Lichess recently announced support for DGT boards for mostly classical and Rapid play. I bought a board to try this out. For those interested as to why, curiosity and my willingness to actually play on a chessboard was my main motivator. i play on Lichess almost exclusively so this announcement was all the motivation i needed. Here's my report on the first 24 hours.
For this "project" my setup consists of:
• Lenovo Laptop running Ubuntu 20.10
• DGT smartboard
• DGT plastic experiences
• Livechess V.2.2.5
• Browser: Firefox V.84
Setup
Let’s talk on the technical stuff first. I expected some problems running this setup with Linux but it was fairly straightforward. an official Debian package is offered for livechess (software required to operate the board with lichess). Board is immediately detected by the kernel upon USB connection. My only issue really was figuring out that livechess requires root privileges.”sudo /opt/DGTLiveChess/DGTLiveChess” and you are good to go. Setting up the board with Lichess is quite simple, basically requires a token for the board and running a 2nd browser window to permit board control during the game. instructions on Lichess and the Youtube video explains it very well.
playing the first few games
I started playing friendly games vs stockfish. Lichess detects moves quickly and the voice announcements for moves is quite good. I had to check the screen a couple times as i had issue differentiating from Rb1 to Rd1. I would suggest using the phonetic alphabet such as "Rook-Bravo-One" or "Rook-Delta-One". I did try a couple different voices, i haven’t found one yet that alleviates that concern for me. Yes I can look at the screen but that defeats the purpose.
"Lift & move"
the first game issue i found quite quick. you really have to "lift and move" your pieces. I dragged a rook from a1 to e1 but the board recognized c1, then announced black’s position (to which i moved that piece) following an immediate announcement that my Rook was on e1. I’ve tested this a few times and this issue is consistent. I've read online DGT recommends "lift and move". After a couple more games. that works flawlessly. Easy fix, lift and move on.
"Illegal move!"
You do have to move your opponents pieces, no magic trickery here. I realized quickly that If you move a piece and hear "illegal move" you have to finish the game on the screen. I haven't figured out any way to replace the pieces in the right spot so i can continue the game with the board. This happened twice in a few games. it's not a critical issue as you can finish the game on the screen without any problems. I will have to test this further to ensure I’m not the problem.
Playing vs humans
quick note: i barely touched any physical board all year. Exclusively played online.
Now this was the fun part. actually playing a human being by touching a real board and pieces. It felt exhilarating. I played a few games and loved it. You are at a slight disadvantage for having to move both players pieces obviously but it still needs to be said. In the later stages of the game with less time reflexes have to be sharpened to keep remembering to move the opponent’s pieces (and avoid getting out of sync). Overall, Lichess seems to detect moves faster when playing against people than playing stockfish. It felt close to OTB and really fun. It makes sense to offer this on rapid and classical only. Advanced players might be able to play blitz but i wouldn’t. On a personal note I will require a time increment to play with this board.
initial conclusions
This board is absolutely not necessary to play chess online. I find so far to be
a novelty item. The Board looks good but quality is ok as the plastic seems cheap. The pieces do feel very good in hand. All that said, playing it does feel like i'm Playing a human opponent more than playing with the screen and mouse. It brought immediate OTB chess club feeling (and memories) and i hope this feeling stays as i continue using it.
I would love to make this board my main input control for classical play. Time will tell.
For this "project" my setup consists of:
• Lenovo Laptop running Ubuntu 20.10
• DGT smartboard
• DGT plastic experiences
• Livechess V.2.2.5
• Browser: Firefox V.84
Setup
Let’s talk on the technical stuff first. I expected some problems running this setup with Linux but it was fairly straightforward. an official Debian package is offered for livechess (software required to operate the board with lichess). Board is immediately detected by the kernel upon USB connection. My only issue really was figuring out that livechess requires root privileges.”sudo /opt/DGTLiveChess/DGTLiveChess” and you are good to go. Setting up the board with Lichess is quite simple, basically requires a token for the board and running a 2nd browser window to permit board control during the game. instructions on Lichess and the Youtube video explains it very well.
playing the first few games
I started playing friendly games vs stockfish. Lichess detects moves quickly and the voice announcements for moves is quite good. I had to check the screen a couple times as i had issue differentiating from Rb1 to Rd1. I would suggest using the phonetic alphabet such as "Rook-Bravo-One" or "Rook-Delta-One". I did try a couple different voices, i haven’t found one yet that alleviates that concern for me. Yes I can look at the screen but that defeats the purpose.
"Lift & move"
the first game issue i found quite quick. you really have to "lift and move" your pieces. I dragged a rook from a1 to e1 but the board recognized c1, then announced black’s position (to which i moved that piece) following an immediate announcement that my Rook was on e1. I’ve tested this a few times and this issue is consistent. I've read online DGT recommends "lift and move". After a couple more games. that works flawlessly. Easy fix, lift and move on.
"Illegal move!"
You do have to move your opponents pieces, no magic trickery here. I realized quickly that If you move a piece and hear "illegal move" you have to finish the game on the screen. I haven't figured out any way to replace the pieces in the right spot so i can continue the game with the board. This happened twice in a few games. it's not a critical issue as you can finish the game on the screen without any problems. I will have to test this further to ensure I’m not the problem.
Playing vs humans
quick note: i barely touched any physical board all year. Exclusively played online.
Now this was the fun part. actually playing a human being by touching a real board and pieces. It felt exhilarating. I played a few games and loved it. You are at a slight disadvantage for having to move both players pieces obviously but it still needs to be said. In the later stages of the game with less time reflexes have to be sharpened to keep remembering to move the opponent’s pieces (and avoid getting out of sync). Overall, Lichess seems to detect moves faster when playing against people than playing stockfish. It felt close to OTB and really fun. It makes sense to offer this on rapid and classical only. Advanced players might be able to play blitz but i wouldn’t. On a personal note I will require a time increment to play with this board.
initial conclusions
This board is absolutely not necessary to play chess online. I find so far to be
a novelty item. The Board looks good but quality is ok as the plastic seems cheap. The pieces do feel very good in hand. All that said, playing it does feel like i'm Playing a human opponent more than playing with the screen and mouse. It brought immediate OTB chess club feeling (and memories) and i hope this feeling stays as i continue using it.
I would love to make this board my main input control for classical play. Time will tell.
