Follow these steps to install the Chess Helper Chrome extension on your browser. The process takes less than two minutes.
Download Chess Helper (.zip)Version 1.0.2 · Compatible with Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi
Follow each step in order. Screenshots are provided for the key moments.
Click the download button above to get the Chess Helper .zip file. Save it somewhere easy to find, like your Downloads folder.
Locate the downloaded .zip file and extract it.
Important: Keep this folder on your computer — Chrome needs it to remain in place for the extension to work.
Find the "Developer mode" toggle in the top-right corner of the extensions page and turn it ON. New buttons will appear: "Load unpacked", "Pack extension", and "Update".
Click the "Load unpacked" button. A file browser will open. Navigate to and select the extracted chess-helper folder, then click "Select Folder" (Windows/Linux) or "Open" (macOS).
Chess Helper should now appear in your list of installed extensions. Make sure the toggle is switched ON (blue).
Click the puzzle-piece icon in the Chrome toolbar to open the extensions menu. Find Chess Helper and click the pin icon next to it. This keeps the extension icon always visible in your toolbar.
Click the Chess Helper icon in your toolbar, then click "Connect Account". Or visit chesshelper.ai and sign up for a free account. Once connected, open Chess.com or Lichess — the extension activates automatically.
That's it! Open Chess.com or Lichess and the extension activates automatically. Create an account to unlock your free games.
"Manifest file is missing or unreadable"
You likely selected the wrong folder. Look for the folder that contains a manifest.json file at the top level and select that one.
Extension not working on Chess.com or Lichess
Refresh any chess site tabs that were open before you installed the extension. Chess Helper only activates on newly loaded pages.
How to update a sideloaded extension
Download the latest .zip from this page, extract it to the same location (overwriting old files), then go to chrome://extensions and click the refresh icon on the Chess Helper card.
Chess Helper works on Google Chrome and any Chromium-based browser, including Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi. The sideloading steps are the same for all of these browsers.
Yes, as long as you download the extension files directly from chesshelper.ai. Sideloading is a standard Chrome feature used by developers. Chrome may show a warning that the extension is not from the Web Store — this is expected for manually installed extensions.
Go to chrome://extensions, find Chess Helper in the list, and click the "Remove" button. Confirm the removal when prompted. Your chesshelper.ai account and subscription remain active — only the browser extension is removed.
No. Sideloaded extensions do not receive automatic updates. Check this page periodically for new versions. To update, download the new .zip, extract it to the same location, and click the refresh icon on chrome://extensions.
