The plan is to make a reproduction of the dedicated chess computer CHESSmate released by Commodore in 1978.
CHESSmate was developed by Peter Jennings, author of the KIM-1 MicroChess program, under contract with Commodore International. The CHESSmate’s hardware is based on the venerable KIM-1, but the ROMs are loaded with a custom MicroChess 1.5 image not the KIM’s monitor.
CHESSmate units are extremely hard to find, understandable given that 45 years have passed since they were introduced. My hope is to build a working CHESSmate computer using modern fabrication techniques and components, and to produce a comprehensive set of instructions with modeling files (PCB, 3D Print, etc.) so that anyone else could make one as well.