Comparison

Chess Training vs Lotus Chess

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Chess Training

This platform offers structured chess training with AI opponents, Grandmaster-created lessons, and personalized puzzles. It caters to all skill levels, from beginners to advanced players, providing guidance and tactical exercises for improvement and tournament preparation.

Highlights
  • Structured learning paths
  • Grandmaster-created lessons
  • Human-like AI opponents
  • Personalized puzzle system
  • Virtual coach guidance
  • Tournament preparation tools
Features
Read full description

Eight minutes a day. That's the whole idea. Chess improvement is a habit, not a library, and a habit has to fit in the gaps of a real day. 8chess gives you one small, focused session — three lessons and a few puzzles — instead of a catalogue to get lost in. YOUR LESSONS, CHOSEN FOR YOU Every morning you get three lessons picked for your level. You don't browse, you don't decide, you don't wonder whether you're studying the right thing. Open the app and start. The set changes daily and mixes openings, tactics, endgames and strategy, so you're never grinding the same theme for a week. Finished lessons stay on screen, so the day's progress is something you can see. Found one you loved? Save it. Saved lessons stay one tap away. UNLIMITED PUZZLES Tactics are how pattern recognition gets built, so there's no daily cap. Solve five or fifty. Your puzzle rating adjusts as you go, and the difficulty follows. STARTING FROM ZERO If you've never played, say so when you sign up. You'll get a guided track that teaches how the pieces move, in order, at your pace — and when you finish it, the daily lessons take over automatically. MATCHED TO YOUR LEVEL Set your level and the lessons follow. Move it up when the material feels easy; the next day's set adjusts immediately. WHAT'S INSIDE More than 3,500 lessons across openings, tactics, endgames and strategy, plus a foundation track for absolute beginners. Every lesson is interactive: you play the moves on the board and get commentary as you go. FREE AND PREMIUM Free accounts get unlimited puzzles, the complete beginner track, and one lesson a day. Premium unlocks the full daily set and the entire library. Choose how many lessons you want each day and the app delivers that many. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION 8chess offers auto-renewable subscriptions. Payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel subscriptions in your account settings after purchase. Terms: https://app.8chess.app/docs/terms Privacy: https://app.8chess.app/docs/privacy

About

Lotus Chess

Master chess openings, tactics, and endgames with a personalized training system. Analyze your games, identify weaknesses, and learn winning strategies against human opponents. Improve your chess skills from beginner to competitive levels.

Highlights
  • Personalized opening courses from your games
  • Import games from Chess.com/Lichess
  • Master endgames with step-by-step lessons
  • 100,000+ chess puzzles
  • Offline access to lessons
  • In-depth game analysis
Features
Read full description

Lotus Chess is a powerful chess training app designed to help you improve faster than any other chess learning app. It provides a complete system for mastering openings, tactics, and endgames. Join more than 250.000 chess learners across the world — from beginners starting with the fundamentals to competitive players with 2300 Elo. Unlike most apps — which focus on engine-perfect theory — Lotus Chess teaches attacking chess that helps you win against human opponents. --- Opening Training Built for Real Games Lotus Chess analyzes up to 3000 of your online games, identifies your weaknesses, and creates a personalized, tailored course to make your openings bulletproof. Lotus Chess teaches you crushing lines that exploit common mistakes, instead of showing you boring theoretical lines that rarely happen in actual games. To do this, Lotus Chess’ AI has analyzed 100.000.000+ games to identify the lines that give you the highest win probability against real players. Opening Features • Personalized opening courses generated from your own games • Import games from Chess.com or Lichess for automatic analysis • Identify your most common opening mistakes • Train openings repeatedly until they become natural • Learn from a library of 80+ openings --- Master the Endgame Endgames decide a huge number of chess games, yet they are often the most neglected part of training. Lotus Chess includes a complete endgame course designed to teach practical endgame technique step-by-step. Endgame Training Includes • 60+ detailed lessons • Fundamental checkmates (queen, rook, etc.) • Advanced techniques like building the bridge • 180+ training positions to practice against a human-like engine Instead of only studying theory, you get to play and convert winning positions to reinforce what you’ve learned. --- Additional Features • All Endgame and Opening Lessons work offline (Great for the airplane and your commute) • 100,000+ chess puzzles • In-depth analysis of your online games • Personalized training recommendations --- Built by Chess Players Lotus Chess was created by two brothers who started playing chess at age four. After building a math learning app with over 6 million downloads, they set out to create the ultimate chess learning platform. The result is Lotus Chess: a modern chess training system that combines opening preparation, endgame mastery, and personalized analysis — which is now being used by over 250.000 learners across the world. Privacy Policy & Terms of Use: https://www.lotus-chess.com/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Chess Training4 screens
Lotus Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Lotus Chess at 1K against Chess Training's 4. Lotus Chess also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Chess Training sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Lotus Chess sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Chess Training against 4.9 for Lotus Chess. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lotus Chess has 1K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 94% of Chess Training's written reviews are positive against 87% of Lotus Chess's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Training ships an update every 4 days, Lotus Chess weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Chess Training versus Lotus Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess TrainingLotus Chess
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (4 ratings) — better4.9 (1K ratings)
Positive reviews93.8% of reviews — better86.8% of reviews
Number of ratings41K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB246 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRafael LeiteLotus Chess UG

Customer experience

Chess Training

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive93.8%
Neutral3.1%
Negative3.1%

Lotus Chess

All ratings1,042 ratings
Positive97.0%
Neutral1.6%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews250 reviews
Positive86.8%
Neutral7.6%
Negative5.6%

Bugs and requests

Chess Training

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Lotus Chess

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Library to explain the WHY behind the moves
  • Link to an online library
  • Ability to remove pre-selected openings
  • Review of daily correspondence games

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Chess Training

Subscriptions5
  • 8chess Monthly Premium$2.991 Month
  • Monthly Plan$6.991 Month
  • Annual Plan SPECIAL 35% OFF$24.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • 8chess Annual Plan$24.991 Year
  • Annual Plan$39.991 Year
4 purchases

Lotus Chess

Subscriptions4
  • Pro Subscription - 1 Month7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Pro Subscription - 1 Month7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Pro Subscription - 1 Year7 Days trial$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro Subscription - 1 Year7 Days trial$69.991 Year

Questions

Is Chess Training free?
Chess Training is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Lotus Chess free?
Lotus Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess Training or Lotus Chess?
Chess Training is rated higher. Chess Training averages 5.0 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Lotus Chess averages 4.9 from 1K ratings.
Do Chess Training or Lotus Chess have ads?
Neither Chess Training nor Lotus Chess shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chess Training or Lotus Chess?
Chess Training ships an update every 4 days, and Lotus Chess weekly. Most recently, Chess Training was updated on September 17, 2026 and Lotus Chess on September 26, 2026.

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