The board will employ an electromagnet hooked to motors controlled by an arduino to move chess pieces with magnets on the bottom. The board will have reed switches on the bottom for piece detection. The player should be able to make a move and signal the end of the move by an input on the board. The board will then determine if the move is legal, and if so will physically synchronize the second board to the first one. If the move is illegal, the board will notify the user.
While there exist magnetic boards to play chess against a computer, there are no magnetic boards that allow for playing against another person. Currently, in order to play a second person, one must either 1) Play chess online or 2) Keep two boards synced by hand, calling in moves to and from the other person. The first option is fine for many people, however there are many older people who do not bother learning to use a computer or can not figure out more than the most basic of tasks. There are also players who prefer the physical aspects of playing chess. This would allow for these types of people to play without requiring the other player to also be at the board.
