How To Adjust (and Improve!?) Your Live Chess Connection

Hey Chess.com! There is one feature that you may not be aware of and we want you to know about: You can adjust (and possibly improve!) your Live Chess internet connection.

You can find these options in your Live Chess settings panel:

Change the "Type" of Connection

First off, we allow you to choose between two technologies for your connection. This refers to the method your browser uses to send and receive messages from the server.

Secure Long Polling - This is the default "transport protocol" because it is the most well-supported technology and works with all browsers and devices. It may also be fastest for you.

Secure Websocket - This is a newer protocol designed to improve on long polling. However, it is not as widely compatible, and doesn’t necessarily improve performance in all applications.

Safari users: Please note that Websocket is currently your best option and the system default for your browser. This is to help avoid known issues with the way Safari manages browser tabs, which can result in (false) multiple logins, etc.

Change the Network Option

Secondly, we have two options for you to use for the “routing” of your connection. The routing is the path that the moves you make travel across the internet and to our servers. In between your computer and our servers are dozens of little “stops” along the way, each one deciding where to send the next one.

First we have Live, which is the default routing. That means that when you make a move, the default internet routing decides what is the most efficient path between your browser and our server. This is usually best, but not always.

Next, we have Live2, which is a route provided by our CDN (Content Delivery Network). This is a more private route, which may possibly be slower, but more stable. Please note that Websocket is NOT available on Live2.

We hope this isn’t confusing! If you aren’t sure, just leave your settings how they are. But if you are interested in experimenting, you might find a setting that works better for you!