install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install fairy-stockfish

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Debian aptverified · 92%

sudo apt install fairy-stockfish

Debian stable package indexes · fairy-stockfish · source: deb.debian.org

overview

Package summary

Strong open source chess variant engine (with largeboards support)

Project links

Commands and aliases

fairy-stockfish

history

Project history and usage

Fairy-Stockfish is a chess-variant engine derived from Stockfish. It keeps the Stockfish search lineage but extends it toward fairy chess, regional chess-like games, large boards, user-defined variants, and multiple engine protocols.

Project history

The official README describes Fairy-Stockfish as a Stockfish-derived engine designed for fairy chess variants and extensibility. Official releases visible through GitHub begin with the UEC11 and 10.x generation in 2019, then continue through Fairy-Stockfish 11 in 2020 and 13/14 releases in 2021.

The project broadened from a chess executable into a variant-engine platform. Its README documents UCI, UCCI, USI, UCI-cyclone, and CECP/XBoard support, user-defined variant configuration, NNUE network support, Python and JavaScript bindings, and WebAssembly ports.

Adoption history

Fairy-Stockfish is adopted mostly by the chess-variant ecosystem rather than ordinary chess users. The README points users to compatible GUIs and online play or analysis through pychess, lishogi, and lichess accounts, and describes `pyffish` being used by the pychess-variants server backend.

How it is used

Users run Fairy-Stockfish as an engine under a compatible GUI, connect it to online variant platforms, or use its bindings and WebAssembly ports for move generation, analysis, and game-rule handling. Its variant list covers regional games such as Xiangqi, Shogi, Janggi, Makruk, and many chess variants, plus user-defined rules.

Why package nerds care

For package maintainers, Fairy-Stockfish is the variant counterpart to the familiar Stockfish package: a command-line engine binary with protocol compatibility, GPL licensing, optional neural-network assets, and a user base that cares about exact builds and engine strength.

Timeline

2019: Official GitHub releases include UEC11 and Fairy-Stockfish 10.x.
2020: Fairy-Stockfish 11, 11.1, and 11.2 released.
2021: Fairy-Stockfish 13, 13.1, 14, and 14.0.1 XQ released.

Related projects

Stockfish, pyffish, ffish.js, fairy-stockfish.wasm, pychess-variants, lishogi, lichess

Sources

security posture

Risk level: green

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

Signals

metadata:no-higher-risk-signals

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`fairy-stockfish`	cli	global executable

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-07-07

manager version14.0.1

manager updated2026-04-29

local dataok

upstreamnot checked

latest detectednot detected

https://github.com/fairy-stockfish/Fairy-Stockfish

infoNo cached GitHub release or tag data was available.https://github.com/fairy-stockfish/Fairy-Stockfishnone confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:fairy-stockfish
Version	14.0.1
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/fairy-stockfish
Homepage	https://fairy-stockfish.github.io/
Repository	https://github.com/fairy-stockfish/Fairy-Stockfish
Upstream docs	https://fairy-stockfish.github.io/
License	GPL-3.0-or-later
Source archive	https://github.com/fairy-stockfish/Fairy-Stockfish/archive/refs/tags/fairy_sf_14_0_1_xq.tar.gz
Last updated	2026-04-29T17:12:01Z
Pulse	updated
Bottle	available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-install	not defined
Service	none declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source Database	Homebrew formula API
Tap	homebrew/core
Full Name	fairy-stockfish
Version Scheme	0
Revision	0
Head Version	HEAD
Bottle Stable Root URL	https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecated	no
Disabled	no
Keg Only	no
URL Keys	head stable

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Debian apt95%

fairy-stockfish 11.1-1+b1

chess variant engine including support for Chess, Shogi and XiangQi variants

https://github.com/ianfab/Fairy-Stockfish

sudo apt install fairy-stockfish

Section: games
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: fairy-stockfish
3 dependencies
3 optional deps
normalized package name match
Matched by: Fairy Stockfish

Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: fairy-stockfish from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

Ubuntu apt95%

fairy-stockfish 11.1-1

chess variant engine including support for Chess, Shogi and XiangQi variants

https://github.com/ianfab/Fairy-Stockfish

sudo apt install fairy-stockfish

Section: universe/games
Architecture: amd64
3 dependencies
3 optional deps
normalized package name match
Matched by: Fairy Stockfish

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: fairy-stockfish from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/fairy-stockfish.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
Nucleus package database
av.db category and tag curation
cross-ecosystem install command graph
curated package history
external package-manager database matches
package relationship graph
package version freshness
package-page enrichment

Install fairy-stockfish with Homebrew, apt