Board editor
Set up any chess position
Drag the pieces where you want them, or paint them on from the palette. The editor checks that the position could actually occur in a game, writes the FEN for you and hands it straight to the engine.
Free · runs in your browser
Build any position in seconds
- Drag pieces or paint them onto squares
- Side to move, castling rights and en passant checked for legality
- Copy the FEN or send the position straight to Stockfish
Open the board editor No account, no download.
What the editor is good for
- Positions from books and magazines. Diagrams rarely come with a FEN. Set the position up in a minute, then analyse it or play it out against the engine's best replies.
- Over-the-board games you did not record. Reconstruct the critical moment from memory, check whether your sacrifice was sound, and move on with your life.
- Endgame study. Strip the board down to king and pawns, or rook and two pawns, and test your technique with the next move calculator playing the other side.
- Teaching. Build a position, copy the FEN, and paste it anywhere that understands FEN: Lichess studies, Chess.com analysis, ChessBase, a text message to a student.
FEN, in one paragraph
A FEN string has six fields separated by spaces. The first describes the board, rank 8 to rank 1, with letters for pieces (uppercase for White, lowercase for Black) and digits for runs of empty squares. The second is the side to move, w or b. The third lists castling rights, KQkq for everything, - for nothing. The fourth is the en passant target square or -. The fifth counts half-moves since the last capture or pawn move, used for the fifty-move rule. The sixth is the full move number. The starting position is:
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1The editor always writes a half-move clock of zero. If you need a specific value for a fifty-move-rule study, edit the fifth field by hand after copying.
Board editor questions
Why does the editor say my position is illegal?
The usual reasons: a side has no king or two kings, a pawn is on the first or eighth rank, or the side that is not to move is in check (which cannot happen in a real game, because they would have had to deal with it on their turn). The status line under the FEN names the problem.
Why are some castling boxes greyed out?
Castling rights only exist when the king is on its original square and the relevant rook is on its corner. If you move either piece, the right disappears, exactly as it would in a game. Put the pieces back and the box becomes available.
What is the en passant field for?
If the last move was a two-square pawn advance, the opponent may capture it en passant on the very next move. The dropdown only offers squares where that capture is actually possible in your position, so most of the time it stays at None.
Can I load a FEN into the editor?
Yes. Open the editor with ?fen= followed by the FEN in the address bar, or paste the FEN on the position analysis page and click Edit this position. The pieces, side to move and castling rights are all restored.
Does the editor work on a phone?
Yes. Drag pieces with a finger, or tap a piece in the palette and then tap squares to paint it. Drag a piece off the board, or use the eraser, to remove it.