Who We Are

ChessUp is the brain child and first smashout success of Bryght Labs, a connected gaming startup from Kansas City.

Founded by three friends and engineers who spent their careers building products for Garmin.

Jeff loved chess and wanted to teach his children - but like so many people struggled after realizing how difficult chess actually is.

What he wanted was ChessUp, but after looking he realized there wasn’t a smart chessboard that included all the features he wanted - so of course he started building one himself. Not too long after bringing in his close friends Justin and Adam, he was ready to bring the ChessUp to Kickstarter. It was an incredible success!

At Bryght Labs, we believe in making it the best and doing it ourselves. We don’t compromise on quality, and we don’t compromise on cost.

Making The Best Board

ChessUp spent years researching what chess players want to develop the ideal board. We wanted to teach people chess, so we built our own lessons by hiring professional talent and syncing the board in a way nobody else did!

We wanted the game to feel natural, so we developed new piece recognition software that knows when you touch a piece. We built forums and talked to customers, learning what the people wanted - and we delivered!

The first ChessUp board launched in 2021 and was a huge success, but the team always had a list of improvements on the go. In 2024 this finally culminated in ChessUp 2, the best smart chessboard out there.

Not only did ChessUp 2 include all the patented technology that made it special in the first place.

It now included a built in touchscreen with wifi, required no phone or app to use, weighed less, was more durable, included chip detection in each chess piece, and landed an official partnership with Chess.com to provide the most stable online playing experience available.

Oh, and the cost of the board never went up.

What's Next

ChessUp isn’t done. In 2025 alone we released over 28 free updates, including new features such as multiple accounts per board, additional customizations to settings, move takebacks, checkers and more.

There are still many exciting new features being worked on as we strive to be the best smart board in the world. 28 free updates later, our garage startup is just getting started.

But Bryght Labs isn’t done either. The team has grown from three friends in a garage into an experienced team of inventors and product developers.

Our mission is to make STEM-focused games more approachable, and our team has grown to include world-class talent from a variety of disciplines. Keep on the lookout for our next big idea, and thank you for being a part of our story!

Meet The Team

We are a connected gaming startup - Bryght Labs is an experienced team of inventors and product developers. Our mission is to make STEM-focused games more approachable. Our team has grown to include world-class talent from a variety of disciplines.