About Chess Yard

What you can do here

Chess Yard is a standard 8×8 chessboard that works as soon as you open it in a browser. Choose from multiple local AI levels, take turns with another player on the same device, or create a public or private room and invite someone on another device with a link.

The problem we want to solve

Many online chess products make you register, download an app, or navigate a complicated lobby before you can play your first game. Chess Yard puts the board first: start playing, then use hints, undo, replay, recent games, and rooms when you need them. The interface supports concentration on the position instead of interrupting you with constant notifications or progression tasks.

Rules and game tools

The board validates legal moves and handles check, checkmate, stalemate, castling, en passant, and promotion. AI and same-device games include hints, undo, and move-by-move replay. Completed local games appear in recent games with a basic post-game analysis, helping you identify material swings and important moments.

Where games are stored

AI and same-device games, recent games, and interface preferences primarily remain in this browser. If you clear the site’s data, Chess Yard cannot restore them. Online rooms store only the seats, connections, and game state needed for a short-lived match, and expire according to their status. See the Privacy Policy for a fuller account of data handling.

How online rooms work

Public rooms appear in the lobby, where other visitors can join or watch. Private rooms are omitted from the lobby and are intended for direct invitations to people you know. A host can close a room, and a player who briefly disconnects can reconnect using seat information saved on that device. Rooms are not permanent communities or game-record hosting services.

Local Stockfish AI

Every vs-AI level and every hint runs Stockfish with NNUE evaluation inside your browser. Practice levels use the lite network. Master, on a desktop, loads the full Stockfish 19 network (about 94MB) and thinks longer. Nothing is sent to a cloud chess server for the move search. It is for practice, not a FIDE rating or coaching service.

Limits of AI strength

Multiple practice levels share the small network and step down from a gentle game for new players to a serious amateur game. Master uses the full network and a longer search, and only appears on a desktop, for strong players. A hint follows the level you selected: it is one move that level would consider, not coaching commentary or the only correct answer. The same level can feel different from one device to another. Chess Yard does not convert these levels into FIDE ratings or provide formal playing-strength certification.

What this chessboard does not provide

Chess Yard is not an official tournament platform, rating ladder, professional coaching service, or algorithmic matchmaking arena for strangers. It has no member accounts or permanent cloud game archive. If you need tournament rulings, timed competition formats, a personalized training plan, or cross-device synchronization, use a service designed for that purpose.

Accessibility and device support

The page uses clear landmarks, keyboard-reachable controls, status text, and alternative labels for the board, with layouts adapted for phones, tablets, desktop browsers, and installed home-screen use. Assistive-technology and browser combinations vary. If you encounter a focus, contrast, touch, or screen-reader problem, send us the device details and steps to reproduce it.

Open-source credits and sources

Human-vs-AI play uses the open-source Stockfish chess engine and the stockfish.js browser packaging. Upstream projects and authors do not endorse this site.

Corresponding source for the engine and the WASM packaging is available from the projects linked below. This site ships the public Stockfish.js 19 lite-single build for practice levels and the single-thread full build for Master, both under the GNU GPL v3; licence text is also kept at /brand/chess/stockfish/COPYING with a short notice at NOTICE.md.

About Ply Yard

Chess Yard is maintained by Ply Yard. The studio’s other board-game sites are separate services. If the board looks wrong or a room will not connect, report it through Contact.