Answers.Body: <p>The chess.com business model depends on locking people into using their site to play through in order to convince those users to purchase subscriptions to the site (just as is the case with Chessbase's Playchess site, the ICC, FIDE Online Arena and several others).  Opening up access to their API (they do have one for their smartphone apps) in the way you suggest could be readily used to break through those commercial barriers.  Which is a round about way of saying, no, there's not much chance of using any other program with their site.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2014-08-24T08:37:17.700Z
Answers.Text: Probably they could allow using third party clients only for subscribers.
Answers.UserDisplayName: JiK
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Answers.CreationDate: 2014-08-31T09:38:39.610Z
Answers.Text: They could, but that would require effort.  I'd wager they won't go to that effort.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ben
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Answers.CreationDate: 2014-07-25T05:44:20.280Z
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Ben
Answers.Body: <blockquote>
    <p>Is there any way to tweak it so that I can connect to chess.com's server?</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Of course. Just use Fiddler to monitor the HTTP traffic to chess.com from your desktop/mobile phone/tablet to see how it can be done. It is technically possible.</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/gBHA5.jpg" alt="gg"></p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2014-08-27T23:27:59.313Z
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Answers.LastEditDate: 2014-11-03T09:43:31.843Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: swift
Answers.Body: <p>I don't think there currently is a way judging from the discussion in the following link:</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/chesscom-desktop-client?page=1" rel="nofollow">http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/chesscom-desktop-client?page=1</a></p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Ben Franklin
Answers.Body: <blockquote>
  <p>(Or using any other interface, for that matter.)</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>Without intercepting and analysing the network traffic between you and the site - basically reverse-engineering the API, then writing your own client - you can only use a web browser to play at their site.</p>
  <p>Note that you can't even use <em>any</em> web browser, they suggest only G@@gle Chrome or Firefox and even these only in certain versions. For instance, you can't play using Waterfox (a Firefox fork), because it is blocked. I suppose they check the &quot;user agent&quot; string (for instance: <a href="https://whatmyuseragent.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">see you user agent</a>).</p>
  <p>If you want to use any other browser (version) you might get away with modifying this string. In Firefox this is done editing the configuration: enter <code>about:config</code> into the address field and add a new entry:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>general.useragent.override</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>of type &quot;string&quot;. <a href="https://explore.whatismybrowser.com/useragents/explore/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Here</a> is a list of the user agent strings of various browsers.</p>
  <p>Be careful, though: first, different browsers have different abilities and some websites tailor their sites contents (spcifically scripts) according to this value, so it might break some sites. Second, there are other ways of determining the type of browser you are using too, so overriding the user agent might not always help.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: bakunin
Body: <p>I decided to play a few games on <a href="https://www.freechess.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FICS</a>, and I really loved jin's interface.</p>
  <p><strong>Is there any way to tweak it so that I can connect to <a href="https://www.chess.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">chess.com</a>'s server?</strong><br />
  (Or using any other interface, for that matter.)</p>
  <p><em>In particular, are you absolutely forced to play in-browser at chess.com?</em></p>
  
Tags: <online-chess><chess.com>
Title: Using jin to play on chess.com
ThreadText: # Using jin to play on chess.com
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-07-01)
  
  I decided to play a few games on [FICS](https://www.freechess.org/), and I really loved jin's interface.
  
  **Is there any way to tweak it so that I can connect to [chess.com](https://www.chess.com/)'s server?**  
  (Or using any other interface, for that matter.)
  
  *In particular, are you absolutely forced to play in-browser at chess.com?*
  
  **Tags:** online-chess, chess.com
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 4 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2014-07-25. Score: 2
  
  The chess.com business model depends on locking people into using their site to play through in order to convince those users to purchase subscriptions to the site (just as is the case with Chessbase's Playchess site, the ICC, FIDE Online Arena and several others). Opening up access to their API (they do have one for their smartphone apps) in the way you suggest could be readily used to break through those commercial barriers. Which is a round about way of saying, no, there's not much chance of using any other program with their site.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: Probably they could allow using third party clients only for subscribers.  
  > **username_1**: They could, but that would require effort.  I'd wager they won't go to that effort.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2014-08-27. Score: 1
  
  > Is there any way to tweak it so that I can connect to chess.com's server?
  
  Of course. Just use Fiddler to monitor the HTTP traffic to chess.com from your desktop/mobile phone/tablet to see how it can be done. It is technically possible.
  
  ![gg](https://i.sstatic.net/gBHA5.jpg)
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2014-07-19. Score: 0
  
  I don't think there currently is a way judging from the discussion in the following link:
  
  <http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/chesscom-desktop-client?page=1>
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2024-11-17. Score: 0
  
  > (Or using any other interface, for that matter.)
  
  Without intercepting and analysing the network traffic between you and the site - basically reverse-engineering the API, then writing your own client - you can only use a web browser to play at their site.
  
  Note that you can't even use *any* web browser, they suggest only G@@gle Chrome or Firefox and even these only in certain versions. For instance, you can't play using Waterfox (a Firefox fork), because it is blocked. I suppose they check the "user agent" string (for instance: [see you user agent](https://whatmyuseragent.com/)).
  
  If you want to use any other browser (version) you might get away with modifying this string. In Firefox this is done editing the configuration: enter `about:config` into the address field and add a new entry:
  
  > general.useragent.override
  
  of type "string". [Here](https://explore.whatismybrowser.com/useragents/explore/) is a list of the user agent strings of various browsers.
  
  Be careful, though: first, different browsers have different abilities and some websites tailor their sites contents (spcifically scripts) according to this value, so it might break some sites. Second, there are other ways of determining the type of browser you are using too, so overriding the user agent might not always help.
  
  
  ---
  
  