roll-up boards

Vinyl! My cousin  has one. It's  pretty  sweet. Never curves if stored properly. Comes with excellently  well weighted pieces. Not sure of the brand, but I know the board comes in a variety of colours and the pieces come in three different  weights, and there are two types of bags for the board. This is all shown on the back of the original  package. Hope you can find it.☺

I found one sold by the USCF on EBay with solid plastic pieces for $21.95. Anyone know if its actually the USCF selling these? And it comes in purple!!! 😎

https://www.ebay.com/itm/USCF-Sales-Tournament-Chess-Pieces-and-Chess-Board-Combo-SOLID-PLASTIC-Purpl/182483521700?hash=item2a7cdd90a4:g:ZHUAAOSwbPtZ4Ajn

Anything you buy from the USCFsales will be supplied to you by house of stauton, they got an arrangement going.

The fellow that owns The House of Staunton has a contract with US Chess to be the vendor that is US Chess Sales.  They pay a flat fee for the contract so it does not matter which name you buy from.  It is the same place.

Also the thin, 1/16”, mousepad boards have proven to be the best.  

The one I have found to be the best of these is The Chess House, Flex Pad board.  And yes, I have bought them all to test.

That's good to know. Thank you. Didn't want to buy something from abunk vendor. Knowing that its who they say they are I'll get what I pay for.

Yes, vinyl.  Also check my comments on roll-up boards here...especially how to make them lay flat - i.e., roll the board up with the playing squares facing outward, and store in a cardboard mailing tube.  When you unroll it for play, it will lay flat.

Chess Sets for Club & Tournament Play...

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

Okay I'll check that out. Thanks.

I have bought multiple mouse pad, vinyl and silicone boards. 

I hate to repeat the cliche; but they all have their place, and excel at different things. 

I find mouse pad boards to be best for use when you know no liquids are likely to be sprinkled, or spilled on them. This is because they are hard to clean if soiled. Greasy, dirty hands are quite common in the conference room at my job after lunch. The cloth-like layer at the top of mouse pad boards can be stained permanently more easily than vinyl or silicone. The mouse pad board I bought from Shelby at American Chess equipment, looks too awesome (Wood imitation) to use when yucky things may happen to it. I keep it for use at home, or when I visit friends or family whom I trust to have clean hands. Silicone is a work horse. These are great for playing in the park, or at coffee shops or cafeterias where food and drinks are involved. They are very easy to clean, because you can even soak them in water if needed. They also stay perfectly flat more easily than vinyl boards, and the colors stay vibrant very well. I find the only draw back of silicone boards for me, is that they do tend to attract lint and debris. This is due to their soft, sticky feel. However, since it is easily washed/cleaned, this is negligible to me. Some people don’t like them because the pieces don’t slide smoothly -or at all- on the silicone surface. I don’t slide my pieces. I lift and place them at their destination, so this does not bother me at all... but your style may be different. 

Finally, vinyl for me is an inexpensive, all around good option. It stays flat well, as long as you store it rolled with the squares outside. It also cleans relatively easily, but not as good as silicone. It is the lightest in weight compared to the other 2 as well. The negative aspect of it, is that it can develop permanent creases if ever folded instead of rolled, but once you understand this, you never do it twice. For what it’s worth; I keep a vinyl board set up at home for analysis. I keep a mousepad board in a tournament bag for when I plan to go to a chess club or a friends house to play, and a silicone board in a basic carry bag for when I think a game will happen at a fast food joint or caffe. All are fine and good options, depending of what you need them to do. I hope this helps. 

Yes it does help. Thanks. 🙏

 "It stays flat well, as long as you store it rolled with the squares outside. "

Yes, definitely! I instinctively rolled my vinyl board with the squares inside for years, and the damn would never lie flat. Finally, someone clued me in and I started rolling them with the squares outside and all was good again