Those of you who were lucky enough to get your hands on the original Square Off robot know how much fun it was after its successful campaign on Kickstarter. We all expected more advanced robots after but unfortunately that did not happen. The Chessnut Move finally changed the game. We have reviewed some of the oldest chess robots, including Milton Bradley Grandmaster from 1983. The Chessnut Move seems to be the first real update in this market. It has smart piece recognition and doesn’t require a hard press.
These pieces are all self moving, which means the board can move multiple pieces at the same time. Square Off is based on an older approach that allows for moving only one piece at a time, using a robotic arm under the board and magnetic pieces. It has an app that allows you to play against Stockfish. The Chessnut Move can work with a variety of apps. It lets you play against Maia, LC0 and Stockfish. More importantly, it has an offline engine, so it works even without an app.
The Chessnut Move requires you to both charge the board and its pieces but that is necessary to make the advanced movement work. The battery life lasts up to 8 hours.
[HT]
