Best move finder
Set up any position and the engine, running in your browser, finds the best move and its top three lines. For studying positions after your games.
About the best move finder
The best move finder answers one question about one position: which move is strongest? Paste the position as a FEN and the engine, running on your own device, names its first choice in plain words, shows the two next best moves beside it and says how the position stands. Play the move to see the reply, or open the position on the analysis board to look deeper.
Reading the result
- Best move
- The engine's first choice, in algebraic notation: Nf3 is a knight to f3, O-O is castling kingside and + means check. The solid arrow on the board shows it, and fainter arrows show the next two.
- Evaluation
- How the position stands with best play, in pawns. In the lines, +0.8 means White is better by about eight tenths of a pawn and a minus sign means Black is better. Within a third of a pawn either way, the position is about equal.
- Mate in 3
- A forced checkmate in three moves, however the other side defends. In the lines it is written M3 when White mates and -M3 when Black does.
- Top lines
- The three strongest moves the engine found, each with the moves it expects to follow. When their scores are close, more than one move is good.
- Depth
- How far ahead the engine has looked. It grows while the engine searches, and the answer from the deepest search is the one to trust.
- Side to move
- The board turns to face the side whose move it is, so the best move is played up the board. Flip it with the button above the board or the F key.
Positions to try
Black to move after 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Qh5, with mate on f7 threatened.
r1bqkbnr/pppp1ppp/2n5/4p2Q/2B1P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNB1K1NR b KQkq - 3 3
White to move, with a back-rank mate in one.
6k1/5ppp/8/8/8/8/5PPP/3R2K1 w - - 0 1
The Ruy Lopez after 3… a6, White to move. Compare the three lines.
r1bqkbnr/1ppp1ppp/p1n5/1B2p3/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 4
What a FEN is
FEN, short for Forsyth-Edwards Notation, is one line of text that records a whole position: where every piece stands, whose move it is, castling and en passant rights, and two move counters. Chess.com, Lichess and most chess apps can copy it from their board. This page keeps the FEN of the position on its board in the address, so you can bookmark a position or send it to someone. Read the guide to FEN.
After the game, not during it
Using an engine in a game you are playing breaks the fair play rules of Chess.com, Lichess and other playing sites, and accounts that do it are closed. Look for the best move once the game is over, then practise the idea so you find it yourself next time.
