Chess vs Circular Chess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chess
Learn chess openings and endgames through a unique four-stage process: follow, understand, practice, and challenge. Master tactics with over 240 puzzles and play against four AI opponents. Core features are available offline.
- Four-stage learning flow
- Opening and endgame courses
- Tactics puzzle training
- Four AI opponents
- Progress and ELO tracking
- Offline core features
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One move at a time. Chess gets clearer. Chess Master breaks every opening and endgame into four learning stages — Follow, Understand, Practice, and Challenge — so you meet each line four times in a row and the moves start to feel inevitable. Study the line, understand the reasoning, reproduce it from memory, then face an AI that plays the same opening against you — learning and real matches in one flow. Four-Stage Learning Flow 1. Follow — Tap each move in sequence, tracing the line by hand. 2. Understand — Watch the line auto-play while you read why each move wins. 3. Practice — Reproduce the sequence from memory, no hints. 4. Challenge — Play an AI that uses the same opening against you. Main Features - Four-Stage Learning Flow: Meet every opening and endgame four times through Follow, Understand, Practice, and Challenge until the moves feel natural. - Opening and Endgame Courses: Sixteen classic openings and sixteen essential endgames, every move annotated with the reasoning behind it. Star ratings track your mastery. - Tactics Puzzle Training: Over 240 puzzles across six themes — fork, pin, skewer, discovered attack, mate in N, and back rank — with ELO-based difficulty matching and a daily puzzle streak. - Four AI Opponents: Bots ranging from ELO 600 to 1600, each with a distinct playing style. Configurable chess clock, move history, captured pieces, and takeback. - Progress and ELO Tracking: Puzzle ELO over time, win and loss per bot, course completion with star ratings, and stats filtered by week, month, three months, or all time. Good For - First-time chess learners - Casual players who want to study openings systematically - Intermediate players drilling tactics to break plateaus - Anyone who wants to practice alone without a local opponent or coach Core features run fully offline and no account is required. The app is supported by AdMob advertising; an App Tracking Transparency prompt appears on first launch for device identifier use. Feedback and bug reports are welcome at seungwoo321@gmail.com. One move at a time — let us keep going together.
Circular Chess
Experience chess in four unique ways, including standard, circular, cylinder, and king of the hill variants. Play offline against a computer with adjustable difficulty or with a friend on the same device. Features include legal move highlights and move history.
- Four unique chess board variants
- Offline play against AI
- Local multiplayer on one device
- Adjustable AI difficulty
- Legal move highlights
- Undo and move history
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Four ways to play familiar chess pieces. Play around a ring in Circular Chess, follow attacks across joined edges in Cylinder Chess, race your king to the center in King of the Hill, or enjoy Standard Chess. Circular and Standard are free. One optional, one-time in-app purchase unlocks Cylinder and King of the Hill together. There is no subscription, and the purchase does not remove ads. People who had Circular Chess before version 2 keep all four boards at no charge. Use Restore purchases to check eligible access with your Apple Account. Choose English or Tamil. Play offline against the computer, or take turns with another person on the same device. • Four boards, each with its own saved game • Computer practice as White or Black • Adjustable practice difficulty before starting • Legal-move highlights, undo and move history • Board rotation and concise rules for each variant • No account required The computer offers five unrated practice levels. The difficulty slider remembers its position; moving within one level does not change the computer’s strength. Games are saved on your device. Online multiplayer and cloud backup are not included. The app contains advertising. We request nonpersonalized banners on Home and game screens, separate from the board and controls. Google shows regional privacy choices when required; revisit them through Ad privacy options when shown. Declining optional consent may still allow limited ads. An unavailable ad does not block a game you can access. Apple purchase and restore checks may require internet access.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Circular Chess at 5.0 against Chess's 2.0. Circular Chess also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 months). Chess's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, ratings volume, ads and monetization model 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. Circular Chess sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chess asks for nothing beyond the download.
Circular Chess holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
Chess ships an update every 2 months, Circular Chess every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | Chess | Circular Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 54 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SEUNGWOO LEE | Steelyard Ventures LLC |
In-app purchases
Chess
No in-app purchases
Circular Chess
- Extra Chess Boards$0.99









