I built a prototype chess engine on a Raspberry Pi Pico 2. The engine is fully coded from scratch in Python, which was a fun challenge in itself.

Since the Pi Pico doesn’t come with a native display interface, I currently play remotely through a terminal emulator (PuTTY). It’s simple, but it works well enough for testing the logic and gameplay.

I added a buzzer and LEDs: the board emits a satisfying click sound whenever a move is made, and a warning sound when entered invalid move.

The next step is to make it a true standalone gadget by adding a display—most likely an I²C OLED or a similar small screen—so the device can function as a compact, self-contained chess machine.