If you play chess seriously, you probably have a browser graveyard of open tabs. One for game analysis, one for opening theory, another for YouTube videos, maybe a puzzle site on the side. It’s a fragmented mess, and it slows you down more than any opponent ever could. Chesspoint.io was built to fix exactly that problem. It pulls analysis, puzzles, lessons, a game database, daily content, and a genuinely clever YouTube Position Search into a single platform.
The project comes from Almir, a solo developer who got tired of the tab-switching treadmill and decided to build the tool he actually wanted. The free tier is generous. Unlimited Stockfish analysis, unlimited puzzles, opening tools, chess news, and the YouTube Position Search are all available without paying anything. A premium membership at €4.99 per month adds structured lessons, advanced trainers, and additional features for players who want to go deeper.
It’s a freemium chess platform, but it doesn’t feel like one of those services where the free tier is just a teaser. The core experience is fully functional from day one.
What Chesspoint.io Actually Gives You
Unlimited Stockfish Analysis, Free
Most platforms gate their strongest engine analysis behind a paywall. Chesspoint gives you full Stockfish access at no cost. You can paste in a PGN, work through your games move by move, and get deep position evaluations without hitting a daily limit or a subscription prompt. For players who study seriously, this alone is a significant difference.
YouTube Position Search
This is the feature that genuinely stands out. You set up a position on the board, run a search, and Chesspoint finds YouTube videos that cover that exact position, then jumps you directly to the moment in the video where it’s explained. No more scrubbing through a 40-minute lecture hoping someone addresses your specific question. You get the relevant segment, immediately. It’s a smart idea executed well.
Unlimited Puzzles and Tactical Trainers
The puzzle library is unlimited, and the premium tier adds specialized trainers for calculation, checkmate patterns, and endgames. The daily puzzle gives you a fresh challenge every morning with ELO ratings attached, so you know what difficulty level you’re working at. The puzzle of the day also includes thematic tags like pin, discovered attack, or mate in two, which helps you identify patterns rather than just solving in isolation.
Personal Game Database
You can import your own games and store them directly on Chesspoint. The database view shows event, site, date, result, and evaluation at a glance. From there you can click straight into analysis or copy the PGN for use elsewhere. It keeps your study material organized in one place rather than scattered across local files and third-party sites.
Daily Chess Feed and Built-In Music
The Daily section surfaces fresh chess news from sources like ChessBase and Chess.com, updated every day. There’s also a built-in lofi music player with tracks named things like “Lofi at the 64 Squares” and “White Noise Gambit,” which is a small touch but a genuinely thoughtful one if you like studying with background music. Chesspoint clearly considered the full study session experience, not just the tools.
Marcus at 11pm, Trying to Fix His Sicilian
Marcus, a 1700-rated club player from Leeds, had been losing repeatedly with Black against 1.d4. He suspected his move order in the Sicilian was leaking points, but he couldn’t find exactly where. It was 11pm on a Tuesday. He had an hour before bed.
He opened Chesspoint, pasted in a game from that evening, and let Stockfish run through it. The engine flagged a critical mistake on move 14, a passive knight retreat that handed White a dominant center. He understood the problem. What he didn’t understand was the right plan.
He set up the position after move 13 and used the YouTube Position Search. Within seconds, Chesspoint surfaced a video from a well-known chess channel and jumped him directly to the 22-minute mark, where the instructor explained that exact pawn structure. Marcus watched four minutes of targeted explanation, understood the concept, and replayed the position using Chesspoint’s analysis board to try the correct approach.
He closed the laptop at midnight having actually fixed the problem, not just identified it. That’s the practical difference Chesspoint makes.
How Chesspoint Fits Into a Study Session
Step 1: Import Your Game
Head to the Database tab and use the “Add game” button to paste in a PGN. Your game is saved to your personal library with metadata intact.
Step 2: Analyze With Stockfish
Open the analysis board and let the engine evaluate move by move. The interface is clean and doesn’t require any configuration to get useful output.
Step 3: Search the Position on YouTube
Set up any position you want to understand better, then run the YouTube Position Search. Chesspoint pulls relevant video content and drops you at the exact timestamp where the position is explained.
Step 4: Drill the Pattern
Use the puzzle trainer or one of the specialized trainers available through premium to reinforce what you’ve just learned. The daily puzzle keeps the habit going between longer study sessions.
Pricing
Chesspoint runs on a freemium model. The free tier includes unlimited Stockfish analysis, unlimited puzzles, the YouTube Position Search, opening tools, and the daily chess feed. No credit card required. The premium membership costs €4.99 per month and adds structured lessons, opening guides, calculation and endgame trainers, and a game analysis board with a bundled engine. You can cancel any time.
Worth Trying If You Study Chess Seriously
Chesspoint isn’t trying to replace over-the-board play or a coach. What it does is clean up the study workflow for players who spend real time analyzing and improving. The YouTube Position Search alone is worth signing up for a free account. If you’re ready to consolidate your chess tools into one place, head over to Chesspoint.io and start with the free tier. It costs nothing to find out whether it fits how you work.
Really great website! I especially like the YouTube feature. It makes the learning experience much more engaging.
The first chess page that really helped me. Many thanks.