Google’s new chess game lets you customize pieces with AI

Google has released a new chess website that puts one fun twist on the game: it uses custom pieces that are created each time by generative AI. The game starts by letting you type in a short description for what the white pieces should look like; it’ll generate the set using its Imagen 3 AI model, then automatically come up with a related idea for black. When I asked for sci-fi-themed pieces for myself, it made fantasy-themed pieces for the opponent.

From there, you can play the game. It’s functional, but it’s far from a fully featured chess app. You can choose three difficulty settings and two time controls, but you can’t review past moves or see what pieces have been captured. The game also defaults to an isometric view of the board that is cool to look at but disorienting to play on, since most chess apps are top-down. You can change to a top-down view in the game’s settings.

The game was released this week, timed alongside the start of the 2024 World Chess Championship, where reigning champ Ding Liren is defending his title against the 18-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju. Google is the event’s main sponsor, and it seems to be using the moment to announce a bunch of new chess products and initiatives.

Google’s other big chess announcement this week is the promise of a forthcoming chess bot within Gemini. You’ll be able to play by typing your moves, and Gemini will display an updated chess board as the game progresses. Google doesn’t say whether Gemini will be gaining any other chess smarts, though — right now, the AI chatbot consistently fails to accurately assess the position on a chess board when you upload an image of one. The new feature will be available in December for Gemini Advanced subscribers.