Wooden Chess Set

Wooden Chess Set

If you’re here, you sure love chess, or are certainly intrigued to know more about it! The first thing you would need to start things off, is a chess board.

Chess is known for its ornate and beautiful pieces as much as it is for strategy and tactics. There are many people who do not play the game themselves, or do not even know the rules, but will often display a polished set in their homes. Most of them are wooden boards.

What are the Types of Wooden Chess Boards

Chess boards are of varied kinds but the wooden ones are the most ornate of the lot. Let’s list out a few prominent types of wood used below:

• Sheesham Golden Rosewood- very commonly used in the making of chess boards. It's medium brown in colour and is reasonably dense. When polished or waxed it can develop very attractive figuring and grain. 
• Walnut- rich in red, purple and yellow tones, this is mostly used for borders and squares on chess boards.
• Boxwood- light coloured wood that is used to make chess pieces and squares on chess boards. It is seldom used to make whole chess boards though
• Ebony- better known as luxury wood, it is considered by many to be black wood. Looks very attractive and indeed some chess boards are made using semi treated ebony to retain this effect. Commonly used in luxury chess pieces.

There are plenty more and we can do a white paper on them, but let’s save that for another day.

Advantages of Wooden Chess Boards

Wooden chess boards have a slew of things going for them:

1. They look elegant and ornate.
2. They last quite long and are durable.
3. No wrinkles or peelings as in cardboard and rexine boards.
4. The squares of wooden chess boards will be clear and sharp, because of which one can have a very good sight of the board.
5. Since wooden boards are crafted beautifully, they evince a more keener interest to play. The sound of the moving pieces on a wooden board is an experience nothing else can replicate.

Does it Matter

Wooden chess boards in general are more expensive when compared to conventional ones, and thereby the question is, should you get one?

It’s a matter of perspective! If you love the game, the make of the material should not matter you would think! Let’s take cars for example, all of them have four wheels but then many aspire to have a Mercedes in their garage.

Thankfully wooden chess boards are more affordable than a Merc. Consider the Grand Kingdom Set, which is a beautifully hand crafted wooden chess board. It is a piece of royalty with modern day AI helping you to be at the top of your game.

If you love the game or aspire to compete at a professional level, a wooden chess board would be an amazing addition to your list, plus you get the bragging rights too!