The Chessnut Move is a chessboard with pieces that move themselves. Instead of relying on a single mechanical arm under the board, every piece has its own tiny motor, wheels, and battery. Each can slide independently to its destination square, allowing several pieces to reposition at once.
The board conforms to standard tournament size (about 63 × 52 cm with 5.5 cm squares), and buyers can choose between a set of handcrafted wooden pieces or a robust plastic version. Pieces sit low on the board, with wheels barely visible from the side, and recharge on a dedicated dock when not in use. The system is engineered for precision, tracking every piece’s location with millimeter-level accuracy and updating positions multiple times per second.
A Self-Moving Chessboard for Players
Chessnut develops electronic chessboards and related software. Its products are designed to link physical boards with online platforms and chess engines for practice, analysis, and gameplay. Chessnut Move is one of its recent models, combining a traditional board layout with integrated motion and connectivity features.
The Chessnut Move is especially useful for studying openings, replaying famous games, or loading saved positions through PGN or FEN files.
It supports offline play with built-in engines such as Stockfish, so you can train without connecting to a phone or computer. For online games, it syncs with platforms like Chess.com and Lichess, physically moving the opponent’s pieces on the board in real time.
Voice control is another practical feature. Players can speak their moves, which reduces the need to touch a screen during online games. The system also allows adjustable move speed and delay settings, helping prevent accidental inputs and giving users control over how fast pieces travel.
Charging is handled through a dedicated docking system that powers multiple pieces at once. This keeps the board tidy and avoids frequent battery swaps.
Chessnut Move combines traditional chess aesthetics with modern hardware and software to create a board where pieces really do move by themselves.
Credit: Chessnut
