chess poll

How many of you set up, and use, your chess set when you are reading, say, a tactics book?  A real set, not a computer program.  Just curious.  I do.

I ride three trains a day each way and wind up drawing a lot I make notes in a copybook - I have not yet taken a set on the train.  I know many may be shocked - especially in the Chessaholics Forum in which I participate. 

At home I will put the board out and go through the book.  It's funny - I will leave the pieces out from some chapter and my daughter who engages in a fun game of "No Stress Chess" with me will move around the pieces in some crazy way when she gets home from school.  It is actually very charming and I am glad she takes an interest.

I don't remember where is my chess set.

I always plan to. Not so much for tactics, I want to do those from my head, so a single diagram is fine.

But opening books and games collections, I tend to be lazy and just read them, missing out on a lot of stuff I would have seen and remembered if I actually moved the pieces as well. Would be good to get away from the computer as well...

I went through 'My 60 Memorable Games' By Fischer using a board and it was fantastic.  If nothing else it helped me remember the lines more. 

Recently I've begun studying every one of Tal's wins with the Benoni using a real board.  That has proved even more useful because the ideas come to me very quickly in OTB chess (see my blog for proof!).

-matt

 It depends upon where I am. If it is during my lunchbreak at work, I try to use a pocket set but at home I generally use 2 chess sets.

Depends on the tactics that i am working on.  If it is the basics like simple pins, forks, skewers etc.. I don't use a board but If the tactics are more advanced with lots of calculation I will use a board.

I don't own a chess set. I was hoping Santa would bring me one this year but I guess I had too many Naughty and too few Nice checkmarks in his ledger.

I bet you can make a rough prediction of someone's age (say, "Are you older or younger than 30?) based on their answer to this question. I'd be extremely surprised if anyone under 20 studies with a physical chessboard; for my part (being 38) I love getting my hands on the pieces and clinking them around.

An interesting question might be, "Is is better to study on a physical chessboard?" I tend to believe that incorporating multiple senses heightens your chances of remembering the material you study--like writing something down that you're trying to memorize. But maybe I believe this because I get enjoyment out of pushing the wood around...

I do....how else are you supposed to play through the great games, otherwise? (I know, I know....dating myself slightly. However, in my defense, I'm aging like a fine wine--which leaves me twenty or so years before I turn completely to vinegar!)

Same thing with cards.  I play tons of online poker, but I still like to go to the casino and get to touch the cards and chips.

I study with 2 chess sets and my laptop, I use the laptop to go through pgn files or to read the pdfs that I have.

I do for any kind of book, except a tactics book, as it's better to try and do puzzles in one's head. In a real game you can't just say "I'm trying to calculate a long variation here, can I just move the pieces around for a bit?".

I try to use a set and board as often as possible. For tactics drills, I do them in my head. But, for full games and endgames out of a book, nothing beats the look and feel of some heavy plastic!

i do

A little magnetic chessboard-bookmark would be a great product if it wasn't too small or too big to be practical and if I wasn't guaranteed to lose the peices.

I prefer and only use a real set staring at a computer screen too long gives me eye strain and a headache I also feel a deeper connection to Chess when I'm playing over games of Grandmasters or studying the endgame on a wood set.