About ChessFree
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What ChessFree is
ChessFree is a free chess site that works without an account. It has published free online chess tools since 2004. Every board runs in your browser, enforces the official FIDE Laws of Chess, and is usable within seconds of the page loading.
What we build
The site is deliberately narrow. We build small, fast, single-purpose chess tools and explain the rules that most often cause arguments. We are not trying to be a social network, a video platform or a rated league. Chess.com and Lichess do those things extremely well and we cheerfully point people to them.
What we do want to be best at is the moment when someone needs a chess board right now: no sign up, no download, no waiting for a stranger to accept a challenge.
How the boards work
| Component | What it does | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Rules engine | Validates every move, including en passant, castling rights, promotion, stalemate and the fifty-move rule | chess.js (BSD-2-Clause) |
| Board interface | Drag, tap, highlights, promotion dialog | cm-chessboard (MIT) |
| Computer opponent | Chooses the engine's moves at your selected strength | Stockfish 18 (GPL-3.0) |
| Piece graphics | The standard Staunton piece images | Cburnett (CC BY-SA 3.0) |
Full attribution and licence text is on our licenses page.
Your games stay on your device. The chess engine is compiled to WebAssembly and runs inside your browser tab. Moves are never sent to a server for analysis, and games are not recorded against any account, because there are no accounts.
How the site is funded
ChessFree is free to use and funded by advertising, plus affiliate commission on some links to chess equipment. Where a page contains affiliate links, it says so on the page. Advertising never appears inside the playing area of a board, and buying something through a link never changes what our guides recommend.
Corrections
If you find a rule explained incorrectly anywhere on this site, please tell us and we will fix it and note the correction. Chess rules are precise and we would rather be corrected than be wrong. Use the contact page.