Starchess vs Chess Notation Lab
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Starchess
Experience chess with a unique twist on a three-dimensional board. Pieces gain new movement capabilities, allowing for strategic plays in up, down, and diagonal directions. Enjoy a fresh challenge to your chess skills.
- Three-dimensional chess board
- Traditional chess rules
- Expanded piece movement (up, down, diagonal)
- Unique strategic gameplay
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Starchess has all of the same rules as traditional chess but now on a three-dimensional board. Pieces can move up, down and diagonally.
Chess Notation Lab
Master chess board coordinates and piece movement with this training app. Improve your ability to visualize moves, read notation, and understand square colors. Designed to enhance your chess calculations and potentially boost your rating.
- Identify squares by coordinate
- Fluid piece movement visualization
- Translate moves to notation
- Identify square color
- Orient on the board
- Speed up calculation
- Blind chess practice
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Welcome to Chess Notation Lab! Are you struggling to identify squares, remember sequences, and follow chess notations? Do you have trouble visualizing Bishop diagonals? Or Knight jumps? Or worse, mapping the available moves for the Queen to get/avoid a deadly fork? This training app is designed to end this misery. There are 2 training modes, each with 5 unique training sessions carefully designed to dramatically uplift your mastery over chess squares and fluid piece movement. A small dose of regular practice will empower you to: 1. Spot a square as soon as you hear or see its coordinate 2. Fluidly move any piece around the board, even without a board 3. Translate a sequence of moves into their notation with ease 4. Immediately identify the color of a square 5. Stay oriented regardless of whether you're white or black 6. Follow along with chess tutorials, books, or discussions at ease and comfort 7. Massively speed up your thought process on any calculation 8. Finally, start playing blind chess! Don't be surprised if you experience a sudden surge in rating simply by improving your square reading skills. The free version is already effective enough to significantly boost your chess career. However, if you want to support me and get the full version, first of all, thanks!! And then just a one-time purchase will unlock: - Longer time controls - Untimed practice mode - Milestones and Achievements and - Complete visualization of your records - Compete with friends over the complete leaderboards There will be no ads, neither in the full version nor in the free one. Just a beautiful and satisfyingly addictive path to mastering squares. The level of comfort you will feel about talking, reading or even thinking about chess is, believe me, just priceless. Caution: If you are rated below 1500, this app may be less useful for you, and tactics training should be prioritized.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Starchess at none against Chess Notation Lab's 1. Starchess also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.6). Chess Notation Lab's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (6 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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
Both are free to download. Chess Notation Lab sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Starchess asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Starchess against 5.0 for Chess Notation Lab. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Notation Lab has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Starchess ships an update every 4 months, Chess Notation Lab every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Starchess | Chess Notation Lab |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 6 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nathan Lane | Nishat Majid |
Customer experience
Starchess
Chess Notation Lab
In-app purchases
Starchess
No in-app purchases
Chess Notation Lab
- Full Version$9.99
Questions
Is Starchess free?
Is Chess Notation Lab free?
Which has better reviews, Starchess or Chess Notation Lab?
Do Starchess or Chess Notation Lab have ads?
Which is updated more often, Starchess or Chess Notation Lab?
Other comparisons
