Comparison

Pulsar Chess Engine vs Chess Puzzles & Tactics

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Plays 7 chess variants
  • Adjustable AI difficulty levels
  • Game logging and review
  • Master game collections
  • Crafty engine analysis
  • VoiceOver accessibility
Features
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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.

About

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

Enhance your chess skills with an extensive collection of puzzles and tactical exercises. Tailor your training by customizing puzzle difficulty and Elo ratings to target specific weaknesses and accelerate improvement, suitable for players of all levels.

Highlights
  • Infinite chess puzzles
  • Tactics training
  • Customizable puzzles
  • Elo rating adjustment
  • All player levels
  • Extensive tactic list
Features
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Solve interactive chess positions on the board and find the correct continuation. Train tactics, mating patterns, and endgames. Choose the categories or motifs you want to practice, then set a puzzle Elo range or difficulty that fits your target session. Built for chess players from beginner through advanced. Practice familiar ideas such as forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, sacrifices, promotion, and zugzwang. Develop pattern recognition and calculation through focused puzzle practice.

Screenshots

Pulsar Chess Engine4 screens
Chess Puzzles & Tactics4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chess Puzzles & Tactics at Free against Pulsar Chess Engine's $1.99. Chess Puzzles & Tactics also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (488 vs 12). Pulsar Chess Engine's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). On rating, review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Chess Puzzles & Tactics is free to download; Pulsar Chess Engine costs $1.99 up front. Chess Puzzles & Tactics sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Pulsar Chess Engine asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for Pulsar Chess Engine against 4.5 for Chess Puzzles & Tactics. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Puzzles & Tactics has 488 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Pulsar Chess Engine's written reviews are positive against 76% of Chess Puzzles & Tactics's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pulsar Chess Engine ships an update every 2 months, Chess Puzzles & Tactics weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Pulsar Chess Engine versus Chess Puzzles & Tactics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPulsar Chess EngineChess Puzzles & Tactics
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.3 (12 ratings)4.5 (488 ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.0% of reviews75.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings12488 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB89 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMichael AdamsSajed Nahian

Customer experience

Pulsar Chess Engine

All ratings12 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive70.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative20.0%

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

All ratings485 ratings
Positive85.8%
Neutral4.3%
Negative9.9%
Written reviews37 reviews
Positive75.7%
Neutral5.4%
Negative18.9%

Bugs and requests

Pulsar Chess Engine

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • Unable to login
  • Application resets to starting value (1000elo)
  • History/review chapters remain unlocked
  • In-application feedback not functioning
  • Rating feature broke
Show 13 more
  • Ability to control puzzle strength broke
  • Scanning thing after opening app continues forever
  • App resets ELO to 1000
  • Undo button disappears
  • Tapping to select a piece stops working
  • Analysis breaks
  • Viewing history doesn’t work
  • App crashes
  • View History tab page never loads
  • App forgets login and starts from ELO = 0
  • Analysis button messed up
  • App hangs after pressing 'log in'
  • Puzzles freeze, no way of moving pieces

Requested features

4 requests
  • Option to mute sounds
  • Ability to disable audio
  • Allow loading custom puzzle sets
  • Better interface and cable

In-app purchases

None

Pulsar Chess Engine

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

One-time1
  • Ad-Free Forever$3.99

Questions

Is Pulsar Chess Engine free?
Pulsar Chess Engine costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Puzzles & Tactics free?
Chess Puzzles & Tactics is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pulsar Chess Engine or Chess Puzzles & Tactics?
Chess Puzzles & Tactics is rated higher. Pulsar Chess Engine averages 4.3 out of 5 from 12 ratings, while Chess Puzzles & Tactics averages 4.5 from 488 ratings.
Do Pulsar Chess Engine or Chess Puzzles & Tactics have ads?
Chess Puzzles & Tactics shows ads; Pulsar Chess Engine does not.
Which is updated more often, Pulsar Chess Engine or Chess Puzzles & Tactics?
Pulsar Chess Engine ships an update every 2 months, and Chess Puzzles & Tactics weekly. Most recently, Pulsar Chess Engine was updated on October 29, 2026 and Chess Puzzles & Tactics on October 27, 2026.

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