MCP Chess

🚀 MCP Chess Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that provides chess capabilities for the Claude AI assistant.

Demo Video

✨ Features

This server implements tools to extend Claude's capabilities:

• Generate chessboard images from Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) strings.
• Suggest the next move in a chess game.
• Check if a move is legal.

📦 Installation on Claude Desktop

1. Download the latest binary from the Releases page:

   • Windows: mcp-chess-windows.exe
   • macOS: mcp-chess-darwin
   • Linux: mcp-chess-linux

2. Make the file executable (only for macOS/Linux):

   chmod +x mcp-chess-darwin   # For macOS
   chmod +x mcp-chess-linux    # For Linux
   

3. macOS users - Overcome security warnings:

   When you first try to run the application, macOS may display a security warning because the application is not signed by an identified developer. To overcome this:

   • Right-click (or Control-click) on the mcp-chess-darwin file.
   • Select the "Open" option in the context menu.
   • Click "Open" in the dialog box that appears.

   Alternatively, you can use the terminal:

   xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /path/to/mcp-chess-darwin
   

   This only needs to be done once.

4. Configure Claude Desktop:

   • Open Claude Desktop.
   • Select "Settings", then click the "Developer" tab.
   • Click "Edit Configuration".
   • Add the MCP server configuration.
   • Save the file.
   • Restart Claude Desktop.

Here is an example of the MCP server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-chess": {
      "command": "/path/to/mcp-chess-binary"
    }
  }
}

💻 Usage with Claude

After configuration, you can ask Claude to perform various chess-related tasks:

Show the initial position of a chess game.

Let's start a chess game. Check if each move is legal. Suggest the best next move.

Is Nf3 a legal move from the initial position?

In the following position: "rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2", what are good moves for White?

🔧 Technical Details

Development

This project is built using the following technologies:

• Spring Boot
• Spring AI (MCP server implementation)
• Java 21
• GraalVM Native Compilation

Building from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/alexandreroman/mcp-chess.git
cd mcp-chess

# Build with Maven
./mvnw clean package

# Build a native executable
./mvnw -Pnative native:compile

📄 License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Credits

• ChessGame - A Java chess library.
• ChessImage - A chessboard renderer.
• Stockfish.online - A chess engine API.
• Spring AI - An AI application framework.