Hi Tobias,

Yes, the board will have a BluetoothLE connection from the PC but not a USB connection. My driver will need a bit of an update to allow for the coloured LEDs but otherwise should work fine with Fritz, Chessbase, LucasChess and so on.

I will make sure that when connected to my driver Chessnut disable any tutor or help functions so that there is no chance of cheating on Playchess or FICS!

Regards, Graham

Hi Graham @GONeill,

is this a confirmed information from Chessnut, that the Evo supports Bluetooth? I haven't been able to find any reference to this anywhere, neither in the official specs nor in the answers to related questions in the Facebook group or in the Kickstarter forum. Only Wifi support is specified there.

Greets
Dieter


Auf Deutsch:

Hallo Graham,

sind das gesicherte Infos von Chessnut, dass der Evo auch Bluetooth unterstützt? Ich konnte bisher nirgends einen Hinweis dafür finden, weder in den offiziellen Spezifikationen noch in den Antworten auf entsprechende Fragen in der Facebook-Gruppe oder im Kickstarter-Forum. Nur eine Wifi-Unterstützung wird dort angegeben.

Heute hat ein Update zum Evo gegeben. Hier ein Auszug aus der Veröffentlichung auf Kickstarter. Sieht so aus wie eine Partieanalysefunktion wie bei Chess.com.

New Feature Update🌟
♟️In the world of chess, learning, analyzing, and improvement have always been the core focuses, pursued by every chess enthusiast. However, the path to self-improvement is unique for each person. Some enjoy studying openings, others prefer puzzles, and some find value in learning from master games. A popular method used by many is analyzing their own past games, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and then honing their skills through targeted training - an effective way to enhance one's abilities.

👨*💻Utilizing the foundation of ChessMind technology, Chessnut introduces a groundbreaking addition - the Chessnut Assessor! This remarkable tool enables users to import their past chess games and receive an in-depth evaluation of their chess proficiency. Through a comprehensive report, Chessnut Assessor assists in the analysis of strengths and weaknesses across the opening, middlegame, and endgame phases. Moreover, it pinpoints crucial FEN positions that had a significant impact on the games, facilitating a review of pivotal moments. As an added benefit, Chessnut Assessor tailors personalized training recommendations to further bolster improvement. We firmly believe that this feature will greatly augment users' chess capabilities.

The specific implementation and process are as follows:

1️⃣Utilize the ChessMind system to train a personalized chess AI engine using your historical gameplays.

2️⃣Select your desired target to defeat, whether it's a specific opponent or a certain ELO rating level.

3️⃣Submit the data to Chessnut's backend service, where our system will conduct hundreds of simulations and generate a report for you. This report will provide insights into the comparison between your playing style and the set target, helping you understand your strengths and weaknesses.


In the report, users can access the following data to gain a more intuitive understanding of their abilities:

✅Overall Win Rate

✅Win Rate as White

✅Win Rate as Black

✅Opening Game Score

✅Middle Game Score

✅Endgame Score

✅Ability to Win the Game after Gaining an Advantage

✅Ability to Stage a Comeback in Adverse Conditions

Hi Dieter, you are correct that they haven't listed it in their specifications but that is the information Chessnut have given me.

For technical reasons they can't provide a USB HID interface (maybe because their screen already uses HID internally to talk to the board) but they will provide a Bluetooth connection and, "maybe in the future" a socket connection for local wifi. (This is for programs to access the device using wifi rather than the device linking into your wifi for internet access, which already exists). They have also told me the protocol will be the same as the Air/Pro except for the control of the LED colours, so that will be BLE rather than classic BT.

Although they don't list BLE, they do list my driver as being compatible and since my driver only runs on Windows and Linux that means there will have to be an interface to a PC.

But the last stretch goal on their Kickstarter is "ChessBase integration". I'm hoping that means ChessBase for Android rather than the work they will need to do to open up BLE for my driver to use ChessBase on a PC. I'm pretty sure it does....

Regards, Graham

Graham, thank you very much for your detailed explanations. Then let's hope, Chessnut really integrated BLE like they told you.

Regards
Dieter

Yes, I would hope so too. I suspect being a tablet of some form and manufacturer that it's very likely to have Blu-tooth because what tablets don't these days. But we will have to wait and hope.

Also von den technischen Möglichkeiten ist das schon ein tolles Gerät !
Was ich spannend finde ist, dass man anhand ausgewählter gespielter Partien ob nun eigene oder von bestimmten Spielern einen personalisierten Bot erstellen kann !
Auch die Möglichkeiten das noch viele andere Engines irgendwann Einzug erhalten können..
Ich bin zwar eher ein Fan von Turnierbrettern aus Holz und auch gerne so wie das in Holz gehaltene Phönix Brett, aber dieser Evo fasziniert mich schon irgendwie ...ich denke ich werde mir einen bestellen wenn er offiziell in den Handel kommt
Finde den Preis noch ganz ok für all die Möglichkeiten die man mit dem Gerät geboten bekommt.

Gruß

Andre

It's my understanding that the current price with 43% discount is only available during the kickstarter campaign and limited to number. So if you're intrigued by the device as I am, you may want to consider being an early backer to get the discount.

Ray

No, I assumed the regular price.
Unfortunately, you can only get the early discount with a credit card and I'm not a fan of credit cards, so I don't have any.
At Chessnut you can also pay with paypal, but then probably only when the Evo goes on sale regularly. Until then I can also watch the tests and then decide.


Andre

I understand your reasoning and there is wisdom in waiting for the final product. I do think it will turn out to be a very good machine judging by the numerous YouTube videos of people reviewing the pre-release model, and Chessnut seem to be improving and adding features. I also like the fact that they respond to customer feedback. However, we will only know how good the machine is once it's released.

Ray