[HN Gopher] Real Time Chess - A physical chess board without the...
___________________________________________________________________
Real Time Chess - A physical chess board without the concept of
turns
Author : dschuessler
Score : 173 points
Date : 2025-03-29 11:41 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| vunderba wrote:
| There was a demo from around 5+ years ago of a experimental real-
| time Chess board which looked remarkably similar. Once a piece
| was moved, a visible circular timer with a duration proportional
| to the piece valuation would count down until they were allowed
| to move the piece again.
|
| I wish I could find the link but trying to search YT for relevant
| results older than a couple years is just trash.
| hnlmorg wrote:
| Could it be the Kung Fu Chess games mentioned in the video?
| mnky9800n wrote:
| Why is ass and anal bolded in the readme? The git blame says you
| did it. Haha.
| iwontberude wrote:
| I think the ass speaks for itself
| quuxplusone wrote:
| https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/sport/hans-niemann-denies-sex...
| xg15 wrote:
| I think it's a nod to the controversy he alluded to in the
| previous sentences, which exposed some more unorthodox cheating
| strategies. You can read about it in the link.
| meowface wrote:
| It refers to a player accused of cheating against Magnus
| Carlsen, with widespread speculation that the cheating might've
| been done using an anal vibrator.
|
| (There's zero evidence it actually was an anal device; no one
| knows how he might've cheated if he indeed cheated. It just
| became a big meme.)
| mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote:
| Hans Niemann almost certainly did not cheat against Carlsen.
| Carlsen just played that game rather poorly and ragequit the
| tournament because he's a baby who can't handle losing.
|
| I do think Niemann may have cheated in OTB chess before. But
| not at the Sinquefield Cup, I just don't see it. And the only
| evidence is insinuations from a sore loser who's well known
| for throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his way.
|
| The buttplug stuff was really just a joke from reddit, no
| one's seriously suggested anyone is actually cheating using a
| buttplug. Doesn't even make sense as a way of cheating,
| really. It would be extremely obvious.
| olddustytrail wrote:
| Hans Niemann almost certainly did cheat against Carlsen.
| Everyone who knows about chess found that game hugely
| suspicious (see Hikaru's comments on it).
|
| The idea that Carlsen can't stand losing is a theory from
| people who don't know about chess. His lose rate is about
| 15%. All GMs lose games all the time. It's keeping the win
| rate as high as possible that makes them the best.
|
| The notion that any GM would get so upset simply about
| losing a single game is just nonsense.
| xg15 wrote:
| > _so this should be a pretty uncontroversial minor rules update_
|
| My kind of humor.
|
| Always found it an interesting aspect of chess that the most
| "common sense" rules (Players take turns; no skipping; one move
| per turn) result in the most unintuitive outcomes and a massive
| increase in complexity: Suddenly you can reason about the pieces
| a player _won 't_ be able to move in a turn, you can double-bind
| players, you get draws where its provably impossible for any
| player to win, etc.
|
| (In that sense, chess is a bit like the IntercalScript language
| earlier today: All features are superficially reasonable and in
| the service of simplicity, yet result in the weirdest outcomes)
|
| Wouldn't all this be gone for chess without turns?
|
| Or would strategies become even more intricate, e.g. taking into
| account the minimum time you'd require to physically move a
| piece?
| NhanH wrote:
| The strategies will change, but it is not certain to be more
| "intricate", it could go both way.
|
| It is probably more likely that adding the other physical
| limitation of the human body causes one strategy to be vastly
| more effective, and the game becomes less intricate. The reason
| is fairly simple: a game does not become "intricate" or
| "interesting" by accident. We iterated through a lot variations
| before we settled down on _this_ version of chess that has the
| suitable intricacy for us. Adding a new factor probably needs a
| couple more decades / centuries of refinement before we get to
| a version that has similar property to the current one.
|
| The similar situation in Starcraft: for machines that plays the
| game, certain units just become the only way to play (mostly
| long range high damage units). Human can't choose 100 targets
| at once, machines can. If you balance the game for machines,
| then those units would be useless for human players
| dullcrisp wrote:
| If you like the humor you should watch the linked video!
| JumpCrisscross wrote:
| > _you can reason about the pieces a player won 't be able to
| move in a turn_
|
| Zugzwang [1].
|
| (Also works if you get blessed with a competitor who acts
| impulsively when confused or flustered.)
|
| [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugzwang
| akrotkov wrote:
| I spent hundreds of hours 20 years ago playing Kung Fu Chess[1],
| which was the (first?) online version of this concept. That was a
| fun time.
|
| The physical board and magnets definitely add a cool factor to it
| as does the physical dexterity element. Nice project!
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung-Fu_Chess
| ece wrote:
| The Wikipedia page mentions the Chezz app, and it's available
| and fun. Reminds me of really bad chess too.
| rideontime wrote:
| Don't miss the linked video on YouTube, the first 30 seconds had
| me hooked. Very impressive project and production values to
| match.
| HenryBemis wrote:
| > Chess is boring. I'm boring..
|
| Nope. You are boring (and feel free to be). Chess is not boring.
| That's it.
| vlovich123 wrote:
| For those wondering how the players could take pieces during the
| cool down, you're allowed to move your opponent's piece because
| you wear a strap with different frequencies (500hz and 750hz)
| which lets the board know who is and isn't allowed to move a
| piece.
| Aperocky wrote:
| Highly suggest to check out his homepage:
| https://github.com/misprit7, as its not the first time I've seen
| his project up here (and deservedly so!), his foosbar machine was
| definitely worth a watch:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrwXZXGiP1w
|
| As a fellow engineer, I am in awe - I wonder what his full time
| colleagues think when he walks in as an intern with that kind of
| github presence.
| misprit7 wrote:
| Hey, I'm the one who made this! My video on it probably does a
| better job of explaining it than the github so I'd recommend
| checking that out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7VtSK23_Jg
|
| If anyone has any questions about the engineering process/game
| itself I'd be happy to answer.
| joymonger wrote:
| I'd agree that the video is much more captivating. It's really
| an incredible and innovative piece of hardware. I am curious,
| did you ever arrange a meetup with Magnus?
| misprit7 wrote:
| No :(
| spuz wrote:
| I'd really love to see some high level players try it. Did
| you get anywhere with letting Hikaru have a go? I know that
| he said he would be interested when he watched your video.
| sparky_z wrote:
| Does the system of electromagnets do anything to enforce legal
| vs illegal moves? Seems like another way for your untrustworthy
| friends to cheat. When your opponent's distracted, just put
| your queen anywhere you like.
|
| Also, is there a rule about moving one piece at a time? I was
| surprised I didn't see anyone two-handing it. If it were me, my
| opening move would be to grab 4 pawns at one (2 in each hand)
| and shifting them all forward two spaces. That would have been
| my first instinct.
| misprit7 wrote:
| No. The intention with the electromagnets wasn't really to
| prevent malicious cheating, just mostly to enforce cooldowns
| since it's very easy to forget/miss the different color of
| lights. The games are generally very chaotic and due to user
| error there are usually a few incorrect touches throughout
| the game that have to be quickly corrected manually anyways,
| so enforcing legal moves wouldn't make the experience better.
|
| As for moving multiple pieces at once, the rule I have is
| only one hand and one piece at a time. This goes a long way
| towards preventing accidental bumps into other pieces and
| weird board states where there are multiple pieces in the
| process of being moved at once.
| elijahbenizzy wrote:
| This is amazing! I love that it requires very fancy hardware that
| is well designed. It's good someone finally made a chess game
| appropriate for the tiktok generation.
| Nifty3929 wrote:
| Nice use of bold in the pitch!
| gus_massa wrote:
| Is it possible to make the squares sligtly conical (like a dinner
| plate) with the magnet at the bottom, so the pieces are aligned
| naturaly in the center when they land?
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-03-29 23:00 UTC)