What type of chess piece do you use?

Hi, I'm a designer and in the process of producing a new chess set. What I'd like to know is which is the most popular style of piece for online players? - mine is 'Book'.

Alpha is better than Book for people with vision problems. I've played quite a lot with both.

I use Book, purely because it's the style I have been used to seeing in print all my life and I recognise all the pieces automatically. I feel sure that if I used one of the more obscure sets (however pretty) it would interfere greatly with my thinking.

Originally posted by Campaigner
Hi, I'm a designer and in the process of producing a new chess set. What I'd like to know is which is the most popular style of piece for online players? - mine is 'Book'.

After a few years utilising 'Book' ( which I think is the default setting anyway ? ), I changed briefly to 'Alpha'...but I've been more than content with my use of 'Merida', and have been so for a couple of years now...

It would be great if you could share with us some of your designs, hopefully in the near future 🙂

Originally posted by RevRSleeker
After a few years utilising 'Book' ( which I think is the default setting anyway ? ), I changed briefly to 'Alpha'...but I've been more than content with my use of 'Merida', and have been so for a couple of years now...

It would be great if you could share with us some of your designs, hopefully in the near future 🙂

I use book. 🙂

Yes - 'Book' seems to be the most common! Thanks everyone for the input.

Originally posted by Campaigner
Yes - 'Book' seems to be the most common! Thanks everyone for the input.

I like newspaper and perhaps a less intrusive version of merida would be nice. I like newspaper because the pieces are small and the board doesn't look cramped.

I am also a newspaper user. If I think about it Tygert may have pointed me to that set. I tend just to take the suggestion of a site if I am playing online 😉

Originally posted by Tygert
I like newspaper and perhaps a less intrusive version of merida would be nice. I like newspaper because the pieces are small and the board doesn't look cramped.

I use 'merida', I find it ideal... but I was curious what you meant when you suggest 'a less intrusive version of merida would be nice' ? I'm just curious 🙂

It's interesting that more than 91% of players use one of the four 2-dimensional outline pieces which are variants of the traditional newspaper design. Admittedly there's a "donkey vote" involved in the use of the default set, but the next 3 choices are still more heavily used than any of the 3-dimensional and exotic sets, which may look prettier but to my mind make the board position harder to see.