What you can do today

VocalChess lets you play full games hands‑free. You speak the move; the board moves. You can set a difficulty level and export your games as PGN. No analysis commands or voice chat—just solid, reliable play.

1) Microphone and browser

  • Use a modern Chromium browser (Edge or Chrome) for the best speech support.
  • Grant microphone permission when prompted. If you block it, reload and allow.
  • Quiet room > fancy mic. Signal beats hardware.

2) Pick a difficulty

  • Choose a Stockfish level you can actually learn from. Start at 3–5; bump when you’re consistently converting.
  • Levels map to engine skill under the hood, so you will feel the difference.

3) Speak the move naturally

Say what you would write:

  • Pawn moves: “e4”, “d5”, “pawn to e4”
  • Piece moves: “knight f3”, “bishop c4”, “rook a1”
  • Captures: “bishop takes f7”, “queen takes d5”, “pawn takes e5”
  • Castling: “castle king side”, “castle queen side”
  • Special: “en passant”, “promote to queen”

The recognizer fixes common mishears (night→knight, rookie→rook). If a command is unclear, it’s ignored rather than doing the wrong thing.

4) Fixing ambiguity

  • If both rooks can go to a1, say “queen rook a1”.
  • For promotions, say “promote to queen/rook/bishop/knight”. If you don’t say a piece, we default to queen.
  • If you said something and nothing happened, try again a touch slower—natural pace is best.

5) Export your game (PGN)

  • Use the in‑app export to download PGN for analysis elsewhere. It’s standard format and opens in any chess tool.

Quick FAQ

  • “Can I say ‘analyze this position’?” Not yet. When we ship analysis, we’ll label it clearly.
  • “Does it work with accents?” Yes—our filter is trained to accept common variations. Speak naturally.
  • “Screen readers?” Yes—interface roles, focus order, and announcements are built in.

Why voice works

Speaking out verbal commands forces precise intent. Fewer mis‑clicks, more consistent habits, and your eyes stay on the board. Try a week of voice vs. mouse and compare your blunders.

Ready? Turn on your mic, say “e4”, and play real chess.