dotChess vs Gambit
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
dotChess
Engage in classic chess matches with friends, AI opponents, or players globally. This modern application allows you to track your statistics, communicate during games, and resume play across multiple devices.
- Play live games with friends
- Challenge AI bots
- Global matchmaking
- Account creation and stat tracking
- In-game chat
- Cross-device play
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dotChess is a modern chess app built for playing with real people. Play live games with friends, challenge AI bots, or get matched with players worldwide. Create an account, track your stats, chat during games, and pick up where you left off on any device.
Gambit
Explore classic chess and five unique variants on a single board. Play against AI with adjustable difficulty, with friends offline, or online against others. Features include post-game analysis and a library of famous games.
- Classic Chess
- Five Chess Variants
- Computer AI Play
- Pass-and-Play Mode
- Online Multiplayer
- Post-Game Analysis
- Famous Game Library
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Gambit is chess — and five chess worlds beyond it. One clean board, every way to play. GAME TYPES • Classic Chess — full rules: castling, en passant, promotion, draws. • Fischer Random (Chess960) — randomized back rank with generalized castling. • Open Borders (Horde) — 36 pawns storm a full army. • Turnabout (Crazyhouse) — capture a piece, then drop it back as your own. • Siamese (Bughouse) — two boards, captured pieces feed your partner. • Star Trek Tri-D — three-dimensional chess across seven boards. WAYS TO PLAY • Computer — five difficulty levels, from a gentle start to a real fight. Moves are instant. • Pass-and-play — two players on one device. • Online — invite a friend with a link, or find a match automatically. Live clocks, resign and draw offers, and you can watch other live games. MORE • Eight board themes. • Post-game analysis — an evaluation graph and move-quality marks. • A library of famous games to replay. • Optional cross-device game history with "Sign in with Knomee." No account is required to play. Sign in only if you want your game history synced across devices.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: dotChess at every 5 days against Gambit's every 2 months. dotChess also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for dotChess against 5.0 for Gambit. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.
dotChess ships an update every 5 days, Gambit every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | dotChess | Gambit |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 193 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Thomas Baric | Joseph Malone |
Customer experience
dotChess
Gambit
In-app purchases
dotChess
No in-app purchases
Gambit
No in-app purchases
