Chess Monocle reads chess books for you. It finds every diagram in a PDF, recognizes the
position, and lets you click any diagram on the page to load it on a live board.
How it works
- Import a PDF in the library. Every page is scanned for board diagrams and each
diagram is recognized square by square by a small neural network - all inside your browser.
- Read the book as it is printed. Recognized diagrams are outlined:
recognized,
needs review (illegal position),
corrected by you.
- Click a diagram: the position appears on the board. Play moves, turn on Stockfish for
evaluation and the best lines, or open it on Lichess.
- Fix recognition mistakes in Edit position and save - the book remembers it.
- Scan a diagram with your phone's camera - from a printed book or a screen. The board is found
and straightened; drag its corners if needed, then play or analyse the position and save it.
Keyboard (in the reader)
| J / K | next / previous board |
| B | hide / show the board panel |
| E | engine on / off (it starts off on every board - no spoilers) |
| F | flip the board |
| ← / Home | take back a move / back to the diagram position |
| Esc | leave full screen |
Good to know
- Side to move can't be read from a diagram - it defaults to White; set it per board.
- Everything runs in your browser. Your PDFs, boards and corrections are stored in this browser on this
device and are never uploaded. Each device keeps its own library.
Credits
Created by Bahadir Bulut.
Chess Monocle 1.0 by Bahadir Bulut · Read. Click. Analyse.
Chess