Brass Pawn vs Lichess: native Apple offline coach vs open-source online server
Native offline trainer vs open-source online server
| Dimension | Brass Pawn | Lichess |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Solo offline training, live move coaching & curated game takeover on Apple devices | Global live human matchmaking, arenas, studies, broadcasts & analysis server |
| Native platforms | SwiftUI app for iPhone, iPad and Mac (2D & carved/bronze 3D boards) | Web application plus iOS and Android mobile apps |
| Bundled chess engines | Stockfish 18 (rating-limited or full) + Reckless 0.10 compiled into the app | Browser/mobile Stockfish (WASM/native) plus cloud server analysis |
| Software licence | GNU AGPLv3 (complete source on GitHub) | GNU AGPLv3 (complete server & client source on GitHub) |
| Advertising & tracking | Zero ads, zero trackers, no account creation | Zero ads, zero trackers, optional free account |
| Puzzle provenance | 14,185 CC0 Lichess puzzles (even per-rating-band slice) + 166 depth-20 mined puzzles | Full multi-million CC0 community puzzle database generated from Lichess games |
Training modes and cost structure
| Capability | Brass Pawn | Lichess |
|---|---|---|
| Coached engine sparring | Every player move graded live by win probability with plain-English feature notes | Play against Stockfish levels 1–8; post-game centipawn/win-chance computer review |
| Spaced-repetition tactics | Missed puzzles automatically return at 1, 4 and 10+ day intervals; tracks 20 motifs | Theme filtering, Puzzle Storm, Puzzle Streak and Puzzle Racer (manual replay of misses) |
| Positional judgement mode | 116 quiet positions: grade the evaluation first, then find the move and feature reason | Not a separate built-in mode (available only via user-created Studies) |
| Guess the Elo mode | 1,624 archived rated games (800–2599, within 150 Elo) built into the app offline | Not a native mode |
| Master game library | 900 decisive short/famous games offline with instant one-tap engine takeover | Millions of searchable master/user games & live tournament broadcasts online |
| Price | Free unlimited play + 5/day drills; Pro $3.99/mo or $39.99 once supports development | $0 free for every feature; funded by voluntary Patron donations |
When to use Brass Pawn vs Lichess
| Goal | Recommended tool | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Free 24/7 rapid, blitz, classical or Chess960 games against humans worldwide | Lichess | Instant global matchmaking, Swiss/Arena tournaments and zero paywalls. |
| Playing a 1500-strength engine offline while getting plain-English feedback after each move | Brass Pawn | Play & Coach explains positional features changed by your move while the game is still live. |
| Building and sharing collaborative PGN opening studies with a coach or club | Lichess | Lichess Studies and the Masters/Lichess Opening Explorer are purpose-built for repertoire sharing. |
| Practising quiet positional assessments and spaced-repetition tactical misses on Mac or iPad | Brass Pawn | Dedicated Positional judgement mode, automatic review scheduling and native Apple ergonomics. |
| Switching between Stockfish 18 and Reckless 0.10 offline for a second engine opinion | Brass Pawn | Both engines ship inside the binary and run locally with one switch in Settings. |
Shared open-source DNA, different daily jobs
Brass Pawn owes a direct debt to Lichess and credits it openly: 14,185 of Brass Pawn’s 14,351 tactics puzzles and the 1,624 games in Guess the Elo come from Lichess’s CC0 public-domain archives, sampled evenly across 100-point rating bands from 760 to 2800 so high-rated bands stay just as populated as 1400. Both projects are licensed under GNU AGPLv3 and carry zero advertising.
Where they diverge is product shape. Lichess is an online commons for playing humans, running tournaments and collaborating on PGN studies. Brass Pawn is a native iPhone, iPad and Mac practice room designed for the hours when you want a coach on every move, automatic spaced repetition on missed puzzles, 116 quiet positional tests, and 2D or carved 3D boards with zero network dependency.
Why Brass Pawn charges for unlimited training while keeping play free
Lichess funds its servers through charitable Patron donations and makes every puzzle unlimited at $0. Brass Pawn keeps engine play, Game Center multiplayer and its 900-game Watch library free forever, and sells unlimited daily training ($3.99/month or $39.99 once) to fund native Apple development — while publishing the complete AGPLv3 source code on GitHub.
Honest boundaries
When Lichess is the better fit
- Lichess is 100% free with zero daily counters on puzzles, Storm or analysis; Brass Pawn meters its five training modes to 5/day on the free tier.
- Lichess offers massive global human matchmaking, variants, correspondence play, Opening Explorer and interactive Studies that Brass Pawn does not attempt to replicate.
- Lichess works on Android, Windows, Linux and any modern browser; Brass Pawn’s native app targets iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Frequently asked questions
- Why use Brass Pawn if Lichess puzzles are already free?
- If you want unlimited browser puzzles at $0, Lichess is unbeatable. Players install Brass Pawn for live move-by-move coaching during engine games, automatic spaced-repetition scheduling on missed puzzles, 116 quiet positional judgement exercises, Guess the Elo, Reckless 0.10 as a second local engine, and native 2D/3D SwiftUI polish offline on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
- Are Brass Pawn puzzle ratings identical to Lichess puzzle ratings?
- The 14,185 imported Lichess puzzles start from their human-calibrated Lichess ratings, while the 166 locally mined puzzles use depth-and-motif estimates. As on Lichess, your puzzle rating tracks training progress against the set and runs several hundred points higher than over-the-board Elo.
- Does Brass Pawn connect to my Lichess account to play online?
- No. Brass Pawn has no Lichess login integration; its online human matches run device-to-device through Apple Game Center on 3, 5, 10, 15 or 30-minute clocks.
- Is Brass Pawn really open source like Lichess?
- Yes. Because Brass Pawn links Stockfish 18 (GPLv3) and Reckless 0.10 (AGPLv3), the entire application is distributed under GNU AGPLv3 with complete source code at github.com/minchopm/chess-trainer.
Native on iPhone, iPad & Mac
Practise offline with Stockfish 18 and Reckless 0.10
Play unlimited coached games against the engine or over Game Center for free, with five daily exercises in Tactics, Rush, Positional judgement, Endgames and Guess the Elo — and zero advertising under the GNU AGPLv3.