Viper Innovations Brings AI Brilliance to Portishead Chess Club
December 15, 2025
Viper Innovations has helped bring a new era of high-tech chess training to Portishead, Bristol, with the debut of Viper, an AI-powered chess robot.
The robot will soon become a central part of Portishead Chess Club’s junior programme, supporting young players as they develop their skills. The club’s junior section for players under 18 is embracing advanced robotics to expand how chess is taught, experienced and enjoyed. The arrival of the robot brings a new dimension of excitement to junior training and supports wider efforts across the region to engage young people in technology– driven learning.
Viper pairs a precise mechanical arm with a responsive AI engine capable of anything from beginner– level play to abilities surpassing Magnus Carlsen. This makes it a versatile partner for players of any age, as well as a travelling learning tool for the wider chess community. Chess coaches across Bristol and Portishead teach hundreds of children every week, and Viper will join them at junior tournaments, community events and schools across the South West.
Recent studies from the International Journal of Advanced Research in Science Communication and Technology show that hands-on robotics can accelerate skill development, build confidence and strengthen young people’s engagement with STEM. That potential is what Viper Innovations set out to support, helping Portishead Chess Club transform advanced technology into a practical and inspiring learning experience for its junior players.
Ahead of the reveal, Viper Innovations engineer Fisker G Xu brought the robot to life, configuring its systems and preparing it for its first demonstrations. At the official reveal event, Viper Innovations engineers Fisker G Xu and Jakub Cervenak joined club members as the robot was introduced and formally named Viper, complete with its very own birth certificate issued by Portishead Chess Club.
Fisker shares “As a long-time chess enthusiast, I’m proud to support the Portishead Chess Club in its work to bring chess into local schools and inspire more young people to engage with a game built on strategy, logic and creativity. Supporting the introduction of an AI-powered chess robot is exactly the kind of initiative that sits at the heart of Viper Innovations, sparking curiosity, encouraging problem, solving, and showing how engineering and technology can inspire the next generation.”
With Viper now embedded in the junior programme, young players are stepping into a new style of learning where strategic thinking meets real-world technology. As the first junior chess club in the country to integrate a chess robot into its training, Portishead Chess Club marks a defining moment for grassroots chess and sets a new benchmark for innovation.
Through initiatives like this, Viper Innovations continues to extend its commitment to STEM, working with community groups, schools and local organisations to give young people practical exposure to engineering, robotics and digital technology, and to open pathways into future careers.
