Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 05:11 am
Chess Openings Explorer Pro – Board Game Review
Chess Openings Explorer Pro is a Board/Puzzle game from Emmanuel Mathis, first launched in 22nd April 2018.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 342+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Chess Openings Explorer Pro Stand Out
Explore chess openings and their variations through a simple and friendly interface, and learn the follow-ups from 2 million+ Grandmaster games!
Main features:
-
Complete dictionary of chess openings and their variations
-
Browse Grandmaster games associated with each opening
-
Test your knowledge with various Quiz modes: The app picks an opening and your goal is to either find its name, find which move is best, or play the moves that leads to the opening
-
Accurate stats for each position: % of wins, losses, draws
-
Powerful built-in Chess engine (2800+ Elo) to analyze any position
-
Games can be exported to other apps (PGN format)
-
Search openings by name or ECO code
-
Easy to use, simple and clean interface
-
Full translations in French and German, including opening names
-
And of course, new features will be added over time!
This Board game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Chess Openings Explorer Pro is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 12th April 2020
Recent improvements include:
Improved dark mode support
Download & Availability
Chess Openings Explorer Pro is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Chess Openings Explorer Pro on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Awesome interface! You can instantly see which opening moves result in game wins, and conveniently practice the numerous variations. One of our favorite features is that you can see and replay games by chess masters using each opening. Ive been playing chess for decades, and this app helped us get the openings in a few weeks better than any other training or coaching over the years! Well done to the developers! Hope they keep the app going.
Our favorite features of this app are being able to see the relative strength of moves will looking at an opening and being able to easily access and replay grandmaster games using openings and their variations. The Arkon app is also quite good, but it is annoying that it doesnt support landscape mode on an iPad.
This inexpensive program is simple but effective! Enter an opening line and get a list of strong GM games that followed the line. See how strong GMs won, lost and drew starting from that position.
This app makes chess study convenient and efficient. Playing out the master games engenders chess appreciation.
This is a very good app to study openings and games. Glad we made the decision to buy it. We love that there are games played by the highest level of players from yesterday to today. Hopefully more games will be added in cause we defintely love having them all in one app. Thank you.
We thought it is going to explain more better way above openings.
Everything about the app is good, but there should be an option to suggest an opening to be put into the app. We dont know if its missing any other opening, but it is missing the kloosterboer gambit.
No idea what the percentages mean, at least a one paragraph instruction on how the app works would be nice.
Needs some instructions if a beginner or intermediate level player is to benefit. Confusing to this user. Not nearly as helpful as some conventional chess books of various openings. Would not recommend without major revisions.
No explantion backing the move s.
We paid money for this but there is no built-in engine. So we paid and got the free version.
We have to admit that we are finding this app very useful in helping us learn chess openings. Makes learn fun by giving you the options and letting you explore.
One of the best app on Openings we highly recommend it.
We don't understand this app at all and you don't explain the way to use it.you have to put help.
For some reason when we go to Games with this position and choose any of the games, they are all games in the wrong position! This was working about a week ago, we think something went wrong in the last update. Again, thank you for your work on this app, and Im hoping you can address this bug fix soon happy to review again once fixed.
We like the app, but if Im doing opening prep for a game, why does it show there are 100+ games in the database then just stop showing the breakdown to the point where we cant move any pieces. Ive resorted to using other apps for tournament prep.
Very cool opening explorer. Engine included and games for every position.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.11
- Size: 40.01 MB
- iOS: 10.0 or later
- Languages: EN, FR, DE
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Emmanuel Mathis
Last updated: 12th April 2020 | Genre: Board, Puzzle | Developer: Emmanuel Mathis