The best way to avoid warping, wrinkling of a rollup board of any type, is to roll it up with the playing squares OUTWARD, and store it in a mailing tube. Rolling it up and storing in a tube prevents warping and wrinkling. The reason for rolling with the squares outward is that when deployed the board's own weight acts to flatten it out on the playing surface (table, etc). I own a dozen rollup boards, and store them all this way. None of them has ever warped or wrinkled. And all lay perfectly flat when playing.
USCF Single Fold Tournament Chess Boards?
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@sound67 Thanks for the picture. I'm not sure why it was so difficult for me to find a picture of it folded up like that.
My first vinyl board I had no idea about rolling it with the squares facing out. I didn't take very good care of it and it got kinda trashed. Since then I've used that method. It works fine, but the vinyl boards just never seem to lay completely flat for me.
My mousepad board is going strong though. I have it rolled (square side out) and stored in a chess bag with elastic loops around it. Lays perfectly flat every time. I'll probably stick with the silicone board for outdoor use.
I just wanted something with a lot of slide to it that wasn't vinyl. Can't believe they're charging $25 for that fold up board. Seems crazy.
Anyway, thanks again @sound67.
Also, I actually did find a video of the board in action on youtube. Kind of came by it by chance. I'll leave the link here for anyone in the future who might have the same question as I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlQ-ksN20Dc&t=668s
Seems like a sturdy board. $25 sturdy though? Probably not.
Not only roll the vinyl board with the squares out, but also store it in a mailing tube so it doesn't wrinkle and warp. If it wrinkles/warps then of course it will not lie flat, even if you roll it up with the playing squares outward. You've got to do both of these things to ensure that it lies flat.
@sound67 that's exactly what I thought.
Jul 1, 2020
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#7
Alright, here are the answers to the things mentioned.
I bought that HoS or US Chess folding board. The material is like a book you see people buy for babies, a plastic feeling finish. The finish on both sides is like a cheap toy. The colors are too bright with no quality depth. Yes, this board is not worth the money at all.
Vinyl boards work fine if you store and carry them properly. RussBell is right. You need to roll the vinyl board up with the squares on the outside. This will stop warping and stop the edges from curling up.
The regular mousepad boards have cotton in the top and this prevents the easy sliding of pieces. Silicone boards are the same as not being slidable, plus they attract dust and lint and stuff like a magnet. So neither is great.
The newer thin mousepad boards are the best right now. These boards are only 1/16 of an inch thick so are easily squishable and come back to flat right away. The top material has no cotton in it and is all polyester. The pieces slide a lot better on these boards. It’s not perfect but decent.
Right now, for instance, all the roll up boards I use with my sets are all the thin mousepad ones.
The Chess House has the best of these. It is called the FlexPad board.
Shelby Lohrman has a lot of these in wood prints at American Chess Equipment.
US Chess Sales, which is The House of Staunton also sells this type of board.
I own them all. The US Chess ones are OK. I am not that excited by it though.
American Chess Equipment has some very nice ones as well. But I find their wood grained are the better of what they sell.
The Chess House FlexPad is the best in their color choices. I play with Green for my roll up boards and their board directly compared with the others is just better.
Do any of you have any experience with these boards? I'm considering buying one, but had a few questions.
1. Does this board have any sort of grippiness underneath? Or will it slide around much the same way a board game type board does (think monopoly board).
2. It says it's made of plastic? I know what it says...but what's the plastic like?
3. Is this a good board for bullet/blitz? That's usually the main reason I buy these types of boards.
I own a vinyl board, which i don't really like because of the warping. I also own a silicone board which I don't really like because the pieces don't slide well. I also own a mousepad board. It's definitely the best of the cheap boards. There's a little more slide than a silicone board and less warpy than a vinyl board, but the sliding action just isn't quite good enough.
this USCF board looks like it might be a good alternative, but if the bottom of the board is too slick and it's just gonna slide around when I play fast games it probably won't be worth it.
here's the link...
https://www.houseofstaunton.com/single-fold-regulation-uscf-chessboard-2-25-squares.html