Chess Blog
Guides for every stage of the game. New players can start with how to play chess and the chess lessons. Improving players will find training plans, tactics and endgame technique. Engine users get plain explanations of how Stockfish works, what its numbers mean, and how to use a chess calculator to learn from your games rather than copy moves.
Stockfish ELO by Level
What each skill level really plays at, derived from the engine's source.
Stockfish 19: What's New
The September 2026 release: +44 ELO over SF18, the SFNNv16 network, and our own benchmark.
Stockfish 18: What's New
What changed in SF18, its +46 ELO over SF17, and how it compares to Stockfish 19.
How to Play Chess
The rules from scratch: setup, how each piece moves, special moves and how a game ends.
What is ELO in Chess?
What a rating says about a player, how titles work, and why every site's number differs.
How to Get Better at Chess
A training plan that works: tactics, game review, openings and endgames, level by level.
How a Chess Move Calculator Works
Search depth, NNUE evaluation and centipawns explained, and how to learn from an engine.
Stockfish Chess Engine
The strongest chess engine: its history, how it works and how to use it free online.
Chess Bots
Meet our 11 chess bots, from 400 to 3650 ELO, and how to pick the right one.
AI Chess
How AI plays chess: Deep Blue, AlphaZero, Stockfish's NNUE, and how to train with it.
Chess Solver From Image
Analyze chess positions from books, videos, and articles using images.
How to Find the Best Chess Move
Step-by-step guide to finding the best move in any position.
Chess ELO Formula Explained
How ratings are calculated: expected score, K-factor, worked examples and Glicko.
Chess Endgame Strategy
Essential endgame techniques: king activity, opposition, and more.
Chess Tactics for Beginners
Master forks, pins, skewers, and discovered attacks.
Improve Your Chess Rating
10 proven tips to raise your chess rating fast.
Guides & Tools
Short lessons on the rules, and the tools the articles use. Start with how to set up a chess board if you are new, or set up a position from your last game in the best move calculator to see what you missed.
Chess lessons
Chess tools
- Chess calculator: Find the best move in any position
- Chess analysis board: Move-by-move review of a whole game (Pro)
- Checkmate checker: Is it checkmate, stalemate or check?
- Stockfish online: The full engine, in your browser
- Chess ELO calculator: Rating change for any result
- Chess openings: Main openings, move by move
- Chess puzzles: Tactics training from real positions
Ready to play? Pick a chess bot from 400 to 3650 ELO, or read how to get better at chess for a plan to go with it.
Put What You Learned Into Practice
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