Chess Boards
Jaques Chequerboards
Jaques standard boards (14, 16, 18 and 20 inch) are beautifully
crafted with a decorative border surrounding inlaid Walnut and Sycamore
squares. The perfect setting for high quality chess pieces. Shown to
the right is the 20 inch Walnut and Sycamore board.
Jaques 23 inch board, pictured left, is made from Mahogany with a raised board and also features Walnut and Sycamore squares.
Click on pictures to enlarge.
Change to $  Change to  |
UK pounds (ex.VAT) |
Pounds (incl. VAT) |
Typical ETA in wkg days |
Add to basket |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 inch Walnut & Sycamore Board, ~38mm sq. (for 2½ or 3 inch King) |
£25.45 | £29.90 | 3 + transit time | ||
18 inch Walnut & Sycamore Board, ~43mm sq. (for 3 inch King) |
£33.19 | £39.00 | 3 + transit time | ||
20 inch Walnut & Sycamore Board, ~50mm sq. (for 3½ inch King) |
£41.70 | £49.00 | 3 + transit time | ||
23 inch Mahogany, Walnut and Sycamore inlaid board (for 3½ - 4½ presentation sets) |
£84.26 | £99.00 | 3 + transit time | ||
For an immediate quote and ETA, add to the basket & select your location. |
10 x 10 Chequerboards
 |
Designed for use with our Jester
Chess sets are these enormous, high quality 10 x 10 chequerboards.
The boards are inlaid with Maple and are very large - more than 2 feet
square. There are 3 types:
Boards are 65cm (25.5 inches) across with 5cm (2 inch) squares. |
| Change to $ Change to |
UK pounds (ex.VAT) |
Pounds (incl. VAT) |
Typical ETA in wkg days |
Add to basket |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10 x 10 Chequerboard (Mahogany/Maple, 2 feet square) |
£42.47 | £49.90 | 4 + transit time | ||
10 x 10 Chequerboard (Walnut/Maple, 2 feet square) |
£42.47 | £49.90 | 4 + transit time | ||
10 x 10 Chequerboard (Wenge/Maple, 2 feet square) |
£42.47 | £49.90 | 4 + transit time | ||
For an immediate quote and ETA, add to the basket & select your location. |
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The Origin of Chess
A great deal has been written about the origins of chess and there is still a lot of debate on the subject. The earliest clear ancestor of chess is shaturanga or chaturanga which was invented by a 6th century Indian philosopher. It was a battle between four armies each under the control of a Rajah (king), two players being loosely allied against the other two and and each containing 4 corps - Infantry, Cavalry, Elephants and Boatmen. The board of 64 squares used for shaturanga, was borrowed from an earlier game called ashtapada, which was a race game played in ancient India.
Under Hindu law, gambling became forbidden early on in the Hindu civilisation and, to avoid the gambling laws, shaturanga players dispensed with the dice. Another early modification was the merging of the allied armies into a single army making the game a two player form and duplicating the pieces, both developments which have survived until today. Other changes also occurred; and the resulting game was called shatranj.
There are three versions of the story of arrival of shatranj in Europe - did it come from the Saracens via Spain, from the Byzantine empire as a present to Charlemagne or was it brought back from the Middle East by Knights returning from the Crusades?. Nonetheless, in Europe, the game developed into modern European chess now played worldwide while in China, Japan, Burma, Thailand and Korea, other variants became just as popular.
You can learn more about the History of Chess from The Online Guide to Traditional Games.