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I’m still play-testing the ChessUp 2 and today, I played an OTB game with Little Chess Noob (who is on summer school holidays in Australia) over lunch at one of my favourite pubs, The Erskineville Hotel, otherwise known as The Erko. I only have a week-and-a-half left of leave before starting work again, so I’ve been trying to make the most out of the remaining days!

You might be wondering where my final ChessUp 2 review is? The truth is that intellectually and objectively, I think that the ChessUp 2 is extremely good. However, it doesn’t quite resonate with me for some reason. So, I’ve been taking time to work out why so I can articulate it fairly in the review. At the same time, I’ve also been showing the device to several other people, especially, people who aren’t chess enthusiasts, to see what they think! The review is still coming! 😅

So, what did Little Chess Noob think about the ChessUp 2. As you might hear at the beginning of the video, when I explained and demonstrated the TouchSense feature, he responded with, “that’s neat”. I can let you know that that is high praise from him. In the video you can also see that he makes use of the feature intuitively when deciding moves. Of all the “smart” features of the ChessUp 2, I think that TouchSense is the most unique compared to other electronic chess boards, but more than that, it is a feature that genuinely improves the experience of playing in every single game. This isn’t by lighting up the legal squares, but rather, it practically eliminates false moves when sliding pieces without having to use a delay (which can make electronic chess boards feel sluggish).

Anyway, in this game, I made use of a devious bishop sacrifice that forced Little Chess Noob with the White pieces to make a critical move with their king. On turn 9, White had five legal moves: one of them was correct and the rest blunders. Can you find the correct move as White?

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[Event "Casual game over lunch"]
[Site "The Erko"]
[Date "2026.01.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Little Chess Noob"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[TimeControl "10+15"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/pgn/Q2KPHxQsg/analysis"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 {Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation  $1}
4... exd4 5. Nxd4 Bc5 6. Ndb5 $2 {[%c_effect
b5;square;b5;type;Mistake;size;100%25;animated;false;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c1e3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;c1;to;e3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e3;persistent;false]} 6... d6 $6 {[%c_arrow
a7a6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;a7;to;a6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
a6;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;a6;persistent;false][%c_effect
d6;square;d6;type;Inaccuracy;size;100%2525;animated;false;persistent;true] Ndb5
was a mistake as it can be immediately punished with a6} 7. Na4 Bxf2+ $5
{[%c_effect
f2;square;f2;type;Interesting;size;100%2525;animated;false;persistent;true][%c_highlight
f2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f2;persistent;false] This is technically a
blunder, but White must find the correct response  $1} 8. Kxf2 Nxe4+ $5 {[%c_effect
e4;square;e4;type;Interesting;size;100%2525;animated;false;persistent;true][%c_arrow
e4f2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;e4;to;f2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f2;persistent;false] White's king has one
good move in the position, with all other moves being blunders  $1} 9. Ke2 $4
{[%c_effect
e2;square;e2;type;Blunder;size;100%25;animated;false;persistent;true][%c_highlight
e2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e2;persistent;false,g1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g1;persistent;false][%c_arrow
f2g1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f2;to;g1;persistent;false] White's only
move is Kg1, which isn't entirely obvous} 9... Bg4+ $1 {[%c_effect
g4;square;g4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_highlight
g4;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;g4;persistent;false][%c_arrow
g4d1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g4;to;d1;persistent;false] Skewer, and
White's queen is lost} 10. Ke1 Bxd1 11. Kxd1 Nf2+ {[%c_arrow
f2h1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f2;to;h1;persistent;false,f2d1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f2;to;d1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h1;persistent;false,d1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d1;persistent;false]}
12. Ke1 Nxh1 13. h4 Qxh4+ {[%c_arrow
h4e1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;h4;to;e1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e1;persistent;false]} 14. Kd1 Nf2+ 15. Kd2
Ne4+ 16. Kd3 Ne5+ 17. Ke3 O-O 18. Nxc7 f5 19. Nxa8 $2 {[%c_effect
a8;square;a8;type;Mistake;persistent;true]} 19... Qf2# {[%c_effect
g8;square;g8;type;Winner;animated;true,e3;square;e3;type;CheckmateWhite;animated;true][%c_arrow
e4f2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;e4;to;f2;persistent;false,f2d2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f2;to;d2;persistent;false,f2d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f2;to;d4;persistent;false,f5e4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f5;to;e4;persistent;false,e5d3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;e5;to;d3;persistent;false,f2f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f2;to;f4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f2;persistent;false,d2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d2;persistent;false,e2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e2;persistent;false,e3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e3;persistent;false,d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false,e4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e4;persistent;false,d3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d3;persistent;false,f3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f3;persistent;false,f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false]
Beautiful checkmate $1} 0-1