Chessconnect: a free chrome extension for electronic chessboards

I made a game yesterday with Chessnut Pro on chesscom without any issues.

@Hamilton53: can you describe your disconnect scenario in more detail? What color does the connect button have? Any error messages? What board what connection type etc.

I am still waiting for a reply from chesscom about officially recognizing Chessconnect.

@cadmiumpatzer: I was under the impression that I sent the test version to you, too. But maybe I did not. I'll send it again...

Extension is yellow... it goes through the 1-3, 2-3, 3-3 sequence but doesn't turn green. I can go to lichess and connect immediately. DGT Bluetooth board.

On chess.com I connect initially, get into a game and I get a disconnect and then I can not reconnect. This scenario started a couple days ago.

No error messages, but I don't have on debug. I'll try again this morning and turn on the debug.

What is your piece animation option set to?

This happens when another instance of Chessconnect is running in a different browser tab. Typical scenario: you play a game, watch the game review (which opens another tab), and then try to start another game in the new tab. Happens to me a lot. That's why there's going to be a warning message in the next version.

Me too ;o)

Ive just played a load of games badly. Buth the extension was perfect.

I played a match on chess.com this morning and had no issues...

GeorgeGoodnight - Thanks for the insight

chess.com match

how are you getting voice announcements, the voice extension for chess.com seems to have terrible reviews?

Click on the ChessConnect extension... there is a drop down option to enable voice announcements...

My bad, I somehow forgot it was there. So far the beta update is working perfectly on my old USB only board.

Fun fact: Version 3.4 will automatically connect to an attached or visible chessboard that has at least once been connected to Chessconnect. This will make the iconic Connect button somewhat superflous after the initial pairing of a chessboard. It took me for ages to get this working but now it looks quite promising. 🥳

On boards without LEDs (...DGT) there will be an affirmative sound when the opponent's move was copied correctly on the eboard.

Plus Chinese translation and support for a new board from Wuxing Technology.

I also aim to make Chessconnect availabe through the Microsoft Edge Store.

Plus various other things that may or may not make it into the 3.4 release.

The release is scheduled for end of May depending on the results of the beta tests. I will publish the link to the beta here so that every body can have a try.

Wow amazing work. Thank you!

Yes, Jörn, absolutely amazing work. Looking forward to the new beta.

One question - what is the advantage of having it in the Edge store since Edge can use the Chrome Web Store?

I have learned that there are countries where chess is quite popular and from which the Chrome Web Store is not accessible but the Edge Store is.

Ah, interesting. Thanks for that info.

Doing great!

I assume the Edge store will be in addition to, not in place of, the Chrome store? Regarding the connect button, I don't think it is superfluous. I don't know how much state you maintain to determine when input from the board is relevant so as to not interfere with puzzles and/or whatever other online activity the user is doing, but from a user perspective making it explicit is a good thing.

Since Chessconnect is in the middle, it has two connections: one to the host (e.g. chess.com) and the other to the board. Imho, the operator should be in explicit control of the former, the latter could be a background/automatic process via configuration.

Regardless of how the interface may be tweaked, is this the intention or are you leaning towards trying to make it hands off by maintaining so much state Chessconnect just "knows what to do"?

Yes, Edge store is going to be just another channel.

And my statement about the connect button becoming superflous was not to be taken seriously. It's exactly as cadmiumpatzer said: the goal is to get Chessconnect out of the way as much as possible while still leaving the user in control. And since the Connect button is the only visible part of Chessconnect, I will definitively not get rid of it!

Great work! Thanks for this.

But I get disconnected at least 5 times in 15/10 game. Ok, I can reconnect but lose a lot of time (and the game...) as I have to be concentrated to scan if I am still connected or not.

Any idea how to get a stable connection?

(BT DGT e-board, Microsoft Edge)

Some users have reported problems with electromagnetic interference. Maybe you can try to reduce the distance between the bluetooth receiver and the transmitter as well as move them away from any other electronic devices.