Electronic chess boards: how they work and when they pay off
How it works
The board senses which piece stands on which square and sends that to a computer. There is no camera and no recognition of images - the pieces themselves are part of the system.
- The pieces are special. Each contains a marker the board can read. Ordinary pieces do not work, and a lost piece is not replaced from a spare set.
- The board reads positions, not moves. It sees where pieces are, and the software works out what move was played - which is why a piece knocked over and replaced wrongly confuses it.
- Everything goes to a computer. Boards connect to a hub or directly, and software collects the games and publishes them.
- The clock can be part of it. Compatible clocks send the times as well, so a broadcast shows the remaining time live.
What else you need besides the boards
The most common miscalculation: budgeting for boards and discovering the rest afterwards.
What it costs
Prices vary by country and change over time, so what follows is the shape of the budget rather than figures - check current prices with a supplier.
- One board with pieces costs roughly what a decent laptop does. That is the order of magnitude to plan around.
- A stage of several boards is a serious purchase. Multiply the above by the number of boards, then add hardware and clocks.
- Renting exists and is usually the answer. For a one-off event, hiring a set from a federation or an equipment supplier costs a fraction of buying.
- Second-hand is a real market. Boards last for years, and clubs upgrading sell working sets.
For comparison: the same money buys ordinary boards, pieces and clocks for a field of fifty players - what a club actually needs to buy.
When it is justified
A useful test: if you cannot name who will watch the broadcast and where, the boards are not the purchase you need.
What to use instead at an amateur event
- A demonstration board for the final. One game, one person moving the pieces, a commentator - and the room has something to watch - the options compared.
- A camera above the board. Cheap, imperfect, and enough for a stream with commentary.
- Standings on a screen. Often what spectators actually want: where people stand, not the moves.
- Scoresheets plus photographs. If the point is a record of the games rather than a live picture, this costs nothing - about notation.
And for the standings themselves an app is simpler than any hardware: results go in from players' phones and the table updates itself - how that works.
Spend it on the event instead
Frequently asked questions about electronic boards
How do electronic chess boards work?
The board senses which piece is on which square and sends that to a computer, which works out the moves. There is no camera involved - the pieces themselves carry markers the board reads, so ordinary pieces will not work.
What do I need besides the boards?
Special pieces, sold separately and costing a significant fraction of the board; cabling or a hub; a computer with software to collect and publish the games; ideally compatible clocks so the broadcast shows times; and somebody who has set the system up before.
How much does a set cost?
Prices vary by country and change, but the order of magnitude is that one board with pieces costs roughly what a decent laptop does. A stage of several boards is a serious purchase - for a one-off event, renting costs a fraction of buying.
When are electronic boards worth buying?
For broadcasts to an outside audience, a regular series of events where the cost spreads out, sponsor obligations that require media output, or norm events where an authoritative record matters. For a single club evening they are not.
What is the cheap alternative?
A demonstration board with a commentator for the final game, or a camera above the board for a stream. Often what spectators want is the standings rather than the moves, and those are simplest to show from an app.
Anyone can be the organizer
There are no club or arbiter roles in the app: the create button is available to everyone. You can announce a tournament today and run it this weekend.
- 1Create the event, open sign-up, share the link
- 2Start the tournament - the app announces the pairing
- 3Record results as the evening goes
- 4Show the final standings and export the TRF report
- Swiss. when there are more than ten players and nobody should be knocked out
- Round robin. when the field is small and fairness matters most
- Free meetup. when you simply want to get together and play
More than a bot: the app, FIDE rules and a TRF report
- The app. Besides the bot there is an app - inside Telegram and simply at vibechess.ru/app: what is on in your city, the player list, a live table, the current round, your profile and game history - everything that is awkward to read as chat messages.
- Pairings by FIDE rules. Pairings are computed by bbpPairings, an open-source engine implementing the Dutch system: score groups, floats on an odd field, colour alternation, no rematches and no two byes in a row.
- A TRF report. A finished tournament exports as a single file in the FIDE data exchange format - the one arbiter software and federations accept. Your profile stores the FIDE ID, national federation code, title, sex and date of birth for it.
- Free. All of the above, with no subscriptions, paid plans or limits on the number of tournaments and players.
Missing a feature? Message the developers
The bot is constantly improved based on real tournaments. If you need a feature that isn't there yet, message the developers right inside the bot with the /support command. Many features appeared exactly because organizers asked for them, and useful ideas get added quickly.
What to read next
Equipment - showing the game to an audience, equipment for schools, transporting a set.