DGT board arrives -- serious disappointment

[sje]

[Mike Watters]

My Royal set has white and black bishops all measuring 72mm and white and black knights all measuring 65mm. 0% proportional differences all round.

Just for the record regards
Mike

[WispaBar]

I totally agree with sje. You have paid a lot of money for a chess set and you should not accept anything less than a perfect set.

You will never receive full enjoyment knowing it is wrong.

DGT should be sorting this out at no cost to you, it is not your fault.

[sje]

I apologize for the poor quality of the photograph. It was taken with my old iPod and that's about as best as it can do.

The white knight is 65 mm tall and very strongly resembles the Royal set knight in DGT web site photograph. Not only is the black knight taller, its mane is straight vs the white curved mane, its mane does not flow smoothly into the base, and its ears are very different vs the white knight ears.

Perhaps DGT had a bad run of black pieces and had to redo them but didn't properly supply a model or artwork.

I sent a copy of the photo to both Chess House and DGT earlier today and am waiting for replies.

[sje]

My Royal set has white and black bishops all measuring 72mm and white and black knights all measuring 65mm. 0% proportional differences all round.

I believe you. I just know that there are quality DGT pieces somewhere. If only I could lay hands on a set.

[sje]

You will never receive full enjoyment knowing it is wrong.

You are correct. I bought an expensive (to me) Lardy wood set many years ago and it was fine -- for a while. But after a couple of the white pieces developed a noticeable warp because of use of improperly aged wood, I stopped using the set.

[red_potatoes]

Getting the Timeless set would earn a US$50 refund and it might be more likely to be consistent as it's the default and is used in many events. But I don't like its knights.

The Classic set has an decent style, but it's slightly compromised with "ebonized" pieces.

Oddly enough, as the years have passed, I have come to really like the "german" style knights of the timeless set. I own quite a few wooden sets from the House of Staunton, but the set I play with the most (their championship design) is similar in design to the timeless set. Its also my least expensive set. I never would have predicted I'd use it so much.

Regarding ebonized DGT sets: I agree, don't go there. I don't like the way ebonized finishes tend to fade with time. I have an ebonized HOS "Reykjavik" DGT set, and while I like the design, I don't like the way the color of the black pieces is slowly changing. The DGT ebony set has been tempting me for some time as a result.

What I'd really, really like to have for my DGT board is the WEIGHTED ebony DGT set used at the 2013 Sinquefield Cup. Alas, HOS and DGT are not selling those, at least not yet.

[sje]

I can get acclimated to simply carved knights but not knights of different sizes. My idea now is to get a DGT Ebony set as the main set and a DGT Timeless set as a spare. I don't think that an acceptable DGT Royal set can appear in a reasonable time.

Getting one of the DGT ebonized sets is an option, but a last place option.

Chess House has received the my return of the first set they shipped. That should clear the way for ordering an Ebony set and later a Timeless set. I want to get a spare and I'll do one set at a time to avoid confusion. I hope to hear from Chess House tomorrow. I haven't yet heard from DGT themselves.

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Depending on the size, shape, and electrical characteristics of the DGT piece electronics, it may not be possible to do conventional piece weighting. I haven't seen any weighted DGT compatible piece sets for sale. I haven't seen the DGT version of the FIDE 2013 set for sale, either.

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Note to those considering a purchase of the Revelation II: You'll have to go through a similar procedure with buying a DGT compatible piece set as one is not included with the computer. Beware of delays and be ready to allow a substitution.

[Steve B]

Note to those considering a purchase of the Revelation II: You'll have to go through a similar procedure with buying a DGT compatible piece set as one is not included with the computer. Beware of delays and be ready to allow a substitution.

this is not correct
There will be no confusion or the need for any substitutions
When Ruud contacted all of us we had to chose which set we wanted.. a long time ago..
the selection of the set was a necessary part of accepting an order from us
the set selection was confirmed by Ruud many times
there were no problems at all when i purchased the :
Resurrection I
Resurrection II
Revelation I
this goes for the pieces(Rev I) or for any other part of the sale with any of the computers

i have no doubt the Rev II will ship with no problems at all with the piece sets

Utterly Unconcerned Regards
Steve

[sje]

It looks like the DGT Revelation II pages have changed since the last time I saw them.

In any case, I hope no one has any problems with mismatched pieces.

[sje]

I made contact with DGT, giving them details and they've properly replied that the size differences are unacceptable.

I've decided that it's unreasonable to expect a third attempt with getting a DGT Royal set to be successful in a timely manner. I'm sending back the second Royal set and am ordering a DGT Ebony set hoping that all of its pieces came from the same production run. Later, I'll get a DGT Timeless set as a spare. I just want to get this resolved so I can start writing some OS/X and Linux software for the board.

[Wardy]

Have to say I had no issue with my Royal set...........other than it's not as much fun for me as a dedicated but that's hardly the pieces fault

I also have no doubt that Ruud and his team will ensure that there are no issues with the Rev II.

[sje]

After more thought about the Revelation II, I'll guess that the piece sets ordered will be properly inspected because of the specialization of the product and the low volume. I believe that the problems I've had with my DGT Royal set mismatches were the result of some minor carelessness with labeling parts bins. With a small production run and with better vendor attention, buyers of a Revelation II should not have piece problems.

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With luck, I should have a DGT Ebony set in a week or so. With that, I can finally unwrap the board and the software so as to start working on portable C++ interface support. I'm also going to get a DGT XL clock and a RaspPi running PicoChess so I can steal some ideas and run some interface tests. Later, I'll get a DGT Timeless set for a spare.

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If the DGT piece electronics work the way I think they do, then it is not possible to add weight to a DGT piece using the now traditional method of inserting one or more (often, three) solid iron disks into the base of each piece.

Playing with unweighted pieces is not so bad. I did such for years when I was young and could not afford a weighted wood set. As I understand the situation, unweighted DGT pieces have been used in high level competition far nearly a decade without serious problems.

Sets made from wood or ivory in the 1800s or earlier often did not have weighting. They did have relatively large bases to help with stability. Sets with tall, unweighted pieces were mostly used for display anyway.

[sje]

I received the DGT Ebony piece set earlier today.

After a brief examination, I've determined that:

1. The set is complete.
2. The set matches the set in the corresponding picture at the DGT web site.
3. The white pieces match the black pieces in all but color.
4. The size of the pieces is as was specified.
5. There are no obvious imperfections.

Later today I'll unpack the board, cables, manuals, and software to run some tests.

[Mars]

3. The white pieces match the black pieces in all but color.

Hm. Don't the same pieces of the same color match each other..?

http://home.arcor.de/mars-chess/Exclusi ... pawns.html

Hand Made Regards,
Martin