Comparison

Chess Openings 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

Chess Openings

Features
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Chess Openings โ€” learn the 113 most important chess openings with a beautiful, focused app. โ€ข 113 opening lines classified by ECO codes, with first-move and attack/defense filters โ€ข Interactive replay โ€” move by move, auto-play โ€ข Continue an opening vs the robot โ€ข Play vs Robot โ€” 8 difficulty levels (800-2400 ELO) โ€ข Robot (non-Stockfish) fully customizable โ€ข Opening quizzes โ€” test your knowledge โ€ข Practice mode โ€” move-by-move learning with feedback โ€ข Stockfish game analysis โ€” accuracy, blunder detection, best move โ€ข Live evaluation bar โ€ข 27 languages No ads. Anonymous usage analytics only. Works offline. Perfect for beginners and amateurs looking to build a solid repertoire. Free version and Premium (optional in-app purchase) Free: play vs the robot, plus a limited number of opening lessons, quizzes, Stockfish analyses and "Continue vs Robot" sessions every day. Premium removes all daily limits: unlimited opening lessons, unlimited quizzes, unlimited Stockfish analysis, unlimited "Continue vs Robot" and full progress tracking. Premium requires a purchase inside the app โ€” an auto-renewable annual subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. The price is shown in the app before any purchase. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

ChessLab

Features
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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

Chess Openings4 screens
ChessLab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ChessLab at none against Chess Openings's 2. Chess Openings's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Chess Openings sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.00 per year. ChessLab asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Openings ships an update every 9 days, ChessLab weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Chess Openings versus ChessLab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess OpeningsChessLab
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysWeekly โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 โ€” better18.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size29 MB169 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGanSoft SARLThierry Maeder

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Chess Openings

Subscriptions1
  • Premium Annual$9.001 Year
One-time1
  • Premium Lifetime$45.00
None

ChessLab

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chess Openings free?
Chess Openings is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ChessLab free?
ChessLab is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Chess Openings or ChessLab have ads?
Neither Chess Openings nor ChessLab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chess Openings or ChessLab?
Chess Openings ships an update every 9 days, and ChessLab weekly. Most recently, Chess Openings was updated on October 6, 2026 and ChessLab on October 24, 2026.

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