Comparison

PatternForge vs ChessClues

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

Head to head
About

PatternForge

This app uses spaced repetition to help you master chess tactics. Solve puzzles adapted to your skill level, review them on a schedule, and import your own games to turn mistakes into training opportunities. Create custom puzzle sets to focus on specific patterns and improve your game.

Highlights
  • Spaced repetition training
  • Adaptive puzzle difficulty
  • Game import from Chess.com/Lichess
  • Custom puzzle sets
  • Theme-based training
  • Progress tracking
Read full description

PatternForge is a chess tactics trainer built around spaced repetition — so patterns actually stick instead of fading after one session. HOW IT WORKS 1. Train — Solve puzzles adapted to your level. Missed puzzles come back until you learn them. 2. Review — Patterns repeat on a schedule so you build automatic recognition. 3. Import — Pull your games from Chess.com or Lichess and turn your real mistakes into training. 4. Build — Create custom puzzle sets from PGNs, studies, or the full puzzle pool. FEATURES · Spaced repetition training · Adaptive puzzle difficulty (Glicko rating) · Game import from Chess.com and Lichess · Custom puzzle sets from PGNs and studies · Woodpecker method cycling · Theme-based training (forks, pins, skewers, and more) · Progress tracking and stats · Lichess puzzle database TRAINING MODES · Standard — Daily training with new and review puzzles · Woodpecker — Cycle through a set with increasing speed Stop grinding random puzzles. Start building real pattern recognition. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://patternforge.app/privacy

About

ChessClues

Features
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Every opening has its own tactics. In the Italian, royal forks turn up four times more often than in chess as a whole. In the Caro-Kann, it is Boden's mate. ChessClues shows you the tactics, patterns and mates that happen in the openings you play, and teaches you how to win with them. Tactics trainers teach patterns in isolation. Opening trainers teach moves. ChessClues connects the two: pick your openings, and see which patterns turn up in them more often than in chess as a whole, ranked from real club games. SEE THE TACTICS IN EVERY OPENING • The Pattern Atlas for each opening: its signature tactics, ranked by how often they appear there. • Each pattern explained in plain words: what to look for, and why it works. • The typical pawn structures of the opening, with a plan for each. • The main named lines, and the traps club players fall into, move by move. LEARN TO WIN IN YOUR OPENING • A learning path for each opening: a pattern tour, its traps, its top tactics from easiest to hardest, then a final test. • 36 interactive courses, 216 short lessons where you play the moves: one course per opening, plus checkmates, tactics by name, finishing the game, and pawn and rook endgames. • Your teacher, Finn or Nia, talks you through every lesson. THE MATES THAT HAPPEN IN YOUR OPENING Smothered mate, back-rank mate, Légal's mate, Boden's mate and dozens more, each shown in the openings where it really happens. PRACTISE ON REAL POSITIONS More than 140,000 puzzles from real games in your openings, at three levels: • Spot: one move wins it. • Set-up: one forcing move first, then the payoff. • Deep: three moves and beyond. Spaced review brings back the patterns you are still missing. Recognise trains your eye: ten real positions, five seconds each. 13 OPENINGS As White: Italian, Ruy Lopez, Scotch, Vienna, Bishop's Opening, Four Knights, Queen's Pawn Game (London setup). As Black: Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, Scandinavian, Philidor, Queen's Gambit Declined. EVERY DAY • A daily drill of 5 puzzles from your openings. Free. • Trap of the day and pattern of the day. • A blind-spot grid: your openings against their top patterns, by mastery. • Across your openings: the patterns they share, to learn first. • Search a pattern by name (smothered mate, royal fork) and see which openings produce it. • Tactics tree and Endgame Atlas: the same patterns under their textbook names, and the endgames each opening tends to reach. MADE FOR 800–1600 PLAYERS Choose your openings and rating; change them any time in Settings. OFFLINE, NO ACCOUNT Everything ships inside the app and works offline. No sign-in, no ads, no analytics. Progress stays on your device. The app goes online only for purchases. Two-pane layout on iPad and Mac. FREE AND ALL ACCESS Free, the same for everyone: the daily drill; 100 Spot and Set-up puzzles in every opening; 10 in every pattern and mate; the top three patterns of every opening in the Atlas; five traps in every opening; the first two lessons of every course. All Access opens every level including Deep, every trap, all 216 lessons, the full Atlas, and everything added while you have access. Choose a yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime unlock; the store shows the price before you buy. Restore purchases and manage your subscription in Settings. All Access yearly renews automatically at the end of each year unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends; payment is charged to your Apple ID and you can manage or cancel it in Account Settings. Terms of Use: https://happyheadsapps.netlify.app/chessclues/terms. Privacy Policy: https://happyheadsapps.netlify.app/chessclues/privacy.

Screenshots

PatternForge4 screens
ChessClues4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: ChessClues at 3 against PatternForge's 1. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. PatternForge sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and ChessClues sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
PatternForge versus ChessClues: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPatternForgeChessClues
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.415.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size58 MB58 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZYAGA LLCSantosh Hegde

In-app purchases

2 purchases

PatternForge

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly$29.991 Year
2 purchases

ChessClues

Subscriptions1
  • All Access — 1 Year$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • All Access — Lifetime$24.99

Questions

Is PatternForge free?
PatternForge is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ChessClues free?
ChessClues is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do PatternForge or ChessClues have ads?
Neither PatternForge nor ChessClues shows ads.

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