Chessconnect: a free chrome extension for electronic chessboards

I'm trying to use the extension on Kiwi browser on my Google Pixel 8. I see the connect button as expected on the Lichess website, but not chess.com. When I logged in, the site asked me to authorize connecting to an external board as is standard in the new version. Also, I tried starting a game against a bot but still didn't see a connect button anywhere. What am I missing?

Edit: clicking "Desktop mode" made the connect button appear briefly and then disappear again.

Edit 2: I found it. It's under the menu that you get to by clicking the three bars at the upper left. Leaving this here for posterity.

Hey wanted to mention that I have been experiencing some issues on the android version (in kiwi browser). Some moves simply aren't registering until I manually play them on the browser.
I have checked and I have no such issue when I play from a PC (tested both windows and mac via chrome). Not sure if its something on my end or not but its only been happening since the last update.
Otherwise, using Chessconnect has been an amazing experience and has been the reason I picked up chess again. Thank you so much for all you do for the community.

Hi, is anyone else having issues with missing move announcements? It started happening during the game and as of now there are no move announcements at all on my Windows machine. The last game on Mac the announcements stopped part way through the game.

Thanks.

@GeorgeGoodnight: what version are you using?

My announcements are fine on Windows (though the Australian accents are terrible!), but some moves are being missed - sent you an email with console log Joern, did you get it?

I get the occasional missed move too.

Hi Jöern, I'm using 4.2.3 on both. It shouldn't matter that the MacBook is about 8 years old, should it? I have a newer iMac but have tried it on that.

I'm thinking that as Joern is doing chess.com a BIG favour, perhaps the chess.com techs could help out with issues like moves being missed and announcement glitches?

Hyper Dragon came to a dead end with his efforts and as I recall he perhaps wasn't being given the help he needed. His effort was excellent until CDC scrapped live chess. Not sure if the situation is different now. If I was CDC I would invest and get this working for all boards, there is no excuse with the amount of revenue they bring in.

Indeed it would seem to be in chess.com's enlightened interest to help out.

I am pretty sure the missed moves problem is on my end. @Jewelmind: yes I received your logs and already had a look at them. My feeling is the missed moves happen mostly with the DGT-chess.com combination. Can you both confirm that?

I make most of my games with chess.com and cycle through my boards. My DGT board is fairly recent and doesn't give me any trouble. I have a feeling that older DGT boards are more prone to missed moves?

I am very eager to fix this. But since it doesn't happen to me it's very hard to fix. Those who experience this on a frequent basis: can you turn on debug messages and send me the console logs of missed moves and the info which move was missed? Turning on debug messages will also produce more verbose console logs.

Ideally, someone finds a way to reliably make Chessconnect miss a move. That would invariably lead to fix.

@joernupbde I have ChessConnect running in the Kiwi browser on a new Android tablet. It doesn't want to connect to my DGT board is this a limitation of Android and using the old Bluetooth version? It said something about the Serial API not being available.

@andrewrimmer: Unfortunately, Kiwi on Android does only support Bluetooth LE which is not available with DGT. I will start working on an Android/iOS App of Chessconnect in the next week. The plan is to provide all the functionality of the Chrome based version. But that's going to be a larger project.

I will see if I can recreate this. I had various issues with ChessConnect and my DGT over Bluetooth. My board is at least 7 years old, but I wouldn't suspect much has progressed with the DGT boards in that time (only a hunch). Otherwise I would have expected them to swap out the very old Bluetooth controller with something more recent which would fix the compatibility with iPhone etc.
I have used my DGT board with lichess official support (relies on LiveChess) and I haven't had any missed moves in several years of playing. I would like to move to ChessConnect though, as it would be more convenient (and supports the clock), also I really love the fact is works for all boards. Fantastic stuff.

@joernupbde an app would be fantastic! That is great to hear.
I guess that would mean you could support the DGT Bluetooth boards from the Android app? The Apple one wouldn't be able to support the old Bluetooth, but I guess you know that already.
I am surprised DGT haven't updated their boards to modern Bluetooth. They had self-upgrade kits to go from USB to Bluetooth. I would have thought they could do the same for going from classic Bluetooth to LE

Hi Jöern, the missed move thing happens on Lichess too. My DGT Smartboard is about 2 years old. I believe that module is current.

Can anyone tell me how to get the log file please from the Chessconnect extension.

Thanks

@GeorgeGoodnight: I have some instruction on how to obtain the logfiles on the Cessconnect website.

By the way: Version 4.4 will no longer require API tokens for lichess (but can still use them). Probably not a big deal for existing users. But it should make onboarding much easier.

I will do the debug Joern. My board is a DGT Walnut Bluetooth e-board. I bought it July 2023 from Shach Niggemann. Not old, but perhaps an old design? On the other hand, the same board is used at the top tournaments, including world championships, and they don't seem to miss moves there, so there must be hope this can be fixed I would think.