Most Stockfish guides cover post-game analysis — reviewing your moves after the game ends. That's useful. But there's a different use case that almost nobody covers: getting Stockfish analysis during a live game, in real time, as you're deciding your moves.
This guide covers exactly that.
Can You Use Stockfish During a Live Chess Game?
Yes — but not through Chess.com or Lichess directly. Neither platform shows engine suggestions while a rated game is in progress (that would be cheating in competitive play). Their built-in engines only activate after the game ends.
To get real-time Stockfish feedback during a game, you need a browser extension that runs the analysis layer on top of the board. ChessSolve does this — it's a free Chrome extension that shows Stockfish's top candidate moves as colored arrows on your board while you play on Chess.com or Lichess.
Important: Real-time engine assistance during rated games is against the terms of service of Chess.com and Lichess. Use it for practice games, training sessions, and self-study — not competitive rated games.
How to Set It Up on Chess.com
- Install ChessSolve from the Chrome Web Store (free)
- Go to Chess.com and start a game — use a practice game or play against a bot
- Click the ChessSolve icon in your browser toolbar and press Start Analysis
- Stockfish arrows will appear on your board in real time
Green arrows show the engine's top recommendation. Yellow and orange arrows show the second and third best moves. The eval bar on the side of the board shows the position evaluation in real time.
No account, no configuration, no separate analysis window. The arrows appear directly on the Chess.com board.
How to Set It Up on Lichess
The setup is identical on Lichess:
- Install ChessSolve if you haven't already
- Open Lichess and start a game — use a casual game or a study
- Start the extension from the toolbar
- Arrows appear on the Lichess board in real time
ChessSolve works on both platforms with no extra configuration. The same extension handles Chess.com and Lichess automatically.
What You'll See During the Game
Once the extension is running, you'll see:
- Colored arrows on the board — pointing from piece to destination square for the top 3 engine moves
- An eval bar — the vertical bar on the side of the board shifts as the position changes, showing who's ahead and by how much
- Move classifications — after each move, a badge shows whether the move was brilliant, best, good, or a blunder
The arrows update after every move — yours and your opponent's. You always see the current position's best moves, not the previous position's.
How to Actually Use It for Training (Not Just Watching)
The goal is not to copy the engine's move every time. If you do that, you're not training — you're just playing Stockfish by proxy.
The productive way to use real-time analysis:
Before moving, look at the board and find your own candidate moves. Pick what you'd play. Then glance at the arrows.
- If your move matches the arrow: good. Note why it's correct and reinforce the pattern.
- If the arrow points somewhere you hadn't considered: pause. Try to figure out why that square matters before moving. What threat does it create? What does it prevent?
This process — compare your thinking to the engine's, then try to understand the gap — is what builds chess intuition. The arrow is a prompt, not a command.
Real-Time vs. Post-Game Analysis: Which Is Better?
They're different tools, and both have value.
| Real-time (during game) | Post-game (after game) | |
|---|---|---|
| Learning context | Live position, under time pressure | Cold position, no pressure |
| Retention | Higher — you're engaged in the game | Lower — context is gone |
| Depth | Shallow — you're still playing | Deep — you can follow long lines |
| Best for | Pattern recognition, candidate generation | Understanding specific mistakes |
Post-game analysis helps you understand what you missed. Real-time analysis helps the lesson stick because you're still in the position when you see it.
The best training combines both: use real-time arrows during practice games, then do a focused post-game review of the 2–3 moments where the engine showed something you didn't understand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is using Stockfish during a game cheating?
In rated competitive games, yes — it violates the terms of service of Chess.com and Lichess. ChessSolve is intended for practice games, training against bots, and self-study sessions where you're explicitly trying to learn. Don't use it in rated games.
Does ChessSolve work in Chess.com's analysis board?
Yes. You can start ChessSolve on the Chess.com analysis board and step through any game with arrows on the board at each position. This is useful for post-game review where you want visual arrows instead of text lines in a sidebar.
What Stockfish depth does ChessSolve use?
The default depth is 12, which is fast enough for real-time feedback during a game. You can increase the depth in the extension's settings up to 28 for deeper analysis (useful for post-game review, slower for live games).
Does it work on mobile?
No — it's a Chrome extension, so it requires a desktop browser. Chrome, Brave, and other Chromium-based browsers are supported.
Is ChessSolve free?
Yes. The core analysis features are free. A premium tier is available with higher analysis depth and unlimited daily requests.
Real-time Stockfish analysis during live games is one of the fastest ways to close the gap between what you understand in analysis and what you actually see at the board. Install ChessSolve free and use it in your next practice game.