“I have had the board for two months now and very happy with it. Much nicer than playing on my phone and I can just about manage 10 min rapid games without getting timed out....5 min blitz is a bit of a push for me. The build quality is excellent and customer service were fantastic in dealing with an issue I had on my first board.
My kids are all at different levels, so the hint/handicap system is great to level things up when you want to. Because it's always set up ready to go, it gets a lot of use and draws people in when you're playing. I personally didn't ever like to play bots, but there's something more rewarding about playing bots on a real board like this.
The upgrade allowing multiple chess.com accounts is brilliant and feels like they have got a dev team that are listening to users to improve this product in all the right areas.
Obviously not cheap, but I am super happy with my purchase and this will be out on display in my house for a long time to come!”
“It’s a really cool concept, but in practicality setting up the pieces over and over again sort of, in my opinion, makes it not as fun and I didn’t think having to do that over and over again before and after every game would be so tedious. I find myself not using it as much now and am not sure if I want to claim my money back. What would be the final day I can claim it if I wanted to?”
“Despite running into an issue and having to send my board back for repair, the staff from Bryght Labs were extremely responsive and quick to lend a helping hand. My board was returned to me working again without any fuss or pushback, and were even willing to answer extra questions regarding what went wrong in the first place. I definitely recommend their products and their service.”
“I don't normally leave reviews, but I felt this experience deserved one.
My ChessUp 2 developed an issue with the LED lighting system several months after the warranty had expired. I reached out expecting to at least get some advice on repair options. Instead, the support team took the time to troubleshoot the issue with me, communicated clearly throughout the process, and worked with me to get the board repaired.
What stood out wasn't just the repair itself—it was how professional, responsive, and helpful everyone was from start to finish. Every email was friendly, they kept me informed throughout the process, and when I received my board back, it was working perfectly.
I don't expect every situation to be handled exactly the same, but it's refreshing to see a company that genuinely cares about its customers and stands behind its products. Great customer service like this is becoming harder to find.
Thank you to everyone at Bryght Labs for making the process smooth and getting my ChessUp 2 back up and running.”
“The quality of the board and the intergrated platforms make it an excellent experience. I did not give it a 5 star review because there are bugs, such as freezing and squares flickering.”
“Quick delivery, everything works perfectly. Brilliant board, and the ability to play checkers with it is icing on the cake. My four-year-old daughter loves how the lights help her to understand the "L" movement of the knights. Perfect!”
“The game and carrier bag arrived in great shape, when I don’t have a match it is perfect for strategy and options that I may not have considered in challenges.”
“Support and service second to none these guys sorted my board and replaced in a day. Absolutely awesome to deal with. Plus awesome product Big Thanks👍 Barry NZ”
“The customer support I have received over the last few weeks from Bryght Labs has been absolutely above and beyond exceptional.
I got a ChessUp board as a gift and it ended up having some software issues after some time. I reached out to Bryght Labs and they allowed me to send it back for repairs or possible replacement. They were super quick and ended up getting it repaired. TLDR; the package ended up getting stolen. While they are trying to get the package retrieved they sent me a replacement to be able to play and were super understanding and friendly. They were also super quick about it and I cannot express how grateful I am for their generosity.
When it comes down to emails they reply within hours and are very professional and friendly. Overall 15/10 best customer support experience I have ever had. These guys rock! Thank you Bryght Labs”
“Love this chess board! I recently picked up chess and this has really helped my understanding of the game. My wife and kids have also now picked up the game because of this board.
This board is exactly the size it should be, but I wish ChessUp also made a half-size version so I could keep another one on my desk to play during breaks in the day.”
“I love my ChessUp 2 Board. It's more fun than playing on a screen. When I play live with someone, I don't have to make the mental transition from screen to board. And, with the minor problem I had, the service group was very responsive and helpful.”
“I bought Cheessup 2 a few weeks ago and I couldn't be happier! Ever since it arrived I find my self playing everyday, which was the main reason for this purchase. The form factor is just so convenient that makes me want to carry it all around the house, It;s not too big and not too small, it's just perfect. Another plus is the small screen, as I don't have to use a phone or a laptop or a tablet to play a game. You can do anything via the screen and there's no need for more. Booting up takes seconds and playing with a bot or person online takes no more than half a minute.
If I had one suggestion for Bryght Labs would be to offer more pawn options and more board options, i.e styles, collours, etc.
The size is just fine as it is. A board like that shouldn't be competition size, or it would loose it's portability and fun factor. I have a DGT smart board, which is competition size, and it's not that easy to pick-up & play as the Chess-up.
Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone, regardless of ELO. And if you don't like the Disco tiles, there's an one-button option to use minimal lights, meaning light comes up when you lift a piece, and light comes up when you set it down or if the position is wrong.”
“I bought Cheessup 2 a few weeks ago and I couldn't be happier! Ever since it arrived I find my self playing everyday, which was the main reason for this purchase. The form factor is just so convenient that makes me want to carry it all around the house, It;s not too big and not too small, it's just perfect. Another plus is the small screen, as I don't have to use a phone or a laptop or a tablet to play a game. You can do anything via the screen and there's no need for more. Booting up takes seconds and playing with a bot or person online takes no more than half a minute.
If I had one suggestion for Bryght Labs would be to offer more pawn options and more board options, i.e styles, collours, etc.
The size is just fine as it is. A board like that shouldn't be competition size, or it would loose it's portability and fun factor. I have a DGT smart board, which is competition size, and it's not that easy to pick-up & play as the Chess-up.
Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone, regardless of ELO. And if you don't like the Disco tiles, there's an one-button option to use minimal lights, meaning light comes up when you lift a piece, and light comes up when you set it down or if the position is wrong.”
“Great company ships fast and the chess board is truly amazing the only problem i have is trying to update the board but other then that it is definitely 5 stars.”
“I am thoroughly enjoying this board. I'm relatively new to chess, so has been a great tool to help me improve on my journey. The YouTube reviews out there don't really show everything this board can do. Yes, it has the lights that can be set to only show you valid moves or indicate moves that are blunders, mistakes, good, best, etc. If you are playing face to face with someone else who is better than you, you can set the level of lights and hints individually for each person. It's like giving someone a handicap, if you want.
The built in lessons are amazing. The library of lessons is vast and the way the app interacts with the board is almost magical. I was showing the board off to my son. He's 27 now, but used to play when he was much younger. I've bought a second board for him so we can play online together. There is something much nicer about playing with an actual board and actual pieces, rather than on a screen. Although, I have also played plenty of chess.com games with other people using my board. I'm not sure if they have an eboard of some sort or are using the chess.com app to play. But that's the beauty of this board. You can play however you want.
My only gripe, which is minor and not worth taking off a star, is that to get the full features of different color lights to indicate different levels of "goodness" of moves, the board needs to be connected through wifi. This is a good thing, in that you can use the board without the companion app when you want. But I'm a teacher and bring the board to school every day. My students love it. But I can't get the board on wifi due to district restrictions. So, it is hard for my students to really get the most out of learning on this board. The board uses bluetooth to connect to a device and use the companion app. I wish there was a way the board could get whatever info it needs from the cloud from the companion app. Like I said, minor gripe, but I think they are missing out some great educational experiences for students.
My last thing - I also have another big name eboard that has the equivalent of a small Android tablet attached to it. It also gets great reviews. Personally, I was not nearly as impressed as I was the Chessup's board. It runs an older version of Android and uses Firefox to access the internet. I found it to be really slow when trying to integrate with chess.com. There is a dedicated app that runs directly on the built in tablet which is nice, and it has some cool tech. But the lights aren't nearly as nice or useful or easy to see outdoors as Chessup's, and due to the older version of Android and thngs that sometimes break in updates, it was frustrating to use at times. When it worked, it was cool (but slow when you want to access websites like chess.com), but I found it to be unreliable.
Personally, I would love to see Chessup make a premium board that uses a wooden board and wooden pieces. That, with a slightly bigger screen that runs the entire length of side of the board and a little wider, would be amazing!!!!”
“Worth the upgrade over the original model. Physically it’s a slimmer and to me the ends being more squared off looks nicer. Functionally the addition of the integrated chess.com is very cool.”
“I bought this for my 6-year-old son, who previously had a similar board from another company. Wow, what a difference this one is! It is well-designed and easy to use and has provided hours of challenging games for my son to play. But the company really went above and beyond with their customer service. The first board we received didn't work. They were responsive over email even over the weekend to try to troubleshoot with us. Ultimately they sent a new board, but I was blown away by the excellent customer service. Highly recommend!”
“I ordered the board and unfortunately it arrived damaged, likely due to shipping or a defect. If shipping is the issue, the packaging could definitely be improved with better protection like foam or bubble wrap.
That said, customer support was outstanding. I reached out and got a quick response, and they shipped a replacement the same day. The new board arrived in good condition and has been working well overall.
Performance is solid most of the time, but there are occasional issues. Every now and then, a game will abort because the board doesn’t register moves properly, even though the app shows the opponent did move. Very rarely, I’ve also had a piece (like a pawn) not register a move. These issues don’t happen often, but they’re noticeable when they do.
Overall, the board works great about 95% of the time and is still better than other brands I’ve tried. Despite the initial delay and minor glitches, I’d still recommend it—it’s definitely worth it.
Final rating: 3 stars, mainly due to the delayed replacement and occasional app-to-board connectivity issues.”
