Importing Games

Masterboard supports four import sources. All of them are accessible from Games → Import.

From chess.com

1. Open the Import dialog and select the Chess.com tab.
2. Enter your chess.com username (saved automatically if set in Connected Accounts).
3. Set the date range — use the start and end date pickers to target a specific period.
4. Choose time controls: Bullet, Blitz, Rapid, Classical, and/or Correspondence.
5. Click Preview. Masterboard fetches matching games from the chess.com API and shows the first 10 in a preview list.
6. Select individual games or use Select all, then click Import.

From Lichess

The Lichess import flow is identical to chess.com. Select the Lichess tab, enter your username, pick a date range and time controls, preview, and import.

Note

Both chess.com and Lichess imports require an internet connection. Masterboard stores the imported games locally — no connection is needed for subsequent access.

From a PGN file

1. Select the PGN File tab.
2. Click Browse and choose a .pgn file.
3. Click Import.

Both single-game and multi-game PGN files are supported. Masterboard reads standard PGN including:

• Multiple games in a single file
• RAV variation trees (1.e4 e5 (1...c5 2.Nf3) 2.Nf3)
• NAG symbols ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, and text suffixes !, ?, !!, ??, !?, ?!)
• Free-text comments { ... }
• Clock annotations { [%clk H:MM:SS] } from Lichess/chess.com exports (stored but not displayed)

From a PGN folder

1. Select the PGN Folder tab.
2. Click Browse and select a directory.
3. Click Import.

All .pgn files in the folder and its subfolders are imported. This is useful for importing a large collection, such as an archive download from chess.com or a folder of tournament files.

Deduplication

Every import — regardless of source — runs deduplication. A game is identified by a hash of its normalised move sequence. If the same game is imported again (even from a different source), it is silently skipped. You can safely re-run an import without creating duplicates.

After import

• Games appear immediately in the Games list.
• Games imported without an [ECO] header are automatically classified using Masterboard’s embedded opening book (3,397 openings from the Lichess database).
• Games are placed in the Unfiled folder unless you import into a specific folder (right-click a folder → Import Here, if that option is available) or move them afterwards.

Next steps

• Organise games into folders and collections
• Run engine analysis on your imported games