top 3 lines. With Pro, the game report marks your mistakes, the key moments and your brilliant moves. OPENINGS • Repertoire: play through your lines and the app brings each one back right before you'd forget it. • Learn mode walks you through every new line, with its comments and arrows, before the first question. • Opening explorer: what Masters, Lichess players and you have played from any position, with a linked Lichess account. Save the moves to your repertoire. PROGRESS AND TOOLS • Statistics that tell you what to improve in your training, repertoire and games. • Widgets for your Home Screen and Lock Screen: daily challenge, reviews, streak, personal bests and shortcuts. • Diagram scanner: snap a diagram and get the position ready to edit. Free. • Chess clock: increments, stages and time odds, for games with your phone on the table. • Notation your way: English, Spanish or figurines. The same board, with your look, across the app. ON EVERY SCREEN MindChess works on iPhone, iPad, iPhone Duo and Mac. MINDCHESS PRO Pro unlocks every drill, tactics and bots with no daily limit, Stockfish analysis and the game report, unlimited repertoires, lines and imports, lines from your own games, full statistics, unlimited game databases and clock controls, and 11 Pro piece sets. Free stays useful: the basic drills, 15 tactics puzzles a day, a daily game against the beginner bots, game import, the opening explorer, the scanner and the PGN viewer. MindChess is not an online chess server. It is the place where you train between your games. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Hardcore Blindfold Chess

Features
Read full description

Blindfold Chess hides the board and asks you to keep the position in your head. Tap the empty board, type your move or just say it, and hear the computer's reply read out loud. PLAY YOUR WAY • Three modes: Peek (hold the board for a moment, every peek counted), Hidden (no board, the move list helps) and Pure (no board, no move list). • Five opponents from Casual to Master, with a time limit and openings to start from if you want them. • Hands-free: it listens again by itself after each reply. Say "repeat", "take back" or "where is my knight?" • Takebacks, illegal moves and board questions are counted next to peeks, so a clean win means a clean win. TRAIN YOUR VISUALISATION • Blindfold puzzles: mate in 1, 2 or 3, plus a new puzzle every day. • Square colours, knight and bishop routes, and remember-the-position drills. • Famous games played move by move, with no board, and questions along the way. SEE YOURSELF IMPROVE • A blindfold rating, badges and a daily streak. • Step through any finished game and see the moments you lost track. • Open a game in Lichess for engine analysis, or export every game as PGN. • Share a picture of your result. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account, no ads, no tracking. Your games stay on your device. Voice input uses your phone's built-in speech recognition. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

MindChess4 screens
Hardcore Blindfold Chess3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Hardcore Blindfold Chess at every 10 days against MindChess's every 3 weeks. Hardcore Blindfold Chess also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. MindChess sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Hardcore Blindfold Chess sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MindChess ships an update every 3 weeks, Hardcore Blindfold Chess every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
MindChess versus Hardcore Blindfold Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMindChessHardcore Blindfold Chess
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size150 MB58 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developeromar megdadiClick Boreal Unipessoal LDA

In-app purchases

2 purchases

MindChess

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly subscription$0.991 Month
  • Yearly subscription$9.991 Year
3 purchases

Hardcore Blindfold Chess

Subscriptions2
  • Hardcore Chess Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Hardcore Chess Pro7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Hardcore Chess Pro$59.99

Questions

Is MindChess free?
MindChess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hardcore Blindfold Chess free?
Hardcore Blindfold Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do MindChess or Hardcore Blindfold Chess have ads?
Neither MindChess nor Hardcore Blindfold Chess shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MindChess or Hardcore Blindfold Chess?
MindChess ships an update every 3 weeks, and Hardcore Blindfold Chess every 10 days. Most recently, MindChess was updated on November 5, 2026 and Hardcore Blindfold Chess on October 31, 2026.

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