This Smart Chessboard Allows You To Move Chess Pieces Without Touching Them

The world’s smartest chessboard, Square Off, adds to the centuries-old board game a touch of the 21st century by letting players interact with the physical chess pieces without having to touch them.

For years, players can play chess as a digital game. But true fans of this game know that the feeling is not the same as a high-quality physical board. But it is a challenging task when your opponent is nowhere near you or at least you will have to wait until someone figures out how to let people who are far from each other play chess using a physical board. With Square Off, you can do exactly just that. It looks like something from the Harry Potter series, but in fact, it is technology making use of internet connectivity and robotics to turn the impossible thing possible.

Square Off lets players play against each other remotely online or via an app. The chessboard connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth. From then, it uses a robotic arm that is underneath the board to repeat the moves of the opponent, moving the pieces across the checkered surface. The magic happens when the robotic arm uses a magnet to move the wooden pieces, each of which has its own magnets.

On your opponent’s chessboard, the same thing happens if they also use a Square Off set. As stated in an article from Cnet, to play the board game, you first have to press down on a chess piece. A quiet beep will then be elicited. You then move the chess and press down again to confirm your desired position.

But Square Off is more than moving pieces automatically. It also allows players to find human opponents anytime, as it is connected to the Chess.com community where there are 24 million players worldwide. There is also an AI component that offers 20 difficulty levels. The highest difficulty level is said to be equivalent to a 3380 Elo rating. The world’s current highest-ranked player is Magnus Carlsen with a 2886 Elo rating.

Of course, the price of this smart chess isn’t pleasant. The Square Off Kingdom set is sold at $369 or Rs 26,450. The Grand Kingdom set which is larger costs $445 or Rs 31,898.