This product was not featured by Product Hunt yet. It will not be visible on their landing page and won't be ranked (cannot win product of the day regardless of upvotes).
Magical Chess
Free smart chess board — runs on the phone in your pocket.
Turn your phone into a smart chess board. Point the camera at any classical set. Magical Chess detects pieces in real time, tracks moves, runs the clock, and writes the notation for you automatically.
I'm a club-level player (Årslev Skakklub, Denmark) and got tired of manually recording my OTB games on a scoresheet then re-entering the position into Lichess by hand for analysis. The whole loop felt clunky when most chess players already carry a powerful camera in their pocket.
Existing smart boards (ChessUp, DGT) cost $400–$1000+. That's wild for an experience your phone can already deliver.
Spent six months training a YOLO detector on real chess photos so it works on any classical Staunton or Fischer-style set, plus themed boards I designed (H.C. Andersen). Detection runs entirely on-device — no server roundtrip, no subscription, works on a park bench with no signal.
Curious what features OTB players here would want next — and what would break the detector. Honest feedback very welcome.
Would love to see a way to review past games with a move-by-move visual replay of the actual board I played on, not just the notation. That would make it way more useful for studying my mistakes.
hello. it looks really great! i an android user. will it also be on google play and what will be the price for this app?
About Magical Chess on Product Hunt
“Free smart chess board — runs on the phone in your pocket.”
Magical Chess was submitted on Product Hunt and earned 15 upvotes and 5 comments, placing #43 on the daily leaderboard. Turn your phone into a smart chess board. Point the camera at any classical set. Magical Chess detects pieces in real time, tracks moves, runs the clock, and writes the notation for you automatically.
Magical Chess was featured in Education (78.9k followers), Artificial Intelligence (474.1k followers) and Apple (15.5k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 144.8k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted Magical Chess?
Magical Chess was hunted by Kadir Erdem Demir. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
Want to see how Magical Chess stacked up against nearby launches in real time? Check out the live launch dashboard for upvote speed charts, proximity comparisons, and more analytics.
Kadir Erdem Demir