Comparison

dotChess vs Play Chess & Master Games

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Play live games with friends
  • Challenge AI bots
  • Global matchmaking
  • Account creation and stat tracking
  • In-game chat
  • Cross-device play
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Play Chess & Master Games

Play chess against a customizable engine or study the games of chess legends. Features include engine analysis, an opening explorer, and offline play. Unlock unlimited access with a one-time purchase.

Highlights
  • Play against 8 skill levels of Pulsar engine
  • Study games of 20 chess masters
  • Over 800 World Championship games
  • Engine analysis and opening explorer
  • Offline play, no sign-up required
  • Searchable game lists
Features
Read full description

Play chess against the custom Pulsar engine with 8 skill levels (approximately 1200–2100). Explore the games of 20 of history's greatest chess masters during their peak years, including over 800 World Championship games. Includes engine analysis, an opening explorer, searchable game lists, and autoplay. No sign-up, no ads, and works offline. The playing program is one i've designed and tested at different levels on internet chess servers in order to come up with the ratings on the board. Users get 12 plays and can view 30 chess games for free. These are separate counters. There is a single one time in-app purchase to unlock both unlimited chess play and viewing. There are about 400 games per player on average with fully searchable lists. Just search world when viewing a player for the world championships. Chess masters included are Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik, Kapsparov, Karpov, Korchnoi, Fischer, Spassky Petrosian, Smyslov, Tal, Keres, Botvinnik, Fine, Alekhine, Capablanca, Lasker, Pillsbury, Steinitz and Morphy. Played games are logged and can also be viewed/analyzed. When reviewing master or player's games, users can override the moves and start making their own moves. The engine analysis has a move now option for users to test their moves against the engine. Back up to main line to undo. After a few moves, the opening name is given. When reviewing there is an opening explorer and engine analysis options on the board. The explorer is built from over 600k high rated, mostly over the board games. The full game's text/moves can be seen and copied to the clipboard to share with others apps when viewing Moves.

Screenshots

dotChess4 screens
Play Chess & Master Games4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: dotChess at 5.0 against Play Chess & Master Games's 4.0. dotChess also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, ratings volume, update cadence 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Play Chess & Master Games sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. dotChess asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

dotChess holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on June 5, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
dotChess versus Play Chess & Master Games: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterdotChessPlay Chess & Master Games
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings2 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.1 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size193 MB59 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperThomas BaricMichael Adams

Customer experience

dotChess

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Play Chess & Master Games

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

dotChess

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Play Chess & Master Games

One-time1
  • Play-Watch-Unlimited$3.99

Questions

Is dotChess free?
dotChess is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Play Chess & Master Games free?
Play Chess & Master Games is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, dotChess or Play Chess & Master Games?
dotChess is rated higher. dotChess averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Play Chess & Master Games averages 4.0 from 1 ratings.
Do dotChess or Play Chess & Master Games have ads?
Neither dotChess nor Play Chess & Master Games shows ads.
Which is updated more often, dotChess or Play Chess & Master Games?
dotChess ships an update every 5 days, and Play Chess & Master Games every 5 days. Most recently, dotChess was updated on June 5, 2026 and Play Chess & Master Games on September 9, 2026.

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