Download and usage

Download Stockfish

Note: Stockfish is a command line program. You may want to use it in your own UCI-compatible chess GUI.

Get started

1. First download Stockfish. There are multiple choices. Refer to the official and unofficial downloads. Stockfish itself is completely free with all its options.
2. Next, download a GUI (Graphical User Interface) as it is needed to conveniently use Stockfish. There are multiple free and commercial GUIs available. Different GUI's have more or less advanced features, for example, an opening explorer or automatic game analysis.
3. Now Stockfish must be made available to the GUI. Install in a Chess GUI explains how this can be done for some of them. If a different GUI is used, please read the GUI's manual.
4. Ultimately, change the default settings of Stockfish to get the best possible analysis.

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Official downloads

Latest release (Stockfish 15.1)

https://stockfishchess.org/download/

• Windows
• Linux
• macOS
  • App Store
  • brew install stockfish
• iOS

Latest development builds

1. Log in to Github
2. Navigate our Actions
3. Click on the first workflow run
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page
5. Select the corresponding binary

Note: On our Discord server you may also get a link to the latest version by using the slash command /dev-builds.

Note: You may also try compiling from source the latest commit.

Unofficial

Latest development builds

• https://abrok.eu/stockfish/

Choose a binary

• BMI2

  • Intel: 4th Gen and newer (e.g. i7 4770K, i5 13600K).
  • AMD: Zen 3 and newer (e.g. Ryzen 5 5600X, Ryzen 9 7950X).

• AVX2

  • AMD: Zen, Zen+ and Zen 2 (e.g. Ryzen 5 1600, Ryzen 5 3600).

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Download a Chess GUI

A chess graphical user interface allows you to interact with the engine in a user-friendly way. Popular GUIs are:

Free

• Arena
  • How to install Stockfish
  • Change settings
• Nibbler (source code)
  • How to install Stockfish
  • Change settings
• BanksiaGUI
• Cutechess (source code)
• ChessX (source code)
• Lucas Chess (source code)
• Scid vs. PC (source code)
• XBoard (source code)

Paid

• Chessbase
• Hiarcs
• Shredder

Online

Note: If you don't want to download a GUI, you can also use some of the available online interfaces. Keep in mind that you might not get the latest version of Stockfish, settings might be limited and speed will be slower.

• Lichess
  • Change settings
• Chess.com
  • Change settings

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Install in a Chess GUI

Arena

1. Engines > Install New Engine...

   

2. Select and open the Stockfish executable

   

Nibbler

1. Engine > Choose engine...

   

2. Select and open the Stockfish executable

   

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Change settings

Note: Please check our FAQ guide to set the optimal settings.

Arena

• Right click in the engine name > Configure

  
  

Nibbler

• In the Engine section

  

Lichess

• In the menu

  

Chess.com

• In the settings