Comparison

AMSA Chess vs ChessLab

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

Head to head
About

AMSA Chess

This platform serves as the official online competition hub for mind sports in Asia, connecting national systems into a unified ecosystem. It offers official tournaments, professional fair play systems, AI training tools, and official rankings for players and organizers.

Highlights
  • Official tournament platform
  • Professional fair play system
  • AI training and analysis
  • Official Asian & National Rankings
  • Online PVP competition
  • Athlete database & digital infrastructure
Features
Read full description

AMSA Chess: Official Asian Mind Sports & National Qualifier Platform Take your place on the international stage. AMSA Chess is the exclusive official online competition platform developed by the Asian Mind Sports Association (AMSA). Operating within the framework of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), AMSA is building the long-term digital infrastructure and official athlete database for mind sports across Asia. Designed for players, federations, institutions, and organizers, AMSA Chess connects national systems into a unified Asian online competition and ranking ecosystem. Key Features: Official Tournament Platform The official platform for AMSA online competitions, national qualifiers, selection events, registrations, and future continental tournaments across Asia. Professional Fair Play System Compete with confidence through advanced fair play monitoring, anti-cheating systems, and behavioural analysis technology designed to maintain integrity and professionalism in online competition. AI Training & Analysis Train with advanced AI-powered tools for tactical improvement, analysis, and skill development. AMSA will continue working with chess champions, professional players, and experts to further develop and optimize the platform’s AI training system over the long term. Official Asian & National Rankings Track your official rankings across Asian and national leader boards, supporting athlete development, qualification systems, and competitive progression. Online PVP Competition Experience smooth real-time matchmaking and online competition with players and communities across Asia. Athlete Database & Digital Infrastructure Supporting the long-term digitalization of chess and mind sports through official player records, tournament systems, and future regional qualification frameworks. AMSA Chess is committed to advancing the digitalization, standardization, and international development of chess and mind sports in Asia — building the next-generation official online ecosystem for competitive mind sports. Download AMSA Chess today and join the future of Asian Mind Sports!

About

ChessLab

Features
Read full description

ChessLab is a complete chess companion for iPhone and iPad: play, analyse, train and experiment, with Stockfish built in, without ever leaving the app. OPPONENTS THAT PLAY LIKE HUMANS 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 and a temperament, and a level set on the human scale. Or take on Stockfish, from beginner (~900 Elo) to maximum (~3190). Optional clock, hints, a warning before risky moves and an evaluation bar, all on demand. ANALYSE AND UNDERSTAND Every move is graded (inaccuracy, mistake, blunder, brilliant…), each player gets an accuracy score, and the app tells you why a move was bad. The Coach adds the share of players at your level who play it. At the end, it offers to turn your mistakes and missed mates into puzzles. Load a game by PGN, FEN, position editor or photo scanner. DAILY SESSION Every day, what to review: opening positions that are due, missed puzzles, an endgame. A streak of days and medals to keep you going. OPENINGS 58 hand-written openings (bilingual), checked against the engine: every move is explained, coloured arrows tie the board to the move list, and spaced repetition makes them stick. Import your own repertoires as PGN too. ENDGAMES 78 courses proven by endgame tablebases: no move taught gives up a win, no defence offered loses a draw. Plus free training, where any move that keeps the verdict is accepted. PUZZLES Over 100,000 problems from the Lichess database, filtered by level and theme, plus your own, drawn from your mistakes. Personal rating and “At my level”. VARIANTS AND MORE Chess960 and eleven variants against the computer (King of the Hill, Three-Check, Horde, Atomic, Crazyhouse, Duck Chess, Barricades…), each with its own analysis. Two-player mode, and a Laboratory to compare two Stockfish settings. IPHONE AND IPAD A large board with side-by-side panels on iPad, keyboard and trackpad, portrait and landscape. Fully bilingual, French and English. Optional iCloud sync, off by default. PRIVACY Offline by default: no ChessLab server, no analytics, no ads. Your games stay on your device. ChessLab embeds the Stockfish engine (GPLv3 license), the University of Toronto's Maia-3 network (AGPLv3 license) and free vector piece sets — 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 → Licenses).

Screenshots

AMSA Chess4 screens
ChessLab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ChessLab at none against AMSA Chess's 12. ChessLab also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). AMSA Chess's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, ads 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

Both are free to download. AMSA Chess sells 12 one-off in-app purchases. ChessLab asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

AMSA Chess ships an update every 2 weeks, ChessLab weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
AMSA Chess versus ChessLab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAMSA ChessChessLab
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size290 MB170 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAsian Mind SportsThierry Maeder

In-app purchases

12 purchases

AMSA Chess

One-time12
  • Coin Offer 1$0.99
  • Diamond Offer 1$0.99
  • 100 Diamond Pack$0.99
Show 9 more
  • Coin Offer 2$1.99
  • Diamond Offer 2$1.99
  • Coin Offer 3$2.99
  • Diamond Offer 3$2.99
  • 3000 Diamond Pack$2.99
  • 1000 Diamond Pack$9.99
  • 2000 Diamond Pack$19.99
  • 5000 Diamond Pack$49.99
  • 10000 Diamond Pack$99.99
None

ChessLab

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is AMSA Chess free?
AMSA Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ChessLab free?
ChessLab is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do AMSA Chess or ChessLab have ads?
Neither AMSA Chess nor ChessLab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, AMSA Chess or ChessLab?
AMSA Chess ships an update every 2 weeks, and ChessLab weekly. Most recently, AMSA Chess was updated on October 24, 2026 and ChessLab on October 29, 2026.

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