Chess Openings Wizard vs Chess Opener PRO
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chess Openings Wizard
This app helps tournament chess players prepare their openings by designing and testing their knowledge of specific lines. It offers powerful editing and training tools, syncing with desktop versions and providing Stockfish analysis for move validation. Prepare openings quickly with tools refined over decades.
- Design and test chess openings
- Full editing and training power
- Syncs with Mac and Windows versions
- Stockfish analysis via PocketGM server
- Pedigree ribbon shows top player game results
- Fast opening preparation tools
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Chess Openings Wizard is where tournament players go to work on their openings. The app is based on the Bookup program that first came out in 1984. The app has full editing and training power like its brethren apps on Macintosh and Windows. Openings can be moved back and forth to the Macintosh, Windows, and Android versions. Chess Openings Wizard does not play chess, nor does it come with a game collection. It is meant for designing openings for White and defenses for Black, and then testing the player's knowledge of the lines by playing mock games. Sample ebooks include an opening guide (thousands of named and categorized opening positions accessible through any move order), an ECO master framework, and the White and Black repertoires of Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, and Robert Fischer. It also includes a demo ebook with excerpts from a highly annotated repertoire in the Open Game. Chess Openings Wizard has a dedicated PocketGM server giving you full speed Stockfish analysis. (Internet connection required.) The Pedigree ribbon shows the results of games in each opening position but uses only games between two super GMs. That way you know if the move is trusted by the best players. (And it's important to know if a move has never been played by a super GM when facing another super GM.) This is the same feature found in Chess Openings Wizard Professional for Macintosh and Windows. The short version is: if you are designing an opening with a game database app or with a playing program, you're working too hard. Chess Openings Wizard contains 42 years of refinements, with precisely the tools that a tournament player requires to prepare openings fast.
Chess Opener PRO
Master chess openings with a comprehensive trainer and explorer. Analyze grandmaster repertoires, build your own opening lines, and memorize variations with interactive training. Works offline with no ads.
- Chess opening tree with statistics
- Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (ECO)
- Grandmaster repertoire database
- Stockfish engine analysis
- Interactive opening trainer
- Build and manage opening repertoire
- PGN import/export
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Features: - Chess opening tree with game statistics - The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (ECO) - Database of top 100+ grandmasters’ repertoires - Stockfish chess engine analysis - Compare ECO, opening tree and engine moves side by side in any position - Import and export chess openings in PGN format - Build your own opening repertoire - Add or edit comments on moves - Automatically classify any sequence of moves using the ECO system - Chess opening explorer highlights moves already in your repertoire - Chess database includes all transpositions - Interactive trainer to memorize your chess openings and variations - Train multiple variations at once against random opponent moves from your repertoire - Set up a starting position for training - Track your training progress - Customize chessboard colors and chess pieces - Supports dark mode - No ads - Works completely offline CHESS OPENING EXPLORER Search in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, browse the chess opening tree, explore the opening repertoires of famous chess grandmasters, or ask the chess engine to find the best moves. Swipe left or right to switch between the exploration features in any position. BUILD YOUR OPENING REPERTOIRE Add your favorite opening lines to your repertoire using the chess opening explorer or import your openings in PGN format from other chess programs. You can always edit the names of your openings and organize them in your repertoire. OPENING TRAINER A simple and efficient method to memorize variations of openings in your repertoire. You can train either white’s moves or black’s moves only or both. Optionally, you can train all variations at once. The trainer chooses the opponent’s moves randomly from your opening repertoire. Chess Opener tracks your progress and shows your stats.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Chess Openings Wizard at 5.0 against Chess Opener PRO's 4.4. Chess Openings Wizard also leads on chart position (#127 vs unranked) and price ($6.99 vs $8.99). Chess Opener PRO's advantage is review sentiment (76% vs 55%) and ratings volume (79 vs 4). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 Openings Wizard costs $6.99 and Chess Opener PRO $8.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Chess Openings Wizard holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Opener PRO has 79 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 55% of Chess Openings Wizard's written reviews are positive against 76% of Chess Opener PRO's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Chess Openings Wizard ships an update every 2 months, Chess Opener PRO every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on November 7, 2026.
| Parameter | Chess Openings Wizard | Chess Opener PRO |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $6.99 — better | $8.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better | 4.4 (79 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 54.5% of reviews | 75.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 79 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #127 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 167 MB | 149 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bookup Corp. | Stanislav Basovnik |
Customer experience
Chess Openings Wizard
Chess Opener PRO
Bugs and requests
Chess Openings Wizard
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Chess Opener PRO
Reported bugs
6 issues- Invalid PGN import
- Crashes quite often
- Repeats same variation
- Cannot review lines while training
- App not functioning with iOS 16.7.4
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- PGN import is tedious and doesn't support variants
Requested features
12 requests- Include position setting
- Start study from a later position
- Multiple folders for simultaneous practice
- Option to switch between figure visibility modes (normal, queen pieces, none)
- Blindfold practice option
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- Show +1 for capturing a pawn
- iCloud sync across devices
- Organize repertoires (move, sort, add folders)
- Predefine variants not to reappear during training
- User guide or help information
- Support for split screen
- Fix compatibility with iOS 16.7.4
In-app purchases
Chess Openings Wizard
No in-app purchases
Chess Opener PRO
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chess Openings Wizard free?
Is Chess Opener PRO free?
Which has better reviews, Chess Openings Wizard or Chess Opener PRO?
Do Chess Openings Wizard or Chess Opener PRO have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chess Openings Wizard or Chess Opener PRO?
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