ChessLab

Play, analyze, improve

Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.

Analyze your games, scan a chessboard, train on 58 annotated openings and 100,000+ puzzles, take on the computer — fully offline, no ads. 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. PLAY VS STOCKFISH Take on Stockfish at any strength you like, 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 move…), 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), with simplified spaced-repetition training to memorize them. 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 — 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 — your data is never shared with the developer. Fully bilingual, French and English. ChessLab embeds the Stockfish engine (GPLv3 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).

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THE BOARD FINALLY ANSWERS YOUR FINGER Releasing a piece slightly off the intended square still plays the move, the way the major chess sites do. The target square lights up while you drag, the legal move dots follow the piece you are holding, and the piece lifts instead of hiding under your finger. Tap-to-move gets the same tolerance. Backing out stays free: releasing on the starting square cancels nothing but the gesture. FAIRER ANALYSIS The accuracy score is no longer inflated by endgame moves played in an already-won position: every move now counts for what was actually at stake. An analysis left too quickly could stay stuck on "Engine idle" with no graph and no classified moves — it now resumes on its own, right where it stopped. PLAY Controls merged into a single row. The "risky move" warning now reasons in win probability instead of a raw threshold: it speaks up when the game really turns, and stays quiet once it is decided. The clock counts from the first move. LAYOUT iPhone locked to portrait, where the board stays large. No horizontal overflow left, even at the largest text size. On iPad, a game in progress survives switching to Split View. FIXES PGN import from the web, starting position preserved on export, English translations completed, and two screens can no longer fight over the engine.

The developer, Thierry Maeder, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

  • Data Not Collected

    The developer does not collect any data from this app.

    Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

    The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More

    Seller
    • Thierry Maeder
    Size
    • 119.9 MB
    Category
    • Strategy
    Compatibility
    Requires iOS 18.0 or later.
    • iPhone
      Requires iOS 18.0 or later.
    • iPad
      Requires iPadOS 18.0 or later.
    • Mac
      Requires macOS 15.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
    • Apple Vision
      Requires visionOS 2.0 or later.
    Languages
    • English and French
    Age Rating
    4+
    Copyright
    • © Thierry Maeder, 2026