Chessnut Move Development Progress Update
Chessnut Move Development Progress Update
Apologies for keeping everyone waiting! Due to the Chinese New Year holiday in February, which lasted for over half a month, it’s been a while since our last update. Some of you may have noticed reports about delays with the units we sent to YouTubers. That’s indeed the case. Originally, we planned to deliver sample boards to YouTubers for testing between late January and early February. However, in January, our technical team decided to switch to a new networking solution for the chess pieces to enhance the user experience. As a result, we postponed the shipment of the sample boards.
Rest assured, our team has worked hard to minimize the impact of this change on the mass production timeline. Thanks to smooth progress on the mold development, we still expect the first batch to ship by the end of May as planned. In this update, I’ll share the latest progress on both hardware and software aspects.
1. Hardware
a) Electronics
The chessboard’s mainboard has long been finalized and thoroughly tested. Its firmware, including the built-in offline OTB bot game mode, is fully developed. You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/Q85LqVfPhhU. Our current development focus is on the networking control scheme for the chess pieces. After considering multiple factors, we decided in January to revise the networking solution to improve overall performance.
For regular users, the most noticeable improvement will be lower latency and faster response times. Another significant advantage is that the bases of the chess pieces are now universal, with their identities configurable via the app after connection. For example, if you accidentally damage or lose a black pawn, you can easily reassign a spare queen to act as that pawn temporarily to keep playing. Alternatively, you could swap its base onto a new pawn and reach out to our after-sales team to address the damaged piece. This eliminates the frustration of the entire Move product becoming unusable due to a single faulty piece.
b) Structural Components
We’ve completed the molding and trial production of the chess piece bases, including their outer shells and internal components. The latest version of the base offers better consistency, reduced noise, and straighter movement paths compared to the initial prototypes, bringing the pieces’ motion closer to our expectations. Some minor parts of the molds still need refinement, so the final mass-production version will see further improvements. The design of the charging pad's structure has been completed, and the preparation of the molds is now underway. This process is expected to take approximately one month. As a result, the samples currently being shipped are still temporary versions produced via 3D printing.
The molds for the plastic chess pieces are also complete, and we’re about to receive the first injection-molded samples. For the wooden chess pieces, our supplier in India has confirmed delivery by early April. The chessboard’s structure itself was finalized and validated long ago.
The sample units for YouTubers are now ready and scheduled to be shipped to them this week.
2. Software
Previously, we noticed from comments on the release video that many users were dissatisfied with the issue of the chess pieces not being well centered. After investigation, we found the previous alignment issues stemmed from both the algorithm and hardware. The algorithm has now been optimized, and you can see the adjusted performance in the YouTube video above. On the hardware side, we’re refining it for the mass production version. With these combined improvements, the final result will definitely be satisfying. As we’ve mentioned on social media before, there’s a trade-off between precision and speed, so we’ll make this an adjustable setting for users to tweak based on their preference.
The image attached outlines our current plans for Move’s features. Functions highlighted in yellow boxes are planned but still under development. We expect all planned features to be fully implemented by the official delivery date at the end of May. If you have any great suggestions, feel free to share them with us anytime!
Additionally, we’re planning to have the Move API documentation and development units ready by April for third-party software developers to begin integration. This will enhance Move’s compatibility and versatility.
That’s all for this update. We will continue to update the performance of the latest Move prototypes on Facebook and YouTube, so please stay tuned! Thank you for your continued support, and we’ll keep you posted on further progress!
Cheers,
The Chessnut Team
13 comments
Hello,
Please consider a software option to stop charging the batteries for the board and pieces at 80% of rated capacity. This will prolong battery life by reducing the number of li-Ion battery full charge cycles. This feature is common in the Android phone OS (AOSP & closed source versions) already.
Sincerely,
A. Ott
Valor envio a chile.
I bought Chessnut Move in December 25 and it was the best purchase of my life :) You just download the driver for PC chess program Arena (for free) and then you can play via the Arena and Bluetooth, even from the next room using the best chess engines in the world. Or you can simply watch them play against each other. A fantastic experience! Thank you.
Driver for Arena Bluetooth:
https://goneill.co.nz/chess.php
Hey guys. I want to have a autoflip button. It should save battery and time when Im playing or solving puzzles.
Im waiting the Move setup position and click on flip and setup it again. It doesnt look a smart idea.
Will you guys be coming out with a system like the evos with a built in computer system for the robotic chessboard ? I would not like use my cell phone.
When will Chessnut Move be delivering?
Will there be individual pieces available other than the spare queens for Chessnut Move (for replacements and/or spares for under-promotions)?
When will my move be delivered?
Hi again, I have several of your chess computers and all are amazing, and I have ordered the wooden version of the move. I particularly like the evo, because it tells you when an update is available, is there any chance you could put an update button on the Chessnut app ? when an update is available , because at the moment I am having to uninstall and then reinstall the app, just in case there is a new update, kind regards Dennis.
I mainly just want to verify that move will be compatible with chessable
Hi, centering of the chess pieces is much better, but still not perfect in your latest video ! could you do a video of a game from above with chessnut move playing with the white pieces? I have pre ordered the move with wooden pieces already, I think most people would rather wait till after May ,if need be, as long as it’s spot on with all it’s features . Kind regards Dennis Bourne. (UK)
That kind of “transparency” builds customer trust and confidence. The world has changed since we rolled across the prairie in covered wagons, eating opossum and squirrel. Something new will have a “version 1.0” and always, Always have a version 1.x and beyond. But it doesn’’t get better until it starts.
For example, maybe a future option – after all/most of the hardware issues have been dealt with – would be a more wood-colored board choice, rather than black and white.
I have a friend with limited mobility in a wheelchair, and I would love to see him practice/play with this set.
For my part, after years and years of life experience, I tell people working on my stuff, “I’d rather have it right than in a hurry.”
Great update! Keep up the great work and improvements!