Today I had a revelation about chess boards...weird, right?!? Was talking with my dad, the founder of
the Rochester Chess Center and a man with quite a few chess accomplishments in his life. I thought I
was the one in the family with all the great ideas about chess equipment but I have to give credit where
credit is due.
It was something that absolutely blew my mind. I pointed it out to some of the workers here and even
called some of my friends in the retail side of the business and told them about it. Each and every
person was shocked that they had never noticed it before. Something so basic that it should be obvious
to all who sit down at a chess board. Turns out I had corrected this problem without even knowing it
on our new thin mousepad boards.
Lets look at the typical chess board that is on the market. See below:
Imagine sitting at the board ready to play the game. Look at the board closely. 90% of the people in
the board are Right handed. So, you would be putting your scorebook on the right side of the board to
keep your notation. Keep this in mind and look at the board and tell me what is wrong. You will
facepalm yourself when you read the problem in the next paragraph
The notation on the right side of the board is upside down. If you are a “rightie” like me, you have to
work that much harder to do your notation (which is hard enough) because the notation is upside down.
If you are left handed, the board reads correct. I think the typical chess board was designed by a left
handed person. Yes, people that are left handed are usually more creative and artistic. As I am writing
this I still cannot believe that I never caught this in the past.
Here is the funny thing...my new boards look like this:
If you notice, the notation is sideways. We fixed it without even knowing there was a problem. Would love to hear your thoughts. Am I crazy to think this or did this blow your mind too?
