DGT Centaur chess computer brief review

seems about right, thanks for the input

Well I got mine today, and here's my first game on friendly right out of the box, playing untimed but pretty similar to how I would play in rapid (the computer moved instantly of course).  I played white.  I don't have a good idea of my playing strength right now, but I'd guess around 1300-1500 (I play a lot of chess.com games when I'm taking care of kids and am distracted or resign just because i cant play anymore).

-I think somehow I screwed up and repeated a bunch of moves on the board, when I was playing I moved to the wrong square initially and had to go back, and it looks like there's a threefold repetition in the game, but I don't think it was actually played on the board -- however it did show up on the move list.

-I finished out the game 1-0, but didnt save the rest in the PGN.  will have to be better about copying down as I go since this thing doesnt have computer xfer.

-Overall I'm pretty happy with how it plays, there was only once during the game where I thought "OK, it's obviously making a bad move on purpose here".

-I'm a bit concerned about this thing as a training tool, and it encouraging unsound sacrifices.  I made an unsound sacrifice this game, and if I hadn't analyzed it after, I would have thought it was a no-brainer. 

I'll play a challenging game tonight, with G/120, and see what happens.

I'm very curious how your game goes on challenging, I personally much prefer challenging as it gives me a tough challenge without making the sometimes very obvious blunders in friendly.

@md3333 On friendly I win something like 80% of the time, escpecially if I get to an endgame because there it's really weak most of the time. Challenging is a totally different beast and I think I score something like 25/30% but  when I lose it's mostly with the feeling that I had chances if I'd played a little better. 

Yeah I'm hoping challenging will be my go-to, playing it on friendly maybe a nice way to unwind over a dram of scotch, but it certainly didn't push me out of my comfort zone at all.

Is it possible to change the micro sd card in the centaur/pi zero, so you can install other engines and have variety.  As you can with the DGT Pi clock for example.

I like the idea of the centaur board, but the fixed software (given its apparent behaviour of equalising during the game) could be either a hit or miss.  As someone said above, for chess training getting punished for mistakes/blunders is not necessarily a bad thing.

I have been playing chess for 8 months. In friendly mode, this board wins 9 out of 10 games at me. The question is - after what period of time can I win half of the games, given that I study at a chess school and practice a lot?

Hi Centaur owners,

I just got my DGT Centaur. Charged it until the battery looked full, since there is no % indicator. Then I played a long game and the batter seemed to drop to like 80%. I was wondering is that normal? How long a charge should last?

this is normal. The battery is new and therefore needs to be recharged several times for it to operate at full capacity

Thanks Alexandar! How long should a charge last?

You can play the computer while the battery is charging.

Yes

The charge lasts about 4-6 hours. Depends on the backlight. I play a lot of games for 45 minutes.

Thank you Alexandr!

Welcome to the wonderful world of machine learning consumer electronics! 

When you get tired of the plastic pieces that DGT chose for the Centaur, read

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/dgt-centaur-wooden-pieces

I looked at the Centaur for a while and was all set to get one, but sanity kicked in and I stuck with my vintage Novags and Mephistos. On the internet you'll often get people mindlessly parroting speculation on an internet forum as fact despite having no firsthand experience. The bottom of the Centaur was one of those instances. Anyone with a sliver of analytical thought and common sense would quickly conclude that the curved bottom (which gives strength - why do you think submarines aren't rectangular?) is not as weak as it is made out to be.

I ordered it a while ago, but still haven't received it. Does it take a month to arrive for everyone, and if so why?

sound67 ,

As my Martha stewart guru on chess sets which DGT smartboard did you buy as was also thinking of buying the Centaur for my son ?