r/Chessnuteboard

After weeks of waiting for the Chessnut Companion clock it finally arrived today…non-working and seemingly broken.

🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️

The face of the clock was completely detached and stuck to the black foam in the box where it appears the glue on the back attached itself to the foam.

The clock was poorly packaged. There was nothing protecting the clock face (no plastic film…nothing). There was nothing protecting the clock period. One of the buttons appears to be damaged as well.

I can’t tell you how disappointing this is to me.

I own both a Chessnut Move and Evo.

I was really looking forward to this thing.

I have never returned or exchanged one of their products.

I know they are based in China.

How quickly is the process? Is it easier to request a refund or request an exchange?

The clock is now selling for more than I paid weeks ago. I’m concerned.

After giving Chessnut NEXT on the Mac a try, I have to say the Grandeur feature—especially the spoken analysis—is really helpful. For beginners, the simplest review style, like the „friendly guide,“ shouldn’t be overlooked; it’s quite nice for anyone IMHO.

On the other hand, the more advanced analysis options for experts will (Im a lower-ELO player) satisfy even the most experienced and demanding Lichess users.

Sure, Lichess is far more powerful than NEXT, but it’s a bit like the difference between Mac and PC:

• The Mac is a beautiful, easy to handle polished dancer.

• The PC is a brutal, no-nonsense blue collar workbench.

Same here: the Chessnut app is simple, easy to use and navigate, and really nice to look at. They clearly learned from Apple. Aside from a few minor issues and glitches in this first NEXT version, I’ve only found one real bug so far: no Lichess and Chess import, even though it’s advertised.

What I didn't get to work or understand is the Mistake book feature.
Anyone knowledgeable coming forward to enlighten me please.

Overall, it’s just another free tool in the crowd, but it shines in a subtle, clever way: the daily Grandeur tasks keep you connected to chess in a low-pressure, almost subconscious way. And who can complain about that?

I’m curious to hear what other NEXT users think, especially about Grandeur and the spoken feedback.

Do you have any workarounds for the import issue?
PS: Im not a chessnut fanboy, a bot, commercially connected in any way to anyone, aside to my most beautiful Zwergspitz "Jeannie" - I use Mac OS since 1984

Hi, since the Next 1.1.0 update I need to enter my login everytime I start the board. The 'remember' option doesn't work.

Quite annoying, can this be fixed please?

Hey Chessnut, I have the companion and updated the app but cannot find live grandeur analysis. I’m sure I saw this as a feature on the website. Has it been implemented yet?

I'm liking the new app, but there's something that's been bugging me. Since I have the chessnut go, I want to just be able to do the puzzles in app. it works okay for that, but when I do warm up puzzles, there's no way to change the orientation to black's perspecitve in the app.. it seems to always show from whites perspective when in puzzle mode.

Anyone else have this problem as well?

Does anyone know how to get this to work? I can only click on my mistakes but I cannot interact with it.

When the shipment for Europe starts? ‘End of August’ is not really clear to be honest and in the meantime my order status has not any indication or whatsoever…

The Mac NEXT app (available for download from the Apple Store) is a clever tool designed to encourage daily engagement with both the app and the chessboard.

I’m amazed at how enjoyable it can make a routine that I probably wouldn’t have followed otherwise. The AI-based grandeur feature within the app is particularly helpful for evaluating my game thoroughly.

The NEXT app operates on a business model that charges for extended use of Grandeur. Personally, I find the free Grandeur model sufficient. Only serious chess enthusiasts will need to pay.

However, as far as I can tell, the integration with Lichess is currently limited to playing online against other users. Extended Lichess features don’t seem direct to be supported within the game. That said, puzzles e.g. are to be found in the NEXT app based on lichess anyhow.

In contrast, Chess dot com and Maya3 are fully usable directly in NEXT. That said, this isn’t the primary goal of the NEXT app. The aim it to lure the user to stay connected to chestnut NEXT and that is done well.

If you insist to wander away, you can always use any other platforms that connect the chessnut board via chessconnect in full functionality.

Overall, the Chessnut NEXT app is a genuinely enjoyable and easy-to-use free app for users of all ELO's , ist use is not just limited to chessnut board owners. It’s a real winner. I love it.

I’m sure, hardcore Lichess enthusiasts won’t need this app, but for the rest of us, average chess gamers like me, it’s an easy-to-navigate package that combines the best features of chess and Lichess in a neat package.

Correct me if I’m wrong.

First of all, the new update rocks! What an upgrade. I've been able to play on chesscom and lichess pretty much seamlessly, but the Lichess game I played was Casual, not Rated.

Is there any way to play a rated game on Lichess after the newest Evo update?

I still can't import games from lichess nor chess.com into the game records to train an engine.

Has anyone figured out how to play an OTB game and get the move timestamps recorded in the PGN file?

I have a Chessnut Pro and Go. I've tried the old Chessnut app, the new Chessnut Next app, and the Chessconnect extension on desktop and mobile.

Within the Chessnut apps obviously the clock functions during the game... but that data isn't recorded in the PGN file.

Is it possible to change the colors of the LEDs in a "career" game? They are set as white for all pieces (this is what I want) in the NEXT app settings, and this is what I see in an OTB game, but in career mode my opponent's pieces are lit with blue. I can't find a setting for that. I haven't tried an online game yet to check this behavior.

Played an OTB game with a buddy and had some really interesting situations I wanted to review. After the game we tried to go to analysis, but I was prompted to sign in and didn't have my credentials handy; I had already signed in right after the update, so this was a surprise. Got home and looked up the game. Only the first 13 moves (of 40+) had been saved, and the game was ongoing rather than completed (I had resigned and gone through the dialog).

During the above game, the screen kept timing out and going dark.

The clocks in OTB mode are small, and they're not oriented toward each player: they're both oriented toward 1 side. In addition, we've lost the ability to assign a player's name on each clock as we could do with the old software.

I get signed out without being notified until I want to view records, and then the game I thought I was recording isn't in the records after signing in. I keep the "remember password" box checked, but the password is not remembered.

I'm thinking about buying it as my first eboard. Well priced, portable to take it with me, and compatible with several apps to play.

Am I missing something or is it as good as it seems?

Thanks!

I am considering getting a chestnut move. Is there a way to do opening drills, either by PGN or one of the major sites (lichess or Chessable)?

Hello,

I’m just curious when we can expect the first reviews of the Chessnut Companion, since the first batch was sent in July and the upcoming days the next batches will be shipped.

Tbh I was expecting reviews online already and it seems not positive there isn’t any online yet…