# Chess Journal — AI reviews and chess insights

> AI reviews and chess insights (iPhone/iPad app by Yixiao Zhang.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-journal/id6820481135 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Yixiao Zhang](https://appshunter.io/developer/1896777082)
- Category: Education
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 26.0 · 106 MB
- Languages: American English, Chinese (Simplified, China)
- Released: 2026-10-13
- Data updated: 2026-11-03

## What is Chess Journal?

Understand the turning points in each game and the habits across many. Chess Journal combines local Stockfish analysis with AI explanations, so you can see what happened and decide what to practice next.

AI EXPLAINS YOUR GAMES
Get a single-game review based on the full game record and structured Stockfish evidence. It explains the opening, middlegame, and endgame, recognizes good choices, and highlights better alternatives. Tap a move reference to see the position and suggested continuation alongside the commentary.

LOOK ACROSS MANY GAMES
Ask AI to interpret your playing style, recurring mistakes, strengths, and recent progress within a selected period. The review draws on game tags, opening results, evaluation summaries, and key moments. Detailed statistics let you explore the evidence yourself and return to the games behind each observation.

REVIEW WITH STOCKFISH
Import public, completed games with a Chess.com username, or import your own PGN files. Stockfish analyzes positions on your device. Replay moves, explore the best continuation, and try another line before returning to the game. Filter games and statistics by color, time control, opening, and date range. Changing your import username keeps earlier history, and each game shows its original player ID and side.

LEARN AND PRACTICE
Study openings, tactics, and endgames through principles and step-by-step board demonstrations. Download puzzle packs by difficulty and theme, practice offline, and revisit puzzles that need another attempt. Your game notebook turns selected mistakes from your own games into exercises, with hints, feedback and spaced review. Start a game against Stockfish at an adjustable strength, then save it for review alongside imported games.

ON IPHONE, IPAD, AND MAC
Compact controls on iPhone; a board and commentary side by side on wider screens. Your game library, Stockfish results, and learning progress are stored on your device, with optional private iCloud sync across your devices. English and Simplified Chinese are supported.

Chess Journal is free at launch. Local review, statistics, and learning work without an account. Optional AI reviews use Sign in with Apple and an internet connection. Each account can request 10 single-game reviews and 1 multi-game review per day, subject to service availability. The selected game records and analysis are sent through our service to DeepSeek to generate the commentary.

Chess Journal is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Chess.com. Stockfish is an open-source chess engine; the app's move classifications are not official Chess.com ratings.

## Is Chess Journal safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess Chess Journal.

## Is Chess Journal legit?

Chess Journal has limited verification signals. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Chess Journal is 58 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 3 releases)

### 1.5 — 2026-11-02

• Shared native navigation and outline icons across iPhone, iPad and Mac, with Liquid Glass and press-and-slide tab switching.
• Refined layouts and hierarchy for Home, games, reviews, learning and settings.
• Less repetitive copy, with clearer counts, status and actions.
• Fixed empty-page backgrounds and sizing, with import and filter actions.
• Improved board and control spacing, English and Chinese layouts, and large text.

### 1.4 — 2026-10-31

• Adds a move-quality page with separate White and Black distributions and ungraded moves.
• Start engine practice or import PGN without a Chess.com username. Games and ongoing practice survive changing the sync source.
• Multi-game AI reviews now explain preparation status and provide direct actions. Local preparation uses no AI credits.
• Fixes single-game AI report sections and preview boards, including reviews without standard phase headings. Existing reviews do not need regeneration.
• Improves the rook and two-bishop endgame lessons and adds two-knight correct-defense and mating-error examples.
• Fixes puzzle hints hidden after selecting a piece. Repeated hints do not apply another rating penalty.

### 1.3 — 2026-10-31

No release notes.

## More apps by Yixiao Zhang

- [Echoes - Daily History Card](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/echoes-daily-history-card/id6778094754)

All apps by Yixiao Zhang: https://appshunter.io/developer/1896777082

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-11-03.*