Playchess multi-board on the smartphone

by Albert Silver
10/24/2015 – In the last weeks, two of the web browser apps by ChessBase have finally been fully adapted to work on tablets and smartphones: Playchess and the Tactics Trainer. You can now use the browser version of Playchess to play games and view multiple broadcast boards at the same time on your smartphone. In this guide, learn also how to transform it into a one-click app.

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Playchess already has specific smartphone apps on both iPhones and Android devices, so why would you want to use a browser version? For one thing, you might simply prefer the experience, but one of the most distinctive difference is that it allows you to view multiple boards at the same time.

Click here to open play.chessbase.com

If you enjoyed the ability to view many boards at the same time on the desktop software when following
a competition, then get ready to enjoy that same privilege on your smartphone or tablet.

Just like the desktop, just open your browser and enter the address
play.chessbase.com and it will open the site. Though easy enough to
remember, at the end of this article you will find a technique to create
an icon you can tap on your smartphone to enter directly every time.

You can watch games as a guest, but if you want to play rated games,
click on the Log In button and enter your info

Naturally you can simply play a game by pressing either Play Blitz or Play Slow. If you want to
watch to just relax and watch some chess, you have two options: click on Kibitz Blitz, and this
will automatically open the highest rated blitz or bullet game being played on Playchess.

This can sometimes just be some strong masters, but many times you will be
treated to world class players who stop in to indulge in their adrenaline addiction.

Another option is to watch a live broadcast with one of the many top events. For that, click on
Live Games, and you will be taken to the Broadcast room. It will automatically open two boards,
but you can increase this by pressing the + button at the top. You can close a game pressing the
red X on each board. You can also drag and move the divider between the notation and boards.

You may notice an odd little bar on the right side of the boards. This is a
form of computer evaluation with the green icon indicating whether the
score is positive (above the middle) and thus better for White, or negative
(below the middle) and thus better for Black

The one-click stop

All this is great, but there is one inconvenience: using the browser on a smartphone or tablet to access this, means finding the address in your favorites, or typing play.chessbase.com each and every time. There is a solution if you are an Android user (I cannot comment on iPhones or iPads, not having one):

With the site open already, click on the Menu button (this may vary from
device to device) and select Add to Home screen

Now your home screen will show a new icon, and if you just tap on it
as you would for any app, it will immediately go directly to the web page.

Another perk is that now it will also have no tabs at the top taking up space on the screen. It means
more screenspace for the app, and among other things, easier to watch eight boards at the same time.

Click here to open play.chessbase.com


Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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