Screens

One of Sharly Chess’s flagship features is the ability to display pairings and live results during a tournament. These can be shown on a projector or a screen attached directly to the arbiter’s machine, or even on other devices connected to the local network.

Display of results in a playing hall, 2023

Display of results in a playing hall, 2023

A Built-in Web Server

To make this possible, Sharly Chess includes a built-in web server that other devices can connect to. In fact, the entire interface is built using web pages — which is why you need a browser to access it, even on your local machine.

:point_right: Don’t be put off by the technical terms — you don’t need to know anything about web development to use Sharly Chess.
A web server is simply a program that sends web pages to browsers that connect to it.

Accessing Sharly Chess (URL)

The URL is the address you enter into your browser’s address bar to access the Sharly Chess interface. On the machine where Sharly Chess is running, the URL for the home page is:

http://127.0.0.1

If you’re only using one machine, you can simply open a new browser window and enter the local URL to view the Sharly Chess interface. Typically, you’ll want to navigate to the public interface where you can access and display the Screen’s you’ve configured — and then move that browser window to the connected screen or projector so players can see the Screen.

If you’d like to access Sharly Chess from other devices on the network, open a browser on that device and enter the LAN/WAN URL.

To find the LAN/WAN URL, goto the home page at http://127.0.0.1 on your machine.

:information_source: The admin interface is only accessible via the local URL.

The Local Network

To access the Sharly Chess server from other devices, all devices must be on the same local network. If the venue has Wi-Fi, then simply connect all devices to that Wi-Fi network.

If no Wi-Fi is available, here are a few options:

  • Share your mobile phone’s internet connection to create a temporary Wi-Fi network.
  • Bring your home router with you (the box that gives you your internet access). It doesn’t need to be connected to the internet at the venue — devices just need to connect to its Wi-Fi network.
  • If you’re technically inclined, you can configure your main computer to act as a Wi-Fi hotspot and let other devices connect directly to it.

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