Chessnut Air Review

what does "led style: led on" on app stand for? witch choices are available?

I bought the ChessUp board and was disappointed. It doesn't work well on my iphone and does not connect to play someone or a bot successfully. Only the onboard ai worked.

I'm sending it back and will buy the Air. I like that it works as advertised.

Are you the one who asked this on Reddit as well?

I think someone answered there.

Do you still need to know?

It turns the board LEDs off in the game.

Strange. My Chessup board works very well with several iPads and my iPhone. I do not play a lot of bots but I have played several players with it. It appears to be a solid board.

and if the LEDs are off, how will I know when the opponent has moved?

Of course you need to have the leds on! Never got that option, perhaps some prefer to play just looking at the screen, if they don't like leds...

The option allows for no LEDs for recording an OTB game between two people on the board. It's not intended for online play as you'd need the LEDs against an online opponent. 👍

I've ordered the Air+ and can't wait to get it. I hope Chesscom expands their support for this technology and eventual supports the Chessnut boards natively in both the iOS and Android Mobile apps. I submitted a ticket request to Chesscom expressing such. Their response was they would pass my request to the developers. I encourage all Chessnut owners do the same. The more requests Chesscom receives, the better chance we have they add support for Chessnut eboards.

Does anyone know how to set up a black player to move in Board Editor in Chessnut Air?

There is an orange text "unlock" next to "To play: White Player" but it does nothing when I click on it.

Well I have to return my Pro board, too many issues (ghost leds, failing move recognition...) Chessnut have been supportive overall. Hopefully I get a working board soon enough to enjoy my premium wood pieces for the Pro, which are stunning!

Is the consensus that the Chessnut Air and their other boards generally are well-functioning and the app(s) connect well?

I feel your pain xctbl. I’ve been having non-stop issues with my Air Plus since I got it 2 weeks ago, which sound the same as you. LEDs lighting up all over the place and pieces not being recognized. My board seems to only work at night LOL. Anyway, Chessnut has been supportive and is replacing my board when they get a new shipment of Air plus back in stock.

Now I am having random leds on the Evo in local clock mode..pretty annoying. Luckily not in online play.

Yes in most cases ! just do not use the chessnut app as it's S//T , for the rest it's great .

I think the strength of Chessnut (the company) is in hardware design, and the experience/knowledge with the logistics and practicalities of manufacturing. Unlike the majority of the newer electronic chessboard manufacturers (i.e., excluding DGT and Millenium), Chessnut has been able to not only design, create, and demonstrate prototypes of their device, but then move to mass manufacturing and delivery mostly within their initially declared timeline. Many of the other alternatives have been announced for over a year, with prototypes sent to YouTubers, but the retail product has yet to be seen.

However, Chessnut's weakness is definitely in their software engineering. Consider the author of Chessconnect is one person, working on this in their spare time. He has made connecting software that (in my view) is clearly superior to Chessnut's own app.

Hi there,

I am a user of the chessnut air board for a month or two now, and have bought chips to build into wooden pieces. Although the plastic pieces that came with the Chessnut aren't ugly by any measure, they are still plastic, and given that Chessnut offers the chips in their store, I figured let's go ahead and try...

After doing a lot of measuring and looking for appropiately sized chess pieces, I have found good wooden staunton pieces and installed all chips. I am very happy with the result, and the pieces look great and work exactly as they should. Except! One piece, the white bishop, is often only recognized intermittently and the LED light flashes on and off. And when the bishop is put on certain squares it does not get registered at all. All other pieces work just fine (also on those squares where the bishop isn't "seen" by the board) so I wonder what the problem is. I did notice that the problem is abated somewhat (but not entirely) when there is no felt under the piece. So as a temporary but not completely satisfying workaround I've cut a hole in the felt to allow the board to see the chip more easily. The felt itself is very thin, approximately 1 mm, and all other pieces are detected without fault so I think I can rule out the felt being the cause of the issue.

The chip isn't too far inside the piece (not further than any other piece, and the problem did not disappear when I carefully pulled the chip closer to the edge), but when I slightly press on the bishop when it's not detected by the board, it does sometimes magically appear digitally. Again, this is only a real issue on some squares!

My hope in posting this is that maybe someone else has had a similar issue and is able to share a good solution. Maybe there's a way of resetting the board or calibrating it to a higher sensitivity?

I also sent a message to chessnut themselves if they could assist, but I haven't heard from yet. If and when I do, I will share with you all here.

You could try doing a reset in the little pin hole by the power switch.

But it sounds like you may have a bad Bishop sensor.

If it is not in there permanently, maybe try taking it out of the piece and just setting it on the board to see if it is recognized.

Also, if you wouldn't mind, post a link to the pieces you used and tell us how you put the chips inside? Would love to make my own pieces for the board.

This is great advice.

I've made two sets of chessmen with Chessnut chips for the PRO.

Take the sensor out of the dodgy bishop and see whether it will be detected by the board consistently. It it can, then it is likely some sort of placement problem inside your bishop. Materials that shouldn't affect the electric field induction (plastic, wood) should have no effect on detection, though the DISTANCE between the sensor and the surface of the board can have an effect. However, as long as the sensor is flush with base of the piece, a 1 mm thick piece of felt should be fine. Again, you can check by putting the felt on the board and the naked sensor on top to ensure that it can be detected.

Any metal, including non-ferrous metals like lead, can and do affect the induction field. You didn't mention if you were trying to increase the weight of the pieces. If you are, you might have to avoid it for this specific piece.

Now, if the naked sensor isn't consistently detected by the board, that would indicate something wrong with the sensor chip itself, and you may need to contact Chessnut to get a specific replacement. (or, be willing to sacrifice one of your original bishops and transplant the sensor...)

Thank you for your replies.

@rsava:

I tried the pin hole, but all that seemed to do was disconnect/deactivate the board, not much else. Then I took out the chip and put that on the board. It was recognized, also on squares where the chip, inside the piece, wasn't.

@Vitualis

I checked the naked chip on the board, that worked just fine. With felt it's the same story as when the chip was inside the piece. On some squares it detects just fine, on others it flashes on and off, and on some it doesn't show up at all.

So I think we can conclude that the chip is faulty (given that it should be able to be recognized with 1mm felt underneath it?). I have contacted chessnut and will wait for their reply.

Taking the chip out of one of the plastic pieces was an option I considered, but am a bit reluctant to pursue. The wooden pieces I have now are very good looking, but performance wise, the original plastic pieces are a lot more consistant. Sacrificing those seems risky, for now.

I bought the pieces (which are Staunton 3 size pieces, king height 76mm - originally for a 40-45mm square sized board) in a chess store here in the Netherlands. They did not cost me much, and I removed all the weights inside to allow placement of the chips. The weights were placed with some kind of cast, which was easily removed using a knife. The pieces are a little big for the board, and it does come off a bit crowded now. But I love the wooden look of the pieces, and it feels more like playing actual chess, now.

I have some pictures of the pieces and some of the process of installing the chips, I will add them here:

https://ibb.co/ZJcYsMT

A black pawn and the chip next to it.

two pictures of the white bishop that's giving me trouble and the chip installed (pre-felting):

https://ibb.co/7GSyD4r

https://ibb.co/GPZfrV0

The board and the pieces:

https://ibb.co/BGmyDCj

https://ibb.co/PgB3YjY

https://ibb.co/d7Yv7v4

some picture of the installation (pawns):

https://ibb.co/HxcD06h

https://ibb.co/4T1f01V

https://ibb.co/jMpWc55

And a picture of the chips on the board (queen was also giving me trouble on some squares, but I managed to solve that by putting in the chip a little bit better):

https://ibb.co/MkfV60D

About installation etc.: I have to confess I had a friend do the most tricky part: drill the holes in the pieces to allow the chip to fit. He had a good workbench and drill that could go in straight. All I did was remove the weights, and after having the holes drilled, cut down rubber of the chips to allow it to fit, and then fill the side with resin. Then test with and without felt, and glue on felt (using only the sides of the pieces that I sanded to allow the new felt to stick). Clean a bit and oil the pieces to give it some protection (and shine ).