Question 1

If my Dad has a board and lives in Florida, can I just play him from Indiana with the app?  I cant afford two boards.

Accepted Answer

Your dad can play using the Android or iOS app, or using Chess.com any device or computer.

For Chess.com games, you'll both need an account (free account is fine), you'll have to add each other as Chess.com friends. To play with your board, you'll need to link your Chess.com account to your Square Off app, then you'll need to use the Square Off app to send them a game request.

It's very easy to do, although In my experience, there's a delay between adding someone as a friend and having them show up to challenge to a game. Actually, it may be that disconnecting and reconnecting your Chess.com will immediately refresh your friends... I didn't try that, but I will next time.

Question 2

How does it handle moving a knight if there are other pieces in the way?

Accepted Answer

The knight is thin enough to slip between the pieces. The other pieces do not move out of its way. They have a video showing it.

Question 3

do you need a phone or will a computer do?

Accepted Answer

You will need a phone or tablet with Android or iOS, there is no desktop application that I know of.  The connection is over Bluetooth -- I suppose there's a chance you could run the Android app in an Android emulator under Windows or MacOS, but I haven't tried that.

Question 4

how does it handle promotion or underpromotion?

Accepted Answer

A more detailed description: when you get a pawn to the 8th rank, the board will beep quickly, 3 times. When you glance at the app, there will be a little grid displayed, with a knight, bishop, rook and queen... you select which one you want to promote to, and manually swap in the other piece.  If the automated side gets a pawn to the 8th rank, you'll get the 3 beeps and the app will display the piece your AI or human opponent has chosen to promote to... again, you have to manually swap in the extra queen or other piece.  There's one extra queen of each color... if the human player needs a 3rd (or 4th) queen, you can use the old "flip a rook upside down" convention to represent a queen, but I'm almost positive the automated side can't move an upside down piece (they move with magnets attracting metal in the base of the pieces). So you'll have to use captured right-side-up piece, doesn't matter which piece... the board will treat it like whatever it was promoted to, and display it as that piece on the app's board display. Alternately, you can use an upside-down rook for the automated side, keep the app board display handy, and move the promoted piece when you see that the board has attempted to move it.

ASIN	B07DWCMTPH
Brand Name	Square Off
CPSIA Cautionary Statement	Choking Hazard - Small Parts, Contains Small Magnets
Color	Brown
Customer Package Type	FFP
Customer Reviews	3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars (119)
Estimated Playing Time	60 minutes
Game Mechanics	Strategy
Genre	Strategy
Item Dimensions	19.09 x 19.09 x 1.93 inches
Item Weight	4.7 kg
Manufacturer	Infivention Inc.
Manufacturer Minimum Age (MONTHS)	72
Manufacturer Part Number	SQF-KDS-US-021
Material Type	Wood
Minimum Age Recomendation	6
Number of Batteries	1 Lithium Ion batteries required. (included)
Number of Items	1
Operation Mode	Automatic
Power Source	Battery Powered
Rulebook Availability	Digital
Set Name	Square Off Chess Set
Theme	Sport
Unit Count	1 Count

Square Off Chess Set - an Electronic Chessboard, which Moves The Opponent's Wooden Chess Pieces on its Own. Kids or Adults can Play Against The AI or Any Online Chess Player Across The Globe.

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