Playing Conditions and World Chess Championship

Today, Anand and Gelfand are seen sitted  at THE table that will decide the next world chess champion. They are checking the playing conditions. I wonder what they are checking? I mean, the weather will always be perfect, being inside. And the chess set/table looks awesome. I could never afford that!

What is the size of that chess board. Is it the size of the typical vinyl tournament roll up set, 20 x 20 inches with 2 1/4" squares? The one used for the world championship looks smaller.

Wholesale Chess also sells an over size set, 22 x 22 inches with 2 3/8" squares. I have played with other guys who use the WRONG configuration - 20 x 20 with over size pieces that obscure the lines and diagonals. The way to get the pieces to match the set is to see if 4 pawns fit INSIDE one square. If they don't, the pieces are too large for the board. It's that simple.

How big do you think the Kings are in the World Championship chess set?

Not so simple.

The bases of the pieces is just one aspect of piece-size, and insofar as harmonizing with square size, relatively less important than height and thickness.

All of my chess sets have the small base size, so that simple rule works. I forgot about the pawns with those large bases. Good point.

Anyway, what I would like to know is, how big is the wood board and how tall is the wood king, for these super GM match ups, in particular, this world championship. To my eyes, it looks a bit smaller, especially looking at the distance between Anand and Gelfand, compared to what you would see with those cheap folding tables/chairs and vinyl roll up boards.

Is the current championship board any different in size than when Bobby Fischer played Boris Spassky in 1972, or is the size of the board and pieces always the same - like a tradition? I remember that Fischer was extremely picky about all sorts of different playing conditions, putting up a huge fuss over anything. Didn't he also choose to pull a no show in one of the games, kinda being a jerk about the whole thing?

Don't get me wrong. I really enjoy going over the games of Fischer, and in the current issue of Chess Life, Bruce Pandolfini, chess educator of the year, had some real nice things to say about Fischer, being a visible player in New York, and Pandolfini's favorite all time player, with Botvinnik being his second favorite player.

I thought Josh was Pandofini's all time favorite player.

Not even close!

Seriously, for those who have a USCF premium membership, you get a magazine called Chess Life - print edition or electronic. In this months edition there is a great feature article on Bruce Pandolfini, since he was named the chess educator for this year by some organization out of Texas, something like that.

So, no one knows how big the chess set is for this year's World Championship in Moscow? I will try google.

How do you know?

I don't understand the question.

Here is a picture of this year's world championship chess set with Anand and Gelfand seated at the table. It looks smaller than the vinyl tournament size ones (20 x 20). What do you think?  If it is, I would like to know the size, because it looks more comfortable than my big tournament set that I take to clubs.

The table looks small, so I am thinking that the squares are not tournament size, (2 1/4" to 2 3/8"), but 1 3/4' squares, with a 19 1/2 inch overall board size. That's my best guess, and it would be an excellent size for some of those coffee shops where the bigger vinyl boards hang over the table.

I can't find the answer on google!  Now, board size is much more important than knowing what openings are going to be featured in this match up.

Openings -

It's probably going to be 1.d4. Too bad 1.e4 is not played anymore in the WC.

I like to play tournament games on slightly larger sets.  A smaller set would give me a headache I think heh.

Looks pretty standard to me.

Looks about like the one I got at Wal-Mart.

You would know better than I.  So, you think it's the same size as the cheap vinyl boards with 2 1/4" to 2 3/8" squares?

Geez! How would I keep score using a board like this years WC board. I don't see any algebraic notation!

Same gear as this?

Well, not the best view, but the WC match gear looks like this Mosow hardware we've seen before.

Oh yes, that's what we want to see cameraman, Kramnik's back, fantastic work.

But yes, table/set looks exactly the same and they look standard size.

I'd like the exact item number for the Wal-Mart board.

Wow! I am impressed. I didn't know that Wal-Mart had anything but toy quality chess sets. I saw some for 500 dollars and up!

I can't paste the picture of an $89.00 wood set, but it looks better than any of the wood sets thay I have.

Here's the link: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sheesham-French-Chess-Set-on-Walnut-Board/17697909?findingMethod=rr

It would be something if someone here could ID the chess pieces, i.e., Fischer, French, Staunton something, etc.

This is a better angle.

I think you nailed it. Well done. These chess sets embedded in tables look smaller than the common 20 x 20, but it could just be an optical illusion.

I am going to google the price of a table/chess set. It's probably not cheap, even at the low end.

This looks like a nice one for the home, but it ain't cheap at $695.00. It would be like buying a piece of furniture.

I paid 5,000 for my Wal-Mart set. Well, maybe it was closer to 19.95. Actually I didn't know they sold those high dollar sets either. That Staunton one was really nice.

Thank you. Black castles 49 seconds into the video, and the king is definitely not 3 inches, looking at the players hand, but most likely the standard 3 3/4 inches, which would make the squares 2 1/4 inches. I don't think it is the other common size of 3 7/8", but it's just a guess based on the player's hand size.

I've seen plenty of oversize kings at my local club at 4 1/4 inches. I don't like those for some reason.