Two Mumbai techies invent unique chessboard that plays on its own

Bhavya Gohil and Aatur Mehta have co-developed Square Off, where old world chess meets new-age AI. Pics/Sameer Markande

At an incubation centre in Marol, we stare intently at a chessboard placed in front of us. It's not that we are strategising our next license-to-kill move; it's just that we have heard that this chessboard is something of a legend. Over its two-year-long prototyping by Mumbai-based techies, Square Off - that's the chessboard - has earned the reputation of being the "smartest" of its kind in the world. It has been likened to the scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, where Ron selflessly orchestrates a win for Team Potter against gargantuan chess pieces that move on their own.

Log on to the Square Off app (available on iOs and Google Play). Players can play manually on the board or virtually on the app (which will translate into movements on the board) from anywhere in the world. There are 20 difficulty levels to choose from. You can even analyse your game on the app.

Unlike the larger-than-life chessboard that Potter and friends were forced to play on, we are seated on a three-level mock-amphitheatre - the kind that only cool, edgy incubation centres for start-ups can think of putting in their office for presentations and demonstrations. We are joined by Bhavya Gohil and Aatur Mehta, both 24, and the brains behind Square Off. First impressions: the chessboard looks regal, with a rosewood finish. The chess pieces, made of rosewood and maple, are of traditional make.

And, this is something that visitors at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas have been reportedly impressed by. Let's tell you why. On Square Off, we move our white knight to the centre of the board. There is no visible player against us, but a black pawn moves of its own accord and warns our knight to back off a few paces. Eventually, our knight is knocked off, and, as if held by invisible hands, moves to the side ranks to join other lost pieces. It's magical. And, slightly eerie as well to watch pawns and queens move on their own. As Ron exclaims in the film, "Yes, Hermione, this is going to be exactly like wizard chess!"

Classic, yet modern
It's a case of old-world gaming meeting new-age AI. "We wanted to maintain the classic feel of chess," says Gohil. "And, see how we make this game, known to be so intellectual, fun for everyone," adds Mehta. The secret to Square Off lies in a robotic arm inside the chessboard, a high-end open-source engine called Stockfish 8, and a smartphone app.

Essentially, the thrill of multiplayer games and chess apps is married to the satisfaction of playing on a real set. The app allows you to play against a player in Kochi or Montreal, while you can see their every move on the chessboard. "It's what Saiman Shetty [Controls Engineer at Tesla, California] told us about version 1 of Model S. They wanted to keep the design of the electric car similar to gasoline ones. It would seem that customers didn't want to use a car that would seem radically different from the regular ones that others were using. You step into what looks like a usual car, but you know it's electric. We were inspired with this thought," say Gohil and Mehta, who finished developing Square Off this January.

Two parts to the journey
The idea of developing Square Off took root when both Mehta and Gohil were students of electronic engineering at KJ Somaiya College of Engineering. Both second-year students then, and just 19, they were approached by the National Association for the Blind (NAB) to develop chess for the visually-challenged. That chessboard had accessibility features, such as textures chess squares and chess pieces that would aid the visually-challenged player. "That board could self-play and 'spoke' moves to the player. We realised later that we could use some of the features to develop Square Off," says Mehta.

There are two parts to their journey, says Gohil. "There is the prototyping that we did up until our Kickstarter campaign and then life after that," he continues. As students, Mehta and Gohil showcased Square Off at various IIT tech fests, which helped them raise funds, and co-founded their company, Infivention. Their dream took off with Kickstarter in 2016, in which they hit their goal of $50,000 in six hours. Today, they have teams that work out of Mumbai, Bengaluru and Shenzhen, China, and a registered office in the US. Between the two, Mehta is prime techie, while Gohil takes on the tasks of managing the show.

Their US base means that while customers abroad, including some top NRI business families (one of which reportedly owns 10 Square Off sets), have better access to the boards, Indians will have to wait till next year to own one. "It is not the kind of chessboard that top chess players, a couple of whom have tried Square Off, will want to own. But, for the hobbyist, this will be a cool collectible," says Mehta.

Top players, says Gohil, will prefer a bigger, tournament size chessboard, without the fuss. You see, every time you want to move a piece, you have to tap the magnetic base for a second, till you hear a faint beep. Once you have moved it, again a tap, again a beep. Furthermore, there is just one robotic arm to do the job, which means you may need to wait for a few seconds before the AI's rebuttal.

All said, you can make Square Off yours for a cool $330 ($400 if you want the premium "grand kingdom" set). We don't mind the somewhat slow movement of the chess pieces (it's fast enough for us), but we do wish that a more contemporary, minimalist design had been adopted for the pieces.

So, do Gohil and Mehta play chess, we wonder. Mehta prefers to toy with tech as often as he can, and, as for Gohil, it's the cricket field rather than the chess board that calls out to him. But, both confess that Square Off's AI has done a fine job of teaching them the game.

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