Comparison

Chess Notation Lab Pro vs StonePath

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

Head to head
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.

About

StonePath

This app is a dedicated trainer for the 9x9 Go board, offering interactive play for openings, shapes, and master games. It provides detailed move analysis and multiple AI opponents, all running locally on your device.

Highlights
  • Interactive 9x9 Go board play
  • AI opponents from 20K to 1D
  • Detailed move analysis and verdicts
  • Live opening book with KataGo evaluations
  • 1,958 Go problems, including classics
  • Life-and-death shape training
Features
Read full description

StonePath is a 9x9 Go trainer. Not a book, not a collection of diagrams โ€” every position on every screen is a board you play on. WHY 9x9 The small board is usually treated as a warm-up for 19x19. StonePath is built around 9x9, and on a board this size the engine can look deep: the app ships 23,915 positions rated by KataGo. NOTHING TO READ โ€” PLAY IT OUT Shapes, openings, problems and master games are all live boards. Tap an attacking move in a corner shape and the line plays out, with the opponent answering. Play off the book and the move is not refused: the board hands you free play, so you can try your own idea and watch how it ends. Master games step through move by move, and where the book gives a variation, one tap replaces the rest of the game with it. A 9x9 OPENING BOOK, EVERY POSITION RATED 43 openings in four families, 229 branches, 1,613 positions โ€” every one with a KataGo evaluation: win rate and score. THE BOOK DOESN'T STOP WHERE THE DIAGRAM STOPS Two computed layers sit on top of it. 1,745 positions carry the engine's verdict on every reasonable continuation past the last book move, so you can keep playing and see why the best move is best. 20,557 more answer a different question: you just gave away the advantage โ€” here are the three strongest ways to punish it. TEN OPPONENTS FROM 20K TO 1D The bots are not just Go engines running a shallow search. They use KataGo's network trained on human games: each bot picks moves the way players at its rank do. Each bot's strength was measured in games against a Go program whose rating is known from games with human players. The results place every bot close to its stated rank on both 9x9 and 13x13. The same ten opponents play on both board sizes. EVERY MOVE, NAMED After a game each of your moves gets a verdict on one scale: best, great, good, inaccuracy, mistake, blunder. The thresholds are set in points and tuned for 9x9, and on 13x13 they grow with the board โ€” losing four points on 81 intersections is not the same mistake as on 361. HELP WHILE YOU PLAY Three layers you can switch on mid-game: the three best moves lettered on the board, who is ahead and by how much, and the territory map. 1,958 PROBLEMS, 1,932 OF THEM CLASSICS Gokyo Shumyo (1812) and Guanzi Pu (1660) โ€” the collections generations of players learned from. Difficulty is measured for every problem, and the next one is chosen for your level. ALSO INSIDE 96 life-and-death shapes, named and settled. Techniques and theory written for the 9x9 board. Chinese or Japanese rules, your choice. A full KataGo engine running on the Neural Engine โ€” no server, no account, no internet. On an iPhone 15 Pro it evaluates 531 positions per second, faster than a rented GTX 1080. WHAT STONEPATH IS NOT No 19x19 play against the bot, no online play against people. StonePath is not all of Go โ€” it is learning to play, on the board small enough to understand whole. FREE, AND WHAT THE SUBSCRIPTION ADDS Free forever: the lessons, the 9x9 theory, the whole opening book, two opponents, and the start of every problem and shape section. The first seven days open everything. StonePath Pro adds the engine: position evaluations, the three best moves lettered on the board, play past the end of the book, punishment for a bad move, the territory map, game review, adaptive training, all ten opponents and all 1,958 problems. $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year. Payment is charged to your Apple ID; the subscription renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends, and is managed in your Apple ID settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://kai-go.com/privacy

Screenshots

Chess Notation Lab Pro4 screens
StonePath4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: StonePath at Free against Chess Notation Lab Pro's $9.99. Chess Notation Lab Pro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

StonePath is free to download; Chess Notation Lab Pro costs $9.99 up front. StonePath sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Chess Notation Lab Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 5 level
Chess Notation Lab Pro versus StonePath: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess Notation Lab ProStonePath
Price$9.99Free โ€” better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases โ€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.617.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size25 MB244 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNishat MajidAlexey Volvak

Customer experience

Chess Notation Lab Pro

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

StonePath

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

In-app purchases

None

Chess Notation Lab Pro

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

StonePath

Subscriptions2
  • StonePath Pro - Monthly$4.991 Month
  • StonePath Pro - Yearly$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Chess Notation Lab Pro free?
Chess Notation Lab Pro costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is StonePath free?
StonePath is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Chess Notation Lab Pro or StonePath have ads?
Neither Chess Notation Lab Pro nor StonePath shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chess Notation Lab Pro or StonePath?
Chess Notation Lab Pro ships an update weekly, and StonePath weekly. Most recently, Chess Notation Lab Pro was updated on September 23, 2026 and StonePath on October 9, 2026.

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