Chess board (or set) for Coffee Table

I'd like to put a board on my living room coffee table, nothing too big that it dominates the table.  Any recommendations? 

Since you don't say how big your coffee table is or what your budget is, very hard to tell you anything.

Gotta love the internet where you legitimately can't go anywhere without running into the rudest most miserable people on the planet.

One option is to actually paint or stain a board into the center of the table. That would be the easiest way to have the size proportionate to the table.

Then, you could match pieces to the size of the squares.

This would save the price of a separate board. It would also give you a simpler option when you actually wanted to use the entire table for some other purpose.

Mike, Rsava wasn’t trying to be rude… you have to admit, it would be easier to give you advice if we had an idea of the size of the table. Personally, as a former tournament player, I prefer a board with a minimum of 2” squares. If you pick a borderless board, that’s only 16” square, and will fit the most common full size pieces. Would that dominate your table?

Amazing that you thought that was rude.

Life is hard for you, isn't it.

What size is your set & how big is the table ? Then how much would you like to spend ?

Well! Since there's no info about the size, here's what other suggestions that might help. The primary factor is your living room's decor and aura. You can go for a glass, marble, wooden, or a decorative board that suits the surroundings. Besides, it's having a durable, quality board with additional features like storage or if it can double as a tray would add more value to your investment.

ColoradoWoodworker on Etsy offers most of his boards in a range of sizes, down to 1.5 inch squares. That can be as small as 12 by 12 inches for a borderless board. You would need library sized pieces to go with squares that small.

Vote #2 for Colorado Woodworker. Message him through ETSY and give him the size of the table - include a picture. Brad will make a perfect board for you. I’d recommend a ‘flat’ style (Drueke or Jacques) rather than one built up in a frame.

A couple of examples, both by Colorado Woodworker -

Druecke style on a coffee table - that I made for chess. 😊 The other part of the story is that I should have made the table 4”-6” wider… Oh well, it’s an excuse to make another table! 🤓

Platform frame on dining table:

Awesome, thanks. Do you know if he does anything with notation?

He does notation - look both at his ETSY store and a recent post here about him for examples.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/colorado-woodworker-noj-bce1

CWW has amazing boards. Definitely check out his Etsy listings. I have an eye on the Mahogany and White Oak Endgrain in 2" squares.

A small, minimalist decorative tray or a rustic wooden tray would be perfect for your coffee table. It adds elegance without overpowering the space. You could also consider a simple round or oval tray to keep things functional yet stylish.

Do you mean a general purpose tray holding a chess board, or do you mean a chess board built into a tray? A round tray would require the square chess board to be even smaller, so that seems counter productive. Either way, a picture would be helpful.