Hey Product Hunt! I'm Omar, and I built Chess Journal solo. I play chess constantly and got tired of the trade-offs: Chess.com's deeper analysis wants a Diamond subscription, Lichess's extras live behind a Patron sub too, and ChessBase is $500+ and desktop-only. I wanted something that felt like mine — a chess app where my games never leave my device, and where going deeper doesn't mean another monthly bill. So Chess Journal is free to play, forever, on Windows, Linux, and Android: play, record, import from Chess.com/Lichess, browse your own library — no account, no cloud. On top of that sits a full analysis lab: Stockfish at 5 depth presets, on-device AI commentary (Qwen2.5/Gemma 3 via llama.cpp on desktop, Transformers.js on Android — nothing ever leaves your device), a 26,000+ game library (9,254 classics from Morphy to Carlsen, 11,336 theory games across 37 categories, 5,037 puzzles), and an Assistive Coach that plays at your level and explains its reasoning move by move. It's a one-time $5 unlock instead of a subscription — I'd rather ask once than every month. Heads up: the $5 checkout (LemonSqueezy on desktop, Play Billing on Android) is finishing up right now, so the paid features are visible in the app but not purchasable yet — everything free-tier is fully playable today. It started as a personal tool to journal my own games — the natural-language library search ("games where I castled and won", "Catalan where I didn't blunder before move 25") came out of just wanting to find my own old games faster. Would love feedback — especially on what would make the $5 unlock an easy yes for you. --- Try web version here! https://chess-journal.netlify.app/

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16h ago

FAQ — the questions I expect most about Chess Journal

Is it really free?

Yes play, record your own games, import from Chess.com/Lichess, browse

your library, edit positions, switch themes: all free, forever. A

one-time $5 unlocks Stockfish's full depth, on-device AI commentary,

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Chess Journal

Your offline chess lab — Stockfish, local AI, 26K games

Your offline chess lab — Stockfish, local AI, 26K games

Forum Threads

FAQ — the questions I expect most about Chess Journal

Forum Threads

FAQ — the questions I expect most about Chess Journal