Build your own FREE chess eboard in 5 minutes!

Chess eboards are fun but expensive gadgets, enabling you play online chess against players all over the world on a real chessboard with real tactile chess pieces. Or they were expensive, until Billy Goat Boffin ("Boffy") had a genius idea.

"Boffy" doesn't get out much, so we interviewed him about his idea.

Q: Hi Boffy, what do you do for BillyGate?
Boffy: (nervous bleat) ... um ... I'm Boffin, head of BillyGate R&D.

Q: Before we get into your idea, why do you think eboards are important?
Boffy: (happy bleat) ... well, one of the most wonderful things about chess is that we have been playing it face to face, in cottages and castles, all over the world for more than a thousand years! And over all those centuries it has changed very slowly and very little ... until recently.

Q: Yes?
Boffy: Oh yes ... until the Internet brought us online chess and the ability to play against players anywhere in the world ... but only on a flat screen. Which is wonderful, but we are losing the tactile pleasure of pushing pieces across a game board. You know? Eboards mean we get the best of online chess along with the joy of playing on a real chessboard with real pieces.

Q: I agree, so what is your big idea?
Boffy: Well, eboards connect to online games via a mobile app, like the chess.com app. Most eboards then use LEDs to highlight squares, so the eboard player can make moves for both themselves and their opponent, and the eboard detects and relays those moves to the app and online games. I just wondered how hard it would be to try this out without buying an eboard.

Q: How hard is it?
Boffy: (smug bleat) ... not hard at all. You can do it for free in under 5 minutes.

Q: Pray tell?
Boffy: um ... do you mind if I copy and paste my step-by-step instructions?

Q: Be my guest.
Boffy: OK, here we go:

1. Set up a normal chessboard.
2. Put a mobile device with the chess.com app on a stand next to the (normal) chessboard, so you can easily glance back and forth between chessboard and app.
3. Configure the app to make a sound when your opponent moves and switch up the volume.
4. Start an online game on the chess.com app.
5. When your opponent moves on the app, also make the move on your chessboard.
6. When you move a piece on the chessboard, also make the move on the app.

Q: That's it? Your brilliant idea?
Boffy: Yes! It's not that different from playing on an LED-indicated eboard, where you also need to move your pieces and your opponent's pieces. You still get to push pieces and plan your moves on a real three dimensional chessboard instead of a flat screen, but the difference is you also need to make your move on the app, so it's slower. But after a few games using my free eboard simulator you will get a good feeling what playing on a real eboard is like.

Q: But, if that's true, why would anyone buy an eboard?
Boffy: (sniffy bleat) ... my idea is a free way to see what it's like, playing on an eboard. But there are more differences between my simulator and an LED eboard. Time is important in chess, as important as material. On an LED eboard you lose a few seconds, compared to playing online, each time you have to move your opponent's piece ... but you don't have to look away from the eboard at the app. Using my simulator idea you have to repeatedly look between app and eboard and that context-switching wastes a lot more time than simply making your opponent's move.

Q: How much more time?

Boffy: (contemplative bleat) ... hard to know, but I would say the mental context-switching loses about ten seconds per player move and per opponent move. In a 30-move 15+10 increment game you would be ten minutes down! And I don't think you would survive long, playing on increment. So I think eboards are safe from my simulator idea.

Q: So, can eboards play 15+10 games?

Boffy: Yes. LED eboards can easily play 15+10 games. You will have a time disadvantage against an online player, say losing 3 or 4 seconds per opponent move, which would amount to a minute or two after 30 moves. Playing on increment is likewise harder, but possible. I regularly play 10+5 games on LED eboards, but I wouldn't want to go any faster. Eboards that move pieces are typically quite a bit slower than LED eboards, but that's a topic for another blog post.

Q: Thank you, Boffy, and ... er ... goodbye!

Boffy: (fading bleats).