Music from Chess Moves

Some Songs

These are some songs (technically) made using chess moves.

First, change your sound settings to “pentatonic.”
Click on your username at the top right > Sound > Pentatonic

Once you have changed your sound settings to pentatonic, click on this study (because sounds do not work with embedded games): https://lichess.org/study/c0Fapzv1 Go to each of the games and click the “next move button”—preferably in the rhythm of the song.

When you do this, you should hear the song being played. Pretty cool, right!

How this works

I learned a lot of the following information by looking at the Lichess source code.
https://github.com/lichess-org/lila/tree/d3ab7898b3c2c8b1f1a6f030763cddc37e25f112/public/javascripts/music

So how does this work? Well, the pitch is determined by what square you're moving to; there are 23 pitches in total. They progress from low notes in the bottom-left to high notes in the top-right.

All the pitches are accidentals—sharps and flats (the black keys on a keyboard). They're arranged in a repeating pattern of C#, D#, F#, G#, and A#. This particular set of five notes forms what’s called a pentatonic scale—“penta” meaning “five” in Greek—because it contains only five distinct pitches before the pattern repeats. This limited set of notes restricts what songs can be played, which is why I picked these particular songs; they’re among the few recognizable ones that work with these restrictions. If you wish, you can use the following chart to make music yourself.

The type of sound (instrument) is determined by pieces. Kings and pawns have a clavier sound. All other pieces produce a celesta sound. A “swell” sound is created when there is a capture, check, castle or checkmate.

Thank you for reading; have a fantastic day!