“For new purchasers, BEWARE - ‘The Easy 30 Day Refund Policy’, which has not been honored in my case (based in UK).
I made payment by Visa Debit, and the item was delivered fine. Unfortunetly it was a gift and I needed to make a return. I had a quick response to my enquiry 07.01.25 and was e-mailed the returns label confirming refund 1-2 business days after receipt. The receipt of the returned item (sent to the Netherlands) was confirmed 10.01.25, and that refund credit would be received within 14 days. On 24.01.25 the refund has still not been received, and Bryghtlabs are not responding to my messages.
So now I do not have an item and have lost my payment.”
“The Support of Chess Up is the worst ive ever seen. The new chessboard is not working - none of the required chargers are working & the system is shutting down even during games.
3 Emails later the support still isnt able to reply - this company isnt a serious one!”
“I was so excited for this purchase that I didn’t mind the 2.5 week wait to receive it. The ChessUp board has failed every expectation I’ve had since receiving it. Playing online is useless as you Will be at a significant time disadvantage and likely lose massive amounts of elo. I have received multiple bans for the apps inability to connect to games, where it then aborts, or fails mid game and doesn’t allow me to make any more moves. This occurs both on Chess.com and LiChess. The AI function seemed fun until it got to the point where it takes 5 minutes for the AI to make a move. No one has time for that long of a game when I could just play stockfish online. So essentially the board has boiled all the way down to only being used to play against friends who don’t understand the game and can see where pieces are able to move. Is that really worth $300? I think not. Chess up has all the potential, but an awful execution.”
“I ordered checker pieces and phone stand and never received them. It has been well over a month waiting for them and i was never told they would not arrive with the chess board”
“It’s a great concept, but the software is an absolute mess. Requires connectivity with the app to do anything but a *very* stripped down game against low level AI. Which would be fine…but the app is essentially nonfunctional. Erases games in progress if you get out of range sometimes, almost always reverts back a varying amount of moves if you get out of range of the board. Saving a game to resume later is a crapshoot if it’ll remember the game correctly or remember it at all.
The fancy assistance lighting that’s the selling point of the board periodically stops giving assistance even if you’re connected and in range.
The board also doesn’t recognize what individual pieces are, just that there’s a piece on the square. I suppose they didn’t say it did, but it still seems cheap for a $400 board to not recognize a pawn vs a queen.
I’ve documented all this at length and out of 104 games I’ve started, I’ve been able to finish a total of 2 without some part of the functionality or software failing.
Pretty sad.
Update: A patch was released that fixed some of the issues….for about a week. Now the board is back to being unplayable if it connects to the app at all. Essentially all it can do is play offline with only the settings that the board can handle without using the app…which is a very small fraction of what it was advertised to be able to do.”
“Service wise of keeping delivery promises. Several months late and several delays and I as buy needed to reach out for update. Product wise, great idea but need to work on the electronics since needed to amend and place the chess pieces again. You could expect more of quality feeling.”
“After waiting a few months to receive the order, I could not get it to operate per the user's guide that was included in the package. Tempted several times to start the chessUP per the given instructions but was not successful. Tried to contact support. could not get through.
Needless to say that it was a waste of time and disappointment.”
“It will disconnect your phone from the board 7 out 10 games, not letting you finish the game and making you lose against the AI and other players in Lichess. It is not integrated with chess.com. When it works, it is beautiful. But that happens once in a blue moon.”
“After 7 or 8 months since launching, the bugs on Android aren't fixed. There isn't a game I can finish playing with the board. It works for a little while, and then it stops working. Regardless if I play against the AI, or if I play in Lichess, the outcome is the same. I have to finish the games in Lichess directly and forget the ones with the AI. When it works is beautiful, but unfortunately, it rarely works. BTW, It does not have an integration with Chess.com.”
Hi Alex,
I'm sorry your experience with us has not been top notch. We are racing to fix the issues users have reported on Android and expect them to be solved soon. Please reach out to info@bryghtlabs.com so we can further assist you!
“Boars won't sync and will leave you waiting for your opponents move when it is actually your move. GARBAGE. Needs major Android overhaul. Wait a few years before wasting your time and money”
“The unit was defective. Some pieces were not detected on the board. My husband worked through the troubleshooting tips on your site, but it remained defective. I am sending it back.
I am surprised it arrived packaged with zero padding, and I wonder if it was knocked around during transport.”
Hi Jennifer, I'm sorry that has been your experience so far.
We can help you with some 1:1 support if you reach out to info@bryghtlabs.com
Thanks,
Patrick
Hi Dominic,
We are sorry your experience has not been flawless.
We are racing to fix the issues users have reported on Android and expect them to be solved very soon.
Thanks,
Patrick
“Hello, I just received my package and when I opened it I just noticed that the phone holder is broken.
I send you a photo as an attachment. Is it possible to receive an unbroken one thank you.”
Hello!
I'm sorry that the phone holder arrived in this state. I have contacted fulfillment on your behalf to correct this situation ASAP.
If you have any other concerns please reach out to us at info@bryghtlabs.com
Thanks
Patrick
Hi Peter,
thanks for bringing this to our attention.
You got sent an automated review request email after about 1 month from your order's fulfillment. So your delivery is either late or stuck somewhere. I'll follow up on where it is to solve the issue ASAP. If you have any concerns please reach out to us at info@bryghtlabs.com
Thanks,
Patrick
“Lousy directions. I tried to start a game. I looked at the startup file I was directed to. I couldn't figure it out. Why couldn't there have been a simple one-page sheet showing how to start a game against the board. I am sure once I figure it out, it will be simple, but I'm busy, and I don't really have the time to go looking all over the Internet for something that should have been included in the box, or at least a proper link to how to get this thing to work.”
Hi Christ!
Thanks for your feedback! You box should have a quick start guide which is essentially what is on this quick start page: https://playchessup.com/pages/start
Touchsense technology requires some set up to work properly - it is just the nature of the beast. However setup takes just a minute, or a few seconds once you are familiar with the board.
Please let me know if you have any further questions or need more support. Contact us at info@bryghtlabs.com
Thanks!
