Chess Openings Wizard vs Chess Visualization
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 Visualization
Enhance your chess calculation and visualization skills with over 1.1 million offline puzzles. Train to see moves ahead, master tactics, and improve your endgame play. Learn from mistakes and track progress with a unique reward system.
- Visualize up to 25 moves ahead
- Over 1.1 million offline puzzles
- Rating ladder for skill progression
- Tactical themes and mating patterns
- Endgame practice against engine
- Mistake review and training
- Progress tracking with badges
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Chess Visualization is a complete training gym for the skill that decides many games: seeing the position before it appears on the board. THE BLUNDER CURE Many games are not lost to brilliance. They are lost to a piece left hanging. How can you blunder a piece next move when you have trained yourself to see many moves past it? Blunders are failures of sight, not knowledge — build the habit of looking further than your opponent and they quietly disappear from your games. SEE FURTHER THAN YOUR OPPONENT Visualize from 2 moves ahead up to 25, with audio read-back of every move so you can train your calculation with your eyes off the board. OVER 1.3 MILLION PUZZLES, ALWAYS OFFLINE The entire puzzle library lives on your device. Train at 35,000 feet, on the beach, or anywhere without a signal. FIND YOUR LEVEL AND CLIMB Rating ladder groups serve up random puzzles sorted into 200-point Elo bins, from under 600 all the way past 3000. Find your level, train slightly above it, master it, and move up. Difficulty also scales across five presets: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert and Titled Player. TACTICS, OPENINGS AND MATING PATTERNS Advanced tactical themes including collinear moves, deflection, interference and many more. Plus 19 distinct checkmating patterns, mate-in-1 through mate-in-5 challenges, and puzzles from 31 popular openings. ENDGAME MASTERY Many pre-defined endgame categories such as "King + 3 pawns vs. King + 2 pawns" or "Rook + 2 pawns vs. Rook + 3 pawns". Optionally play them out against the built-in engine until the technique is automatic. ENGINE ANALYSIS A built-in chess engine lets you analyze any position after you solve it, so you understand not just the answer but the reason behind it. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES Every puzzle you miss is automatically collected in a dedicated group for review and repeated training, so weaknesses become strengths. STAY MOTIVATED A unique badge reward system tracks your progress and keeps you coming back to train. MAKE IT YOURS Customize your home view and pin only the puzzle sets you care about for instant access to your favorites. ON IPHONE AND IPAD Designed for both screens, with a large board and side panels on iPad. Your training statistics sync through iCloud, and one Premium subscription covers both devices. Download Chess Visualization and start calculating like a stronger player. Chess Visualization is free to use, with 10 puzzles to solve every day, indefinitely. An optional Premium subscription removes the daily limit. Privacy Policy: https://rfbroadband.github.io/Chess-Visualization-Legal/PrivacyPolicy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Chess Visualization at Free against Chess Openings Wizard's $6.99. Chess Visualization also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months). Chess Openings Wizard's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). On rating, ratings volume, ads and device support 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 Visualization is free to download; Chess Openings Wizard costs $6.99 up front. Chess Visualization sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Chess Openings Wizard asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Chess Openings Wizard against 5.0 for Chess Visualization. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 4 respectively.
Chess Openings Wizard ships an update every 2 months, Chess Visualization every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess Openings Wizard | Chess Visualization |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $6.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 54.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Freemium — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 167 MB | 714 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bookup Corp. | Oliver Werther |
Customer experience
Chess Openings Wizard
Chess Visualization
In-app purchases
Chess Openings Wizard
No in-app purchases
Chess Visualization
- Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
- Premium Annual$49.991 Year
- Ambassador AccessFree
- Titled Player 12 Months Pass$0.29
- Titled Player 6 Months Pass$0.29
Questions
Is Chess Openings Wizard free?
Is Chess Visualization free?
Which has better reviews, Chess Openings Wizard or Chess Visualization?
Do Chess Openings Wizard or Chess Visualization have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chess Openings Wizard or Chess Visualization?
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