Decide First The Purpose of Your Chess Board
Our online chess store has different type of wooden chessboards available. From luxury chess boards, chess board notation to folding chess board, all serve the different needs. For instance, chess board notation likely to be used by coaches, analysts for examining the game in detail. So, it becomes necessary to know the purpose of your chess board. If you are a chess learner, and want to dedicated your maximum time for improving your chess skill, folding chess board is ideal. Consider Board Size
Chess boards come in various sizes, and the size of the squares and pieces should match your preference. Standard tournament-sized boards have 2.25-inch squares, but you can choose larger or smaller ones based on your specific needs.
The ideal way of finding the right chess board is to consider the base diameter of the King. Why base diameter of the King? Because all chess pieces are complementary to the base diameter of the king. And if the king fits on the square size of the chess board it is likely that the other pieces will be also fits well into the chess board.
The base diameter is too small, the pieces would also appear smaller when placed on a standard size chess board. This mismatch between chess pieces and chess board leads to game dissatisfaction. So to overcome this you need to prioritize the metric "base diameter of king' while picking up the right wooden chessboard for yourself.
How to calculate the base diameter of the king to find the right wooden chessboard
For determining which square size fits well for a king size would be based on ration between square size to the king base diameter in percentage.
Ideally the ratio is between 72%-82% for most of the chess boards. Also US chess federation recommends the ratio between the king diameter to the square size at around 72%-82% specifically for tournament settings.
Many chess enthusiasts even say the the sqaure size/king size ratio should be between 68%-85%. You can see it's not consistent. If we take the media just for the calculation, it would be 76.5%.
With this, one can easily calculate, we've already established that the base diameter should at least occupy 76.5% of the chessboard.
Now let's suppose we have a king with a base diameter of 3.15", we simply have to do is to divide it by 0.765(76.5%) and we will get the appropriate size for a chessboard.
3.15(King base diameter) ÷ 0.765(base diameter/sqaure size percentage) = 4.1" chess board.
This simply means that if you have king piece with a base diameter of 3.15". the appropriate square size of its chess board should be around 4.1".
Note: The percentage we've taken is just for representation as it is median of the most recommended sizes.
Related Reading: How Should A Chess Board Be Set Up
Evaluate the Chess Pieces
Ensure that the chess pieces you plan to use fit well on the board. The size and style of the pieces should complement the board. Many boards come with wooden chess pieces as a combo option, while others require you to purchase them separately. For your ease of shop, we've a introduced dedicated section wooden chess sets, you may explore if you are searching for combo option at reasonable pricing.
Ensure About Wood Type Used in Chess Board
Wooden chessboards can be made from various types of wood, each offering its unique characteristics in terms of appearance, durability, and price. Some common wooden materials we used in crafting wooden chessboards include Maple, Bud Rosewood(Padauk Wood), Ebony Wood, Indian Rosewood, Sheesham Wood etc. We used Boxwood usually for white side.
Let's take a closer look at some of our wooden chessboards, each crafted from exciting combinations of different wood types.
Solid Wooden Chess Board Blood Red Bud Rose Wood (Padauk) 23" - 60 mm