I have been playing with this idea of a cheaper alternative to DGT chess boards used for broadcasting chess games.

Why not just use cheaper webcams (from RM25) combined with computer software for image recognition. Point the webcam to a chessboard and let the computer do the work of figuring the position and broadcasting it. Any chess board can be used, whether cheap or otherwise.

The idea was probably quite difficult a few years ago but recent advancement in image recognition using the python language has made this very possible. All we need now is a software developer to come out with it.

Did a little digging on the web and was surprised there are some ideas already moving towards this.

Here's one known as chess grabber (http://www.chessgrabber.nicolaas.net/)

Tried using a JPG picture of a chessboard and got this result:-