What’s new — The Chess Archive

What’s new, and views and reactions 15 September 2026

When a new version of the site is ready, the notice links to this page, with what changed since your last version marked New.
Every game shows how many times it has been watched: in the library, where you can sort by it, and on the watch page.
React to a game with Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry. Hold or hover the Like button for the others. You need to be signed in.
Once you are signed in, the Account button at the top right opens a menu, with Sign out in it.

Create an account with your email and a password, confirm the address from the link we send, and sign in.
A Sign in button at the top right of every page, showing your initial once you have.

The Study page has a filter panel: player, opening, chapter, era, result and length.
Portraits of the players on the Study page.
Solving a puzzle ends with confetti and a word over the board.
Starting a game against the computer is a card on the board, with your colour under it and the opponent you picked ticked.

A Back button on every page.
The board always stays inside its box, whatever the size of the window.
On the Learn page, picking up a piece sends see-through copies of it to every square it can reach, along the path the move takes.

Watch and play on a flat 2D board with drawn pieces, if you prefer it to 3D.
The first visit asks how the board should look, with a picture of each choice.
Knights move in an L instead of sliding, and the watch page plays a little slower.
The club Staunton set, traced from a real one, is now the default pieces; there is also a padauk and boxwood board.
Opponents on the Play page show their Elo, and you can export a game as PGN with its notes.

The nine most looked-up games are on cards at the top of the library.
Three new games: Carlsen–Nepomniachtchi and Ding–Gukesh from the World Championships, and the six-move xQc game from PogChamps.
The new-version notice moved to the top of the page, where it is easier to see.
The board stays sharp when you maximise it on a large screen.

Guess: play through a master game by choosing the next move, and see what was wrong with the one you picked.
Watch a game together with somebody else: whatever either of you does to the playhead, both boards do.
The first visit asks how much of the app you want on screen: a simple view or the complete one.
On a phone, scrolling under the board scrolls the page instead of getting stuck in the panel.

A new Learn page for people who are just starting: how every piece moves, on the 3D board.
The annotated master games are now the Study page.

Drop a PGN file on the library, even one with hundreds of games, and watch them on the 3D board. They stay in your browser.
Fifty more games, back to the oldest recorded one from 1475, and seven more boards to play them on.
Nameplates at each end of the board say who is playing.
The library groups its games instead of running as one long list.