Importing and Exporting Games

Bring games into ChessPigeon from a file, pasted text or your public Chess.com archive, and take them out again as a portable PGN backup.

Updated 2 November 2026

What you can import

In Classroom, the submit button says Import. New game adds a standard starting position without removing previous lesson games. The coach can also choose Clean Board for an empty setup. Import from image currently shows Coming soon and does not process images.

Supported import formats
Format	What it contains	Typical file
PGN	One game or a whole collection, with moves, headers, comments and variations	.pgn or .txt
FEN	A single position	.fen or pasted text
EPD	A single position with optional operations	.epd
JSON	A ChessPigeon archive exported from the app	.json

Imports are limited to 5 MB and between 1 and 500 games at a time. Each game can hold up to 10,000 positions, including variations. Only standard chess is supported; games from other variants are rejected.

Import a file or pasted text

Select + in the sidebar (Import game) or press I.
On the File or text tab, select Choose a file or drop a file onto the box. You can also paste PGN or FEN into Or paste a game/position.
Select Analyze. To start from an empty board instead, select New game.

Import your Chess.com games

ChessPigeon can read the public game archive of any Chess.com account. It does not sign in to Chess.com and cannot see private data.

Open the import dialog and switch to the Chess.com tab.
Type a username and select Find games.
Games are listed newest first, with the opponent, rating, time control, result and date. The newest game is already ticked. Use Select all or tick more games, and Load more games to go further back.
Select Analyze.

What happens after import

The first imported game opens on the board and its review starts automatically.
Imported games are added to My games in this browser. If you imported more than one, ChessPigeon switches to My games so you can pick the next.
Importing a Chess.com game again keeps the variations you already explored.

Export a game

Select the download icon (Export game) in the Game review card and choose a format:

Export formats
Choice	Format	Use it for
Game & variations	PGN or JSON	A complete backup you can open in ChessPigeon or other chess software. After a review, the PGN includes engine evaluations as comments.
Current position	FEN or EPD	Sharing or setting up the position on the board right now

PGN is the most portable choice. Keep a PGN copy of games that matter to you: saved games live only in this browser.

Select Share analysis and then Copy link. Anyone with the link can open the game, its variations and review. The shared game is not uploaded to ChessPigeon. Arrows and highlights are not included. Very large analyses don't fit in a link; use Download PGN instead.

Common problems

“Please choose a file smaller than 5 MB.” Split the collection into smaller files.
“Illegal move … at move N. The game was not imported.” The PGN contains a move that isn't legal in that position. Check the move list around that move number.
“Invalid FEN. Enter a complete, valid chess position.” A FEN needs all six fields, for example rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 1.
“This Chess.com profile or archive could not be found.” Check the username spelling.

More messages and fixes are listed in Troubleshooting.

Import a game