Playchess - A step closer to reality

by Arne Kaehler
1/12/2021 – Playing chess with a friend in these weird times is not as easy as it used to be, and nothing compares to a "real" played game over the board. But Playchess still has a beautiful alternative, which every premium member can use in less than a couple of minutes. I wanted to play a friend, and surprised him on Facebook by inviting him to play a game on Playchess to try out the video and audio options.

ChessBase Account Premium annual subscription ChessBase Account Premium annual subscription

At the airport, in the hotel or at home on your couch: with the new ChessBase you always have access to the whole ChessBase world: the new ChessBase video library, tactics server, opening training App, the live database with eight million games, Let’s Check and web access to playchess.com

More...

See, hear, and play on Playchess

I made this video without much preparation, and although my friend and I had a couple of small technical difficulties to overcome, it took us not long to start a game and to have a little chat.

In case you wonder - I lost the game.

To use these functions, enter this into your browser:

https://play.chessbase.com/en/play?room=

and add a name of your choice for the virtual room, e.g.:

https://play.chessbase.com/en/play?room=itis2021

Copy and paste this into your browser. Your virtual room is open for you and your chess partner. Now your friend just has to receive the same virtual room address, and you can start playing.

Remember, both players need some things to make it happen:

  • premium membership
  • webcam
  • microphone

Premium annual subscription + 1 month (payment method: credit card)

Order the annual ChessBase Premium Membership and save twice! You only pay for ten months Premium and you get a 13th month for free. Payment only by credit card. The subscription is automatically renewed on the expiration date.

In our "links" section below, we have two more articles explaining how to launch a tournament on playchess, and how the video and audio option is working.

Pro Tips:

  • Check that your webcam is only used with the browser and no other device.
  • Different browsers have different security settings. Make sure to check all your security settings to use the camera with the browser, so it won't get blocked.
  • Optimally, your microphone is a headset. This is a good way to cancel out background noises, or the typical "echo".
  • Playchess has a "mute" option, which you can enable yourself. You have the same option for your video.
  • If you can only see yourself in the video, try to refresh your browser.

Links:

<< Paul Keres "special" in ChessBase Magazine #199
Racing rook pawns >>
Topics: chessbase_account_premium_year, Playchess, Tutorial, video
Arne Kaehler, a creative thinker who is passionate about board games in general was born in Hamburg and learned how to play chess at a very young age. Through teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess content on YouTube, Arne was able to extend this passion onto others and has even made an online chess course for anyone who wants to learn how to play this game. Currently, Arne blogs for the English news page of ChessBase and focuses on creating promotional and entertaining articles.
Discussion and Feedback Join the public discussion or submit your feedback to the editors

See also

You can play blitz against Elshan Moradiabadi today!

12/23/2020 – Just a quick reminder! Today GM Elshan Moradiabadi will participate in our video blitz tournament at 15:00 CET. The good news is that we still have two open seats available! If you apply, you will be raffled and might take part in our little tournament.
More...
 1

See also

Play against Lawrence Trent!

11/20/2020 – The ChessBase Playchess server now offers a "Video & Audio" option which allows you to see your opponents and to talk to them. With this function, playing online comes as close as it can get to playing in real life. After successful Playchess tournaments with Elisabeth Pähtz, Vincent Keymer and Simon Williams, Lawrence Trent waits to play against ChessBase readers. If you are a premium member, and if your computer has a microphone and webcam, apply to join the tournament on Monday!
More...
 2

Video

A solid scandinavian surprise

On this 60 mins video we are going to concentrate on a simple, very solid idea in the main line Scandinavian, which even Magnus Carlsen has used to win games. Black focusses on making his life easy in the opening and forces White to work very hard to get advantage – but it is doubtful if White can get an advantage. Club players are always on the lookout for effective, time-saving solutions and here we have just that. Accompany FIDE Senior Trainer and IM Andrew Martin on this 60 mins video. You can learn a new opening system in 60 mins and start to play it with confidence on the very same day!

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

Masquer Masquer 1/12/2021 11:20
+1 JFIDE60
e-mars e-mars 1/12/2021 10:18
@JFIDE60 I perfectly understand your point of view. As many others will probably try to change your mind, which I think is unfair, instead I will suggest you a "trick": you can either rent or improvise a room for... chess only. If you don't have a room, you can artificially create one with "séparé" (e.g. using panels). My point is, having a room for chess and for chess only, you make it as completely bare, empty: the (uneasy) feeling of being monitored, which I really dislike, should fade away as there is literally nothing to monitor but the legit chess equipment. As having to do something like that may still sound as an odd idea... I think it's some sort of flexible, agreeable compromise.
JFIDE60 JFIDE60 1/12/2021 07:25
OTB is real chess... sorry, I refuse to play actively online and risk rating points. Wind the clock back to the world wars, where chess "paused"... we are in this same vein. I'm not going to submit to Zoom monitoring, I'd rather study the millions of games already played for when the time comes where OTB tournaments become viable again. IMHO. YMMV.
1