Pulsar Chess Engine vs Openings Mastermind
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pulsar Chess Engine
Play chess and six popular variants with adjustable AI difficulty levels. Review logged games, access master game collections, and utilize Crafty engine analysis for standard chess and Chess960. Offers accessibility features for blind users.
- Plays 7 chess variants
- Adjustable AI difficulty levels
- Game logging and review
- Master game collections
- Crafty engine analysis
- VoiceOver accessibility
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The Pulsar Chess Engine plays Chess and six variants all with multiple levels. The variants are Chess960, Crazyhouse, Loser's, Atomic, Three Checks and Giveaway. Rules included in-app. In addition, there is also a review mode to look at the user's log file with analysis available for non variants. 10 game collections of classic and modern master games are included to look at including Kasparov, Fischer, Carlsen, Capablanca and Morphy 1858 collections. These collections and the log file are searchable. Pulsar values mobility and active positions. In app there is an article with more on its playing style and how to train against it. With the variants, each has its own style. Chess960, Three Checks and Crazyhouse are the more chess like variants and adoptable to learn to play for anyone with interest. The rules of all games are in app. Pulsar has levels of play from beginner too advanced. Games with a time control are the hardest though Pulsar doesn't call the player's time. The time is more to handicap Pulsar's strength, but users will have a clock and can see if it's gone negative if they want to play the time control. The game button - configure game menu item, lets the user control the variant and difficulty. It defaults to Chess at Easy(lowest level) but remembers the current settings when the App restarts. There are choices of pieces and board color schemes. The Pulsar program was originally developed by me for computers starting in 1998 and came to mobile for the first time in 2014. Pulsar's board is accessible to the blind using Voice Over, a screen reader. Tap on a square and it will say whats on it and double tap to move or choose from three move methods. A screen reader can normally read anything with text like a button, but a board is a collection of images. To make it accessible, text must be returned to Voice Over when a tap is in the area of a square. Pulsar began as a chess program and later learned variants. It ran extensively on two servers for many years both at chess and variants. The ratings on the board reflect strength I saw in rated play on handicapped bots. They are not 100% exact but generalizations I made from the various bots I ran at different settings. If in the new game selector, Play vs. Computer is unchecked the user can move for both sides. This is to allow two people at same location to use the App as a board for a game and have the app enforce move legality and results for whatever variant is selected.
Openings Mastermind
Master chess openings with this app. Import studies, explore with advanced engines, and practice specific lines through repetition. Track your progress and improve your game.
- Import Lichess Studies or PGNs
- Explore openings with Stockfish 15
- Practice openings by repetition
- Smart practice queue
- Track learning progress
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Get ready to take your chess game to the next level with Openings Mastermind, the ultimate chess opening app! Some of the features include: - Import Lichess Studies or custom PGNs - Explore openings with Stockfish 17 and the Lichess position database - Practice openings by repetition against your own custom openings database - Take advantage of the smart practice queue and improve your learning - Observe your learning progress in different openings With our app, you can take your opening game to the next level by practicing against the specific lines you want to master. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced player, our app is the perfect tool to help you improve your opening moves and become a better chess player. Planned Features: - Continue against engine, after study line ends - Analysis of your games from Lichess and Chess.com compared to your openings database
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Openings Mastermind at Free against Pulsar Chess Engine's $1.99. Openings Mastermind also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). Pulsar Chess Engine's advantage is review sentiment (67% vs 50%) and device support (4 vs 2). On rating, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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
Openings Mastermind is free to download; Pulsar Chess Engine costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for Pulsar Chess Engine against 4.3 for Openings Mastermind. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12 and 6 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of Pulsar Chess Engine's written reviews are positive against 50% of Openings Mastermind's.
Pulsar Chess Engine ships an update every 2 months, Openings Mastermind fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pulsar Chess Engine | Openings Mastermind |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (12 ratings) | 4.3 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 12 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 88 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Michael Adams | Christian Heise |
Customer experience
Pulsar Chess Engine
Openings Mastermind
In-app purchases
Pulsar Chess Engine
No in-app purchases
Openings Mastermind
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Pulsar Chess Engine free?
Is Openings Mastermind free?
Which has better reviews, Pulsar Chess Engine or Openings Mastermind?
Do Pulsar Chess Engine or Openings Mastermind have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pulsar Chess Engine or Openings Mastermind?
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