Chessnut PRO Review | Is It Good?

This is a comprehensive look and review of the new Chessnut Pro Electronic Chess set! It has a beautiful wooden frame and board, with hidden LEDs that are not apparent when unlit. The board has tournament size squares. The chessmen are carved wooden pieces from India, and though not a very premium set, are perfectly competent and look very handsome when compared to alternatives. This is a wonderful device and quite possibly the best in class in terms of playing online on chess.com and Lichess using physical chessmen. However, there are some practical issues to consider for the potential buyer, as well as both pros and cons to the device.

Very intresting

I would like it a bit more if it was black and white rather than cream and walnut

In practice when playing, it's fine as there is plenty of contrast between the colours. These are completely standand colours for unstained or unpainted wooden pieces. "White" pieces would normally be boxwood (which is what these pieces are). "Black" pieces would often be in rosewood, which are a brown colour (which I think these are).

For wooden pieces to be naturally black, they will need to be made from ebony, which which substantially more expensive. More typically, black wooden pieces that are black would be made of stained boxwood. I personally probably have a preference for the dark pieces to be black (i.e., either ebony or stained boxwood).

For the wooden pieces to be actually "white", they will need to be painted. My view is that this looks quite gaudy, but it's simply a matter of preference.

For instance:

Natural colours: https://royalchessmall.com/en-au/products/4-1-pro-staunton-weighted-wooden-chess-pieces-set-ebonised-wood-4-queens

Painted colours: https://royalchessmall.com/en-au/collections/staunton-chess-pieces/products/4-1-pro-staunton-black-white-lacquered-wooden-chess-pieces-only-set

PRO TIP!
Buy some lazy susan bearings - 18-inch diameter!

Have you tried using the reset switch? You need a SIM removal tool to depress the button.

Thanks for this great review! Did you ever successfully play a live tournament on chess.com with the Chessnut board? I got a Chessnut pro myself and so far could get tournaments to work. 😞

I had purchased the chessnut air from amazon and the chemical plastic/glue smell was overwhelming. Had to literally leave the box and board outside for a few days to air out. I also noticed the chessnut app was really just using the chess.com interface (like a shim). In my case, the app doesn't work with chess.com when used with a google login, which is pretty limiting and forced me to return the board. I wonder if the chessnut pro doesn't have that same off-gas problem that I noticed? I realize these are manufactured in China and mass produced but I've never encountered a product with such an alarming chemical smell.

If only DGT or Millennium could standardize on the following to compete better:

-full size tournament WOODEN board (veneer, wood appearance, don't care - but not plastic)

-hidden LEDS - can be on the corners, under the squares, I don't care

-built-in battery - this is where chessnut shines as the only board with LEDs/lights that has built in battery

-built-in bluetooth - Millennium is really slow to adapt here - their boards should have built in battery and bluetooth for the price they are charging

On a side note - all of these manufacturers should offer higher quality WEIGHTED pieces as an extra option to buy.

Received my Chessnut Pro today. Does yours also make random clicking noises from time to time?

Mine does not.

Alright, will send them a mail. Hopefully something to fix with a Firmware update. Don't want to wait for a replacement.

How is it going?

Indeed solved with a firmware update. All good now.

i got the faulty one..was working for a year.. cant trust them and not worth an investment if you really want grow in chess..

Was a very useful tip.

repeating this review that I left elsewhere in the foru, Have had the chessnut pro with the premium pieces for 2 weeks and I am very impressed. Recognition is flawless and the speed is very fast. The only downside is that I cant really play speed chess as I am losing time moving opponents pieces. I have settled into playing 15/10 and will try longer time controls as I wanted to get away from the speed chess on the screen and back to more classical over the board feel. For this purpose, the board is excellent.

Yes, the board with the premium pieces is very very good!

I agree that playing short time controls is probably too much of a disadvantage against an opponent who will be playing on screen with a mouse or on a tablet. My view is that 10 min rapid is probably just okay, but even then, it's better with at least some increment.

I play in my desktop with Bluetooth. My PC is new and BT must have the BTS the board asks for.