Normal board and pieces
Choose clear contrast between pieces and squares, and test the exact set you will use before tournament day.
For small tournaments and production teams
Bring one featured board online.
Use a normal chessboard, an Android phone, a Windows PC and the production software you already know. ChessZCam reads the moves from the phone camera, and ChessZCam Live puts the digital board on air in vMix or OBS — a lighter bridge for events that are not ready for an electronic-board installation.
Tested live · 19 Sep 2026
Start with one board
vMix & OBS
Operator stays in control
A focused equipment chain
Use the pieces your event can realistically manage.
The goal is not to make tournament broadcasting effortless. It is to make one useful digital board possible with a smaller starting stack.
A phone on a stable stand
Mount it to the side of the board with all four corners in view — a boom arm keeps it out of the players' way and away from accidental bumps. Auto-detect the corners, then lock.
A Windows PC with ChessZCam Live
The console receives the move data, shows the state of every link at a glance, lets you correct the position and controls the overlay.
vMix or OBS on the same PC
Load the ChessZCam overlay URL beside your venue camera, player names, sponsor graphics and commentary. The console and overlay are reachable only from the PC running them; spectators have a separate read-only Viewer link on the same network.
A responsible operator
Someone who watches the position and steps in when hands, lighting or an unusual move create doubt.
A pre-event test
Run the whole chain under venue-like lighting, on the network you will actually use, before the first round.
Plan the network early: many halls isolate guest devices, so a dedicated router or a phone hotspot is the reliable setup. Pair phone and PC with a code, and install the current phone and PC builds together so both speak the same pairing.
ChessZCam Live · for vMix & OBS · 1.8 (trial build)
New in October 2026 · Viewer QRFrom the board to the broadcast.
Only small move data travels from the phone to the PC — never the video. ChessZCam Live turns it into a clean digital board for your production.
Mount & lock
A stable stand beside the board with all four corners in view. Auto-detect the corners, then lock the board.
Detect & review
ChessZCam follows the moves locally with Broadcast Live; the operator corrects rather than the app guessing silently.
Send to the PC
Only small move data travels over the network. Pair phone and console with a code; Studio on the same PC connects in one click.
Broadcast & save
Point vMix or OBS at the Browser Source URL, go on air, and keep the PGN afterwards.
TALLY-STYLE OPERATOR SCREEN
A console built for the person running the show.
A status strip for hub, phone, detector, overlay and on-air look, and one main button that never moves. When something looks wrong, the correction screen helps you fix it before viewers see it.
- Shows exactly what differs — which squares to empty, which to fill, and with which piece
- Suggests the moves — a legal sequence connecting the two positions, scored against the camera evidence, or an honest “not found”
- A board you can tap — origin, then target; promotion is asked, never assumed
- Match camera — ask the phone for a fresh look: the captured frame first, then the position read from it
- Illegal positions are blocked before they go on air
OVERLAY DESIGNER
Make the board fit your production.
Arrange the digital board and its panels to sit comfortably beside your camera picture, names and sponsor graphics.
- Six styles: Classic, Obsidian HUD, Royal Gold, Neon Carbon, Mecha Arena and Neon Glass Studio
- Lower-third cards for players, event, round, venue and a free line, cued by hand or automatically
- A verdict lane with a short plain-language note per move in English, Malay or Chinese, plus opening names and check and checkmate marks
- Nothing reaches air until you press Push to overlay
⇄
A paired link
Phone and PC pair with a code, so only your phone can feed your detector — even on a shared hall network. It is ordinary local-network traffic, not encrypted.
↻
Moves survive a reconnect
Every move is acknowledged by the PC. After a Wi-Fi drop the overlay catches up in one clean resync.
⏸
Hold with confidence
Pause the overlay for a replay; the game keeps being tracked underneath and jumps to the true position on Resume.
🕛
Survives a restart
The broadcast state is kept for up to 12 hours and validated before anything changes on screen.
◉
New: a Viewer QR for spectators
The same PC can show a separate read-only QR for parents and coaches outside the hall. Switch it off or replace it at any time. Viewer Mode →
A PC adds resources, not concepts — why the phone never loses the game if the PC does.
Real tournament footage · Lotus's Kulim · 19 September 2026
Watch one featured board become a broadcast.
A phone on a boom arm watched Table 1, ChessZCam detected the moves on the spot, and the position went live into a vMix production — in a busy hall, on the venue's own network. Young players' faces are blurred on this site.
Test 4 · junior tournament · Table 1 live into vMix
Swipe or scroll sideways for more →
That day used Phone app 1.14 · Studio 0.18 · Live 1.5. Today's builds are Studio 1.1.2 (trial candidate) · Phone app 1.22 · Live 1.12; their October features were not in use that day.
19 September 2026 · Round 7 · Under 12A game from the same day, turned into an overlay video by ChessZCam Studio.
How we got here
- 18 Jul · Taiping Mall — the first live YouTube production. A player accidentally touched the tripod mid-game; the drift it caused led to the recovery tools built the very next day.
- 26 Jul · SJKC Keong Hoe, Penang — two monitored games followed to checkmate, with the camera and detection phone side by side.
- 19 Sep · Lotus's Kulim — Table 1 live into vMix on the venue's own network.
Older footage: our earlier live beta testing sample from a previous build.
Choosing the right setup
Small events that want one board worth following.
The phone-camera approach is strongest when expectations are clear and the production scope is controlled.
Where it may fit
- School and community tournaments
- Club championships
- One featured board in a local open
- Exhibition games and commentary tables
- A parents' viewing corner outside the hall, using the Viewer QR
- Creator-led invitational events
Choose an electronic-board system when
- You need official multi-board coverage at scale
- No operator can monitor the digital position
- The venue cannot provide stable framing or adequate light
- Your regulations require approved equipment or a specific transmission method
Results depend on the setup. Camera stability, lighting, board and piece contrast, hands blocking squares, device performance and the operator's setup all affect accuracy — the quality of what the camera sees matters most.
The operator's role. Monitor the position, correct unusual events and run the overlay alongside the rest of the broadcast. ChessZCam is for broadcast and review, never for settling a dispute at the board — that belongs to the arbiter.
Honest limits. One camera phone and one board per PC; vMix or OBS on the same PC as ChessZCam Live, on the same local network; no chess clock data. After a correction the live move list may be incomplete; the phone's own game record is the one to keep.
Questions before trying it
What to know before tournament day.
Is this intended to replace DGT or other electronic boards?
No. Electronic boards remain the stronger choice for official multi-board coverage and larger installations. ChessZCam is aimed at a featured board and smaller production teams. More on this in our comparison article.
How many boards should a small organiser begin with?
One featured board. ChessZCam Live works with one active source at a time, and a single board is what we have tested at real tournaments. Stable setup, staffing and venue conditions matter more than scale.
Does the stream still need an operator?
Yes. Someone should watch the digital position, correct unusual events and manage the broadcast tools. The console is designed around that person.
Can the phone video be sent through ChessZCam?
No — Broadcast Live sends the board state, not video, over the local network. Your venue camera goes into vMix or OBS as usual; at Lotus's Kulim a separate camera filmed Table 1 while the phone watched the moves.
Do I need vMix, or does OBS work too?
Both work. ChessZCam Live serves the overlay as a browser URL: add it as a Web Browser input in vMix or a Browser Source in OBS, on the same PC as the console, as a layer over your camera picture.
Can parents and coaches follow the featured board on their phones?
Yes, in trial builds. ChessZCam Live can show a separate read-only Viewer QR: spectators scan it in the ChessZCam Android app, on the same Wi-Fi or hotspot, and follow the digital board outside the hall. It shows engine analysis, so it is never for players, and the organiser decides whether to switch it on. How Viewer Mode works →
What happens if the Wi-Fi drops or someone nudges the stand?
Moves are acknowledged by the PC, so after a dropout the overlay catches up in one clean resync. If the camera or board moves, use Hold and the correction tools to re-align the position and carry on from where you were.
Can I keep the game afterwards?
Yes. Keep the PGN after the broadcast. With a recording of the game, ChessZCam can also turn it into an overlay video later — as in the 19 September video above.
When can I use it, and what will it cost?
ChessZCam is in pre-release development. Studio comes first, with a free 14-day trial on one PC that starts only when you agree to the terms and start it in Studio (no code needed); trial invitations go to the waitlist first. Package prices are on the ChessZCam page, and waitlist members get 50% off their first package when sales open. Joining is free and is not an order. See the launch status for where things stand.
Begin with a controlled test
One stable board is more valuable than several unreliable ones.
Join the waitlist now. Trial invitations go to the waitlist first, and members get 50% off their first ChessZCam package when sales open (packages). Joining is free and is not an order. Then use the setup guide and compatibility notes to decide whether your venue is suitable before offering a broadcast to players or viewers. Built by one independent developer and chess parent — constructive feedback is always welcome.