Talk:Chessboard

Themed chess sets
Removed "Some chessboards are themed..." because it added little to the article, and seemed like a thinly guised advertisement. --88.149.173.98 11:36, 26 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I think too that the link to the LOTR-set was out of place. However, I do think it would be good to describe this theme-phenomena. The problem is that it is very hard to find references that do not try to sell such sets. --ZeroOne ( talk | @ ) 12:59, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Size of board
Standard Chess Tournament boards are 18" sq. ChessCreator (talk) 20:27, 10 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Usually (which are 2¼ inch squares), but it depends on the size of the pieces. Under FIDE rules, kings can be between 85 and 105 mm tall (about 3.5 to 4.1 inches).  The base of the king should be about 78 percent of the width of the square, so the square should be about 1.28 times the width of the king's base.  Bubba73 (talk), 05:52, 28 March 2008 (UTC)


 * As a rule of thumb, sets with 3.5 or 3.6 inch or so kings are best with 2⅛ inch squares. Sets with 3¾ inch kings are best with 2¼ inch squares.  Sets with 4.0 to 4.1 inch kings may work on 2¼ inch squares, but some are too crowded on that size and require 2⅜ inch squares.  About fifteen of my sets are in the 4.0 to 4.1 inch range, and some of them just don't work on 2¼ inch squares.  Bubba73 (talk), 17:38, 28 March 2008 (UTC)


 * The height of the king is irrelevant for determining the proper size of the squares; only the diameters of the bases of the pieces are relevant. Typical cheap plastic tournament chess pieces like these – http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/ChessSet.jpg – have a 3.75" tall king with a 1.5" diameter base, and the pawns have a 1" diameter base. They are normally used with a cheap vinyl rollup board with 2.25" squares. However, according to the two common rules of thumb, they should be using 2" squares. The first rule of thumb is that the diameter of the king should be between 75% and 80% (78% average) the width of the squares. For a 1.5" diameter base, 75% calls for a 2" square. The second rule of thumb is that the squares should be twice the width of the pawn's base, which also calls for a 2" square size.


 * The 2.25" square size should be used for sets that have a king with a 1.75" diameter base, and pawns with a 1.25" diameter base. It is funny that the 2.25" square size has become the de facto standard for tournaments, yet the de facto standard tournament chess pieces that are used with such boards call for a 2" square size. – MaximRecoil (talk) 23:13, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

History
This article needs a History section (or, a tie-in to board history from a chess history article). (Administrators have beaten me down so much, I'm not motivated, but others might be.) Ihardlythinkso (talk) 17:57, 1 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Portuguese article is well sourced about that. I would like to help with translation but I'm not fluent in english so I might need some help.OTAVIO1981 (talk) 19:49, 1 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I can help on that (English). There may be en.WP articles covering board history already, but ... (as above). Ihardlythinkso (talk) 10:50, 3 April 2013 (UTC)


 * first paragraph: Boardgames are known since Ancient Age, the oldest are from paintings in mastabas of first and third dinasty of ancient egypt. The first known recognized variant of chess arose around 6th century and was called chaturanga, which was played over a board of a game of run called Ashtapada. This board was monocromatic and was divided in eight columns per eight rows, with special marks called "castle" in 1st, 4th, 5th and 8th a, d, e and h columns that have special purpose in Ashtapada but not in chaturanga. 


 * second: ''When chaturanga was brought to ancient persia, the board was adapted to the news variants of chess, where columns and rows were added. One of the variants of chess, the Tamerlane chess, included eleven columns per ten rows and two extra squares at the right side of the player which was called citadels and had a special function in this variant.


 * third: Around 10th century, chess arrived Europe and the board acquired the checkered pattern which is characteristic nowadays and was started being used in the game of draughts, which at the time used a smaller board with 25 squares. This change was usefull to the diagonal movements, which was highlighted by the continuous sequence of squares of the same color in diagonals, helping the movement of the recent included bishop and Queen in the game. In some parts of Siberia, some sources point out that the board was two-colored with the convention of square a1 as black. However, there was no archeological evidence that confirm this information and besides there was no influence in local rules because king and queen didn't have a fixed position. 


 * In think it's a good start point but I'm not sure if it is what you mean when you pointed out board history in other articles. I focused in pt article just in chessboard history and not board history in general.OTAVIO1981 (talk) 13:41, 5 April 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your research, it is a good basis to put together something re history. (By "checking other articles" I meant I'd like to check Chaturanga and Shatranj and History of chess to see if there is some content there on the topic, to be sure to not duplicate, and to evaluate where history of chessboards is best located or relocated. But I lack motivation right now for any work as mentioned [Admin hostility/threats does take its toll], sorry, not your fault.) Ihardlythinkso (talk) 20:27, 7 April 2013 (UTC)


 * Probably, some points I mentioned before could be also in chaturanga because it was the first recognized game of chess. But history of chessboard don't have a topic in common with shatranj because I'm quite sure rules was almost the same or they wasn't affected by the board. Two major changes in the chessboard was the checkered pattern and a8 as white which is related to rules of chess. History of chess is a huge topic and I can't see anything worth about chessboard to mention there beyond what I just said. IMHO, history of chessboard is a tiny topic of chess. Well, when your motivation came back, please let me know because there some really interesting topics I'd like to discuss. Wish you the best!OTAVIO1981 (talk) 01:46, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

Translation
Expanded this page using information available on the Portuguese Wikipedia. Additional revising would be appreciated Emyds (talk) 06:55, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

user groups of chess boards / checkerboard designs
--2001:16B8:571C:6C00:B866:BF98:4FD7:2508 (talk) 14:23, 17 February 2022 (UTC)
 * freemasonry: for the rituals
 * illuminati: for the rituals
 * games branchers
 * formula one races / other car races
 * police forces (often as decor means or to mark a crime scene)
 * polytheist groups: for the rituals

Chess is fun
Bold 41.116.241.211 (talk) 08:43, 27 April 2024 (UTC)