About ChessViewer
About ChessViewer
Simply put, ChessViewer is a free tool that lets you build chess positions and turn them into high-quality images for print or screen. Drag the pieces onto the board however you want, pick a style, and download. Nothing to install, no sign-up — it all runs right in your browser, fast.
Why does this exist?
Say you need a clean chess board image for a book, an article, a YouTube video, or a worksheet for your students. That's exactly what ChessViewer is for. It is not an engine — it will not suggest moves or play against you. It has one job: turn the position you build into the sharpest, cleanest image possible.
And it is completely free — no annoying ads, no code tracking you in the background, no "upgrade to Premium" popups.
Who is it for?
- Teachers and coaches: putting together worksheets or slides for students.
- Writers and bloggers: adding crisp, print-quality (high-DPI) images to articles or books.
- YouTubers and streamers: making custom board images for video thumbnails.
- Developers: turning a FEN string straight into an image without any hassle.
What can you do with it?
- Simple controls. Just grab a piece and drop it where you want on the board. Flip the board, hide or show coordinates — it all works the way you'd expect.
- FEN support. Got a FEN string handy? Paste it in and watch the board update instantly. If something is off, ChessViewer flags it before you export.
- Real quality. Export as PNG, JPEG, or SVG. You can push the quality up to 1200 DPI — print-shop level.
- Batch export. Writing a book and need 30 different positions exported at once? Don't do them one by one. Paste all the FEN strings in and download them as a single ZIP.
- Your look, your call. Change the board colors and piece style to match whatever you're working on.
- Auto-save. Nothing you are working on gets lost — it stays saved on your device. Search back through it and pick up where you left off any time.
- Database lookup. Wondering if a position has ever been played before? Check it against Lichess, ChessDB, PDB, and YACPDB in one click.
Do I have to sign up?
Not at all. Open the site and start working — everything stays in your browser. If you do create an account, you get one extra perk: your positions and settings sync across your devices, phone and computer alike. Your data is protected by row-level security in the database — only your account can read your rows, nobody else's. You can also turn on two-factor authentication for extra peace of mind.
The idea behind it
ChessViewer started as something built just for one person — a fast way to put together a decent chess diagram without wrestling with image editors or paying for software that does too much. Turns out other people needed the same thing, so it was made open source and put out there for everyone.
There is no company or investor behind it. Your data isn't sold to anyone, nothing tracks you in the background, and nothing here is paid. The code is all on GitHub — read it, run it locally, or send in a contribution whenever you want.