Build a Classic Chessboard

One of the things my oldest son loves more than football, fighter planes and annoying the heck out of his younger brother is playing chess. He can’t get enough of it.

I once bought him an inexpensive set, but he didn’t want any part of that. Instead, we are using the set I got when I was a teenager while on a trip to Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts.

While that’s working out great, my son is eager to get his own set.  You know, so he can drag out his own set and beat me without mercy.

Rather than go out and buy a new board, I think we’re going to be building one of these first published in Popular Woodworking Magazine.  I once built a board using these techniques for a charity auction and it came out great.

The best part about this plan is that building the 64 square board is a piece of cake.  Instead of cutting the individual pieces and trying to glue them together, the technique employed by the plan’s designer increases the odds that the squares will come out evenly.  As an added bonus, the board also stores the pieces below, allowing you to keep the entire set together so you’ll be ready to play whenever you want to.

It’s a very simple plan that yields elegant results.  Now, I have to learn how to accept the fact that I will be humiliated by a ten year old…