Pulsar Chess Engine vs Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)
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.
Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)
Sharpen your chess skills with a vast library of puzzles for all levels. Practice daily, offline, or track your progress with adaptive challenges. Analyze your moves with a built-in engine and customize your experience with various themes.
- Daily puzzles
- Offline puzzle packs
- Progress mode with Elo rating
- Puzzle analysis engine
- Bookmark puzzles
- Multiple board themes
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Improve your chess tactics with this large collection of chess puzzles for all levels! This tactic trainer lets you practice in 3 different modes : - Solve daily puzzles - Solve offline puzzle packs - Use the "Progress" mode to get random problems of your level and know your Elo rating All puzzles are of a high quality and are guaranteed to have a unique solution. The difficulty ranges from beginner to advanced (2000+ Elo). Other features : - A free powerful engine to analyze the puzzles - Level history - Bookmark puzzles - Several board themes - Optimized for both phones and tablets - A simple and intuitive interface, with no useless stuff, and no weird problems
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) at Free against Pulsar Chess Engine's $1.99. Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.3) and ratings volume (3.7K vs 12). Pulsar Chess Engine's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 11) and ads (none vs shown). On update cadence, 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
Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) is free to download; Pulsar Chess Engine costs $1.99 up front. Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. Pulsar Chess Engine asks for nothing beyond the download.
Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) has 3.7K ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Pulsar Chess Engine's written reviews are positive against 90% of Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)'s.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pulsar Chess Engine | Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (12 ratings) | 4.7 (3.7K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | 90.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 12 | 3.7K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Michael Adams | Emmanuel Mathis |
Customer experience
Pulsar Chess Engine
Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)
Bugs and requests
Pulsar Chess Engine
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)
Reported bugs
2 issues- Occasional crashes or freezes
- Incorrect move validation in some cases
Requested features
4 requests- Add option to see captured pieces
- Provide more context and analysis for puzzles
- Improve difficulty categorization of puzzles
- Allow for user feedback on puzzle issues
In-app purchases
Pulsar Chess Engine
No in-app purchases
Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)
- Easy mates$1.99
- Intermediate mates$1.99
- Hard mates$1.99
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- Easy tactics$1.99
- Intermediate tactics$1.99
- Hard tactics$1.99
- Mates in 2, 3 and 4 moves$1.99
- Intermediate Tactics - Vol. 2$1.99
- Hard Tactics - Vol. 2$1.99
- Easy Tactics - Vol. 2$1.99
- All-Access Pass$9.99
Questions
Is Pulsar Chess Engine free?
Is Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) free?
Which has better reviews, Pulsar Chess Engine or Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)?
Do Pulsar Chess Engine or Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pulsar Chess Engine or Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)?
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