Fair play, and where this app belongs

Analysing a position you are not currently playing is fine. Taking help during a live rated game against another person is not. That line is not blurry, we are not going to pretend it is, and nothing on this site will be written as though it were.

What the app does

Chess AI Solver reads a screenshot of a chess board, works out the position, and shows the strongest move alongside the second-strongest. Recognition and analysis both run on the phone. There is no account, no upload, and no server that ever sees a position.

That last part cuts both ways and it is worth saying out loud: because nothing leaves the device, we have no way to see what anybody points the app at, and no mechanism to stop a particular use. Privacy and oversight are the same property viewed from two sides. We would rather state that than imply a control we do not have.

About the name

On the App Store the listing is called Chess Cheat — AI Solver. That is what people type when they are looking for this kind of tool, and a listing that cannot be found is a listing nobody reads.

The name describes a search. It does not describe a recommendation, and it does not change a single rule. An analysis engine is an analysis engine whatever the icon underneath it says, and the rules for using one in a rated game are the same either way.

Using it during a live game can cost you the account

This is not a warning we are obliged to print. It is worth knowing before you find out the expensive way.

Chess.com closed over 130,000 accounts for fair play violations in March 2026 alone, and reports that roughly 85% of those closures happen without a human reviewing the case. Detection is not a matter of catching somebody with a second device. It is statistical, run over the moves and the timings across an account’s whole history, and Chess.com describes it as weighing over a hundred gameplay factors. The weights and the thresholds are not published, which means nobody outside the fair play team — us included — can tell you what does or does not get noticed.

What can be said is the outcome: engine assistance during a rated game breaks the rules on Chess.com and Lichess, and it can result in the account being closed.

We wrote up how that detection actually works, in detail, in how to tell if your opponent is cheating.

What it is for

• The game you just finished, and the two moves where it turned.
• A puzzle you have been staring at for ten minutes and want the answer to.
• A position from a book, a video or a stream, set up on your own board.
• An over-the-board game you played this evening and want to understand tonight.
• Checking whether the move you nearly played was as bad as you suspected.

That is the same list as for every engine that has shipped since the 1990s. The only thing this one changes is that you no longer have to type the position in by hand.

If someone is using it against you

We cannot help directly, and it would be dishonest to suggest otherwise: there are no accounts, no server, and no record of any game. What does work is reporting the account to the site, which can see the whole history and has the models to judge it. A report does not decide anything by itself — the review does — but it is what puts the account in front of the people who run one. Do not accuse in chat: on Chess.com that breaks the Community Policy and reaches nobody who can act.

If you have been accused

Being called a cheat in chat is not being investigated, and it has no effect on your account. A formal report is different — it can put an account in front of the fair play team — but what decides the outcome is the analysis of the games, not the complaint. Analysing your own finished games with this or any other engine is not something you can be sanctioned for. The guide on cheat detection covers what actually happens.

Questions people ask

Is using Chess AI Solver cheating?

It depends entirely on when you use it. Analysing a finished game, a puzzle, or a position from a book is not cheating — it is what engines are for. Using it to choose a move in a live rated game against another person breaks the fair play rules of Chess.com and Lichess, and can result in your account being closed.

Can I get banned just for having the app installed?

Having the app installed is not itself a fair play violation. Using it during an ongoing rated game is. Fair play systems work from what happens in your games, so it is the play that matters rather than what is on your phone.

Is the app allowed on Chess.com or Lichess?

Not during a live rated game — neither site permits engine assistance while a game is in progress. Between games you are free to analyse whatever you like, and both sites offer engine analysis of your own finished games themselves.

Why is it called Chess Cheat on the App Store?

Because that is what people type into the search box. The name describes a search, not a recommendation, and it does not change what the rules are. The app itself is an analysis tool and the rules for analysis tools are the same whatever the listing is called.

Do my positions get uploaded anywhere?

No. Board recognition and engine analysis both run on your phone. There is no account, no server storing positions, and nothing to upload. A consequence worth being honest about: it also means we have no visibility into how any individual uses the app.

Getting in touch

If something here is wrong, or a chess site changes its rules in a way this page no longer reflects, write to office@pixelworkssoftware.com and it will be corrected.