Baybird

Okay, yeah that solves needing a ton of block states. I suppose I could just use some block properties to describe what pieces are where and then just render the chessboard based on those properties. Awesome! Still, how might I make the pieces placeable? Here's my idea (tell me if it's dumb). If the player is holding a piece and right clicks the chessboard, a raycast is preformed which is used to determine what chess piece or space the player is actually clicking. Then I can set the chessboard properties accordingly and and render it. Good idea, or is there a more simple approach?

Basically I'm making a chessboard. On it, you have each of the pieces which you can move independently of each other. The chessboard only takes up one block of space. Obviously I CANNOT make a blockstate for each playable position on a chessboard. What kind of system do I use then? I'd like to have each space on a chessboard essentially have it's own blockstate so that they behave as if they are each their own block. Or maybe there's a way to combine block states? Of course the effect I'm trying to achieve can be done but how should the underlying functionality accomplish this?