OpeningTree vs iChessOne
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
OpeningTree
Explore chess openings with an extensive opening book and engine analysis. Analyze your games, create custom lines, and study moves from high-rated players. Accessible for visually impaired users.
- Extensive opening book
- Crafty engine analysis
- Load and analyze PGN games
- Create custom move lines
- Accessible for visually impaired
- Mark moves with colors
- Save board to PGN
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OpeningTree is a chess openings book based on high rated over the board games that lets one explore the tree of openings and engine analysis is available. Chess game files can be shared with the app to check against the book or to just view. Users can make their own side line moves and back up to return to main line. Also includes ten classic game collections and users can import their own games into the app. Game list are also searchable by tags. The updated opening book is compiled from 640,000 high rated games from recent years with both players rated 2300 and over. Just touch moves in the list or make moves on the board to see what the response is. The numbers next to moves indicate how many games resulted in wins-draws-losses. The idea comes from computer opening books as if we can open up the book and see what those moves are that people play in response to opening positions. Users do not pick an opening to study but start with the full tree. The analyze button on bottom right of board is to flip between viewing the openings move table or seeing Crafty engine analysis. +1.00 score means white is ahead a pawn. -1.00 score means black is ahead a pawn. There is a move now button to make the engine play the current best move if the users wants to try playing a position out against the engine. OpeningTree's board is accessible to the blind and visually impaired using Voice Over. With Voice Over enabled in device settings, tap on a square for info, double tap to select. Or choose from three move methods. When going forward in a loaded PGN game, moves will be announced on each tap of the forward button. Moves can be marked with colors(red, green, yellow) and colorizing a move at the end of a line will extend the line i.e. add move so it shows later. There is also an option to make a note on a position using the control bar. In the Actions menu if the user has imported a chess games file to the App, for example by opening a PGN file with OpeningTree from a mail attachment or download(long touch on the attachment/download for this option), a game from a PGN file can be loaded and checked against the book. If a user makes a new move, back up to the main line to return to the game. To ensure speed, it will only read/load a max of 5000 games. With bigger files users will only see first 5000 games. There is a Save Board to PGN option on the Actions menu. It saves the current moves to openings-user-games.pgn, a file OpeningTree will create on first save. Games are saved with opening name as white and black name to spot the lines in each game. This allows the users to export data out of the App such as favorite lines with the mail games option when looking at a game list. The App comes with six PGN game files that can be optionally installed when no PGN files have yet been opened by the App or the user has deleted their PGN files previously opened and likewise has none to access. If this is the case, this option shows when going to Actions -> load PGN. The files contain a mix of famous classical games, collections of former world champions Gary Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen's games and more recent games from two top ranked international tournaments. PGN stands for portable game notation. It's a file extension that can be used with text files that contain chess games in the PGN format. PGN files can be read by apps to display the games in them. If a game is loaded in the App one can then go to 'Actions -> show game data' to view the raw PGN text.
iChessOne
Experience traditional chess with a smart electronic board. Play online, train with AI, analyze games, and customize your experience with interactive LEDs. It connects the feel of physical pieces with the convenience of modern software for an enhanced chess ecosystem.
- Play online on a real chessboard
- Offline play and Stockfish training
- Game analysis and PGN export
- Interactive LED support
- Advanced personalization settings
- Board management and firmware updates
- Reliable wireless Bluetooth connection
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iChessOne is the official app for the foldable electronic chessboard designed for natural play on a real board. Built by chess players for chess players, the iChessOne app combines the feel of traditional over-the-board chess with the convenience of modern software. It unlocks the full potential of the iChessOne board, allowing you to play online, train with Stockfish, analyze your games, manage your board, and customize your playing experience. Whether you want to play at home, train on the go, or enjoy online chess on a real wooden board, iChessOne gives you one connected ecosystem for playing, learning, and improving. Key Features 1. Play online on a real chessboard Connect your iChessOne board and play on popular platforms such as Lichess and Chess.com while keeping the natural feel of physical pieces. The board recognizes individual pieces and their positions in real time, so you can focus on the game instead of the screen. 2. Offline play and training with Stockfish Play against the built-in Stockfish engine with multiple difficulty levels, or use the full strength of the engine for analysis. You can also play local games 1v1 on the same board, making iChessOne suitable for both training and casual play. 3. Game analysis, history, and PGN export Review your games, analyze positions, and improve your chess skills over time. Games can be saved, revisited later, and exported in PGN format for further analysis or sharing. 4. Interactive LED support The iChessOne board uses multicolor LED indicators to highlight moves, show your opponent’s actions, and support gameplay. The app lets you customize LED colors, brightness, and effects to match your preferences. 5. Advanced personalization Adjust key gameplay and board settings to fit your style. Customize move detection, premoves, LED behavior, and other options to create the experience that works best for you. 6. Board management and firmware updates Use the app to monitor battery status, manage your board, and install firmware updates that bring improvements and new features over time. 7. Reliable wireless connection The app communicates with the board via Bluetooth Low Energy, providing stable and efficient wireless connectivity designed for everyday play. 8. More than a companion app iChessOne is not just a controller for the board - it is the central place where traditional chess meets online play, analysis, training, and regular feature updates. With iChessOne, you can enjoy the authenticity of a real chessboard together with the flexibility of modern chess software - at home, during training, or while playing online.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: iChessOne at Free against OpeningTree's $0.99. iChessOne also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 83%). OpeningTree's advantage is rating (4.4 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (31 vs 2). On update cadence, 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
iChessOne is free to download; OpeningTree costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
OpeningTree holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: OpeningTree has 31 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 83% of OpeningTree's written reviews are positive against 100% of iChessOne's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
OpeningTree ships an update every 2 months, iChessOne every 6 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | OpeningTree | iChessOne |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (31 ratings) — better | 4.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 31 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 52 MB | 97 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Michael Adams | Janusz Lisowski |
Customer experience
OpeningTree
iChessOne
In-app purchases
OpeningTree
No in-app purchases
iChessOne
No in-app purchases









