Difference between revisions of "Chess"

Revision as of 15:14, 11 September 2025

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).

Terminal based

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

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 == Playing Chess on NixOS ==
-=== GUI based ===
+=== Engines ===
-[https://lucaschess.pythonanywhere.com/ Lucas Chess] is not packaged for NixOS yet (see [https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/303420 nixpkgs#303420]).
-For [https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-chess GNOME Chess], if you want to play against the computer, you need to install a chess engine in addition. According to the application developer, this can be GNU Chess or Stockfish, but the engines will always win, ruthlessly, which may be disturbing (see [https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-chess/-/issues/94 gnome-chess#94]).
+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.
 <syntaxHighlight lang="nix">
@@ Line 12: / Line 10: @@
 {
    environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
-    gnome-chess
      gnuchess
+    scid-vs-pc # Phalanx and Fruit
      stockfish
    ];
 }
 </syntaxHighlight>
+=== GUI based ===
 [https://chessx.sourceforge.io/ ChessX] is installable via <code>chessx</code>.
 [https://cutechess.com/ Cute Chess] is installable via <code>cutechess</code>.
+[https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-chess GNOME Chess] is installable via <code>gnome-chess</code>.
+[https://lucaschess.pythonanywhere.com/ Lucas Chess] is not packaged for NixOS yet (see [https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/303420 nixpkgs#303420]).
 === Terminal based ===
-[https://thomas-mauran.github.io/chess-tui/docs/Installation/NixOS Chess TUI] is installable via <code>chess-tui</code>. Playing against a bot requires [https://thomas-mauran.github.io/chess-tui/docs/Configuration/engine a chess engine] such as Stockfish. The engine [https://thomas-mauran.github.io/chess-tui/docs/Configuration/configuration-intro can be configured] or specifed with the <code>-e</code> option.
+[https://thomas-mauran.github.io/chess-tui/docs/Installation/NixOS Chess TUI] is installable via <code>chess-tui</code>. Use <code>-e</code> to select an [https://thomas-mauran.github.io/chess-tui/docs/Configuration/engine engine] or use the [https://thomas-mauran.github.io/chess-tui/docs/Configuration/configuration-intro configuration file].

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