What is Chessmart?
Chessmart (chess: smart) is an add-on for NVDA that provides a fully featured, completely accessible chess playing environment for blind and visually impaired chess players.
How to use
- Install the add-on
- Start a new game from the add-on;s menu, which you can find in NVDA's main menu
- Set the game options as follows:
- Play mode: user versus computer, or user versus user (two players)
- Chess variant: the add-on supports standard chess and other 7 different chess variants including Chess 960, Anti chess, Atomic chess, Kings of the hill, Racing kings, Hords, and Three check.
- Time control: choose among classical, rapid play, blitz, bullit, or custom time controls
- FEN: use a custom chessboard Fen
- If the play mode is user versus computer; you can adjust the engine options, including engine strength and engine delay
- Enjoy!
Useful Keyboard shortcuts in the Chessboard
- F1: announce the position of your pieces.
- Shift + F1: announce the position of your opponent's pieces.
- F2: announce your remaining time
- Shift + F2: announce your opponent's remaining time
- F3: announce the currently focused piece and square using IBCA notation
- F4: show the scoresheet which shows a list of the moves made by you and your opponents
What about online chess?
The add-on supports online chess via lichess.org, but it is not currently enabled due to technical considerations. If there is a demand for this feature, we will consider enabling it.