JabberChess: the First Blind Accessible Mobile Chess App
Features And Instructions
Start JabberChess App:
To start JabberChess, you can use Siri and say "Open JabberChess". The app should start. Users can also click on the app icon to start it.
To start JabberChess, you can use Siri and say "Open JabberChess". The app should start. Users can also click on the app icon to start it.
Talk to JabberChess:
Since JabberChess is based on Stockfish, it shows Stockfish′s screen layout. It has a chessboard displayed on the upper two thirds of the screen. There is a chess notation area below the chessboard, which takes the remaining one third of the screen, except for a narrow menu bar at the very bottom of the screen. To talk to JabberChess, you need to activate its speech recognizer. To do so, swipe anywhere in the chess notation area, which is roughly the bottom one-third of the screen. You can swipe from left to right or right to left. Afterwards, you should hear the app say "Listening". Then say your command. After you complete speaking, the app should say "Done listening". Otherwise, the app did not detect the end of your speech and will eventually time out. If JabberChess detects the end of your speech, it will try to understand your command. The app will execute your command if it understands it, otherwise it will say "Invalid command".
The term "successful swipe" will henceforth indicate a swipe in the chess notation area, which is approximately the bottom one-third of the screen (excluding the very bottom menu bar), that the app successfully detects and responds with "Listening".
Since JabberChess is based on Stockfish, it shows Stockfish′s screen layout. It has a chessboard displayed on the upper two thirds of the screen. There is a chess notation area below the chessboard, which takes the remaining one third of the screen, except for a narrow menu bar at the very bottom of the screen. To talk to JabberChess, you need to activate its speech recognizer. To do so, swipe anywhere in the chess notation area, which is roughly the bottom one-third of the screen. You can swipe from left to right or right to left. Afterwards, you should hear the app say "Listening". Then say your command. After you complete speaking, the app should say "Done listening". Otherwise, the app did not detect the end of your speech and will eventually time out. If JabberChess detects the end of your speech, it will try to understand your command. The app will execute your command if it understands it, otherwise it will say "Invalid command".
The term "successful swipe" will henceforth indicate a swipe in the chess notation area, which is approximately the bottom one-third of the screen (excluding the very bottom menu bar), that the app successfully detects and responds with "Listening".
Start A Game:
If you want to start a game as white player, you need to say "Start game with white" after a successful swipe. After the game starts, JabberChess should say "Game ready". That means a new game started, where you are the white player and the chess engine is the black player. If you want to start a game as the black player, you should tell the app "Start game with black" instead. If you start a game as the black player, you need to wait for the white player (the engine) to make a move, which JabberChess will announce. Then, make a successful swipe and respond with your move.
If you want to start a game as white player, you need to say "Start game with white" after a successful swipe. After the game starts, JabberChess should say "Game ready". That means a new game started, where you are the white player and the chess engine is the black player. If you want to start a game as the black player, you should tell the app "Start game with black" instead. If you start a game as the black player, you need to wait for the white player (the engine) to make a move, which JabberChess will announce. Then, make a successful swipe and respond with your move.
Tell JabberChess to Make A Chess Move:
In order to make a move, do a successful swipe and then state your move using chess algebraic notation. For example, you can say "e4". The app should move pawn to e4 square while "knight 4 c 3" should move the knight on the 4th rank onto the c3 square. If JabberChess detects an invalid move, it will respond with "Invalid move". It would tell you "Invalid command" if it did not understand what you said.
In order to make a move, do a successful swipe and then state your move using chess algebraic notation. For example, you can say "e4". The app should move pawn to e4 square while "knight 4 c 3" should move the knight on the 4th rank onto the c3 square. If JabberChess detects an invalid move, it will respond with "Invalid move". It would tell you "Invalid command" if it did not understand what you said.
Ask JabberChess for Pieces and Their Positions on the Chessboard:
If you need to know where pieces are on the chessboard, you can ask JabberChess to show the current pieces and their positions by stating "Show Position" after a successful swipe. The app should start saying each piece currently on the chessboard, its color and its position in algebraic coordinates.
If you need to know where pieces are on the chessboard, you can ask JabberChess to show the current pieces and their positions by stating "Show Position" after a successful swipe. The app should start saying each piece currently on the chessboard, its color and its position in algebraic coordinates.
Stockfish in JabberChess:
JabberChess is based on the open-source Stockfish chess app. Therefore, JabberChess contains all of the Stockfish features for click and touch actions. It does not have the swiping gestures for move-forward or take-back actions as those gestures are used to activate the speech recognizer of JabberChess. In addition, users can use their voice commands in lieu of clicking and touching actions. The app will also read the chess moves after each move is made.
Menu bar actions are currently only supported with clicking actions and not supported with voice commands, with the exception of flipping the chessboard, in which case, the command is "Flip board".
JabberChess is based on the open-source Stockfish chess app. Therefore, JabberChess contains all of the Stockfish features for click and touch actions. It does not have the swiping gestures for move-forward or take-back actions as those gestures are used to activate the speech recognizer of JabberChess. In addition, users can use their voice commands in lieu of clicking and touching actions. The app will also read the chess moves after each move is made.
Menu bar actions are currently only supported with clicking actions and not supported with voice commands, with the exception of flipping the chessboard, in which case, the command is "Flip board".
Speech Command Mapping Examples:
Following words are interchangeable: capture, captures, take or takes.
Following words are interchangeable: castle or castles.
| Intention | Speech Command | Notation |
|---|---|---|
| start a new game as white | new game with white | |
| start a new game as black | new game with black | |
| show pieces on the chessboard | show position | |
| castle king side | castle king side | 0-0 |
| castle queen side | castle queen side | 0-0-0 |
| e pawn to e4 | e 4 | e4 |
| e pawn to e8 promote to queen | e 8 queen | e8Q |
| e pawn capture d5 | e capture d 5 | exd5 |
| e pawn capture d8 promote to queen | e capture d 8 queen | exd8Q |
| bishop to c4 | bishop c 4 | Bc4 |
| bishop on row 2 to c4 | bishop 2 c 4 | B2c4 |
| bishop capture at c4 | bishop capture c 4 | Bxc4 |
| bishop on row 2 capture at c4 | bishop 2 capture c 4 | B2xc4 |
Following words are interchangeable: capture, captures, take or takes.
Following words are interchangeable: castle or castles.
Known issues
Unable to Start the App:
JabberChess inherits a known Stockfish issue. If there are non-alphabetic characters in your device′s pasteboard, there is a possibility that the app may not be able to start. A workaround to this issue is to clear any abnormal characters in your device′s pasteboard if you have trouble starting the app.
JabberChess inherits a known Stockfish issue. If there are non-alphabetic characters in your device′s pasteboard, there is a possibility that the app may not be able to start. A workaround to this issue is to clear any abnormal characters in your device′s pasteboard if you have trouble starting the app.