It was Tim Just who caught a spectator signalling to a class player by writing the recommended move on a styrofoam cup…
Perhaps we should start marketing cups made out of dry erase enamel… 
So, how did the USCF get involved in this?
Hmm, let’s see.
There are 64 1x1 squares.
There are 49 2x2 squares. The lower edge of a 2x2 square can be in any of 7 positions, ab, bc, cd, de, ef, fg, gh. The left edge can also be in any of 7 positions. That’s 49 altogether.
Likewise, there are 36 3x3 squares.
And 25 4x4 squares.
And 16 5x5 squares.
And 9 6x6 squares.
And 4 7x7 squares.
And 1 8x8 square.
Let’s see (mumble mumble, reaching for my slide rule):
64 + 49 + 36 + 25 + 16 + 9 + 4 + 1 comes out – (drum roll) – 204. How about that – you’re right!
Bill Smythe
Some have said that a chess game has 206 squares.
Yup, 204 + 2 squares playing. You could say 207 if you include the TD. Even more if the TD is a blockhead. 
$$$$$$ then we all can have it your way!
Play chess and have fun!
General chess resource - and this evolved from the topic of discussion on electronic notation in another thread.
Ok. I read the other thread, and that gave me a little bit of context.
For what it’s worth, the idea of using cameras for automatic scorekeeping isn’t science fiction. It’s well within the capability of a graduate student. I doubt it would even be worth a PhD, and the logistical challenges brought up are not that extreme either. It’s a challenge, but not a breakthrough.
I don’t think it will actually replace the scoresheet, and it certainly won’t trickle down to every board at every tournament, but I predict that within 10 years, you will see systems based on cameras in use at tournaments, performing the same role that digital boards from DGT are used for today. It could be much sooner than 10 years, depending on whether or not someone takes up the challenge.
The super clock. It has the camera imbedded in the center of it with a small print out feed that actually prints the moves on a roll of paper that feeds out of the back of it. It has a usb port to copy to other devices.
It’s science fiction from the aspect of being practical.
In 1966 - communicators and tricorders were science fiction, and computers with terabytes of information were too.
In 1969 tablets were science fiction.
10 years later that was still true.
by 20 years later it was starting to be not true, but from the aspect of being practical, it was still science fiction.
30 years later from the perspective of being practical, it was STILL science fiction.
Today we have converged cell phones and tablets.
Regardless of what constitutes a definition of science fiction, there’s a point.
If anyone reading this happens to be a computer programmer interested in the world of computer vision, think about this project. It would be really cool to have a system that points a webcam at a chessboard, and automatically figures out where the pieces are and generates a score sheet as the game progresses. It won’t be easy, but it is doable with today’s technology.
Making it commercially viable is a bit of a stretch. It turns out that scoresheets are pieces of paper, and therefore cheap. Where I see this actuall being used is for real time broadcast of a game. Placing cameras could be a difficult proposition for some venues.
Just only 2 years, last month we did camera to notate chess game by reading the board/image:
blogs.sas.com/content/sascom/201 … mpionship/
Still not 100% perfect, but starting! We put 2 moves delay when come to viewing the game on the web, even at the lobby of the hotel (and could be different rooms), so players have comfortable level when people at the lobby talking about their games that has passed 2 moves.
So your assuming all chess players can whip out many hundreds of dollars for a DGT chess board, DGT clock, and a laptop to connect it to?