Chessnut Air Electronic Chess Board - A magnificent handcrafted wooden set with extra queens, LED, game and adaptive electronic chess apps. For 2 players, ages 10 and up.

This is vastly superior to the more toylike chess computers, such as the Millennium Chess Genius. I had an earlier model of one of these, and the easiest level of chess was impossible to beat, even though I can beat all the easy levels and some intermediate bots on Chess.com without takebacks.It is not big, but it's of a usable size—not too fiddly—but lacks the satisfaction of picking up a weighty chess piece. However, at this price point, that is to be expected. The big advantage is that you can play online with Chess.com, against either their bots or human opponents, unlike some cheaper chess computers that only have a built-in AI, which, as I mentioned earlier, may not be suitable for real beginners.I find the wood-like appearance of the board and pieces aids concentration, as opposed to stark black-and-white chess sets.So, it's functional but not beautiful—a bit plasticky—but it is over £100 cheaper than its all-wood cousin, the Air+, which offers nothing extra in terms of functionality. You will also have to adapt to moving pieces precisely, as sliding them too slowly can register a move incorrectly. This is not a major issue when playing against AI (as you can take back moves) but could be problematic when playing against a human opponent.⚠️ The Big Issue: Poor Windows SoftwareUnfortunately, while the hardware is solid, the Windows software is a letdown. Key issues include:No proper installer – The Windows app is just a ZIP file containing an EXE, meaning there is no automatic installation of required dependencies (such as the Visual C++ Redistributable), leading to errors like VCOMP140.DLL missing. Most software today includes an installer to handle this, but Chessnut did not bother.No uninstaller – Because it’s not properly installed, it also doesn’t clean up after itself, leaving behind leftover data when deleted.No clear installation instructions – If they aren’t providing an installer, they should at least provide instructions on setting it up manually, but they don’t.Chess.com login issues on Windows tablets – The app does not handle the Windows on-screen keyboard correctly, making it impossible to log in to Chess.com without an external physical keyboard.Stockfish AI level inconsistencies – On Android, Stockfish can go down to level 600, but on Windows, it won’t go lower than 1340, making it much harder for beginners.Lichess login confusion – The Lichess option is grayed out with no explanation. Apparently, you need to log in to a Chessnut account first, but the app does not clearly indicate this.Chessnut support has been slow to acknowledge these problems, and while they claim they have "reported it to the technical team," they refuse to provide a timeline or even confirm that a fix is planned.The android App works ok, I don't know about iOS but if you are planning to get this for use on Windows, I would suggest going to the Chessnut website and downloading the App there and seeing if you can get it working before spending your money