Demonstration Board

The name is purely functional: a board used to demonstrate a position to an audience. German Wikipedia describes the Demonstrationsbrett as an oversized chessboard hung on a wall or set on a stand, usually 80 by 80 centimetres, using magnetically attached figurine symbols, and serving to present chess positions to a larger circle of spectators. It states that the demonstration board was invented by Johann Jacob Loewenthal in the 19th century and that its first demonstrable use was during the 1886 world championship match between Steinitz and Zukertort in the United States. The boards are commonly used for group training and lectures as well as for relaying live tournament games, with helpers transferring the moves by hand. Since the 1990s electronic boards, driven by sensors in the players' boards and often thrown onto a screen by projector, have increasingly been used for the same purpose. No English-language source confirming the Loewenthal attribution was located in this session, so this attribution rests on the German Wikipedia article alone.

First documented: 1886 — German Wikipedia, Demonstrationsbrett, citing first demonstrable use at the 1886 Steinitz-Zukertort world championship match in the United States