Playing chess online with a screen reader: Lichess and accessible apps

Yes, you can play chess online with a screen reader. Lichess, which is free, offers a “blind mode” where you enter your moves in a text field (for example e4 or Nf3) and query the position using short commands. Other platforms should be tested with your own screen reader.

The main screen readers

• NVDA: free, open-source software for Windows.
• JAWS: commercial software for Windows.
• VoiceOver: screen reader built into Apple computers and devices.
• TalkBack: screen reader built into Android.
• Orca: screen reader for Linux, cited by Lichess in its tutorial.

Lichess: blind mode

Lichess is a free chess website. Its official guide to “blind mode” (blind mode) explains that you activate it by pressing the Space key on the very first button on the page, labelled “Accessibility: Enable blind mode”. Registered accounts keep this setting. The official tutorial explains how to navigate with NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver and Orca.

Entering moves and commands

Moves are entered in a field labelled “Your move or waiting”, in algebraic notation (for example e4 or Nf3). Short commands query the game:

• L: last move;
• P, followed by a piece: positions of that piece (uppercase for White, lowercase for Black);
• S, followed by a rank or a file: pieces present on that line;
• O: opponent's name and rating;
• C: remaining time on both clocks, yours first.

You can also type the words Abort, Takeback, Resign and Draw. The guide notes one limitation: if an output is identical to the previous one, the screen reader may read nothing, so enter a different command before repeating the same one. A user reported on the Lichess forum in August 2026 that moves were no longer announced by their screen reader; this is an isolated account, to be checked against your own setup.

Other options: keyboard and accessible sites

The ChessPuzzle.net website documents keyboard input in its accessibility statement: you move a cursor with the arrow keys, or type the squares (for example e2, Enter, e4, Enter), and the current square is announced. It is not a live games site, but it shows that a chessboard interface can be fully operated from the keyboard. For Chess.com, we found no official documentation on screen reader compatibility: do not rely on our information, test it with your own tool.

Playing alone with an electronic chessboard

An electronic chessboard or chess computer allows solo training. Accessibility depends on whether it has voice announcements or can connect to a screen reader: this is the question to ask before any purchase. Le Palais des Échecs presents electronic chessboards for playing alone; this guide does not claim that these models have a voice.

Tips for getting started

1. Start with a game against the computer, without a clock, to learn the commands.
2. Use a braille display or headphones: listening to moves in fast synthetic speech takes practice.
3. Then move on to games with a clock, keeping the time commands within easy reach.

To play on a real board, see the tactile equipment. For organisations that promote online and face-to-face play, see the organisations.