Settings

Change the language

The settings menu opens from Settings at the foot of the rail. Its Language row switches between English and German. It is a setting of the browser rather than of the account, so a phone in German and a desk in English is an ordinary arrangement. The page reloads under you, so save an open note first.

Choose the date format

The Date format row decides how every date in Blunderbase is written: in the games list and a game's header, the explorer, Notes, Collections, the search, the dashboard and Stats, the import history and correspondence. The list shows today's date in each format, so you can see what you would get.

Automatic, the default, writes it in figures the way your browser does for its language, such as 08.10.2026. Your browser goes by its own language rather than your computer's region, so a browser set to American English writes 10/08/2026 even on a German computer; pick 08.10.2026, 10/08/2026, 08/10/2026 or 2026-10-08 directly to settle it. The last choice writes the month as a word instead, 8 Oct 2026, in the language Blunderbase is shown in.

A date carries its whole year, except where the year is plain from around it, such as the ticks under a chart of the last 90 days. Times of day follow your browser. A chart over years is still labelled by month, Oct 2026, since it names months rather than days, and the date fields in filters are your browser's own. Like the language, the format is kept in this browser.

Switch the theme

Also in the settings menu, the Appearance row: Dark, Light or System, which follows your computer's setting and changes with it. Dark is the default.

Hide the engine

The Hide engine switch at the right end of the bar, or ⇧E from anywhere, hides everything an engine has said about your games — so you can annotate a game yourself first and check afterwards. It is off until you turn it on. Then it stays on until you turn it off, on every game and after a reload, and it is a setting of this browser. On a phone the switch has no word beside it; an eye in it shows the state.

Hidden, the game screen loses the evaluation bar and the score, the ?? badges and the tinted rows, the evaluation graph, the engine and Maia panels and the live engine; the games list loses its Worst and Flags columns, and the dashboard loses its worst moments and, on each recent game, the swing and the badge. What stays is the game itself — the moves, the clocks, your notes — and what Blunderbase has done: the badge that says what ran and how far it looked, and Analyse…, which is what you press once you have written your own verdict down.

If what you want is quiet on new games only — review each one as it comes in, then turn the engine on for it — that is a setting of the library rather than of the browser: Analysis › Engine passes › New games, described under Analysis.

Set up the board

The gear under the board, or S, opens Board settings. They apply in this browser only, and take effect as you change them. The dialog has three pages, listed down its left side (across the top on a phone); it opens again on the page you closed it on.

Page	Setting	Choices
Board	Notation	How the pieces are written, on every screen: letters in the language of the app (Nc3 in English, Sc3 in German), English letters whatever the language, or figurines (♞c3)
	Arrows	Draw the engine's move, Maia's move and the played move on the position shown, or not
	Sound	A click as each move lands, and how loud
Eval graph	Evaluation graph	Bars or a filled curve; and which marks it carries
Line preview	Pointing at a line	What pointing at an engine line does: arrows, ghost pieces, a replay on the board, a small board beside the line, or nothing
	Drawing	How many moves of the line are drawn, coloured by side or not, fading or not, and numbered badges on them
	One move of a line	Whether pointing at one move of a line shows that position, and how many moves after it are drawn
	Playthrough, Plan overlay	The replay's speed and loop, or whether the pieces on the board step back under the ghost pieces — shown only for those two

Replay the tour

Show the tour again in the settings menu restarts the five-step tour. Back and Next walk it, Skip or Esc ends it. A step whose control is not on screen is skipped.

The command palette

⌘K, or Search everything at the top of the rail, opens the command palette. With nothing typed it lists the pages, each with its ⌘1–⌘6 key where it has one; type two characters and it also finds games, opponents, openings and notes, your saved filters, your collections and the statistics reports. Typing "collection" lists every collection. ↵ opens what is highlighted.

Every keyboard shortcut

?, or Keyboard shortcuts in the settings menu, prints the keys that apply to the screen you are on.

Anywhere

Key	Does
⌘K	Search games, opponents, openings and notes
⇧E	Hide every engine verdict — read the game unaided
?	This list
⌘1 … ⌘6	Dashboard, Games, Explorer, Notes, Stats, Collections
⌘⇧I	Import
Esc	Close whatever is open

Analysing a game: moving about it

Key	Does
← →	One move back, one move on
↵	The game's next move, leaving any line
↑ ,	The previous flagged move
↓ .	The next flagged move
⇧← ⇧→	Five moves back, five moves on
Home End	The starting position, the last move
[ ]	Previous and next game in your games list

Analysing a game: the board

Key	Does
F	Flip the board
H	Hints — the board's arrows and the engine columns
E	The live engine on this position
L	Maia — every level side by side, or back to one
V	The evaluation graph
T	The move-time graph
B	Your book for this position
Space	Play the engine's move onto the board
M	Type a move — Nf3, exd5, O-O — instead of dragging it
S	Board settings
Esc	Back to the game

Analysing a game: the game itself

Key	Does
N	Write a note about this position
⇧N	Write a note about the whole game
A	Analyse — ask for a deeper look
P	Practise from this position against the computer, or stop
C	Copy the PGN

The library table

Key	Does
↑ ↓	Move along the rows
Home End	The first and the last row
↵	Open the game under the cursor
/	Search the library
Esc	Leave the search box, keeping what was typed

Walking a line in the explorer

Key	Does
←	Back one move
→	Forward, back down the line you just left