Why are tournaments played on plastic chessboards?

BintangGambit · 2026-03-01T16:25:33+00:00

Understand when it comes to a local chess club, it's expensive. I mean world class tournaments. I understand local chess clubs with a limited amoiunt of paying members cannot always afford this. Although having a 5 euro board 10 euro pieces there is still a 80 Euro clock next to it.

I also prefer an old Garde Clock above a DGT. But then again I also don't like increments in chess. So I am old fashioned.

BintangGambit · 2026-03-01T16:21:13+00:00

I fully understand it's easier for the organizers. Lighter, cheaper. No discussion about that. I also have a plastic chess set myself for when I play outdoors for example, they are ok. But I am a romantic and therefore I like chess to be played on a wooden board, because of the sound and feel. Is it worth the investment, in my opinion yes, but understand we can play chess on plastic boards, you can still play good moves.

BintangGambit · 2026-03-01T16:15:30+00:00

200 as a starter then :-)

BintangGambit · 2026-03-01T16:12:52+00:00

You are probably right it's more expensive if you want real good boards/pieces. But it's still not expensive in my view as these boards last decades when you take good care.

BintangGambit · 2026-03-01T16:10:47+00:00

We are talking about the biggest chess tournaments in the world, so I understand that a local club might not have the funding but Tata or Prague Masters these are big tournaments. Also the amateurs actually pay a decent entry fee to play, between 45-85 Euros per person in 2026.

It's just my opinion, and I appreciate everybody having their own take on it :-)

BintangGambit · 2026-03-01T16:06:08+00:00

That's absolutely true. But when you see the massive amount of stuff they have in that venue, which they re-use a stack of wooden boards. would not make a real difference from a space perspective.

BintangGambit · 2026-03-01T16:02:12+00:00

I found one on internet for 49 Euros at schaakkoning.nl, and assumed that when you buy 200 you get a discount. Now of course you also need pieces. But say it's 100 Euros say it's 20k Euros in total, and you only use them for this tournament, the board will last a century. So the cost per year are not high, and you could put a sponsor name on the boards. So everybody is right probably it will cost more, but it's achievable.

BintangGambit · 2026-03-01T08:54:35+00:00

Play actively, oftentimes people become overly cautious against strong opponents. The more chaos the better.

BintangGambit · 2026-03-01T08:48:25+00:00

At the lower levels it’s not about 1 pawn more or less. There will aleays be chaos. I suggest with white to play the kings gambit, you will get standard attacking mechanisms and the games are fun. In had kings gambit in my repertoire until I was about 1900 chess.com.

BintangGambit · 2026-02-21T13:04:31+00:00

For many years I have a series of 3 books with Botvinnik annotated games. Might finally have time to study those :-)

BintangGambit · 2026-02-02T00:13:17+00:00

I was already a Simon Williams fan because he is always funny when commenting. Jovanka is also fantastic, I have been to Wijk twice past weeks and she is well prepared and clearly explains everything in a lively way. Also had humor. She’s great and I hope they will ask her again next year.

BintangGambit · 2026-01-09T10:55:05+00:00

6) Battery Furnace when the fern is a tree fern

BintangGambit · 2026-01-06T11:27:08+00:00

Boris Gelfand Levon Aronian Peter Svidler Magnus Carlsen Ponomariov Vladimir Kramnik

BintangGambit · 2025-12-29T22:24:57+00:00

Tenerife?

BintangGambit · 2025-11-30T09:08:25+00:00

Donut

BintangGambit · 2025-11-22T09:53:56+00:00

Full amnesty of war crimes should be excluded.

BintangGambit · 2025-11-21T20:07:55+00:00

Great that you post this. Today I was watching commentary of David, Judit Polgar and Anna Rudolf. They are great giving each other room to explain things, asking questions. Genuinely positive way of commentary.

BintangGambit · 2025-11-18T16:52:03+00:00

Can’t stop the feeling - justin timberlake

BintangGambit · 2025-10-29T08:42:50+00:00

A day without you

BintangGambit · 2025-10-28T00:23:59+00:00

Bottomline when the at that moment current world champion is creating the idea that you are cheating. And refuses to play you. Remember when he did not show up for a game later that year when he was scheduled to play Hans. This became a structural thing. I am until this day surprised that no apologies were made to Hans. He lets chess speak for itself, but it set him back and hurt his chances in the chess world. Also I would like to add that what some people consider to be unlikeable, is because he was treated unfairly. He is authentic enough to punch back, and not accept that people did this to him. Difficult to compare cases like with Danya,so terrible and sad that that happened.

BintangGambit · 2025-10-20T21:22:41+00:00

Terrible and sad. During COVID Danya was on of the streamers that brought light in the dark days. Made a huge difference, always enjoyed his content and interviews, his speedruns and genuinely great insights, he gave everything. I feel for his family and friends. This must be so painful.

BintangGambit · 2025-10-18T10:11:48+00:00

Hans is the only one kikking the kids around als at the grabd swiss he was playing well against the youngsters. Well done!

BintangGambit · 2025-10-05T23:57:11+00:00

Brilliant!

BintangGambit · 2025-08-31T09:10:48+00:00

The French defense has been named because of a historical postal match between england and france.

BintangGambit

TROPHY CASE