Playing
Click a piece on the board, then the square it moves to. Or use the rows under the board: the piece, then the file, then the rank. You can also type the move, as in e4, Nf3, or O-O.
On Board and Fading, only reachable choices light up. Further along, every choice stays live, and an impossible square sounds illegal. When a pawn reaches the last rank, choose what it becomes.
The phrase
A move is the piece’s voice, then the file, then the rank. The piece stays where it is until both have sounded. A capture is its own beat, before the destination. When two pieces could make the same move, you hear the file or the rank that tells them apart, and then the destination.
White is a high tick. Black is a low knock.
Scales and pieces
Files a–h are C D E F G A B C. One tap is a, eight is h, and a home note sits under the others. Ranks 1–8 are plucked the same way: G A B C D E F G.
- Pawn: a small falling drop.
- Knight: two bells.
- Bishop: a rising glide.
- Rook: two knocks.
- Queen: a chord.
- King: a low tone with a slow vibrato.
Learn the sounds plays the scales, then the pieces. On the board, a file pulses, a rank pulses, and a piece lights, the same way a move does.
Visibility
The slider above the board is one fade, from the picture to the sound.
- Board. Every piece. A move waits until the file and the rank have sounded.
- Fading. The same board. Untouched pieces sink after a few seconds. Touch one, or play it, and it returns.
- Echo. A dark grid. When a piece lands, a light ripple shows the nearby squares, then they close.
- Sound. The position is put away. The rows stay.
- Pure. No letters and no counted taps. The same phrase, only pitch, and faster.
Listening
Hear the last move repeats the phrase.
You play white. Stockfish plays black. Elo runs from 1320 to 3190. Linger stretches each sound. Take back undoes the last move. The move list stays closed until you open it. Finished games are kept on the Profile.