Plastic pieces with wooden board? - Chess Forums

ChubbyRook

Mar 31, 2023

0

#1

Hello,

I'm looking at buying the plastic Marshall series in black/natural (https://www.wholesalechess.com/the-marshall-series-plastic-chessmen-3-75-king.html) and was wondering whether a wooden board will suit this both visually and functionally (how the pieces move). This is what I'm looking at for a board (https://www.wholesalechess.com/maple-and-greenwood-classic-traditional-chessboard-1.html). I was initially just looking at vinyl boards (https://www.wholesalechess.com/regulation-vinyl-tournament-chessboard-2-375.html) but as this board is really just for home and visits to family/friends I figured a solid board makes more sense as I can just tuck it away when it's not in use and save the potential faffing with a vinyl board some people mention, though I may grab one or two vinyl boards just to have in case I had a need for something more portable.

I understand looks are a matter of opinion but as I'm new to chess and haven't seen many pieces/board combos I'm keen to hear what people think about plastic pieces on a wooden board. Also, I've read a few forums from several years ago where some people mention the Marshall series looks better on 2.375" squares than 2.25". I'm keen to see if anyone has further thought on this and whether the 2.5" square size choice that's an option with the wooden board above would be good or bad.

For context, I've been playing chess for 6 months and I ignorantly bought myself a set that I don't like and I'm keen to get something that is attractive, functional and fairly robust. I will use this to play with friends/family and learn with as I move through the chess steps method. I'm from New Zealand so keeping my order one company is preferable as it reduces shipping costs.

Any advice, recommendations or anything at all would be greatly appreciated!

Warm Regards to everyone

MCH818

Mar 31, 2023

0

#2

I say if you like it then go for it. I think the combo you selected looks fine as the wooden board mirrors a green and white vinyl board.

For me personally, I think it would be better to have a wood set on a wood board. I have the 3.75” plastic Ultimates but have not tried it on a wooden board yet. I always use my Chesshouse Flexpad board for the set. I do occasionally use a 3" silicone set with my 14” borderless wood board from CWW. I don’t have a small silicone or mouse pad board so I have to make due with my wood board. It looks ok as the pieces are white and black and the board is walnut/maple.

Schachmonkey

Mar 31, 2023

0

#3

The wood board is a good one to have the plastic set will look fine. If you want to get a second set you’ll have one for wood pieces.😃

Schachmonkey

Mar 31, 2023

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#4

Square size to a certain degree is personal choice but that 2.25 is the reference for tournament play.

Schachmonkey

Mar 31, 2023

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#5

Roll the board with squares visible I use those hair bands that are elastic with cloth covering easy to find to secure vinyl boards.

Powderdigit

Mar 31, 2023

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#6

I reckon you’re on the right track. If you’re anything like me (and pray that you’re not!) - this won’t be your last set 🤦‍♂️😊…. If I was going to buy a new plastic set it would be the one you’ve chosen or the Collector series from the same supplier … on boards I have plastic Ganine pieces- black and ivory - and the pair fine with various wooden boards. Also - check out freight costs - it may be worth your while getting a couple of sets in one order - black and ivory and red and white, for example … then, depending on your mood you can mix and match - black/red-red/ivory-black/white-black/ivory …. The list goes on ….

ChubbyRook

Mar 31, 2023

0

#7

MCH818 wrote:

I say if you like it then go for it. I think the combo you selected looks fine as the wooden board mirrors a green and white vinyl board.

For me personally, I think it would be better to have a wood set on a wood board. I have the 3.75” plastic Ultimates but have not tried it on a wooden board yet. I always use my Chesshouse Flexpad board for the set. I do occasionally use a 3" silicone set with my 14” borderless wood board from CWW. I don’t have a small silicone or mouse pad board so I have to make due with my wood board. It looks ok as the pieces are white and black and the board is walnut/maple.

I appreciate your thoughts, thank you. Long-term I will absolutely be buying quality wooden pieces and a nice wooden board. With where I am at the moment and my budget I'm settling for something a little simpler. Also, I would absolutely go for a FlexPad board if WSC or HoS sold them but as that will involve a separate purchase plus more shipping then I'm going to have to give it a miss unfortunately. Unless you think it really is worth it?

ChubbyRook

Mar 31, 2023

0

#8

Powderdigit wrote:

I reckon you’re on the right track. If you’re anything like me (and pray that you’re not!) - this won’t be your last set 🤦‍♂️😊…. If I was going to buy a new plastic set it would be the one you’ve chosen or the Collector series from the same supplier … on boards I have plastic Ganine pieces- black and ivory - and the pair fine with various wooden boards. Also - check out freight costs - it may be worth your while getting a couple of sets in one order - black and ivory and red and white, for example … then, depending on your mood you can mix and match - black/red-red/ivory-black/white-black/ivory …. The list goes on ….

I suspect I am like you haha! That' good to know and I'm definitely considering a couple sets in the one order. Perhaps I could go for a natural coloured wooden board with the set(s). Any recommendations on nice boards/wood schemes?

MCH818

Apr 1, 2023

0

#9

ChubbyRook wrote:

MCH818 wrote:

I say if you like it then go for it. I think the combo you selected looks fine as the wooden board mirrors a green and white vinyl board.

For me personally, I think it would be better to have a wood set on a wood board. I have the 3.75” plastic Ultimates but have not tried it on a wooden board yet. I always use my Chesshouse Flexpad board for the set. I do occasionally use a 3" silicone set with my 14” borderless wood board from CWW. I don’t have a small silicone or mouse pad board so I have to make due with my wood board. It looks ok as the pieces are white and black and the board is walnut/maple.

I appreciate your thoughts, thank you. Long-term I will absolutely be buying quality wooden pieces and a nice wooden board. With where I am at the moment and my budget I'm settling for something a little simpler. Also, I would absolutely go for a FlexPad board if WSC or HoS sold them but as that will involve a separate purchase plus more shipping then I'm going to have to give it a miss unfortunately. Unless you think it really is worth it?

HoS has the thin mousepad boards in stock. You can just add one in for $10.95 and see if you like it.

Crappov

Apr 1, 2023

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#10

I personally like the Marshall on 2.25 squares but 2.375 is fine. Here's an old pic of mine on 2.25 squares.

Ziryab

Apr 1, 2023

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#11

I use plastic pieces on a roll-up mousepad board that is colored to look like wood. On my wood board, however, only wood pieces.

Ziryab

Apr 1, 2023

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#12

Good for Shelby, bringing back those heavy plastic pieces that were so popular 15 years ago and then not available.

ChubbyRook

Apr 2, 2023

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#13

DesperateKingWalk wrote:

I own many chess sets in both wood, and plastic. And I own many chess boards in wood, vinyl, mouse pad, and leather. And I have been buying chess boards, and chess pieces since 1980.

From my experience you can match any chess men in wood, or plastic. To any chess board type. What matters most is do the chess man, and chess board like each other. So if you want a wood board, and plastic chess pieces. You can find a combination that will work well, and also looks great together.

For chess board square size. The 2.25 inch squares work well together in most chess sets with a king height of 3.75 inches.

But the 2.375, and 2.5 inch square size. Will give you more options with taller chess pieces in the future. And still works well, and looks great with the 3.75 inch king size chess men.

And I own many plastic chess men from $10 to $99 from HOS to WSC. And I have been disappointed in all the plastic chess sets for one reason to another. Mostly that no matter the price of the plastic chess set. All the plastic chess sets feel cheap, or looked cheap, and all would make that cheap hollow hard plastic rattling sound.

All except one.

I do highly recommend the Bobby Fischer Ultimate Tournament Chess Set for about $54 on Amazon.com, and other chess store sites.

3.75" King with 4 Queens. Set weight is 3.8 pounds.

Pawns 32.72 g

Knights 63.53 g

Bishops 63.14 g

Rooks 60.03 g

Queens 73.14 g

Kings 82.16 g

Thank you so much your detailed response. It is super helpful.

That's great to know about the options between wooden and plastics sets with any sort of board. I'm just trying to find exactly that, a set of plastic pieces with a wooden board that will look and play great. I may have found something and I'd love to hear you thoughts and others in the thread on it too.

As for the disappointment in the plastic sets, does that include the Marshall Series? I really like the design and look of the pieces and have only read good things. I do like the set you mentioned too however, but I prefer the Marshall just the tiny bit more. Have you had any experience with it?

As for the combination I'm looking at, the links are below.

I would go for the plastic Marshall Series in black/natural (https://www.wholesalechess.com/the-marshall-series-plastic-chessmen-3-75-king.html) on this board (https://www.houseofstaunton.com/walnut-and-maple-standard-traditional-chessboard.html). Visually I think this would look great. I'm keen to hear if you guys think this will contrast nicely etc.

Thanks so much again to everyone. All the information is super useful

ChubbyRook

Apr 2, 2023

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#14

Crappov wrote:

I personally like the Marshall on 2.25 squares but 2.375 is fine. Here's an old pic of mine on 2.25 squares.

That looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing that.

chessmaster_diamond

Apr 2, 2023

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#15

I've got a number of good-quality plastic sets (Legend Alegria, Ultimate, Marshall, Hastings), but I still think they look kinda weird on a wooden board. It's just a peculiar mix of materials.

RussBell

Apr 2, 2023

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#16

Chess Sets for Club & Tournament Play...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/chess-sets-for-club-tournament-play

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

Be sure to check the commentary on the sizing of chess pieces vs board (in the first link).

While the Marshall series is one of the better plastic sets IMO, I have a preference for the Bobby Fischer Ultimate Chess Pieces (V3), as also mentioned above by @DesperateKingWalk ...

Be sure to check out the overwhelmingly positive reader reviews of the set (including mine!)....

https://amchesseq.com/collections/tournament-style-chess-pieces/products/bobby-fischer-ultimate-chess-pieces-with-new-and-improved-weighting-system?variant=32118482993210#shopify-product-reviews

BigLew

Apr 3, 2023

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#17

I use the Marshal plastic set frequently same colors that you want. It looks okay on a wood board. I use a vinyl board, with 6 cm (2.375 in) squares. Most boards are 57 mm (2.25'"), as are my two wood boards. The Marshal is a great plastic set but it plays better on the large boards with 60 mm squares.

As for the Ultimate set described above, well I have the old version from about twenty years ago. the weights are all loose and rattle a bit. It's a good set but I prefer the Marshal on a 6 cm square board to the old Ultimates. However, the with new ones. the weights are not supposed to get loose ever! If I owned the new ones perhaps I would prefer them to the Marshal. Personally, I love the Marshal pieces.

chessmaster_diamond

Apr 3, 2023

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#18

The Marshall and Hastings sets are similar, but I've always found the Hastings more aesthetically pleasing. Still, I prefer either on a vinyl or mouse pad board:

ChubbyRook

Apr 4, 2023

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#19

The support for the Fischer Ultimate set sure is stacking up and those reviews are phenomenal indeed! Unfortunately all the providers that I can see either do not ship to New Zealand or (Amazon) is currently out of stock.

If I could get both the Marshall and Ultimate sets from the same provider I absolutely would (let the chess collecting begin!) but it seems being on the other side of the world has some drawbacks when it comes to chess equipment. I'm going to go for the Marshal series with the board I linked above and I'll throw in a thin mousepad board for good measure.

Thank you for all the comments and recommendations. They were very very helpful

RussBell

Apr 4, 2023

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#20

@ChubbyRook -

Note that the Bobby Fischer Ultimate Chess Pieces were created by Shelby Lohrman. He sells them not only on his website (AmChessEq.com - see also my earlier comment in this thread) but also resells through other websites including Amazon. He also sells other chess items including mousepad boards. You can message Shelby (@ShelbyLohrman) here on Chess.com and ask if he can help you with shipping to your country. He typically responds quickly if he is not super busy, for example selling products a chess tournament. He's a nice guy and always willing to help.