Chessconnect: a free chrome extension for electronic chessboards

What browser is that?

Currently stuck on a meeting, will attempt to reproduce when I am off.

I just played an online game on chess.com against a human opponent on a dgt board and it worked fine.

Google Chrome, had the same problem with Brave and tried with Edge too.

Glad to help if you need more information

Yes, Brave does not like the extension for some reason.

Was that video playing against a computer opponent or a live opponent? I cannot follow (can't interpret the words on the screen).

Going to try and grab a live game now.

Did you make sure these flags were set:

Bluetooth LE is not available on this device. Try setting the chrome flags chrome://flags/#enable-web-bluetooth, chrome://flags/#enable-web-bluetooth-new-permissions-backend, chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-web-platform-features

As explained on my web page, it is normal for an extension to loose the bluetooth connection, when the URL in the browser tab changes. On some platforms Chessconnect is able to reestablish the connection automatically. Sometimes this is just not possible.

Long story short: just click "Connect" once again and reestablish the connection manually. Or use USB. USB has the same problem but Chessconnect is almost always able to reestablish.

P.S.: @rsava is right: setting the chrome flags might increase the chances for automatic reconnect to succeed.

On the video, I show it works against a computer and then I show it does not the same when I want to play online.
When I'm on https://www.chess.com/play/computer it works

When I'm on https://www.chess.com/play/online it doesn't. The popup to link the board does not appear.
Yes I enabled those flags

OK, thanks. I think I am getting the same issue but I have a hard time getting a game.

I am back in meetings so it needs to wait a bit again.

I am getting this error:

That error can be ignored. When you enable debug messages, Chessconnect will pick up any errors even those from within the chess.com code itself. This is one of those messages.

@Downo: Your idea witht the video is really extremely helpful. 👍

1. I checked and thank goodness, chess.com did not make any changes that stop Chessconnect from working. I could play a game against a human opponent with no issues. So, it does not seem a general problem. 😮‍💨
2. From now on everybody with connection problems shall provide such a video. That will make support so much easier. 😇
3. As you have probably noticed the exception at the end of the video says "device out of range". I am sure, that you have already checked this. But just to be sure: can you check, if the problem persists when using USB?
4. What worried me most was the "board found waiting for game" message. The video ends before the game starts. When the game really starts, the message should disappear.

So: can you please try using USB?

I tried using USB and it worked perfectly, played a game online without any problems.

Ok, great. That means that the problem is most likely on the bluetooth side of things. And just to eliminate the obvious:

• your board works fine with the original chessnut app using Bluetooth?
• your board is not too far away from your PC?

If I understand you correctly, you click on "connect" and nothing happens, right? If that is the case, there almost certainly is an error message in the console log (other than "device out of reach"). Can you please check?

Yesterday I had a longer session with user @cramh who has trouble with his older DGT board. I built Chessconnect on the assumption that the "vendor ID" that every USB and Bluetooth device has, is specific to...well...the vendor of the chessboard. As it turns out, it is more specific to the manufacturer of the USB chip and some of these chips can be found on several boards across various manufacturers.

Consequently, I will have to re-write the concept of connection methods which is currently used by Chessconnect. Nothing serious but be warned that this is going to change with the next (probably minor) release.

• Yes the board works fine with the chessnut app on Bluetooth
• Not too far (not even 1m from the bluetooth dongle)
  And the bluetooth on my PC works fine with other bluetooth devices (controller, headset, ...)
  Yes nothing happens when I click on "Connect" only when I try to play online.
  No other error messages but "board found with id board. Waiting for game" appears in console when I click, and my board bluetooth LED is still blinking

I think, I have an idea. Looking at the stack trace towards the end of your video, one can see that somehow the code for the iChessOne board got activated. That cannot be right.

Unfortunately, there are two weeks of family holiday coming up and I will not be able to provide an update during this time. (My wife forbits taking all the chess boards with me which means, I cannot do sufficient testing).

I might be able to provide a beta, tough. 😊

@Downo - has this board ever worked with the Chessconnect extension on this computer?

Do you by any chance have it paired in the computer Bluetooth settings?

• Not too far (not even 1m from the bluetooth dongle)

None of the computers I have used the Air with use BT dongles, they all use the built in BT. Perhaps there is an issue with the board and the dongle communicating properly.

I do opening line practice on Chessable with the EVO. If I could do that with the Pro using your extension that would be excellent.

@joernupbde Does the extension support studies and/or analysis on Lichess? I think this was asked here quite a while ago so I wanted to see if there is any update on it. TIA.

@joernupbde - any thoughts forming based on the survey you put out? I’m very interested to know which features you’re thinking of working on next! It’s amazing what you are doing - what a gift to the community.

Not yet. But it's on the list to come (see my answer below)