Show HN: Family Chess: Play across firewalls and Internet cultures

Family Chess A real-time online chess game built with Django, designed specifically for users in restrictive network environments with very different Internet culture from the rest-of-world (ROW). Whether you're in a LAN-only setting or behind strict firewalls (e.g., users in China), Family Chess enables instant, seamless chess gameplay across network and cultural boundaries. Live demo: https://family-chess.quee.org (Small 2GB VPS, please be gentle!) Key Features No Internet Dependency : All assets (JS, CSS, images, sounds) are hosted locally : All assets (JS, CSS, images, sounds) are hosted locally No Login Required : Quick access with shareable 8-digit game IDs : Quick access with shareable 8-digit game IDs Cross-Network Play : Works reliably in restricted environments and within firewalls : Works reliably in restricted environments and within firewalls Mobile-Friendly : Responsive interface with click-to-move system : Responsive interface with click-to-move system Real-time Updates : Using Server-Sent Events (SSE) for instant move synchronization : Using Server-Sent Events (SSE) for instant move synchronization Multilingual: Full support for English and Chinese Both my 10 year old son living in Singapore and my father-in-law living in China loves chess. They would like to play chess, but there is no online chess platform that satisfies all of the following (ranked in terms of importance): Reliably accessible from both China and ROW Optimised for mobile-first No login required Rest-of-world Internet Users Chinese Internet Users Design Authentication Email-based accounts, usernames WeChat ID, mobile phone numbers No login required. Uses shareable game IDs (expressed as a 8 digit number) instead CDN Access Global CDNs (jsdelivr, cdnjs) work reliably Western CDNs blocked or unreliable All assets served locally. No external dependencies Network Environment Generally open internet access Completely blocked or intermittent Works behind firewalls - Optimized for restricted networks Device Preference Desktop and mobile mix Mobile-first usage patterns Mobile-optimized UI - Touch-friendly interface design Real-time Features WebSockets widely supported WebSocket connections often blocked Server-Sent Events (SSE) - More reliable than WebSockets Technology Stack Frontend Libraries chess.js : Core chess logic and move validation : Core chess logic and move validation chessboard.js : Chess board UI and piece movement : Chess board UI and piece movement Tailwind CSS : Responsive styling and layout : Responsive styling and layout Howler.js : Audio handling for game sounds : Audio handling for game sounds jQuery: DOM manipulation and AJAX requests Backend Framework Django 5.2 : Server-side application framework : Server-side application framework python-chess : Secure chess move validation and game logic : Secure chess move validation and game logic SQLite : Database for game state storage (PostgreSQL recommended for production) : Database for game state storage (PostgreSQL recommended for production) Server-Sent Events (SSE): Real-time game state updates with connection cleanup Installation Clone the repository git clone < path-to-git-repo > cd family-chess Create and activate a virtual environment python -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate Install dependencies pip install -r requirements.txt Set up environment variables cp .env.example .env Edit the .env file with your specific configuration: SECRET_KEY : Django secret key : Django secret key DEBUG : "True" for development, "False" for production : "True" for development, "False" for production ALLOWED_HOSTS : Comma-separated list of allowed hosts : Comma-separated list of allowed hosts CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS : Comma-separated list of trusted origins with scheme (http:// or https://) For production deployment, make sure to: Set DEBUG=False Add your domain to ALLOWED_HOSTS (e.g., family-chess.quee.org ) Add your domain with scheme to CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS (e.g., https://family-chess.quee.org ) Initialize the database # Create any pending migrations python manage.py makemigrations # Apply migrations to setup/update the database schema python manage.py migrate Important: Always run these migration commands after pulling updates from the repository, as the database schema may have been updated with new features or improvements. Compile translations (optional) python manage.py compilemessages If you get an error here regarding gettext, you need to run: apt-get update && apt-get install gettext Run the development server python manage.py runserver Security Features CSRF Protection : All POST endpoints protected with Django CSRF tokens : All POST endpoints protected with Django CSRF tokens Input Validation : Chess moves validated using python-chess library : Chess moves validated using python-chess library Database Locking : Atomic operations prevent race conditions : Atomic operations prevent race conditions Session Security : Secure session handling with production-grade cookies : Secure session handling with production-grade cookies Connection Limits : SSE connections auto-timeout to prevent resource exhaustion : SSE connections auto-timeout to prevent resource exhaustion Security Headers: Comprehensive security headers in production configuration Translations The game supports multiple languages with Django's translation system: English (default) Chinese (Simplified) Managing Translations Update translation strings in the code: python manage.py makemessages -l en # For English python manage.py makemessages -l zh_Hans # For Simplified Chinese Edit translation files: English: game/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/django.po Chinese: game/locale/zh_Hans/LC_MESSAGES/django.po Compile translations: python manage.py compilemessages If you get an error here regarding gettext, you need to run: apt-get update && apt-get install gettext Browser Compatibility Tested and supported on: Chrome/Edge Safari Mobile browsers: Chrome for Android, Safari for iOS License This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.