And then see all the scam stuff behind it and you're like 'what cheats'
@e4e5Kxe8 while this is good news and the trend seems to be that people are abandoning regium, you are actually right about kickstarter. They have about 150 staff members. IDK how many are dedicated mods but even if we assume they are just 30 (or 20%) people it would be very feasable to make sure projects are legit. If my information is correct there are about 4k projects live at any given time, it would mean each mod would have to review just a couple of projects a day. But then again we have Mods here on Lichess that can't ban a cheater either.
@gamemonster2019 me. i saw the first video posted here in this forum, and wasn't suspicious until someone mentioned in the video they moved their hands out of the frame every time before the pieces started moving. After watching it again with more skepticism it looked really fake, I couldn't believe how gullible I had been.
Are there any physicists/engineers here?
It looks to me that the whole design concept with a grid of non-intersecting static electromagnets (9 per chessboard square, somebody has said?) is questionable.
The problem is that the magnetic field of each electromagnet will be strongly concentrated around the vertical extension of the area of the coil and very weak in the chessboard plane outside. And the magnetic material inside every piece must be concentrated very narrowly for precise positioning. So it will be hard to induce a piece movement by a not-so-close active magnet, unless it is very powerful. And such movement will be very far from a smooth constant velocity slide with a sharp stop.
It looks to me that the whole design concept with a grid of non-intersecting static electromagnets (9 per chessboard square, somebody has said?) is questionable.
The problem is that the magnetic field of each electromagnet will be strongly concentrated around the vertical extension of the area of the coil and very weak in the chessboard plane outside. And the magnetic material inside every piece must be concentrated very narrowly for precise positioning. So it will be hard to induce a piece movement by a not-so-close active magnet, unless it is very powerful. And such movement will be very far from a smooth constant velocity slide with a sharp stop.
Regium apparently had a full-page ad in "New in Chess" Magazine, quoting supporting statements from Chess24 ("It's amazing") and ChessBase ("Impressive").
Both Chess24 ("No blessing or quotes given") and ChessBase ("We don't have anything to do with that. We haven't seen the board or given a quote.") deny ever giving Regium these quotes.
See this tweet and replies:
twitter.com/Bodenseeperlen/status/1232601100454432768?s=20
Both Chess24 ("No blessing or quotes given") and ChessBase ("We don't have anything to do with that. We haven't seen the board or given a quote.") deny ever giving Regium these quotes.
See this tweet and replies:
twitter.com/Bodenseeperlen/status/1232601100454432768?s=20
Keep it up people. As long as these guys don't hit their target, they won't be getting that money. It is shocking that Kickstarter has not removed this project even after Chess24 wrote to them and many of us wrote to them. It just shows they don't care. Some people could be out $700 for a board that simply doesn't exist.
what's this about? former investor of regium with close ties to chess24?
twitter.com/Bodenseeperlen/status/1232567644617920512
chess24 deleted a forum post trying to discuss the issues with regium's videos and they were very late to distance themselves from regium.
twitter.com/Bodenseeperlen/status/1232567644617920512
chess24 deleted a forum post trying to discuss the issues with regium's videos and they were very late to distance themselves from regium.
I'm shocked by all this... Really liked the idea and never ever thought that may be a scheme... I'm curious to see all of this unfold...
Right, I've just posted this to the tips email for the Daily Mail in the UK. This seems to be the sort of thing they may like to write about:
Hi,
There is a live campaign on Kickstarter which many suspect is a scam, and I think the story may be of interest from a journalistic perspective. The bullet point summary is:
1. A company called Regium says they have produced an amazing chess board where the opponent's pieces move automatically using electromagnets (and which has a chess computer and can connect to all the major chess sites to allow you to play people all over the world);
2. They produce a marketing video that looks amazing and it generates a lot of interest, but lots of people start digging and posting about it on forums and the video looks faked and the company super dodgy (e.g. members who aren't real and who were created on thispersondoesnotexist.com.
3. The major chess sites put out statements saying they suspect it is a fake. Each offered to go to Regium to test the product, but heard nothing. Chess.com and Chess24 had accepted sponsorship from Regium, which they cancelled. Their website (regiumchess.com) now redirects to the Kickstarter page, so the dodgy photos can't be seen, but a lot of info has been preserved and some can be seen on the below official statements from the major chess sites.
4. Regium's site had a ticking countdown timer to a Kickstarter campaign. It started yesterday and Kickstarter have been bombarded with reports. Kickstarter are clearly aware of this because they have removed a number of statements saying it is a fake on the Comments page, and also a number of long 'copy and paste' jobs by Regium on there designed to hide the comments (Regium had been removing negative comments on their YouTube and Facebook pages for a while).
5. But as yet Kickstarter hasn't removed the project from its site, and we have 13 days to make sure they do before people lose their money, as I understand that Regium would not get their money until the 15 day campaign is over, assuming they hit their target. The donations shot up really quickly, and they hit their $50,000 target in a day, but some people are now cancelling because they've clocked that it is probably a scam.
Below are the official statements by some of the major chess sites, Lichess (who were the first to conclude it was a fake), Chess.com and Chess24, which could form the sources for your story, as well as the Kickstarter:
1. Chess site statements
Lichess: lichess.org/blog/XlE48hEAACIAQv2F/regium-extraordinary-claims-require-extraordinary-evidence
Chess.com: www.chess.com/news/view/update-on-regium-chess
Chess.24: chess24.com/en/read/news/regium-chessboard-buyer-beware
Regium Kickstarter campaign
www.kickstarter.com/projects/soontech/regium-automatic-chess-e-board-0
I am not personally part of the teams on any of these sites, just a player, but happy to discuss if you want.
[EDIT: I accidentally put the kickstarter page as Regium's original site - I've edited this above and corrected this to the newspaper]
Hi,
There is a live campaign on Kickstarter which many suspect is a scam, and I think the story may be of interest from a journalistic perspective. The bullet point summary is:
1. A company called Regium says they have produced an amazing chess board where the opponent's pieces move automatically using electromagnets (and which has a chess computer and can connect to all the major chess sites to allow you to play people all over the world);
2. They produce a marketing video that looks amazing and it generates a lot of interest, but lots of people start digging and posting about it on forums and the video looks faked and the company super dodgy (e.g. members who aren't real and who were created on thispersondoesnotexist.com.
3. The major chess sites put out statements saying they suspect it is a fake. Each offered to go to Regium to test the product, but heard nothing. Chess.com and Chess24 had accepted sponsorship from Regium, which they cancelled. Their website (regiumchess.com) now redirects to the Kickstarter page, so the dodgy photos can't be seen, but a lot of info has been preserved and some can be seen on the below official statements from the major chess sites.
4. Regium's site had a ticking countdown timer to a Kickstarter campaign. It started yesterday and Kickstarter have been bombarded with reports. Kickstarter are clearly aware of this because they have removed a number of statements saying it is a fake on the Comments page, and also a number of long 'copy and paste' jobs by Regium on there designed to hide the comments (Regium had been removing negative comments on their YouTube and Facebook pages for a while).
5. But as yet Kickstarter hasn't removed the project from its site, and we have 13 days to make sure they do before people lose their money, as I understand that Regium would not get their money until the 15 day campaign is over, assuming they hit their target. The donations shot up really quickly, and they hit their $50,000 target in a day, but some people are now cancelling because they've clocked that it is probably a scam.
Below are the official statements by some of the major chess sites, Lichess (who were the first to conclude it was a fake), Chess.com and Chess24, which could form the sources for your story, as well as the Kickstarter:
1. Chess site statements
Lichess: lichess.org/blog/XlE48hEAACIAQv2F/regium-extraordinary-claims-require-extraordinary-evidence
Chess.com: www.chess.com/news/view/update-on-regium-chess
Chess.24: chess24.com/en/read/news/regium-chessboard-buyer-beware
Regium Kickstarter campaign
www.kickstarter.com/projects/soontech/regium-automatic-chess-e-board-0
I am not personally part of the teams on any of these sites, just a player, but happy to discuss if you want.
[EDIT: I accidentally put the kickstarter page as Regium's original site - I've edited this above and corrected this to the newspaper]
Regium is now using fake quotes for advertisement: preview.redd.it/3hvn8nvzi9j41.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=a30bd67de25b5e8887461236ae6f2a1264193ce8
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