Comparison

Checkmate Master vs Chessferatu

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

Head to head
About

Checkmate Master

Features
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Experience the pinnacle of chess tactics! Checkmate Master is the ultimate chess companion for enthusiasts and players looking to sharpen their skills. Solve hundreds of sophisticated checkmate puzzles to improve your calculation, challenge a smart AI, and customize your game with beautiful themes. Key Features: Challenging Checkmate Puzzles: From "Mate in 2" warm-ups to complex "Mate in 6" brain teasers, test your tactical sharpness across various difficulty levels. Smart AI Opponent: Practice your strategy against a powerful chess engine. Choose to play as White or Black and refine your opening and endgame skills. Star Rating System: Solve puzzles in the optimal number of moves to earn 3 stars! Track your progress and strive for perfection in every game. Beautiful Customization: Boards: Choose from over 8 high-quality themes including Classic Wood, Modern Gray, Pink, and Brown Sand. Pieces: Select your favorite style from Classic, Midnight, Maestro, and more. User-Friendly Tools: Undo: Made a mistake? Step back and try a different line. AI Hints: Stuck on a puzzle? Let the AI guide you to the best move. Optimized Design: Enjoy a seamless experience on both iPhone and iPad with responsive layouts. The images of chess pieces and the chess board are from https://github.com/Kadagaden/chess-pieces and are used under the CC-BY-4.0 license (https://github.com/Kadagaden/chess-pieces?tab=CC-BY-4.0-1-ov-file#readme).

About

Chessferatu

Learn and practice chess openings through a gamified experience with eerie rivals and high-stakes decisions. Study, battle, and improve with focused play modes, detailed move analysis, and lifetime stats. Features a distinctive horror-inspired presentation for a unique training approach.

Highlights
  • Gamified chess learning
  • Offline capability
  • Study opening lines
  • Battle mode for openings
  • Detailed move analysis
  • Lifetime stats tracking
  • Horror-inspired presentation
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Chessferatu is chess learning gamified. Have fun while you learn chess openings and move selections all with no subscriptions and offline capability. Instead of feeling like a dry lesson or a generic engine board, Chessferatu turns practice into a world of eerie rivals and high-stakes decisions where every move counts. Study, battle, and improve through focused play modes designed to help you get stronger while keeping the experience fast, engaging, and memorable. Whether you want to sharpen your opening knowledge, test yourself against themed opponents, or simply play and review your decisions, Chessferatu is built to make improvement feel rewarding. Battle a cast of distinct chess opponents with their own visual style and progression Study opening lines in a guided mode built for repetition and learning Follow in the footsteps of Grandmasters in our unique dynamic Grandmasters mode Practice openings in battle mode to test whether you can actually apply what you studied (Over one billion human games analyzed for real offbook mistakes) Review your move quality with detailed feedback including top moves, excellent moves, great moves, good moves, inaccuracies, errors, and blunders Track your accuracy and performance after each completed game View lifetime stats to measure long-term progress Monitor streaks and push for cleaner, more consistent play Explore a wide range of openings and lines through a streamlined menu system Train in a distinctive horror-inspired presentation that gives the game its own identity Chessferatu is designed for players who want more than a plain chess board. It is for learners who want structure, for competitors who want feedback, and for chess fans who want practice to feel alive. The result is a training-focused chess app with personality, atmosphere, and real depth. If you enjoy chess improvement, opening practice, move analysis, and a darker visual style, Chessferatu offers a fresh way to train. Step into the world, face the roster, learn the lines, and see how far your game can go.

Screenshots

Checkmate Master4 screens
Chessferatu4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Checkmate Master at none against Chessferatu's 3. Checkmate Master also leads on ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Chessferatu sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Checkmate Master asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Checkmate Master ships an update fortnightly, Chessferatu every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Checkmate Master versus Chessferatu: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCheckmate MasterChessferatu
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—4 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB354 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperTB SOFT(SK)Half-Cocked Studios

In-app purchases

None

Checkmate Master

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Chessferatu

One-time3
  • Unlock All Opponents$4.99
  • Remove Ads$4.99
  • Magic Keyring$9.99

Questions

Is Checkmate Master free?
Checkmate Master is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chessferatu free?
Chessferatu is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Checkmate Master or Chessferatu have ads?
Chessferatu shows ads; Checkmate Master does not.
Which is updated more often, Checkmate Master or Chessferatu?
Checkmate Master ships an update fortnightly, and Chessferatu every 2 weeks. Most recently, Checkmate Master was updated on October 10, 2026 and Chessferatu on October 5, 2026.

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