Mephisto Phoenix T - Chess Computer with 21.7 inch Chess Board

We had a fantastic experience working with ChessHouse on finding the right OTB training experience for our sons!

Let me first share some thoughts on the product. We were looking for an electronic tournament sized wooden board & pieces to play online on chess.com & lichess, as well as the occasional offline engine game. We first tried the DGT board, including DGT Pi, using Chessconnect and DGTs own app. Sadly we encountered repeated piece recognition errors when playing online even though the native DGT board app showed the correct board position. Furthermore, the DGT boards do not show the move on the board via LEDs, so your focus when playing has to stray away from the board either to a screen or move announcement. The Millennium Mephisto Phoenix addressed all of these concerns for us! Once updated with the appropriate licenses and updated to the latest firmware version, we are able to connect to lichess natively and chess.com via the Chessconnect app for the Phoenix. Thus far, game play has been seamless, piece recognition during online play noticeably faster than the DGT board and the built in move LED indicators really help keep attention on the board. The whole set looks stunning and is becoming a permanent fixture in our dining room.

We also want to specifically call out Paul and the entire ChessHouse team for the truly differentiating customer service we received. Shipment was astoundingly fast, but what really mattered was the willingness of Paul to walk us through the exact installation and configuration steps for both boards, as well as for making the return process of the DGT board as easy and non-cumbersome as could be expected. I have ordered from many other chess web sites in the past, but will take my business to ChessHouse from now on. Thank you

Customer service top notch, a pleasure to do business with. Thus far the computer and board is great.

I purchased the Mephisto Phoenix T chess computer and have used it extensively over the last four weeks.

The board and pieces are beautiful, well-crafted and function very well. I like the large tournament board quite a bit. The board corner LEDs and piece recognition are very welcome technology. The computer and human always agree on the exact position at all times. Various chess positions are a snap to set up. I also like how the physical board position is displayed on screen and updated every move.

The Take Back function works well, but the machine doesn’t seem to have the ability to step forward through the moves again. A minor issue, but once you have taken back all the moves you want, you can then start playing from that point in the game.

The module screen has good clear resolution and I believe the information is displayed well, given the size of the screen. Compromises were obviously made, but I think well chosen. Of course, the screen is quite large relative to all previous chess computers I've owned. Consequently, it displays much more helpful info.

The documentation is fairly good and does answer a lot of questions. I’m aware that differs from most reviews. I would have written some sections a bit differently and added some clarification. At times, the choice of words could be better.

I recommend visiting the Millennium website and reading the FAQ section. That will answer questions not addressed in the Owner’s Manual. I anticipate the module software will have features added and perhaps UI enhancements in the months ahead.

If not interested in the legacy chess emulations, just ignore them. I spend most of my time on the module’s primary side, if you will, which includes multiple top chess engines, such as Shredder, and many playing options, levels and profiles. I appreciate the various pre-configured playing profiles associated with most of the chess engines, and the ability to customize any of them to my liking and saving them. A minor issue, but I would like to name each customized profile myself vice the system naming them User 1, User 2, etc.

Getting back to the emulations, if you find them fascinating, like I do, then you are left to figure out how to interact with each of them substantially on your own. Due to copyright laws, you are advised to download the online Owner’s Manual for each emulation. I try to find a manual for each category of emulation, which I believe I counted five different general types; all interesting.

The emulations interact with the board somewhat differently from one to another. I found that manuals for at least each category of emulation are available, though some I only found in a foreign language, such as Spanish or German. I used an online translator to convert them to English, which was effective but not efficient. That is, I made progress, but it was slow progress. I wish all manuals were available online in English, as the emulations are certainly a curiosity of mine.

I connected the module to my WIFI network and downloaded the latest module updates without difficulty.

Is this chess computer worth the money spent? When you consider how expensive everything is today for everyone—including manufacturers and merchants—then I would say, emphatically, Yes. I think Millennium has done a fine job.

I would not recommend it as a great “bang for the buck” model. There are many other far less expensive models to satisfy that demand. This machine was clearly created as a blue ribbon offering. and I’m delighted to own it.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that I had a minor concern initially. I notified Chess House of the issue, which was not their fault. Yet they quickly remedied the situation to my complete satisfaction. What can I say? Thank you for the great customer service! Keep up the good work.

Wonderful

Need a new box

Had it for a couple of months now but not beat it yet but managed a draw it will make me up my game it is a great chess computer wouldn`t give it up now best ever had great board and piece`s still getting used to setting up the levels might be reason haven`t won a game yet arrived well packaged and 1 day early so a well done guys will know where too come again this is a second chess computer I have purchased from you

I admit I was hesitant because of the price. But its the kind of chess computer I've dreamed of. I'm happy to say that it lives up to my expectations. I am waiting for lichess connectivity. But the computer is great.

I knocked it down only because I feel for the price the chess pieces seemed a little cheap and light. Its a personal preference but I like heavier weighted pieces. Plus the sculpting isn't the best. In fact one of the white queens are almost deformed, leaning to the left. I'm almost tempted to try and transplant the chips into a nice house of Staunton set. But for the price you really shouldn't have too.

All in all its the best system I've played personally. I hope it only gets better with firmware updates.

The Chess computer is high quality and it is excellent!
However -as previous all previous owners mentioned- the instructions are way subpar. How on earth Mephisto website does not offer set by step video instructions in the 21st Century?
The description states the Phoenix is for all ages fro beginners to experts. You tell me how a beginner could learn this machine?
Mephisto has no support on their website (when I sent them an e mail they refer me to the three 10 seconds video Chesshouse made), its manual is useless way over complicated and too short. Does not even offer a Glossary!
Chesshouse service is excellent but here is a way they can improve!
Have somebody at Chesshouse learn this product from A to Z and do a step by step video instructions and offer it for sale.
I would definitely pay for it! When it is ready they should contact all previous buyers. Make this instruction not only for chess geeks but for beginners who would understand it, including a Glossary of chess and chess computer.
As this would create additional income for Chesshouse I trust they grab this opportunity and make this vide soon. As I am an optimist I, give 5 star to this product!
Hoping I am right!

The board and the pieces are very nice, and it's a treat to see the position on the board automatically reflected on the display. But the software is buggy, and the interface peculiar. My main use case is to set up interesting positions I find in books and magazines. I then play, with frequent backtracking after the machine punishes my blunders, until I learn enough about the position to play it reasonably well. Perhaps it's possible to do this gracefully, but if so I haven't been able to figure it out. This sort of "play from here" just doesn't seem to be supported the way play from the initial position is. You don't seem to be able to get an equity score for the set-up position. The lights on the board don't work, and the display always seems to be telling me (in itty-bitty type) either more or less than I want to know. I gather that the gee-whiz feature of the system is its ability to use a bunch of different current and legacy engines, but it seems to me that you'd have to be a real computer chess maven for this to be really interesting--it certainly isn't to me.

The construction and craft quality of the Mephisto Phoenix is excellent. The Tournament Board and pieces are excellent and functional. But the User Interface with the computing hardware and software is pretty much an ongoing struggle to "learn how to play Chess" with this system. The use of the term "Profile" is never clear and has different meanings depending on the context. The documentation appears to be written by a non-native English language speaker (German?, Norwegian?, Chinese?). My 8 year old granddaughter can write clearer than this. The organization of the manual is not logical and requires repeated readings and searches to find a topic. And with no Index to the manual, it just frustrates me to look for a topic. Another thing, can the AI in any of these programs accept a resign or draw from the User or that matter can the AI interface ever resign or offer a draw? I cannot find any reference at all as to when the AI will resign. One more item. The UI can "get lost" when the User goes back and forth between the menus looking for something or resetting a "profile" etc. and at some point the UI is so lost it doesn't know where it is and no longer can play a game (no LEDs will light up on the Board, no pieces on the Board are recognized etc.) The Re-boot (Reset, Power On/Off) has often been used and forces me to reset my "Profile" again every time. I fully expect the developers to make the necessary patches to version 400E of my UI to correct these issues or this the Mephisto Phoenixx will be a commercial failure for anyone without supreme patience and a advanced education degree in interfaces.

I write this review as a person who has been playing chess for 50 years and used many chess computers throughout that time. My ELO is around 1900.

Pros:

1) excellent chessboard recognition of the piece movements
2) strong engines as advertized - I played Mephisto against Fat Fritz and it drew every game fairly easily
3) Nice clear user interface

Cons:
1) no programmable time controls; only presets which is an obvious weakness to other computers that cost 10% of this price. Why? Just write three more lines of code

2) No easy analysis functions after the game is over. Again, Why? $40 software does this but not here

3) Lots of to do about legacy UIs and emulation -- why? No one cares about 1980s user interfaces ... a bit like Microsoft promoting typewriters

4) User manual appears to be written by an 8 year old -- completely useless and not well thought out. You basically have to self teach by navigating. Again why this gap?

5) The UI itself is merely acceptable bordering on archaic. The resolution is good but the layout is all wrong, again, 1980s navigation. The clock timers are good but need to be larger, one should be able to scroll the entire move list, and why not a move counter?

6) Why market an opening book that is old and needs updating? 1 million moves is a drop in the bucket. The other software engines out there expose it in the opening.

In sum, you can tell all of the investment went into the board technology which is great, and less so into the user interface which, though improved resolutions, is still built on the old UI templates from 1990. Hire 21st century developers please who can improve the UI and navigation. Then, you won't have to write a 30 page user manual. The number of pages reflects the amateur design and clunky navigation.

All in all, I like it since there is nothing like this on the market. A 3400 rated + table top is great. But, it could be so much better. For the price, one demands a Mercedes, not a Chevy.

I am very impressed with the technology of the Millennium Mephisto Phoenix but the developers forgot to document how to use the technology. There is only about 20 pages of useful instructions where there should be about 150 pages minimum to provide the necessary information needed to enjoy the full experience. From Wifi issues to needing to avoid hitting new game if you want to save the game to PGN are just a few examples of lazy documentation or missing documentation. Hopefully, Millennium will pick their game up and properly document the features and how to use them in the near future. Until then, I would avoid the purchase.