Many beautiful chess sets are sold without chess boards. While this gives you the opportunity to select a board that complements your good taste, it also presents a challenge in getting a board that fits your chess pieces. Sure, the boards with the smallest squares cost less. But if the board is too small, it will be difficult to play, as the pieces tend to tip over in the heat of battle when they are too close together. So it’s always nice to round off a bit to give your pieces room to play.
THE NUMERICAL PATH:
There is a mathematical formula to calculate the proper ratio between the size of your chess pieces and the size of the squares on the game board that best suits your needs. First, determine the diameter at the widest part of the chess pieces; This usually means measuring the king’s base.
This measurement should be 78% of the width of the board squares.
Or, to express it as an equation: Wk = .78 (Wsq) where Wk is the widest part of the chess king and Wsq is the ideal width of the squares on the board.
For example, if the king’s base measures 1.75 inches, which is a common size, you would enter 1.75 / 0.78 into your calculator and the resulting answer is 2.243, which rounds to 2.25 inches.
THE REFERENCE TABLE:
For those of you whose calculator batteries are dead, here are some of the more common sizes of base diameters and the corresponding square sizes:
If your King Base measures | the square of your board should be:
. … … … 1.5 inch … … … | … … 2 inches .. … … …
. … … … 1.75 inches. … … | … … 2.25 inches. … …
. … … … 2.0 inch … … … | … … 2.5 inches … … …
THE SHORTCUT:
If your eyes start to glaze over at the first sign of math calculations and you’re not organized enough to remember where you put this handy table, don’t despair. For most common chess piece sizes, there’s a simple solution that’s just for you! Yes, you still have to know the diameter of the king’s base. Then just add AT LEAST a half inch and you’ll have the proper size of squares for your chessboard.
A WORD ABOUT LARGER PIECES
This works well on most standard size chess pieces, like the ones you might see in a tournament. When dealing with larger chess pieces, where the king is 5 inches or larger, these formulas and shortcuts may not provide the best results. The larger pieces usually come with the manufacturer’s recommendations.
