Psychology and the Look of the Pieces

Lately I’ve been experimenting with the different types of piece graphics we have available to us on Chess.com. It’s really interesting to see how they affect my psychology. I wonder if people don’t usually just settle in (unintended pun) with the default set of pieces we start with and never truly experiment. If you haven’t checked it out – here are just a few of the stranger sets we have available to us. I’d like it if everyone gave their input in this thread as to which set it is that you actually use, if you’ve ever really tried out some of the other sets, and what your ideas are about the way really different chess pieces might affect your actual gameplay. 

Wouldn’t it be funny, as an aside, if you could specify the look of the pieces in a challenge to someone… so like, 3 days per move, I play white, and we absolutely must play the game in Maya. Ha!

Here's a crappy compilation image I cobbled together to show some of the piece types we have available on the site:

 

When I first joined I immediately looked at all of the options, and categorically approved "Club" above all others...I still use "Club"...

 Also, Orange color scheme and Large board...

I use the classic pieces, and change the board every once and a while, from wood, to blue...I just clicked grey which I've never seen before and it's kinda nice. I think I'll try that one for awhile.

The 'Lines" pieces are really funny, does anyone actually use those pieces I wonder?

I'm boring, i tend to use the wood board with chess pieces i can recognise. Some of the pieces, nice as they are, i just have difficulty telling some of them apart LOL.

I have seen some really nice ones around that are used on online boards, and more choice would be great.

The wooden set makes me think of tamarind candy, so it makes the game unravel a lot more sweetly. To attribute a flavor to the game allows me to swallow it easier and to remember the game better (specially if different games have different colors/flavors).  The other colors are too bright for me, they are distracting and tiresome. Ocasionally, red is nice; spice, cinnamon. Or perhaps I am just hungry right now :)

Good observation.

I've never looked. I always just stick with the default. I think that it makes the game easier for me - don't have to concentrate.

I used to have this chessmaster game on a console, the board really threw me, it was tones of silver, and hhmm, I don't know, there was soething else about it that I could never put my finger on (I know excuses, excuses). Interestingly, I was recently reading about this guy that was doing a simul in a prison. He was concerned about the standard of the boards, because they would most probably be different sets. The small adjustment from one to another would make it tougher for him, that's what he thought.

Also, touching on what Killgoose said, different colours affect appetite. I think light greens reduce hunger pangs, so if your on a diet.......

Ahh, you don't know the half of it...

I've always been interested in Chess varients, and one of the thing I've noticed is how difficult it is to create a new piece.  I.e., let's say you wanted a "Squire" to go along with your Knights.  What does a Squire look like, and how can you represent it abstractly and simply?  Play around with some graphics for a while and you'll see what I mean.  You can make something that looks like it would be interesting, but will it scale well?  Will people be able to tell what it is at a glance?  We just take it for granted that the pieces have always looked the way they do, but clearly the genesis of the modern pieces was as much Art as it was Psychology.

Right now I'm using Alpha and pink board, medium size. I find that pink's actually restful on the eyes. 

I like Rael's idea of doing a mix up from time to time, to get a fresh perspective. Think I'll try that out. 

Jasn 

Right now I'm using Alpha and pink board, medium size. I find that pink's actually restful on the eyes. 

There was a rough part of town where I used to live, the council painted all the flats pink; supposedly to create a calming effect (want to solve issues caused by poverty: paint it pink - it hasn't worked)

I've also heard of prison cells being painted pink, same idea.

BTW, I highlighted your name at the top in pink, just for you :)

There is a prison in Arizona where the Warden has chosen Pink for the prisoner's uniforms for many of the aforementioned reasons...

=P 

 I feel so...peaceful!

I have a young daughter who's obsessed with the color pink, so it doesn't faze me at all to have my name rendered as such. Earlier today, I was playing chess with a pink crown she plonked upon my head!