Chessnut boards shouldn’t need any introduction. They are smart chessboards that combine with your computer or iOS/Android devices to let you analyze your games and play on Lichess and Chess.com. We have already reviewed the Chessnut Air, Chessnut Pro, and Chessnut Evo. The team behind these amazing products was kind enough to send us a Chessnut Air+ to review. Let’s see what was included:
The Chessnut Air+ is a fully wooden smart chessboard. It is about the same size as the Chessnut Air but looks like a smaller version of the Chessnut Pro. Just like its predecessor, it comes with full piece recognition. The pieces look gorgeous for a chessboard of this size. The board arrived very neatly packaged. Just like the other models, Air+ has buttons, indicator lights and a USB-C port on the side, which you can use to connect it to an adapter or your computer.
Setting the board up with our computer was a breeze. You can use the official app on Windows to play against Stockfish or online. You can also try your own UCI engines on your PC. It is also possible to share a link of your game with others, so they can follow it online. Just like the Chessnut Pro, this model has hidden LEDs under the board which light up only when a move is made.
You can easily connect this board to your iPhone or Android device. You will just have to turn it on, make sure the blue light on the side is blinking, and then connect the board through the app. You will be able to see the battery level and change LED, beep, and move latency settings. Once you log in, you can check your past history, play online or do some training. The official app supports Lichess and Chess.com. It also lets you play against the native AI with 8 levels. Chess960 is also supported. When you get a new position, the board shows you where to put each piece and won’t let you start a game if the board is not set up correctly. Once you are done with a game, you can analyze it with Stockfish to see where you made mistakes.
What’s neat about the Chessnut Air+ is its ability to pair with third party applications, such as WhitePawn or Chess for Android. This opens up a host of new possibilities for activities with this board. You can use these apps to analyze your games, train various aspects of the game, and play against more engines.
We found the Chessnut Air+ to be considerably lighter than the Chessnut Air. It measures 33cm in contrast to the Chessnut Pro, which is a 54 cm board. It is compact enough for you to take it anywhere. We were able to use the pieces interchangeably on all these boards. In fact, the board was able to recognize Chessnut Air, Pro and EVO pieces.
Overall, the Chessnut Air+ is a wonderful addition to this family of smart boards. It looks very classy with its all-wood design. It is lighter, so even small kids can move it around without any trouble. The official app for the board is very user friendly but you can always use Arena, WhitePawn, and other third party apps for analysis or playing against strong engines. The Chessnut Air+ may not be the cheapest electronic chessboard on the market, but you get what you pay for in this case.
