Chess

Playing Chess on NixOS

Engines

For most chess applications, if you want to play against the computer, you need to install one or more chess engines in addition. Some applications will automatically detect the engines (e.g GNOME Chess) others will need them configured via the user interface (application settings). Note that some engines are impossible to win against (e.g. gnuchess) while others will make your game a bit more fun.

{ pkgs, ... }:

{
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    gnuchess
    scid-vs-pc # Phalanx and Fruit
    stockfish
  ];
}

GUI based

ChessX is installable via chessx.

Cute Chess is installable via cutechess.

GNOME Chess is installable via gnome-chess.

Lucas Chess is not packaged for NixOS yet (see nixpkgs#303420).

PyChess, installable via pychess, is currently broken (see nixpkgs#442080).

Graphics based

DreamChess is installable via dreamchess.

Terminal based

Chess TUI is installable via chess-tui. Use -e to select an engine or use the configuration file.

Gambit is installable via gambit-chess.

uchess is installable via uchess. Works with UCI chess engines.