# ChessIntel — search chess by ideas, not positions

Describe a plan, a structure or a pattern in plain English. ChessIntel finds the elite over-the-board games where it happened, and opens each one at the move.

- 56,023 FIDE-rated over-the-board games (2023–2026, plus the 2020 and 2021 world championship matches)
- Every broadcast game of the world’s top 320 players by rating
- 37 themes and motifs detected in every game
- Every result checked move by move

Open the app: https://chessintel.com/login · Use it from an AI agent: https://chessintel.com/llms.txt

## Example searches (real counts)

- **Move sequence** — [Carlsen’s wins where he gave up the bishop pair for a knight, then pushed a pawn onto that colour](https://chessintel.com/login?q=eyJwbGF5ZXIiOiJDYXJsc2VuIiwicGxheWVyX2ZpZGUiOiIxNTAzMDE0IiwicmVzdWx0Ijoid2luIiwicGF0dGVybiI6ImJpc2hvcF9wYWlyX2Zvcl9rbmlnaHRfdGhlbl9wYXduX3RvX2NvbG9yIiwiYnlfcGxheWVyIjoicGxheWVyIn0) — 60 games
- **Structure** — [Minority attacks, with at least one player rated 2600+](https://chessintel.com/login?q=eyJ0aGVtZXMiOlt7InRoZW1lIjoibWlub3JpdHlfYXR0YWNrIiwic2lkZSI6IndoaXRlIn1dLCJlbG9fbWluIjoyNjAwLCJlbG9fbW9kZSI6Im9uZSJ9) — 282 games
- **Sacrifice** — [Exchange sacrifices that won, in the Sicilian](https://chessintel.com/login?q=eyJ0aGVtZXMiOlt7InRoZW1lIjoiZXhjaGFuZ2Vfc2FjcmlmaWNlIn1dLCJlY29fZnJvbSI6IkIyMCIsImVjb190byI6IkI5OSIsIm91dGNvbWUiOlsiMS0wIiwiMC0xIl19) — 116 games
- **Manoeuvre** — [Caruana’s knight going b1–d2–f1–g3](https://chessintel.com/login?q=eyJwbGF5ZXIiOiJDYXJ1YW5hIiwiYm9hcmQiOnsicm91dGUiOnsicGllY2UiOiJOIiwiY29sb3IiOiJwbGF5ZXIiLCJzcXVhcmVzIjpbImIxIiwiZDIiLCJmMSIsImczIl19fX0) — 15 games
- **Opponent prep** — [Praggnanandhaa with Black against 1.e4, classical games since 2024](https://chessintel.com/login?q=eyJwbGF5ZXIiOiJQcmFnZ25hbmFuZGhhYSIsInBsYXllcl9maWRlIjoiMjUwNTk1MzAiLCJwbGF5ZXJfY29sb3IiOiJibGFjayIsInRjX2NsYXNzIjpbImNsYXNzaWNhbCJdLCJ5ZWFyX2Zyb20iOjIwMjQsImVjb19mcm9tIjoiQjAwIiwiZWNvX3RvIjoiQzk5In0) — 56 games
- **Clock** — [Time scrambles between 2700s in classical games](https://chessintel.com/login?q=eyJ0aGVtZXMiOlt7InRoZW1lIjoidGltZV9zY3JhbWJsZSJ9XSwidGNfY2xhc3MiOlsiY2xhc3NpY2FsIl0sImVsb19taW4iOjI3MDAsImVsb19tb2RlIjoiYm90aCJ9) — 60 games
- **Engine** — [Carlsen’s wins after being 3 pawns down](https://chessintel.com/login?q=eyJwbGF5ZXIiOiJDYXJsc2VuIiwicmVzdWx0Ijoid2luIiwidGhlbWVzIjpbeyJ0aGVtZSI6ImNvbWViYWNrIiwic2lkZSI6InBsYXllciJ9XX0) — 6 games
- **Tactics** — [Smothered mates](https://chessintel.com/login?q=eyJ0aGVtZXMiOlt7InRoZW1lIjoic21vdGhlcmVkX21hdGUifV19) — 6 games

## How it works

1. **Ask in plain English.** Or build the question clause by clause: player, colour, result, rating, event, opening, themes, positions on the board, and sequences of moves.
2. **See how it was read.** Your words become filters you can see and edit. Anything ChessIntel can’t search is flagged — never silently dropped.
3. **Open every game at the move.** Results open at the moment the idea happens, with the engine evaluation and the players’ clocks. Export to PGN, or save games to a prep list you can share.

## What you can search

- **Ideas that unfold over moves.** A knight’s route across the board, an imbalance held for twenty moves, a trade followed by a pawn push — searched as a sequence, not a single position.
- **37 themes and motifs.** Detected in every game: isolated queen’s pawn, minority attack, opposite-coloured bishops, knight outposts, pawn storms and more.
- **Tactics.** Forks, pins, skewers, discovered checks, exchange and queen sacrifices, smothered and back-rank mates.
- **Engine and clock.** Comebacks from three pawns down, missed wins, and time scrambles — under 30 seconds with ten or more moves still to play.
- **Players, exactly.** Bound by FIDE id, so different spellings never split a player. Profiles, results by colour, and the openings they actually play.
- **Openings over any result set.** An opening tree for whatever you searched: what was played next, how often, and how it scored.

## Accuracy

- Stored games are audited field by field against the source PGN.
- Themes and tactics are re-derived by a second, independent implementation, and the two must agree.
- A hand-verified set of real moments has to pass before every release.
- Online events and broadcast relay errors are quarantined, never served.
- If your question contains something ChessIntel can’t search, it tells you.

## For AI agents

ChessIntel is an MCP server. Add `https://chessintel.com/api/mcp` to Claude or any MCP client as a custom connector — no key, no account. Tools:

- `search_games` — The unified search: players (bound by FIDE id), colour, result, rating, event, year, time control, opening, themes and motifs, board positions, piece routes, attacks, material imbalances and move-sequence patterns, each clause negatable. Every hit is verified by replaying the game and says where the idea happens.
- `list_themes` — The themes and motifs search_games can filter on, with definitions.
- `player_profile` — A player's score overall and per colour, average opponent rating, most-played openings, and the themes that recur in their games compared with the corpus.
- `explore_openings` — The opening tree over any set of games: which moves were played after a line, how often, and how they scored.
- `get_game` — One game as PGN with clock and engine-evaluation comments, plus every detected theme with its ply.
- `create_prep_list / add_to_prep_list / get_prep_list` — Save games to a named list and get a shareable link — no accounts.

Details for agents: https://chessintel.com/llms.txt

## FAQ

**Do I need an account?** No. Open the app and search. Prep lists are private links you can share with your students or team.

**What does it cost?** ChessIntel is free to use right now.

**Where do the games come from?** From broadcasts of FIDE-rated over-the-board events relayed on Lichess, with engine evaluations and clock times. ChessIntel keeps every broadcast game of the world’s top 320 players by rating, so a player’s record is complete — 56,023 games, 2023–2026, plus the 2020 and 2021 world championship matches.

**Does it replace my chess database?** No — use it alongside one. Keep your database for deep opening work and large reference collections; ask ChessIntel how games unfolded, in plain English.

**Can my AI assistant use it?** Yes. ChessIntel is an MCP server: add it to Claude or any MCP client as a custom connector, with no key and no account. See “For AI agents” below.