Chessman

[Grandpa]

Ya spekt deers uh pup-porshun tween da size uh da base an da hite uh da peece two? I doone tink day wan us ta make dem tings wid uh 2" base an be 9" taul.

[Tom Watson]

From the USCF rulebook:

"The king's height should be 3-5/8 to 4-1/2 inches. The cross (or other king's finial) should occupy no more than 20 percent of the total height of the king. The diameter of the king's base should be

40-50 percent of the height."

I toltcha dey was fussy.

Thomas J. Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.) (Real Email is tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet)

[Jim Wilson]

Yep. It is interesting that the two most popular sets sold by the USCF don't meet those guidelines, technically. (G) That's where I got my dimensions. Together, these two sets fill at least 99% (literally) of all the boards in a typical tournament hall, whether the sets are provided by the organizer or the players.

Actually, I don't know if the USCF is directly selling equipment anymore, what with all the money they (we) were losing; I think we've farmed it all out. But the sets are still the same.

Cheers!

Jim

[Tom Watson]

I hope that they do farm it out. My experience in ordering with them has been borderline awful.

They really aren't set up to do proper online ordering. You have to order without knowing what is in stock and, when you call, no one can tell you when new stock might be in.

I suspect that they have fallen in arrears with some vendors and are not being sent new stock.

The current restructuring (which has produced the hideous, sixties-look magazine), may have some positive outflow.

But, it's wait and see.

(tom - who actually enjoyed the pre-algebraic days when King-Pawn to King-Pawn-Four really meant something - it's so damned dry now.)

Thomas J. Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.) (Real Email is tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet)

[Tom Watson]

Pretty much everyone at the Monday Night Chess Club meeting plays with roll-up boards.

I've been thinking of sneaking in one of my wood ones in an attempt to generate some sales.

Maybe I can work a deal on the sales so that some of those guys won't kick my ass so bad - sose I can get my rating up to "breathing".

(watson - who is currently not breathing so well, because our club has too many Masters.)

!!

(shit - i read the books ?!? )

(watson - who still likes the King's Pawn opening - it worked for Bobby ! )

( !?!)

(@#$%^&*()

Thomas J. Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.) (Real Email is tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet)

[Jim Wilson]

They aren't set up to do *any* order service at all! I was talking about this stuff with Doris Barry a couple weeks ago (she was on the executive board until a year or two ago, and her husband, Denis, rest his soul, was USCF president before that). Doris told me it takes six USCF employees to process an order. And they were turning only something like $2M per year!!

The USCF is so mired in politics that it has a hard time being effective at anything.

That in fact did happen. From what I hear, they're pulling out of it, though.

Jim

[Jim Wilson]

They are so easy to transport. I can't fit a wood board in my chess bag so it would be another thing to carry to the club or pack on a tournament trip.

I've heard "theoreticians" say that the non-wood colors (dark green and ivory in particular) are better for playing, as they contrast the pieces well, and don't "glare" at you. I sure do appreciate the look of a nice wood board, though, and enjoy playing on them.

At many of the tournaments I've organized or participated in, we've used the vinyl boards for most of the hall, and wood boards for the one, three or five top boards.

For match play, especially at the atmospheric levels of chess, wood boards are more common.

You might get some. I'm always getting remarks about my set, and have been asked to make boards on several occasions.

Don't they all! Tough being a minnow in a pond of sharks.

"e4! and crush"

!? I don' reckonize dat one. (G)

Jim

[Fred the Red Shirt]

Doing the algebra I see that if the base of the king occupies 78% of the square the diameter of the base of the king is equal to the length of one side of the square. Now, it seems to me that just coming out and saying that the diameter of the base of the king should be no more one eight of an inch smaller than the side of a square is more straightforward so I wonder if the folks at the USCF have a funky notion of what it means to 'occupy' some partion of a square.

[Jim Wilson]

Funky is a good word for that spec. There's no way that the USCF intends that the king's base should occupy 78% of a square's area, even though that is the way the rule reads. They mean that the diameter of the King's base should be 78% (or less) of a square's side. And they're wrong about that, too. (G)

By the way, the spec Tom cited is a new one. It had been revised in the

4th edition, and was further "clarified" in the 5th. I don't have a 5th edition on hand, but the 4th states, "The king and queen, for example should be subject to easy placement on a square without touching any edge." And as you noted, this isn't the case if the king truly occupies 78% of a square.

Cheers!

Jim

[Wolf Lahti]

Tom Watson quoted

Fussy - and no sense of design. :(