I’m a very small creator, so I was genuinely surprised when Chessnut reached out and asked if I wanted to spend some time with their newest board, the Chessnut Move. The board was provided for review, but Chessnut has no editorial input into this article. All thoughts and opinions here are entirely my own.
I also think disclosure works both ways. I’ve paid for Chessnut and DGT products with my own money in the past, and I continue to do so. I’m not interested in selling you anything. I’m far more interested in helping people choose the right board for their needs without the usual marketing hype.
I’ve been using electronic chess boards for close to a decade, and while I’m admittedly a bit of a fan of the category, I try to approach each new product with a healthy amount of skepticism.
Expectations vs Reality
When the Chessnut Move was first announced, I thought it was interesting, but not something I’d ever realistically get to use. I mentally filed it away as “cool, but niche.”
My first electronic chess board was a Kasparov unit from RadioShack back in the 1990s. It had a tiny LCD screen that displayed coordinates. At the time, it felt futuristic. I never could have imagined that in 2025 I’d still be playing chess, or that we’d finally have a board that genuinely feels like playing someone over the board.
And that’s the key point here: the Chessnut Move feels like real OTB chess. In some ways, it’s even better. The board doesn’t shake its leg, or fidget for that matter. (I hate myself for that bad joke)
What surprised me most wasn’t the novelty of watching pieces move on their own, it was the absence of friction. The experience is effortless. You sit down, play chess, and nothing gets in the way. That unencumbered feeling has stayed with me long after the initial excitement wore off, and it’s arguably the Move’s biggest selling point.
The App Experience
The Chessnut app experience is solid and mature. Connectivity has been flawless in my testing. Over roughly three weeks of use, I’ve updated the firmware twice without a single hiccup.
The app is intuitive and does what it should but I have only tested it on iOS and not Android. I’ve covered Chessnut’s software ecosystem in detail before, so I won’t belabor the point here, the experience is consistent with their other products, and that’s a good thing.
How the Chessnut Move Works
What follows is an informed assumption based on use and observation rather than an official teardown.
Unlike many smart boards, the Chessnut Move does not appear to rely on RFID tags embedded in the pieces. Instead, every piece is active. Each contains a motorized base and sensors that continuously report its position.
In other words, the board isn’t detecting magnets or passively scanning with full piece recognition instead the pieces themselves know where they are and tell the board. This design choice enables the most distinctive feature of the Move: the board can physically slide pieces across the squares for you.
Communication takes place over the 2.4 GHz spectrum. The process is straightforward:
- The board sends a command
- The piece moves
- The piece reports when it reaches its destination
- The board forwards the move to your device
The motors are quiet, producing only a subtle whirring sound. It’s not distracting at all, and after a short while it simply becomes part of the experience. Watching the pieces glide smoothly across the board adds to the immersion rather than detracting from it.
Battery, Power, and Repairability
Inside the board is a single‑cell lithium‑ion battery rated at:
- 5000 mAh
- 18.5 Wh
- Nominal voltage: 3.7 V
The battery weighs 79 g and measures 93 × 60 × 6.5 mm. Charging is handled via USB‑C, consistent with Chessnut’s other products.
Battery life is shorter than on my non‑motorized smart boards, which is entirely expected. The pieces are constantly moving themselves, and that energy has to come from somewhere.
One detail I appreciate is that Chessnut seems to anticipate real‑world use and failure. The board ships with four spare motorized piece bases, offering peace of mind if one ever fails. When the battery eventually degrades, I’ll likely open the board and replace it myself, something that appears very feasible given my love of electronics in general.
Build Quality & Aesthetics
The Chessnut Move is constructed from plastic and features tournament‑sized squares. The pieces are well‑proportioned with wide bases designed to house the motorized mechanisms. From a visual standpoint, the proportions give the pieces a slightly Latin feel due to the broader bases.
Aesthetically, the pieces aren’t my personal favorite, and I’d love to see alternative sets offered in the future. That said, this is largely an aesthetic critique rather than a functional one. During play, it fades into the background almost immediately.
I strongly suspect these design choices are deliberate, keeping the board light and minimizing battery consumption in the pieces themselves.
Comparison to Other Boards
After extensive use, my current order of preference among boards I own is:
- Chessnut Move
- Chessnut Evo
- Chessnut Go
- Chessnut Pro
Each board serves a different purpose:
- Move: Best for serious over‑the‑board practice and improving board vision
- Evo: My top recommendation for study and analysis
- Go: An excellent portable board for travel and casual training
- Pro: Beautifully made, but sees less use as I play fewer in‑person OTB games
Your use case will vary, but after owning four Chessnut boards, I can say I’ve yet to encounter any reliability issues.
Who Is the Chessnut Move For?
The Chessnut Move is best suited for players who:
- Want to practice OTB chess seriously at home
- Are trying to close the gap between online and OTB play
- Want to improve visualization and board awareness
- Prefer a distraction‑free training environment
It removes the friction of moving an opponent’s pieces, eliminates detection errors, and lets you focus entirely on the game in front of you.
Final Thoughts
The Chessnut Move delivers something I’ve wanted for decades: a smart chess board that gets out of the way.
The battery performance is reasonable given the hardware, the inclusion of spare motorized bases shows thoughtful design, and the quiet, smooth movement enhances immersion rather than distracting from it.
If your goal is serious over‑the‑board practice with modern online integration, and you want something that genuinely feels like real chess, this is the board I would recommend.
Sometimes technology improves chess by adding features. In this case, it improves chess by disappearing.