Design of Electronic Chess Board Using Analogue Hall-effect Sensors for Piece Identification
Justin Julius Chin Cheong, P. Bhatia, Matthias Krauledat, Ronny Hartanto · 2025
This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of an innovative electronic chess board leveraging Hall-effect sensors for chess piece identification. Current electronic chess boards employ diverse technologies such as RFID, resistive switches, optical sensors, and computer vision, each with varying complexity and cost. The proposed solution utilizes Hall-effect sensors to detect changes in magnetic flux density caused by magnets embedded in chess pieces.The design features a modular 4x4 grid of sensors integrated on printed circuit boards, where each piece is differentiated by a unique magnet-spacer configuration. Experimental investigations validate the relationship between magnetic flux density and distance, modelled theoretically and tested with a field strength meter and the PCB system. Results confirm the accurate detection of piece positions and classes, despite minor interference from adjacent pieces. A Python-based system processes the sensor data, translating chess moves into live updates on the Li-Chess platform.The system has displayed good results in piece position identification accurately. Further improvement including as spacer configurations are to be done to implement piece classification. Future work aims to explore enhanced micro-controller integration, offering a streamlined and accessible alternative to existing technologies.