Often the chess board and pieces are sold as a set, but you may also choose to buy them separately. In the same way that there will never be a one-size-fits-all approach to playing chess, there will never be a one-size-fits all chess board. It’s worth considering that while marble and wood are highly favored materials, they are more easily damaged, scratched, or chipped than their vinyl or plastic counterparts.Īlternatively, chess professionals use vinyl chess boards most frequently, with pieces measuring 3.75 inches. Well-made wooden chess sets typically come with a padded felt bottom to stabilize and protect the board. Ebony, rosewood, and sandalwood are also popular, durable options. There are numerous types of wood from which chess sets can be produced, perhaps the most common being European Walnut, known for its durability. While the definition of a great set differs for each player, many hold high-end wooden and marble sets in high regard, especially for at-home play. Once you’ve decided what you want from your chess board, you can begin to determine what would make a chess board great for you. In this case, aesthetics take absolute precedence over functionality. It is not uncommon for people to use chess boards as decor, never playing the game at all. For example, a portable chess board will generally be less visually attractive than an at-home set in exchange for being more functional. If you plan to play at home, the chess board you want will vary greatly from one better suited to bring along with you from place to place. When selecting a chess board, the first thing to consider is where you intend to use it and how you intend to do so. What a player values most in their chess board will determine which board is best for them. The definition of what makes a great chess board changes depending not only on the player but on the context in which the game is to be played. You have come across the ultimate guide for choosing chess boards, so buckle up! There is plenty of good advice coming your way!įor many chess players, the chess board used to play is as significant a factor in the experience of chess as the game itself. It does not make a difference.Have you, like so many before you, been bewitched by the enchanting power of chess, but don’t know where to start and what board to choose? Well then, you’re in for a treat. “You realize eventually that this is what matters: the human contact, the precious moments you spend with people, the memories you create,” Khachan said, “And that memory can be created with a $10 set or a $1,000 set. Khachan said that a set itself is just a means to an end, an opportunity for a conversation: one player moving a piece, introducing an idea onto the board, and the other player responding in kind. But ultimately, chess is a game that can be played anywhere, with anything. “There are hundreds of sets and millions of combinations if you start mixing things,” Khachan told me during our talk. Khachan loves chess, and he loves chess boards and pieces, but his advice surprised me: It doesn’t really matter which set you get. To find out, I spent 15 hours researching chess sets online and sat down for an extended conversation with Imad Khachan, owner of Chess Forum, a New York City institution that hosts matches and sells all manner of chess books, clocks, and sets. But many of those newbies may be wondering: Which chess set is best to start out with? Resources like and Twitch streams from grandmasters and the wild popularity of Netflix’s 2020 show The Queen’s Gambit have created legions of new players. Its lingo is opaque to newbies-high-level players talk about the “Ruy López Opening” or the “Trompowsky Attack”-and pop culture has an unfortunate habit of casting aficionados as either massive dweebs or troubled savants who have a hard time relating to other people.
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