Comparison

Chess Notation Lab vs Chess Tactics Trainer

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 Tactics Trainer

Features
Read full description

Solve chess puzzles blindfold - no board, just the piece list. Chess Tactics Trainer lets you build the position in your head, calculate the winning line and tap in your move. Few exercises sharpen visualisation and calculation as much - and you get the same training on the board too. BLINDFOLD TRAINING - THE HEART OF THE APP No board, only the piece list: "White: Kg1, Re7, Bc3 ...". You picture the position, find the best move and enter it with compact keys: the piece (none for a pawn), then file and rank of the destination square - for example Re8. Castling has its own keys. Nothing gives the answer away, because you no longer pick from a list of legal moves - you announce your move just like in a real blindfold game. - 5,000 blindfold puzzles, difficulty rising gradually from 600 to 2500 Elo - Optional strict mode: a move that is impossible in the position counts as a wrong answer - Separate blindfold rating, so you can see how your visualisation improves - The input screen fits completely even on small iPhones - no scrolling, full focus on the position TRAIN WITH BOARD The position is in front of you. Drag a piece directly or select the origin and destination squares. From 200,000 puzzles the app draws positions rated within 50 points of your current rating - challenging, never overwhelming. CHECK AGAINST STOCKFISH If not everything was right in a session, you can replay the position and try your own line. Stockfish answers at full strength and shows the evaluation after every move - so you work out yourself why your move fails, instead of just being shown the solution. YOUR RATING After every session the app calculates your new rating using the FIDE Elo method: each puzzle counts as an opponent with its own rating, K factor 20, and your thinking time affects the result. You start at 1200 on the board and 600 blindfold. STATISTICS Every session becomes a visible stage: rating history, accuracy, average time, personal best and the next milestone. So you can see where you stand and what comes next. 8 LANGUAGES The app is available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Ukrainian. Switch the language directly in the app at any time - independent of your device settings. NO DISTRACTIONS - No ads - No subscription - a single purchase - No account, no sign-in - Fully usable offline, on a plane or on the train - iPhone and iPad FREE TRIAL AND FULL VERSION 30 board puzzles and 10 blindfold puzzles are free. The full version permanently unlocks all 200,000 board puzzles and all 5,000 blindfold puzzles. Buy once, no subscription - restorable on every device using the same Apple Account.

Screenshots

Chess Notation Lab4 screens
Chess Tactics Trainer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chess Tactics Trainer at none against Chess Notation Lab's 1. Chess Tactics Trainer also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). Chess Notation Lab's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Chess Notation Lab sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chess Tactics Trainer asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Notation Lab ships an update every 3 days, Chess Tactics Trainer every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Chess Notation Lab versus Chess Tactics Trainer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess Notation LabChess Tactics Trainer
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB100 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNishat MajidElisabeth Zuyeva

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Chess Notation Lab

One-time1
  • Full Version$9.99
None

Chess Tactics Trainer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chess Notation Lab free?
Chess Notation Lab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chess Tactics Trainer free?
Chess Tactics Trainer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Chess Notation Lab or Chess Tactics Trainer have ads?
Neither Chess Notation Lab nor Chess Tactics Trainer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chess Notation Lab or Chess Tactics Trainer?
Chess Notation Lab ships an update every 3 days, and Chess Tactics Trainer every 3 weeks. Most recently, Chess Notation Lab was updated on October 14, 2026 and Chess Tactics Trainer on October 8, 2026.

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