A chess book reader with a live board beside every diagram
Open a PDF or ePub chess book you own. GreyChess finds the diagrams on each page, reads them into a board beside the book, and puts the book’s own moves on it, so you stop setting up positions by hand.
The board follows the book
As you reach a page, the first diagram on it is read onto the board beside the book, unless you are using the board. N and P step to the next and previous diagram, across pages and chapters. Book and board can share the screen, divided where you like, or fill it.
A diagram the search missed can be boxed by hand, and any box can be moved, resized or removed. In an ePub, every image has a Read diagram button.
The book’s own lines, one click from the board
The moves printed after a diagram are found in the text, with their numbers, figurines and brackets, and fitted to the diagram’s position. Each line is a click from playing through, with its idea in a sentence where the rules can find one: a fork, a pin, a mate.
Stockfish 18 runs in your browser when you want a second opinion, and the position opens on Lichess with its moves when you want to share it.
Listen, sum up, and learn a chapter
A book is more than its diagrams, so the reader helps with the words too.
- Read aloud: the page or chapter in the book’s own language, with your device’s voices, moves said in words.
- Sum up: the sentences that carry a page’s ideas, picked on your device, or a summary and simpler words from the AI, in your language.
- Courses: a chapter’s diagrams become positions to learn, answered by the book’s move, then flashcards until you know them.
Your books stay yours
The book file stays on your device. To read a diagram, your browser turns it into numbers, and only those numbers are sent to GreyChess, never the page. Books reopen at the page you reached, on every device you sign in on.
Questions
Can I read my own PDF chess books with a board?
Yes. Open any PDF or ePub you own; GreyChess finds the printed diagrams on each page and reads them into a board beside the book.
Which chess books work?
Books whose diagrams are printed as pictures, which is how most are made, in PDF or ePub. Diagrams typeset with a chess font inside a PDF’s text are not read yet.
Is my book uploaded?
No. The file stays on your device. Only numbers taken from each diagram are sent to be read, and the book’s text is never shared.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Install GreyChess from the browser; on a phone the board waits above the tab bar as a live miniature while you read.
More of what GreyChess does
Try it on the book you are reading
Start free. Sign in with Google, Lichess or your email.
Open your first book