The proper way to set up a chess board is with a light-colored square on each players lower-right hand corner. An improper setup would have dark-colored squares, instead.
Board placement question
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What I've heard is "white on right" for beginners to remember, white square on right corner where your rook would be - so 'sideways' board would have red on that square. Not so dumb, built 30" sqaure chess board of wood - laid out peices upside down to glue up - next day flipped back over...WEELLLL!! (white was on right when upside down)
I went to a restaurant the other day and they had a chessboard set up in the atrium with the board set up sideways and I about had a panic attack.
White (corner square) on the right and Queen on its own color.
thatguyjeff wrote:
Hey all,
New to the site, boards, etc...
I have a friend who seems to think that there can be a wrong way to place the board, that there is a proper front or side that must be placed adjacent to respective players. Or, I may not be explaining this very well...
I'm not just talking about "green side up" when laying sod.
Take for example a blank board, no pieces on it, and you write N, S, E, W along respective edges. He says that players setting pieces and playing starting on the E/W sides is wrong. The board is designed specifically for starting on N/S. Or vice versa. I forget which sides he insists are correct or not.
I keep telling him the board is a mirror, it doesn't matter.
Anyway, I thought this would be a good place to resolve our dispute. If not, sorry for the dumb post.
The only reason I can think of for marking the board that way would be a situation in which the board is on a swivel or the players insist on looking at it from different angles. In that case, one could theoretically lose track of which direction was which in the endgame (and this only matters if there are still pawns in play). Generally players stay where they are, and there is no need. Also, some boards (including the standard tournament mats) have algebraic coordinates written on them, which removes all ambiguity.
You can move chess pieces around all you want on a board but in order for regulation chess to happen, you need a white square in the bottom right (white side ((h1)) that yields the regulation queen on her like color. that is regulation chess. as said before however, you could play it from both sides but scoring would get mussy. sorry bun-bun but that is the way it is.
One side to play chess. White on right...corner that is. Jeff sorry, but i think your ignorance has the best of you....which i have a feeling may not be the first time. 
Its like softball and baseball. If i use a softball then i am not playing the game of baseball. I may be playing a "game", but it aint baseball.
You may need a game where the way things are have a lot of flexiblity. I recommend dungeons and dragons
Hey all,
New to the site, boards, etc...
I have a friend who seems to think that there can be a wrong way to place the board, that there is a proper front or side that must be placed adjacent to respective players. Or, I may not be explaining this very well...
I'm not just talking about "green side up" when laying sod.
Take for example a blank board, no pieces on it, and you write N, S, E, W along respective edges. He says that players setting pieces and playing starting on the E/W sides is wrong. The board is designed specifically for starting on N/S. Or vice versa. I forget which sides he insists are correct or not.
I keep telling him the board is a mirror, it doesn't matter.
Anyway, I thought this would be a good place to resolve our dispute. If not, sorry for the dumb post.