---
product_id: 82266908
title: "Square Off Chess Set. A Smart automated Chess Board, which Moves The opponent's Pieces on its own. Play Against The AI or Anyone Across The Globe. with Built-in Auto-Reset Feature."
brand: "square off"
price: "AED 233"
currency: AED
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.ae/products/82266908-square-off-chess-set-a-smart-automated-chess-board-which
store_origin: AE
region: United Arab Emirates
---

# Square Off Chess Set. A Smart automated Chess Board, which Moves The opponent's Pieces on its own. Play Against The AI or Anyone Across The Globe. with Built-in Auto-Reset Feature.

**Brand:** square off
**Price:** AED 233
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Square Off Chess Set. A Smart automated Chess Board, which Moves The opponent's Pieces on its own. Play Against The AI or Anyone Across The Globe. with Built-in Auto-Reset Feature. by square off
- **How much does it cost?** AED 233 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ae](https://www.desertcart.ae/products/82266908-square-off-chess-set-a-smart-automated-chess-board-which)

## Best For

- square off enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted square off brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

Product description

Review: The smartest chess board ever... we love it! - Bottom line: if you or your kids are into chess, a Square Off board is a perfect fit. Yes, the price is high if you only compare it to traditional boards... but this is a premium, connected product that’s well worth the cost. I’ve looked around, and no other computerized board approaches Square Off’s combination of quality, connectivity and other features, even at 10x the price. Online chess is convenient because there are always opponents available, but in most other ways it’s inferior to playing on a physical board. There’s no substitute for the enjoyment the beauty and tactile feel of a quality chess set bring to a game… the trouble is finding someone to play against. When I saw the Square Off board on YouTube I was dazzled... it perfectly combines the advantages of physical board play with those of online play! Other electronic wooden boards (eg. by Millenium and DGT) cost much more than Square Off, and have at best VERY clunky & limited online connectivity. None support Chess.com. Square Off boards are the only ones on the market that move their own pieces… super fun, and way more like playing a real game of chess in person. The board is beautiful… not quite as nice as $1k-$5k DGT e-boards, but plenty nice enough to serve as a central feature of a room. There are several ways to play: against any of 20 levels of board AI (powered by Stockfish, the best available chess AI), against anyone else with a Square Off board or app, or against your Chess.com friends. Note: Square Off has some concerning desertcart reviews for boards bought late last year... reviews before and after that period were far more positive. I contacted the company… they claim a manufacturing partner didn’t follow their specs and produced some bad boards. They say they’ve fixed the problem in the current batch of boards, but I still wanted to make sure we really put the board through its paces, while I could easily return it if there was a problem. We’ve played vs. the AI; vs. friends, vs. family and random opponents who have a Square Off board or app; and vs. Chess.com friends… it performed excellently. Some “pros” for the Square Off board: - The AI is *very* easy to play at a moment’s notice. Turn the board on, launch the app, and within seconds you’re playing at the level of your choice. - As soon as a game completes, the app offers to open your game data in the “Analyze This” chess analysis app… it’s a great way to learn from every game. - The Grand Kingdom “auto-reset” feature takes a while, but it’s super cool. You can reset the board yourself if you’re in a hurry, but we always trigger an auto-reset… it’s a relaxing, entertaining process to watch. I included a clip in the video attached this review. - It’s easy to display the current piece positions on the app. That was helpful when my 10-year-old knocked some pieces over while making a move… a quick switch to the app’s board display made it easy to verify everything was put back where it belonged. - The board has a rechargeable battery in it, so we leave it unplugged most of the time. You can tap an icon in the app to see the remaining battery percentage. - The company can (and according to reviews, does) continue improving the features via app & firmware updates. Now some potential “cons”, none of which are a big deal to us: - The boards are rather large, as fine chess boards tend to be. The Kingdom Set is ~1.5x1.5ft, the Grand Kingdom is ~2x1.5ft. We leave ours set up on a coffee table to encourage frequent play and show it off to visitors… the size & quality of the board make it look like it belongs there. - The pieces are very nice, but they’re a little smaller and lighter than you’d expect for a normal board of this size & price. It’s pretty clear that’s because they must be light enough for the robotic mechanism to easily move, and small enough that a piece can fit between two other pieces. For example, knights obviously can’t jump over other pieces, so they instead move between and around them. See the attached video for a demo. - Capturing takes a little getting used to: when capturing a piece, the board first grabs your captured piece and drags it off the board (to its marked “parking spot” on the Grand Kingdom Set, or to just off the edge of the playing area on the Kingdom Set). Then it moves the capturing piece into the captured piece’s square. Again, see the attached video for a demo. - The app connects via Bluetooth, so you’ll need the device running the app to be fairly close by while you use the board.
Review: A Beautiful Paperweight - Let's be frank: this board has a hefty price tag – but if it works, it's worth it for a chess enthusiast. When opening the box, you're likely to be enamored with the board's craftsmanship at first sight. It's a beautiful wooden board that looks like it's built to last. As some reviewers have noted, the pieces are somewhat small – though they were not quite as small as I had imagined. One sign of good quality here is that the felt on the bottoms of these pieces were never off-center. Moreover, it is nice to see that an extra queen is included for both sides – though truthfully, for the price of this board, including two sets of pieces in case of breakage would be ideal. Yet, while all of this sounds like the lead up to a five star review; the board didn't work. As other reviewers have bemoaned, the board came out of the box defective – the magnetic mechanism grinds incessantly, even after following the diagnostic steps provided in the app. This is where the process becomes unbearable. Communicating with customer service is a nightmare, as you can only reach them from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. India Standard Time. Even when you preface your message by explaining that you've already tried the "quick fixes," they will sugest those very same quick fixes in response. Finally, after about a week of back and forth, a refund was confirmed via desertcart and now we have to waste the time repackaging the whole thing and sending it back. Horrible experience! Bottom line: A chessboard that costs over $400.00 and takes weeks to arrive needs to come out of the box working. And, when anomalies occur, you have to have impeccable customer service in place to get the problem fixed right away. The technology is amazing, but it means nothing if it doesn't work! I would strongly recommend waiting until these bugs are fixed before rolling the dice on having to deal with disappointment and the hassle of getting your refund!

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| ASIN | B07FGG2VM3 |
| Are Batteries Required | Yes |
| Brand Name | Square Off |
| CPSIA Cautionary Statement | Choking Hazard - Small Parts |
| Customer Reviews | 3.6 out of 5 stars 27 Reviews |
| Genre | Strategy |
| Item Dimensions | 19.1 x 24.4 x 2 inches |
| Item Weight | 16.53 Pounds |
| Manufacturer Part Number | SQF-GKS-US-011 |
| Minimum Age Recomendation | 6 |

## Images

![Square Off Chess Set. A Smart automated Chess Board, which Moves The opponent's Pieces on its own. Play Against The AI or Anyone Across The Globe. with Built-in Auto-Reset Feature. - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61J4DwiEPvL.jpg)
![Square Off Chess Set. A Smart automated Chess Board, which Moves The opponent's Pieces on its own. Play Against The AI or Anyone Across The Globe. with Built-in Auto-Reset Feature. - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51RX0FjwQxL.jpg)
![Square Off Chess Set. A Smart automated Chess Board, which Moves The opponent's Pieces on its own. Play Against The AI or Anyone Across The Globe. with Built-in Auto-Reset Feature. - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51eA+j8JAaL.jpg)
![Square Off Chess Set. A Smart automated Chess Board, which Moves The opponent's Pieces on its own. Play Against The AI or Anyone Across The Globe. with Built-in Auto-Reset Feature. - Image 4](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41zZBWacGQL.jpg)
![Square Off Chess Set. A Smart automated Chess Board, which Moves The opponent's Pieces on its own. Play Against The AI or Anyone Across The Globe. with Built-in Auto-Reset Feature. - Image 5](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41oCt30fJVL.jpg)

## Questions & Answers

**Q: How much noise is made by the moving pieces?  Can you hear the gears grinding underneath?  Are there any clicks or snaps that sound cheap and clunky?**
A: The motion is smooth and quiet... it's not remotely cheap or clunky sounding There *is* one corner of my board where there's a faint rustle as the arm moves by it.  Being familiar with electronics, I expect that's from a folding ribbon cable... I've had a robotic CD duplicating machine in my office for years, and it makes the same sort of faint noise at the very end of the robotic arm's travel. The CD duplicating robot has a transparent cover, so I can see the the noise is made by the folding ribbon cable. FWIW, ribbon cables are hardy bits of tech that have been around a long time, I've never seen one fail in my 30 years working with computers. 

Be aware that there *is* a beep when you press a piece down on the starting and ending squares to mark a move. It also sounds 3 rapid beeps when there's an illegal move, when you need to glance at the app to tell the board what you're promoting a pawn to, or when the game is over.

**Q: Does this set come with an extra queen and pawn?**
A: The set does come with an extra queen for each color. As with other nice chess sets, if you promote a 3rd or 4th queen in the same game, you'll have to use other pieces and move them like a queen. The standard trick in chess circles is to stand a rook on its head to make clear it's a queen... that'll work fine for the human player, but if the AI or a remote opponent promotes a 3rd or 4th queen the substitute probably needs to be right side up for the magnets in the board to move it.  If you use an upside down rook for your opponent you'll have to watch & listen for the board to unsuccessfully make a move, then check the app to see what it did and execute the move manually.

BTW, when the board promotes a piece, it will beep on the screen and show you what it's promoting the pawn to... you'll have to manually swap the pawn for the extra queen or other piece. 

There are no extra pawns... why would you need one, in case you lose one?

**Q: Any reliable indications that their quality problems are solved?**
A: Hi, we certainly understand your hesitation and concern since the product delivered to you earlier was not up to the expectations hence we have worked on the feedback/complaints received to have better quality checks at each stage of production so that a flawless product is delivered to you. We have a new and improved 2019 version of our board and we assure you that the earlier problems have been worked on to deliver a great experience.

**Q: Is there a chess clock or time limit set for the game?**
A: There are timed games with clocks which count down on your phone or device while playing on chess.com and soon timed games will be introduced on the square off friends section

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The smartest chess board ever... we love it!
*by B***Z on February 2, 2019*

Bottom line: if you or your kids are into chess, a Square Off board is a perfect fit. Yes, the price is high if you only compare it to traditional boards... but this is a premium, connected product that’s well worth the cost. I’ve looked around, and no other computerized board approaches Square Off’s combination of quality, connectivity and other features, even at 10x the price. Online chess is convenient because there are always opponents available, but in most other ways it’s inferior to playing on a physical board. There’s no substitute for the enjoyment the beauty and tactile feel of a quality chess set bring to a game… the trouble is finding someone to play against. When I saw the Square Off board on YouTube I was dazzled... it perfectly combines the advantages of physical board play with those of online play! Other electronic wooden boards (eg. by Millenium and DGT) cost much more than Square Off, and have at best VERY clunky & limited online connectivity. None support Chess.com. Square Off boards are the only ones on the market that move their own pieces… super fun, and way more like playing a real game of chess in person. The board is beautiful… not quite as nice as $1k-$5k DGT e-boards, but plenty nice enough to serve as a central feature of a room. There are several ways to play: against any of 20 levels of board AI (powered by Stockfish, the best available chess AI), against anyone else with a Square Off board or app, or against your Chess.com friends. Note: Square Off has some concerning Amazon reviews for boards bought late last year... reviews before and after that period were far more positive. I contacted the company… they claim a manufacturing partner didn’t follow their specs and produced some bad boards. They say they’ve fixed the problem in the current batch of boards, but I still wanted to make sure we really put the board through its paces, while I could easily return it if there was a problem. We’ve played vs. the AI; vs. friends, vs. family and random opponents who have a Square Off board or app; and vs. Chess.com friends… it performed excellently. Some “pros” for the Square Off board: - The AI is *very* easy to play at a moment’s notice. Turn the board on, launch the app, and within seconds you’re playing at the level of your choice. - As soon as a game completes, the app offers to open your game data in the “Analyze This” chess analysis app… it’s a great way to learn from every game. - The Grand Kingdom “auto-reset” feature takes a while, but it’s super cool. You can reset the board yourself if you’re in a hurry, but we always trigger an auto-reset… it’s a relaxing, entertaining process to watch. I included a clip in the video attached this review. - It’s easy to display the current piece positions on the app. That was helpful when my 10-year-old knocked some pieces over while making a move… a quick switch to the app’s board display made it easy to verify everything was put back where it belonged. - The board has a rechargeable battery in it, so we leave it unplugged most of the time. You can tap an icon in the app to see the remaining battery percentage. - The company can (and according to reviews, does) continue improving the features via app & firmware updates. Now some potential “cons”, none of which are a big deal to us: - The boards are rather large, as fine chess boards tend to be. The Kingdom Set is ~1.5x1.5ft, the Grand Kingdom is ~2x1.5ft. We leave ours set up on a coffee table to encourage frequent play and show it off to visitors… the size & quality of the board make it look like it belongs there. - The pieces are very nice, but they’re a little smaller and lighter than you’d expect for a normal board of this size & price. It’s pretty clear that’s because they must be light enough for the robotic mechanism to easily move, and small enough that a piece can fit between two other pieces. For example, knights obviously can’t jump over other pieces, so they instead move between and around them. See the attached video for a demo. - Capturing takes a little getting used to: when capturing a piece, the board first grabs your captured piece and drags it off the board (to its marked “parking spot” on the Grand Kingdom Set, or to just off the edge of the playing area on the Kingdom Set). Then it moves the capturing piece into the captured piece’s square. Again, see the attached video for a demo. - The app connects via Bluetooth, so you’ll need the device running the app to be fairly close by while you use the board.

### ⭐ A Beautiful Paperweight
*by T***A on December 14, 2018*

Let's be frank: this board has a hefty price tag – but if it works, it's worth it for a chess enthusiast. When opening the box, you're likely to be enamored with the board's craftsmanship at first sight. It's a beautiful wooden board that looks like it's built to last. As some reviewers have noted, the pieces are somewhat small – though they were not quite as small as I had imagined. One sign of good quality here is that the felt on the bottoms of these pieces were never off-center. Moreover, it is nice to see that an extra queen is included for both sides – though truthfully, for the price of this board, including two sets of pieces in case of breakage would be ideal. Yet, while all of this sounds like the lead up to a five star review; the board didn't work. As other reviewers have bemoaned, the board came out of the box defective – the magnetic mechanism grinds incessantly, even after following the diagnostic steps provided in the app. This is where the process becomes unbearable. Communicating with customer service is a nightmare, as you can only reach them from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. India Standard Time. Even when you preface your message by explaining that you've already tried the "quick fixes," they will sugest those very same quick fixes in response. Finally, after about a week of back and forth, a refund was confirmed via Amazon and now we have to waste the time repackaging the whole thing and sending it back. Horrible experience! Bottom line: A chessboard that costs over $400.00 and takes weeks to arrive needs to come out of the box working. And, when anomalies occur, you have to have impeccable customer service in place to get the problem fixed right away. The technology is amazing, but it means nothing if it doesn't work! I would strongly recommend waiting until these bugs are fixed before rolling the dice on having to deal with disappointment and the hassle of getting your refund!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Absolutely stunning!
*by P***K on January 14, 2019*

I love chess, but the biggest problem with chess is that you need someone to play with, and yes you can do it on the computer or your phones but it just doesn't give you that physical feel. I want to pick up pieces and move them, capture my opponents pieces. It's simply more fun that way than staring at your screen and playing. This product so amazingly solves that issue. You can play against the board OR against an opponent sitting continents away through the app. It adds that realistic feel that I felt that was missing while playing against a computer. The AI on the board is super good, I have only beaten it up to level 4. I mostly prefer playing against other regular players available on the app, I feel they make mistakes like we all normal players do. So other day I challenged my buddy in New York (I live on the west coast, and he doesn't have the board), he was able to download the app and play against me on it (while I was playing on the board) which is such a great feature. Physically and visually the board is beautiful! It is well constructed, and has quality components. It looks nice in our house and we love showing it off. The pieces are slightly light, but I guess they have to be since the machine underneath the board has to move them magnatically and they can't be that heavy for it to do so. The motor under the board has gears (you can hear them) and the make a slight noise, but you get over it real quick as no machine is completly silent in this kind of operation. One thing I would suggest is to save the box it comes in, the board doesn't come with any sort of cover to prevent it getting dirty or scratched while storing, and box has foam inside which will keep it safe from denting and scratching and will keeep it looking brand new ( I know, it's not ideal, but trust me, you will realize it in time). As for the value for money, I feel this is one of the best purchases I have made in a while and it keeps me from staring at my phone for hours for no reason. I saw a lot of negative comments here before buying but after using the product now I feel some of them were unwarranted (sometimes you do get defective product and that's just how it is, you can buy any product and it could happen with that, simply return it and get a new one from Amazon). I personally did not have any of the issues that some people said they had, so I'm guessing it was probably a defective piece. All in all, a great purchase, buy it and add me on your app and let's play sometime!

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*Product available on Desertcart United Arab Emirates*
*Store origin: AE*
*Last updated: 2026-06-04*