Chess computer

What chess computer do you recommend for a player with a rating of 1400. It's supposed to be a gift

I looked for one recently but gave up after the need for one disappeared. I do not have any experience with any one below but I narrowed it to three:

1. DGT Centaur
2. Millenium King Competition - M831 (plastic version of King Performance - M830)
3. Millenium Chess Genius Pro 2024 - M815 (there is also a wooden version - M818)

DGT Centaur seems to be very unique in that it weakens itself so that you have a competitive game. Very easy to set up but limited time options. Just turn it on and play.

Millenniums are regular chess computers with many options. One can weaken the engine but I do not know how realistic they play at 1400 level.

There is also Millenium Chess Champion 2.0 (M808) geared towards teaching children.

Centaur and King are almost tournament size. I planned on purchasing the Centaur.

Good luck,

Thank you for your answer, I am concerned about the opinions in DGT that it has a delicate structure

The DGT Centaur plays very strange moves. Interesting games but you are not able to learn from it. It’s a version of stockfish without any customisation in the settings. I would go with the Millenium Chess Genius. It’s a very good engine and can be tweaked to almost every skill level.

BTW Chess Genius is a program by Richard Lang who won many chess computer titles in the 80s and 90s. There is also a Android version of it to test the playability.

I think you should take a look at the Chessnut Go, only slightly more expensive than the Chess Genius and probably the most versatile of the machines mentioned so far, you can play over the board on a wide range of websites and the latest Chessnut app gives you access to bots, online matches, analysis, it keeps a record of your games, it even has a career mode to help improve your ELO. The only downside being it needs an internet connection.

Thanks for your answers. What do you think about Chessnut EVO?

The Evo is like a Swiss Army Knife. It runs almost every engine and App there is. It’s a very strong tool for learning and fun to use.