Chessnut Air Review

Have you had any time issues when playing on wifi with the Chessnut Air?

In the games I played it seems like I run low on time (playing 10 minute games), as opposed to playing regular online chess on my computer, in which I almost never run low.

It's as though there is a delay after the opponent plays in which I am losing time and not knowing it.

I'm using the Chessnut app on an iphone connected via wifi. I have not used any alternative apps.

I do not use the stock apps to play on any of my e-boards if the alternatives work with it.

Since the advent of the Chessconnect extension I only use the Chessnut app for checking the board and pieces (the ones I am making).

I also play with increment and no less than 15|10 games. That is the lowest time I have played since I started using an external board to make all the moves, even before the e-boards.

If you're not used to playing on a real board, it's likely that you'll be a bit slower than playing on a 2D board on a screen. That's not even counting the time taken to physically move the pieces. I doubt there is any loss of time otherwise that is related to the Chessnut app given that it's just an interface to the chess.com website itself.

Consider - let's say on average it takes an extra 2 seconds to make a move due to having to think a bit longer, and the handling of the pieces. By move 30 (that is, 30 moves for you, and 30 moves for your opponent), that's already an extra 2 minutes used.

If you change from 2d to 3d, it must cost some time to accustom your eyes to the landscape. But the landscape offers different angles as you move your head like a bird, picking moves. Is it more helpful to see a plain surface that looks the same from all angles? It is more objective as subjective perspective plays no role. But the variable angles on a 3d board may help to change focus, to wander from piece to piece or scene to scene. 3d may be an advantage, providing starters to think more readily from the objectively given position.

Drag&drop takes some time itself- and if physically moving a piece takes longer, the time is not lost, we are thinking. Actual pieces give haptic feedback, that is info drag&drop does not give.

But the fact that you have to move the opponents pieces adds a small amount of time like @vitualis states.

For an onscreen only, you just have to "drag&drop" your pieces, with a physical board you have to move both side's pieces.

I have always likened it to the time it takes to write your move down IRL.

Oh, that was an uninformed post of mine. Only because I have read something one time about one model, I now thought all the new machines had the magical function of letting the opponent's pieces move by themselves. But having to move the opponent's pieces would cost 2 extra seconds per move, for sure! That, it would be good to play it with delay (Bronstein mode).. A feature hard to establish if you just want quick pairing within a mostly 2d player pool.

My Collectors Series set , from Chessbazzer really is a nice set just look at the knights , What seems tight to start with is not after a while , I am now a custom to how well the pieces are & the feel + play on the board . It's a vast improvement & well worth the upgrade . Just the feel of the wooded pieces is a joy to uses on the Chessnut Air + It's the best set you can get at this kind of sizes + price + Chessbazzer gave me a felt sheet for free with the set so I could redo the felts which was very kind of them & a big help .

I have it. Have had it since Oct.

I love it. 
It is the gold standard for e-boards right now, IMHO.

The play on it is very good, it occasionally loses the board connection, but it is a simple tap on an icon to reconnect it properly.

I created a simple engine from a Lichess player and that took a while, but it plays just like that player.

I do not really use it to "improve", I use it to play games so I cannot speak to that. .

I have a prototype engineering sample of the EVO, but the hardware is almost the same as the retail release model. I also think that the EVO is a very good device, but it is possibly let down a bit by Chessnut's lack of polish in software engineering. The ChessVision is a very clever concept, and it mostly works. However, it's not quite perfect and that final 1% is causing angst with less tech savvy customers on their Facebook group.

My view is that Chessnut has definitely gotten the hardware right (which is their strength), but underestimated the time/investment needed for the software engineering side of things. In doing so, I think that some of their features are a bit underbaked. For instance, I don't think they should have released the device without including the Google Play Store, given the main customer base of the device. Many of the weaknesses in the EVO's software features (e.g., range of bots) is completely forgiveable if installing third party apps with a much wider range of bots were trivial.

With regards to chess improvement, my view is that the most important factor is simply a system that encourages engagement with chess on a regular basis, especially with analysing games. If the EVO helps you do that, then it will assist with improvement.

Excellent to hear. Post pics if you get a chance.

I just finished up my 2.6" Zagreb set with the felt. Will post pictures on the Evo board in a little while. I tested every piece on the Evo board as I made them.

I then moved them to the Air where 3 pieces and 2 pawns do not get registered - on SOME of the squares. They do register on other squares.

So, I took the felt off and made sure the sensors were flush with the bottom of the pieces. Without the felt they registered on the squares that failed previously. I put felt back on the bottom and they fail on the same squares again - all other pieces register on their starting squares.

I then tried other pieces on those same squares that failed and some of the pieces register on those squares, some do not.

I proceeded to set up the entire set on my Evo, all pieces registered properly all over the board.

I can only assume that the electronics on the Air are not positioned uniformly across the board, leading to some pieces failing and some to work.

The pieces look better on the Air board but do look good on the Evo. As the Air is likely to become my travel board for longer work trips, I am fine using the original plastic pieces with that board.

Now to make my Collector series heavier and work with the Pegasus board ....

See post 679 As for the chips on the Sq's would work without the felts , but when on it would not work at times , So I moved the sensors more flush with the base & felt of the pieces .

Sorry, did not realize those were the finished product. It does look good, a bit more cramped than the Zagreb pieces but as you note, they are playable and get more playable as you get used to them. I prefer slightly cramped pieces so I am sure I would get use to them rather quickly. Well done.

As for my pieces, all my sensors are flush with the bottom of the pieces.

As I noted, they work on some of the squares, and some of the pieces that work on other squares do not work on the squares in the f1/2-g1/2-h1/2 area. I may try and find thinner felt.

But all the Zagreb pieces work on the Evo on every square (yes, that was a very tedious process of checking all squares on both boards with all pieces). So it is apparent that the issue is with my particular Air board. And I now have them on my Evo board, ready to play this evening. And the original pieces are better to carry in luggage. I am currently happy with my setup.

I ordered a set of the Collector's Series you have, it was $67US - if i break them it was a project worth trying for that price, and I already have a set of sensors for them that i was going to use on the other set that I am turning into a Pegasus set.

Cheers!

How did you apply tungsten? Did you use it on the Zagreb pieces?

Yes, the Zagreb pieces. I ordered pieces predrilled from IndiaChessArt (highly recommended, he does good work - his communication is a bit lacking but it was fairly quick and the workmanship is good) and tungsten putty from Amazon (where else, when I need a tank I am ordering it form there).

I then put the putty in, trimmed the sensors and set those in. The putty allowed me to push and set the sensors flush with the base. The putty allowed me to make the same pieces match very closely in weight.

Covered with felt (mentioned here somewhere, @vitualis recommended it I think).

Overall very please with the results.

Great! Hey, how much tungsten putty did you need? I see some on Amazon at .5oz, 1oz, and 2oz.

@Rsava - sorry to hear you were having problems with the piece recognition on the Air. Did you try the sensor bare (not inside the piece) with just felt under it? What type of felt did you use? Trying to do a little pre-troubleshooting before I put together my 3d print Dubrovniks for an Air+.

I used this and used almost all of one container for each color.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083NR473H/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1GNOX9L27Z0ZR&psc=1

I did not try it because they all worked on the Evo as I was making them.

Just tried it with the extra sensors I have with a piece of felt attached

The same squares that I had issues with (the six squares f1>>f3>>h3>>h1>>f1 inclusive) register some of the sensors, others they register them for a second then blink off, some blink off and on. Obviously those squares do not like the thicker felt. Other squares (e.g. d4, c6, e3) work fine. And all the squares work fine with the original pieces.

Oh, well. The new pieces work for me on the Evo board so all is good.

When I was making the pieces, I noticed that there is some variation in the sensitivity of the individual squares. I've noted elsewhere that this cannot really be considered a bug given that the board only needs to work with the official Chessnut pieces. Curiously, between my PRO and Air boards, the PRO had a few squares that were less sensitive than the Air, but the 1.4 mm felt worked fine for my boards.
I did buy a 0.5 mm velvet as back up, and that might be a good potential option if you need the felt to be a bit thinner. https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09DJQCLWB