Shredder Chess vs Chess Openings Explorer Pro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shredder Chess
Engage in chess matches against a world champion AI, analyze your games, and solve numerous chess puzzles. This app offers adjustable difficulty and human-like play, helping you improve your skills anytime, anywhere.
- Play against adjustable AI strength
- Analyze games and identify mistakes
- Solve 1000 built-in chess puzzles
- Mimics human playing styles
- Automatic strength adjustment
- In-game coach for mistakes
Read full descriptionHide full description
Play better chess with Shredder Chess - the classic chess opponent, trainer and analysis partner for iPhone. Shredder gives you a chess opponent that adapts to your level, from casual beginner to strong club player. Play a quick game, solve tactics, get warned before mistakes and analyze your games to understand where you can improve. Whether you want to learn chess, sharpen your tactics or simply enjoy a good game, Shredder helps you make every move count. Why chess players choose Shredder: • Adaptive playing strength from beginner to master level • Optional auto-adjusting opponent that matches your play • Built-in coach that warns you before mistakes • 1,000 chess puzzles for tactics training • Game analysis to find mistakes and improve your play • Estimated Elo rating with progress diagram • Human-like playing styles, from passive to aggressive • Opening book with more than one million moves • Set up and analyze any position • Save games, share them by email and review later • Multiple boards and pieces • VoiceOver and accessibility support The Shredder chess programs have won 19 World Computer Chess Champion titles, making Shredder one of the most successful names in computer chess. Play a game. Solve a puzzle. Analyze your moves. Get stronger with Shredder Chess.
Chess Openings Explorer Pro
Master chess openings with a comprehensive dictionary and analysis of over 2 million Grandmaster games. Test your knowledge with interactive quizzes and analyze positions using a powerful built-in engine.
- Chess opening dictionary
- Grandmaster game analysis
- Interactive quiz modes
- Position win/loss/draw stats
- Built-in chess engine
- PGN export
Read full descriptionHide full description
Explore chess openings and their variations through a simple and friendly interface, and learn the follow-ups from 2 million+ Grandmaster games! Main features: - Complete dictionary of chess openings and their variations - Browse Grandmaster games associated with each opening - Test your knowledge with various Quiz modes: The app picks an opening and your goal is to either find its name, find which move is best, or play the moves that leads to the opening - Accurate stats for each position: % of wins, losses, draws - Powerful built-in Chess engine (2800+ Elo) to analyze any position - Games can be exported to other apps (PGN format) - Search openings by name or ECO code - Easy to use, simple and clean interface - Full translations in French and German, including opening names - And of course, new features will be added over time!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Chess Openings Explorer Pro at every 3 weeks against Shredder Chess's every 7 months. Chess Openings Explorer Pro also leads on price ($3.99 vs $8.99) and device support (3 vs 1). Shredder Chess's advantage is review sentiment (83% vs 55%). On rating, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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
Shredder Chess costs $8.99 and Chess Openings Explorer Pro $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Shredder Chess against 4.6 for Chess Openings Explorer Pro. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 336 and 357 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of Shredder Chess's written reviews are positive against 55% of Chess Openings Explorer Pro's.
Shredder Chess ships an update every 7 months, Chess Openings Explorer Pro every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Shredder Chess | Chess Openings Explorer Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $8.99 | $3.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (336 ratings) — better | 4.6 (357 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 82.8% of reviews — better | 54.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 336 | 357 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #49 — better | #54 |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 40 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Eiko Bleicher, Skizzix.com | Emmanuel Mathis |
Customer experience
Shredder Chess
Chess Openings Explorer Pro
User reviews
Shredder Chess
From 336 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent chess engine
- 👍 Adjustable difficulty level
- 🎨 Great graphics and interface
- 💡 Helpful puzzles and analysis
- ⚖️ Accurate ELO rating system
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
- 🔒 Lack of online play and multiplayer
- 🔍 Limited opening book and game database
- 📏 Issues with screen size and layout on larger devices
Chess Openings Explorer Pro
From 357 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📚 Extensive database of grandmaster games (2 million+)
- 🎯 Intuitive opening explorer interface
- 📊 Clear visualization of move statistics and win rates
- 🎮 Easy access to replay master games
- 💡 Practical and pedagogical approach to learning openings
Room to improve
- ⚠️ Limited depth - only covers ~5 moves in most lines
- ❌ Lacks built-in chess engine for analysis
- 😕 Confusing user interface for beginners
- 📖 Insufficient documentation and help instructions
- 🤷 Unclear what statistics and percentages mean
Bugs and requests
Shredder Chess
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes when loading new games
- Incorrect move evaluation and scoring
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
Requested features
4 requests- Add online/multiplayer functionality
- Expand game database and opening library
- Improve interface for larger screens
- Provide more detailed analysis and coaching
Chess Openings Explorer Pro
Reported bugs
6 issues- Games fail to load with 'failed to load games' error
- Wrong position displayed when accessing games from position
- Text truncation on opening names (iPhone)
- Incompatibility with older devices (iPad 4)
- App crashes or freezes
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Recent update caused game loading issues
Requested features
12 requests- Built-in chess engine for position evaluation
- Ability to play own moves and get engine feedback
- Play openings against computer opponent
- PGN import functionality
- Quiz mode by opening
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Deeper variant coverage beyond move 5
- Suggest new openings feature
- Engine analysis when opening book ends
- Better explanation of move choices
- Expanded opening database
- Improved text display for full opening names
- More sophisticated sorting options
In-app purchases
Shredder Chess
No in-app purchases
Chess Openings Explorer Pro
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Shredder Chess free?
Is Chess Openings Explorer Pro free?
Which has better reviews, Shredder Chess or Chess Openings Explorer Pro?
Do Shredder Chess or Chess Openings Explorer Pro have ads?
Which is updated more often, Shredder Chess or Chess Openings Explorer Pro?
Which is more popular, Shredder Chess or Chess Openings Explorer Pro?
Other comparisons















