Am I Nuts?

Wait, before you answer, let me at least lay the background. 🙂

I was looking at some wooden tournament chess boards on the House of Staunton web site -

http://www.houseofstaunton.com/board5.html

I thought that one of these boards might make a good choice for a cheap wooden board that I could take to club tournaments, yet not have to worry too much about minor damage from use. However, the longer I looked at the boards, the more I was sure that something wasn't quite right. Then it hit me - The grain of the wood used for the squares runs horizontally (from the perspective of the player, white on right). So I did a little checking. Sure enough, the default Fritz board that I use on Playchess has the grain running vertically. So do my three real wooden chessboards that I own. Also, a little checking on the web showed that the DGT boards also have the grain running vertically. It seems that the clear majority of boards have the grain oriented vertically. (However, some of the other HOS boards have horizontal grain, such as their Superior Traditional and Custom Contemporary boards.)

Not knowing whether I'd be able to adjust to the different grain direction, I decided to pass on these boards. Soooo, the question is, am I nuts for noticing this and letting it be a factor? Have any of you ever had this concern?

Your intuition was correct. Subliminal effects are more powerful than are generally recognized. Credit yourself with astute observation. However, now select a roll up plastic board to take to tournaments. Any wooden board will be more weight and trouble than it's worth.

Originally posted by coquette
Your intuition was correct. Subliminal effects are more powerful than are generally recognized. Credit yourself with astute observation. However, now select a roll up plastic board to take to tournaments. Any wooden board will be more weight and trouble than it's worth.

Originally posted by Mad Rook
Wait, before you answer, let me at least lay the background. 🙂

I was looking at some wooden tournament chess boards on the House of Staunton web site -

http://www.houseofstaunton.com/board5.html

I thought that one of these boards might make a good choice for a cheap wooden board that I could take to club tournaments, yet not have to worry too much ...[text shortened]... am I nuts for noticing this and letting it be a factor? Have any of you ever had this concern?

Well I was at a local craft market held in Sedbergh in the lake district. There was a stall selling many hand carved items...including a small oblong table with a chess board carefully carved on it and some hand carved pieces...hours of work. I still regret the moment I told the guy the board was the wrong way round :-(

You are not nuts. Something like that would drive me crazy.(er)

WHO YOU CALLING A PSYCHO!!!(quote from kingpin)
no you would never want some chump at a tourney abuse some nice wood pieces,get some plastic for the tourneys,and set the nice one up on your coffee table for your drunk friends to abuse. 😛

so, this is really strange, but i went back and checked my wood board and found that the grain is vertical too . .. . but also, the black square is in the lower right corner!!!!!

Originally posted by MRBLUE7752
WHO YOU CALLING A PSYCHO!!!(quote from kingpin)
no you would never want some chump at a tourney abuse some nice wood pieces,get some plastic for the tourneys,and set the nice one up on your coffee table for your drunk friends to abuse. 😛

I have a chessboard (made by my brother when he was a teenager) where the grain of the white squares is horizontal and the grain of the black squares is vertical.

Originally posted by coquette
so, this is really strange, but i went back and checked my wood board and found that the grain is vertical too . .. . but also, the black square is in the lower right corner!!!!!