Comparison

Board Brain vs Chess Notation Lab Pro

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

Head to head
About

Board Brain

This app helps chess players of all levels enhance their skills through interactive games and exercises. It focuses on mastering chessboard coordinates, understanding piece movements, and recognizing square colors to improve overall game vision.

Highlights
  • Interactive games
  • Skill-building exercises
  • Chessboard coordinate mastery
  • Piece movement understanding
  • Square color recognition
Features
Read full description

BoardBrain is designed to help both novice and experienced chess players improve their skills. It offers interactive games and exercises that focus on mastering chessboard coordinates, understanding piece movements, and recognizing square colors.

About

Chess Notation Lab Pro

Master chess board coordinates and piece movement with interactive training modes. Improve your ability to visualize moves, read notation, and speed up calculations for a stronger game.

Highlights
  • Identify squares by coordinate
  • Visualize piece movement
  • Translate moves to notation
  • Identify square color
  • Two training modes
  • Untimed practice mode
  • Global leaderboards
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! There are well thought out features everywhere, like different time controls for training, untimed practice mode, hints and tips during gameplay, achievements and milestones, global leaderboards and a complete visualization of your records. Don't be surprised if you see a sudden surge of rating simply increasing your strength on square reading. This is a beautiful and satisfyingly addictive way to master over the chessboard. Caution: If you are rated below 1500, this app may be less useful for you, and tactics training should be prioritized.

Screenshots

Board Brain4 screens
Chess Notation Lab Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Board Brain at Free against Chess Notation Lab Pro's $9.99. Board Brain also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). On update cadence, ads, 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

Board Brain is free to download; Chess Notation Lab Pro costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Board Brain ships an update every 6 days, Chess Notation Lab Pro weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 12, 2026 and September 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Board Brain versus Chess Notation Lab Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBoard BrainChess Notation Lab Pro
PriceFree — better$9.99
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB25 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSelvarajan ThangavelNishat Majid

Customer experience

Board Brain

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Chess Notation Lab Pro

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Board Brain

No in-app purchases

None

Chess Notation Lab Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Board Brain free?
Board Brain is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Notation Lab Pro free?
Chess Notation Lab Pro costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Board Brain or Chess Notation Lab Pro have ads?
Neither Board Brain nor Chess Notation Lab Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Board Brain or Chess Notation Lab Pro?
Board Brain ships an update every 6 days, and Chess Notation Lab Pro weekly. Most recently, Board Brain was updated on September 12, 2026 and Chess Notation Lab Pro on September 7, 2026.

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