Chess MCP server

The Chess Analysis Assistant for Claude is a powerful tool that enables chess position analysis with Stockfish right within Claude. You can get position evaluations, visualize boards, analyze variations, and access a masters database of games played by 2200+ rated players.

Requirements

• Claude Desktop installed on your computer
• Git installed on your system

Installation Options

Quick Installation via Smithery

To install automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install chess-mcp --client claude

Quick Installation for Mac and Linux Users

Open Terminal and run:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/turlockmike/chess-mcp/master/install.sh | bash

This script will install required dependencies (Node.js 20+, Stockfish, Cairo), configure Claude Desktop, and set up the Chess Assistant.

Manual Installation

Prerequisites

• Claude Desktop
• Node.js version 20 or higher
• Stockfish chess engine
• Cairo graphics library

Mac Users

# Install Homebrew if you haven't already
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install required packages
brew install stockfish cairo pkg-config jq

Windows Users

• Install Node.js (LTS version)
• Download Stockfish and add it to your PATH
• Install Cairo

Complete the Installation

1. Install the Chess Assistant package:

npm install -g chess-mcp

2. Configure Claude Desktop:

• Open Claude Desktop
• Navigate to the configuration file:
  • Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Add this configuration:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "chess": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": ["chess-mcp"]
        }
    }
}

• Save and restart Claude Desktop

Usage

Once installed, you can use the Chess Assistant in Claude Desktop:

1. Open Claude Desktop
2. Look for the tools icon (🔧) which should display chess analysis tools
3. Try these example prompts:

• "Analyze this position: rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"
• "Show me the current position"
• "What's the best move in this position?"
• "Look up this position in the masters database"
• "Show me master games from this position after 2000"
• "What are the most common moves played by masters in this position?"

Features

Position Analysis

• Engine evaluation using Stockfish
• Visual board representation
• Best move suggestions
• Move validation

Masters Database

• Search positions in games played by 2200+ rated players
• Filter games by date range
• See win/draw statistics
• View most common moves with success rates
• Browse recent master games with player ratings

Troubleshooting

If you experience issues:

• Ensure all requirements are installed correctly
• Verify Stockfish is accessible from your command line
• Check that all paths in your Claude Desktop configuration are correct
• Restart Claude Desktop after making any changes

Common Issues

• Tools not showing up in Claude: Verify Claude Desktop configuration
• Stockfish not found: Confirm Stockfish is installed and accessible
• Node version error: Ensure Node.js version 20 or higher is installed
• Canvas installation failed: Verify Cairo is installed correctly for your OS

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.