Rukh vs ChessFish

Analysis sandbox · Facts as of October 2026 · Last updated October 24, 2026

The short verdict

ChessFish and Rukh look at chess from opposite ends. ChessFish is a sandbox for studying a position: it scores every legal move on the board, blends Stockfish with the human-like Maia model, and lets you explore openings and play Maia bots. Rukh is a coach for your habits: it looks across your own chess.com games and clock, finds the mistakes you repeat, and checks whether they stop. Use ChessFish to understand a position. Use Rukh to learn which positions to worry about.

ChessFish is for

Players who want to explore a position visually, see which moves are realistic for humans, and study openings or play Maia bots, free and with no signup.

Rukh is for

Players who want to know what to work on: the misses that keep showing up in their own games, with their clock time attached.

Rukh and ChessFish side by side

Feature comparison of Rukh and ChessFish as of October 2026
Feature	Rukh	ChessFish
Learns from your own games	Yes. Follows your chess.com games.	Via PGN import. We found no chess.com username import.
Uses your clock	Yes. Reads the clock on every move to find the ones you rushed.	No clock analysis found.
Engine-checked advice	Yes. Every move is checked by Stockfish before Rukh says it.	Yes. Stockfish, blended with Maia-3 in its default Combo score.
Waits for a repeated miss	Yes. A lesson opens only after the same miss shows up 3 times in your real games.	No cross-game pattern detection found.
Mastery measured in real games	Yes. Mastered means playing it in 4 of your next 5 real chances.	Not found.
Talks the line through	Yes, in conversation and out loud.	No conversational coach found.
Reviews new games on its own	Yes. Reviews new games without being asked.	Not found.
Courses and drills	No course library. Lessons come from your own misses.	Opening study and play against Maia bots. No course library.
Lichess	chess.com only for now.	Accepts any PGN. No account link found.
Platforms	Web. No native app.	Web.
Price	One-week free trial, then a subscription.	Free to try per its developer; a premium tier exists, price not published where we looked.

“Not found” means we looked at the product’s own pages and did not find it, which is not the same as saying it does not exist. Details and sources are below.

Where ChessFish is strong

A different view of a position. Every legal move is scored on the board, so you see the whole landscape, not one engine line.
Human-likelihood scoring. Its default Combo score blends Stockfish with Maia-3 so suggestions are both sound and realistic.
Open and quick to try. Its developer says it needs no signup, and it supports opening study, book moves and play against Maia bots.
An active solo developer who asks for feedback in public.

Where Rukh is different

Rukh looks across all your games, not one position, and surfaces the miss you keep repeating.
It reads your clock, so you see how long you spent on the move that decided the game.
It waits for proof: a lesson opens only after a miss repeats 3 times in real games.
It follows through: mastery means playing it in 4 of your next 5 real chances, and every move Rukh says is checked by Stockfish.

Pricing

ChessFish: its developer describes it as free to try with no signup. The site also has a premium tier; we did not find a published price, so check chessfish.io for current terms. Rukh: a one-week free trial, then a subscription.

Prices as of October 2026. They change, so check the product’s own page before you buy.

Rukh and ChessFish: common questions

What is ChessFish?

A web-based chess analysis sandbox by Chess Fish LLC. It shows a score for every legal move on the board and can blend Stockfish with Maia-3. See chessfish.io (opens in a new tab).

Can ChessFish import my chess.com games?

Its developer says you can import any PGN, per a Reddit thread (opens in a new tab). We did not find an import by chess.com username.

Is ChessFish free?

As of October 2026, its developer describes it as free to try with no signup. We did not find a published price for its premium tier.

Is ChessFish a coach?

It describes itself as an analysis sandbox. We did not find memory of your past games, repeated-mistake detection or lessons.

Try Rukh on your own games

Type your chess.com username for a free look at your openings, no signup. Rukh itself starts with a one-week free trial, then a subscription.

Try

Or get early access to the coach

Sources

Last updated October 24, 2026. Rukh makes this site, so read it with that in mind, and tell us if anything about ChessFish is out of date.