As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a large surge in the popularity of online chess. Online chess website chess.com saw its user base grow from 30 million in March 2020 to 57 million within a year as casually playing online chess became a popular activity during lockdown. As much as people enjoy playing online chess, many prefer playing chess physically in person (commonly referred to as “over the board”, or OTB) chess. However OTB chess is less accessible than online chess as it requires finding other people to play with, either through a tournament, casual clubs, or on the streets. Some people also prefer to be instantly matched with someone of similar rating to ensure a good match rather than finding a good match from a small pool of people available playing OTB.
A solution which allows people to play chess OTB but at home with the same advantages of online chess would be groundbreaking and allow people to play chess with the best of both worlds. Although there are existing products in this space, none of them achieve the goal of emulating OTB chess. None of them have integrated a physical chess clock and all of them are dependent on a mobile app during the game, both of which take away from the user experience. A system where a player can sit down at the board, press a button to find a game, make their moves on a physical board while pressing a physical clock, and have an automated robot make their opponent’s moves would provide the ideal casual at-home chess experience.
