My goal was to design a very simple physical board that could be easily integrated into any chess app. Unlike many commercial boards that detect the exact identity of each piece, this board only detects whether a piece is present or not on each square. The board software then tracks moves from the initial position and deduces the piece types based on the sequence of moves. Surprisingly, that’s often enough.
I've built two hardware versions and experimented with different firmware layers — from fully "dumb" boards (just reporting pickups/drops) to smarter versions that handle move validation and play offline. But the main idea is really about defining a clean and minimal protocol that allows the board to act as a physical UI for any compatible chess application — including potentially chess.com, lichess, or custom engines.
The protocol is text-based, human-readable, and designed to make integration and debugging simple. I’ve also documented how the LEDs can be used to guide users through the game and even recover from desynchronization or misplayed moves.
Hi everyone,
I've been working on a simple DIY electronic chessboard project and thought I’d share a bit, just to see if there’s interest.
The board only detects piece presence, not type. By tracking moves from the initial position, it can still follow the game reliably. I’ve built two hardware versions and written firmware for both minimal and smarter modes.
The main idea is a lightweight protocol that allows the board to act as a physical UI for any chess app — like chess.com or lichess. It uses LEDs to guide the player and can even help recover from mistakes.
If this sounds interesting, let me know — might give me the push to clean it up and release it properly. Happy to share more details!
Cheers,
Affe
Edit: I rewrote the original posting since the original didn't come up nicely on the chess.com app. More info in the comments.