Let's Make Chess.com The Most Accessible Site To Play Chess!

My Story

I learned how to play chess when I was 8 years old. Yet, I didn’t play online until I was 28 years old when I joined Chess.com in 2012. When I was a kid, I liked the game, but was more interested in other sports: baseball, karate, and cross country. [Full disclosure: I was cut by the junior varsity basketball team 3-times despite being 6’4”.] After undergrad, I moved to New York City where I became an avid squash player. I met my amazing wife during a squash round robin at the New York Health & Racquet Club.

So what prompted me to join Chess.com? In 2011, I was diagnosed with a rare spinal cord condition that left me permanently disabled. I had to stop most of the physical activities I loved, including squash, which left a huge hole in my life. I yearned for the competition, camaraderie, discipline, and sense of well being that sport provides. Chess.com came to my rescue.

After playing online everyday for nearly a year, the amazing Chess.com community gave me the confidence and encouragement I needed to play in my first USCF-rated tournament. I didn’t have the pre-game jitters you’d expect for an adult entering his first chess tournament. I wasn’t worried about using a clock for the first time, algebraic notation, blundering a piece, or losing to a 7-year old. I was afraid that there wouldn’t be a seat that would work for me given my physical challenges and that I’d be forced to withdraw from the tournament.

In every one of my tournament games, I’ve fought two battles simultaneously: my opponent across the board and my own body. Pain has caused me to squander many winning positions and withdraw from several promising tournaments. I persevered, and in 2020, I achieved my goal of becoming a US Chess Expert (OTB 2000+).

When over-the-board chess has proven physically impossible, Chess.com has always been my safe haven. Unfortunately, many chess players around the world are not afforded the same opportunity because their disabilities prevent them from playing on Chess.com. I’m passionate about finding ways to provide this under-served community its rightful seat at the board.

Let's make Chess.com the most accessible site to play chess! Here are three critical site features that would help make this happen:

Voice Move Announcements

I have always been in awe of blindfold simultaneous exhibitions. For chess fans it is a spectacle, but for players who are visually impaired, playing “blindfolded” is their reality. Chess.com has a blind fold mode, but this functionality is for members without visual impairment attempting to break Timur Gareyev’s Guinness World Record.

Players with visual impairment must develop strong visualization skills, but they are aided by braille chess boards. To adapt these boards for online play, Chess.com should make multilingual voice move announcements a site feature. In the future, when electronic braille chess boards are more widely available, Chess.com should integrate these boards, as it has already done for DGT boards.

Voice Move Inputs

Until electronic braille boards are integrated with Chess.com, players with visual impairment also require the ability to make their moves with multilingual voice inputs [note: keyboard inputs may also suffice in this instance]. Voice inputs are also a crucial accommodation for players who are unable to use a mouse or a keyboard. For example, this may include players with muscular dystrophy.

I once met a very strong player who has a form of muscular dystrophy. His physical challenges make it difficult to make moves quickly. At the consent of the tournament director, I helped him when he was in time trouble. He told me each move in algebraic notation and I physically moved the pieces for him (he won the game). Afterwards, I asked him why he doesn’t play at a slower time control (e.g., G/90+30). He told me he likes to play fast chess! Unfortunately, players with similar challenges cannot play on Chess.com with the current site features, especially at blitz time controls.  Voice move inputs will enable these players to bring their game online.

Closed Captioning

One of the best features of Chess.com is its amazing video library. As a diamond member, it was an invaluable resource for me to improve as a chess player. However, closed captioning is not an available site feature, making the videos significantly less helpful for the hearing impaired. 

Third party plug-ins can be used, but are often unreliable and inaccurate. This is especially true when English is spoken with a non-native accent. For many of Chess.com's great video authors, English is not their native language.  Additionally, chess play borrows terms from many different languages, which are also unlikely to be translated accurately by third party plug-ins. For example: en passant, en prise, fianchetto, intermezzo, zugzwang, and zwischenzug. Not to mention the names of chess openings, for example: Sicilian Najdorf, Scheveningen, and Sveshnikov. 

Closed captioning as a site feature would ensure the video library is accessible and transcribed accurately, especially for beginner players who are unfamiliar with these terms.

Win-Win for all Chess.com Members

These proposed site features are cross functional, so they are a win-win because all Chess.com members can benefit from them. Therefore, Chess.com will get a great return for the build cost. Here are several examples:

voice announcements and inputs would enable members to play games easily with a physical chess board, without having to purchase an expensive one like DGT or Square Off;

voice announcements and inputs would also aid members who suffer from carpal tunnel or other repetitive strain injuries, so they can play a blitz session without aggravating their symptoms;

closed captioning would allow diamond members to watch their favorite chess videos while their significant other is asleep (myself included!); and

multilingual closed captioning would yield more diamond memberships for Chess.com because non-English speaking premium members could enjoy the video library in their native language.

Event Opportunities

It was awesome to read recently that Chess.com gave $25,000 to fund the North American Chess Cup for Children with Disabilities. Chess.com hosts so many great events, including the World Championship, Candidates, and Grand Prix. Chess.com should also use its platform to promote and celebrate chess players with disabilities. I look forward to the day when Keti, Robert, and Daniel provide their terrific commentary for events like these:

FIDE World Chess Championship for People with Disabilities

FIDE Online Olympiad for People with Disabilities

US Blind Chess Championship

These events are truly inspiring to watch and the standard of play is unbelievably strong.

Resources

If you or someone you know needs help finding their seat at the chess board, these resources are a great place to start:

FIDE Commission for the Disabled

International Physically Disabled Chess Association

International Braille Chess Association

United States Blind Chess Association

USCF Accessible Chess Event Guidelines

Thank you so much for reading my blog post. If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave them below. Let's do it!