Good Electronic Sensory Chess Boards??

[Paul3086]

Hello,
1st time poster and chess novice. Can anyone recommend a good electronic chess board? I really don't like staring at a computer screen and would love to play against the computer on a board with pieces. I was looking at Saitek Mephisto and Novag boards. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Paul

[Sean Evans]

Hello,
1st time poster and chess novice. Can anyone recommend a good electronic chess board? I really don't like staring at a computer screen and would love to play against the computer on a board with pieces. I was looking at Saitek Mephisto and Novag boards. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Paul

Another way is to set up a board with your usual pieces and just make the moves for the computer program you are playing against. There are limitless chess programs available with different opening books and playing styles. If you buy one expensive "sensory board" you will be playing against one set of opening books and one chess engine with a particular style.

However, if you have your heart set on one:

http://www.classicchessandgames.com/chesscomputers.htm

Cordially,

Sean

[Steve B]

Hi Paul
i certainly echo your feelings about playing on a real board with real pieces and as a result i own a few chess computers that i often play against

while many"dedicated " chess computer boards can be purchased in a used condition on Ebay..if its a NEW chess computer you are interested in i think the Novag Citrine is a very good choice

handsome wooden board and pieces ,auto sensory piece movement ,information rich display screen and a rating of about 2030 Elo
generally the sponsor of these forums has them in stock but i see they are not showing any at the moment

check back here early and often:
http://www.chessusa.com/Merchant2/merch ... ode=CHSOFT

Regards
Steve

[fern]

"I own a few chess computers...." What a nerve! You are the most extravagant collector of the galaxy and surely you have more computers than the stock of our sponsor.

Come on, Steven, take off your mask....

Fern

[Steve B]

"I own a few chess computers...." What a nerve! You are the most extravagant collector of the galaxy and surely you have more computers than the stock of our sponsor.

Come on, Steven, take off your mask....

Fern

Have you been following the stock market in the last few weeks?
down thousands of points
to keep my head above water i was forced to sell many of my chess computers

Treading Water Regards
Steve

[Michael Diosi]

Hi,

Well I wsould go for those:

http://www.chesscomputer.eu/
http://www.digital-chess-system.com/fr/
http://homepage.hispeed.ch/Pewatronic/



Michael
http://www.playwitharena.com

[mephisto]

Hi Paul
You can also have a look at Eric Hallsworths site here in the UK. Besides new chess computers, Eric also always has a stock of good second hand computers at greatly reduced prices.
http://www.elhchess.demon.co.uk/reviews.htm
Regards
Bryan

[Kempelen]

Hello,
1st time poster and chess novice. Can anyone recommend a good electronic chess board? I really don't like staring at a computer screen and would love to play against the computer on a board with pieces. I was looking at Saitek Mephisto and Novag boards. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Paul

Hello Paul,

I have a Novag Citrine, a Mephisto Exclusive and a DGT board. In my opinion the best option if you want to play against computer or in internet, is the DGT. It is a very reliable product, beautiful, easy operation, and not so expensive as people usually like to say. quality/price is a fantastic product.

Before DGT, I liked to play with my novag citrine. It can be connected to Arena or SCID (maybe you will need a hack, depending if you se bluetooth). The operation is only 80% good, as there are time where citrine dont recognize the pieces, also you can not logically flip the board (command flip) and made an error, as citrine hang. In general it is viable, but you need to get used to it and accept its drawbacks. One of them is very annoiyed: to make a capture move, you must first raise the moving piece, then remove the captured one, and last place the moving piece in destination square. This is quite antiitutive.

I write pros and cons of each one:

Citrine:
Pros:
- You can play against it without the need of a computer
- very acceptable board size 37cm x 37 cm
- Can be connected to Arena or SCID via bluetooth or rs232 original cable (need a rs232 port in your computer)
- Is wood made, good.
- hash squares light to show moves, althought there are people dont like it.
- Price: around 280€
Cons:
- Very bad operation when connect to PC, although maybe you can live with. (I bought DGT when I satured about this)
- Very horrible original piezes. I bought a better one for 50€ in ebay
- A few bugs in its opening book.
- Flipping board with 'F' command and play against computer or internet, if you make an error the citrine hangs.
- Only two programs support it.
- Can not recognice new positions as you place the pieces

Final price would be: 280€ + 50 € (new pieces) + 30€ (bluetooth adapter) + 15€ (bluetooth pen for pc) = 375€

DGT
Pros:
- Nice operation. No errors.
- very reliable
- made with more consistence and carefull than citrine
- usb connected (optional bluetooth)
- Nice pieces, the software can recognize each individual one.
- has more software to play with (fritz, chessbase, dashboard, arena, babaschess, ....)
- no so expensive if you compare quality/price
- can connect a dgt XL clock whichi can be configure to show time while you play in internet. also can operate as a normal clock. also the clock can beep when there is a new move and show it in its lcd screen.
- Can enter opponent moves looking at screen or at the clock, but I dont see any adventage/disadventage over citrine lights, at the end you have to move the piece manually in both


Cons:
- quite big. legal fide size: 55 cms x 55 cms. For me this is a drawback but it deppends on your preferences and the space you have. many people like that size
- expensive if you buy accesories: 389€ (board and pieces) + 100€ (clock) + 60€ (bag) = 559€, but you can operate quite well with only the board and pieces.

Hope this help. Any option would be good if you live with its cons. If I were you, I think is worthly to expend a little more money in DGT than the old technology citrine, but if you want one, I can sell you mine.

Regards,
Fermin

[fern]

Impossible to believe. You better would sell your wife to save finances than the computers.

A matter of priorities regards
Fern

[tomgdrums]

Hello,
1st time poster and chess novice. Can anyone recommend a good electronic chess board? I really don't like staring at a computer screen and would love to play against the computer on a board with pieces. I was looking at Saitek Mephisto and Novag boards. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Paul

Another way is to set up a board with your usual pieces and just make the moves for the computer program you are playing against. There are limitless chess programs available with different opening books and playing styles. If you buy one expensive "sensory board" you will be playing against one set of opening books and one chess engine with a particular style.

However, if you have your heart set on one:

http://www.classicchessandgames.com/chesscomputers.htm

Cordially,

Sean

I would second this opinion of just setting up your usual board and moving the pieces. It is basically the same as the dgt board anyway (except you also have to enter your moves into the pc program without dgt)

I have been doing this recently and it has greatly expanded my enjoyment of playing against various computer engines!