Chess · Play online
Setting an engine to 1800 gives you a 3200-rated player making deliberate mistakes. It does not feel like a person, because it isn't one. ChessGate models the way particular players actually thought – so Karpov squeezes, and the game you get is the game they would have given you.
Each personality carries its own evaluation preferences and risk appetite. The result is an opponent that is recognisably somebody – and one whose mistakes are the kind a human makes.
Choose your opponent and their era. Each comes with a portrait, a rating for that period and a description of how they played – "the boa constrictor, slowly squeezing the life out of positions". The clock runs, and their thinking time is shown as they use it.
While you play, ChessGate assesses your own moves along the same dimensions it uses to model its opponents: tactical inclination, piece activity, risk appetite. It then tells you which historical player you are currently playing like.
A position commentary panel explains the assessment in words rather than a centipawn number: where the weaknesses are, who holds which advantage, and what each side should be trying to do next.
| Platform | Web application at playchessgate.com. Runs in a current browser on desktop, tablet or phone. |
| Installation | None. |
| Connectivity | Online. No account required to play. |
| Formats | PGN export of played games. |
| Licence | Free to play. Supported by donations. The personalities are also available as downloadable Windows UCI engines in the DCS Chess shop. |
Reducing an engine's strength gives you a very strong player making artificial mistakes, which does not resemble a human. ChessGate models style as a property of the search itself – evaluation preferences and risk appetite characteristic of a particular player – so the games have the shape, and the kind of errors, a human would produce.
While you play, ChessGate assesses your own moves along the same dimensions it uses to model opponents – tactical inclination, activity, risk – and tells you which historical player you are currently playing like, with a confidence figure.
Yes. The commentary panel describes the assessment in words rather than a centipawn number: where the weaknesses are, who holds which advantage, and what each side should be trying to do next.
Yes. ChessGate runs in the browser at playchessgate.com. No account is required to play, and nothing is installed. The personalities are also available as downloadable Windows UCI engines in the DCS Chess shop.
No. ChessGate is free to play in the browser at playchessgate.com, supported by donations. The personalities are also available as downloadable Windows UCI engines in the DCS Chess shop.
ChessGate runs in the browser at playchessgate.com — nothing to install, no account needed to play. It is supported by donations. A downloadable Windows edition is not currently offered.