Chessflare review: scores and evidence
Syncs Chess.com and Lichess games and PGN files, produces a game summary, puzzles built from tactical mistakes and an SM2 spaced-repetition repertoire trainer, with 51 in-house opening courses. It publishes neither engine nor depth, no weakness typology and no verification procedure.
Read on August 30, 2026 from the service’s public pages — every score cites the page read.
Overall score
4.5/ 10
Rank
8/ 128
Free-only score
3.5/ 10
quotas counted
Languages
11
Listed price
$59.99/yr ≈ €55 (annual price shown on /pricing; monthly $6.49; lifetime $110)
What the service is
ChessFlare is published by a French sole trader: its privacy policy names “Bastien Vanhove EI”, 78 avenue des Champs-Élysées, Office 326, 75008 Paris, and the App Store listing gives the same name as the seller. The site footer reads “© 2026 ChessFlare. All rights reserved. Created by Zence.fr”: Zence is a digital product studio based in Orléans, co-founded and led by Bastien Vanhove, which presents ChessFlare as its own in-house product. The service syncs Chess.com and Lichess games, imports PGN files, produces a game summary, builds puzzles from tactical mistakes and drills an opening repertoire through SM2 spaced repetition, around a catalogue of 51 in-house opening courses. Data is hosted with Hetzner Online GmbH in Germany, on servers inside the European Union. The business model is a freemium subscription: a free plan with no credit card, capped at 25 game statistics, then Pro at $6.49 per month, $59.99 per year or $110 for lifetime access.
Activity history
- 2026-08Changelog entry of 13 August 2026: contextual coaching inside courses, bot opponents with personality and a challenge progression system; the iOS app moves to version 1.0.30 on 28 August 2026.
- 2026-06Changelog of 29 June 2026: Lichess games can be played inside ChessFlare, and the game history gains filters by platform, time control, colour and result.
- 2026-03Changelog of 28 March 2026: a daily training routine matched to the player’s level, combining openings, puzzles and reviews.
- 2026-02Changelog of 24 February 2026: game summaries, blunder isolation and weak-spot identification.
- 2026-01Changelog of 15 January 2026: spaced-repetition learning (explain, memorise, review); on 26 January, a unified profile with Chess.com and Lichess game imports and opening statistics.
- 2025-10The iOS app “ChessFlare: Learn Chess” is first released on 2 October 2025; the changelog of 10 November 2025 announces the iOS and Android apps.
The scores, evidence by evidence
Every score points to the page read and the fact found there. A fact documented nowhere is not credited: document it, then write to us.
APersonalized diagnosis
5.0A1 :3Importing your games (Chess.com, Lichess, PGN files)quota
https://chessflare.com/fr: “à partir de vos parties Chess.com/Lichess” (from your Chess.com/Lichess games) + PGN import and automatic syncing
A2 :2Automatic engine analysis of every gamequota
https://chessflare.com: “Analyze a game”, “Game Summary”; no engine and no depth named; free plan limited to 25 game statistics (https://chessflare.com/pricing)
A3 :1Recurring mistakes identified across all your gamesquota
https://chessflare.com: “Advanced Player Stats … reveal weak patterns” + opening statistics (changelog 26/01/2026); no mistake named and counted
A4 :2Types of mistakes covered (tactics, strategy, endgame, time…)quota
https://chessflare.com/changelog 24/02/2026: tactical mistakes (Blunder Review, Weak Spot) + openings (26/01/2026) = 2 areas
A5 :2Written explanation of each mistakequota
https://chessflare.com: “human explanations and engine depth”; no public example quoting a line
A6 :0Stated verification of the diagnoses (procedure, rates)
no mention of reliability or success rates on https://chessflare.com, https://chessflare.com/changelog
A7 :2Tracking each weakness over timequota
https://chessflare.com: “Track trends” on player statistics; no trend per named weakness
A8 :0Comparison with players of the same rating
no comparison with a rating band mentioned on https://chessflare.com
BOpenings
3.9B1 :2Building a personal repertoirequota
https://chessflare.com: “PGN Editor — Edit, import, and share PGN studies”; suggestions drawn from the player’s games not demonstrated
B2 :2Training the repertoire (drills, games)quota
https://chessflare.com: “Opening Trainer — Drill opening lines in realistic game conditions” + spaced review; full games against the repertoire not demonstrated
B3 :1Spotting where you left your repertoire in your gamesquota
https://chessflare.com/changelog 26/01/2026: “opening statistics” on Chess.com and Lichess games; no deviation flagged
B4 :0Verification of the lines taught (engine, practice)
no engine verification and no sourcing of the lines mentioned on https://chessflare.com, https://chessflare.com/changelog
B5 :1Opening explorer and statisticsquota
https://chessflare.com/changelog: opening statistics on the player’s own games; no external database explorer mentioned
B6 :1Explanation of opening plans and ideasquota
https://chessflare.com/fr/courses: 51 opening courses presented through diagrams; plans and traps not verified on the public page
CTargeted training
3.0C1 :2Exercises drawn from your own gamesquota
https://chessflare.com: “Weak spot puzzle — turn tactical weaknesses into daily puzzle drills”, “Blunder Review”; no success rate per weakness
C2 :1Bank of tactical exercises (size, themes, rating)quota
https://chessflare.com: “Woodpecker”, puzzles; no volume and no thematic classification published
C3 :1Endgame trainingquota
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chessflare-learn-chess/id6752779245: courses on “openings, endgames, strategy”; no endgame module against the engine mentioned
C4 :0Strategic and positional training
https://chessflare.com: courses cover openings only (Italian, Ruy Lopez, London, Queen’s Gambit Declined, Scotch); nothing positional
C5 :0Training defense and alertness
https://chessflare.com: no defensive exercise
C6 :0Training calculation and visualization
no mention of a blindfold or calculation mode on https://chessflare.com
C7 :0Difficulty matched to your real level
no adaptive rating documented on https://chessflare.com/https://chessflare.com/pricing
C8 :2Spaced repetition (named algorithm)quota
https://chessflare.com/fr: “Répétition espacée SM2”, “intervalles de révision adaptatifs” (SM2 spaced repetition, adaptive review intervals); no review due date visible on the public pages
C9 :2Personalized training planquota
https://chessflare.com/changelog 28/03/2026: daily routine matched to the player’s level; adjustable review limit, but no TIME budget and no explicit priorities
DPrice and value
7.5D1 :2What the free plan actually lets you dofree
https://chessflare.com/pricing: free plan, “No credit card required”, 25 game statistics, “Limited” tools
D2 :2Annual price of the full planfree
https://chessflare.com/pricing: “$59.99 / year” ≈ €55
D3 :2Commercial transparency (price shown, trial, cancellation)free
https://chessflare.com/pricing: “7-day trial before annual billing”, “Cancel anytime”; no refund mentioned
D4 :3Number of paid tiers (how simple the offer is)free
https://chessflare.com/pricing: a single Pro tier (monthly, yearly, lifetime — same features) plus the free plan
EEvidence and transparency
3.3E1 :0Published evidence of effectiveness
no effectiveness data on https://chessflare.com
E2 :0Chess verification of the content (positions, lines)
no information on content verification on https://chessflare.com, https://chessflare.com/changelog
E3 :2Transparency of the method (algorithms, code)free
https://chessflare.com/fr: the “SM2” algorithm is named; engine and depth are not
E4 :2Marketing claims that can be checked (no overselling)free
https://chessflare.com: descriptive tone with no numeric promise
FContent and method
4.7F1 :2Courses organized by rating levelquota
https://chessflare.com/fr/courses: “cours classés par catégorie et niveau” (courses sorted by category and level — 29 for White, 22 for Black)
F2 :0Course authors named and titled
https://chessflare.com/fr/courses: author “ChessFlare” on every course, no titled author named
F3 :2Content formats (text, video, interactive)free
https://chessflare.com: text and diagram courses plus interactive drills; no video mentioned
F4 :1Published method of progressionfree
https://chessflare.com/blog: “Chess Study Plan” guide; a daily routine, but no published curriculum with milestones
F5 :2How often the content is updatedfree
https://chessflare.com/changelog: latest entry 13/08/2026; gaps in April-May and July 2026 (not monthly)
GPlaying and practice
1.7G1 :0Playing humans online (pool, anti-cheating)
https://chessflare.com/changelog 29/06/2026: “Play your Lichess games inside ChessFlare” — the player pool is Lichess (host platform, not scored, FORMAT2 rule; same treatment as Lumichess/ChessDojo F1=0).
G2 :2Realistic artificial opponentsquota
https://chessflare.com/changelog 13/08/2026: “bot opponents with personality”
G3 :0Replaying one specific position against the machine
no mention of replaying a position from one’s own games against the engine on https://chessflare.com
G4 :0Tournaments and organized competition
no tournament mentioned on https://chessflare.com
HExperience and accessibility
5.3H1 :3Platforms available (web, iOS, Android, desktop)free
https://chessflare.com: “Web + iOS + Android”; https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chessflare.app and https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chessflare-learn-chess/id6752779245 both exist
H2 :2User ratings and reviews (stores, press)free
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chessflare.app: 4.67/5 from 158 reviews, 10k+ installs; https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chessflare-learn-chess/id6752779245: 4.5/5 from 2 ratings
H3 :2Interface languages availablefree
https://chessflare.com/fr: 11 interface languages; community studies mostly in English
H4 :0Accessibility (keyboard, screen reader)
no accessibility page on https://chessflare.com
H5 :1Offline use and known incidentsfree
https://chessflare.com: online service with cloud syncing; no incident and no status page found
IPreparation and study
4.2I1 :0Preparing for a named opponent
https://chessflare.com: no feature for preparing against a named opponent
I2 :2Annotating and sharing games (studies)quota
https://chessflare.com/fr: “Éditeur PGN” (a variation tree), “Apprenez vos études”, “Créer et partager du contenu d’entraînement”
I3 :1Entering a game played at a club (photo, scoresheet)quota
https://chessflare.com: the PGN editor takes moves entered on a virtual board; no photo and no OCR
I4 :2Searching your games (filters, position)quota
https://chessflare.com/changelog 29/06/2026: history filters “platform, pace, color, and result”
JHuman coaching and community
2.5J1 :0Access to human coaches
no human coach mentioned on https://chessflare.com
J2 :1Size and activity of the communityfree
https://chessflare.com/fr/courses: “8 cours publics de la communauté” (8 public community courses); no visible forum and no Discord
J3 :0Tools for trainers, clubs and schools
no coach or club area mentioned on https://chessflare.com, https://chessflare.com/pricing
J4 :2Engagement mechanics (streaks, virtual currency, reminders)not documented
https://chessflare.com/changelog 13/08/2026: “challenge progression system”; no virtual currency and no booster on https://chessflare.com/pricing
KPersonal data and interoperability
6.7K1 :2Exporting your data (games, repertoire)free
https://chessflare.com: “Edit, import, and share PGN studies”; https://chessflare.com/privacy-policy: portability “in a readable format”
K2 :3Protection of personal data (GDPR, hosting)free
https://chessflare.com/privacy-policy: Hetzner (Germany), GDPR, PostHog analytics with consent, “never sold”, no advertising
K3 :1Public API and source codefree
https://chessflare.com: PGN import and export; no public API and no repository found
Also, outside the grid
Features found that no criterion measures. They do not count towards the score.
- User-created shareable courses
- Bot opponents with personalities in courses
- Optional reminders tied to app sections
Sources consulted
Services with a similar profile
The three services whose category profile is closest — a distance over the eleven scores, computed, never chosen.