// may the 4th be with you⚔️
other

Chess

by jiayao

Play chess on line with a visual interface, analyze games from PGN, and challenge language models. Enjoy a top chess com

Enables playing chess against language models through a visual interface with tools for board visualization, move execution, game initialization, and position analysis from PGN notation.

github stars

19

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Visual board display with auto-flip orientationStandard chess notation supportPGN position search functionality

best for

  • / Playing chess against AI assistants
  • / Chess training and analysis
  • / Educational chess demonstrations
  • / Game position analysis from PGN files

capabilities

  • / Display chess board as visual image
  • / Make moves using standard chess notation
  • / Start new chess games
  • / Get list of valid legal moves
  • / Find specific positions in PGN files
  • / Check whose turn it is

what it does

Lets you play chess games against language models with visual board display. Provides move validation, game management, and PGN analysis capabilities.

about

Chess is a community-built MCP server published by jiayao that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Play chess on line with a visual interface, analyze games from PGN, and challenge language models. Enjoy a top chess com It is categorized under other.

how to install

You can install Chess in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.

license

Apache-2.0

Chess is released under the Apache-2.0 license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.

readme

MCP Chess Server

This MCP let's you play chess against any LLM.

Installation

To use this chess server, add the following configuration to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chess": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-chess"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Usage

Play a game: Chess starting position with black pieces

A few moves later

Find a position in a PGN for game analysis:

Find a position in a PGN

Available Tools

The server provides the following tools:

  • get_board_visualization(): Provides the current state of the chessboard as an image. The board orientation automatically flips based on the user's assigned color.
  • get_turn(): Indicates whose turn it is ('white' or 'black').
  • get_valid_moves(): Lists all legal moves for the current player in UCI notation (e.g., 'e2e4', 'g1f3'). Returns an empty list if the game is over.
  • make_move(move_san: str): Makes a move on the board using Standard Algebraic Notation (SAN) (e.g., 'e4', 'Nf3', 'Bxe5'). Returns the move in SAN and UCI, the new board FEN, and game status.
  • new_game(user_plays_white: bool = True): Starts a new game, resetting the board. By default, the user plays white. Sets the user's color for board orientation. Returns a confirmation message.
  • find_position_in_pgn(pgn_string: str, condition: str): Finds the first board position in a PGN string matching a condition (e.g., "bishop on a3") and returns an image of that board state. The condition format is "piece_type on square_name". Valid piece types are "pawn", "knight", "bishop", "rook", "queen", "king".

FAQ

What is the Chess MCP server?
Chess is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server profile on explainx.ai. MCP lets AI hosts (e.g. Claude Desktop, Cursor) call tools and resources through a standard interface; this page summarizes categories, install hints, and community ratings.
How do MCP servers relate to agent skills?
Skills are reusable instruction packages (often SKILL.md); MCP servers expose live capabilities. Teams frequently combine both—skills for workflows, MCP for APIs and data. See explainx.ai/skills and explainx.ai/mcp-servers for parallel directories.
How are reviews shown for Chess?
This profile displays 39 aggregated ratings (sample rows for discoverability plus signed-in user reviews). Average score is about 4.6 out of 5—verify behavior in your own environment before production use.

Discussion

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Ratings

4.639 reviews
  • Pratham Ware· Dec 28, 2024

    According to our notes, Chess benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.

  • Dev Dixit· Dec 20, 2024

    We wired Chess into a staging workspace; the listing’s GitHub and npm pointers saved time versus hunting across READMEs.

  • Diego Li· Dec 16, 2024

    Chess reduced integration guesswork — categories and install configs on the listing matched the upstream repo.

  • Ren Gill· Dec 12, 2024

    We evaluated Chess against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.

  • Anika Mehta· Dec 8, 2024

    Chess has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.

  • Valentina Desai· Nov 27, 2024

    Chess is a well-scoped MCP server in the explainx.ai directory — install snippets and categories matched our Claude Code setup.

  • Yash Thakker· Nov 19, 2024

    We wired Chess into a staging workspace; the listing’s GitHub and npm pointers saved time versus hunting across READMEs.

  • Mei Chen· Nov 11, 2024

    According to our notes, Chess benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.

  • Camila White· Nov 7, 2024

    I recommend Chess for teams standardizing on MCP; the explainx.ai page compares cleanly with sibling servers.

  • Camila Srinivasan· Oct 26, 2024

    Strong directory entry: Chess surfaces stars and publisher context so we could sanity-check maintenance before adopting.

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