Getting Started

System Requirements

NIKOLA is designed for modern hardware with GPU acceleration. Minimum requirements:

• 64-bit operating system (Windows 10+, macOS 12+, or Linux)
• 8 GB RAM minimum (16 GB recommended)
• GPU with compute capability 7.0+ for CUDA acceleration
• 2 GB free disk space

Quick Installation

Linux & macOS

Open your terminal and run:

curl -fsSL https://nikolachess.com/install.sh | bash

Windows

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

irm https://nikolachess.com/install.ps1 | iex

Verify Installation

After installation, verify NIKOLA is working:

nikola --version

You should see the version number and build information.

First Analysis

Run your first position analysis:

nikola analyze "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq e3"

NIKOLA will analyze the position and output the best move with evaluation.

Using with Chess GUIs

NIKOLA supports the Universal Chess Interface (UCI) protocol. You can use it with any UCI-compatible GUI:

• Arena Chess GUI - Free Windows GUI
• Cutechess - Cross-platform tournament manager
• SCID - Chess database with engine support
• Lucas Chess - Training-focused GUI

Point your GUI to the nikola executable in the installation directory.