MCP server
by jiayao
Play chess on line with a visual interface, analyze games from PGN, and challenge language models. Enjoy a top chess com
Lets you play chess games against language models with visual board display. Provides move validation, game management, and PGN analysis capabilities.
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.
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.
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.
Add new capabilities to Claude beyond text generation
Example
Access external data sources, execute code, interact with tools and services
Transform Claude from chatbot to action-taking agent
Provide Claude with access to relevant context and data
Example
Load project documentation, access knowledge bases, query databases
Get more accurate, context-aware responses
Automate multi-step workflows combining AI and external tools
Example
Research → Summarize → Create document → Send notification
Complete complex tasks end-to-end without manual steps
Share your MCP server with the developer community
According to our notes, Chess benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.
We wired Chess into a staging workspace; the listing’s GitHub and npm pointers saved time versus hunting across READMEs.
Chess reduced integration guesswork — categories and install configs on the listing matched the upstream repo.
We evaluated Chess against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.
Chess has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.
Chess is a well-scoped MCP server in the explainx.ai directory — install snippets and categories matched our Claude Code setup.
We wired Chess into a staging workspace; the listing’s GitHub and npm pointers saved time versus hunting across READMEs.
According to our notes, Chess benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.
I recommend Chess for teams standardizing on MCP; the explainx.ai page compares cleanly with sibling servers.
Strong directory entry: Chess surfaces stars and publisher context so we could sanity-check maintenance before adopting.
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This MCP let's you play chess against any LLM.
To use this chess server, add the following configuration to your MCP config:
{
"mcpServers": {
"chess": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"mcp-chess"
]
}
}
}
Play a game:


Find a position in a PGN for game analysis:

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".Prerequisites
Time Estimate
15-60 minutes depending on server complexity
Steps
Troubleshooting
✓ Do
✗ Don't
💡 Pro Tips
Architecture
Model Context Protocol standardizes how AI hosts (Claude, Cursor) communicate with external tools and data sources through server implementations.
Protocols
Compatibility
✓ Use when
Use when you need Claude to access external data, execute actions, or integrate with tools. Best for extending AI capabilities beyond conversation.
✗ Avoid when
Avoid when native integrations exist (use official APIs directly), for real-time critical systems, or when security/compliance requires zero external dependencies.