Chess e-board

@Drace1301: I like my DGT Smartboard but only on Lichess. Same feeling for me like OTB.

@Boydcarts: Thanks for the information regarding Chessnut Air+. I search a smaller wooden board and I don‘t like the old style plug in the Millenium boards.

I have the millennium e-one. Some people think it is to small , but I like it's portability. I bought it in February and so far it has worked great

The most important thing for your decision should be the software you intend to use. Make sure it works as expected on your computer. Here are some popular choices:

• DGT Pegasus
• DGT e-board/smartboard
• Square Off may have something

@Drace1301

Size of the chessboard ? Life-size or smaller ? Any budget limit ?

Certabo.com

If you're not sure to but and don't want to pay a lot, i think Chessnut Air IS a good option. Fast and reliable. If you prefer a bigger board, maybe Square Off Pro.

Hi, I had an old serial board (serial nr <2000), but it had a fault, so I replaced with USB smartboard. I can't get it to work on Chess.com though since they removed the old 'LiveChess; interface.

Do you use your DGT e-board on Chess.com? If so, then please share how.

Thanks.

Several weeks have passed since I last tried to use my DGT e-board with chess.com, but I suspect nothing has changed since that day: The DGT e-board do not properly work with chess.com. Period. They expose several issues, like they stop being in sync with the game, you can't perform castling correctly, they stop to properly work in the middle of a game, etc. Apparently different users (including me) experienced different mixes of issues.

All these are the result of chess.com failure, not of DGT. Chess.com have "openly" replied to users' questions why the DGT boards have so many issues with their site, that fixing these issues is not on their priority list. Of course it's something that doesn't bring them $$$.

So to the OP's original question. He wants to play online with a real chess board. In that case DGT is most certainly not 'unparalleled', not on Chess.com anyway.

@Drace1301 - My experience is that Chess.com have effectively disabled support for DGT since they updated their interface to get rid of LiveChess. I have not managed to get my brand new DGT smartboard to connect with Chess.com at all. It will connect with LiChess, although even that is a little bit glitchy. I also have a Chessnut Air+, which connects very well with Chess.com using the supplied Chessnut software, but is much smaller than the DGT board. I'm thinking about an upgrade of the Chessnut Air+ to their Pro board, but that's expensive.

@KenMcNf3, just to complement your post and give a correct statement about DGT and Lichess: the DGT board works perfectly with Lichess, not one single issue. You may want to try it with Acid Ape Chess app on Android for a great experience.

@agatti1970, Thank you for your input which has really helped me, so I hope this will also help the OP. I will clarify my own experience so far in case others find it useful... Using the DGT USB smart board with LiChess on a Win11 laptop, where you need to keep 2 LiChess windows running; I found that the window dedicated to the DGT board connection really lags behind with the initial connection to the game window, so much that my opponent often aborts the game before move 1. Once it's up and running, it works just fine. Just the initial delay is a real problem.

I didn't know you could connect a non-powered DGT smart board to an Android phone, using the phone to power the board. Brilliant!!! Following your advice, I bought a cheap OTG USB lead and downloaded the free version of Acid Ape Chess app, but soon found that I need the GM version of the app to use the DGT board (around EUR20.00). Thankfully before I paid this, a Google search revealed that I would also need to pay an additional sum for the DGT drivers (around a further EUR50.00). Now if that's my only option to get the DGT board working smoothly with LiChess, then I really wouldn't mind paying the money, but I'd really love to see a YouTube review before parting with my hard earned cash! Unfortunately I couldn't find any at all, which is a shame because if it's as slick as you say then it's perhaps worth the 1-off fee(s).

However, on connecting the smart board my Samsung phone prompted me to choose which app I'd like to open the device with, AAC or White Pawn, which I had installed previously when testing a Chessnut Air+. So I chose White Pawn and within minutes I was up and running playing against the computer initially, followed by a few games on LiChess. All moves announced, inbuilt clock mode etc. All this with no requirement to download some 'GM' version of the app, or to pay an additional fee for DGT drivers. It's early days, but first impression with the free WhitePawn app is very good.

So, as I said earlier thank you for your advice, it really helped me, albeit indirectly! Cheers.

Sorry, I didn't catch the last word

Hi Ken, what you say is fully correct. On my side, I like the many functions that AAC has, and white pawn lacks. It all depends on what you want, like and use. For me, AAC is not lacking a single thing, so the decision was easy. White pawn leaves me that bad feeling of 'poor' which I don't like.

One last thing has just come to my mind, which could be useful to everyone including the OP. There's another Android app which is capable of connecting to the DGT board, and that is "Chess For Android". CFA is free, is able to run multiple engines within its GUI, and supports the DGT bluetooth and USB boards.

Same as WhitePawnApp, it is very basic, lacks a number of functions so it's not for me, but everyone is different, so I thought it could be good to know that we have actually three different Apps that connect and support the DGT boards.

It would just be very nice to see some reviews of AAC before blindly paying out the premium price for GM version + DGT drivers. If anyone can point us all towards an honest review of AAC, then perhaps the community will grow.

The Square Off Pro is currently on offer at a bargain price on their website as part of their Early Black Friday Sale.

@agatti1970

Where did you find this upgrade kit? I can't find it on the DGT site.

I would really appreciate your answer.

WhitePawn, Chessfor Android, ChessDojo are not really running stable with my Smart Phone and an OTG cable USB-C (Smart Phone) to USB-B mini (older DGT USB eBoard). Maybe the board does not get enough power?

Looking currently also into Chessnut Pro and Millennium Supreme 55 with ChessLink for online play. Would you have any suggestions?