Chess GIF Maker
Free tool · No account needed
Load a game and the tool draws every position, encodes them into an animated GIF and hands you the file. Pick the size and speed, choose the board colors, highlight the squares each move touched, and trim the animation to the part of the game worth showing. The frames are drawn and the GIF is encoded in this page, so a game never leaves your device to become a picture.
How to make a chess GIF
- 1.
Paste the PGN, or open a .pgn file. The example game loads with one tap.
- 2.
Trim the range if you only want part of the game, then pick a size, a speed and the board colors.
- 3.
The GIF builds itself as you change the settings; the progress bar counts the frames as they are drawn.
- 4.
Check the preview and press Download to save the GIF.
What this tool does
Encoded in your browser
No upload, no queue and no watermark. The GIF is written on your device from the first frame to the last.
Only the moves that matter
Set a first and last move to animate just the combination, rather than eighty plies of manoeuvring nobody will watch.
Three sizes and three speeds
480, 640 or 800 pixels square, sharp enough for a phone screen or a chat window, at roughly half a second to a second and a half per move, with a longer hold on the first and last frames so a loop reads.
The move is easy to follow
The squares a piece left and arrived on are tinted, so the eye finds each move instead of hunting for what changed.
Frequently asked questions
How large will the file be?
Each frame stores only the squares that changed, so a full forty-move game at 640 pixels is usually a few hundred kilobytes and stays well under the limits of chat apps and social networks. If a site still refuses it, trim the range or drop to 480 pixels.
Is my game uploaded to make the GIF?
No. The board is drawn and the GIF is encoded in your browser, which is also why the work happens on your device rather than instantly.
Can I make a GIF from a game I played over the board?
Scan the scoresheet with ScanChess first. Once the game is a PGN, paste it in here and animate whichever part of it you want to show.
Why is there a limit on the number of moves?
Beyond a couple of hundred frames a GIF stops being shareable: it grows past what most sites accept and nobody watches it to the end. The range is clamped rather than refusing the game.
Can I use the GIF commercially?
Yes. The pieces are our own vector set, there is no watermark, and nothing about the output is restricted.
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The game worth animating is on a scoresheet
ScanChess reads a photographed scoresheet into a PGN in seconds, and the PGN is all this tool needs.