# Chess Opening Lab (1400-2000) — Chess Training

> Interactive chess opening manual with training exercises and game analysis. (iPhone/iPad app by Chess King.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-opening-lab-1400-2000/id1129879784 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Chess King](https://appshunter.io/developer/1096660597)
- Category: Games, Education, Board, Puzzle
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.70/5 from 591 App Store ratings · 29 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 8.0 · 45 MB
- Languages: Russian, American English
- Released: 2016-09-09
- Data updated: 2026-09-05
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-opening-lab-1400-2000/id1129879784/reviews.md

## What is Chess Opening Lab (1400?

This is a perfect opening manual. It features a theoretical review of all the chess openings, which are illustrated by instructive games of the greatest chess players. This compact opening manual contains a detailed classification, which makes it useful to players of any level - beginners, intermediate and advanced players. Each opening variation is supplied with evaluations and characteristics of key moves. The history of the variations' development is described, as well as their current status. The theoretic material is nicely illustrated by classic games with detailed annotations that demonstrate the principal ideas and plans of each variation for White and Black. There is also a special training section with more than 350 exercises of various difficulty on more than 40 openings.

This course is in the series Chess King Learn, which is an unprecedented chess teaching method. In the series are included courses in tactics, strategy, openings, middle game, and endgame, split by levels from beginners to experienced players, and even professional players.

With the help of this course, you can improve your chess knowledge, learn new tactical tricks and combinations, and consolidate the acquired knowledge into practice.

The program acts as a coach who gives tasks to solve and helps to solve them if you get stuck. It will give you hints, explanations and show you even striking refutation of the mistakes you might make.

The program also contains a theoretical section, which explains the methods of the game in a certain stage of the game, based on actual examples. The theory is presented in an interactive way, which means you can not only read the text of the lessons, but also to make moves on the board and work out unclear moves on the board.

Advantages of the program:
• High quality examples, all double-checked for correctness
• You need to enter all key moves, required by the teacher
• Different levels of complexity of the tasks
• Various goals, which need to be reached in the problems
• The program gives hint if an error is made
• For typical mistaken moves, the refutation is shown
• You can play out any position of the tasks against the computer
• Interactive theoretical lessons
• Structured table of contents
• The program monitors the change in the rating (ELO) of the player during the learning process
• Test mode with flexible settings
• Possibility to bookmark favorite exercises
• The application is adapted to the bigger screen of a tablet
• The application does not require an internet connection

The course includes a free part, in which you can test the program. Lessons offered in the free version is fully functional. They allow you to test the application in real world conditions before releasing the following topics:
1. Rare variations
1.1. 1. g3, 1. b4, ..
1.2. 1. b3
1.3. 1. d4
1.4. 1. d4 Nf6
1.5. 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3
2. Alekhine's defense
3. Benoni defense
4. Bird's opening
5. Bishop's opening
6. Blumenfeld counter-gambit
7. Bogo-Indian defense
8. Budapest gambit
9. Caro-Kann
10. Catalan system
11. Center gambit
12. Dutch defense
12.1. Dutch defense
12.2. Ilyin-Genevsky system
12.3. Leningrad system
12.4. Staunton gambit
12.5. Stonewall variation
13. English opening
14. Evans gambit
15. Four knights' game
16. French defense
16.1. French defense
17. Grünfeld defense
18. Italian game & Hungarian defense
19. King's Indian defense
20. Latvian gambit
21. Nimzo-Indian defense
22. Nimzowitsch defense
23. Old Indian defense
24. Philidor's defense
25. Pirc-Robatsch defense
26. Queen's gambit
27. Queen's Indian defense
28. Queen's pawn game
29. Reti opening
30. Petrov's defense
31. Ruy Lopez
32. Scandinavian defense
33. Scotch gambit & Ponziani's opening
34. Scotch game
35. Sicilian defense
36. Three knights' game
37. Two knights' defense
38. Vienna game
39. Volga-Benko gambit
40. The complete course of openings

## Key features

- Theoretical review of all chess openings
- Instructive games with detailed annotations
- Interactive theoretical lessons
- 350+ training exercises
- Evaluations and characteristics of key moves
- History and current status of variations

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Full course | $12.99 | one-time |


## What do users think of Chess Opening Lab (1400?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- 👍 Very convenient app
- 👍 Ideal for practicing openings
- 👍 Great for chess studies
- 👍 Fantastic teaching tool
- 👍 Excellent teacher
- 👍 Unexpected gem
- 👍 Great app
- 👍 Very good app
- 👍 Easy to follow interface
- 👍 Animated moves are great
- 👍 Quizzes with hints

**Cons**

- 😞 Barely any information
- 😞 Difficult and confusing to work
- 😞 No content
- 😞 Useless
- 😞 Scam
- 😞 Rubbish app
- 😞 Terrible interface
- 😞 No login, purchase lost
- 😞 Expensive
- 😞 No content for openings

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Recorded moves not highlighted or disappear
- White spot instead of recorded move
- Have to buy full course multiple times
- App forgets purchase
- Animation speed doesn't decrease
- Cannot skip or save variations
- Too many variations distract from main line
- Cannot replay exercise from beginning
- App deletes and asks for repurchase

**Most requested features**

- More exercises for different openings
- More examples of opening systems
- Give 20 or more examples of different openings
- Explanations in French
- Reference books
- Translation to Spanish
- Translation to Turkish
- Show colorful lines in animation
- Include lines for Sicilian defense gambits

## Recent user reviews (10 of 29)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-opening-lab-1400-2000/id1129879784/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Хорошее приложение

*2024-07-09*

Очень удобное приложение!

### 5/5 — Très bonne application !

*2023-10-23*

Idéal pour travailler ses ouvertures! Bravo

### 1/5 — Terrible app

*2023-10-12*

Barely any information and very difficult and confusing to work

### 5/5 — Great app but need a lot more exercises of the different openings.

*2023-01-28*

It’s a really good app. I’ve learned a lot so far about how openings work.I just wish there were more examples of the opening systems. I rather like the Leningrad Dutch and want to learn more about it but you give only one example (sic) that said, the example given is very powerful. It would be great to give 20 or more examples of the different openings if at all possible. After studying some of the examples I was blasting my opponents of the board! The interface/ layout and idea/ concept are very good and easy to follow. We just need more examples/ exercises of them. Cheers

### 1/5 — No content

*2022-08-04*

Demonstrates how to gain your opponent’s confidence without giving them anything useful. Clever but useless.

### 5/5 — Great for chess studies!

*2022-02-27*

I lik

### 3/5 — Ошибка

*2022-01-14*

при просмотре партии или теории, записанные ходы не выделяются чёрным, как это было всегда, а иногда пропадают просто и на месте записанного хода белое пятно. очень неудобно, исправьте пожалуйста

### 5/5 — Ouvertures

*2020-11-08*

Excellente application. 
Il est dommage que les explications ne soient pas en français. Et que l’on ne trouve pas les livres de référence.

### 5/5 — Chris Scannell

*2020-07-19*

Fantastic teaching tool-👍

### 2/5 — Bugs, useless

*2020-07-14*

I have had to “buy full course” three times because there is no log in and it seems to forget conveniently

Recent opening version is awful relative to chess base  It misses multiple important variations and openings ( eg no London System)  Not sure how the teaching is any better

## Frequently asked questions about Chess Opening Lab (1400

### What does the Chess Opening Lab app do?

This app serves as a comprehensive manual for chess openings, offering theoretical reviews illustrated by games from great chess players. It provides detailed classifications, evaluations, and characteristics of key moves, along with interactive lessons and over 350 training exercises to help users improve their opening knowledge and practical play.

### What are the key features of this chess training app?

Key features include a theoretical review of all chess openings, instructive games with detailed annotations, interactive theoretical lessons, over 350 training exercises with varying difficulty, and evaluations of key moves. The app also tracks player rating changes and allows playing out positions against the computer.

### How much does the Chess Opening Lab app cost?

The application offers a free part where users can test its functionality. Additional topics and full access to the course content are available through in-app purchases, indicating a freemium monetization model.

### Is this app compatible with my device?

The application is adapted for larger screens, such as tablets, and does not require an internet connection to function. Specific device compatibility details would typically be found on the app store listing.

### Who is the target audience for this chess opening manual?

This app is designed for chess players of all levels, including beginners, intermediate, and advanced players. It aims to help anyone looking to improve their understanding of chess openings, learn new tactical tricks, and consolidate their knowledge through practice.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.2 — 2018-01-15

This update from Apple will improve the functionality of this app. No new features are included.

• App is updated for iPhone X
• New home screen
• Renaming of account
• Various fixes and improvements

### 1.1 — 2017-10-19

• Animated playback of theory with sound
• Date of reading the theory
• Disabled automatic playback of refutations
• Option to reset password
• Various fixes and improvements

### 1.0.3 — 2017-06-02

Attention! You should have an internet connection on the first launch to verify your purchase!
• Added cloud sync option for statistics and bookmarks
• Added "Auto hints" option - you can use it to turn off automatic hints after wrong move attempts
• Added switching between exercises using swipe gestures
• Improved theory mode
• Added Tag (colored commentaries) option for bookmarks
• Various fixes and improvements

### 0.9.8 — 2017-02-08

• Added auto switch to the next exercise
• Added engine analysis mode and improved engine play mode
• Added statistics of the solved exercises by day
• Added possibility to share exercise with friends
• Added table of symbols convention
• Bug fixes and small improvements

### 0.9.7 — 2017-01-12

• Added sounds in practice
• Added option to disable showing of the exercise goal
• Added possibility to change appearance of move marker
• Bug fixes and small improvements

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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 2026-09-05.*