You just played a great game and want a friend to see that knight sacrifice, or you want your coach to review where it went wrong. Good news: sharing a chess game online is easy once you know which format fits the job. This guide covers the practical options, from sending a file to dropping a link in a chat.

First, get your game into a shareable format

Before you can share anything, your game needs to live in a format computers and chess sites understand. The two you will use almost every time are PGN and FEN.

• PGN (Portable Game Notation) stores a whole game: every move, plus details like player names, date, and result. Use it when you want to share the entire game.
• FEN (Forsyth-Edwards Notation) captures a single position in one line of text. Use it when you only care about one moment, like a puzzle or a tricky endgame.

If your game only exists on a paper scoresheet, that is your real starting point. Snap a picture and run it through the ScanChess board recognition tool to turn handwritten moves into clean SAN and a downloadable PGN file. From there, every sharing method below is open to you. (New to these formats? See what is PGN and what is FEN for quick primers.)

Sharing a whole game

Option 1: Send the PGN file directly

The simplest, most portable option. A PGN is just a small text file, so you can:

1. Attach the .pgn file to an email or message.
2. Paste the PGN text straight into a chat (it is plain text, so it travels fine).
3. Drop it in a shared folder like Google Drive or Dropbox.

Whoever receives it can open it in almost any chess app, website, or engine. This is the best choice when you want your friend or coach to have a permanent copy they can study, annotate, or load into their own tools.

Option 2: Paste the PGN into an analysis board and share the link

Files are great, but links are friendlier in a group chat. Both major sites let you import a PGN and get a shareable URL:

• Lichess: Open the Analysis board, click Import game, paste your PGN, and import. Lichess gives you a link anyone can open in a browser, with no account required. (Step-by-step here: import PGN to Lichess.)
• Chess.com: Use the Analysis tab, choose to load or import a PGN, then copy the share link.

Why this beats a raw file: the recipient sees an interactive board they can click through move by move, with engine evaluation available if they want it. Perfect for "look at move 23, what should I have played?"

Option 3: Embed the game on a website or blog

If you run a club site, a blog, or a newsletter, you can embed a clickable board. Lichess offers a "Share & export" menu with an embed code you can paste into your page, so readers step through the moves without leaving your site.

Sharing a single position

Sometimes the whole game does not matter, only one position does, like a puzzle you want a friend to solve or an endgame you are stuck on.

Option 4: Share a FEN string

A FEN is one line of text that fully describes a position. To share it:

1. Set up or load the position on an analysis board.
2. Copy the FEN (look for a "FEN" field, usually under board tools or export).
3. Paste that line into your message.

Your friend pastes it back into any analysis board and sees the exact position instantly. FEN is the cleanest way to say "here, look at this moment" without sending 40 moves of context. If you are starting from a board photo rather than a game, the chess board to FEN workflow gets you a FEN directly from an image.

PGN vs FEN: which one do I use?

A quick rule of thumb:

• Use PGN when you want someone to replay the whole game, see how the position arose, or study your decisions move by move.
• Use FEN when only one position matters and the path to get there is irrelevant, like puzzles, opening traps, or "is this endgame winning?"

When in doubt, send the PGN. It contains every position in the game anyway, so it is the more complete gift to a coach or friend.

Quick visual options: images and GIFs

For social media or a casual group chat, a picture or short animation can land better than a clickable board:

• Static image: Most analysis boards let you export a board screenshot. Great for puzzles paired with "White to move and win."
• Animated GIF: Lichess can generate a GIF of a game or sequence that autoplays the moves, so viewers get the highlight reel without installing anything.

These are eye-catching but not editable, so pair a GIF with the PGN or a link if you want people to actually study the game.

A typical workflow, start to finish

For an over-the-board game it usually goes like this:

1. You scribble the moves on a paper scoresheet during the game.
2. Afterward you photograph the scoresheet and run it through the scanner to get a validated PGN.
3. You import that PGN into Lichess and copy the share link.
4. You drop the link to your coach and the PGN file in your club chat.

That single scan unlocks every sharing method in this article. If you have a stack of old scoresheets, the convert handwritten scoresheet to PGN guide covers the details.

Turn your scoresheet into a shareable game

The hardest part of sharing a chess game is rarely the sharing, it is getting a paper game into digital form. ScanChess handles that in seconds: photograph your scoresheet, get clean notation and a downloadable PGN, then share it however you like.

Ready to share your next game? Scan your scoresheet at ScanChess and turn handwritten moves into a PGN you can send anywhere. Free starter credits are included, so you can try it today.