Chess playing robots have been around for quite a while. They allow you to play against others over the Internet without having to move their pieces. Up for making your own chess playing robot with Raspberry Pi? Bethanie Fentiman’s project may give you a few ideas: Wizard Chess is a chess set with motorized piece movement.
The maker used 2 28BYJ-48 stepper motors, a 4tronix PiStep board, and a few other parts to complete this project. The pieces are magnetic. What do you think? How would you improve upon this idea?