DGT Board for Training

I'm getting back into chess after a long hiatus and need some training methods.  One thing I am thinking of doing is:  I was considering purchasing a DGT board for training so that I have a way of playing a dumbed down version of an engine and later use that engine to analyze my games I got crushed on so that I could identify my weaknesses which are probably everything.

Option A - DGT bluetooth and various engines

(Maybe use raspberry pi and picochess for game training)

Option B - DGT Revelation ii with contained engines

Any feedback on the idea.  I just find that playing on a screen and playing on the board give me different perspectives and just studying on a screen doesn't directly relate to my seeing on the board.  Of course I would be studying tactics, endgames, etc. OTB with books also.

Anyone who has a DGT board, please identify yourself so I know if this is a useful approach to you.  I need to evaluate if this is a good idea.

Thanks,

Mark

With a DGT board you have to make the computer engine's move on your board anyway.  With a non-DGT board you have to do that and make a couple of clicks on the computer to tell the computer what you moved.  The difference is not worth it for $500-$1000 worth of DGT equipment.  This is coming from someone who does most of their study and play sitting at a real chess board with a computer beside.

Hi Mark-

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm a big fan of chess.com and will always keep my subscription, but I really want to buy a DGT board for all of the obvious reasons, but especially because my memory needs that tactile experience of touching a piece.  If the two would work together, that would be ideal, but apparently that is still not an option.

I think I'll be buying a DGT this week and will be trying it initially with Shredder on a Mac. I may wind up needing a PC to run properly, but that's easy to remedy with boot camp. I kind of like the shredder software though the jury is still out and this is a new world to me so I'll be poking around some more.

I've been seriously considering your option B as well and am drawn to the simplicity of having the engine embedded and the computer being just an option. The only downside to that model for me is I find the LED a little distracting.

I read an interesting compromise solution on line where someone went with an inexpensive HP tablet runnning Windows and made that their chess computer. It communicated with the DGT board via Bluetooth.  It had a quirk or two, but overall not a bad idea. The tablet was under $200.

My game is not nearly at a "level" -- imagine having ADD,  being drunk, and then having someone hit you in the head with a baseball bat - that describes my chess attention span and ensuing level of play -- anyway, my game is not at a level where my engine choice will make a significant difference so I'm looking for engines that give me practical educational and training options more than anything.

I'm curious what you ultimately decide to do. Let me know.

Bruce

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Bruce.  I still have to sort out my computer issues before I make a decision.  Looks like for now I'm using the engine here set to an opening of 1200 to 1400 and playing that over the board to help my board vision.  I need to get my openings down also so I'm trying to train in the openings I hope to play in my repertoire.

I'm also tempted by the DGT board, but that would be an overkill given my level, but you know, it would be useful if I take it to a club, or anywhere outside and just play with people, then get back home and analyze the games stored on the board, cause most of the time you won't be able to annotate those blitz games.

Buying it just to play against the computer is probably not so much worth and wasting 50% of its use, and also using it against the computer render the clock almost useless, unless you're using a raspberry pi. So far against the computer I use the "analog dgt board", that would be me moving OTB and then clicking on the PC.

Just get a little stand for your phone and set your phone beside the board and turn the camera on to record your blitz games.  When you get home, just watch the video to remind you of all the moves.  The view doesn't have to be perfect, you can figure out what happened from the video most of the time.  There really is no need to spend that much money on a DGT board.

It's actually probably better training for your overall chess abilities to just record all the moves manually in algebraic form without relying on the DGT board to record it for you. You'll get a lot of practice in quickly identifying board squares, which makes reading through annotations much easier.

I've got a bluetooth DGT board with the dgt 3000 about two weeks ago. It's fantastic to have a board standing by ready to play anytime. Computer sits in a corner with Fritz running. I still have to make the computers move, but they are displayed on the clock. I can concentrate on the board, and I don't need to go over to the computer to play my moves there. 

I've played a little online at FICS with it and Babachess. That works flawless. Drawback is that you need to make opponents moves to. It's a small delay before they are announced, so you play with a slight time handicap. I've found that 5m+10s is the shortest time control that makes any sense playing. 

I've tried to play online with the Frits software at playchess.com, but the software hasn't worked very well and has started games without connecting to the board. Stopped mid game and other problems. May be that the laptop is old and slow. 

At roughly the price of a new Iphone I think it's was well worth the money. (To use this kind of money on an Iphone would feel like a waste for me). It doesn't matter what level you are at. It's a useful training tool at any level. Maybe it's even more valuable to low rated players?

For me it's also a big plus that if I sit down and play chess on the board my wife doesn't nag as much as if am sitting in front of the computer or playing on my phone!

I've used it to play over some classical games from the lessons here at chess.com, but then I haven't bothered to connect it to the computer, but rather just used it as a wooden board.

I choose the eboard over the revelation because of the clean design. It's a beautiful crafted wooden board and the electronics is not visible. Especially on the bluetooth version where there is no cables at all except for a short wire to the clock. 

Bottom line is that if you got the money, it's not the worst way to spend it. It gives me more OTB training that I wouldn't be able to fit into my life with wife, kids and work otherwise.