Border Chess vs Oddfish
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Border Chess
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Border Chess is chess with room to breathe. The board is 10×10: standard FIDE chess on the inner 8×8, plus one empty square on every side. Kings, queens, and edge pawns can use the border for extra maneuvering — same rules you know, with new tactical possibilities. PLAY VS BOT Challenge Fairy-Stockfish, tuned for the border board. Choose your difficulty and improve your game against a strong computer opponent. PLAY WITH FRIEND Pass-and-play on one iPhone. The board automatically flips each turn so both players see the game from their side. BUILT FOR CHESS PLAYERS • Standard rules: castling, en passant, promotion, check, checkmate, stalemate, 50-move rule • Legal move hints, last-move highlight, and check highlight • Clean, modern board inspired by chess.com • Portrait mode, optimized for iPhone NO ONLINE MULTIPLAYER (YET) v1 is offline on your device — bot mode and local two-player only. No account required. OPEN SOURCE Border Chess is free software under the GNU GPL v3. Source code and license: https://github.com/sahasrarjn/chess-app The bot engine uses Fairy-Stockfish (GPL v3). Chess piece artwork from the Lichess Maestro set. Play in your browser too: https://borderchess.org
Oddfish
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Chess, but a little stranger. Oddfish starts with serious Stockfish chess, then changes one rule at a time. RattleFish loses confidence when you play well. GluttonFish grows stronger when you feed it pieces. Restfish makes moved pieces take a nap. Twenty-nine modes across six families turn a familiar board into something wonderfully peculiar. MEET GIL A small gold fish with opinions explains every mode, reacts to the game, and reviews the aftermath. PLAY YOUR WAY • Classic chess or 28 strange variations • Adjustable engine strength • Game history and PGN import • Optional move evaluation and hints • Carefully designed for iPhone and iPad Six modes—including Classic, RattleFish, FumbleFish, Restfish, GluttonFish, and ChapelFish—are free. A single Full Oddfish purchase unlocks every remaining mode. No subscription. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything runs on your device. Oddfish has no accounts, ads, analytics, or tracking and does not collect personal data. Stockfish plays the chess. Oddfish supplies the personality problem.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Border Chess at none against Oddfish's 1. Oddfish's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 2 days). On price, ads, 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
Both are free to download. Oddfish sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Border Chess asks for nothing beyond the download.
Border Chess ships an update every 2 days, Oddfish daily. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Border Chess | Oddfish |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 110 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sahasra Ranjan | JOHN EBENEZER JOHNSON |
In-app purchases
Border Chess
No in-app purchases
Oddfish
- Full Oddfish$4.99









