LCCC Mondays! Speed Tournament Set for March 6! - And What About Chessboards?

The Livingston County Chess Club meets every Monday night between 4pm and 10pm at the Buffalo Wild Wings in the Green Oak Mall in Brighton, MI. 

Stop on by for some friendly chess, good food and 'refreshments'. Everyone of all ages and playing strength are welcome to attend. And free lessons to all beginners!

We will hold the LCCC 2023 Speed Chess Championship at 6pm on March 6. No entry fee! The games will be 5 minutes long, with a 5 second delay! It will probably be a 4-round tournament, but it could be longer or shorter depending on the number of attendees. Each round will be a 2 game match with your opponent, alternating colors for the games. Two wins or a win and a draw gets you a “win” and one point in the round. A win and loss gets you a “draw” in the round.

It is always a fun time and the tournament starts AND is over in time for more chess either before or after the tournament. So be sure to attend on March 6^th!

The last article focused on how many tournament style chess sets should the sane chess enthusiast own. That debate will last as long as the game itself.

Your humble scribe was asked to do a similar review of the same question, but this time about the chessboards themselves. How many tournament size chessboards should the chess enthusiast own?

For that answer, read the previous article and replace the word “sets” with “boards” and you have your answer. But I can give you a review of the types of chessboards available, and some that are not anymore for some reason that defies logic.

Let’s start at the low end of price and work our way up to the insane. Again, we will stick to the standard tournament size board, which has squares of 2 to 2.25 inches (50 - 57 millimeters) and borders around the board can vary from 0 to 2 feet (600 millimeters) in length, although generally the border is around 1 inch (25 millimeters).

1.   1. Paper - Around $2 or less depending on the volume you buy at a time.

Plus side: lightweight, cheap, environmentally friendly, disposable.

Down side: gets dirty easily, wears out quickly, tends to wear out or break down on the edges, and won’t always lay flat as it tends to curl or crease over time.

2.  

2. Vinyl - $7 to $15 depending on the quality, quantity, or special colors or printing you want on your board. This is by far the most popular (and best for the minimalist) option.

Plus side: inexpensive, durable, easily cleaned, will lay flat with proper care and surface, light weight, and close to an unlimited range of colors and designs. Although the standard green and white squares (in varying shades of those two colors also available) is the GOLD standard for these boards.

Down Side: Should always be rolled up board side out so it will lay flat in use. Otherwise, the corners will curl. May look tacky if a nice chess set is used on it.

3.   

3. Mouse Pad - $10 to $20 and comes in almost as many colors and styles as it’s vinyl brother. It was brought on as an improvement over the vinyl board.

Plus side: inexpensive, durable, lays flat, light weight, always lays flat no matter how you roll it up so board in roll up keeps it cleaner longer.

Down Side: Not easily cleaned, and the chess pieces DO NOT SLIDE on this board! You must pick up the chess piece completely to move it. Now to the novice, this appears to be a non-issue. But to the chess enthusiast, the ability to just calmly slide your pawn forward and into the heart of your opponent is one of the reasons why we play chess! Just sayin. They have made improvements on this board to make it more slide friendly, but it is not there yet if you have nice felt on your chess set. And it is still is not easy to clean.

4. 

 4. PVC - $13 - $20 and comes in the square colors of green, blue, red, black, brown, or burgundy. Folds in half for easy storage and carry. It was to be the improvement over #2 and #3 above and #5 below. It fails to do that, but it does the job.

Plus side: inexpensive, sort of durable, easily cleaned, easily stored, lays flat, lightweight. But the pieces SLIDE!

Down side: Tends to crack on the edges and will usually develop a crease with high edges in the center of board over time. It folds in half for easy carry or storage but takes up more room than the roll up board.

5.   5. Linen - $ ???? – folds in half and comes in 0 colors now. Why they stopped making this board is a chess mystery. Anyone who is old enough to remember this style of chessboard would literally kill to have a few of them. They could be used with the cheapest to the most expensive chess sets on the market and look good doing it.

Plus side: all the advantages of the PVC board with NONE of the cracking issues. I still have ONE, it is 40 years old and still looks great! Caveat: doesn’t get much use because IT”S THE LAST ONE I know of in existence!

Down side: Only one color – dark green and beige (perfect! – IM never humble O), but susceptible to damage from dirt and spills, and not easy to clean. Hence, my lack of use with it.

6.   

6. Silicone - $15 - $20 – The “NEW KID on the block and comes in about 10 colors for the dark squares. They are even making these boards with one color square on one side and a different color square on the other. Literally two boards for the price of one if you like changing square colors. This board may someday replace the vinyl board as the most popular. Kids like them, old timers do not - as a rule.

Plus side: You can literally fold or squish this board into your pocket or purse, take it out months later and it will lay flat, lightweight, so the most portable chess board on the planet, inexpensive, durable.

Down side: Hard to clean and the pieces CANNOT SLIDE at all! They are almost stuck on the squares - worse than the mouse pad board. You must LIFT the chess piece and set it on it’s next square. This takes a little getting used to.

7.   

7. Wood - $75 to $6000 – Almost at the pinnacle of chess nirvana! Spend what you can afford to with glee or to your retch level, or to your spouse’s tolerance! To own a wood board is to have arrived as a chess player. Your humble scribe has owned as many as 5 wood chess boards. I am down to 3 – a folding wood board purchased at the 2013 US Open that I played in. I use it at the club occasionally. I have a solid wood one in my chess office, used for chess study only. My third is a plain square piece of plywood board I cut, and glued a brown and white vinyl board to the top of it. This is used outside on the deck, lawn or beach and could even be left outside (I didn’t, but I could have). This board is actually perfect for outside play as the ¾” plywood is sturdy enough to stay relatively level in almost any surface.

Plus side: Will last several life times, and the timeless beauty of wood needs no discussion.

Down side. Not easily carried, and dents and dings are inevitable. I literally had my brand new wood board in my office for only a few days when I knocked a small plastic travel alarm clock off of a bookshelf and onto my board. This put a small ding in the right-hand corner square. That was over 20 years ago and I think I stopped crying over it only last week. Several other dings have happed since then as I have dropped heavy chess pieces onto it in use. You can cry about it or tell yourself it adds character to your chess battlefield. I do both.

8. 

 8. Table - $700 - $8000 – The top of the world! Never owned one and IMNHO I don’t think they are practical. Like a Rolls Royce or Maserati. Great, beautiful, but just not practical. 

Plus side: Absolutely beautiful, especially with a high-quality wood set on top of it, and you know where you are playing and studying.

Down side: Not easily moved or adjustable. By adjustable, I mean being able to move the board closer to you or slightly farther away for study purposes if using the set by yourself. And the same dings are inevitable over time!

In conclusion, I own multiples of #2 thru #7, and they all give me great joy!