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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Chess-TUI Play Lichess games in your terminal (Rust)

Hi HN, I’ve released a new version of chess-tui, a Rust terminal UI for playing live games against Lichess opponents. The update includes a cleaner TUI, better performance, improved keybindings, and smoother real-time integration with the Lichess API. It’s designed as a simple, fast way to play chess without leaving the terminal. Repo:https://github.com/thomas-mauran/chess-tui Feedback and bug reports are welcome. Happy to answer questions!

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.

  1. 1

    Hey everyone, I have been trying to build a terminal based app for sometime now and this is an attempt at trying to build a chess app that one can play right inside terminal. I was inspired by `chess-tui`[1] which is a rust based project and was looking to build something similar using python. Luckily I stumbled upon textual[2] recently and it made my task of building this far more easier than I thought. [1] https://github.com/thomas-mauran/chess-tui [2] https://github.com/textualize/textual

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    Easily explore, analyse and practice chess openings

    2021 · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    Hi HN! I just built chessterm, a Rust-powered TUI chess engine to practice chess notation (PGN) for an upcoming chess competition. This was also a way for me to learn Rust more deeply, particularly bitboards for move generation and terminal UI development with ratatui Unlike typical chess UIs that wrap around Stockfish, this is built completely from scratch, with: - PGN-only input (no AI, just human vs human) - Bitboard-based move generation (u64, precomputed attack masks) - Built with ratatui for a smooth terminal experience Would love to hear your feedback!

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    HTTP client/libcurl TUI front end in Rust, with request + key storage - PThorpe92/CuTE

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    A minimal Emacs client for the Lichess API. Contribute to tmythicator/lichess.el development by creating an account on GitHub.

    Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    A Terminal UI to browse Hacker News. Contribute to aome510/hackernews-TUI development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    Chess for macOS

    2020 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    Play Chess in Slack with your fellow workspace members

    2023 · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    My first Rust program with support from Cursor :)). few days for idea. 1 night for "talk and fight" with Cursor

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    tui-use lets agents interact with programs that expect a human at the keyboard — REPLs, debuggers, TUI apps, and anything else bash can't reach. - onesuper/tui-use

    Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    Hey there! I just finished a youtube video explaining our donut chess in detail: https://youtu.be/iRcfHCPFgkM So I thought it'd be cool to show it off here too- it can be played around with at mchess.io/donut - you can also set up an AI or online game on the site. This is all indie dev work from a couple friends and myself.

    Nov 2025 · mchess.io · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    I've been interested in making a TUI application and learning Rust for a while now. Since some friends and family started playing poker, I found it a good opportunity to make my "learning Rust" project a poker TUI app. Inspired by https://github.com/shazow/ssh-chat, I also wanted to make something that could be connected to and played with just using SSH. For me, poker is usually with friends and family, so I focused the app's target audience to be private, small-scale games, avoiding the headaches associated with scaling to some massive web-based platform. Big thanks…

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Learn to be a better Chess player, playable in your browser

    2017 · halfchess.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    I've been playing chess for a few years with my ELO stuck around 1600 on Lichess. I wanted an app that combined puzzle training, interactive lessons, game analysis, and AI coaching in one place. But all the apps I used over the years either felt overwhelming, had UX that wasn't up to my expectations for a modern app or were lacking some fundamental features that I really wanted. So, I built LearnChess.ai. The technical angle I'm most excited about: it's built local-first using LiveStore (event-sourced, SQLite on-device), which means zero loading delays for user data and full offline support.…

    Jul 2026 · learnchess.ai · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    Free chess experience for anyone, anywhere.

    2017 · lichess.org · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    I made a Terminal UI for OpenSnitch[1], an interactive application firewall for Linux inspired by Little Snitch. I’ve always wanted to create a TUI and found the perfect excuse to make this for usage on one of my headless servers. I wrote this in Rust to force myself to learn more, viz. async features. Super open to feedback and contributions! [1] https://github.com/evilsocket/opensnitch

    Nov 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17IT

    I built 1e4.ai - a chess web app where you play against neural networks trained to mimic human Lichess players at specific Elo ranges. There's a separate model for each 100-point rating bucket from ~800 to 2200+, and the bots not only choose human-like moves but also burn clock time, play worse under time pressure, and blunder in human-like ways. Live demo: https://1e4.ai Code: https://github.com/thomasj02/1e4_ai A few things that might be interesting: - Trained on almost a full year of Lichess blitz games, around 1B total games - Architecture is an a small…

    May 2026 · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Premium Chess Gaming App

    2025 · eurochess.net · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    Play chess in your browser – with Stockfish AI power.

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    HTTP client/libcurl TUI front end in Rust, with request + key storage - PThorpe92/CuTE

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21IB

    Hi HN, here is my humble weekend project. I couldn’t find any similar utilities online that would let me download all of my chess games, so I decided to make one. It’s definitely imperfect, so please let me know if you have any feedback!

    2023 · chessgamedownloader.fly.dev · its alternatives →

  22. 22

    Hello, This is something I've wanted to build for awhile (first bought the domain in 2020 (then lost it for a year+)). It's a tactics solver on each new tab page. There are 5 modes of play: Easy (<1200 elo) Medium (1200-1800) Hard (1800-2400) Expert (2400+) Speedrun (solve as many puzzles as possible in 60 seconds). I'm having a ton of fun with it, and definitely noticing improvements with actual games (definitely solved the most puzzles in my life while developing this extension). If you check it out, please let me know what you think. Any feedback is good!

    Apr 2026 · leetchess.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Free chess game analysis with engine review

    Feb 2026 · yoochess.vercel.app · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    Your go-to platform for chess puzzles.

    2025 · pichess.org · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →