Chessbar Mini
Menubar chessboard for Mac
A chessboard that
lives in your menubar.
Open a chess book, press a hotkey, and a full board drops down. Play out the line, close it, keep reading.
Download on the Mac App Store
macOS 13 Ventura or later · Apple Silicon & Intel · 2.5 MB
Why it exists
Every chess reader hits the same wall. You’re following “19. Rxe6! and White wins after…” and you need to see it on a real board. Switching to Chess.com or Lichess means losing your place in the book. A physical board means reaching for pieces.
Chessbar Mini is the thing in between — always one keystroke away, never in your way.
What it does
- popoverClick the menubar icon.
- on topFloats over your PDF, browser, notes, or editor.
- paste fenCopy any position from anywhere and the board sets up instantly.
- flipRotate the board with one click.
- themesLight and dark. Matches your system.
- nativeApple Silicon build. Opens in under 100 ms. Only 2.5 MB.
- no dataNo account, no telemetry, no network calls.
What it isn’t
Not an engine. Not an opponent. Not a puzzle trainer. One board that does one thing well.
For
Readers working through Dvoretsky, Aagaard, Yusupov, Silman.
Students taking online courses who want a board that follows along.
Coaches drafting annotations. Anyone reviewing their own games next
to engine output. If you read chess, you’ve wanted this.