Chessnut chessmind

What would you like to know about it?

Currently it is pretty limited.

It is for use with their boards only, it will store your games for use with their e-boards.

You will be able to create engines with it, like what you can currently do with the Evo. I have tried one on the Evo and it is pretty good but the interface to get games to use is a little clunky. The website will allow you to upload PGNs of games so, for instance, you could have a pgn file of Spassky's games as black where he plays the the Breyer Defense while ignoring all the games he played outside of that.

As of right now I cannot access that and I am not sure why. I am supposed to have 9 engines left to create.

Unless they change things in the future, it really would only be good with their family of boards, and I am not so sure how it will work with the Air or the Air Pro. I have not tired my Air with it yet. Hope that answers some questions.

Just an FYI, they have a sub on Reddit if you are on there, may get an answer on there from them.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chessnuteboard/

Great info and thank you for the Reddit lead. I have a pro, but it is quickly becoming my only platform for my laying online games. I will reach out to them directly. Thanks again.

Yeah, my Air was becoming my only way to play.

Now I have the Evo and the AIr is on the shelf ...

I have the Pro>. I honestly think it might be one of the best purchases of life. Absolutely love it. I'm considering the air for travel. Do you use both, or am I just developing the same problem?

I use the air for travel! But I also have it on my desk and use it when I’m sitting at my desk in my office.

Where do you travel with it and what mode of transportation? I would not really want to take mine on a plane, definitely would need to be in carry-on (and I rarely check a bag anyway), but my carry-on is usually packed pretty full.

I could see in a car, as I have taken both the Air and the Evo on business trips where I drive but the vast majority of my travel is by air.

I fly with my air. I have a carry on, and one personal item in most cases. Or a checked bag and one personal item. I have the bag for it, so I just bring it with me that way and it's my personal item. I put my tablet and my board in there and it sits right by my feet

Ah, ok, my personal item is my laptop bag which is already full for work with laptop, iPad and paperwork.

Thanks.

If I'm taking my laptop, I use a backpack that the board fits nicely in as well, but I travel pretty light and if I'm traveling for work I'm not bringing the chessnut because I won't get back to my hotel until 4am anyway LOL.

@Rsava, I have been looking at the Chessnut Air, and it looks pretty darned neat-- great for playing online while getting an OTB experience. Also, it's very reasonably priced for a good eboard.

Can you briefly explain why the Evo is so much better than the Air, to the point that your Air is now relegated to the shelf?

Sure.

The Evo is all self contained. It has the board and the tablet in one device so I no longer need to have my phone/tablet connected, it is permanently connected to the board with the Evo.

The Evo has technology that "reads" the screen and transfers your opponents move to the board, then transfers your move to the chess game on screen. But it does so much more. I can use my Chessable courses on it. I can use engines with it to train and create my own engines and load them into the tablet/board to use.

Because it "reads" the screen for the moves, you can use virtually any site or app with it. I have used some sideloaded apps with it (it is an Android tablet, so APKs). and it works fine.

The lights for the squares are a bit better than the Air, in my opinion. The entire square is outlined in light as opposed to the little light in the corner.

The pieces are the same as the Air (same mold), just a different material. I did not like them at first but they have grown on me and I do like them now.

You can also customize the colors of the lights for the pieces, so all pawn lights are one color, the Knights can be a different color, the Rooks another color, etc. And the white pieces lights can be different than the black pieces.

I have found that I concentrate on the board more with the Evo, and I think the the main reason is that I can see the tablet in my peripheral vision so I can tell if a piece moved but did not get relayed to the board (which used to happen a fair amount of times but has been mostly fixed with updates).

Finally, I am not sure if the Air can do this as I have never tried - I am pretty sure it does not, but because it is reading the screen I can do other things, such as go over my studies I have created over at the other site, do puzzles, do my lessons, as well as use it to work with other apps I can load on the tablet.

The Air is a solid e-board and has a much more palatable price point but I love new gadgets so the Evo attracted me and I was able to budget for it so I got it. Time will tell if it actually helps with my game performance or not.

Hope that helps.

Have they sorted the problem about users being unable to change the battery on Evo? I think they offered a free back to manufacturer battery change, then announced that henceforth batteries could be changed by users in future models, but what is the situation with ones you can purchase now? What do replacement batteries cost?

Thank you for any advice.

They redesigned the unit to have a removeable cover on the bottom for the battery. That is what is being sold now, after the first 100 units they made. I have one of the 1st 100. The battery has an expected lifespan of over 3 years if you charge it every day. I have had to charge mine every 2nd or 3rd day so when using a couple hours a day.

They never offered a free back to the manufacturer battery change, they offered to send a battery free of charge and they would instruct you how to change it. It involves remove the glass on the tablet. I will use mine until it is no good anymore and either buy the latest technology or buy another Evo if nothing better has come along (which is doubtful).

The units with a replaceable battery cover will not be offered a free battery.

Have no idea what a battery would cost.

Thanks very much for the reply, @Rsava. I tend to prefer the more old school look of the Air, but the ability to use the board for Chessable is very cool (I assume that the Air can't do this?). I use Chessable A LOT, so that would be a fantastic feature in favor of the Evo for me. The price, though... Must ponder this further.