On a slightly different note, a leather inlay for a tabletop.
Yeah, more room needed for elbows, books, and clocks, but having pushed pieces around on thick cowhide, I love the idea.
(Years ago I got a few chess things from the maker. She does great and precise work.)
I wish I were a capable woodworker! That said, as well as the feedback and examples other people have posted, FIDE have rules which you might review, even if you don't follow them.
Excerpt from:
http://www.fide.com/component/handbook/?id=20&view=category
(e) A chess table should have a minimum length of twice the length of the chessboard and a width of 15 cm to 20 cm more than the chessboard. The recommended area of the table is (100 cm to 120 cm) x (80 cm to 83 cm). The height of a table should be 74 cm. The chairs should be comfortable for the players. Special dispensation should be given for children’s events. Any noise when moving the chairs must be avoided.
There are mentions elsewhere of square size, non-glossy finish, etc. To let players use their own pieces (maybe they've already invested in a wood set, and would like a nice table for it) I'd definitely make the squares tournament size or a smidgin larger.
Free advice, use, ignore, etc as you wish. :)
Plenty of room on the sides. I was happy to be playing on a table like this:
Plenty of room on the sides. I was happy to be playing on a table like this:
That table would not fit in my apartment.
Mine either. But a single table with suitable side space would; preferably one not so precious that it couldn't be covered with a table cloth and used for other purposes, e.g. eating!
More and more I'm thinking that I want a chess table, not just a board (hard to find in the right size here in Oz).
Anyone knowing suitably skilled furniture makers/cabinet makers peferably in Melbourne please do send me a message!
[ Seems more chess sets/boards/tables are designed to be "decor" than practical day-to-day furniture. Can't say the same of TV's; I guess watching TV is more popular than chess. ]
what you might need instead of a table cloth is a foldable table top like I have for poker.
what you might need instead of a table cloth is a foldable table top like I have for poker.
Thanks for the suggestion; sounds intriguing. Does it just "sit" on the table top with some sort of non-slip backing, or does it overhang the edges and make the whole table slightly higher/wider/taller? (Or something else I haven't thought of yet before coffee!)
How about a cushion to rest the arm. Why he cross an arm in front of us like the above photo i do not know. Figure we need something there to rest it on during a game.
I saw a truly nice chess table at the thrift store, the other day. It had drawers to store your pieces, etc.
Just saw it, nice.
With those chestnut dark squares, both black and brown pieces show well.
Just the leather board is dandy.
That is NICE Royalbishop...
The table from the 72' Spassky - Fischer match looked almost perfect to me:
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/auction-of-a-fabled-chessboard
I'll start the bidding at ten bucks.
Eleven bucks and a extra pair of queens. (awesome table but all can afford atm)
A drop leaf table would solve much of the side room issue. It would allow for reducing space when not in use also, with plenty of room for clocks, books, drinks, notes, etc. All of the drop leaf talks I have looked at (no chess board) are just to wide to make for comfortable play. Definitely a drawer on both sides !!! I don't always sit square to the table, but legs off to one side of the other, so I think I personally would be better off with a wide based and study pedestal type, or legs that start in the center of the table, and curve outward the closer they get to the floor on two sides (not sure what it's called, but an old drop leaf table I have now has them, and they usually have some sort of brass claw foot, it's just too wide across). They seem like the prefect solution to me, as it allows room for feet when squared to the table, corner legs dont get in the way when sitting angled slightly or with ankle on top of opposite knee. I really prefer drinks to be OFF the table, so maybe a second, lower, and smaller drop leaf, on at least one side. I'm not sure hoe that would be done with the type of legs I'm talking about though. I'd choose the legs over the second drop leaf, though. I'd keep as much of the underneath as possible clear of obstruction, so no shelf under there. Just the drawers.
I have the opposite problem to you: my drop leaf table is too narrow! It's about 59cm, so a standard vinyl board will just fit, but a 60cm wooden board (with 6cm squares; I somehow ended up with some large-ish sets of pieces) it's not deep enough.
I am talking to a furniture maker and am planning on a NON-drop leaf table (I really prefer the legs at the corners) which will double sometimes as a small dining table as I live in an apartment.
The drop leaf table I have is laminated (yuck!) in fake wood pattern (yuck!) and was a "temporary" solution until I found something better. Temporary over twenty years ago. Ahem.
I guess after a while I stopped looking, but after having taken up chess again and with <topic drift elided> reasons to continue living at my current apartment for the next year or three, have decided to replace the damn thing with a nice present to myself.
Buying a nice looking set of chess pieces and ending up buying a table for them is ... an odd way to go about things, I confess.
Dimensions (a mix of my apartment's contraints, the size of the pieces I intend to use most often, FIDE rules and UCSF rules -- neither of which will be precisely met) will be 120cm by 84cm, with 62mm squares.
Having a table made isn't a cheap thing to do, but OTOH the table itself will cost less than some computers I've owned over the years, and well made tables last a lot longer than computers!
In a few months I hope to be able to revive the thread with some photographs, or links to some.
In a few months I hope to be able to revive the thread with some photographs, or links to some.
Well, I did go ahead, and the table arrived today. In the end chose 63mm squares, as there are plenty of sets of pieces available for 2.5" squares, and while I'm confident the table will outlast me (with care!) pieces are more vulnerable.
The main wood of the table is Australian redgum. The dark squares are walnut, the light squares birdseye maple (from Australia, but I don't know if it's native or not), the black border is "ancient redgum": redgum timber recovered from a clay deposit, and thousands of years old.
The white pieces are Boxwood (surprise ...) and the black pieces are dark brown stained rosewood.
Please excuse the photography: it's just a phone camera, downsized, and minorly colour corrected in the view of the board. (I don't have all my equipment handy, or my screen calibrated, and unless you're using a colour calibrated screen yourself, it's all guesswork anyway. 
On my screen the colours in the first picture aren't too bad, but the second is awful: too brown, not red enough, but it does show something of the wood grain.)
Hey thanks splitleaf