OpenChess vs Knightly Chess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
OpenChess
Master chess openings by playing against a specialized AI. Explore specific defenses or move sequences, and gain insights into positional advantages and piece values. Improve your game from the very first moves.
- Learn specific chess openings
- Play against AI focused on opening lines
- Analyze positional advantages
- Evaluate piece values and mobility
- Understand pawn structure
- Track defended and attacked pieces
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Learn chess openings with OpenChess: An Opening Explorer. Play against the computer, or play as both sides, and be shown the lines that are within any opening that you are interested in learning. Want to learn the Sicilian Defense or the Queen’s Gambit? Choose that category and play against that a computer that only follows lines within that opening category. Wany to focus on learning all of the openings that start with a specific move, such as pawn to “e4”? This category can also be selected, and you can play against a computer that only plays lines that start with “e4”. The chess engine in this app is not Stockfish, and it does not look very far ahead. It is meant to provide a decent base evaluation and allow the majority of the reason behind the evaluation of the current position to be shown to the user. The following information can be shown to the user: • Positional advantages for each piece type (pawn, knight, bishop, rook, queen and king) • Piece value advantages for each color • Mobility scores for each piece where mobility plays a big role (bishop, rook, queen, king) • Pawn advantages and disadvantages (passed pawns, isolated pawns, backwards pawns, doubled pawns) • Total value of pieces attacked by each color as well as total value of pieces defended by each color A lot of chess games are won and lost within the opening moves, this app was designed to help players learn solid openings that either help them gain a winning advantage out of the opening, or at the very least help them not lose due to the opening moves played. Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Knightly Chess
This app analyzes your chess games to identify weaknesses and provides personalized training sessions. It connects to Lichess and Chess.com accounts to track your progress and adapt your learning.
- Personalized training sessions
- Mistake pattern detection
- Opening weakness analysis
- AI coach for move explanations
- Progress tracking and visualization
- Adaptive learning
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Your personalized, AI-powered, nightly chess trainer. Knightly analyzes your games, finds your weak spots, and builds personalized training to fix them. Connect your Lichess and Chess.com accounts and start improving tonight! HOW IT WORKS 1. Connect your chess accounts — Knightly downloads up to 1,000 of your games from Lichess and Chess.com. 2. Deep analysis — Knightly's engines analyze your games to identify opening patterns, thematic patterns and recurring mistakes in your play. 3. Personalized training — Knightly creates daily training sessions targeting your specific weaknesses, from tactical themes like forks and pins to the openings you struggle with most. 4. Track your progress — Watch your skills improve over time as Knightly adapts your training to focus on what matters most. KEY FEATURES (All features require an active subscription. A 2-week free trial is included.) - Mistake Pattern Detection: Discover which types of mistakes you make most frequently and which chess openings and themes give you trouble. - Opening Weakness Analysis: Identify which openings you struggle with and get targeted practice to strengthen those weaknesses. - Daily Personalized Training: Get puzzles and exercises tailored to your specific weaknesses, delivered nightly — or whenever you want. - "Why This Move?" AI Coach: Tap any move to get a plain English explanation of why the engine suggests it. No more mysterious evaluations. - Progress Tracking: Detailed statistics and progress visualizations so you can see your improvement over time. - Adaptive Learning: As you play more games and complete more training, Knightly learns where you've improved and where new weak spots emerge. Your training adapts so you're always working on what matters most. SUBSCRIPTION A subscription unlocks all of Knightly. A 2-week free trial is included — cancel before the trial ends and you won't be billed. Pricing is shown on the subscription screen in the app. TERMS & POLICIES Subscriptions automatically renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. A 2-week free trial is included — if not cancelled before the trial ends, your subscription will automatically convert to a paid plan. You can manage or cancel your subscription in Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.knightlychess.com/privacy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: OpenChess at free with in-app purchases against Knightly Chess's subscription. OpenChess also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.4). On price, rating, ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. OpenChess sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Knightly Chess sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for OpenChess against 5.0 for Knightly Chess. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 2 respectively.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | OpenChess | Knightly Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 2 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 57 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | David Bryant | Encompass Software LLC |
Customer experience
OpenChess
Knightly Chess
In-app purchases
OpenChess
- Tarrasch Defense Opening$0.99
- Trompowsky Attack Opening$0.99
- Scandinavian Defense Opening$0.99
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- Three Knights Opening$0.99
- Zukertort Opening$0.99
- Van't Kruijs Opening$0.99
- Vienna Game Opening$0.99
- Ware Opening$0.99
- Opening Explorer$4.99
- OpenChess Premium$19.99
Knightly Chess
- Knightly Premium Tier Monthly14 Days trial$6.991 Month
- Knightly AI Tier Monthly14 Days trial$8.991 Month
- Knightly Premium Tier Yearly14 Days trial$69.991 Year
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- Knightly AI Tier Yearly14 Days trial$89.991 Year








