Minimum table space for a board?

[Wadih Khoury]

A venue if offering 23"x 23" tables. Is this enough space for a board plus clock?
I think my boards are 17.5". The clock would just fit but it feels like it would be quite uncomfortable and pieces/clocks will fall off the table during games.
What would you consider is the minimum comfortable space per board needed?

[Ian Thompson]

A venue if offering 23"x 23" tables. Is this enough space for a board plus clock?
I think my boards are 17.5". The clock would just fit but it feels like it would be quite uncomfortable and pieces/clocks will fall off the table during games.
What would you consider is the minimum comfortable space per board needed?

FIDE recommends a minimum of 17" plus the width of the board if you calculate the minimum from the dimensions given at https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/Stand ... ipment2022.

8.5" either side of the board is enough for a scoresheet but doesn't leave a lot to spare. (Even if players aren't required to score games they should be able to if they want to.)

To answer your question, I think FIDE's recommended minimum space of 37" per board should be adhered to.

[Roger de Coverly]

A venue if offering 23"x 23" tables. Is this enough space for a board plus clock?
I think my boards are 17.5". The clock would just fit but it feels like it would be quite uncomfortable and pieces/clocks will fall off the table during games.

The edge of the board , by which I mean a1 to h1 and a8 to h8, is going to be close to the edge of the table, less than three inches either side. That's just enough for elbows but marginal for scoresheets. It's unusual anyway to have enough space for scoresheets in front of you. Usually I find the scoresheet has to live just to the right of h1 to h4 when White or a8 to a5 when Black. What you may be able to do is place two boards every three tables. This gives room to the side for clocks, scoresheets, bottles, switched off phones etc.

[Mike Gunn]

From Stewart Reuben's Chess Organisers' Handbook, a copy of which can be found on the ECF website (About Us/ Resources):
"The table should have a minimum length of twice the chess board and a width 15-20 cm more than the board. Ideally each game should be played on a separate table about 80cm wide, 74 cm high and 120 cm long." (120cm = 47.2 inches etc.)

[John Clarke]

I seem to remember reading once that Anderssen, while in London at the 1851 tournament, wrote home complaining that the playing tables were too small to allow him to rest his elbows on them.

[Paul Cooksey]

I play at a club with tables only just big enough for a board and clock. It isn't a huge issue, given the venue is excellent in many other ways.

(That said, security inadvertently locking an opposition player in the loos was added to the list of things that might go wrong this week!)

[Ian Thompson]

(That said, security inadvertently locking an opposition player in the loos was added to the list of things that might go wrong this week!)

Nothing new about that. I speak from personal experience.

[Reg Clucas]

What you may be able to do is place two boards every three tables. This gives room to the side for clocks, scoresheets, bottles, switched off phones etc.

This has the potential problem that players may have table legs between their legs, and be unable to draw their chair close enough to the table for comfort.

My current club has tables which are barely bigger than the boards. Fortunately there are enough of them to use 3 tables per board if necessary, although alternating empty tables with tables with a board (without any gaps between the tables) also works, as each empty table can be shared between two boards.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Has anyone ever had to play chess with unsuitable chairs, or strangely shaped tables? Round tables don't really work, and the worst conditions I had to play chess in was the time I (for various reasons) agreed to play a game at someone's house. The house was very nice, and the chairs and tables were all great for relaxing in to watch television, or to eat dinner with a large family, or to perch on for eating breakfast in the morning, or desks against a wall for doing sustained computer work or paperwork, but nothing was really suitable for two people playing a chess game (with a clock)! Though I was reminded of the various reports you get in older newspapers and chess magazines of some chess club evenings or events being hosted at someone's house - I suppose you had to have the right conditions, or maybe these were cigar/sherry/etc-fuelled scenes reminiscent of chess cafe scenes, or social parties, rather than competition chess?

[Matt Mackenzie]

There have certainly been chess clubs that met regularly in people's homes.

[Richard Thursby]

I played two matches in a nursery in a cricket club pavilion (which may enable people to identify the host, as an aside the first time it clashed with a FIFA Men's World Cup last round of qualifying matches, which affected turnout). Some of the tables and chairs were slightly small!

Chess should always be played on those ubiquitous folding trestle tables that can be found in halls everywhere, playing two games to a table, with the h-file to the outside so that the clocks can go on white's left and be in less danger of being knocked off the table in the event of a time scramble.

[Anthony Ibbitson]

Has anyone ever had to play chess with unsuitable chairs, or strangely shaped tables? Round tables don't really work, and the worst conditions I had to play chess in was the time I (for various reasons) agreed to play a game at someone's house. The house was very nice, and the chairs and tables were all great for relaxing in to watch television, or to eat dinner with a large family, or to perch on for eating breakfast in the morning, or desks against a wall for doing sustained computer work or paperwork, but nothing was really suitable for two people playing a chess game (with a clock)! Though I was reminded of the various reports you get in older newspapers and chess magazines of some chess club evenings or events being hosted at someone's house - I suppose you had to have the right conditions, or maybe these were cigar/sherry/etc-fuelled scenes reminiscent of chess cafe scenes, or social parties, rather than competition chess?

I've had to play chess at several venues where the tables had a weird ledge underneath, which meant that you couldn't put your legs underneath the table. On more than one occasion I've gone back to my board after a 'leg stretch', and almost knocked the table and pieces flying, just from sitting down and forgetting about the ledge underneath!