DGT Electronic Board Protocol

DGT stands for Digital Game Technology, the company that makes these boards. A DGT electronic board detects the type, color, and location of the physical pieces. The DGT Electronic Board Protocol defines how that information is exchanged with a computer. It is a communication specification, not the board itself, the broadcasting application, or a notation for writing games.

A computer can request a complete board reading, clock data, or a continuous update mode. The board replies with messages made of bytes, small numerical units of data. Each message has a header identifying its kind and total length, followed by the corresponding content.

Updates describe what the sensors see on individual squares. Lifting a piece, removing a captured piece, and placing the moving piece can generate several separate changes. The receiving application must combine them, reconstruct the move, and check that it makes chess sense. The protocol alone does not guarantee a legal move or always deliver a string in algebraic notation.

It resembles FICS Style 12 because both are intended for software to parse, but their jobs differ. DGT carries data from physical hardware and a clock; Style 12 carries a textual snapshot from an internet chess server.