By feeling the raised or the lowered squares, the players can figure out whether the piece is on a Black or a White square. By feeling the shape of the piece, they can determine whether the piece is a Pawn, Rook, Bishop, Knight, Queen or King. The touch of the pin on the pieces helps the player to distinguish a White piece from a Black one. The player is therefore able to reconstruct in his mind the position on the board. He is now ready to take on any opponent, sighted or otherwise.

After making every move, the visually impaired person is required to announce the move aloud, so that his opponent comes to know the move and reproduces it on their own board. Instead of writing the moves on a scoresheet, the visually impaired player writes the moves in Braille or records the moves on a tape recorder.

When a visually impaired person plays against a sighted opponent, he or she uses a Braille board and set while their opponent uses a standard board and set. When two non-seeing players play against each other, each one of them uses their own Braille board and a set of pieces. The players announce their moves by voice in a language common for the opponents or in German by default.