Scan the board.
Analyze position.
Keep playing.
Snap any over-the-board position. Get instant analysis with Stockfish and Leela Chess Zero – right on your device.
Snap That Piece is a free chess board scanner that turns a photo of a real board into a position you can use. Point your camera at a tournament set, a book diagram, or a screen; the board is detected, every piece is recognized, and you get the FEN in seconds. From there, analyze it with Stockfish, play it out against a human-like Leela Chess Zero bot, or send it to a friend – all in your browser, with no install and no ads.
How it works
Snap a photo of the board
Any board, any angle. Tournament sets, wooden boards, even a book.
Get the position instantly
Pieces are recognized in real-time. Review the detected position and copy the FEN.
Play vs Bots
Challenge Stockfish locally or Leela Chess Zero in the cloud – pick your engine, strength, and time control.
GM Equal Positions
Play from 14k+ dead-draw positions taken from real GM games. Challenge yourself vs bots or friends – try not to lose! Try it free.
Frequently asked questions
How does Snap That Piece work?
Just snap or upload a photo of the board in your browser. Snap That Piece runs custom machine-learning models, designed to run on mobile devices, that detect the board, warp it to a square, classify each piece, and produce a FEN position instantly.
Is Snap That Piece free?
Yes. Board scanning, engine analysis, and online play are all free with no ads.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Snap That Piece runs in any modern web browser on desktop or mobile – just open app.snapthatpiece.com. You can also install it as a Progressive Web App. Stockfish analysis runs on-device in your browser, while Leela Chess Zero (Maia) play runs in the cloud.
Which engines can I play and analyze against?
Two. Stockfish runs on-device in your browser for analysis and for play at any strength. Leela Chess Zero runs on our servers with the ten Maia networks, which are trained on human games and play like a real opponent rated between 1100 and 2200 Elo.
What happens to the photo I scan?
In the web app the photo is uploaded to our servers to detect the board and identify the pieces, and is kept with your account so you can revisit the result. Images may also be used to improve the recognition models. The iOS app does recognition entirely on-device and uploads nothing unless you opt in. The Privacy Policy at snapthatpiece.com/privacy covers this in full.
Do I need an account?
Not for anything on snapthatpiece.com – the Chess960 generator, the GM Equal Positions browser, and the Knight and Pawn Race mini-games all run without one. Scanning a board, saving positions, and playing online in the web app need a free account.
Does it support Chess960?
Yes. The Chess960 generator at snapthatpiece.com/chess960 lists all 960 Fischer Random starting positions with copyable FENs, and you can start a game from any of them.