Chess Openings vs ChessClues
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chess Openings
Master chess openings with a structured training routine. Learn lines move by move, review with spaced repetition, and analyze your games to identify deviations. Build a reliable repertoire and improve your play.
- Opening repertoire building
- Spaced repetition review
- Game analysis and deviation flagging
- Curated opening library
- Move-by-move idea explanations
- Gamified training elements
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Build an opening repertoire you actually remember, and stop losing games to lines you thought you knew. ChessAtlas turns your openings into a simple training routine: learn each line, review it on a spaced-repetition schedule, and connect your real games to catch the exact moves where you went off-book. HOW IT WORKS - Build your own repertoire, paste a PGN, or fork a ready-made opening from the library. - Learn each line move by move, with plain-language notes on the ideas behind the moves. - Link your Lichess or Chess.com account. ChessAtlas checks every game against your prep and flags the first move where you deviated. - Drill those mistakes until they stick, with spaced repetition that brings each line back right before you would forget it. WHAT YOU GET - Your real games, checked against your repertoire, with the first deviation pinpointed. - Spaced-repetition review so lines stay in long-term memory. - Full game analysis with move-by-move accuracy and the quality of every move. - A library of curated openings you can fork and make your own. - Read mode that explains the idea behind each move, not just the notation. - Streaks, levels and a leaderboard to keep the habit going. - Multiple board themes. WHO IT IS FOR Club and improving players who want a repertoire they can trust under pressure, whether you are building your first opening or sharpening lines you already play. Free to start. Upgrade to Premium for unlimited training. Questions or feedback: https://chessatlas.net Terms of Use: https://chessatlas.net/terms Privacy Policy: https://chessatlas.net/privacy
ChessClues
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Every opening has its own tactics. In the Italian, royal forks turn up four times more often than in chess as a whole. In the Caro-Kann, it is Boden's mate. ChessClues shows you the tactics, patterns and mates that happen in the openings you play, and teaches you how to win with them. Tactics trainers teach patterns in isolation. Opening trainers teach moves. ChessClues connects the two: pick your openings, and see which patterns turn up in them more often than in chess as a whole, ranked from real club games. SEE THE TACTICS IN EVERY OPENING • The Pattern Atlas for each opening: its signature tactics, ranked by how often they appear there. • Each pattern explained in plain words: what to look for, and why it works. • The typical pawn structures of the opening, with a plan for each. • The main named lines, and the traps club players fall into, move by move. LEARN TO WIN IN YOUR OPENING • A learning path for each opening: a pattern tour, its traps, its top tactics from easiest to hardest, then a final test. • 36 interactive courses, 216 short lessons where you play the moves: one course per opening, plus checkmates, tactics by name, finishing the game, and pawn and rook endgames. • Your teacher, Finn or Nia, talks you through every lesson. THE MATES THAT HAPPEN IN YOUR OPENING Smothered mate, back-rank mate, Légal's mate, Boden's mate and dozens more, each shown in the openings where it really happens. PRACTISE ON REAL POSITIONS More than 140,000 puzzles from real games in your openings, at three levels: • Spot: one move wins it. • Set-up: one forcing move first, then the payoff. • Deep: three moves and beyond. Spaced review brings back the patterns you are still missing. Recognise trains your eye: ten real positions, five seconds each. 13 OPENINGS As White: Italian, Ruy Lopez, Scotch, Vienna, Bishop's Opening, Four Knights, Queen's Pawn Game (London setup). As Black: Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, Scandinavian, Philidor, Queen's Gambit Declined. EVERY DAY • A daily drill of 5 puzzles from your openings. Free. • Trap of the day and pattern of the day. • A blind-spot grid: your openings against their top patterns, by mastery. • Across your openings: the patterns they share, to learn first. • Search a pattern by name (smothered mate, royal fork) and see which openings produce it. • Tactics tree and Endgame Atlas: the same patterns under their textbook names, and the endgames each opening tends to reach. MADE FOR 800–1600 PLAYERS Choose your openings and rating; change them any time in Settings. OFFLINE, NO ACCOUNT Everything ships inside the app and works offline. No sign-in, no ads, no analytics. Progress stays on your device. The app goes online only for purchases. Two-pane layout on iPad and Mac. FREE AND ALL ACCESS Free, the same for everyone: the daily drill; 100 Spot and Set-up puzzles in every opening; 10 in every pattern and mate; the top three patterns of every opening in the Atlas; five traps in every opening; the first two lessons of every course. All Access opens every level including Deep, every trap, all 216 lessons, the full Atlas, and everything added while you have access. Choose a yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime unlock; the store shows the price before you buy. Restore purchases and manage your subscription in Settings. All Access yearly renews automatically at the end of each year unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends; payment is charged to your Apple ID and you can manage or cancel it in Account Settings. Terms of Use: https://happyheadsapps.netlify.app/chessclues/terms. Privacy Policy: https://happyheadsapps.netlify.app/chessclues/privacy.
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Verdict
Chess Openings and ChessClues are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. Chess Openings sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and ChessClues sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Chess Openings | ChessClues |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (9 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 9 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 58 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Antoine Tamano | Santosh Hegde |
In-app purchases
Chess Openings
- Premium Monthly$9.991 Month
- Premium Annual$83.991 Year
ChessClues
- All Access — 1 Year$14.991 Year
- All Access — Lifetime$24.99









