# Chess-Studio — user reviews > 172 indexed App Store user reviews of Chess by Giordano Vicoli, rated 4.70/5 from 116 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-studio/id684224545/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-studio/id684224545.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 102 · 4★ 5 · 3★ 3 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 5 ## What do users think of Chess? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Powerful chess database features - 👍 Comprehensive analysis tools - 👍 Excellent PGN management - 👍 Great value for price - 👍 Frequent updates and improvements - 👍 Responsive developer - 👍 Useful for serious chess players - 👍 Integrates with iCloud/Dropbox - 👍 Good for studying and training - 👍 Supports Stockfish engine - 👍 Easy to use for experienced users - 👍 Good for remote study **Cons** - 🐛 Steep learning curve - 🐛 Occasional crashes - 🐛 Unintuitive interface - 🐛 Some users find it confusing - 🐛 Missing dark mode - 🐛 Can be buggy **Commonly reported bugs** - Problem saving updated game data - Engine stopped working after 30 seconds - App crashes when adding annotations without hitting 'edit mode' first - Crash opening .pgn in landscape mode - Crashes when selecting a cell with 0 games associated - App freezes sometimes - Download stuck on 'downloading' - Dropbox issues on earlier iOS versions - Program not bulletproof upon saving work - Can't download cbv files - Graphical annotations drawing unwanted arrows - App doesn't work after iOS update **Most requested features** - Add dark mode - Add board flip button - Improve interface for screen reader users - Add private game feature with code - Add computer whole game analysis with annotations - Add coloring moves based on annotation - Add drawing arrows that are saved - Add bookmark feature - Add buttons/swipe to go forward/backwards to next/previous game - Add select all function for copying games - Add autoplay games - Remember last position/game opened in a database - Support Millennium boards - Support UCI engine compatibility - Optimize database game view - Make edit mode arrows slimmer and add more colors - Allow direct iCloud access to databases without export - Make graphical annotations optional/disableable - Improve font size adjustment for moves and annotations - Add search with multiple criteria ## Newest reviews (17 of 172) ### 5/5 — EXCELENTE!! *2025-07-16, version 4.5.8* Excelente!! I need help!: no consigo escribir email a Giordano Vicoli… pues acabo de suscribirme a Chess Studio Premium anual, y me ha respondido que la fecha de vencimiento es: 19 de julio de 2025 Es equivale a SOLO 3 días. Por favor!, corrija esto!!. ### 5/5 — Excellent chess app *2025-06-22* Must have a chess app for a chess lover ### 5/5 — Ottimo database *2025-05-06* Funziona benissimo su Iphone 16 Pro Max. Mi piacerebbe usarlo anche su la mia Mac Pro. È possibile utilizzate stessa licenza o bisogna acquistare una nuova? **Developer response:** Scrivimi a chess.studio.app@gmail.com e ti darò una risposta esauriente alla tua domanda perchè questa non è la sede adatta per fare ciò. Grazie e saluti, Giordano. ### 5/5 — Wonderful IOS chess software with many features *2025-04-25* What a great chess program. We have been using Chess Studio at our chess club to digitise completed tournament games for publication to our club website. It’s feature righ and very easy to use. ### 5/5 — I wish Chessbase was this useful *2025-04-18* Easier to use and more practically useful than Chessbase ### 5/5 — Giordano Vicoli - Grazie Mille! A magnificent chess app!! *2025-04-16* Sir, as you continuously add great new abilities we Pawn-Pushers are constantly being rewarded! I expect at any time your program to be able to make chess moves directed through our thought processes! A Huge Fan ### 4/5 — Best pgn app *2025-04-15* A very powerful app for pgn, easily the best I have seen. Has a tendency to crash unfortunately. Be sure to backup your files as one crash erased the app folder. Still it’s just much better than the others. ### 5/5 — Superbe *2025-04-08* Très bonne application pour tous joueurs d’échecs aveugles c’est vraiment superbe ! ### 5/5 — Best mobile chess app on any platform *2025-04-02, version 4.5.0* The app has many useful features and works very well. Great flexibility and great new features like puzzles per theme ### 5/5 — Flip button needed *2025-03-11, version 4.4.8* Love your app would you kindly add a board flip button between the forward and backward buttons ### 5/5 — Una gran App *2025-02-24, version 4.4.7* Me gusta mucho la App, la uso para guardar mis partidas de torneos a los que he ido, me gustaría que hubiese una opción para agregar imágenes del torneo así como están las opciones dentro de la carpeta de eventos, partidas, etc. ¡Saludos! ### 5/5 — La mejor para trabajar pgns *2025-02-15, version 4.4.7* La aplicación está genial, enhorabuena a los desarrolladores, la mejor que hay en la app store ahora mismo de ajedrez. Gracias por el trabajo que habeis hecho con esta app. ### 5/5 — ECCEZIONALE *2025-01-25, version 4.4.4* Database incredibile. Tutti i tornei e tutti i giocatori a portata di mano ***** ### 5/5 — Thank you for the cbh format *2024-12-07* Before I used to converte my database into the pgn to use but now The new update about the cbh format to be supported is gold thank you ### 5/5 — Simply brilliant! *2024-10-16* Outstanding app for database management, training, analysis, building a repertoire or just having a quick game with Stockfish. Not a big learning curve, and if you’re familiar with chess database programs this should all be pretty easy to get around. Links directly to PGN Mentor & The Week In Chess for access to literally millions of games to build a database with, and you can import your own. Easy navigation of bases (player, year, event, ECO or combinations of those & other parameters) & a boat-load of various analysis & search functions including endgame tablebases. Also ability to create custom opening books for stockfish to use from databases is a big plus! If you’re serious about chess, or want an easy to use, stable program for OTB prep, this is probably all you’ll ever need. Highly recommended. ### 5/5 — So much here *2024-10-05* While this may not be the most attractive app (full disclosure, I’m an artist/designer and would love to redesign the icon and splash screen) what’s offered here in this app is incredible. I can load databases of my repertoire, plus add databases of my chess books to make study so much easier when traveling. This app is in so many ways what ChessBase should have offered but failed in the mobile space. It’s great that I don’t have to lug my laptop with me on vacation, I have so much of what I need for constructive study right here. At home, if I want to relax on the sofa and study, this does the job. The app has made my chess books so much more useful. Congratulations to the developer: great job. Oh, and reach out if you’d like to upgrade your visuals. ;—) Thanks! **Developer response:** Hi Yoda, please, contact me at chess.studio.app@gmail.com. I could be interested in your proposal. Thanks and regards, Giordano ### 3/5 — Great features but buggy *2024-09-24* Exactly what I’m looking for in a chess database. If only it didn’t crash when adding annotations (it’s possible to annotate, but if you forget to hit “edit mode” first it crashes and you lose unsaved changes) it would be perfect. Also it would be nice if the databases were directly accessible in iCloud without having to export first. **Developer response:** Hi Ted841, Hi, if you have any comments and/or suggestions please write to me directly at chess.studio.app@gmail.com I will be happy to answer your questions. Thanks and regards, Giordano ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Useless *2025-07-09* Can’t download, no help, no instructions. **Developer response:** Hi Redhfhfoskbgokgf, If you have any problems, please email me at chess.studio.app@gmail.com and I'll be happy to help. Regards, Giordano ### 1/5 — Horrible application *2023-05-09, version 4.0.0* After update iPhone 13 , chess application doesn’t work. People don’t waste money. ### 1/5 — Confusing and disorganized *2019-08-28* 1. Can’t select all to download many databases at once 2. I would have liked to have been able to play out moves from the start, and see which games have been played with certain positions rather than having to individually look them up by name. Not super helpful although if you’re just looking to browse through thousands of random games with specific openings, it’s okay. 3. Annotations are not there in all the games like it shows in the picture. They need to be put in by the uploader **Developer response:** Hi timmahh, please contact me at chess.studio.app@gmail.com to better discuss your app evaluation. Thanks and regards, Giordano ### 1/5 — this thing doesnt work *2013-11-09, version 1.0.5* It doesnt load my pgn files. Dont waste your money ### 2/5 — Broken on Ipad iOS 26.2 *2025-11-16, version 4.6.9* Purchased this hoping that a native Stockfish engine would allow me to analyze games on my iPad (recent updates seem to have broken lichess and chess.com analysis engines). Unfortunately, the engine stopped working after about 30 seconds, making the app worthless to me. There seems to be no way to reactivate it, I even rebooted my device. ### 2/5 — Parrebbero esserci potenzialità … *2024-03-04, version 4.1.7* Appena scaricato. Ad un primo approccio non sembra troppo intuitivo. Sto cercando un modo per importare database .pgn, ma non riesco. Ho cercato di non n isee una mail per chiedere delucidazioni, ma la app mi informa che non ho impostato la mia mail. Nelle impostazioni pare non ci sia modo di impostarla … Vediamo se riesco a venirne a capo 🤷🏻‍♂️ ### 2/5 — Kann keine PGN Datenbank öffnen *2022-04-19* Eigentlich eine sehr gute App. Leider kann man keine PGN Datenbank öffnen. Das macht sie dann für mich unbrauchbar **Developer response:** Bitte kontaktieren Sie mich unter chess.studio.app@gmail.com, um Ihr Problem mit Ihrer PGN-Datenbank zu verstehen. Giordano ### 2/5 — Gets the job done but poor interface *2017-05-01, version 2.6.7* While the app indeed do what it advertises (store games, add variations for analysis, compare with master games), the UI for navigating the app is very confusing and unintuitive. The app is also rather unpolished, crashing of you select a cell with 0 games associated, and leaving the basic ability to remove a game from a set. Correction: I have since found how to delete a whole database of games, it was just hidden in the weird/bad UI ### 2/5 — Ostile *2014-09-15, version 2.0.7* L'interfaccia è quanto di più sadico si potesse immaginare. Ogni minima operazione costringe l'utente a rompersi i marroni per cercare di interpretare il pensiero dell'autore. Pagine che non si aprono, collegamenti che richiedono acrobazie di ogni genere... Le due stelle, anziché zero, stanno solo a indicare che l'idea di poter scaricare partite da internet era ottima, ma la realizzazione fa sì che l'utente a ogni passo s'interroghi: ma che ho fatto di male per meritare tutto ciò?" Un'occasione perduta. Peccato. ### 3/5 — Good app, but terrible design *2026-02-25, version 4.7.7* Hi! You should make absolutely new universal design for your app. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — 2cbh *2026-04-23, version 4.8.0* Please add 2cbh format support ### 5/5 — This is exactly what I was looking for. *2026-02-26, version 4.7.7* I was previously using Chess Viewer from Everyman, which was not half as good as this one. Also ChessBase mobile app was not very useful for managing pgn’s. This app is very complete with many features and makes it very easy to work on my chess databases. Thanks to the developer, great work! ### 5/5 — Restarting iPad fixed problem. *2026-02-20* When I first installed this app, and tried to use it, there was a problem saving updated game data, and my original review reflected this. Even after selecting ‘Save Game and Exit’, I would see a warning asking me to confirm if I wanted to exit without saving updated game data. If I exited, and went back into the game, my updates were lost. However, for some inexplicable reason, restarting my iPad, due to an unrelated problem, has fixed the issue, and the app is now usable. I’m very happy to be able to update my star rating for an app which is incredibly useful, and great value for the price. I will re-purchase the app if my original refund request is granted. ### 5/5 — Outstanding Chess App! *2026-01-26, version 4.7.4* This is the Swiss Army knife of chess apps! There are so many features built into this app, you’ll just have to explore them all to fully appreciate how much detail has been put into it. It is loaded with settings that allow you to customize the app to your liking. The interface is also very aesthetically pleasing to look at. It excels in PGN database management—which is the primary reason that I use it, including analyzing, annotating, and reviewing both my own games and others from game databases. I purchased both the Chess Studio and Chess Lab apps so that I could move seamlessly between my mobile devices and laptop computer. I was initially looking for a chess app that would work offline and also one where I could adjust the font size of the game moves and annotations. As I use the app, I continue to find that it exceeds my expectations. It is an outstanding value for its broad functionality. I look forward to seeing the amazing refinement that the developer continues putting into this app! ### 5/5 — Jak Fritz 20 *2025-12-29, version 4.7.2* Zdecydowanie najlepszy kombajn szachowy na ios!!!!! ### 5/5 — Love it! *2025-11-29* I wanted to view chess databases from my phone and this app is just what I need. There is a bit of a learning curve but I think I will figure it all out soon. ### 5/5 — Wonderful App - It’s basically SCID for IPhone! *2025-11-17* This App does everything a serious chess player needs to play, train, store, and annotate their chess games in PGN format. It’s really powerful and useful. The only down side is an initial learning curve in how to use it, however this is well worth doing. ### 5/5 — Top! *2025-10-26, version 4.6.8* Super Schach App. Wird von update zu update immer besser. Gibt nix zu meckern ### 5/5 — Comprehensive, professional *2025-10-04* Full featured chess database for analyzing your own and master games. Similar to Chessbase, Hiarcs… And has a feature set to match. Consequently the learning curve for the uninitiated is steep, so you’ll probably be a serious chess player and determined to get the benefits. Personally, I was surprised to see such an app on IOS and it makes it possible to work on your training remotely, since it integrates with iCloud. can’t begin to explain the full range of its capabilities, so I’ll have to leave it that. ### 5/5 — Extraordinaria. *2025-09-19, version 4.6.2* La mejor aplicación para estudiar ajedrez. La utilizo todos los días y es una maravilla. --- *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 2026-08-26.*