Databases of games
Your games in .pdb databases: import PGN, lichess.org and chess.com games, torneionline.com tournaments and ChessBase files. Search by position, variation, player, opening, tournament and year.
Your chess, in one place.
An open source chess database for studying, training and playing: light, simple, with what really matters.
Free, MIT licensed. For Windows, macOS and Linux.
What it does
Everything a chess player needs to keep, study and improve — and nothing in the way.
Explain
Press E and the engine shows on the board why the last move is good or bad: red arrows where material falls, blue arrows for the reply that makes the difference, a forced mate played out.
Variations and notes
Play a move that is not the next one and it becomes a variation, shown under the move it replaces. Annotate moves with !, ?, ±, ∞… Everything is saved with the game and travels in PGN.
Training with a tutor
Play against the engine, from the opening book you tune. When your move is a mistake the tutor stops the game and lets you take it back, explain it or go on.
Play online
Connect your lichess.org account and play people from the same board. While you play, the engine, Explain and the book are off: it is you against your opponent.
Opening books
Polyglot books with your repertoire and the weights you choose, so the engine trains you on the lines you want. Named openings in English and Italian.
Sync between computers
Keep your databases and projects the same on every computer through an FTP, WebDAV or Git folder, and on your phone with the companion app. Nothing is ever deleted without a merge.
Projects
Database, game, move, panels and engine are a project you reopen as you left it. Native desktop interface, in English and Italian.
Screenshots
Pragma Chess on GNOME. Click a picture to see it full size.
Explain: why 14.Rd1 wins the Opera game
A game of the database on the board, with the moves and the games list
The Opening Tree: book moves with their weights and the openings they lead to
Play Online: connect a platform, choose clock and colour, find an opponent
The guide, built in, in your language
Download
Pick your system. The latest release is
Windows
Installer for Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit. A portable .zip is on the releases page.
Download for Windows PragmaChess-windows-x64-setup.exemacOS
Disk image for Apple Silicon Macs. Open it and drag Pragma Chess to Applications.
Download for macOS PragmaChess-macos-arm64.dmgLinux (Debian, Ubuntu)
.deb package for Ubuntu 24.04 and later and Debian 13 and later.
Download the .deb pragma-chess_amd64.debLinux (Fedora)
.rpm package for Fedora and compatible distributions.
Download the .rpm pragma-chess.x86_64.rpmAndroid Beta
The phone app for Android 8 and later, in beta: pair it with the desktop client to carry your databases and games. Soon on the official app store.
Download the APK PragmaChess-android.apkEvery release comes with Stockfish as the default engine; any UCI engine works. All releases and older versions →
What you get
- .pdb databases — SQLite files you can copy, share and open with other tools; one database per collection of games.
- .pch projects — readable YAML with the database, the game, the engine and the arrangement of the panels.
- PGN and Polyglot — the standard formats for games and opening books, in and out.
Supporters
The chess clubs that support Pragma Chess: they use it, test it and tell us what they need.
Would you like your club to appear here?
Introduce Pragma Chess to your members, then tell us how it went in our WhatsApp group and send us your logo there.
Support and community
Pragma Chess is made in the open, with chess clubs and players.
Guide
The guide is built into the application (Help ▸ Pragma Chess Guide, F1), with a search field, in English and Italian.
Report a problem
Something wrong, or missing? Open an issue on GitHub with what you did and what you saw.
Issues on GitHub →Contribute
The code is MIT licensed: C++ and Qt for the desktop client, Rust for the database engine to come. Pull requests are welcome.
The repository →