Genius MIL810

Nothing I tell you, nothing. Haven't own the game long but so far it's fantastic. It's not too big, which is an advantage if you like to play all over the house or on the road. When it's on my lap and I'm moving around a bit, the pieces stay in place thanks to the magnetic board and felt under each piece. Really nifty unit. It has many option, including hint (my favorite), move (in case you play black), and many more, including a ton of different levels. Btw, there is a separate adapter you can buy if you don't want to use batteries all the time.Plus, it prevents the computer turning off if you use the battery saver feature.

I'm having great fun with this and have yet to win a game (which is good!). When I got it I was disappointed to discover that folks packaging it at the factory supplied an extra white bishop instead of putting in a white queen. An honest mistake. I emailed the outfit in Germany and they expedited a queen so all is well. I will say that when I read it was "German Made" I was hoping for superior build quality, but it's in fact a couple of notches short of that, as the pieces are hallow and the frame and plastic field square(?) just isn't there. I'll be more than satisfied if it lasts for a good long while, as I do tend to forget about its minor shortcomings when I'm involved in an exciting game! Lastly, someone said they find it stiff or hard when pressing the pieces down to operate game play. But the unit I got is so smooth in that regard that one could even say it's plush! So who knows, maybe the folks read about the situation and tweaked it out where all is well with those now being shipped. All in all I'm very happy with it and am VERY grateful that somebody out there is making dedicated chess units, and not restricting us to computer chess only. If they build more models in the future maybe they build better quality ones and charge a reasonable amount more, which I think most people would prefer. Update: January 9, 2020 It's still going strong (and still kicking my butt). I wanted to post some time ago that my unit seems to have a ghost in it as once in a while either when I walk up to it or walk past it it turns on by itself as if saying, "Let's play a game!" Some might say that means it's defective but I don't know about that, as a few idiosyncrasies in life can make things interesting (plus, for all I know, there "might" really be a friendly spirit in it that enjoys chess). I saw where one person (in here) said that they prefer to use a standard mat and pieces to have their games have a much more quality feel, and I agree and think I'll start doing the same. Note: to the game's Maker: Up the build quality by 3-fold and charge accordingly, as the flimsiness of it doesn't live up to the excellent program it uses.

Very challenging to play, but a neat chess set. Play naked while juggling beer bottles and learn new skills.

The chess computer powered on but was unresponsive and no amount of rebooting could wake it up. it is being returned. Otherwise the pieces are small and light weight. The magnetic attachment to the chess board is not nearly strong enough to do any good. Overall this chess computer is cheaply made and I can not recommend it.

This item was on my return list. But follow me on why I decided to keep it. As you know, all the big electronic chess manufacturers have closed shop. I own the Manifesto from saitek and various others. The Manifesto had a top of the line touch sensory board. The Kasparo 432 enjoyed the same quality touch sensory. A pleasure to use. These units even supported an ac adaptor that worked in conjunction with the batteries. In short they retained a memory. The chess program of the Saitek is possibly the strongest. Well, the Millennium is now the only electronic chess set on the market. The Genius has a superb chess program. The other outstanding feature is their great use of batteries. Very easy on batteries. On the other side it has a clumsy touch sensory board. The ac adapter is an exclusive or with the batteries. That is if you use only batteries all is well and good, but if you want to use the adapter, it will disable the batteries completely. And you have to re initialize each time you unplug it. I thought about for a week and decided to keep it despite these flaws. The question is why? Even though I have the adapter, I will hardly use it because running only on batteries is a pleasure along with its playing strength. Believe me, the batteries run and run and only 3 aa. Yes, the playing strength and long battery use compensate for the negative items mentioned earlier. If the touch sensitive was better and the adapter worked with batteries then this would be a definite 5 stars.

Lov it

My father, who's in his 80's, loves this item. I know he was considering purchasing a new one; my sister & I took it upon ourselves to gift him a "top of the line/high end" chess game for Father's Day. I chose this one because it solely has chess games. Many of the other sets had a mix of non chess related games which I knew my father, an advanced chess player, would not want. That being said, it does have beginner settings, but for my dad there are extremely challenging advanced levels. My father loves that it "talks back" to him. As an academic, I knew he would also enjoy the wide variety of many languages spoke by this set. Very pleased with this purchase & highly recommend it.

I was so excited waiting for this to arrive! So disappointed in the size and glare of the screen. Even with my reading glasses (shown in the pic) it was very hard to get past the glare to see the small icons for each piece. The screen was so small identifying what had to move where was hard. The other issue I had was in applying pressure to the piece I wanted to move. Several times I knocked over several pieces trying to do it. I am a 2,000 ELO rated chess player and the computer beat me 3-times...so the engine is very good.