Comparison

Chess vs Chessko

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

Head to head
About

Chess

Engage in chess matches with a unique AI opponent that converses with you, offering commentary and personality. This offline game features a powerful local LLM for dynamic interactions and a robust chess engine with adjustable difficulty.

Highlights
  • AI opponent with personality
  • Local LLM for chat
  • Stockfish chess engine
  • Adjustable difficulty levels
  • Offline play
  • Full chess rules
  • Animated reactions
Features
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Chess-Buddy is a chess game where your computer opponent also talks with you using a powerful local LLM, Qwen 3 trained at 1.7 Billion parameters. This Chat system has been wrapped and designed to conform to this game giving a dynamic personality to the gameplay that feels alive and rich with a friendly buddy to play with. I like playing chess on my phone but I really like playing with a person. This isn't quite as nice as playing casual chess with a friend but it's pretty nice. Play chess against a real engine (the chess side of the AI is running on stockfish, the leading open source chess engine that everyone agrees is really great, with also selectable difficulty levels). After almost every move, Buddy reacts — with a short line, a funny face might happen, and occasionally a little shade. You can chat freely between moves too. Buddy will respond. It's less like playing against a computer and more like playing against a friend who happens to be very good at chess but awkward at conversation, Not to say it is a bad chat LLM it's just not set up to work like a personal assistant anymore, the conversation is with a LLM that is essentially now Chess-Buddy. Everything runs on your phone. No internet required. No account. No ads. No subscription. The chess engine and Buddy's brain are built in. --- CHESS • Full rules: all legal moves, castling, en passant, pawn promotion with a piece picker • Four difficulty levels — Friendly (800), Casual (1200), Competitive (1600), Expert (2200) • Undo moves and reset anytime • Game saves automatically — pick up exactly where you left off BUDDY • Reacts to the game with short, personality-driven commentary • 11 animated face states — Buddy goes mindblown when something wild happens • Chat freely: ask for help, vent about your last move, just hang out • Runs entirely on-device with a local AI model — no data leaves your phone DESIGN • Bright, friendly, cartoon — not a dark chess robot • Tap or drag pieces, whichever feels natural • Haptic feedback for captures, check, and checkmate • One screen. No menus to get lost in. ChessBuddy is made by Adrondak LLC. Chess engine: Stockfish (GPL v3) — stockfishchess.org Personality model: Qwen3-1.7B (Apache 2.0) — Qwen Team / Alibaba Cloud Inference runtime: llama.cpp (MIT) — Georgi Gerganov

About

Chessko

Features
Read full description

Welcome to Chessko – a chess application designed for lovers of beautiful aesthetics, fluid gameplay, and a premium user experience across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Whether you are a beginner learning the basics or an experienced player looking for a serious challenge, Chessko offers a perfectly tailored environment. Key Features: • STUNNING PIECE STYLES Customize the look of the chess pieces to match your style! Choose from 8 unique, high-definition piece sets: Classic, Neon (with a beautiful glow), Wood (natural grain), Metal, Flat, Bold, Gameroom, and stunning Glassmorphic pieces. • DYNAMIC BOARD THEMES (8 BOARD DESIGNS) Switch boards in an instant. Select classic wooden setups, minimalist monochrome interfaces, or special radiant themes like Midnight Aurora and Cyber Lavender that cast a subtle spotlight under the pieces. • INTUITIVE SWIPE GESTURES Cycle through board themes by swiping left/right across the board, or change piece styles by swiping up/down. Integrated with subtle haptic feedback, it feels tactile and premium. Swipe gestures can be toggled on or off at any time. • LOCAL CHESS AI & INTEGRATED STOCKFISH ENGINE Play offline against our balanced local AI tailored to your skill level: - Beginner: Ideal for learning, searching 2 plies deep with a 25% blunder rate. - Amateur: Relaxed gameplay searching 4 plies deep with an 8% blunder rate. - Advanced: A solid challenge searching 10 plies deep with zero mistakes. Or take on the world-class Stockfish engine, offering specific strength levels from 1300 ELO up to 2600 ELO, plus maximum raw capability. • NATIVE UI & MACOS SUPPORT Chessko is built for Apple platforms, featuring a clean system background that seamlessly transitions between Light and Dark mode. Play comfortably on iPhone, iPad, or natively on your Mac with mouse, trackpad, and keyboard support. • 100% PRIVATE & AD-FREE Enjoy chess without interruptions. Chessko has no ads, requires no login or accounts, and collects absolutely zero user data. Everything runs locally on your device. • MULTILINGUAL SUPPORT The app is fully localized, allowing you to change the language directly in the settings sheet. Supported languages include: Serbian, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Hindi. Download Chessko today and elevate your chess experience!

Screenshots

Chess4 screens
Chessko4 screens

Verdict

The call

Chess and Chessko are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Chess versus Chessko: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChessChessko
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size1.3 GB90 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdrondak LLCFilip Djordjevic

In-app purchases

None

Chess

No in-app purchases

None

Chessko

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chess free?
Chess is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chessko free?
Chessko is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Chess or Chessko have ads?
Neither Chess nor Chessko shows ads.

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