Discover Chessconnect for a new online chess experience!
What can Chessconnect do?
Chessconnect is an extension for the Chrome browser that integrates very unobtrusively into the popular chess websites chess.com and lichess.org. Once you have installed the extension, it adds an inconspicuous but highly practical button with the promising label "Connect".
This button makes it possible to establish a direct connection between our online-capable chessboards and the respective chess site. Once this has been done, you can play online games against bots and live opponents or even tournaments with the real chessboard. Chessconnect claims to have no problems with cheat detection, as is sometimes the case with other solutions. Our experience with the extension so far confirms this statement.
Another advantage of this solution is its availability on different platforms. Chessconnect works on Windows, macOS and Linux - and if you install the Kiwi browser, even on Android.
And best of all: Chessconnect is completely free of charge and without adverts.
How do I install Chessconnect?
It's very simple. Ideally, you should use a Chrome browser and then visit the Chrome Web Store. Enter "Chessconnect" in the search field and you will immediately find the distinctive little satellite dish that acts as the trademark for this extension. Once you have found Chesconnect in the Web Store, simply click on "Add" and that's it. The next time you call up chess.com or lichess.org, the "Connect" button mentioned above will appear there quite unspectacularly.
How do I set up Chessconnect for myself?
Before you can really get started, you need to make a few initial settings. Firstly, two so-called flags must be set in the browser so that Chessconnect can access the Bluetooth connection on the PC. The easiest way to do this is to copy the following two links into a browser tab:
- chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-web-platform-features
- chrome://flags/#enable-web-bluetooth-new-permissions-backend
You will then be taken to an internal Chrome page where the two flags can be set to "enabled". The browser then wants to restart itself once and this one-off step is already complete.
It is then a good idea to pin the Chessconnect icon to the browser toolbar. This makes it easier to access the extension settings later on. Which, as we will see below, can be very practical. To pin the icon, click on the puzzle symbol in the top right-hand corner of Chrome and then on the small pin next to "Chessconnect".
From then on, the small satellite dish is always within reach and clicking on it opens the options dialogue. The so-called "Connection method" is very important here. This is the way in which Chessconnect should connect to the electronic chessboard.
For Millennium boards, "Bluetooth LE" or "USB serial" can be selected here. Depending on whether it should be with or without a cable.
You can then choose whether the extension should emit an acoustic signal when the opponent makes a move. This can either be a simple beep or you can also have the opponent's move announced by voice output. You don't necessarily need this on smaller boards, but we found it quite practical on larger tournament boards. This means you don't always have to keep an eye on the LEDs and can concentrate fully on your move calculations.
And finally, there is the practical feature of latency or move delay. This allows you to tell Chessconnect to wait a short moment before transmitting a move from the chessboard to the website. This prevents errors from being recognised if you have once again moved a piece across the board a little too hesitantly. If this has never happened to you before, you can then set the delay to zero and enjoy a really lively reaction behaviour.