Chess on Linux

Introduction

Linux is great operating system to play and analyze chess. In this blog post, I would like to describe how to setup chess game on Linux.

Engine

There are a couple of open source chess engines. One of the most powerful chess engine is Stockfish.

We can install Stockfish via apt. However, it is usually not the lasted version.

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install -y stockfish
$ which stockfish # Find the stockfish file path.
/usr/games/stockfish
$ stockfish # Check the stockfish version.
Stockfish 11 64 by T. Romstad, M. Costalba, J. Kiiski, G. Linscott

To get the latest version of Stockfish, we have to download it from the Stockfish official website.

GUI

To play chess against the computer interactively, a chess engine is not sufficient, we also need a chess GUI, preferably UCI-compatible because Stockfish only supports UCI.

One of the most comprehensive and popular GUIs is Scid vs. PC. It is a derivative of Scid, Shane’s Chess Information Database.

To add new chess engine for Scid vs. PC, click Tools -> Analysis Engines -> New.

Database

Chess databases are great resources for improving chess skills. Reddit has a brief summary for some of the popular chess databases.

Docker Chess

I have created Docker Chess so that the player could run Scid vs. PC with Stockfish without having to worry about the game setup.

References

• SCID Tutorials