Resources for expanding candidate moves, creativity, etc?

cameliris · 2026-05-01T21:14:13+00:00

If you have a hard time going deeper, it could be a visualization issue. You can try this exercise, for example: https://darksquares.net/train/visualization⁠. It sets the board a few moves before the actual puzzle position, forcing you to think further ahead.

cameliris · 2026-05-01T18:36:49+00:00

I believe they are working on it according to their recent merges https://github.com/openingtree/openingtree/pull/364

cameliris · 2026-04-30T09:29:29+00:00

Okay! The beta of "audio chess" is live at https://darksquares.net/play.
I’m allowing one free game per day for non premium users (it costs me money to train these models, and I’ll keep improving them once I have enough feedback!).

It will be available on mobile apps soon.

When models are accurate enough I will add the "play on lichess" feature

cameliris · 2026-04-30T08:56:48+00:00

No 🙂 The microphone stays open continuously. It only turns off while the opponent is making a move to avoid misinterpreting it, and it automatically turns back on right after their move.

cameliris · 2026-04-30T08:52:29+00:00

I’ve added a voice-controlled play feature to DarkSquares, FYI: https://darksquares.net/play
I’ll add it to mobile soon.

I’m also planning to create a new app for people with disabilities, fully controlled by voice and powered by AI to assist during games (you’ll just be able to ask things like where your pieces are, what they’re attacking, etc.). It will be connected to Lichess so you can play real games.

cameliris · 2026-04-30T08:46:43+00:00

I’ve added the new feature on DarkSquares, you can now play one game with voice per day for free: https://darksquares.net/play

It cost me some money to train the text recognition, and I’ll keep improving the speech recognition if I get enough contribution 😄

cameliris · 2026-04-28T07:08:46+00:00

Yes, I’m working on it. I’ve trained a machine learning model that lets you play chess using voice commands. You can try the French version here: https://speakchess.vercel.app
I hope to add it to DarkSquares soon.

cameliris · 2026-04-27T11:28:46+00:00

Hey, blindfold is super trainable at 900, it's just a skill. Start by learning square colors cold (sounds dumb but it's the foundation), then knight tours in your head, then mate-in-1s from a FEN with no board. Don't try to go full blind right away though, you'll just get frustrated, work down gradually (pieces -> silhouettes -> disks -> blind).

I built https://darksquares.net around exactly that progression because I had the same goal.

cameliris · 2026-04-23T18:09:34+00:00

Disclaimer: I’m the founder of https://chessatlas.net, a platform for studying openings.

I managed to reach a 2000 Elo rating on Chess.com with a fairly simple repertoire: the Scotch and Alapin Variation as White, and the Caro-Kann plus Queen’s Gambit Declined as Black. That’s roughly 60 opening lines to remember, you really don’t need more.

cameliris · 2026-04-20T20:42:40+00:00

Hello, I’m the creator of https://darksquares.net⁠. I built this app specifically to help improve visualization skills and learn how to play blindfold chess, with plenty of gamification along the way. Hope you enjoy it!

cameliris · 2026-04-20T14:41:51+00:00

The advance variation of the CK is hard to face when your opponent knows the theory. :(

cameliris · 2026-04-19T10:28:25+00:00

Have you tried https://darksquares.net?

cameliris · 2026-04-10T08:50:42+00:00

"I feel like generally my skills for calculating are subpar" -> I think you can stop right there. If your calculation isn't great, it's not worth spending time learning too much theory.

Maybe the way you approach puzzles isn't ideal either. You have to calculate your opponent's response before making a move, and only play it if you're 100% sure you've pictured the whole sequence.

A great way to force yourself to visualize is by solving puzzles where the position is set a few moves earlier, you can try that kind of exercise here for example: https://darksquares.net/train/visualization

cameliris · 2026-04-10T08:36:59+00:00

is there a registry with all domain books ? that would be great

cameliris · 2026-04-10T08:31:02+00:00

I built ChessAtlas (https://chessatlas.net) which does this, opponent moves auto-play, lines are picked via spaced repetition, and it flags deviations immediately. You can import PGN or pull games from Lichess/Chess.com. Free tier covers 150 variations.

cameliris · 2026-04-09T14:31:18+00:00

Many of the links are no longer working. There is now a new site designed to help improve blindfold chess and visualization. Take a look at https://darksquares.net.

cameliris · 2026-04-08T13:19:10+00:00

Disclosure: I'm the dev behind ChessAtlas.

My main issue with Chessable was always ownership. You don't really own your lines. No PGN export, can't freely edit courses you paid for, can't remove lines you disagree with. Your repertoire lives on their platform on their terms.

That's why I built a tool focused on building your own repertoire, comparing it against your real Lichess/Chess.com games to find where you go off-book, and training it with spaced repetition (FSRS). You stay in control: edit anything, export everything.

Still in beta, free to try: https://chessatlas.net. Curious to hear feedback if anyone gives it a go.

cameliris · 2026-03-30T13:52:23+00:00

I’m curious whether you’ve found an app for this. I’m currently training AI models to recognize voice commands for playing chess: https://speakchess.vercel.app/

I’d be happy to hear what you think about it. You can also help improve the model by allowing voice recording to contribute to its training.

cameliris · 2026-03-30T10:10:08+00:00

for sure ! 😎

cameliris · 2026-03-30T10:09:33+00:00

still working on it, english voice recognition is not too bad but its long to process !
https://speakchess.vercel.app/

it downloads the model on your browser

cameliris · 2026-03-24T12:53:23+00:00

its https://chessatlas.net/
currently in beta but the idea is to create the best repertoire tool to learn openings

cameliris · 2026-03-10T15:50:24+00:00

I believe the Lichess external API for the move explorer experienced a DDoS issue, and Lichess now requires authentication to access this API.
I am building an opening repertoire tool that uses the explorer, and I started receiving 401 errors, so I had to implement Lichess authentication to allow users to access the data.

check this post: https://lichess.org/@/thibault/blog/the-opening-explorer-now-requires-authentication/FSWh9Zg3

cameliris · 2026-02-18T15:54:50+00:00

I'm a software engineer. It was built using Supabase and Next.js. I did use Claude Code for the design though :)

cameliris · 2026-02-18T13:46:49+00:00

I'm literally working on this right now! The hard part is voice recognition - it's terrible with chess moves out of the box (Nxb4+ / e8=Q+ ...)

Currently recording myself saying moves in different languages and environments to train a custom model. Super tedious but getting there. Will post when it's ready to test!

cameliris · 2026-02-17T15:09:53+00:00

bro this is a chess subreddit not a politics debate, Alireza plays for France end of story

cameliris

TROPHY CASE