Chess960
Randomized back rank, no opening theory
Fischer Random. The board shuffles your back rank into one of 960 legal starting positions and lights up where each piece belongs. Memorized openings are worthless. You need the Connect page for this one: the board can light a square but it cannot tell a knight from a bishop, so the page shows you what goes where before you start.
How it plays
- 1
Back-rank pieces are randomized; both sides always get the same arrangement.
- 2
The two bishops always land on opposite-colored squares.
- 3
The king always starts somewhere between the two rooks.
- 4
Castling still exists and still ends with the king and rook on their usual squares.
Needs the Connect page
The board lights the squares; this site names the pieces. Install the game, then open Connect — faded pieces on the live board are where each one belongs, before you start.
What the lights do
At the start of every game the board walks you through the setup one piece type at a time — pawns white, kings gold, queens purple, bishops blue, knights green, rooks cyan — so you never have to decode the position yourself. Castling lights the king and rook destinations in gold and cyan.
What you'll hear
A chime when the position is dealt, the usual lift and move sounds, a distinct castle phrase when the king and rook travel together, check as a double beep, and a fanfare for mate. An illegal square buzzes. Volume is adjustable from the Connect page, all the way down to silent.
What you need
- One board
- The Connect page
Runs on
Open Chess Board · ESP32-S3
Built by Concept Bytes · based on classic_chess.ino · on OpenChessCore 1.0.0
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Make it yours
The Code tab has the whole game — 647 lines of rules, colours, and animations. Everything about the hardware lives in OpenChessCore, so that is all you need to read.
To upload your own version from Arduino IDE, add OpenChessCore.zip as a library, install Adafruit NeoPixel, NimBLE-Arduino, and pick ESP32S3 Dev Module with USB CDC On Boot: Enabled.
Play it from the Connect page
After installing, open Connect. The board shuffles the back rank and lights each piece’s squares; the page is what names them so you can set up without guessing.