A chessvision.ai alternative, built around your chess books
chessvision.ai is known for reading positions from websites, images and videos, with browser extensions, phone apps and bots. If the books on your shelf are what you study, GreyChess is built around them: every diagram a live board beside the page, with the book’s own moves on it.
What GreyChess does differently
Both read the diagrams in a chess ebook. What happens next is where they part.
- The book’s own lines: GreyChess finds the moves printed after each diagram and fits them to its position, so the author’s analysis is a click from playing through.
- One plan for everything: on chessvision.ai the eBook Reader is a subscription of its own, apart from the main membership, and its free version works on the first few pages of each book. GreyChess’s Free plan has every feature, on every page, with daily limits.
- A stronger engine beside the book: chessvision.ai’s eBook Reader FAQ says it uses Lichess’s embedded board, with Stockfish 10 or later, without NNUE and with few engine options. GreyChess runs Stockfish 18 in your browser, with the lines, depth and time you choose.
- Your book stays on your device: to read a diagram, your browser turns it into numbers, and only those are sent to GreyChess, never the page.
- Learning, not only reading: a chapter becomes a course of positions to solve, then flashcards, beside rated puzzles and classes for coaches.
Where chessvision.ai may suit you better
Fair is fair. chessvision.ai does some things GreyChess does not.
- DjVu books: chessvision.ai opens PDF, ePub and DjVu. GreyChess opens PDF and ePub.
- Apps from the stores: chessvision.ai has iPhone and Android apps and a Safari extension. GreyChess installs from the browser on any device, with extensions for Chrome, Edge and Firefox.
- Bots and video search: chessvision.ai answers positions posted on Reddit, X, Telegram and Discord, and finds positions in YouTube videos.
Trying GreyChess with a book you already have
Open the same PDF or ePub in GreyChess; there is nothing to convert. The first diagram on the page is read onto the board beside it, and N and P step to the next and previous one.
What this page says about chessvision.ai comes from its own pages, as they read in September 2026, and may have changed since.
Questions
Is GreyChess free?
You can start free, with every feature and daily limits. Pro and Academy raise the limits, for a month or a year, and nothing renews by itself.
Will my chess ebooks work?
If they are PDF or ePub with their diagrams printed as pictures, which is how most are made, yes. DjVu files and diagrams typeset with a chess font inside a PDF’s text are not read yet.
Does GreyChess read screenshots and videos too?
Yes. Paste a screenshot or photo, or use the browser extension on a web page or a paused YouTube video, and check the board before you use it.
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