While is seems that size is documented when it comes to acceptable chess boards for tournament play, I don’t see where color of the board is properly addressed. Maybe it’s just me, but my opinion and experience is that the proliferation of bright colored chess boards (blue, maroon, black and white etc, etc) is a problem. They are hard for me to deal with and seem to me to be “sub-standard”. OK for kids maybe but not so much for adults. What happened to chessboards being green and buff or maybe dark brown and light brown. It seems to me that these two color combinations should be considered “preferred” and other combinations only acceptable if both parties agree. Am I missing something in the rules about this? I suspect not, since more and more bright and different colors are appearing in the tournament rooms. Just looking for opinions and discussion on this subject.
This is what the USCF Rulebook has to say about this.
I suggest that a complaint to the TD about one of these too colorful boards, using the above part of the rules, especially where it says that the colors and finish should allow extended examination without eyestrain, should work.
Yes complaining is always an option but I am not much of a complainer…well some may disagree with that 
nevertheless, why not a more definitive wording in the rulebook for instance “green or brown with ivory or buff, and walnut or teak with maple or birch are standard equipment and will take precedence over other color combinations.” I think this should be built in to the rules, not just left for individual interpretation and argument.
I’d probably rather not have Rule 41B be any more specific than it is. If specific colors are put into the rule, then there will be a number of games (especially among younger players) that will be out of compliance. Check out the bookstore at a major event sometime. There are many color combinations sold (for boards and pieces) that fall outside the palette mentioned by Mr. Newsom.
Now, it is true that I personally find a number of these garish, to put it mildly. And my own personal tastes generally reflect the exact color combinations Mr. Newsom mentioned. However, my feeling is that if two players are willing to play on, say, a pastel pink and cream board with blue and yellow pieces (one of many, er, creative color combos I’ve seen), then let them play. (Of course, providing sets and boards alleviates this…but comes with its own expenses.)
As an aside, if a player were to complain about the color of a set/board such as the one I identified above, I’d be inclined to rule in favor of the complainant.
Boyd…absolutely let them play on whatever color they agree to…I am just saying give the “standard” colors priority in the same way a digital clock has priority over an analogue. Simple as that!
Fortunately, 9 players out of 10 will gladly comply with a request to swap out their blue and ivory board for my green and ivory one.
This is exactly why I carry standard equipment. I don’t care whose we use, but I want to ensure we get to use standard equipment.
Alex Relyea
But Alex…unless the rule is written differently, do they really have to comply? Seems to me that at present, blue still qualifies as standard equipment.
I would agree to use an opponent’s green and ivory or green and buff board over my blue and ivory board.
That said, I consider the blue and ivory board fully standard. If there were a dispute among two standard boards, and Black had a blue and ivory over White’s green and buff, Black’s board is used.
The rule gives sufficient flexibility to deal with the purple and pink heacaches that pops up from time to time.
I have met few that switching is an issue, unless, of course, one wishes to switch to, say, red/purple & Ivory, etc.
Rob Jones
The color blue has a bad reputation (for chessboards) because of a horribly bright, iridescent blue board once sold by USCF. More “normal” blue boards (I have one) should be no problem at all.
Bill Smythe
:mrgreen:
The blue and white and the red and white boards are a bit harsh to look at over a long stretch of time. I will not play on these board colors as they give me a headache. The green and white (off white, buff) colors have been standard and widespread for so long, that most players expect that color board to be used in tournaments. People who like blue and white boards must also like to castle by touching their rook first and write notes on their score sheet. 
As a TD, if someone complains about Black’s blue and white board, I will give him the preferential board color if his board is green and white as it is the more standard board. The question is moot at our club as we provide the sets and boards for our tournaments. One player did ask about using his blue and white board, but I told him no because it clashed with the colors of all the other boards. Makes for a better picture when all of the pieces and boards are the same.
A related issue is the color of the pieces. Even when boards and sets are provided players will sometimes want to use their own (better) wooden pieces that are light brown and dark brown. Sometimes I have a little difficulty telling the difference between the shades and I’m sure others have even more difficulty, so my normal response is that the provided sets are the standard ones for the event and thus the ones to be used.
Anytime board colors come up, I’m reminded of a friend who bought an orange and white board. I thought it was horribly garish until I played him a game on it, and found out it really wasn’t at all. I actually came rather quickly to like it. But as a TD, I’d probably sympathize if someone complained about it. (AFAIK, he never took it to use at a tournament.)
Being something of a contrarian on occasion, I have accumulated a lot of different color boards to provide at tournaments I run. Navy, maroon, brown, olive, even red and a couple black, all with off white… and yes, some traditional green as well. I receive compliments from players who enjoy the variety, and have never had a complaint. (Some do complain that I provide weighted plastic pieces rather than wooden ones. I can’t afford to please everyone.)
I don’t think the rules support the position that the green and white boards are “more standard” than the blue and white ones. Zero. They are more common. They are also more pleasant, in my opinion. Neither equates to “more standard”.
The ubiquity of green and white boards makes them the more standard board. In the Spring Nationals the boards laid out for the kids to use are green and white. At the US Open, the boards are green and white. Looking back at old catalogs in Chess Life and Review and the earlier Chess Review, the only vinyl boards sold were green and white. It is a more recent phenomenon that other color vinyl boards have been sold. It started first with brown and white/cream color and black and white boards. Then the rainbow of colors appeared with the recent addition of light, pastel shades. Green and white still remains the predominant color and makes it more standard than the other colors.
If a player comes up to me as a TD and says that he does not want to play on a pink, blue, yellow, orange, teal, aquamarine, magenta, red, purple, or other color board that his opponent, allocated Black in the pairings, has laid out, then he will be permitted to use his green and white board, as it is the more standard of all of the color boards listed. If you don’t want that to be the standard color set or don’t want TDs to make decisions on what color board is appropriate to use, then be prepared in the future with being required by rule to play on a pale yellow and white board with teal and orange pieces, just because your opponent has Black, showed up first at the board, and set up his psychedelic pieces. All you will be able to do is go to the hotel kiosk and buy some Tylenol for the headache you will have during the game while your brain switches between the colors while analyzing.
I prefer chess boards that are not reminiscent of Albertsons Stadium.
Yeah, it is no fun to play Boise St. when their team is wearing blue uniforms when playing at home either. Some teams have complained about that to the conference and the NCAA.
It does not appear that you can support even the concept of “more standard” by the rules. By common sense, absolutely. Is there an actual rule one can use? I think the required contrast would probably be sufficient to defeat the pale yellow/white board. Teal/orange isn’t so clear. Blue/ivory, I think is awfully hard to argue as unacceptable under the rules.
I know TDs have considerable flexibility, as well they should. But do we really want our TDs to be able to make up concepts like “more standard”?