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Stockfish 17 Engine
The world's strongest open-source chess engine runs right in your browser — no downloads, no server, no waiting.
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FEN & PGN Import
Paste any FEN string or PGN from Chess.com, Lichess, or any database to instantly jump to that exact position.
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Live Evaluation Bar
A real-time score and colour bar tell you who is winning and by how much — at every depth of analysis.
How to Use the Chess Move Calculator to Find Your Next Best Move
You do not need to be a grandmaster to use this tool. Just set up the position you want to analyse — either by moving the pieces on the board above, or by pasting a FEN or PGN — and click Best Move. Within seconds, Stockfish will show you the strongest next move along with an evaluation score and the top alternative lines.
Here is a quick step-by-step if you are new to chess analysis tools:
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Set up your position. Click and drag pieces on the board, or use the Quick Positions buttons in the sidebar to load a known opening like the Sicilian or the Ruy López.
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Click "Best Move". The engine will immediately start calculating. You will see the evaluation bar update and the best move appear in the sidebar.
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Explore the top lines. The engine shows up to three candidate moves with their evaluations. Click any line to play that move on the board and keep analysing deeper.
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Import a game from Chess.com or Lichess. Copy the FEN or PGN from any game, paste it into the Import Position panel, and hit Load. You are instantly at that position.
You can increase the search depth in the settings panel for more precise analysis. Depth 15 is fast and strong enough for most positions. If you are studying an endgame or a tricky tactical puzzle, bumping it to 18 or 20 gives you the most accurate result — it just takes a few more seconds.
What Does the Chess Evaluation Score Mean? (And How to Read It)
The evaluation score is one of the most useful — and most misunderstood — parts of any chess analysis tool. Here is what it actually tells you.
The number you see (for example, +1.4) represents the advantage in pawns. A positive score means White is ahead; a negative score means Black is ahead. Zero means the position is perfectly balanced.
+0.1 to +0.5
Slight edge. The game is still very much alive for both sides.
+0.5 to +1.5
Noticeable advantage. One side has better piece activity or a pawn structure plus.
+1.5 to +3.0
Clear winning advantage. Equivalent to being a full pawn or more ahead with good play.
+3.0 and above
Decisive. Against strong play, the losing side will not recover.
M3, M5…
Forced checkmate in that many moves. The engine has found a forced win.
The coloured bar at the top of the board gives you the same information at a glance. When it is mostly green on the right, White is winning. When it tilts red to the left, Black has the upper hand. A bar split down the middle is an equal fight.
How to Import Any Chess Position — FEN and PGN Explained
If you have ever used Chess.com, Lichess, or any chess app, you have encountered these two formats. They are the universal language for sharing chess positions and games.
What is FEN notation?
FEN stands for Forsyth-Edwards Notation. It is a short string of text that captures everything about a chess position — where every piece is, whose turn it is, whether castling is still possible, and whether an en passant capture is available. Every position in chess has exactly one FEN string.
Here is what a FEN looks like for the starting position:
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
To get the FEN for a position in your Chess.com game, open the game, go to Analysis, and look for the "Share & Export" option — the FEN is listed there. On Lichess, open any study or game and click the FEN/PGN export button under the board.
What is PGN notation?
PGN stands for Portable Game Notation. Instead of describing a position, it records the full sequence of moves in a game — like a written script. It looks like this: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5. You can paste a full PGN from any game into the Import panel and our tool will replay every move, letting you stop and analyse at any point.
Both formats are fully supported here. Paste either one into the Import Position box and click the corresponding button.
Chess Opening Theory — Calculate the Best Next Move from Move One
The opening is where most club players lose their games without even realising it. A few small mistakes in the first 10 moves can leave you in a position that is already lost before the middlegame starts. That is why using a chess move calculator during your opening study is so valuable — you can test every variation and see what the engine thinks of each choice.
Our tool automatically detects the opening you are playing. Here are the most common ones and what makes them tick:
C60
Ruy López
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5
One of the oldest and most respected openings. White attacks the knight that defends the e5 pawn, creating long-term pressure. Favoured by world champions from Morphy to Carlsen.
B20
Sicilian Defense
1.e4 c5
The most popular response to 1.e4 at every level of chess. Black creates an immediate imbalance and fights for the centre from the side. Extremely rich and double-edged.
C50
Italian Game
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4
White points the bishop at the vulnerable f7 square. A solid, classical opening that leads to rich strategic play. Popular at all levels from beginners to grandmasters.
D06
Queen's Gambit
1.d4 d5 2.c4
White offers a pawn to gain central control. One of the most classical openings in chess, used by virtually every great player in history. Solid, strategic, and deep.
E60
King's Indian Defense
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6
Black lets White build a big centre, then attacks it with pieces. A favourite of aggressive players like Fischer, Kasparov, and Bronstein. Sharp and dynamic.
C00
French Defense
1.e4 e6
A solid but slightly passive setup for Black. The game often becomes a battle of pawn chains, with Black countering with ...d5 and ...c5 later. Reliable and well-studied.
Use the Quick Positions presets in the sidebar to jump straight into any of these openings and start exploring the moves with the engine running live.
6 Ways to Use This Chess Move Calculator to Actually Get Better
A chess engine is not just for finding the best move in the moment. Used the right way, it is one of the best study tools available — and it is completely free. Here is how to get the most out of it.
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Analyse your own games
After every game on Chess.com or Lichess, export the PGN and paste it here. Go through the moves and find where your evaluation started dropping. That is your biggest learning moment.
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Test your candidate moves first
Before you click Best Move, look at the position and pick what you think are the top two or three moves. Then run the engine. Comparing your thinking to the engine's trains your pattern recognition.
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Study openings move by move
Load a known opening using the presets, then start deviating — make a dubious move and see how the evaluation changes. This teaches you why the main lines work, not just what they are.
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Practice endgames
Load the KPK endgame preset and try to win as White before clicking Best Move. Endgame technique is where most players leave the most points on the table — the engine will show you the precise path.
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Increase depth for complex positions
Tactical positions — sacrifices, combinations, forced mates — require deeper search. Set depth to 18 or 20 when you are not finding a clear answer at the default setting.
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Watch the evaluation bar, not just the move
The single best move is useful, but the bar tells you the story of the whole game. A bar that swings wildly back and forth shows a dynamic, double-edged game. A bar that slowly drifts tells you one side is grinding the other down.
Chess Move Calculator — Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about using the chess move calculator — answered in plain English.
What is the best chess move calculator available online? ▾
This tool uses Stockfish 17 — the highest-rated chess engine in the world, with an Elo rating well above 3500. It is widely considered the best chess move calculator available for free online because it runs the full Stockfish engine in your browser using WebAssembly, with no limitations on positions or move count. You get grandmaster-level analysis without any account or payment.
How do I find the best next chess move? ▾
Set up the position on the board — either by moving pieces, pasting a FEN string, or importing a PGN. Then click the Best Move button in the sidebar. The engine will calculate the strongest available move and show you the evaluation score alongside it. If you want to go deeper, increase the search depth in the settings panel.
Which chess engine powers this calculator? ▾
Stockfish 17. It is the same engine professional players and world championship teams use for preparation. Stockfish is completely open-source and runs entirely in your browser using WebAssembly technology, so no data is ever sent to any server. Your analysis is private and instant.
Is this chess move calculator completely free? ▾
Yes. No account, no subscription, no ads. The tool is free to use for any position, any number of times. There is no daily move limit or any kind of paywall. Just open the page and start analysing.
How do I import a position from Chess.com? ▾
Open your game on Chess.com and go to the Analysis board. At the bottom or in the share options you will find a FEN string for the current position. Copy it, paste it into the Import Position panel on this page, and click Load FEN. You will be instantly at that exact position with the engine ready to analyse.
How do I import a game from Lichess? ▾
On Lichess, open any game or study. Below the board you will find a PGN export option. Copy the PGN, paste it into the Import Position panel here, and click Load PGN. Our tool will replay the moves and you can stop at any point to run the engine. You can also grab the FEN for a specific move from Lichess's analysis board by clicking the FEN field.
What does the search depth setting mean? ▾
Depth controls how many half-moves (plies) ahead the engine calculates. A depth of 10 means the engine looks 10 half-moves into the future. Depth 15 is a good starting point — fast and strong for most positions. For tricky endgames, forced mate puzzles, or positions with long forced lines, try depth 18 or 20. The higher the depth, the longer the calculation takes but the more accurate the result.
What does MultiPV mean and how does it help? ▾
MultiPV stands for Multiple Principal Variations. Instead of showing just the single best move, the engine shows you the top 2, 3, 4, or 5 candidate moves with their individual evaluations. This is extremely useful for understanding why a move is best — seeing the second and third best moves helps you understand what alternatives exist and why they fall short.
How does the evaluation score work in chess? ▾
The evaluation is measured in pawns. +1.0 means White has an advantage roughly equal to one extra pawn. Negative scores favour Black. An evaluation of 0.0 is a balanced position. Scores beyond ±2.0 are usually decisive at grandmaster level. When you see "M3" it means forced checkmate in 3 moves. The coloured bar above the board visualises the same information: green means White is better, the further it tilts, the bigger the advantage.
Can I use this chess calculator on my phone? ▾
Yes. The tool is fully responsive and works on all modern smartphones and tablets. The board resizes to fit your screen, touch controls work for moving pieces, and the analysis sidebar stacks below the board on smaller screens. The Stockfish engine runs just as well on mobile browsers as on desktop.
Can I analyse a specific chess opening with this tool? ▾
Yes. Use the Quick Positions panel in the sidebar to jump straight into the Ruy López, Italian Game, Sicilian Defense, King's Indian, or a King-Pawn endgame. You can also set up any opening manually by moving pieces, or paste a FEN for any specific opening position from a book or database. The opening detector will label the position automatically once it recognises the pattern.
Is the chess move calculator good for beginners? ▾
Absolutely. Beginners benefit most from seeing the best move alongside the evaluation score. It shows you not just what to play but roughly how good a position is. A great habit for beginners: make your move, then check what the engine suggests. Over time, your choices will get closer and closer to the engine's — that is real improvement.
Does this tool work for chess puzzles and tactics? ▾
Yes. Set up any tactical position — a mate in two, a fork, a skewer, a discovered attack — and the engine will find the solution instantly. For puzzles where you want to test yourself first, try clicking Best Move only after you have committed to your answer. You can also increase the depth to 20 for the most accurate tactical analysis.