You can play chess be challenging, fun, and sometimes frustrating. Garry Kasparov called the game “mental torture.” And infinite possibilitieschess offers unparalleled depth, and you can easily fill a library with books on how to play it. The Internet has opened up a huge number of possible competitors, and smart chess boards allow you to play anyone online or offline, not to mention play in various chess programs.
I’ve been experimenting with smart chess boards for about a month now, with the help of my chess-mad older brother, and these are my top picks.
My Most Recommended Smart Chess Boards
For my opening gambit, I recommend Chessnut Pro. With a classic wooden design, the Chessnut Pro feels like a regular board, but there’s some cleverness hidden inside. Beechwood pieces have an aesthetic weight, an important but often underestimated feature. They feel great in the hand, and the set includes a pair of extra Queens. This is a full competition size board (55 cm or 21.7 inches), so you’ll need room for it.
The board is very cleverly designed, with red LEDs hidden in the corner of each square that light up to show moves. I like that it looks like a normal board when you’re not playing online. There are discreet controls on one side and a USB-C port and Bluetooth connectivity to connect to your computer, laptop or smartphone. There is no need to press down for each move, as each piece has a sensor chip that is automatically detected.
We used it Chessconnect Chrome browser extension play a match Chess.com and Lichess.organd it was quick and easy to get up and running. The official Chessnut app features AI opponents, but they are a bit weak and lack variety. It’s not great, but you don’t have to use it, and you can connect to different online services with a little fiddling (see Graham plans for other better options). Online play was occasionally a little bumpy. Sometimes there is a little lag, and we had to click to reconnect for each game. Battery life is quite good (we got seven to eight hours), although it does take a while to recharge (best to leave it overnight).
If you don’t want to spend that much, then Water Chessnut ($250) is the cheapest option. It is also wooden but smaller (33 cm or 13 inches), with light strips and visible LEDs. The Air+ ($400) it’s the same size but has heavy-duty wooden pieces and slim LED lights on the board. Functionally, both give you the same experience as the Pro.
