Comparison

chess.ceo vs Notation

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

Head to head
About

chess.ceo

This app provides professional chess analysis tools, including engine analysis, a vast game database, and opponent preparation features. It allows users to analyze games, study master-level games, and follow live tournaments. An optional subscription unlocks advanced features like offline database access and a distraction-free analysis board.

Highlights
  • Engine analysis with Stockfish
  • 14 million master-level game database
  • Opponent search and repertoire study
  • Live tournament broadcasts
  • Full game analysis with PGN import
  • Organize and sync PGN files
  • Chess960 and chess clock
Features
Read full description

Chess.ceo Whether you're a beginner learning openings or a tournament player preparing for your next opponent, Chess.ceo gives you professional chess analysis tools right on your phone. Engine Analysis Analyze any position with Stockfish, the world's strongest chess engine, running locally on your device — no internet required. Need more power? Cloud Engines let you run analysis on a dedicated cloud machine, billed per minute and only while it's running. 14M Game Database Explore over 14 million master-level games with real-time opening statistics. For any position, instantly see which moves were played, how often they led to wins, and at what rating level. Filter by rating range and time control to find data relevant to your level. Endgame positions are covered by seven-piece Syzygy tablebases showing perfect play with distance-to-mate. Opponent Preparation Search any player by name, country, or FIDE title. View their game history, ratings, and most-played openings. Study their repertoire and identify weaknesses before your next tournament game. Link players across FIDE and Chess.com profiles. Live Tournament Broadcasts Follow ongoing tournaments with live game boards, per-board evaluation bars, and live standings. Jump straight into any player's games while a round is in progress. Full Game Analysis Import games via PGN — paste from clipboard or load from file. The engine evaluates every move and shows where mistakes were made. Build a complete variation tree with main lines and sidelines, annotate key moments, and save your analysis for later. PGN Files Organize your analyzed games into files and folders, synced across devices when you sign in. Import hundreds of games at once, or export to share with coaches and training partners. Additional Features • Chess960 (Fischer Random) with one tap • Chess clock with customizable time controls • Position editor for setting up any position • Search games by position across your files • Landscape and tablet support • Seven languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic Free to Use All of the above is free — no ads. Create an account and start analyzing. CEO Tier — Optional Subscription For players who want more: • Pro Board — full-screen, distraction-free analysis • Full database offline — all 14 million games on your device, no connection needed • Higher daily limits on search, preparation, and database queries • More storage for your PGN files Subscribe monthly, cancel any time. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Service: https://chess.ceo/docs/tos Privacy Policy: https://chess.ceo/docs/privacy

About

Notation

This app provides in-depth chess coaching by explaining moves and patterns using advanced AI and established coaching theories. It offers detailed game reviews, player profiling, and opponent scouting, all processed on your device for privacy.

Highlights
  • On-device AI analysis
  • Multiple coaching frameworks
  • Detailed game reviews
  • Player style profiling
  • Opponent scouting
  • Physical board integration
  • Privacy-focused design
Features
Read full description

Notation is a chess coaching app that teaches you why — not just what. Every chess evaluation comes from Stockfish 18, running entirely on your device. Every pattern, weakness, and tactical motif is detected by hand-tuned on-device classifiers built on decades of coaching theory. The language model's only job is the last step: explaining what the analysis found, in plain English, like a coach sitting next to you. The chess is never generated. It's explained. THREE COACHING FRAMEWORKS Notation is the first chess app to operationalise multiple grandmaster-level coaching frameworks as deterministic measurement: • Dan Heisman's seven positional elements — Mobility, Vulnerability, Centre Control, Coordination, Speed, Time, Flexibility — measured per-position with super-GM baselines • Jeremy Silman's coaching emphasis frames — fifteen frames choosing what to teach at each moment • Jacob Aagaard's positional predicates — Where are the weaknesses? Which is the worst-placed piece? What's the opponent's plan? All computed on-device. All deterministic. The same principles human coaches have used for decades, encoded into classifiers that run before the language model ever sees the position. GAME REVIEW Every game gets a coherent on-device review — no API key needed, no internet, no cost. Template-driven narrative against the full coaching substrate. When you want depth, upgrade once with your own Anthropic or OpenAI API key, o ruse the On Device LLM with no additional costs and the richer review becomes the permanent artefact for that game. Nadia comments on at most six moments — only the ones worth learning from. PDF export of every review. PLAYER PROFILE Style axes — Aggression, Tactical Alertness, Positional Play, Endgame — derived from the substrate with confidence bands. The seven Heisman elements sit below as evidence. Full-screen iPad dashboard. PDF coaching report you could hand to a human coach. OPPONENT SCOUTING & MATCHUP REPORTS Scout reports surface the full eight-axis substrate on any opponent. How-to-play-against framing with concrete suggestions. Player-vs-opponent comparison across all axes with weakest-phase detection. SHADOW — YOUR CHESS TWIN Shadow learns how you play and saves checkpoints. Play yourself from six months ago. See how far you've come. Coming soon: calibrate Shadow to your real-life rivals by importing their games. PLAY ON YOUR PHYSICAL BOARD Pair with Chessnut Air, Pro, Go, Air+ and Move over Bluetooth. Notation tracks every move on real wood while Nadia coaches. PRIVACY BY DESIGN Stockfish on-device. All coaching classifiers on-device. Cohort baselines on-device. Optional cloud AI is bring-your-own-key — your Anthropic or OpenAI API key, your account, your data. We never see it. Leave the field blank and Notation works fully without it. IMPORT YOUR GAMES Connect Lichess or Chess.com. Import PGN files. Nadia analyses everything in the background. £2.99. One-off. No subscription. No ads. No tracking. Yours forever.

Screenshots

chess.ceo4 screens
Notation4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: chess.ceo at 100% against Notation's 0%. chess.ceo also leads on price (Free vs $2.99) and rating (5.0 vs 4.5). Notation's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 4 weeks) and ratings volume (4 vs 1). On 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

chess.ceo is free to download; Notation costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

chess.ceo holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of chess.ceo's written reviews are positive against 0% of Notation's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

chess.ceo ships an update every 4 weeks, Notation every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
chess.ceo versus Notation: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameterchess.ceoNotation
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.5 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings14 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size141 MB427 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCHESSGM OUDarren Cox

Customer experience

chess.ceo

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Notation

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral40.0%
Negative60.0%

In-app purchases

None

chess.ceo

No in-app purchases

None

Notation

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is chess.ceo free?
chess.ceo is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Notation free?
Notation costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, chess.ceo or Notation?
chess.ceo is rated higher. chess.ceo averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Notation averages 4.5 from 4 ratings.
Do chess.ceo or Notation have ads?
Neither chess.ceo nor Notation shows ads.
Which is updated more often, chess.ceo or Notation?
chess.ceo ships an update every 4 weeks, and Notation every 4 days. Most recently, chess.ceo was updated on September 25, 2026 and Notation on September 12, 2026.

Other comparisons