Comparison

Chess Notation Lab vs Chess Puzzles & Tactics

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

Enhance your chess skills with an extensive collection of puzzles and tactical exercises. Tailor your training by customizing puzzle difficulty and Elo ratings to target specific weaknesses and accelerate improvement, suitable for players of all levels.

Highlights
  • Infinite chess puzzles
  • Tactics training
  • Customizable puzzles
  • Elo rating adjustment
  • All player levels
  • Extensive tactic list
Features
Read full description

Solve interactive chess positions on the board and find the correct continuation. Train tactics, mating patterns, and endgames. Choose the categories or motifs you want to practice, then set a puzzle Elo range or difficulty that fits your target session. Built for chess players from beginner through advanced. Practice familiar ideas such as forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, sacrifices, promotion, and zugzwang. Develop pattern recognition and calculation through focused puzzle practice.

Screenshots

Chess Notation Lab4 screens
Chess Puzzles & Tactics4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Chess Notation Lab at 5.0 against Chess Puzzles & Tactics's 4.5. Chess Notation Lab also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (100% vs 76%). Chess Puzzles & Tactics's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and ratings volume (485 vs 6). On price, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Chess Notation Lab sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Chess Puzzles & Tactics sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chess Notation Lab holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Puzzles & Tactics has 485 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Chess Notation Lab's written reviews are positive against 76% of Chess Puzzles & Tactics's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Notation Lab ships an update every 3 days, Chess Puzzles & Tactics weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Chess Notation Lab versus Chess Puzzles & Tactics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess Notation LabChess Puzzles & Tactics
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better4.5 (485 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better75.7% of reviews
Number of ratings6485 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterWeekly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB89 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNishat MajidSajed Nahian

Customer experience

Chess Notation Lab

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

All ratings485 ratings
Positive85.8%
Neutral4.3%
Negative9.9%
Written reviews37 reviews
Positive75.7%
Neutral5.4%
Negative18.9%

Bugs and requests

Chess Notation Lab

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • Unable to login
  • Application resets to starting value (1000elo)
  • History/review chapters remain unlocked
  • In-application feedback not functioning
  • Rating feature broke
Show 13 more
  • Ability to control puzzle strength broke
  • Scanning thing after opening app continues forever
  • App resets ELO to 1000
  • Undo button disappears
  • Tapping to select a piece stops working
  • Analysis breaks
  • Viewing history doesn’t work
  • App crashes
  • View History tab page never loads
  • App forgets login and starts from ELO = 0
  • Analysis button messed up
  • App hangs after pressing 'log in'
  • Puzzles freeze, no way of moving pieces

Requested features

4 requests
  • Option to mute sounds
  • Ability to disable audio
  • Allow loading custom puzzle sets
  • Better interface and cable

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Chess Notation Lab

One-time1
  • Full Version$9.99
1 purchases

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

One-time1
  • Ad-Free Forever$3.99

Questions

Is Chess Notation Lab free?
Chess Notation Lab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chess Puzzles & Tactics free?
Chess Puzzles & Tactics is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess Notation Lab or Chess Puzzles & Tactics?
Chess Notation Lab is rated higher. Chess Notation Lab averages 5.0 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Chess Puzzles & Tactics averages 4.5 from 485 ratings.
Do Chess Notation Lab or Chess Puzzles & Tactics have ads?
Chess Puzzles & Tactics shows ads; Chess Notation Lab does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess Notation Lab or Chess Puzzles & Tactics?
Chess Notation Lab ships an update every 3 days, and Chess Puzzles & Tactics weekly. Most recently, Chess Notation Lab was updated on October 14, 2026 and Chess Puzzles & Tactics on October 17, 2026.

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