Dgt Board and Dgt3000 computer

Does anyone use these electronics?  If so, are they worth the considerable investment.

Also, how do you use them?

It really all depends on what you want to use it for. If you want to give lessons, broadcast top games in tournaments or something of that nature, I’d say it’s absolutely worth it.

I own the DGT Smart Board and purchased the DGT Projects Enabled Electronic Chess Pieces - Reykjavik Series - 3.75" King separately from House of Staunton.

To be honest, I haven't used them yet. chess.com is beta testing DGT support right now. When DGT boards become officially supported, I plan to use mine to play slow time controls (90 30 and 45 45) in the Slow Chess League against other Dan Heisman Learning Center members.

I've owned the DGT bluetooth e-board for about 2 years now. It works well for recording OTB games; I've not used it for anything else.  It can also be hooked it up to Fritz for real-time game analysis.

The DGT e-board is really pretty nice; I've forgotten how nice it is.  I've been using my own e-boards for the past year or so; and only recently decided to setup the DGT e-board again.  The board is laminated wood over MDF wood (so it is much heavier than you'd expect), but the laminate is smooth and pieces slides easily. My son is pretty rough with chess pieces and likes to slam them on the board, on each other, and on the clock buttons; the DGT is still working. The main advantage of the DGT is real-time analysis via Fritz; my son never care to analyze his games so having the analysis right there helps.

If you buy one, be sure to get the bluetooth version as that version has a built-in battery; otherwise, you'll have to plug in your board.

Worth the money? That'll depend on you.

 

Thanks for the info.

If you are using it to be lazy and not record your games by hand and set up analysis the old way I’d say you’re doing yourself a disservice.

 

Why?

After playing on the e-board, you can download the PGN (and analyze anyway you want), which is a lot more accurate than any hand notation. Also, most people don't notate every single game (e.g. casual games), and sometimes interesting positions happen. With the DGT (or any) e-board, you'll always have the PGN.

In fact, you are doing yourself a disservice by not playing on an e-board whenever possible.

 

If you've ever had the pleasure of getting coached using the traditional over-the-board style, you can easily see the value of studying on your own using the DGT while connected to a chess analysis engine/software such as Fat Fritz.

Don't the pros use DGT boards and sets?

Used in major tournaments as well. Have you seen the DGT Revelation II? Used by enthusiasts.

Thank you for the in depth analysis of the electronics.   Sounds like the software is unique but not yet perfected.   You pointed out some (in my opinion) serious design flaws.  It seems to me that recording and uploading games should be made easier...it shouldn't be a fight.

One small nit pick...not EVERYONE has a "smart" phone.

Thanks again.

 

 

Thank you Daniel for such an excellent and in depth review! I would love to be able to play otb chess via the internet using a real set and pieces, but unfortunately, none of the current vendors have really perfected that in a clean and easy way for the end user.

Wow, that's really detailed.

WRT recording games, you don't have to re-setup the initial position for the e-board to record the game for download. Just clear the center 4 squares and put the kings there. I've done this countless times.

The biggest missing feature on the DGT e-board is not able to export PGNs easily; it is a real pain to bring the board near a computer every time to download games. In fact, I stopped using my DGT e-board for a while because my own e-board worked much better; see video 8:50 mark.

 

WRT illegal moves and takebacks, I've found that the DGT e-board works pretty well actually, but once in a while it completely gets confused (in the video below, it crashed around the middle of my demo).  I was pretty surprised that a released software from a large company crashes so easily.

 

But overall, I'm still using my DGT e-board; mainly because my own e-board wasn't durable enough and broke apart after a few months use, but also because despite its short comings, the DGT e-board is a pretty nice to play OTB games. The pieces feel good in hand and the board surface slides nicely.

The cable to connect a DGT-clock with a board is no propriet cable. Support told me to use a standard audio cable with 2x 3.5mm jackets.

danielbaechli, you mentioned, that turning the board was difficult.  Why do you need to turn the board?

 

I was thinking the Smart Board had an onboard battery for recording games - so one could just turn up with the board and chessmen and play (presumed it the reason why they called it the “smart board”) - evidently not the case.

With the Bluetooth board having an internal battery and a jiffy clock for bus control, one would have thought they’d include an internal clock for time stamping games.

I had a problem with USB ports cutting the power when the computer presumed the port idle (when used with different tech). There is a settings in Windows (if you are using Windows) for keeping the USB ports live even if the computer goes into doze mode.

I've never used the DGT Live Chess software.  I have only used its RabbitQueen to import the games I play OTB, and it's worked pretty well.

 

WRT playing an initial position, AFAIK you'd put the kings on last (e.g. if black's turn to move, put the white king and then the black king and start the game).  I' think I may have tried this a long time ago when I first got my DGT e-board (that's about 3? years ago),.. so I can't say for sure, but I remember trying it out (and I've incorporated this into my own e-board).

 

I purchased a DGT board in 2000 and a usb model in 2004. My interest was using the boards to play slow games online. I have had constant problems with the boards losing connections and being unreliable. I see that in 2020 the company has not done enough especially considering the expense.

 

Hi, I´ve just bought a usb DGT eboard and it cames with a DVD for Fritz 14. Since I don´t have DVD anymore I am trying to download Fritz and use my key in order to activate it, however I am not finding where to download it. Have anyone faced the same problem and achieving to solve it ? 

Wwsilva: try contacting DGT themselves. If you provide them the key, they might sell you the disc. 

danielbaechli: DGT released their first e-board back for a tournament in 1998 and it used serial connections. In fact, all tournaments only use E-boards with serial connections to this day.