Comparison

Chess Opening Tactics Trainer vs Checkmate Academy

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

Head to head
About

Chess Opening Tactics Trainer

Features
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A chess opening trainer that helps you learn your openings and remember them. Build a repertoire, train it with spaced-repetition reviews, and sharpen it with 80,000+ puzzles taken from real games - with a strong chess engine built in. Whether you open 1.e4, 1.d4 or something less common, there is a line to learn and a puzzle from your opening waiting for you. YOUR REPERTOIRE, REMEMBERED Add the lines you play as White and Black, learn them move by move, then recall them from memory. Reviews come back just before you would forget, so your lines stay sharp without hours of study. Each move comes with the idea behind it. A PLAN FOR EVERY DAY Three short steps a day โ€” review your lines, meet a new opening, solve puzzles โ€” in about 10โ€“15 minutes. Keep your streak and level up as you go. 80,000+ OPENING PUZZLES Positions from real games and classic opening traps, sorted by opening: Sicilian, Queen's Gambit, Italian Game, French, Caro-Kann, Ruy Lopez, London System, King's Indian, Slav, Nimzo-Indian, English, Scotch, Vienna, King's Gambit and many more. Puzzles adapt to your rating, from beginner to 2200+. OPENING EXPLORER Browse 12,000+ named openings and variations. See the main replies, how often each move is played, and add any line to your repertoire with one tap. SCOUT YOUR OPPONENT Preparing for a tournament game? Import an opponent's games from Lichess or Chess.com, see the openings they play and where they go wrong, and drill a plan against them. PLAY THE ENGINE Play Altair, our own neural-network chess engine, on 8 levels from about 800 to 2350 Elo, with or without a clock, plus Chess960. Test your repertoire in a real game, then review it move by move. ANALYSIS Analyse any position or game with the built-in engine: best lines, evaluation and the move you should have played. PUZZLE SMASH Solve as many puzzles as you can in 3 or 5 minutes, or survive with 3 lives. HINTS THAT TEACH Stuck? A hint points you in the right direction without giving the move away. WORKS OFFLINE Puzzles, your repertoire and the engine run on your phone - train on a train, on a plane, anywhere. MAKE IT YOURS Board themes, piece sets and app themes, light or dark. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS Rating, accuracy by opening, solved puzzles and your weakest lines - see what to train next. Available in English and Polish. Free to use with ads; some features have a daily limit. Premium removes the ads and the limits. Privacy Policy: https://dawikk-apps.vercel.app/ChessOpenings/privacyPolicy.html Terms of Use: https://dawikk-apps.vercel.app/ChessOpenings/termsOfUse.html

About

Checkmate Academy

Features
Read full description

Checkmate Academy is your personal chess tutor โ€” learn chess from absolute zero to confident player with structured, interactive lessons. LEARN AT YOUR PACE - 20 guided lessons across 5 levels, from how pieces move to advanced tactics - 72 interactive challenges that test your understanding on a real board - Progressive difficulty that adapts to your skill level SHARPEN YOUR TACTICS - Tactical puzzles to build pattern recognition - Opening drills covering 20 popular openings - Endgame training with 10 essential positions PLAY & IMPROVE - Play against AI at multiple difficulty levels - Study famous master games move by move - Board builder to set up and analyze any position AI COACH (iOS 26+) - Get personalized move explanations powered by Apple Intelligence - On-device AI analysis โ€” private and fast, no internet required Built for chess lovers of all levels. No account needed. No ads. Just chess.

Screenshots

Chess Opening Tactics Trainer4 screens
Checkmate Academy3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Checkmate Academy at none against Chess Opening Tactics Trainer's 7. Checkmate Academy also leads on ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, device support and iOS requirement 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. Chess Opening Tactics Trainer sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Checkmate Academy asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Chess Opening Tactics Trainer versus Checkmate Academy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess Opening Tactics TrainerCheckmate Academy
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsYesNo โ€” better
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad โ€” better
Requires iOS16.4 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size146 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDawid WrzesinskiAnupam Chugh

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Chess Opening Tactics Trainer

Subscriptions4
  • Espresso Subscription$2.991 Month
  • Flat White Subscription$5.993 Months
  • Latte Subscription$7.996 Months
Show 1 more
  • Super Large Subscription$12.991 Year
One-time3
  • Espresso$3.99
  • Flat White$6.99
  • Latte$9.99
None

Checkmate Academy

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chess Opening Tactics Trainer free?
Chess Opening Tactics Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Checkmate Academy free?
Checkmate Academy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Chess Opening Tactics Trainer or Checkmate Academy have ads?
Chess Opening Tactics Trainer shows ads; Checkmate Academy does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess Opening Tactics Trainer or Checkmate Academy?
Chess Opening Tactics Trainer ships an update every 2 months, and Checkmate Academy every 2 months. Most recently, Chess Opening Tactics Trainer was updated on October 24, 2026 and Checkmate Academy on October 25, 2026.

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