Comparison

SixFour Chess vs ChessLab

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

Head to head
About

SixFour Chess

Read full description

SixFour Chess is a refined chess app built for simple, focused play on iPhone. Play locally against the AI, enjoy a clean and accessible interface, and review your finished games move by move. SixFour keeps the experience clear and distraction-free, with thoughtful design and modern mobile controls. Features Play Locally Against the AI Enjoy a smooth and focused chess experience without creating an account. Five Difficulty Levels Choose from five AI levels, including Master difficulty with online analysis for a stronger challenge. Three Hints Per Game Get limited help during a game to guide your next move. Replay Finished Games Review your completed games with local history and move-by-move board replay. Full Chess Rules Play with castling, en passant, promotion, threefold repetition, and the fifty-move rule. Built for iPhone Enjoy haptic feedback, sound effects, and a clean interface designed for mobile play. Accessible by Design SixFour supports VoiceOver and is available in English, French, and Italian. Privacy First No ads. No tracking without your consent.

About

ChessLab

Features
Read full description

ChessLab is a complete chess companion for iPhone and iPad: play, analyze, train and experiment, with the Stockfish engine built in and without ever leaving the app. HUMAN OPPONENTS Nine characters played by Maia-3, a network trained on millions of human games: it does not look for the best move, it plays the one a human of that level would play, blunders included. Each has a style, a repertoire, a temperament, a portrait, and an adjustable level on the human scale. Or take on Stockfish itself, from beginner (~900 Elo) to maximum (~3190 Elo). With or without a clock. Hints, a warning before risky moves, and an evaluation bar can all be toggled on demand. TWO PLAYERS Play locally on the same device, with a "pass-and-play" mode that flips the pieces so both players read the board comfortably. ANALYZE Run a game or a position through Stockfish: move-by-move classification (inaccuracy, mistake, blunder, brilliant moveโ€ฆ), an evaluation graph, best-move and opponent-threat arrows, and auto-play through the moves. Import by PGN, FEN, position editor, or photo scanner. OPENINGS Pick an opening and step through it move by move: every move is explained, the alternatives are offered, and colored arrows link the board to the move list. 58 hand-written openings (bilingual), all reviewed by the engine, with simplified spaced-repetition training to memorize them. THE ENDGAME CORNER 78 courses proven by endgame tablebases โ€” the exact mathematical verdict: no taught move gives up a win, no recommended defence loses a draw. Nine families, from the opposition to famous studies. And free training: finish the position against best defence, where any move that preserves the verdict is accepted โ€” not just the lesson's move. VARIANTS Chess960 (Fischer Random Chess): a randomly drawn starting position, one chosen by number, or one you compose yourself, with a full post-game analysis just like "Play" mode. Eleven more variants against the computer, each with its own analysis: King of the Hill, Three-Check, Horde, Racing Kings, Atomic, Antichess, Crazyhouse, Stolen Move (a token every 7 moves lets you play twice in a row), Duck Chess, Barricades and Random Barricades. YOUR OWN REPERTOIRES Import your openings as PGN, variations included, and drill them with the same system. Share a repertoire as a single file โ€” no account, no server. What you already know about a position counts right away in the imported repertoire. PUZZLES Over 100,000 tactics puzzles from the Lichess database, filterable by rating and theme, plus puzzles generated automatically from your own mistakes in analysis. Spaced repetition and progress tracking included. LABORATORY Pit two Stockfish configurations against each other over a series of games to compare their strength, with an estimated Elo gap and confidence interval. EDITOR AND SCANNER Set up a position by hand, or scan it from a screenshot or a photo โ€” review and correct the recognized position before playing or analyzing it. BUILT FOR IPAD Full-size board with move list, graph and MultiPV visible at once, keyboard and trackpad support, polished portrait and landscape layouts. iCLOUD SYNC (optional) Turn on iCloud sync in Settings so your games follow you across all your devices, via your private iCloud. No account to create, no ChessLab server. Off by default: the app works fully offline. PRIVACY Offline by default: no ChessLab server, no analytics, no ads. Your games and settings stay on your device. iCloud sync, if you enable it, uses your own private iCloud โ€” your data is never shared with the developer. Fully bilingual, French and English. ChessLab embeds the Stockfish engine (GPLv3 license), the University of Toronto's Maia-3 network (AGPLv3 license) and free vector piece sets โ€” cburnett (GPLv2+/CC BY-SA), chessnut (Apache 2.0) and merida (GPLv2+). Full source code and license notices are available from within the app (Settings โ†’ Licenses).

Screenshots

SixFour Chess4 screens
ChessLab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: ChessLab at weekly against SixFour Chess's every 2 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SixFour Chess ships an update every 2 months, ChessLab weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
SixFour Chess versus ChessLab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSixFour ChessChessLab
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad โ€” better
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better18.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size10 MB169 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdouani SASThierry Maeder

In-app purchases

None

SixFour Chess

No in-app purchases

None

ChessLab

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SixFour Chess free?
SixFour Chess is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ChessLab free?
ChessLab is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do SixFour Chess or ChessLab have ads?
Neither SixFour Chess nor ChessLab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SixFour Chess or ChessLab?
SixFour Chess ships an update every 2 months, and ChessLab weekly. Most recently, SixFour Chess was updated on October 5, 2026 and ChessLab on October 19, 2026.

Other comparisons