Hi All!
New user here, having backed the the ChessUp 2 Kickstarter. I’ve asked this question on the Kickstarter Comment section but it is not very active!
Summary: On the board editor, by careful physical piece placement (with the piece not well centred in a square) it may be recognised as being present on two squares. This appears to impact some pieces (rooks and knights) more than others. It can be reproduced by all pieces of that type (and is irrespective of piece colour). It is easier to reproduce with some squares more than others (b7/c7 in particular for me).
Full Post: Having read all of the reports of faulty pieces my first (self-imposed!) activity was a rather tedious task of checking every piece was recognised in every square (32 pieces + 2 spare queens + 8 piece promotion pack = 42 pieces, x64 squares = 2688 combinations!). I did this by using the Board Editor and positioning one piece on one square at time, lifting the piece away each time (confirming recognition and removal successfully registered). Thankfully I did not identify any faulty pieces. What I did recognise, as I became sloppier at piece position while trying to speed up this activity, was that some positions appear to confuse the board, showing a single piece recognised as being active on two squares, when overlapped over two squares. In most cases a piece in this position simply did not recognise at all, a behaviour I would expect. But in some cases a piece straddling two squares was recognised as being present on both. I spent some time exploring this behaviour. It happens irrespective of piece colour and happens more regularly with some pieces (rooks and knights in particular) than others. The fact all instances of a given piece (irrespective of colour) behave the same suggests the behaviour is caused by the board more so than the piece (a replacement piece would not stop this behaviour). This appears to be much easier to replicate on some squares than others (b7/c7 in particular). Has anybody else noticed this issue? Is this problem unique to my board? On the one hand, I’d rather avoid the overhead of a board replacement but on the other I do not want a faulty board if this is an issue specific to my board.
Noting the accuracy of positioning that is required to reproduce this, it does not happen all the time but it is reproducible with effort (slightly less frequently by chance). Quite naturally I’m keen to ensure that there is definitely not a fault with my board. It’s a large investment and if there is something wrong then now is definitely the right time to ask the question.
Note: The absolutely on-form @Jeff did respond on Kickstarter to say this was ‘normal behaviour’. Curiosity in me wanted to know more and asked if this was understood (why only some pieces? why some squares more than others?). Jeff did not reply; completely understandably a) being so busy and b) Kickstarter’s comments to not manage notification of replies to replies very well. I also did not receive feedback from any other users. The question has now fallen far down the list and I suspect will not get a response. Rather than asking the question on Kickstarter again I thought I’d join the somewhat more activity community here!
Thank you for your help and support!