Trivial Subject: The Chess Board!

When I first heard from a knowledgeable chess friend, that he finds that the DGT chess pieces' dimensions different from standard tournament sets, I was surprised. After all, isn't DGT the company producing the official chess sets use in high-profile events?

Now that I have some free time from work (thank you Christmas!), I did some self-reading. While DGT chess sets should be well within FIDE standards (obviously!) I think I get what my friend was trying to say. And in the process, I read up a little bit on the standards of the chess sets to be used in FIDE tournaments as well. I am just beginning to know a little more on this topic, and I have more questions than answers.

My key reference document is "Standards of Chess Equipment, venue for FIDE Tournaments, rate of play and tie-break regulations", but my focus would solely be on the chess set (pieces and board) and not on the venue and other sections of the article. Also, because I own the DGT Smart Board (I'm not privileged enough to own the other more expensive sets at present), I will be using it in my self-exploration!

Why did I put the pieces this way? Yes, I know it is not the correct starting position, LOL. It is to test whether they fulfill the recommendations stated under clauses 2.2 "Chess Pieces: Height, weight, proportions" and 3.2 "Chess boards: Size of the square and the board".

"  2.2 The size of the pieces should be proportionate to their height and form; other elements such as stability, aesthetic considerations etc., may also be taken into account. The weight of the pieces should be suitable for comfortable moving and stability. Recommended height of the pieces is as follows: King – 9.5 cm, Queen – 8.5 cm, Bishop – 7 cm, Knight – 6 cm, Rook – 5.5 cm and Pawn – 5 cm. The diameter of the piece's base should measure 40-50% of its height. These dimensions may differ up to 10% from the above recommendation, but the order (e.g. King is higher than Queen etc.) must be kept."


"  3.2 The side of the square should measure 5 to 6 cm. Referring to 2.2 the side of a square should be at least twice the diameter of a pawn’s base (it means four paws on one square). A comfortable table of suitable height may be fitted in with a chessboard. If the table and the board are separate from one another, the latter must be fastened and thus prevented from moving during play."

Being someone who is (or was, as my friends who underwent national service can vouch for me!) extremely law abiding, I would actually interpret the recommendations this way:

  (newbie_learner's personal interpretation of the recommended standards)
 
 "  When making a standard chess set meant to comply with FIDE's standards, try your best to base it on the following dimensions:

• King: Height of 9.5cm, diameter of 9.5cm X 45% = 4.3cm
• Queen: Height of 8.5cm, diameter of 8.5cm X 45% = 3.8cm
• Bishop: Height of 7.0cm, diameter of 7.0cm X 45% = 3.1cm (round down) or 3.2cm (round up)
• Knight: Height of 6.0cm, diameter of 6.0cm X 45% = 2.7cm
• Rook: Height of 5.5cm, diameter of 5.5cm X 45% = 2.5cm
• Pawn: Height of 5.0cm, diameter of 5.0cm X 45% = 2.2cm (round down) or 2.3cm (round up)
• The side of the (small) squares of the board should measure 5.5cm.

Essentially, my personal interpretation is meant to allow for maximum variance / tolerance of imperfections by choosing the middle of the range of values. How does the DGT Smart Board with the electronic plastic chess pieces fare against (i) newbie_learner's more stringent standards and (ii) FIDE's standards?

It failed newbie_learner's standards totally (understandable because I'm more stringent and prefer to err on the safe side ^o^) but it is either a borderline pass or borderline fail by FIDE's standards! How come?

First, the rough measurements. I need to qualify, that I am just using my naked eye with a typical household clear plastic ruler. I'm not using precise instruments like a Vernier caliper. Second, for the purpose of height measurement, I'm uncertain if the 1-2mm contributed by the felting needs to be included.

newbie_learner's rough measurements of the DGT Smart Board with the electronic plastic chess pieces

• King: Height of 9.5cm, diameter of 4.3cm (nice!)
• Queen: Height of 8.3cm, diameter of 3.9cm (close enough!)
• Bishop: Height of 7.5cm, diameter of 3.5cm (this measures quite differently from the recommended height of 7.0cm, but it is within the allowed difference of 10%. Also, the diameter of 3.5cm is indeed kept at 45% of its height of 7.0cm.
• Knight: Height of 6.5cm, diameter of 3.5cm (we are leaning more and more towards the "10% allowance" acceptable by FIDE's standards)
• Rook: Height of 6.0cm, diameter of 3.5cm (hmm...)
• Pawn: Height of 5.1cm, diameter of 2.7cm or 2.8cm (?!)

From the pure consideration of meeting FIDE's standards, I feel that the set is really stretching the permissible limits. The most important consideration is that a small square must be able to at least fit 4 pawns. 

This is really a very tight fit for 4 pawns in one square.

I can't quite decide whether this is a borderline pass or borderline fail by FIDE's standards. But as someone who prefers to err on the safe side, I'd say that this set is really not very well-designed, if the intention or key consideration is to comply with FIDE's standards. Also, from a pure reading / interpretation of FIDE's standards, it seems to suggest that the square (of say 5.5cm X 5.5cm) should fit at least 4 pawns -- meaning to say there should still be some allowance. In this case, it is clear to me that there is no such allowance built in.

This is the first time that I come across FIDE's standards on the chess set. If any reader is aware that I am misinterpreting the recommendations (e.g. the guideline of having 4 pawns housed in a square is not hard and fast), please do drop me a comment so that I can learn the correct things. I do apologise in advance as this is my first time seeing it out of nowhere, and would also be happy to update my corrected knowledge here.

Whatever the case on the correct understanding of FIDE's standards, do I mean to say that the DGT Smart Board and the electronic plastic chess pieces are badly designed? Not at all! I love them very much. Even though fellow chess friends and enthusiasts never acknowledge this publicly, A LOT of them (be it fellow players in the QCD SG Chess League, or "sleeping members" in various chess chat groups) have been asking me questions in private on this budget electronic chess set, many intending to buy the same or a more functional / aesthetically pleasing set for their own use. Since there are so many people in my chess circle so interested, I shall share a little bit of my experience buying and using this budget electronic chess set. 

Some Personal Experience with the Budget Electronic Chess Set

• Initially, I bought it with the intention to record my blitz games. Because I have been enjoying face-to-face games so much, I can't bring myself going back to online chess games anymore. Yet I acknowledge the value of playing blitz games and reviewing them. Hence, the decision to get this to record my blitz games.
• However, there are still practical difficulties to address. For this set with no internal battery, I need to provide external electrical power to the set, so that it can record the moves made during the games. It actually consumes quite a bit of power, so my cheap power bank is not enough to do the job.
• If one bases decision on pure functionality alone, the best series to buy is actually the Bluetooth e-board. Because it comes with an internal battery. Provided the battery is charged, it can serve as the power source when you are playing a game. For instance, in an outdoor setting, where external power supplies are unavailable.
• For my case, because I want to work within a budget of around SGD $500, I only bought the bare minimum (the smart board + electronic plastic chess pieces but without the DGT 3000 or DGT Pi which allows the user to also capture and record the move-by-move time situation. I also waited for the seasonal "free shipping" offer before purchasing. Otherwise, the shipping charges could be hefty.
• It turned out to be a small investment which paid off. The last thing I want is that it becomes a White Elephant collecting dust. I do bring it out regularly for chess events (e.g. weekly at Siglap South CC Chess sessions, or any other special chess occasions) to make sure it gets used regularly. But I have deviated from my original intent of recording my blitz games. Rather, I just invite different players to try out playing with the set -- which is aesthetically quite pleasing indeed!

This is how the chess pieces look like on the DGT Smart Board. Usually, I will always put my 2 Knights looking towards my opponent, but I'm turned the g1 Knight turn around to greet the camera ^o^ Also, it is much easier to see the White pieces as compared to the Black pieces. I will share my further thoughts on this in the conclusion of this post.

A close-up on the White pieces to better appreciate its aesthetics.

Do be aware that "DGT" is written on the Rooks, although you may not see it from your usual "playing" position.

The set does come with an extra Queen. For its price, I wish it offered many more extra pieces ^o^

And this is the full set-up, connected to my laptop.

Some of the support information on DGT's website is obsolete. To get your electronic chess set up and running immediately upon receiving, just download the software "DGT LiveChess". You do not need to install any drivers or whatsoever.

Just a very minor point on my current views of "Chess Boards". Because it is harder to spot the Black pieces on a dark square (esp. in a photograph, esp. when the photographer is as terrible as myself), I think it is much better to get Chess Boards with the colour scheme of "White + Green", whereby the Black pieces are placed on the green squares, rather than the colour scheme of "White + Brown", whereby the Black pieces are much better camouflaged on the brown squares!

Merry Christmas, my dear reader!

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing (Eugene)

a.k.a. newbie_learner

Siglap South CC chess quartet