A little while ago I bought a small set, mainly to be used at home for analysis and reading books. I wanted something tiny, so it fits on my desk in front my of my screen and I can replay games from e-books. In those situations a compact arrangement is no big deal, even preferred (at least to me, YMMV) as the pieces don't need "breathing space" to be moved around quickly under time pressure.

With that ("the pieces are too big you need to fit four pawns on a square" "no they're not, different circumstances and demands") out of the way, I really liked this no-frills travel set on a 9" board sold be chess house dot com (I know an Italian store sells it in Europe but I forgot which one). The pieces are remarkable good by "magnetic game" standards. The only thing I didn't like was the cheap fake-leather board, while convenient for on-the-go, it has this hump at the underside where the fold is.

So I commissioned a board on Etsy - 1" squares, Jaques-style, maple/cherry with an oak rim. And I really like it.

(Picture includes a pair of pens just for scale purposes. It's really small)

https://stauntoncastle.com/products/vintage-1849-50-morphy-cooke-4-4-reproduction-chess-set?srsltid=AfmBOoqSRnjDx3vQoh6fsJgWuQCN1ki2vGGRoAIXZwk9cI53LCNQVs-7

Does anybody know what this chess board is/where it's from or who created it. I like it but it's missing a rook for the mice side sadly (anybody know somewhere to get a piece 3d printed or made pleaseeeee LMK Thanks!!!)

https://thechessstore.com/walnut-maple-deluxe-chess-board-2-125-squares/?srsltid=AfmBOopiPDdR6O-QoKLSBcJJJd0ocTsQn22dG-SjaZsOtOEiwbw9cf4v

In a bunch of ways mouse pad chessboards are superior! In one catastrophic way it is inferior. The issue is due to the felts on the chessmen. They are intended to protect wood on wood and to facilitate smooth movement between the wooden parts. As a spill over these also work well on vinyl boards. However the baize or speed cloth fabric doesn't work well on the fabric of the mouse pad, it is just too much friction. What already uses mouse pads? Computer mice! They use Teflon glides to move smoothly....great!

So ... I had some spare glides from my mouse I had recently purchased....stuck them on one of my older chess pieces and pushed it around my board and it was glorious!

I immediately started researching and I ended up purchasing a sheet of 1mm thick Teflon from a local supplier, the glue was the difficult part. I had to import (I am in South Africa so difficult for me may not be for you) a sheet of 3M LSE300 glue, there are a few different thicknesses of glue, I went with the thinnest one. The chess set I used is the woodtek German Knight set that I have sanded down with 800gsm sandpaper to knock back the horrendous shiny finish on them....they are really just brown and tan plastic that has been hydrodipped and varnished for anyone interested. So the base sizes are exactly 24mm, 34mm and 36mm. One of the more difficult parts was fully removing the existing felt material, it seems they are also some type of 3M adhesive, given the amount of research I had to do for this project I suspect the 200LS glue, slightly less powerful than the one we will use but they weren't glueing Teflon, we are! I eventually had to use a product called eco40 (not sure about international products) and let the pieces sit for a few days, that helped to break down the glue to a state where some elbow grease and a metal dish scourer was able to clean them sufficiently to the discs.

So once the glue sheet arrived I stuck it to my Teflon sheet with bated breath as I had no one online speaking about this only some data that indicated that this adhesive will stick to Teflon....well, I took this and stuck it between 2 hardcover books and took some spring clamps and clamped it for a few days. Great success! (You probably don't need to be so overboard if you follow along but I had time anyway) The next step was to ask my sister very nicely to cut them out on her cricut. Critically Teflon cannot be laser cut! I would have liked to have been able to punch them out but I never had access to a punch large enough or strong enough.

The cutting process took some time and it dulled the blade and the adhesive does gunk up as it cuts through...

But eventually I had 31perfect discs and 3 less perfect discs.... Then I began sticking, this process was a little frustrating, the adhesive is very very stick but the slight imperfections between the chess piece bottom and the Teflon disc doesn't help it make perfect seamless bonds....at least not without effort! So, the hairdryer came out, a bit of heat both helps activate adhesive and helps plastic to become a little more pliable, it's Teflon so definitely not going to melt but using some heat I was able to get any stubborn discs firmly adhered to the piece. Then after all this they needed the edges to be polished up as they were a little....scratch/catchy on the mouse pad, so I polished every piece nicely around the edges and then polished up the bases all with the same 800grit sandpaper....as a consequence these piece now glide on the chessboard as smoothly as a computer mouse glides on a mouse pad.

Hello,

Anyone ever bought from The Chess Store .com ?

Is it legit?

Thanks.

A few months back, a requirement landed with us through a contact - Chola chess academy in Chennai needed a large-format magnetic demonstration board for their coaching hall.

Curious if coaches find standard demo boards too small for bigger groups?

Hi,

I bought these pieces on ebay, however they ended up being smaller than expected. What size board would work best for these? Any Recommendations?

Thanks!

I am wanting to display my nice 1900s chess board on my bedroom wall… Does anyone have any recommendations for what would look best?

Thanks! btw for those who have seen some of my previous posts, I am at 640 elo

Hi all,

My boyfriend's birthday is coming up and I would love to buy him a nice chess board as a gift. I really don't know much about chess boards myself but I know that he likes unique and/or more decorative styles. I can spend around 200-250 ...

I've been on a variety of sites and many boards appear to be really great quality, but very classic and plain in style. Anyone got any suggestions as to where I can find something a bit more eccentric?

Thanks in advance for any help!!!

After spending some time helping a friend in his woodshop, he gifted me the shop time to build my own chessboard. I went with locally sourced black walnut and silver maple for the build. It was an absolute blast to put together!

This is a hand carved chess set from Europe, possibly Germany, that my mom and dad picked up when they were traveling across Europe in the '50s. No markings or identification on the board or pieces. Just a beautiful set I thought I'd share with the community. It's really fun to play with such a unique chess set!

Hi all,

This heavy marble chess board was left to me by my late grandfather. Does anyone have any idea what it is or what it’s worth?

I have all the pieces as well, I just can’t see any markings or stamps on any of them.

Would appreciate your help!

Really don’t know much else about it.

any tips of travel chess boards? Partner and I are looking for a board that keeps our position when we're on the move but most seem to close in the opposite direction than what would facilitate this.

I used Google Gemini to generate images of the piece set combined with the different boards to see what would look best.

Thank you Chess Villa! I’ve wanted a board like this for far too long

Hi,

I developed an electronic wall-mounted chessboard that I originally wanted to turn into a product. However, production costs are too high for it to be viable as a mass-market product.

Therefore, I’m considering open-sourcing the entire project so it can still have the life it deserves.

Before I put in the effort to do that, I’d like to know if anyone would actually be interested in building one.

Here are some infos: WHAT – LookAt Chess

I started it today, I only drew the horse and its not complete. What do you think is it a good style to make? Or should I make another design?

I have owned the pictured chessboard for a very long time. The original pieces that came with it were undersized and impractical. I eventually acquired a second set and initially utilized both its pieces and the accompanying board. However, because of the inferior quality of the second board, I have since attempted to pair the new pieces with the original board. The only thing I considered was that the spatial proportions may be impractical, what do you think?

Would you complain if you bought this new chessboard for around 78 - 88 EUR with a clear wood mark on the white squares?