DGT Electronic Board Uses?

I'm fascinated by cool technology, and I have long been interested in DGT electronic boards.  What sorts of useful things can you do with them, though?  I'm usually not at a loss to imagine what can be done with stuff like this, but, in this case, I am.  About the only useful thing I thought that could be done with these boards is turning books in to PGNs, but even that is pretty simple to do; eboards don't really make that process easier.  Aside from broadcasting games live, I don't see much use in them.  They're still really cool, but I can't see buying one without some serious functionality.  Thoughts?

Good point.  It hadn't occured to me that I might want to travel with it.  I know some people have those massive wooden boards, but flying with one might be next to impossible.  Reconstructing blitz games has been annoying, since there always seems to be a pawn move or something that I can't remember.

I bought one of the first DGT boards available... back when they were serial port instead of USB and Bluetooth.  I used it for about 3 days, and the novelty wore off fast.  Mine was quirky and sometimes inaccurate.  I didn't like the supplied pieces, and couldn't use my own.   I also thought the board was a bit unattractive and seemed "cheap" somehow.  It also took extra time before each game to set up the computer stuff to record the game and make sure it was saved.  I lost one very good game because of some kind of power glitch.

I packaged mine up for a refund.  Haven't missed it since.

Now, if someone could do the same thing as a DGT but let you use your own boards and pieces, I'd be ALL OVER that... but the tech just isn't here yet.

I set up physical boards when playing correspondence games and games G/45 and longer on chess.com, so I could see that being a use, assuming there is some way to connect up the DGT eboard to my laptop and have it put my moves onto the chess.com Live interface.  (I'm not one of those people who uses physical piece setups to help with calculation; I've found using a physical board helps me add to the tournament-like feeling, since I'm a competitive USCF and FIDE player).

Aesthetics aren't a concern in this case.  Possible functions of the eboard are what I'm interested in.

 I also owned a serial version of the DGT board and set.

It did keep a record of games when it was powered and without needing to be connected to a computer.  After the game you could connect it to a computer and find the games in its memory and download them.  However you needed to keep the board powered which meant keeping it plugged into a wall outlet or I did see some sites on the internet talk about making one's own battery pack, but that never worked for me.  So, in order to have it keep a record of games meant being close enough to a power outlet and/or using an extension cord, not convenient at all.

I did use it to play some slow games on places like FICS and ICC, and that was fine.  Of course it wasn't perfect by any means.  Sometimes it would drop the move on the board and not register it on the interface.  I would then need to make the moves on the computer separate from the board as you would with any other set while using the computer.  That was annoying.

I ended up selling it to a friend that had his own Chess club and ran norm tournaments at it.  interestingly  he wanted the serial port instead of the USB because they worked a lot better for networking with other setups.

My local club owns about a dozen of these.  They are used as...chessboards, with nothing hooked up to them, because apparently that was a maintenance and logistics nightmare.  Not a cost-effective set of chessboards!

They are also a little too large for our standard sized tables:   space to put your scoresheet/drink/elbows is tight.

I'm finally getting my hands on a DGT board this week. I play in a friendly weekly blitz tournament every Thursday night. The games are always 10 minutes per side: too fast to write the moves down. I've played hundreds of these games and never been able to analyze them properly, so I think having a DGT board recording the moves will be very helpful. I'll let you know how it goes. 

Yes, please do!  Just about everyone I've talked to has experience with these boards from when they were cutting edge technology, so simple things like accuracy of recorded moves is pretty poor.  I'd really like to know how the more recent boards are with acknowledging moves, etc.

I am interested in a DGT board as well. Often when going over games I find new variation while I am thinking about the game. I.e. what if I went here and black did this etc. after a couple of moves I may have an interesting position but no record of it. So, I hope that a DGT board would help

If I was rich I would probably have bought one by now and would rarely use it, much like the chess sets I own.  In the UK you can happily just use club/tournament sets and never need buy your own chess kit of any type.  Not sure how many competitive events would let you use your own DGT board - there might be some suspicion about using it in a tournament.  If you think you would actually use it for online games then perhaps it is worth it for you.  Personally since much of chess is visualising in your own mind, whether you're using a physical set or a computer is fairly irrelevant.

Hi David, I have a DGT USB board. I use it for playing on ICC and I use it for recording blitz games. I don't use it for the ICC Team4545 league since I can use the normal board for that time control.

I love the board and the new "classic" pieces. The pieces are unweighted, but look like the Reykjavik wooden set I have.

The board will work with Fritz and Chess Base for recording real-time blitz games.

I have to say, that while I don’t use it as much as I thought I would, it solved the problem of recording 5-minute games with sparring partners and it really works great for 15-20 minute games on ICC.  I don’t regret the purchase at all.

My laptop does not have a BLueTooth interface so USB seemed to be the best. The serial (RS-232) is needed to connect the board to the tournament system that DGT sells, which is why you see only serial boards at the big tournaments. The speed and power of the USB version has been good for me - if you have a BT computer, you may like that wireless version better.

Ah, I thought he might have one.  When we Skyped, it looked like that's what he was using; but his camera resolution was bad, so I couldn't tell.

If I had a way of getting it on the plane safely (and off!), I would buy one and take it to blitz tournaments to record moves.  However, I've only every checked one item on a flight, ever, and it was destroyed.  I'm not sure if I was running bad or that's s.o.p.  I don't know that experimenting with an expensive piece of equipment is the way to go, though.  

The Bluetooth board has a built-in battery so it doesn't need to be plugged to record your moves.

However, I heard a few times that the Bluetooth board loses connection with the computer much more often than the USB board.

So wait.  The Bluetooth boards don't also have a USB port? 

From their website, David, it appears you get one type of interface only - USB. BT, or serial.

http://www.digitalgametechnology.com/index.php/products/electronic-boards

Jeez.  That's a deal-breaker.  I'd like to know how unreliable the Bluetooth connection is before I go with a physical connection.

The big issue remaining is how I could get the board to chess tournament via the airplane.  I'm confident it would be damaged pretty quickly.

Too big for the overhead bin??? Have you seen things that people put in overhead bins?

The board itself measures 54cm x 54cm (21.26"x21.26") and the allowed carry-ons are 22x14. A board could lay on top of bags in the overhead, if it had a good cushion to it.

David, this site seems to state that the board can be had with both:

https://www.newinchess.com/DGT_Bluetooth_Wireless_e_Board___Classic_Pieces-p-2547.html

Some of the special features of the DGT Wireless e-Board are:

• 10+ meters Bluetooth true-wireless communication and approximately 40+ meters successfully tested indoors with high quality dongle.
• USB wired communication (3.5 meter mini-USB cable included)
• 24 hours full play rechargeable Li-Ion battery, rechargeable over USB cable to PC or main adapter.

Excellent idea.  Thanks.

I'll have to look at the dimenstions more closely.  

Ahh.  If I could do both forms of PC connection, that would work best.