Questions & Answers

A player is cheating! What should I do?

If you suspect that a player is cheating, you should definitely bring it to our attention!

Please contact us and include at least your username, your opponent’s username and the date the game took place. You can also export the game as PGN and send it to us.

We will investigate the game in question and, if we determine that there is a high probability of cheating, we will return any lost points to you. We will then look at the cheater’s history, and if we find repeated cheating, we will take appropriate action, including a permanent ban.

Can I connect to Multiplayer if I’m using Tor or a VPN?

Now why in the world would you want to do that? Joking.

Short answer: It depends.

SparkChess Multiplayer requires WebSockets to connect. Sockets allow fast, near-instant communication and are used by most messaging apps and games. We used to support an HTTP fallback mode, but we removed it in 2018 because few players needed it and it lacked performance.

Back to VPNs, you need to check if your connection supports sockets. In our tests, we had no problems accessing the SparkChess website and multiplayer service via Tor and OpenVPN.

If you have problems with your VPN/Tor, you should disable it for SparkChess. We do not track our players and we do not block anyone. We are also not aware of any country blocking or tracking SparkChess.

What is Guest Login?

When accessing the multiplayer service, there is an alternative “Guest login” option. We added this feature many years ago when we realized that some players wanted to get a taste of multiplayer without having to spend time setting up an account.

Note: Setting up an account is very straightforward, just enter your nickname, email (for password recovery) and password and you’re in!

Guest accounts are ephemeral. They start with 800 points and their progress is not saved. They have no stats or game history, they can not join or manage teams and have no access to chat.

Only use the Guest login if you are new to SparkChess and want to see how multiplayer works.

Are multiple accounts allowed in multiplayer?

Multiple multiplayer accounts are allowed but not encouraged. We recognize that there are legitimate reasons for players to have more than one account. However, using multiple accounts to inflate your score or for other nefarious purposes is not allowed, and such accounts may be removed without warning.

What are playing areas?

After logging into multiplayer mode, you will be presented with a list of playing areas from which you must select (enter) one in order to play.

Playing areas are also called “lobbies” in multiplayer games. Simply put, they are virtual gathering places where players can meet and challenge each other. Playing areas can have some restrictions, for example, one of them is reserved for new players.

Upon entering a playing area, you will see a list of available players. When you click on a player’s name in the list, you invite them to play. Or you can simply wait until you are invited.

What’s the difference between the Premium Live login and the Multiplayer login?

Premium Live users may need to log in twice when using SparkChess:

The first step is to log in to the Premium Live service. Here, users must enter the email address they used to create the Premium Live account after purchasing a subscription and the associated password. Once logged in, they can play single-player or multiplayer.

Signing up for multiplayer is completely separate. Users log in to the Multiplayer service with an account created for this purpose, using a username (nickname) of their choice.

This system is necessary and by design. Premium Live users can have multiple multiplayer accounts, and a separate username protects their privacy by not revealing their email addresses.

For schools and chess clubs we have a management solution where one Premium account is associated with a multiplayer username and a team, so only one login is necessary. Contact us if you want SparkChess in your club or classroom.

Why does the board look wrong, images are missing?

SparkChess should look and work perfectly on any browser released in the last 3 years. We test it thoroughly and make sure there are no issues on Chrome and Chromium-based browsers (Microsoft Edge, Opera, etc.) as well as on Safari and Firefox.

There are isolated reports of the board not displaying correctly and in some rare cases missing images. The known conditions are:

• older Microsoft Edge with high contrast mode enabled;
• Chrome (or another Chrome-based browser) with a Dark Mode extension.

Extensions can affect your browsing experience in unexpected ways. If you have extensions enabled, try loading SparkChess in an incognito (or private) window, without extensions. It should run fine. You can also try disabling one extension at a time to see which one is misbehaving.

How do I play with someone on my team?

Assuming you and a friend are now members of the same team, it’s time to play.

To play, you both need to be online and logged into multiplayer. Here are the steps:

• Log in to multiplayer mode, and you’ll see a list of Playing Areas. At the top you will see “My Team (visible to members only)”. All team members should enter it.
• The invitation window will be displayed. All available (currently online, not playing) players are listed here.
• Simply click on any player to invite them to play. From this window you can also watch the matches live as they happen.