What's your "goldilocks" size chess set?

You know, the set that's not too big, or too small, for over the board play.

Given enough table space, I prefer a 4.25-4.5" king on a 2.5" chess board. Anything larger and I start knocking things over reaching for the back ranks.

As the playing area gets smaller, I scale down my sets to fit the available space. With enough extra room for elbows, captured pieces, a scorepad, chess clock, and my favorite beverage or brew.

In my house I usually play 2''-2,25'' chessboards.

Outside home, I take with me sets that fit well in 2''- 2,25'' or 1,85'' - 2,00''. Sometimes I carry 1 rollable chessboard of each size.

I have found that many sets are really playable with both, 2'' (50mm) and 2,25'' (55mm), those are, so far the best sets for me. 

For me, the "magic point" is: pawns with a base of 1,10''(28mm) and kings with a base of 1,46''(37mm).

With this size, it is usual to find available chessboards wherever I go, so, most times I don't use mine, I just take the pieces out of the bag and play.

Also, as I'm used to this size I feel unconfortable with smaller sizes.

In bigger ones, I need to get more focused to avoid missing anything.

Anyway, with near 50 sets at home and a strong addiction to chess sets it is kind of epic to choose a chess set when I go out.

Ah yes, this is a true matter of taste...

Now, Lou is asking for the Goldilocks set, the best of the best that is perfect.  This is most likely the favorite set and board combination.

Well, my favorite set which happens to also be my Goldilocks set is my Noj Dubrovnik II on a 55mm also known as a 2.16 inch board size.  I have 2 Best Chessmen Ever boards from Jonas that work great with the Noj Dubrovnik II.  Sure, this set also works well on a 2.0" board but I like the slightly bigger square size of the 55mm.

This set is not too small and not too large.  Hmm, it's just right!

Now, I agree with Lou on the bigger sets.  The biggest set I have and enjoy playing with is my HoS Mechanics Institute set with the King at 4.25".  And I have found a 2.5" square size board is perfect with this set.

Of course we play at our Chess club at a local Hotel and we have the standard 6' banquet tables.  The depth on those tables is 30".  These tables have enough room for the bigger setups.

The most sets and boards I have are 3.75" King sets and 2.25" square sized boards.  Being just a tad larger than my Goldilocks size makes these sets work very well also.

When I get into more cramped areas, I have found a 2.0" and even a 1.875" board with a set having 3.5" Kings and about a 1.5" base also works well.

But, my favorite, Goldilocks set is my Noj Dubrovnik II with a BCE 55mm board,

"Epic." I love it.

For me it is this Soviet Era set with 11cm (4.3") Kings. To me it is porportionally perfect. Were the Drueke Player's Choice pawns a little larger it would be that one. To me the shape of the Soviet GM sets are pinnacle of chess set evolution. 

I stick with a 3.5 to 3.75 King & a 2.25 inch board. Works for me.!

I don't like playing with a King bigger than my weenie, so 2 inch King or smaller

Well, I'm too lazy to take a "family" photo... I took these for other posts.

The one with the variety of kights is from time ago when the illness was starting, now I have much more sets.

One of my problems is, when I like a set I have 2,3,4 even more sets of that kind... so I have some repeated sets

For example, I have about 10 spanish sets, 2 Chessbazaar dubrovnik, 2 plastic dubrovnik, 6 german knight sets, etc, etc.

Now that I start to count, maybe they can be more than 50 ...

About the chessboards, here in spain is difficult to find something different to 47, 50 or 55 mm. Those are the most common squares for a chessboard. In the club and championships 50mm seems to be the standard.

I must agree on how nice that set looks in proportion.

It looks as if that is a 2.25" square size and the set looks just about perfect on it.

I and also see how nice the set would play during a game.  The shapes and proportions of that set look like it would not be too cluttered or too sparse on the board during a game.

And to ganz_unten all I can say is, "Wow."

Those knights in that picture shows quite the diversity of sets you own.  I can see you having quite the epic adventure deciding which one to play with.

I also envy you for having those 50mm sized boards.  Here in the US we have 2.25" (57mm) or 1.875" (47.6mm) squares or bigger, no more.

On many sets, the 50mm board would be just right, where the 1.875" is a bit small and the 2.25" is too large.

Anyway, I like the sets you have pictured.  It is also nice to see others with the same addiction that I have...

That's easy for you to say!

Lou, we should get together and buy some from Europe.  Heck, you're in Wisconsin and I'm in Illinois so it shouldn't be too hard to get a nice order together to save on shipping.

Robert, actually I'm talking about vinyl boards.  Yeah, I own wood boards that are 2.0" and a couple that are 55mm, from Jonas.

It's the vinyl, roll up boards that I can't find in either 50mm or 55mm sizes.

And from the pictures above, from Spain, they certainly have the vinyl roll up boards in those sizes.

I'm sorry.  It's changed and will never be verbalized again.

Yes, this is what I think we were talking about.

Ron, it befuddles me why no U.S. distributor carries 2" or 2-1/8" vinyl boards. They're probably ordering them from overseas (aka China), so why not add a few to the their next order.

Unfortunately, there's a whole generation that grew up playing with 1.5" diameter plastic sets on 2.25" vinyl chess boards, so naturally, anything smaller looks "crowded."

There's a company in Canada that sells 2" vinyl boards for under $10, but they wanted to charge me $25 for shipping?! Yikes. Thanks, but no thanks. Only if I can pay with Monopoly money.

For me the bigger the better. 

Careful what you wish for. I'm looking for a folding wooden board for my new set. Would you like to donate a tree?