Fernwood Studio

Fernwood Chess

Chess GUI & engine

A desktop chess program that comes with its own engine. Install it, make a move and the engine answers; or analyse your games and play engines against each other.

  • Built-in engine
  • UCI and xboard
  • Analysis
  • Engine matches
Download for WindowsDownload and installation

Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit) · free · about 7 MB

Fernwood Chess game screen: a 5+3 game against the built-in engine with its evaluation and the move list

Features

01

Install and play

The engine comes with the program; nothing else to download or configure. The build that suits your processor is picked automatically.

02

Analysis

Infinite analysis with an evaluation bar and a best-move arrow. Step through the game, try another move and carry on from there.

03

Add your own engines

Any engine that speaks UCI or xboard (CECP) can be added. Its settings come from the option list the engine itself reports.

04

Engine matches and SPRT

Compare two engines with an opening book and games in parallel. Live Elo and LLR; the match stops when a verdict is reached.

05

PGN and FEN

Open multi-game PGN files, save your game, paste a position from the clipboard or set one up piece by piece.

06

No account, no ads

The program collects no data. It goes online only to check for a new version, and that can be switched off in the settings.

Screenshots

Fernwood Chess game screen: a 5+3 game against the built-in engine with its evaluation and the move listFernwood Chess analysis mode: evaluation bar, best-move arrow and the engine’s principal variationFernwood Chess match panel: an SPRT match between two engines with a live results table and finished gamesFernwood Chess position editor: piece palette, side to move, castling rights and en passantFernwood Chess engine settings: a settings list built from the options the engine reportsFernwood Chess blue board theme with the legal moves of the selected piece marked

Download and installation

Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit) · free · about 7 MB

  1. The program is installed for your user account only and asks for no administrator rights. It appears in the Start menu as "Fernwood Chess" and can be removed from Windows settings.
  2. The installer does not carry a code-signing certificate yet. On first run Windows may show "Windows protected your PC"; choose "More info" and then "Run anyway" to continue.
  3. At startup the program checks whether a new version exists and asks before updating. Updates are signed; a file whose signature does not verify is never installed.
Download for Windows

For developers

The installation also includes chesscli, a command-line match runner: it plays engine matches and SPRT with fastchess-compatible options, tells P and E cores apart and pins each game to its own core.

Licence and privacy

Fernwood Chess is free; all rights belong to Fernwood Studio. The licence text is in the install folder. The program needs no account, shows no ads and sends no usage data.

Support

If you find a bug or have a suggestion, reach us by email.

fernwood.studio.contact@gmail.com