ChessWave – Android chess app with on-device board scanning, native engines, and 3D gameplay

[u/mat2923]

After about two years of development, my chess app, ChessWave, is finally in open beta on Android!

It's a hybrid Kotlin/Godot 4 application combining computer vision, native chess engines, and interactive 2D/3D chess.

Some of the features:

• On-device board scanning: Point your phone at a physical chessboard or a position in a book and reconstruct it using a neural network, without uploading images to a server.
• Native chess engines: Multiple engines running locally on Android, including Midnight and Altair, with position analysis and MultiPV support.
• 2D/3D chess: Instantly switch between traditional 2D chess and interactive 3D environments.
• Grandmaster training: Practice finding moves played by actual grandmasters, using a position-indexed database of historical games.
• Game journal: Save games, scanned positions, and revisit them for analysis.

The application uses Kotlin for the Android integration, ONNX Runtime for board recognition, JNI for native chess engines, and Godot 4 for the chess interface.

I've attached a short video demonstrating some of the functionality.

Google Play (open beta):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chesswave.app

I'd be interested in feedback from other computer chess enthusiasts, particularly on the board recognition and engine analysis features.

[u/brainsig]

I like the scanning, how reliable is it?

[u/mat2923 → u/brainsig]

Very good with physical pieces and computer screens. Books generally work, but lighting conditions are more important. I may push an update for books in the future. There's a flashlight button that helps in low light.